>> good afternoon. welcome to the board of

supervisors meeting for tuesday, april 17th, 2018. madam clerk, please call the roll. [ roll call ] >> thank you, major. ladies and gentlemen. please join us in the pledge of allegiance.

[ pledge of allegiance ] >> thank you. madam clerk, are there any communications. >> there are none to report. >> colleagues, we're approving the minutes from march 13th, 2018. is there a motion to approve those minutes? moved by supervisor kim. seconded by supervisor stefani. without objection, those meeting minutes will be passed after public comment. please read the consent agenda. >> 1 through 23 are on consent. they're routine, if a member objects, it may be removed and considered separately. >> roll call item on 1 through 23. supervisor fewer. >> aye.

>> kim. >> aye. >> peskin. >> aye. >> there are 11 ayes. >> those are adopted unanimously. >> item 24, the amount of 1.1 million to public works to fund a street and sidewalk cleaning pilot enhancement project in fiscal years 2017 through 2018. >> roll call item. [ roll call ]

>> there are 6 ayes and 5 nos n. >> the ordinance finally passes. next item. >> 25 is an ordains to order the street vacation of panama street and 280 in the ocean view neighborhood to convey the area in interest to the owner to accept a public sidewalk for city maintenance and liability to affirm the seek i can't ceqa. >> roll call vote

[ roll call ] >> there are 11 ayes. >> the owned nans is finally passed. please call items 26 through 28 together. >> three resolutions to approve concession leases with the san francisco airport. item 26 approves the international terminal a food hall and cafe lease between ssp america, inc., and the city for a ten-year term with two-one year options to extend and an annual guarantee or a mag of $495,000 for the lease. 27 approves coffee kiosk for an

8-year term with two one-year options to ex tanned and mag for $165,000 and item 28 approved the international terminal a historic restaurant lease for a ten year term with two-one year options to extend and a mag of $333,000 for the first year of the lease. >> can we take those items same house same call? without objection, they are adopted. let's go to the next item, please. >> item 29 is a resolution to retro actively approve the 4th amendment to the revenue agreement win public works and jcdecaux san francisco for the toilet kiosk program and to extend the contract to october 12th, 2018. >> can we take this item same house, same call? without objection, the resolution is adopted

unanimously. please call items 30 and 31 together. >> 30 is an ordinance to a amend the electrical code. item 31 is the ordinance to amending plumbing code to prohibit circumventing an alternative. >> can we take these items same house same call? they pass unanimously on the first reading. 32. >> 32, resolution to local biodiversity as a citywide priority with the framework for inter agency collaboration for nature based initiatives. >> same house same call? the resolution is adopted unanimously. next item. >> 33, a resolution to adopt findings under the ceqa and

chapter 31 including a statement of overriding considerations and mitigation and monitoring reporting program related to the funding of the bio solids facility project. >> same house same call? without objection, it's unanimous. >> amend the administrative code for local law enforcement data protection including traffic stops, detentions and arrests while requiring that such data under state law must be reported to the attorney general but now also be reported to the mayor and board of supervisors, to the police and human rights commissions. >> supervisor cohen. >> yes. thank you. good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. i want to thank you all for hearing this item today. starting in july of 2018, is assembly bill 593 will require law enforcement agencies

throughout california to collect stop data. this was a bill that was introduced by assembly come shirley weber which represents a district down in san diego. the state mandated data collection requirements for stops substantially duplicates chapter 96a, which is i piece of legislation i offered and got passed several years ago. however, the state report will be issued annually. so the legislation before you today accomplishes two very simple things. first, it reconciles the differences between state and local law for stop collection data. second, it includes amendments that require more freak reporting of stop data collection than required by the state law. now, in order to provide sfpd with time to build this new reporting system, the first two

reports being semiannual. the first semiannual report will be due in may of 2019, and the second semiannual report will be due in august of 2019. each report there after will be due on a quarterly basis to the mayor's office, to the board of supervisors, to the police commission, and the human rights commission. i want to acknowledge my staff that worked tirelessly to reconcile and streamline the existing legislation here in the county of san francisco and bring it into compliance and seamless transition to the state law. i also want to recognize the men and women from san francisco police department that also assisted us in determining these dates that we are all in agreement to. i hope that you will join me in supporting this legislation. this is clean. this is simple. it's exactly the right thing we need to do. we need to be collecting stop data and making sure that we know who is being stopped when

