italian-american mayors, who led san francisco through momentous times. mayor angelo rossi, first mayor of 100% italian descent to manage a major u.s. city. mayor joseph aliotto, steered the city through the 1960s and 1970s, and through projects like bart and transamerica. mayor george mascone fought to keep the san francisco giants here. congresswoman nancy pelosi became the first woman to serve as speaker of the house of representatives in 2007. those who live, work or visit san francisco are fortunate to experience traces of the earliest contributions and creations of san francisco italian culture in businesses, shops, daily lives throughout

north beach. every time i'm in north beach, i'm reminded of my great uncle and aunt who met in north beach. he was a fixture there in the '50s and '60s and she was the bell evidence secretary at the grammar school. they were both so proud of their italian heritage and i hope they would be proud of the steps we're taking here today. i want to thank the coalition of italian-american organizations and lorenzo ortono. i also want to thank supervisor peskin that represents north beach. this ordinance seeks to honor all italians for past and present contributions to san francisco and it seems to recognize the rich heritage of italian-americans and to celebrate their im measurable contributions on the second

monday of october for generations to come. colleagues, i have a resolution i'm introducing today supporting the march for our lives that commends students for their effort to demand common sense gun laws and safety measures. on february 14, 14 students and three staff members were tragically killed. we lost aaron feis, football coach. christopher hixon, 49, school's athletic director, husband and father. alisa alodette, star soccer player. martin ducay, 14 years old, immigrant from mexico.

jamie gutenberg, age 14. loved to dance. luke hoyer, admire stephen curry. gina montoto, a member of the color guard team. joaquin oliver, immigrant from venezuela that became a naturalized citizen in january, 2017. elena petty, junior rotc, helped after hurricane irma's devastation. peter wang, rotc member. peter pollack, future college student. helena ramsey, 17, champion in academics. and both the school marching band and orchestra.

this was the 18th school shooting in the first 43 days of 2018. following this terrible tragedy, the surviving students have organized to take action and are demanding that their leggors -- legislators take on common sense gun reform. these students have organize and will lead the march for their lives here on march 4, 1:00 p.m. they've invited students to plan satellite marches and students here have answered that call. it's a show of support of the students here and throughout the university who have said, enough. their call to action for not one more seriously brings tears to my eyes. not one more child shot at school. not one more teacher, who has to make the choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to

save the lives of their students. not one more family who has to wait for a text or a call that never comes. these students have said that they will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of school shootings that's become all too familiar. it's time for us, the adults, to take a stand and let their voices be heard. i want to thank the brave students in san francisco from my district and other districts for reaching out to me and i want you to know that we stand with you in solidarity. i have one more in memoriam. for ming chapin. ming was born in new york city and grew up in cold spring harbor, long island. she moved to san francisco and lived in the same apartment in pacific heights for 32 years. living across the street from lafayette park, ming fell in love with the beauty and many friends she made there with her

dog. they were daily fixtures in the park. ming started dog tree in the park, installing strings of lights on the tree asking park friends to decorate it with photos of their dogs around the holidays. it's continued ever since and is a holiday tradition in lafayette park. it will continue in the future with the passing of the decorations to a close friend and dog walker. ming was involved with the friends of lafayette park. ming's heart and soul were in lafayette park and she's been honored there in several small groups since her passing. she will be greatly missed, but her spirit will live on in the contributions she's made to lafayette park and the city. the rest i submit. >> supervisor breed: thank you. we have one commendation today and i would like to turn this

over to supervisor malia cohen. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i'm not sure if the group is in the chamber today. i'm looking for representative from willie brown. okay. make yourself known, sir. this afternoon, i want to present this beautiful stack of commendations to a group of young people that we're honoring that are incredible advocates and very important change agents. they have rolled up their sleeves and worked toward a solution. students were upset about the unfair reality of their

environment. particularly about healthy food choices. 8th grade students said, "we're in a food desert. that means we have liquor stores around and not grocery stores." this reality is the outcome of assumptions that certain communities don't like to eat fresh foods. this manifests in food retail red lining, which is the oversaturation of liquor stores and fast food. the six members of the black student union researches the effects of junk food in their community. they won first place and a cash prize at the statewide black minds matter competition.

