playing, just very lightly, we want to give an acknowledgment to a couple of people who are here with us today as special guests. the sheriff of the san francisco county sheriff's department, sheriff vickie hennessey is here, and shimon wanton from the san francisco school board, reverend arnold townsend, the reverend dr. james mccray, jr. we have the members of the staff of the san francisco fire department, san francisco police department and also members of the san francisco sheriff's department. we also want to thank our friends here in the city and county of san francisco, the

city administrator's office, and particularly partnership with the mayor's office and neighborhood services led by our own derek smith. this concludes the 50th year, the 50-year memorial commemoration of dr. martin luther king, jr. here in the city and county of san francisco. we thank you all for being here. we want you to spend this next week reflecting on dr. king, reflecting on his message of beloved community. and decide within ourselves those things that we can do to make it a more beloved community. as we conclude here, we want to be taken out on a happy day, by our musicians. thank you everybody.

>> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i'd like to call this meeting to order. >> all right. thank you, sfgovtv, and ladies and gentlemen, want to welcome you back to another exciting meeting of the budget and finance sub committee. my name is malia cohen. i'm the chairman of this committee, and to my right is

supervisor sandy fewer. joining us shortly in this meeting will be supervisor safai. i want to thank jessie and michael for assisting us with today's broadcast. our clerk, of course is the lovely and talented miss linda wong. thank you everyone for joining us here today. madam clerk, are there any announcements? >> yes. please silence all cell phones and electronic devices. speaker cards and any documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted on will be on the april 16 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> supervisor cohen: thank you very much. i'd like to call item number one. >> item one. [ agenda item read ] >> supervisor cohen: all right. thank you very much. supervisor peskin is the sponsor of this.

i think we've got beth rubenstein here who's going to be presenting from the department of public works, and i don't know if julia dawson is going to be here, as well. >> i'm here. >> supervisor cohen: all right. this item is a 240 day extension from jc decaux from public kiosk. thank you. the floor is yours. good morning. >> good morning, chairman cohen. we're here toed to ask for an extension. what we've been doing recently we ended up in a review at the historic preservation commission, and they asked us to step back and do some design evaluation. as a result of that we brought on beth reubenstein to help with the design process, and it's actually been going well, so i'd like her to come up and talk about what we've been

doing with the design of the toilets and kiosks. >> supervisor cohen: great. thank you. >> good morning, supervisors. thanks for hearing this item. so last year, sort of late spring, summer, and fall, jc decaux had an initial sort of draft design that moved through historic preservation and also the arts commission specific design and review, and they reviewed it, and it got stopped. they were concerned about i would say the utilitarian nature of the design. it didn't have the uniqueness and flair that we would hope for an important san francisco assets. these kiosks and toilets will be on the street for the next ten to 20 years. we wanted to step back and balance this contract that's really been beneficial for the city, so we'd like to get that contract completed as soon as possible. we'd also like the toilets and

kiosks to be as beautiful a possible. >> supervisor cohen: we got it. this is just an extension of the contract. supervisor fewer, any remarks? >> supervisor fewer: no. i think they're lovely, and i just want one in my neighborhood. >> and we talked. >> supervisor cohen: all right. well, thank you for the presentation. let's go to public comment. if there's any member of the public that would like to comment on item number one, seeing none, public comment is closed. all right colleagues, is there a motion? >> supervisor fewer: yes, i'd like to make a motion to move this to the board with a positive recommendation. >> supervisor cohen: all right. we'll take that without objection. thank you. madam clerk, could you do us a favor and call items two, three, and four together. >> clerk: yes. [ agenda items two, three, and

four read ] >> supervisor cohen: all right. so before us, we have three resolutions for concession stand leases in the international terminal in sfo. the best part about all of this is the combined leases will bring a minimum of $9.7 million in revenue to the city and county of san francisco, and we've got our friend, cassy widener from the airport to tell us all about it. >> good morning, chair cohen. >> supervisor cohen: good morning. >> cathy windendener for the s francisco airport. we are asking for three new leases in the international terminal a, with sfp america

for a manufacture food haul, black point coffee and boudin bakery. the length of time for the sfp america and boudin lease is ten years, and the black point coffee is eight years. all three leases have a ten year option to extend and are the result of a competitive proposal process. the leasees will pay rent either the greater of their minimum annual guarantee fore a tiered percentage rent formula. this will result in an annual rent amount over the initial term for all three leases of $9,570,000 at a minimum, although airport staff does expect that the leases will be paying on the higher of the percentage rent formula. the rent commencement date for each of the leases is either the earlier of the completion of construction of tenant improvements or 120 days after