and at what frequency. >> reporter: can we take this item same house same call? it passes unanimously. >> item 35 is to amend the administrative code to declare on the second monday in october each year that in addition to celebrating indigenous people's day, we should also recognize and celebrate italian-american heritage day. >> supervisor stefani. >> i'm so proud to see this ordinance before the full board today. i would like to thank my cosponsor, supervisor peskin, who represents north beach, of course, and supervisors cohen, breed, safai and ye, who added his name last week. there are a great you can in of italians and italian americans who have made contributions to san francisco when i mentioned in committee and when i introduced this at the full board. i want to note this is not just

about the famous italians who left their mark. it aims to highlight and celebrate an entire community, past, present, and future who workday to day to help our city thrive. around 25 or so members of the tannian community provided public comment last week, all proudly acknowledge the countless number of large and small acts individuals and families in the community have made and continue to make to our city. i was especially moved by the messages from all of our speakers about coming together and promoting peace and understanding. so many people were thrilled to share the day with indigenous people's day and even mentioned how we can be a model for the rest of the nation. and to echo what supervisor yee said, san francisco is a place of acceptance and a place that embraces cultures from all walks of life. i'm proud to be able to represent the city and be part of the italian-american community and i also want to thank the low ligs of

italian-american organization for coming to the table and working with me on this and, again, i would like to thank my cosponsors and to the rest of my colleagues, i hope to have your support. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor stephanie. supervisor own an. >> i'm not going to be able to support this although i deeply appreciate the work that supervisor stefani and cohen have put into this together with the italian-american community. i absolutely believe that we should celebrate italian heritage, that it's a very important part of this city's history and should be recognized and celebrated. but when i voted for -- to changed the second monday of the month to indigenous people day, i did that because, to me, that particular date is linked with the arrival of columbus to this land.

centuries of pain that our country has inflicted on indigenous people from rape to massacre to horrible diseases. i think that not having a separate day to celebrate italian heritage day muddied that act. not being able to support this, but i appreciate the intention behind it and the work on this. thank you. >> no other names on the roster. madam clerk on the item. call the roll [ roll call ] >> there are 10 ayes and one no

with supervisor ronen in the dissent. >> it passes on the first reading. next item, please. >> 36 is an ordinance to a manned the administrative code to change the composition of the family violence council and extend the date for the council to may 1st, 2021. >> roll call vote. ] [ roll call ] >> there are 11 ayes. >> the ordinance passes unanimously on the first reading. item 37, please. >> item 37 is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to

authorize the director of office of cannabis to access criminal history information to perform permit certification and licensing duties and to permit employers to inquire about required disclosure or base employment decisions on convictions for decriminalized behavior including the non-commercial use and cultivation of cannabis, to meet the incubator requirements. >> same house same call? it passes unanimously. >> 38 is a resolution to adopt guiding principles to inform future legislation by convening a working group. >> supervisor yee. >> thank you. my awed mated delivery device was passed last month it was the catalyst for the formation of

this resolution. this establishes a whol holistic framework to san francisco. we are ultimately aware of the motorized scooters share program and the stationless bike startups that's been happening in the last few months, all which were operating on our streets and sidewalks. i have been hearing from seniors and people in wheelchairs who are inconvenienced because they are having to navigate around scooters and bikes that not only blocking entry ways or left in the middle of the sidewalk, but people are riding these motorized devices on the sidewalk. the arrogance these companies dropped they scooters and bikes creating bus routes without any notification. they are all recording data of our residents that we have no

idea how it is used or if it is secured or really mind-blowing and it should be unacceptable. these persuasive mobile instances of emerging technology must accommodate the most vulnerable persons including seniors, children, and those with limitations. san francisco encourages emerging technology. but as a city, we must ensure that the technology provides common good measured in identifiable ways and that they are safe and appropriate. a multi billion dollar global tech corporation utilizing publicly funded infrastructure or replacing jobs to enrich themselves does not align with common sense notions of fairness. consideration must be given to whether we are benefiting the

few at the expense of the many. the city and the public must he effectively evaluate any emerging technologies, benefits and impacts before they operate in our city infrastructure. in the interest of this objective, this resolution calls on the city administrator to convene a six-month work group to develop regulations on emerging technologies. today, the examples are mobility focused and impacts our streets and sidewalks. however, the guiding principles and recommendations must be inclusive of technologies beyond mobility. to create technology that will impact resources such as water, air, and environment, recommendations must speak to

industries beyond just mobility and transportation, health services, public, private partnerships, data sharing agreements and anywhere there is emerging technology in the public realm. such a protocol would enable us to consider emerging technologies holistically while minimizing the difference between humans and public facing technologies. although to my knowledge no other jurisdiction in the united states has attempted a framework for emerging technologies, i think we all agree, we can no longer wait. i think the only way we can support emerging technology is by having clear processes. innovation is a hallmark of san francisco and this legislation is aligned with that value.