their report, called "good eats unwrapped" found that the consumption of junk food like cookies, cakes, chips and soda affect the way students learn and behave and contributes to littering. so the report found that the issue affects our schools and contributes to the health issues within the african-american communities of the united states. what may taste good may not be good for you. valuable lesson in that. and also noting that you are what you eat. so eat to live and not live to eat. these are quotes pulled from the report. not only are the students engaging in advocacy and data collection, they're investigating questions that sit

at the intersection of health and environmental justice for the immediate school environment and the community. as a member of this board, who has been an advocate, i'm beyond impressed by the work of the young people and grateful that they have advisors and instructors that believe in them, support their work, and has taken the time to empower the young leaders who desire to see change in a neighborhood. so today, it's my great honor to recognize the hard work and fast action of these young people. understandably, the students were unable to attend the board meeting because they're middle school students in the middle of their school day and they're preparing for black history month celebration. so as an fyi, that's tonight at 2055 silver avenue, willie brown

middle school, 4 cra:00 to 7:00. here to accept, principal brown. please share a couple of remarks with us. thank you. >> as you mentioned, on behalf of the school, i'm here to accept the award. the students were beyond excited to know they were being acknowledged on this level. several of them were trying to pull my coat tail on the way out, but i had another meeting before this, so couldn't bring them along. we are beyond grateful and appreciate this award. [applause]

>> supervisor breed: thank you, principal brown, and convey to the students that we're all very proud of them. thank you so much. >> will do. thank you, again. >> supervisor breed: that was our only commendation for today, so we'll return to roll call for introductions. >> clerk: we'll begin with supervisor yee. >> supervisor yee: thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, today i along with my co-sponsors, supervisors sandra fewer and hillary ronen introducing the implementation ordinance for immigrant parent right to vote act that san francisco voters approved in november, 2016, elections. through the passage, it gave all

parents a voice on the school board elections. and it has been shown that greater parent participation is a key element to raising achievement. voting in the school board election is one of the critical ways that parents are involved in their children's education. and more deeply invested in our communities. immigrant voting is a tradition that goes back to the founding of our country and for the first 150 years of our nation's history, 40 states and territories allowed immigrants to vote and even hold office. in fact, the u.s. supreme court has repeatedly said that citizenship is not required to vote. the ordinance i'm introducing today provides for a comprehensive outreach and education in 48 different languages around the process of

voting as well as potential risks that may arise as a result of immigrant parents registering to vote. it requires the department of elections to maintain on the website a list of nonprofit organizations that specializes in protecting the rights of immigrants. prospective voters will be encouraged to consult with them before voting so they know their rights as well as risks and can make fully informed decisions. we will work to ensure that all potential voters are fully educated involving this process. i would like to thank the director of the department of elections and deputy city attorney white for helping us through the process the lions' share goes to the

organizations that have worked tirelessly to accomplish this for our immigrant students, and ideals for civic participation. i would like to thank the following, that have spent significant time to draft this legislation. jonathan stein, ho may pang, kevin bogas and annabelle kingwo kingwood. eva hobach. norma garcia, mission economic agency. ron hayduck. and cathy coe from the university of san francisco. i also want to thank my

co-sponsors, supervisor sandra fewer, who got the ball rolling by drafting the immigrant parent right to vote act. i look forward to your support. the second item i want to introduce today, i would like to be calling on the children's council. it's the children's fund and public education enrichment fund, prop c in 2014. it was important to me and many others that in addition to the reauthorization of these funds that we align efforts across the city in partnership with departments, school district and community with the goal to promote coordination, increase

accessibility and enhance effectiveness for programs with children, youth and families the council's work is critical and because we're starting to lose one of the most important assets, families and children, i wanted an update from the council's work. it's been several years now. as a city, we must continue to ensure that our leadership, departments, school district and community work is coordinated and aligned to increase the efficien efficiency, address gaps in services and our children's council framework was approved in 2016 and this hearing is an opportunity to have the council present on their implemented strategies and plans to best meet the unmet needs of our city's families the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor.

