tv Government Access Programming SFGTV January 31, 2018 8:00am-9:01am PST
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and it is a very disruptive thing. it is not an insignificant addition as the sponsor would have you believe. it is very clear, very visible, and despite the fact that it is of glass, the posts are metal. and so you've got and you look up and you see at least 16 posts rather than the glass. i'd like you to consider that when you are making your decision on this. we are able to live with a deck because it was granted originally, but not this 6-foot structure and nobody else seems to need a windscreen despite the fact that the wind is the same all over. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. project sponsor. you have two minutes.
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>> my name is maurice miller, commissioners. thank you for hearing us. i have three general comments. i shall say, first of all, the reason the piewood is on the -- the reason the plywood is on the roof right now is for safety reasons because there was no glass installed because we got the permit to put in a 6-foot glass and then we were told not to install the 6-foot glass. so there was never any intention not to install glass and re-install it. we were told we could install 6-foot glass and purchased its and it sits in my garage. this is my primary outdoor space for the building. i have problems with stairs, and we would like the roof to be more usable. that said, the 42-inch screen would also have been acceptable had we been told that we
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couldn't do a 6-foot screen. in response to the comments about 16 poles, in fact, there will be less obstruction because the glass windscreen does not require a top rail. the 42-inch windscreen does require a top rail and the amount of steel on the roof will be much lower with the 6-foot rail rather than the 42-inch because there won't be a top rail going around the roof. finally, i did spend $30,000 on this, and i think there is some equities involved in this that we were told we were given a building permit by the building department. it did seem like a minor change to the roof. and what is being told as a very monumental change to the roof, in fact, isn't much of a change from our perspective admittedly. thank you very much for your time. >> president hillis: all right. thank you. that closes this portion of the
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hearing. we will open it up to commissioner comments and questions. commissioner moore. >> commissioner moore: this is a very difficult situation partially because something is approved by one agency and it comes back to us. i believe if it would have been reviewed by us, it would have cautioned in the design phase that it was a questionable thick because of the visibility from the street. the four on 4-foot center spacing of the poles could have definitely had a different type of solution. the architect, the owner, probably knows what the prevailing wind directions are in san francisco, and would have come forward with if this issen the only space that is -- if this is the only space that is really usable to consider that beforehand. the deck in its configuration is not a small deck. it is properly tucked the way we normally expect it. however, for the extended windscreen to be added to it, i
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think we would have further shaped it in order to accommodate that. it is good to see the structure, the poles right now almost historic poles, and that is what raises my concerns. also, the fact that there are really no patterns of these types of roof decks in the adjoining area, something we have talked about a lot when it came to other situations where there is a beginning precedent emerging that roof tops all of a sudden start to make the buildings taller and more different. i am very concerned about this. we have talked about this in another circumstance earlier today, particularly with permit tracking and finally after three years coming together. the department is put in a very, very difficult position when it comes to what we normally would have all done thoughtfully reviewing the entire thing with the intent of having the
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windscreen on top. at this moment, i am very much sitting on the fence because i think it is too impacting on the street. >> president hillis: i have the same feeling. i think we would normally or at least i would, i don't want to speak for everybody, but deny this permit and keep you at the typical rail height. because it's a large -- no matter what you do with these, glass, if you drive around the city and you see them, they are a bit jarring when they are -- you can see them from the properties in the rear and also from scott street. but i think my issue is, so the process that you all go through and clearly was a mistake made to approve this. >> in this case it was our mistake. it was the planning department's mistake to approve this over the counter. >> it was approved over the counter. >> we approved over the counter and dbi issued the permit. that was done in error.