the tenant occupies the lease space. the budget analyst's office has reviewed and recommends approval, and i would be happy toer answer any questions. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i don't think we have any questions at this time -- oh, excuse me, supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: just in general, and i understand i'm just sitting on the committee today, but i have a question. i look at the name of the people that apply. a lot of them are smaller cafes in san francisco, but when i get briefed from a budget and legislative analyst, it's always the larger businesses per se. you don't often see a small local san francisco based company that's often being chosen, so i'm wondering how you're putting your bids together and what kind of effort you're making to ensure the smaller mom and pops are really having a shot at san francisco airport. >> there are a couple of ways that we do that, and i'd be

happy to get you further background, but just to answer your question generally, there are cases in this -- in this lease right here, the lease with sfp does actually have a small business component. they partnered with marina's cafe who will be operating as part of this lease. i believe it's 35%, so there are opportunities for partnering. airport staff goes out into the community to try to get folks interested, and we set the annual guarantees purposely low -- >> supervisor safai: i guess i'm asking a different question. i know in the ferry building, once someone is a really established business, they're no longer allowed to be part of the lease. so when i say cafe roma on your scoring system score 56 points, and i see sfp scoring at 102, what i'm saying is how are you putting together your packaging in terms of your scoring; and two, do you ever consider not

allowing some of these already established businesses that have locations all over san francisco and allowing some of the smaller mom and pop businesses an avenue to get a foothold. because once you're in san francisco airport, that is a pretty lucrative opportunity, so that's what i'm asking. >> i can get more detailed information to you because i know that our revenue development staff does look into that and takes it seriously. we have pop up opportunities at the airport, as well, which has a $250,000 gross revenue requirement, which is low. >> supervisor safai: i get it. >> so we do try and do that, but i'll try and get you further information on outreach. >> supervisor safai: i'm fine, and i'm prepared to let this go. what i'm saying is when i'm in san francisco airport, i don't see it. i see businesses that are well established and they're all over san francisco, and i don't see mom and pop shops get that opportunity. that's what i'm saying. >> okay. thank you. i'll pass that along.

>> supervisor cohen: all right. at this time, i want to pivot and hear from our budget legislative analyst and hear what their thoughts are on these three items. good morning. >> good morning. i'm from the budget and legislative analyst's office. i think miss widener has summarized the leases pretty thoroughly. as you hear, the first year guaranteed rent to the airport would be about 990,000. it would be about $9.6 million over the term of each of the leases, and they do a percentage rent which would be higher than that amount, and we recommend that approval. >> supervisor cohen: all right. thank you. we'll take that recommendation under advisement. at this time let's go ahead and open up the public comment. any member of the public who would like to comment on items two, three or four please come up. seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you. i'd like to make a motion to approve these three items and send to the full board with a positive recommendation, and it looks like i can do that without objection. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. next item,

that's what i thought. okay. let's hear from the budget legislative analyst has to say. >> yes. as his alimiss alice pointed o these are the same that the board approved its two year fixed but jet in the last budget cycle. it's not in the report but i will respond a little bit to what was said in terms of the controller's office hoping to have more two year fixed budgets going forward. we did say two years ago in our

report that we considered it important for the board not to give up their appropriation authority and budget review every year. that was our finding two years ago. in terms of the four budgets this year, they are the same as the last two years, and we do consider this a policy matter. >> supervisor cohen: okay. are there any questions? no. okay. >> i would only add that there's nothing -- the board is not giving up any of their approval appropriation authority or review -- authority to review or appropriate a budget when you review two year budgets. so i think that's the substantive discussion or argument that we can have, but this doesn't do anything to change what comes before the board or how you may choose to review it. >> supervisor cohen: absolutely. i also want to remind that these are also the same departments as adopted in

16-17, 17-18, so we've got a track record established. i'd like to open up the public comment at this time. my member of the public to come in and speak on item five? seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you. i'd like to make a motion to send this approved to the full board with a positive recommendation, and we can take that without objection. >> clerk: madam chair, would you like to send it as a committee report? >> supervisor cohen: i'll send it as a committee report. we can do that without objection. thank you very much. and colleagues, before we dismiss, i would like to make a motion to excuse supervisor stefani from attending today's meeting. can we take that without objection? all right. without objection. is there any other business before this body? >> clerk: there's no other business. >> supervisor cohen: all right. ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned.