president breed? >> supervisor breed: i have three in memorials. the first, ted cohen. he's the father of martha cohen, a city employee. mr. cohen died peacefully in his home on february 18, the day before his 93rd birthday, surrounded by his family. born february 19, 1925, in chicago, mr. cohen was drafted into the army at age 18, where he served his country with distinction until he retired from military service in 1970. mr. cohen attended the university of illinois and northwestern school of journalism. after attending college in 1950, he bravely volunteered to return to active duty. and while on assignment in

germany, he met his wife, harriet, who he was married to for 64 years. mr. cohen was a lover of model railroads, world history, good friends, and good food. he was a loving man, survived by his wife, harriet, daughters, son, and daughter-in-law, and grandsons. mr. cohen was dearly loved and took great care of his family. he served his country honorably and will be truly missed the second in memoriam i have is for dennis o'sullivan, who is -- who passed away unexpectedly last week on february 18. a native san franciscan and first generation irish-american.

mr. o'sullivan was a creative businessman. he started his own towing company and then was a retail clerk, at lucky stores the past 30 years. known for his smile, love of the outdoors and harley davidsons. he will be missed by his friends and family here and in ireland. colleagues, my third and final in memoriam is for someone who i'm sure everyone on this board knows and loved dearly, ms. sharon hewitt. i know my colleagues will probably want to say a few words about sharon. i've pretty much known sharon my entire life. we called her aunty and others called her grandma. she was someone who was a

devoted mother, grandmother, and even a devoted great-grandmother, a mentor, teacher, activist. someone who cared about people and cared about the city deeply. she was a founder and executive director of the community leadership academy and emergency response project, clear. this program helped youth and their families directly affected by violence in their neighborhood. she did everything she could to encourage young people to pursue higher education and get involved in shaping their community for the better. when i was struggling with a decision of whether to go away to spellman college or u.c. davis, she basically pointed a finger in my chest and told me, i better go to u.c. davis. and that's just sharon. that's her personality. she didn't discuss the options.

she told you what to do. and she was forceful. i remember one time when we had this big argument about something in the community and we were yelling and screaming and people thought we were about to come to blows. we were fighting and fussing and i was so mad and she was so mad. and she walked away and i walked away. and she said, come here and give me a hug. and i just gave her a hug. what do you do after someone like sharon, who, again, is so passionate and cares so much and so deeply, someone who basically wears her heart on her sleeves and loves people and loves her community. she's someone that i argued with on a regular basis. someone who i hugged on a regular basis. someone who was an absolute jewel in our community and she led by example.

she didn't hesitate, whether you asked her or not, to share her advice and her wisdom about just her life and her struggles and things she went through because what was most important is trying to help change and save lives and she didn't want people to go through some of the challenges that she went through. it was that love, along with her tireless advocacy and fierce dedication to san francisco and its communities that would shape so many lives of our future leaders and current leaders 1 san francisco. she cared about everyone around her. she challenged everyone around her. and ofrt oftentimes would push envelope and make people uncomfortable, uncomfortable in feeling that everything was okay when there was so much that needed to be done. she was loved by so many and she will be truly missed. and i know supervisor cohen,

supervisor safai and supervisor kim join me in this memoriam. so i would like to acknowledge -- well, supervisor yee, so maybe perhaps on the entire board, we can do it without objection and adjourn the meeting in her recommend my. supervisor kim? supervisor yee? >> supervisor yee: thank you, president breed, for your words about ms. hewitt. i think you probably said it best, better than i can. your description of her is spot-on. she pulls no punches and so over the years, when i was running my organization, i was able to have the opportunity to work with sharon on a few projects. whatever project she put her

mind to, it would be successful. i remember getting to know her, i said, we have centers in certain areas and a couple of end centers in the tenderloin in which we have mixed cultural families. and i went to her and said, you know something, i really want to open up a center in which i could serve not only the chinese americans there, but also the african-americans and trying to bring groups together. because to me, the best way to start it is at early ages in preschool. and i said, i don't know where to start with that. i know i could get the resources to help the families, but i don't have a center. and what she did was not

something that i was expecting. i said, i know how to do this. let's go to the housing authority. and let's build something. i said, okay. i'll find the money. we'll build it. and i told her, i'm not too sure about working with the housing authority at the time. she said, don't worry. i trusted her and lo and behold, after 1 1/2 years, we were able to build a center there for about 80 kids. so that's her legacy from my memory. that she was just a wonderful mentor. she was my mentor also. >> supervisor breed: thank you, supervisor yee. supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: thank you. i wanted to share a few words

about sharon hewitt, who many of us called mama hewitt or grandpa hewitt. [please stand by]