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>> what is the department's kind of protocol when a permit is issued in error when it was rescind that permit? >> that is what happened. when we discovered the error, we still go through the process of suspending it. >> and what if it was built two years ago? when do you -- >> if it was already built, it would be a different situation. it would have been -- the notice would have expired by then. >> right. >> but in this case, we issued a new notice per the zoning administrator's direction, and then that made the -- that prompted the -- >> but it was built, he would haven't done it. >> well, if we discovered the error, after the fact is not typically when we do it. under construction is when we typically suspend the permit. >> right. that is my challenge. >> president hillis: i am sympathetic that clearly it is not an insignificant deck that you have spent money on and the department has issued a permit and now rescinded it. again, if this was clean and seeing this without anything
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being built, i would reject it. i would vote to reject it, but i am torn what to do. sure. >> in response to that, the notice we received to stop work on it was received on the day that the glass was to be installed. so my contractor was not able to install the glass on the day that we received word from your planning department with the rescission of the permit was the afternoon that the glass panels were to go to the roof. just to be clear that construction was one day away from finished. >> president hillis: i think we understand. commissioner richards. >> so we get stories all the time from project sponsors about extended families and need 20,000 square feet and yada,
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yada, and a lot of times i actually don't believe until proven true. we see the project sponsor has a mobility issue. we see it's not like it's an architect representing some llc and this is going to be flipped. here is a human face to the need for having the windscreen. i know 42 inches versus they should have figured it out. but i think it's a fairness thing because you went ahead and purchased them. we made a mistake. i wouldn't like to see that walking down the street, but i chalk it up to you win some, lose some, and not taking dr and allow the process to going forward out of basic fairness and seeing the project sponsor who really needs the roof deck. >> president hillis: commissioner moore. >> commissioner moore: i'm trying to figure out -- i don't know exactly the prevailing winds in this area. >> president hillis: probably
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from the west. >> commissioner moore: south, southwest. and the elevator housing that provides some protection for the roof deck itself. and if it is windy, we just tuck perhaps somewhere near the elevator override. some put additional planters further inbound, but i personally cannot support adding this windscreen here. i just can't. the fact that something happened over the counter may require another settlement, but i am not a lawyer of how the glass is sold to somebody else or reimbursement, but i cannot support adding a 6-foot windscreen. i can't. doesn't matter. anybody else could do the same thing and find a way to wriggle themselves into a permit and under normal circumstances is not supportable. it is too visible from the street and impact and jarring. you have toed a mitt that. -- you have to admit that. i cannot say because there was a
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mistake somewhere we have to approve it. we may need to support the department to find a way to remedy between the expenditure of the glass, but that does not force me to approve a 6-foot screen here. it does not. >> president hillis: commissioner melgar. >> vice president melgar: i agree with everything you said and it doesn't seem fair to me. knowing what i know about municipal finance, i don't see a way that we would reimburse the homeowner for something he did in good faith according to our instructions. so the only recourse would be to sue in small claims court. but right, it's not small because it's $30,000 and that would add cost to him and the
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city. it would be a bummer. so i agree if this project had come to us, we probably wouldn't have approved it. you guys know that. the fairness element in terms of the process and what citizens' expectations can be of government, it doesn't seem fair to me, so i would lean towards just not taking dr. >> president hillis: this in essence was for all intensive purposes, it's built and the glass is in the garage and the structure is up. can i ask a question about the prevailing winds? are there any modifications made to reduce the impact? i think we agree with the neighbors that this is -- we've seen these and somewhat of a structure there. could you have 6 foot on the west side and take the first two
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-- or the first -- i don't know how wide that is on either side, until you get to the first frame? and then drop it down? so you've got some protection to the wind but on the kind of building edges there isn't that 6-foot structure. >> i happen to be in the wind business actually. i am a wind project developer for 35 years. >> could you speak a little bit louder? >> i'm sorry. i have been a wind energy project developer for 35 years. including the altamont pass. the prevailing winds from san francisco are from the west and southwest. so if you consider there is one aspect of this that also was not -- that was in the presentation and was not presented. and was that when we bought the hou house, my exact neighbor had an
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approved permit for a roof deck. and my structure for my elevator and the stairs landing on the roof was designed to be directly next to his. so it is on the wrong side of the deck, if you consider it that way, from the purpose of blocking any wind. it is on the north -- it is on the southeast sort of corner of the deck. and south side of the building. so the wind will, if you tried to get behind it, you would be on my neighbor's roof essentially is what it would come down to. but in terms of can there be anything done to cut posts to reduce the windscreen on the north side, does it change the perspective of the back neighbors, the la villa neighbors in terms of seeing
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this? i think from my perspective, it's not a good solution. it changes the dynamic of at least one pole and maybe two poles to try to re-engineer those poles so they don't have an area where the glass tries to be install ed. i was told that this isn't something that normally gets imposed because color can be changed. one thing we can do is we could change the color of the poles such that they are not jarring. they were done that color by my contractor without asking because they matched the interior design. of course, exterior design doesn't necessarily need to match interior design. so that is one area that when you look at -- when you look at it, then, it would look like the sky instead of other things. >> president hillis: all right. thanks. since we have been given you the opportunity to talk, if we can hear from the neighbor.