. >> good afternoon. all right. ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. i want to welcome you back to

the budget and finance commit r -- committee, the second installment of the day. before we get started i want to recognize linda wong who is assisting us with today's meeting. also at sfgovtv, we've got jessie and lawrence. and my colleagues. to my far left, we have supervisor norman yee, and to my right we have supervisor sandy fewer. madam clerk, are there any announcements for today? [ agenda item read ] >> supervisor cohen: okay. thank you, madam clerk. do we need to take a vote to -- >> clerk: would you like to take a vote to excuse supervisor self aknee? >> supervisor cohen: yes, i would. to colleagues, i will put a motion out there to excuse

supervisor stefani. thank you. that's been seconded by supervisor yee, and we'll take that without objection. thank you very much. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor cohen: and madam clerk, would you please call item one. >> clerk: yes. [ agenda item read ] >> supervisor cohen: all right. ladies and gentlemen, i cannot believe we don't have a full house on this one because today, we're hearing from the mayor's budget office and the controller's office regarding the fiscal health of our city, and i can't think of a better place to be than here. so kudos to all of you who made it out here today. just to give you a backdrop, the controller projected a shortfall fo shortfall for the fiscal two years. this report is indicating that the shortfall is decreasing, now at only $140 million for the next two years. however, these increased

revenues a revenu revenues are largely one time in nature. the deficit is still projected to increase to $652 million by fiscal year 21-22, and this is driven been a increased projection in salaries and benefits, projected to increase 500% by 2021, and this will also makeup nearly 50% of the budget, so these are very important conversations that we are beginning today, and they will continue into the future. i think it's important that we think about these cost drivers as we head into the next fiscal season, particularly if we were to add new full-time employees across all departments. with that, i want to bring up miss kelly kilpatrick from the mayor's office of budget who will be leading the presentation today. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. kelly kirkpatrick, acting

budget director for the mayor. i also have michelle allersma from the controller's office to answer any questions that you may have during the presentation. the five year update, called the joint report that we put out in december, we have come out with a march revise to that, and as supervisor cohen did a great job of priming everyone for, we must balance the up coming budget by $137 million. the joint report and joint report update with a joint publication between the mayor's budget office, the controller's office, as well as the budget and legislative analyst's office. as a reminder, both in the december report and this march update, we utilize a base case projection, meaning we take policies as they currently

stand. no big swings in either funding or federal kind of policy changes? federal's just an example, and make our projections based on that. another large assumption is that there is no downturn assumed, so we just continue to assume status quo more or less? and where will we land knowing that status quo given some other cost drivers that are known entities. and in that realm includes revenue, so the december report as well as march report assume that the economy is strong, but revenue growth is slowing and there's signs of growth constraints? for our projection purposes, you know, to forecast the deficit for the next four years, we do assume inflationary cost increases for personnel utilizing an average from moody's and the california department of finance for open contracts so we can anticipate some salary growth? additionally, we assume

inflationary pressures on our knob personnel which assumes contracts in these assumptions, including the big ihss, inhome support services worker's cost increases from the state that we've been talking with the board for over a year now. we keep getting refined information as the state develops their policies and procedures related to that. they shift, and also in the december report and this report is funding for the hall of justice exit plan. so this is the updated deficit for the next four years. as supervisor cohen mentioned, it's $137 million in the first two years, but as you'll notice there's still a really significant deficit in years three and four, reaching nearly over $600 million? and i would say that, you know, the december numbers were marginally higher in those two years, and it's really this structural difference between the rising cost of our

expenditures and the slower rate of growth of our revenues? the structural deficit is driven in some part as supervisor cohen said, reliance on our one time sources. that's our biggest driver. it's over a $400 million difference between years two and three. we have ongoing pension obligations contributing to those out year deficit growth, again e escalating ihss costs and revenue constraints. changing from the december report highlighted in our march numbers and driving kind of that two year decrease, the largest is the addition of over $60 million of one-time fund balance as reported in the controller's six month report for the current year fiscal year '17-'18. additionally when the controller's office put out the current year -- we say savings, but it could also be additional revenue, 'cause that

contributes to that, they also revised their revenue projections for the next four years, given current year actuals. they've revised it for the current year outputs. they've also received information from financial experts in the city to drive these assumptions? so there's higher than anticipated projected ongoing revenue, driven by property tax, business tax, and hotel tax offset by some weakness in sales tax and parking tax? in emergency roterms of salary benefits, our average of moody's and department of finance has been revised down modestly, so there are some savings related to that because we include those in our salary and benefit projections. the largest safer other than kind of the drivers related to our revenue are pension assumptions?