>> it was really difficult to watch sharon take on so much, so much pain and hurt and guilt for every single baby of hers that she lost, and so really embrace so mappy different families. london talked about sharon yelling and screaming and cursing, and i've definitely been the target of that, as well. and she never let you know if you didn't commit to bringing contributions and holiday gifts to all of her families at clear every holiday season. sometimes i used to dread her phone calls because i knew she

would just yell for a very long time. but at the end of every single call, like president breed said, she always told you that she loved you, and that she knew you would deliver, and she was proud to live in the city. sharon eventually moved in the tenderloin, and she switched gears, and she basically became a community grandmother to all of our filipino arab american, muslim american, latino families, and i saw a few weeks ago and visited her. ve she signed one of my forms, and she was in top form. she had just gotten out of the hospital, and she was sick. she knew there was not much time left, but she was still telling people what to do. which families needed which vegetables from the roof top

garden that she tended. she continued to run so many events in the tenderloin neighborhood, making sure that all the organizers and families were in sync, building for stores in the tenderloin and converting them from liquor stores. i had actually called her fwo weeks ago because she was my first choice to be an honoree for black history month in february . i called her a few times, and she said you really need to honor the next generation. she's like, we've done our work. i'm hoping you can really honor someone in the next generation, that she didn't need the accolades. i really miss sharon. i really miss you. i just want to thank you so much for being a role model. losing you and rose pack in the last two years has been hard. you taught young women how

important it was to speak up, and to fight book, and to fight hard. i just want to thank you for agitating for a better scity every single day, and literally giving your body and all to our communities. >> thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor peskin? skbl i think all of the supervisors have said all of the profound things about sharon, but we had the same birthday. she would call me year in and year out, call and wish me a happy birthday. the rest of the year, you would never know when she would call, because she was watching from afar. when you would mess up, she would call and let you know in no uncertain terms. when i was chair of the san francisco democratic party, she realized i was going to have a vacancy, before i realize it, and she would tell me who i was

going to appoint to that spot, and i would just do it. thank you, sharon. we'll miss her terribly. >> thank you, supervisor peskin. >> thank you, president breed for me to have an opportunity to thank publicly sharon's contributions. i've had a chance over the last week to reflect on all the money gifts that she's given me personally, as well as what she's given personally to the city and county of san francisco. she was an incredible woman, truly a force to be reckoned with, and i also personally want to express my thanks inform heto her family, who have suffered a great loss. i know she loved district six, but i think it's safe to say a lot of her heart was in sunnyvale. it was ground zero of her work really started, and i recall when i was just a candidate,

late nights, coaching me. she was not a morning person, and would keep you on the telephone for hours into the evenings, coaching, mentoring, chastising, all of the above, of what it meant to be in service and how to change your language, and how when you change language, you change your thinking, and to move away from the i and move more into the collective we, and so there are many elevelessons that i'v learned and i'm truly grateful for the tremendous amount of opportunity i had from here. i want to let dede know that we will continue to support her children and grandchildren throughout this ordeal. want to honor her ex-husband, chet, who has also suffered a profound loss. this is a profound transition that we're in, when you think about the sudden loss of life

of rose pack, of mayor lee, and now of sharon hewitt. this is a tremendous transition time from the old guard to the new guard, and i would implore my colleagues here and the colleagues that are out in the field and on the front line in the resistance to remember and to lean onto those teachings that our elders have given us. thank you. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor cohen, and each and every one of you for adjourning the meeting in sharon's honor. dede, you are loved, and we will be there for you. and also, i just want to let everyone know, the funeral service will be this coming monday at 11:00 at third baptist church. yes. so the last item i have is i just wanted to invite everyone