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just a couple of minutes. >> i think the misunderstanding here is he had purchased the 42-inch deck rail and installed the 42-inch deck rail. presumably -- >> hold on. guys, we can't have this. whether he did, though, or not, and -- >> he went and got a permit and purchased the 72-inch rail, too, is our issue. he purchased it. he could put up the 42 back, but still out the -- he got a permit and the department, in error, kind of issued the permit. and allow this to go forward and get built until you saw it in legitimately raised an issue, and admittedly we made a mistake. >> on the first day they installed the first 6-foot post i called building on the first day. >> president hillis: thank you. commissioner richards? >> i would be inclined to approve it with two conditions. take dr and approve the project with two conditions.
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one, the posts are painted a neutral color. maybe a white, so not jarring. and two, kind of like we did before on accommodating the person's personal need when we said when they sell the units in question, that we merged, that the units have to go back. i would say upon sale of the house, you have a 42-inch rail installed. so accommodate your needs while you are there, but upon sale of the house, the mistake is rectified. >> second. we're breaking new ground. that was a motion then, commissioner? >> it was. and a motion and second. >> a ground breaking one.
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>> it was indeed. there is a motion that's been seconded to take dr to aprove project with two conditions that the posts be painted a neutral condition such as white and upon sale, that the 42-inch railing is re-installed. >> president hillis: if it's quick. you have to come up to the mic. you have to come up to the mic. >> would these conditions be put in the deed. or be recorded? >> president hillis: yes. they are recorded. commissioner koppel? commissioner richards? commissioner moore? commissioner melgar? so moved, commissioners. that motion passes 4-1 with
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commissioner moore voting against. okay. new dance. all right. all right. our meeting is adjourned. - working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation.
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years has worked to negotiate the purchase of land and water rights on behalf of native american tribes in the great basin nations in the united states. for those who don't know where that is, the great states of nevada, utah, parts of arizona and oregon. and before that i worked at the trust public land. and i'm happy to lead with london breed, malia cohen, our former supervisor who first championed this issue, in favor of the full divestment from fossil fuels. i want to start by thanking the broad coalition of environmental advocates, public health advocates, clean fuel transportation activists, democratic party officials, grassroots advocates and retirement board members and as
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of last night, the commission on the environment who have turned out today to demand that san francisco employee retirement system divest now from fossil fuels and we're getting to labor, we're saving the best for last. and i mean that sincerely and it is in my notes. i want to start by saying that sciu 10-1 has been the wind at our backs. i cannot thank you enough. to the folks from dapo, i cannot thank you enough. we'll hear from all of them. i want to start not with our president, not with our retirement board member but with our former supervisor. we have a lot of great speakers but this started with supervisor john ovolose who first issued
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the resolution unanimously adopted by the board five years ago that has not yet be heeded but perhaps with malia cohen's leadership will be heeded today. >> good morning. it's great to be here. but also kind of strange to be here. five years after we had first voted unanimously to call upon sfers to divest from fossil fuels. since that time i'm a retiree of the sitting council of san francisco, so i depend on sfers to respond. what we have done in five years of analysis, we know fossil fuel investments is a bad investment. we're seeing the great volatility of fossil fuels while our sfers overall fund has grown from $19 billion in 2013 to
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$23 billion in 2018, our fossil fuel portfolio has only stayed about the same, meaning this is a really poor investment while we see growth elsewhere. we know why it's a bad investment. we are seeing increasingly, the harm that's caused low income communities of color, to cities and towns along the waterfront are suffering from sea level rise, from climate, from dramatic climate events, from hurricanes and typhoons and in california we have our fires. these are all signs that our economy founded on oil and fossil fuel is one that harms life on earth. and it's way past time that we start moving our economy to renewable power, renewable energy generation. we have called upon sfers for five years to do this, take our money out of fossil fuels and