emergency technologies are here and will continue to launch, but as a city, we must be mindful of both the intended and unintended consequences. i want to thank, i believe it was the rules committee who set out the positive recommendation. i also want to thank supervisor ronen whose district has been the epicenter. thank you. >> thank you. colleagues, can we take this item same house same call? without objection, the resolution is adopted unanimously. >> item 39 is a resolution to authorize the appointment of alternate directors to serve on the transbay joint powers authority board of directors. >> same house same call? it's adopted unanimously. next item.

>> 40 is a motion to appoint bahlam vigil and nellie selander and jason c ho in, manard to the committee. confirmed. >> rea appointment of doreen woo ho. it's approved. item 42 is a motion confirming the mayor's appointment to the commission ending may 1st, 2020. without objection, the motion is approved. next item. >> item 43 is a motion to approve the mayor's a appointment to the treasure island board of directors for a term ending february 26th,

2022. >> same house, same call? approved. >> 44 is a motion to approve the mayor's nomination for reappointment of linda richardson for a testimony ending april 28th, 2022. >> same house same call? without objection, the motion is approved unanimously. >> item 45 is a motion to approve the mayor's nomination for rea appointment of paul to the treasure island development authority board of directors for a term ending april 28th, 2022. >> same house same call? without objection, it's approved unanimously. >> item 46 is a motion appointing eleanor lurie and margaret graf ending march 31st, 2020. >> same house same call? it's approved unanimously let's go to committee reports. >> item 51 was considered by the budget and finance subcommittee

on thursday, april 12th and was forwarded as a committee report. it was recommended as a machinedded with the same title. it's a resolution to authorize the sheriff's department to end into a second amendment to the exist agreement with leaders in community alternatives lca to extend the contract term by one year through april 30th, 2019 with no change to the contract amount and to approve the sheriff's department home detention and electronic monitoring program rules and regulations and to approve evidence of financial responsibility demonstrated by program administrator lca for the 2018 calendar year. >> same house same call? the resolution is adopted next item. >> 51 wa52 was recommended on al 16th and forwarded adds a committee record. it was recommended as amended with a different title. iteitem 52, violation for powerd

scooters that are part of a share program to be parked left standing in the public right-of-way under jurisdiction of the municipal transportation action or department of public works without an mta issued permit and to amend the public works code to authorize dpw to taken forcement action to abate or remove unauthorized powered scooters not part of a permitted powered scooter share program. >> supervisor peskin. >> thank you, mad man madam pre. i would like to thank supervisors for support. this legislation that i crafted with the municipal transportation agency and i want to thank jamie parks for his help in crafting it. this legislation is virtually

identical to a piece we passed last year with regard to stationless bicycle permitting which we now see around san francisco, the red jump bikes. i'm kind of amazed by the brouhaha that has ensued. this legislation actually -- this is probably the first time where san francisco was not the guinea pig. really came about because some of our counter parts in southern california were wrestling with the deployment of these devices. as a matter of fact, santa monica actually brought criminal charges against one of the companies, which resulted in a $300,000 settlement some months ago, and i thought, for the first time, we would actually get ahead of the curve, crafted this edge legislation with clan ration in late february, introduced it here on march the 6th and then, of course, it went through to the normal

process to get to committee and here to the full board of supervisors. part of the reason i tell you this torture tale so you can quickly understand by seeing the legislative history of this is because of the brouhaha has been the function of the fact which was admitted yesterday that some of these companies have been a little bit fast and loose with the truth. a week ago, they disseminated a press release breaking news, turned out i hate to use the word made up, false news, which was that we were invoking emergency procedures, the likes of which are only used in the case of major earthquakes, nothing could be further from the truth, that this is a ban, that's not true. what this is is a basic permitting scheme to allow the professional staff at the mta to permit these private companies with sensible regulatory conditions and regulatory

framework and to be able to confiscate unpermitted vehicles or devices. i would be the first to say that in the ever evolving brave new world of shared mobility technology, these scooters are certainly something that can help in some instances for some users in san francisco's complex world of transportation challenges. but that does not mean that we are going to sacrifice the sacred spaces that are our sidewalks, which are for pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, parents with strollers. those are not the places where these devices moving at 15 miles an hour should be used. indeed, that is state law. i'm also concerned about individual consumers safety. it is state law they wear helmets. i think that the mta showed us they can do a good job in permitting them. they need that authority.