out to celebrate the end of black history month. yes, i know it went by really fast, and here we are. tomorrow's the last day, and every year, supervisor cohen and i, we host a black history month celebration in the rotunda. it will begin at 5:30. it will go until 9:30. there will be performances and speeches and food from african american restaurants here in san francisco. it's just a way to invite the community in to city hall and celebrate the rich history and culture of the african american community here in the city and county of san francisco, and you all are invited. at the very much. the rest i submit. >> thank you, madam president. given that it is 3:08, madam president. >> okay. >> did you want to call the special order at 3:00 p.m. or keep going with roll call? >> so we're going to finish up

roll call and come back to our 3:00 p.m. special order. >> thank you, madam president. supervisor cohen? >> thank you very much. i have an inmemoriam i'd like to offer on behalf of my very good friend kimberly smith who just recently lost her father. mr. howard eugene smith, age 78 years old of yucca valley passed away peacefully in his home, and he passed away of natural causes on february 28, 2018. he was a graduate from edison high school in fresno. he lived an incredible life. he spent many years working as a professional musician. he went back to school and obtained a nursing degree from mount san antonio college which was located in walnut, cleveland. he obtained a bachelor of chiropractic from cleveland college, and he ran his business as a chiropractic

doctor for over 23 years. howard lived an accomplished life with interests and talents from being a guitarist who played on occasion with artists like james brown and ike and tina turner. he was a motorcycle aficionado and often took apart and rebuilt his harley davidson bikes from the ground up. he was preceded in his by his mother, mother, wife, brother and sister. he's survived by a whole host of family members: children, his children, many cousins, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. six great -- grandchildren and five great grandchildren. his services will be held at 11:00 a.m. at community baptist church in fresno, california. this is in loving memory of howard eugene smith.

>> thank you, supervisor. supervisor fewer? spie supervisor kim? >> theank you. i also have an inmemoriam and that is jessica smith. she was an accomplished artist, an accomplished pianist, who live index rincon hill for the last 25 years. she attended the berkeley college of music in boston, receiving a bachelor's degree and performance art. she's a classically trained concert pianist who knew how to play bach by heart, and she recorded for a and m records. she moved to hollywood in 1980 as new wave, goth, and punk and

synth pop was starting. while she was a contemporary with cyndi la u9d per -- lauper and gwen stefani, neil young wrote a song about her, an unknown urban legend in 1992, where he wrote somewhere on a long highway, she rides a harley davidson, her lock hair flying in the wind. she appeared in many magazines and was featured in a coffee table book, chicks on bikes, and starred under her stage name, goth girl in a discovery channel movie, motorcycle women, and she wrote the sound track to that movie. she was the founder of devil

dolls, the first female motorcycle club in the country in 1999, and she had a profound influence in her community. she did not feel that she did politics, but she did culture. while she lived in rincon hills, she became an environmental activist at the neighborhood, fighting to save trees in the city, and in this endeavor, she was often successful in working with our office in rec and parks in a major redesign of a $3.5 million pocket park, which was directly across the street from her residence. her profound influence on modern culture, women, musician style will endure and far outlast us, and i want to recognize matthew steen, the partner she leaves behind, and her family. the rest i smith. >> thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor he is pin? >> thank you. madam clerk, colleagues, today i'm asking for a motion to convene a committee of the

whole between the board of supervisors and the san francisco ethics commission on april 3rd in order to consider and with any luck, finally adopt the sweeping reform to our council member paampaign f conflict of interest codes. i don't believe the circumstances have ever been more pressing for us to do this than now. for the past two years, the ethics commission has pursued broad finance reform to regulate independ dent super pacs, and other conflict of interest issues pertaining to developers and city contractors. on february 16, the ethics took the step to pass the torch to the board of supervisors and now it is our job to finally pass these reforms. while third party soft money pours into unregulated campaigns, we have an opportunity to shed light on that hidden economy and to enhance the public's trust in the work that we do in this

building and in these chambers. i look forward to this discussion and to collaborating with our ethics commission to passing the sweeping rebuttal to unrestricted campaign financing since the supreme court's decision, citizens united. this morning at the transportation board meeting, i announced your support, a tax to meet the city's growing need. there are things we can be doing to impose if equity at the local tax. i've been working with the city attorney because san francisco's now in a situation where we are catching up to the common sense tax structures that many states and localities have already imposed as a result in the changes in behavior. with the growing population and impacts to match, san francisco