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put in renewables and they have dragged their feet almost all the way, like they have the donald trump administration on the board to deny the fact that the world is becoming harmed every day as we continue to invest in fossil fuels. i want to thank supervisor peskin, supervisor london breed and supervisor malia cohen to continue with the work to make sfers do their part to divest and today we'll see if they're going to move this the way they have had to these five years. it's time to divest, divest now, sfers your time is up, thank you. >> thank you. this has been a tough 24-hours in this building, but president breed said something which is profoundly important, that our relationships have to transcend
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and that number one, it's all about public policy. and with that, under president breed's leadership, we, again, unanimously adopted last year the same resolution that a different board adopted when john was on the board of supervisors. it is my pleasure to introduce on the same policy page, the president of the san francisco board of supervisors, london breed. >> thank you. hi everybody. i'm happy to join many of our environmental leaders and our community members and members of the board of supervisors and everyone who is here today, who is committed to a cleaner planet for future generations. there are many people to thank, but i want to start by thanking supervisor malia cohen, who is a member of the retirement board who has been leading the fight on this divestment at the
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retirement board along with victor macres who is also on the retirement board. thank you both. i want to acknowledge sophie maxwell for her long time work to protect at-risk communities from polluting power plants and i want to thank labor. the members of sciu 10-1 and 350.org for your advocacy and staying on top of the issue and members of the commission of the environment for ongoing advocacy on this measure. san francisco has always been a national and global trail blazer for environmental practices. we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions 28% below 1990 levels, cleaning our air while our
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population was growing and our economy was booming. we have launched our clean power program, clean power sf, the single most important thing we can do to combat climate change and i was proud to lead that initiative here on the board of supervisors. with the enrollment of clean power sf, we're well on our way to achieving the 50% renewable target by 2020 and 100% by 2030. goals that even outpace the ambitious goals set by the state of california. and we're providing reliable energy at great prices. through the work of so many community leaders, we closed the last two fossil fuel plants eight years ago in this city. and we are leading the nation in waste reduction and resource recovery thanks to the recycling and composting programs. we are recovering more than 80%
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of materials from landfill. we are preventing many harmful products from entering our city at off we were the first in the country to ban plastic bags and through legislation i proudly wrote we have the largest styrofoam plan and drug take back program that has kept more than 24,000 pounds of the bay and landfill. that's what we're doing here in san francisco. san francisco has been at the forefront of so many ground breaking environmental issues and today, our retirement board has a chance to make history. we cannot continue investing in companies that pollute our ea h earth. it's time to divest. it's time to divest. it's time to divest. it's time to divest.
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and do so, quickly. washington d.c. may ignore climate change. our president may ignore climate change. but here in san francisco, we are going to put this at the forefront. we're going to make sure that they know we have to make change and we have to make change now. it's not fair to our planet and future generations to come. divest now, do the right thing, let's get this done. thank you for being here today. (applause) >> thank you president london breed and thanks for shouting out sophie maxwell. we had two polluting plants, the hunters point plant that supervisor maxwell led the fight on closing and years later with the incredible work of the city
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attorney's office, the murrant plant was closed. as supervisor breed said at the forefront of this, inside the belly of the beast, supervisor cohen has been a star in making sure that we divest. and that vote is happening shortly. she has to go in a closed session at 11:30. supervisor cohen has been leading that fight and god willing, a little after 1:00 p.m. we'll get that vote. it's still on the bubble but i know malia is going to make that happen. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen, good morning. first, i want to recognize many people that have brought us to this point today. i don't see jed holtsman, he's
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been attending the sf retirement meetings for years. i want to recognize supervisor peskin for bringing this issue to us and lending his voice in the desire to put pressure on the staff to make this vote happen today. and i want to recognize supervisor ovolose, he took an unpopular position early on and i want to appreciate his leadership style, although different from mine. but nonetheless, here we are today. i think it's a testament that you need both moderate and less support to make this happen. it's not a political issue, this is really the right thing to do when we think of the health and wellness of our entire world. i want to recognize the members of siu 10-1 who have spoken in