finally, in the world of -- in the era of cambridge analytica and mark zuckerberg testifying on capitol hill for two days, safeguarding the private information of consumers is also something where in i think there is an appropriate governmental interest, and i am hopeful and indeed there have been representations by city staff from the mta that permit conditions will also include strain gent safeguards relative to the sharing of people's private information. the admissions from some of the companies yesterday that their privacy policies are frankly highly problematic, that they can share credit card and location information with third parties needs to come to an end. and i'm also troubled by -- and i'll speak later at roll call for introductions -- about the fact these companies have response ored legislation in the

state assembly to allow them to be used on sidewalks, to negate the helmet requirement, and that is legislation that i'm hopeful the board of supervisors will oppose and i'll speak to that later in the meeting. i'll speak to my cosponsors, my committee, my staff, and the mta for getting this before the board of supervisors. thank you. >> thank you. supervisor fewer. >> yes. please add me as a sponsor. >> thank you. supervisor cohen. >> thank you. please add me as a sponsor. >> thank you. supervisor sheehy. >> yes. i would like to be added as a cosponsor, too, and i would like to commend supervisor peskin for being ahead of the curve here. but i would like to note, i actually have ridden on one of those. they are an interesting transit solution for the last mile between mass transit and their destination. i think the way they've been rolled out has been disastrous, and blocking of sidewalks and

riding on sidewalks and not wearing helmets, but properly used, they can really serve a real purpose. we talk about the raid -- the car share companies, and a lot of those trips would disappear. i mean, we could step off -- when we go bouncing around from city hall, we could hop on one of those, put on a helmet, but we need the infrastructure. so what does that mean? they need to come with helmets. they should have parking spots. we don't allow people to throw a bicycle on the streets. where we have bike parking or can expand bike parking. we should have more protected bike lanes. that's a place where they should be driven, not on the sidewalks. i think in traffic we all recognize that's a recipe for disaster. so if we can put in place the right infrastructure, this could be a real innovation and really help us to get people out of

cars. we could step out in our nice clothes and just hop on one and go three or four blocks and tellinger it to something and other people with k. do that in the city. i took it from the giants stadium from the -- yeah, from the giants stadium to a barton rush hour, and it was just zip zap. i think it can really play a roll. i do want to really signal my appreciation for my colleagues work in getting this out ahead of the curve on this because i think it can be a solution. but if it's like some of the ways other technological solutions have been delivered, it's not going to be a good one. this question of being able to track people and people's privacy has to be paramount for all of us. >> thank you, supervisor, sheehy. seeing no other names on the roster, colleagues, same house same call? the ordinance passes on the first reading. it is past 2:30 and we have 2:30 commendations and i would like

to start with supervisor tang for our first commendation. >> thank you very much, president breed. so as many of you know or may not know, april is donate life month. along with introducing a resolution declaring every april as donate life month in san francisco, i'm recognizing the impact of living donors. and our office began really learning more about organ donation when it began affecting the family of my aid ashley summers who is here at 35 her husband charlie was in kidney failure and on dialysis. he suffers from poly cystic kidney disease which means they were growing with healthy tissue being replaced by diseased. he needed a transplant to survive. however, the wait for a deceased kidney in san francisco is about 7 to 10 years. so their family decided to begin the search for a living donor. living organ donations typically last longer and have better long-term outcomes for the recipient. as we learn more about organ

donation as an office, we began working with donor network west to highlight organ donation at this time last year. i definitely want to thank all of the staff ambassador who's are here from donor network west today. we began a monthly effort last fall and over the past several months we have recognized more than 30 individuals for giving the gift of life, including our former mayor. this month, i would ask our board to adjourn our meeting in honor of sharon who passed away at 66 and impacted the lives by generously donating skin. last july, we recognized two living donors for the first time, cindy and jeremy. cindy is here with us today. we can make the decision to be do noters if we pass away, there are truly remarkable individuals that elect to give part of their body while still living in order to save another person's life. so last september, ashley's family learned that charlie would be received a kidney from