is constantly searching for a revenue tool that is equitiable. this would be a general tax for the november november ballot, and i look forward to working with each of you in the days and weeks ahead to strengthen it. in addition, i'm introducing a resolution urging our state legislation to introduce a law allowing san francisco to impose a fee to pay for the structure, our city streets, which are badly in neat of improvement. finally, i have several in memoria that i would like to submit and ask the board meeting to be adjourned. first for sigfried hessie, a remarkable attorney who graduated from bolt hall in 1950, and was instrumental in defending that the -- the 800 individuals that the california

university system brought in the free speech movement. my condolences to his widow, sarah, his son, eric, his daughter, andrea, his daughter, renata, and his daughter, ca carla. i'd like to adjourn the meeting in memory of -- [ inaudible ] next village, the movement that was taking care of folks ageing in place. she will be sorely missed. very courageous woman, and my condolences to her husband harvey and a community who misses her. finally, certainly, not least, my friend of some 20 years, norman tyler larson passed away peacefully in the presence of his family last week, on

february 20th. he was a fourth generation san franciscan who unlike the previous two individuals that we are -- that i'm adjourning for, was not a lefty. he -- he was a remarkable person who really kind of reached across lines. i -- in the late 1990's, was trying to preserve the columbo building and didn't know what i was doing and wrote an article in the first examiner, and he somehow managed to find my phone number and asked if ecocontribute that cause, and he helped us through the effort to save the columbo, number 1 columbus avenue, which has since been restored. and i want to thank him for that. he had a zztop white beard, and in 198 0, bought 557 haight an

ashbury, that corner where the grateful dead were photographed in that s e -- picture. in 2006, asked the supervisor to landmark as the doolen-larson residents and storefront landmark in 253, which later in 2011, he got registered on the national registry of historic places. he was a proud day guy who took me on my first day bar crawl in 2000 when i was running for supervisor, which was funny because i was a lefty, and he was a proud conservative. my condolences to cisteve, christine, amy, lucille, emma,

and claire, ed olson and marilyn olson, and stay tuned for a large celebration of life honoring norm hopefully to occur during the spring. i just want to say he was an incredible historic preservationist, and donations can be made in his honor to san francisco heritage, of which he was a proud member for many decades. and i will submit the rest. >> thank you, supervisor ronen? >> the first is a resolution of the case janus versus afsme. groups supporting the antiunion side include americans for

prosperity foundation, and the american legislative exchange council, known as alec. clearly, this move is part of the trump agenda's overall and part of a right wing strategy that is seeking to use the amendment as a weapon against government protections. the case follows a similar case that the supreme court heard calls fr e drichs versus california conservative association. when late justice scalia passed away, the vote was left at a tie. we now expect that the new supreme court justice, neil gorsuch will deliver the win. so what's exactly at stake in this case? this case could decimate unions by greatly reducing the dues that you know downs collect,

severely limiting protections. according to the bureau of labor stratsticks, union membership has been steadily declining and has lost 2.9 million members since 1983. organized probusiness efforted have expedited the decline of unions. janus is part of this assault. this is a critical moment in our labor movement, and i believe we need to take action in san francisco now to forestall the impact of a negative decision. this resolution affirms that the city and county of san francisco supports of freedom of all city employees to exercise their voice and dignity on their job in joining together in strong unions. it also urges the mayor and department of human resources to engage in good faith discussions with the city's union, to implement a gold card

memory bes membership. it would provide annual membership commitments, and city labor contracts would ensure adequate release times for union rank and file leaders to communicate to members and nonmembers the implications of a negative janus members, and to encourage membership to their city colleagues and employees. it is time for us to stand in solidarity with our unions. i want to thank local 21, suif 1021 for partnering with my office on this resolution. i will be asking the department of human resources about this during our up coming closed session, and i'd also like to thank my cosponsors of this resolution for their support. secondly, i also have an in