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two minute intervals. many i had to cut off because your comments were too long but it was good to see you all. and the retirees making the most of their retirement time coming out to support. and i want to recognize the number of staff people to help me and educate me on the importance on this movement and how we can continue to move forward and uplift and recognize our indigenous folks who are here that led the way when they were fighting dapo. there are many people whose shoulders i stand on that we need to recognize. the seriousness of the issue we're going to vote on today is not missed on me. we all know fossil fuels emissions are harming our children and health and doing irrepairable damage to our planet. as a city, we cannot build our pensions on the health and wellbeing of our children and future generations. but divestment is not just a
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moral imperative. this is not just a talking point, a political issue of the day. as a fiduciary member, we have a responsibility, as fiduciary member of the retirement board, i have to make sure every person can retire with dignity, with assurance that their pension is safe and no one is taking a gamble. the investments in fossil fuel endanger that promise. the board of supervisors has repeatedly demanded that staff implement divestment plan and frankly we have no plan. the "engagement strategy" that has probably had a hand in jed holtsman's hair falling out, i think you would agree that
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engagement strategy has been very hard to stomach. the staff has touted the strategy but honestly there's been no accountability. they've had no mandated timeline for any company's responsiveness. i'm getting in the weeds but the retirement board has a process on how they pull back divestments and it's a multi level multi tier response. it's too much pollution. they have not identified an acceptable ratio of returns to emissions. due diligence hasn't been done. the process for evaluating environmental and social risk has been haphazard and inconsistent. as our city continues to pay out money for healthcare and invest in mitigating sea level rise and trying to prevent flooding on
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our streets, we must put our money where our mouth is, we must stand up and shout out. our pension budgets must not exassrbate the issues. we must limit for the safety of our residents and wellbeing of employees, working and retired. i call on my colleagues on the retirement board to join us, take our children's future seriously and finally divest from fossil fuels. ladies and gentlemen, i stand with you, i'm excited and i'm looking forward to casting my vote this afternoon. thank you. (applause) >> thank you supervisor cohen. i want to make a few more shout-outs. first, as we just heard, this is not a conservative issue. this is not a liberal issue, this is not a moderate issue. this is not a progressive issue. this is a moral and financial
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imperative. to that end, supervisor cohen, supervisor breed and myself serve as members of the democratic county central committee and it was our colleague keith boraka that issued it to divest. that passed unanimously. thank you keith for that leadership. thank you to bay.org, fossil free sf, indian people organized for change, next gen america. sf bernie-c.r.a.ts. and last night with incredible
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testimony from victor who talked about the way the investment industry works, about score cards, out of the half a billion dollars that the san francisco employee retirement system has invested in fossil fuels, over 20% of it has not yielded a positive return to the fund. just what supervisor cohen was saying, for five years or more. that's what we call a bad investment. that is a bad investment. this decision can be made as a fiduciary decision and moral imperative as we did around guns and ammunition and tobacco. it makes prudent sense for the retirement system to divest. i want to shout out the commissioners gathered here who took the very bold step and at the department of -- commission of the environment last evening
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voted for full divestment within 180 days. which is a strong demand. thank you commissioners. with that, i would like to bring up isabelle sezie who is a young leader, a grassroots leader and thank you isabelle for being here and thank you for your work. >> good morning relatives. i come from the northern tribes. i'm 23 years-old and live on occupied territory. i want to first pay acknowledge to the people of the land we do
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stand on because indigenous voices, indigenous rights and sovereignty is important to remember and acknowledge. i am a member of idle no more sf bay. sfd fund dapo coalition and defending mother earth treaty. i want to start by saying we welcome the pension board and seiu public sector members to join our ranks as water protectors. the vote to defund is critical. it's critical to protecting the water. the divestment vote and movement in san francisco has been initiated and fostered by long standing grassroots, indigenous advocacy throughout turtle island and mobilizing groups that have fought long and hard for this moment today.