an anonymous living donor. i will invite ashley to share with us her story and i would like to invite carolyn, one of our honorees today. without objection, if would you let ms. summers speak. >> thank you. so charlie received his kidney last year on october 10th and we will always celebrate that day as charlie's kidney verse row. we were in survival mode. he spent 20 to 25 hours bound to a dialysis chair for more than a year. he lost the color in his face, had no energy and was barely able to eat since his kidney grew so much. they were nine pounds each. we were notified in late september that charlie was going to receive a donation. at that time, we did not know that this lovely woman here carolyn was his donor. we were overwhelmed with joy and very curious about ho this anonymous person could be. i later learned that carolyn is

a mother of two, which i was a little bit of a puddle when i learned that. she has a 7-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter. carolyn couldn't be more knowledgeable about the process of donating a kidney. that's because she's the director of transplant service as ucsf and has worked there for 13 years. she news she had this extra kidney and felt like donating it even if it was to someone she didn't know was the right thing to do. she wanted to set an example for her children and her community. she met us through ucsf and the national skid knee foundation. she had already been through the testing process at ucsf when she decided to donate anonymously. they were a match, but through paired exchange, she could help more people. carolyn didn't just help charlie and the other recipient in the exchange. every day carolyn's gift helped the lives of more than 150 students as charlie is able to more fully dedicate his energy to being ale math teacher at

lincoln high school. his cheeks are rosie. he no longer that's to do dialysis and walks up with a lease on life thanks to her gift. the moment i knew that his life had changed was during thanksgiving because he told me for the first -- he was excite ford dinner because for the first time in years, he was actually hungry. charlie wrote her a letter after surgery and the two have since met again. char will he had no idea the day he first met her she would one day save his life. charlie's father passed away when he was 6 due to this disease, but because of what carolyn did, our daughter alex will be able to spend a long and happy life with her dad. i'm not sure thank you will ever be enough for what you did. >> i want to thank the board of supervisors for acknowledge donate life month organ shortage is real and people die every day waiting for organs. when i started working at ucsf, i didn't know anything about living donation and it didn't impact my family. i knew no one waiting for an

organ. but throughout my time at ucsf i learned how safe the procedure really can be and if you're healthy, in my mind, there's no reason not to donate. so i have been worked up to be a donor when i saw ashley and charlie at a national kidney foundation event. their family was sweet and they really spoke to me. i felt like i would be doing the right thing by donating on behalf of charlie. of course, i did the paired exchange so we could help more people. my kidney went to an 18-year-old in southern california and then her dad donated to carly. charlie. two people were translated. i recovered quickly and i'm glad you're bringing awareness to this because a lot of people might not know about this. if they could hear my story and other stories, they might be more likely to donate. thank you. [ applause ]

>> thank you so much, carolyn. again, i don't think that thank you is enough at all. we were all so curious about who this anonymous donor was. so it's really lovely to see you in person today. so really thank you so much for saving charlie's life. and so -- of course thank you, ashley for becoming an advocate on thissish you other. next, i would like to invite up dave. dave is part of the san francisco chorus and thank you to dr. tim and some of the 250 members of the san francisco gay men's chorus who are here today to support. dave joined in the fall of 2016. at one of the practices, his conductor introduced a special guest whoa had been absent for a while due to health complications. russ had been singing over a decade and had been waiting for a transplant for 8 years. he moved to san francisco 25 years ago and within 2 years of moving was diagnosed with aids

and given months to live. with no immune system, a virus attacked his retinas and left him blind. by 2010, his life saving medication damaged his liver beyond repare an -- repair and e needed a transplant. despite 7 years of efforts, he was unable to find a donor. that is, until he turned to his members of the gay men's chorus. however, even with hundreds of members and over a dozen men who were tested, he did not have a match until dave came along. so at that practice where dave first saw ross, he talked about how he needed a donor. dave talked to ross and decided he would fill out the form as an interested candidate, and dave took the process one step at a time excited at each step he was advancing. typically, you need to be healthy in order to donate an organ. now, luckily dave is an avid athlete and even competes in