memoriam today for a woman named alice. i'm very filled with sadness over the fact that alice passed away this past saturday. she was a 65-year-old homeless woman who had been living on the sidewalk in front of the burger king at 16th and mission for at least the past three years. she died saturday at 11:45 p.m. at st. francis hospital. according to the floor nurse at st. francis, her final hours were peaceful, but she sadly did pass alone. i never would have gotten to know alice if i hadn't been working to clean the b.a.r.t. plaza every week with b.a.r.t. commission director. we -- whether it was raining or freezing or a beautiful day, alice was always sitting in a chair in front of the burger king, knitting surrounded by

her belongings, a big suitcase, overflowing with her possessions. we called her alice, but we learned later her name was alicia gonzalez and that she was born in the philippines and had a dual citizenship in the united states and philippines. i alerted a volunteer to my office about alice's situation, and she eventually became a daily visitor to alices place on the sidewalk, hoping to persuade her to take the offers of shelter by various city agencies. there were several nights alice insisted on staying out in the pouring rain evening on thanksgiving. finally on a morning in december, alice was even more sulliv vulnerable because her shopping cart with all her belongings had been stolen the night before. after a day long effort by multiple agencies in the city, she finally took our pleads to

go inside and started at a drop-in center. then, she finally allowed medical workers to assess her, and unfortunately was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and accepted supportive housing at a mission district sro. there she was followed by a primary transition team, a primary care doctor, and visited by ann who reported back to me almost daily with his condition. alice retained her dignity and strong will toward the very end. she had a very likeable personality. she was feisty. she was a person who had dreams, plans, preferences, needs, perconnection and so much more. her tragic story teaches us that we have many ways to improve in this city in terms of our system of care, and that's something i will continue to work on, holding her close in my heart and mind as i do so.

i also want to thank heather knight for recording on her compelling case. it meant a lot to me to look at the paper this morning and see her face on the front page of the bay area section, and the fact that so many of us were going to acknowledge her existence, her story, her life, and her passing. i also want to acknowledge and thank ann gallagher in our office, who made sure that alice's last months were spent with dignity in a warm bed and receiving quality medical care, but most importantly, that she had someone by her side every day who she considered a friend and in fact called ann her best friend. the rest i submit. >> thank you, supervisor. supervisor safai. >> i just have a couple brief remarks. first, i want to commend supervisor stefani for leading on the italian heritage day resolution, working with supervisor cohen, supervisor peskin. we have a rich tradition in my

district of many, many proud italian americans. they are the every day working people. they're the front lines of this city's workforce. they are the descendants of many of the people named in this great city, helped to build this city, so thank you for leading on that. i also just want to add a couple of words to sharon hewitt's passing. sharon was actually one of the very first people i met on my first day of work at the housing authority. we battled every day. some of you might not believe, but i might have rubbed sharon the wrong way a few times, and she let me know about it every step of the way, but one of the proudest things i was involved in with her and president breed and i had this in common was we were both trying to build a recording studio. i was building a recording studio in sunni -- sunnyvale,

and president breed was building another one at the same time. she went out of her way to prove how tough she was, and she went out of her way to prove it on a daily basis. but once you won her over, she was your mentor for life. i was proud to have been -- worked with her on the front lines out in sunnydale with daily gun shots and people diing. she was a front line person, and she had no fear. she would get in the biggest and strongest person's face, and she would also be the most gentle person in the same breath. the last way i remembered her is after she started to clear, she started this angels program, where during the holidays, she would ask you to come in and she would pair you up with a family that did not have the means to buy presents for their children. and when i was out campaigning

this last time to be elected to this office, i bumped into the person that she paired me up with. and the woman was standing there on the corner with me out in front of the balboa b.a.r.t. station, and she said it was so good that sharon was able to connect us. my daughter still talks about that to this day. so sharon truly was an angel in this city, and dedicated and as supervisor kim said, truly gave her life, and you could see her begin to wither because how much she internalized all the different things she was involved in. she was a warrior, she was a leader, and she was someone that i considered a friend, and i'm proud to consider myself her mentee. i'm proud to be adjourning this meeting in her honor. the rest, i submit. >> thank you, supervisor safai. supervisor cohen, you asked to be rerefered. >> thank you. so colleagues, i have two other

pieces of legislation that i'd like to discuss. [please stand by for captioner switch]