so in december, the revenue board updated some revenue assumptions as well as modelling, and that has realized a safer for us. then in terms of citywide costs, some highlights in terms of new costs that we're incorporating include repl replenishment of the compain fund, given that we have a june mayoral election to meet the funding levels outlined in the ordinance. we are anticipating we will need to refill the election campaign fund given increased use of public funding for elections. additionally, for ihss, we have received more concrete, and i believe in january , correct n correction -- direction from the state about how that will be implemented, so that's growing our ihss cost, bringing just the two year increase in

18-19 and 19-20 to nearly $100 million more than we had anticipated last december at our five-year ---ed wor the wo escaping me, the title of this entire word -- five year financial plan. and then finally we do incorporate the annualization of current year models that have passed since december, so that includes federal funding for dph that were funded through the federal, as well as $5.5 million of annual cost that went both to the public defender as well as the mayor's office of community housing and development to fund cbo legal defense? and just some reminders what's still really present on our minds and what we think about,

we look at these numbers from a financial perspective, the one time sources, bringing down that $137 million deficit? you know, we still have significant structural deficit in those out years. again, these numbers are predicated on no downturn or recession? it would be a historic anomaly if there would be no downturn on the four year horizon of this projection? we're in the third longest expansion since 1945. >> supervisor cohen: the third longest expansion of -- >> the economic expansion since 1945. >> supervisor cohen: so when you say economic expansion, you mean we have a really robust budget. >> meaning that the u.s. economy and the california economy has experienced growth since 2009-2010. >> supervisor cohen: okay. thank you for the clarification. >> you bet. and then we face state and federal uncertainty that we'd be facing over $100 million

from ihss cost shifts? you know, we wouldn't have been able to predict that, and it's a really big and significant cost to us. other pressures we're feeling or seeing on the horizon, we talked about in the federal select committee, affordable care act. any changes to that could affect the city on a large front. we are a large purchaser of health care for all of our employees and retirees, so any shift in the city would be a cost we'd have to take on. additionally as it relates to our department of health expansion of medi-cal or medicaid, as well as covered california, and california has helped 133,000 san franciscans? if that were to be pulled from our residents, we might face additional costs as people would be looking to the city to provide health care, and even the department of health

themselves have received quite a significant revenue stream through the revised medicaid program? and then, also something top of our minds is potential repeal of sb-1, which is the state gas tax? the department of -- department of public works has -- has budgeted $23 million for road repaving? that doesn't even speak to the mta's allocations of sb-1 for state of good repair which exceed over $30 million in their anticipated budget. >> supervisor cohen: i have a question about sb-1. i'm curious to know if you've heard from our lobbyists in sacramento. is there a report or update, and if i'm not mistaken, that's going to the ballot in november . >> correct. the last that i'd heard there are signature gatherings still going on for that? the last i heard, people thought it was likely that it would make it on the ballot? so we will keep, especially on the federal select -- we're

growing it a little state, and we will keep you updated on that, as well. >> supervisor cohen: should this be successful in passing in november novembethat means decrease. how much -- >> $23 million in 19-20. there's partial budgeted in 18-19. i'll have to fact check that and get back to you, but fully funded by the department of public works for road repaving. >> supervisor cohen: all right. thank you. >> and that concludes my presentation. if you have any other questions. >> supervisor cohen: yes. i think we do have a couple questions, supervisor fewer and then we'll get to supervisor yee. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. since you mentioned that we have revised employer pension contributions, and what is that amount? >> i don't have that offhand. we can get back to you on the projected changes. i think i might have a chart, but -- hold on. so pension rates were the

largest driver of the changes, so -- but in total, our report, there's about $20 million rolled up into salary and benefit savings in the first year of the plan and 29 million in the second year of the plan. it's not all pension, but that's all rolled up, the cpi changes, as well. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. >> supervisor cohen: supervisor yee, did you have any questions? >> supervisor yee: yeah. can you go back to page three? >> yes. >> supervisor yee: just to get a better understanding of the numbers that are presented. so if i look at the sources and revenues, and it's an increase of 235 next year, and then 510 following, and then, it dips down again to 360 -- >> yep. >> supervisor yee: what's causing it to go up and down like that? >> yeah, so that drop in the third year is related to the