triathlons with my colleague, supervisor stefani. in fall of 2016, they were notified they were a match and the surgery was scheduled for january 2017. so dave visited ross every day to get his steps in and have the second fastest discharge in the history of a live transplant program, a mere 95 hours after he awoke from surgery. dave and ross are part of each others family now. they're both upper second tenors, the exact same part in the choir. we are joined via face time. i know they're proud of their son. before i invite dave, i know any colleague supervisor stefani would like to make remarks. >> i received a text message from dave a few weeks ago, and he said i'm being honored and i think you might have something to do with it. i wish i could have taken credit for you. i said who is honoring is

brilliant and that was supervisor tang. i wanted to say i met dave in 2014. we were both training for our first triathlon together while raiding money for the leukemia society. we bonded over that first triathlon in hawaii as many triathletes do, given what we go through. you know, he went on to do his first full iron man with team in training and that's a 2.5 mile swim, open water swim, 112-mile bike and a full marathon after. you have an amazing human being standing before you today, everyone. i just have to say that any friendship with dave has been one of the greatest gifts. he's one of the most loving and giving people you will ever meet. when i competed in my first half iron man in santa cruz it was dave who got me through it, even though he was competing, he realized i was struggling on the run and he never left my side. i will never forget that.

when i heard about dave donating half of his liver to someone he had never met to save this person's life, it was a moment when you're in absolute awe of someone but not surprised in the least. i just want to add that dave is one of the most beautiful human beings i have ever met. i feel so extremely lucky to call him my friend and i love that he's a member of the san francisco gay men's chorus. i've gone to the christmas program since i met dave. that was life changing. i recommend it to everyone. you have not lived until you've seen silent night being signed. one more thing. i just like to point out that dave is italian-american. so thank you, again, for your could be distributions to the city and county of san francisco. thank you for having us here today. supervisor tang kind of gave away a lot of my back story here, so i probably won't regurgitate a lot of that, but

one of the things i did want to mention about being in the san francisco gay men's chorus, shortly after i joined, someone brought to my attention an adage that really has stuck with me ever since. it's people have a biological family and a logical family. sometimes they're one in the same and sometimes they're not. especially for members of the lgbtq community, if they're disowned or rejected, they need to find their logical family who'll be there and support them. and no better example i can think of logical family than when ross was looking for a liver and so many men of the chorus stepped up and offered to help, take him to appointments, go through the donor process screening like supervisor tang said. there were about a dozen men who were ruled out for various reasons, but it just so happened that i was the logical family member who would end up being the match. on the subject of family, the

chorus, whenever we have loved ones or friends of chorus members who come to support their singer, either at a rehearsal or performance, we like to sing a special setting of an irish blessing for them to welcome them into our logical family and so in keeping with that tradition and that honor, we would like to sing that for you today. ♪ [ music ] ♪ [ music ]

>> thank you all. [ applause ] >> thank you, colleagues. thank you to dave, cindy, and the donor network. thank you so much. >> thank you all again so much for being here, to the gay men's chorus and supervisor tang for that incredible award and look forward to seeing you at your next concert. thank you all so much. with that, we ever another commendation that we would like to acknowledge. supervisor yee is next.

>> all right. thank you president breed. i'm going to do my solo now. that was very lovely. how do i follow that? right? woo. okay. happy week of the young child. this week marks the 47th annual week of the young child. on behalf of cpac which is the child care planning and advisory council and providers who care and provide for our young children and all the young children and their families, including the 2500 0 to 5 children of low-income families who are on a child care waiting list, subsidies waiting list, happy week of the young child.

on behalf of these people, i would like to have bev milligan come up and accept the award for all these young people. is bev here? there you are. [ applause ] >> the week of the young child was established in 1971 by the national association of education of young children recognizing that the early childhood years lay the foundations for children in schools and later life. the week of the young child is a time to plan how we as legislator $, as citizens of a community, of a state and a nation will better meet the meets of young children and their families. on sunday, i attended the kickoff of the week at the providers recognition brunch, which was attended by 250 of our top early educators from across

the city. i was, again, inspired by their dedication, but in some ways, it was bittersweet. the fact that these educators are lowest paid educators, but remain in the field to teach our san francisco children often means sacrificing themselves. family child care providers, for instance, are open before parents go to work and are open after they get off, the parents, that is. some commute more than 1.5 hours to work in the city. many qualifying for public assistance. early educators are the backbone of our early education system and we need to honor them as professionals. they allow families to stay in san francisco. week the young child is a time to recognize that we all have a responsibility to enhance opportunities for children. in honor of the week of the young child this sunday, from