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we have seen and continue to see the violation of indigenous rights and the threats to our water. all of the sacred systems of life. the standoff at standing rock to stop the dakota access pipeline is not over and it's just the beginning. to show that the many other standing rocks around the world that we are not afraid to stand up to big oil and to divest. the assault on mother earth is real. the climate crisis is real. and all who are living in those yet to be born need clean air, clean water and clean soil. and we need to remember that. we all need clean air, clean water and clean soil to live a healthy and sufficient life here on mother earth. and i want to thank the san francisco board for hearing us out and responding to the
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frontline call to divest from fossil fuel projects and the investments. and last, i want you all to know that my generation, the next seven generations and all our non human relatives, we thank you for this and we will be completely relived of any hardships and i send my best regards to the vote in favor for us to divest completely of fossil fuel projects and infrastructure, expansions and any investments because we all know we need to keep it in the ground. keep the oil in the ground, keep fossil fuels in the ground and divest. thank you. (applause) >> thank you for those profound words. before i introduce the final
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speaker, i want to say that all aspects of our government minus the sfers board, at least until 1:00 this afternoon, are on the same page and i want to shout out our city attorney who has initiated some of the most ground breaking litigation against some of the largest fossil fuel polluters in the united states of america. and the reason i bring that up, because as cities and states start this kind of litigation, these investments become more and more risky. these become stranded assets and i speak to you not only as a member of the board of supervisors but as a member of the california coastal commission, where last year more emergency permits were applied for because of sea level rise, king tides, beaches being buried
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under the sea, than any previous year. as we just heard, this is real. we would not be here without the strong support of labor advocates. sciu 10-1 have led on the fight and they take it personally because many are vested pensions invested in the risky big oil assets. thank you joseph bryant, thank you martha hawthorne. with that, my friend joseph bryant. >> who is ready to divest in fossil fuels? >> we are! >> we're not in the chamber. i want to hear noise. who is ready to divest in dirty fossil fuels? >> we are! >> that's right. i'm the regional vice president of sciu 10-1.
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we represent in san francisco over 15,000 city workers who are vested in the city's pension fund and we're urging the board of retirement to divest in dirty fossil fuels now. i want to give a huge shout out to everyone who has played an important role in this, it's been a village that has come together to help move this. thank you former supervisor ovolose, supervisor peskin, supervisor cohen, president breed. and the commission on the environment for your resolution pass last evening. thank you very much and i would be remissed without acknowledging our retirees here who have broken their backs to ensure this is a priority for sciu 10-1, particularly david page, melissa hawthorne and many others here who have led the fight. with this, we have reached the
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point of insanity. it's a bad investment. we're losing money on this investment and destroying our communities and we still have to spend our time, energy and effort here to fight for it. what is going on. this is absolutely insane. with all the challenges we're facing right now from the federal level, from throughout this country, we're having to spend our time in the most progressive city in the country to fight for a very basic concept, to do the right thing, divest in fossil fuels. we're here for that and we're not just asking to say do it eventually. we want a timeline. we want something real. we need something real. so please join us today sciu 10-1, again adamant supporter, we'll be up there in the chamber
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causing whatever ruckus we need to to ensure it happens. thank you very much. >> all right. let's keep it real, let's make it real at 1:00 p.m., at 1145 market street on the sixth floor is the meeting. i hope all of us will be there sitting in the audience ready to testimony. and with that, martha hawthorne leading us in a few chants. ♪ >> look at that beautiful jellyfish. the way to speak to students and
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motivate them to take action, to save the planet, they do, they care and my job is to speak to them in a way that they can understand that touches their heart and makes them feel powerful with simple actions to take every day. ♪ ♪ >> i was born and raised in the desert of palm springs, california. my dad was the rabbi in the community there. what i got from watching my father on stage talking to the community was learning how to be in the public. and learning how to do public speaking and i remember the first time i got up to give my first school assembly, i felt my dad over my shoulder saying pause for drama, deliver your
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words. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a teacher. and then when i got into high school, i decided i wanted to get into advertising and do graphic art and taglines and stuff like that. by the time i was in college, i decided i wanted to be a decorator. but as i did more work, i realized working my way up meant a lot of physical labor. i only had so much energy to work with for the rest of my life and i could use that energy towards making a lot of money, helping someone else make a lot of money or doing something meaningful. i found the nonprofit working to save the rainforest was looking for volunteers. i went, volunteered and my life changed. suddenly everything i was doing had meaning. stuffing envelopes had meaning, faxing out requests had meaning. i eventually moved up to san
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francisco to work out of the office here, given a lot of assembly through los angeles county and then came up here and doing assemblies to kids about rainforest. one of my jobs was to teach about recycle, teaching students to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, i'm teaching them they have the power, and that motivates them. it was satisfying for me to work with for the department of environment to create a message that gets to the heart of the issue. the san francisco department of environment is the only agency that has a full time educational team, we go into the schools to help teach children how to protect nature and the environment. we realized we needed animal mascot to spark excitement with the students.