1:00 to 4:00, is the annual dia de los ninos festival. this fun festival has live music, free books, and family friendly activities. tomorrow's rally in my clearly bias opinion is the best rally of the year around city hall. , outside of city hall. that's 10:30, really what is called the annual walk around the block. hundreds of children 0 to 5, early education providers, family, centers, and family child care programs will be walking around the block to raise awareness and attention to the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs. although the largest walk around the block takes place here at city hall, many centers and

family child care providers are doing many walks in their own neighborhoods throughout the city to raise awareness, enthusiasm, and gain for for our programs. to accept the award, again, on behalf of the early education community i would like to recognize, again, bev milligan who is director of a children's school and the quality committee at the planning and advisory council. would you like to say a word? >> thank you, supervisor. it's a pleasure to be here today and accept this acknowledgment on behalf of child care planning and advisory council during this wonderful week of the young child. i was so moved by the two groups that received acknowledgment and one of the things that those of us in early childhood want to

work toward is having young children have that kind of feeling toward their friends and colleagues as they grow into adults and participate in our civil society. children of san francisco are fortunate to have a very good level of funding and support, and we can do more as severe yee was pointing out about how many people make large sacrifices to be here and these are after, after all, our future citizens of this country and are going to carry on in the later years. so, again, those -- many of us in the field feel like we can never do enough for children, so we're going to keep working on that. at the same time, we want to say we know we can do more, and we hope you'll join us in

celebrating children this week. thank you. we are appreciative of the acknowledgment of children. [ applause ] >> we have a late addition to our commendations today.

supervisor ronen. >> hi. good afternoon. thank you so much for being here. i wanted the opportunity here for the entire board of supervisors to express my immense gratitude to the wonderful incredible staff at the 1515 south van ness navigation center. since the center was opened in june of 2017, in the nearly 11 months since the opening, the center has served more than 580 residence. i know you've changed so many of those 580 lives.

you have provided not only basic necessities such as food and clothing and shelter, but also access to on site support services provided by brilliant corners and downtown streets. the center has been a resounding success by almost any measure. despite some initial resistance from the surrounding neighbors, now those neighbors are enthusiastically supporting this navigation center and it so much has to do with the incredible job that you did running one of the best navigation centers in the city. the number of tent encampments has been reduced. the surrounding streets have been cleaned up and safety patrols have provided much more security to the neighborhood. we have heard from neighbors, residents, and visitors about the positive impact the center has made on the neighborhood. it's a place where each individual is treated with dignity and respect.

many of the guests experienced great tragedies and losses of every kind and they arrive to your center with challenges. but the way that you treat each individual there and the work that you do to change their lives is extraordinary, and it works. most importantly, the people served by the navigation center have been given a respite from the streets and have been offered some hope during their darket hours. i want to thank you again for your incredible hard work. i don't know what i would have done as a supervisor of this district without you. it was the number one issue facing my district when i came into my office and we went from 260 tents to today hovering around 60. it was because you ran an excellent navigation center that we were able to change hearts and lives in the neighborhood. so with that, i want to honor your entire staff. i have a certificate for everyone working at the navigation center, but i also

wanted to give the opportunity to you all to express your words and thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. >> thank you, supervisor ronen. we appreciate the acknowledgment as many know, st. vincent de paul has been here since 1863. in 1991, we started our homeless services. a couple years ago, we were asked to work at pier 80, which is our first program where we had low barriers. we took those lessons and moved them to 1515. so i'm not the one that should be thanked. it should be my staff here who are here. i want them to stand up and be recognized. those are the ones that come every single day to work with our clients. so we definitely appreciate the

acknowledgment because it's hard work. jaime and leslie. >> good afternoon. my name is leslie, and i am the program director at the south van ness navigation center. shari is our executive director at st. vincent de paul. i want to commend you for the initiative and your passion for working for those who are disenfranchised in your neighborhood. it is an honor for me to come back to that area. i actually grew up like two blocks away from mitchell's ice cream. it's really great to be back in that neighborhood, really proud to also work with a staff that's primarily from san francisco. i would be remiss not to one of the biggest successes of working in the navigation center has to have amazing partnerships with brilliant corners and