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the city during the gold rush days, the phoenix became part of the city feel and i love the symbolism of the phoenix, about transformation and the message that the theme of the phoenix provides, we all have the power to transform our world for the better. we have to provide teachers with curriculum online, our curriculum is in two different languages and whether it's lesson plans or student fact sheets, teachers can use them and we've had great feedback. we have helped public and private schools in san francisco increase their waste use and students are working hard to sort waste at the end of the lunch and understand the power of reusing, reducing, recycling and composting.
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>> great job. >> i've been with the department for 15 years and an environmental educator for more than 23 years and i'm grateful for the work that i get to do, especially on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. i try to use my voice as intentionally as possible to suppo support, i think of my grandmother who had a positive attitude and looked at things positively. try to do that as well in my work and with my words to be an uplifting force for myself and others. think of entering the job force as a treasure hunt. you can only go to your next clue and more will be revealed. follow your instincts, listen to your gut, follow your heart, do what makes you happy and pragmatic and see where it takes you and get to the next place.
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trust if you want to do good in this world, that food in san fr just about expensive eat but food for everyone and there's organizations in the city that are doing really good work making sure that healthy food it assessable to everyone. more and more as follows are are becoming interested in upper arlthd they want to joy the open green pace sea know where their food it coming from we'll look at 3 programs talking ushering agricultural and garden to new heights. so what exactly it, your honor agricultural >> it the growing food or
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flowers within city limits traditionally we've been referring to communities gardener that is a raised bed over and over upper argument has a more a farming way of farming. >> so tell me 0 what's growing in this garden. >> a really at all plant. in the one of the rare places, you know, people have access to green space 24 is one of the places to grow things like the purple floor. it is sort of recognizing that the more diversity in given space the better not to just have one thing by everything
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supported each another >> it provides the community with an opportunity to get their hands dirty and reach 0 out and congressmen with the community in ways they might have not otherwise to engage with one other. >> now the dpw urban planning program so see how the garden community. >> so i grew up on a farm in air force base we picked the foods open the trees and share with other families and as i drive around san francisco i see any trees with apples or mrumdz and lemon trees i can see the food going to waste and brought that idea back to the department many of the trees where the fruit would go to waste we origin or crop and pick other
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fruits and delivery this to food banks or shelters to people who need them. >> i'm here with nang wong hello nang. >> hello. >> i need to understand house this gleaning work. >> we come and harvest like for example, we'll come over here this is the lemon and plug it like this. >> (laughter). >> made that good, good and ease. >> the trick is how not to hurt the branches. >> like the thing. >> i'm so excited about this. the people are so passionate about where the food goes to the
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private property owners give us the food they're happy that no of a t is going to waste >> oh. thank you. thank you. again job aura natural >> (laughter). >> from backyards to back lots let's take a look at the food and community bonding at the free farm. >> my idea was to start growing food and giving it away. and getting my neighbors to who had space and having a kind of event that brings people together not to run our food program this time around but to share the wealth of the
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abundance of our welfare. we were all divorce and as part of our philosophy of working together and working together. >> what's the most rewarding aspect of volunteering for the free farm stand. >> well, we could is a generalic satisfaction but something about giving food away it's giving something i brought that in and sort it and gave it to you it's primitive to be able to give something some basically to someone else. >> now serving number to 49 come on down. >> we have the capability of producing this food and in san francisco you can grow food all year round so the idea we're capable of prougdz food in our
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own backyards we're here to demonstrate an bans of food and i think that giving it away for free we show individuals it in have to be a comedy. >> we build time together and it's the strength of any ideas of the connections we'll turn that connection and the more connections you make no mistake about it the more you can have a stronger power and not have to rely on money that's the people power. >> in this episode we've seen the urban farms and gardens provide more in fruits and
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vegetation people can have the special produce available it can be a place to give back by donating food to others and teach our children the connection to the earth and environment it's truly >> san francisco, the most beautiful city on the planet. let me take a moment to introduce myself. my name is kimmy, and you listen to me every morning on the morning dream team. it is a pleasure to be
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