one-time sources, as well as perhaps some downward trend in the controller's ongoing revenue projections, but i would say the largest driver is one-time sources? yeah, it's fund balance going away. >> supervisor yee: oh, okay. and then in regards to the expenses, i guess, it looks like there's a decrease for all four years, and that's built into the budget. is that why there's a decrease? >> sorry. didn't follow the question exactly. >> supervisor yee: i guess when you look at salaries and benefits, for instance, each year, there's a decrease. is that correct? >> it's an increasing cost. >> supervisor yee: okay. >> sorry. that's -- the parentheses means it's a cost, so it's an

increasing cost. >> supervisor yee: yeah. i just looked at the top where it says in parentheses sources, and then decreased. >> supervisor cohen: i have a couple questions. so what are the one-time sources that have decreased our deficit. >> so it's the fund balance, which is current year, either revenue better than budgeted or departmental savings, and that has accrued over the last fiscal year -- and it's mostly revenue, better than budgeted revenue contributing to that. >> supervisor cohen: and where's the revenue stream coming from? is this property taxes? >> a large portion is revenue heath. i'll let michelle allersma speak to that. >> so in the six-month report, we reported on the three driver's of the good news in that report are property tax, business tax, and department of public health revenue. property tax is largely the assessor continuing to work through their backlogs faster than we thought they would at the beginning of the year, so they're enrolling -- enrolling

higher values of properties that have transacted more quickly than we thought they would. that brings in supplemental and escape assessments in the short-term. in addition, business tax, this is kind of base building good news from the year that just ended, so we -- we published our annual financial report in the fall, showing where we had ended the prior year. we incorporate those findings into our current year forecast, and so we ended last year better than we had projected, so that kind of bumps up the -- all the subsequent years, and then, department of public health is really patient rate revenue, and just continued -- i believe it's just continued faster than expected change between fee fore servi service

kind of like cavitated rates. >> supervisor cohen: so is this year unique in having these three drivers in terms of revenue? no? i didn't think so. >> i think the thing that's interesting right now is that what's causing it, so for property tax, it's less a function of just the value of property changing as it is the pace as which the assessor is enrolling new values, so it has a lot to do with our operational administrative function in the assessor's office becoming more efficient and doing things differently and capturing the value that's available legally for us to capture. so that's kind of different in the past couple of years than it has been over, say, the past decade or two. so that's a little bit different. the other thing that's different that you don't really see on this list is that we have real anemic growth and

sales tax, which is kind of a bellwether revenue source for us because it's kind of the most immediate reflection of what people are feeling in their own lives and how they're choosing to spend, and that's very, very flat. so i think those two things are a little bit different this time around. >> supervisor cohen: so i guess what i'm trying to understand is that, is that unique or is that kind of like -- you've been working on budgets for a very long time now. is this a common occurrence, these drivers, that you're talking about. >> i mean it's not surprising because these are our two biggest general fund tax revenues. it's probably not surprising they're driving the growth that we're seeing. >> supervisor cohen: okay. okay. and so i guess my next question, i think it's going to be for you, can you explain the second to last line of the march update projection table, if you can.

>> slide three? >> supervisor cohen: yeah, i think it's on slide three, exactly. if there is 's a shortfall ver last year, how does that reconcile? how does that reconcile with the improvements of the $124 million that you've highlighted? >> can you state, sorry, your question again. >> supervisor cohen: sure. if you look at, on page -- on slide three, and you look at the second to last line -- >> the growth in cost expend -- >> supervisor cohen: exactly, the projected -- whatever it is, the projected shortfalls versus the prior year, see that line? mm-hmm. >> supervisor cohen: okay. so if there is a shortfall versus last year, how does that reconcile with the improvements of the $124 million that you highlighted. >> so you're saying last year

at this time, where were we? >> supervisor cohen: yeah. >> i believe last year, we were at about 260 million? and so i think the big changes this year from last year are the two big drivers that we've highlighted are the increasing revenue, one-time fund balance, as well as the pension reduction since december has been a pretty significant cost savings for us as really -- as compared to of the compared to last year. >> supervisor cohen: so hoe is tis -- how is the projected health improving? i understand it is, but i want to understand why it is improving. >> i think it's a comparison from the previous year, so we had anticipated very high cost drivers for pension driven by three main factors related to supplement c supplemental cola, less than

budget returns at 7.5% for pensions, as well as revising of our actuarial tables, as well as those adjustment costs, and those changed made in december good the actuarial compared to previously feel better, but it's still a significant cost. >> supervisor cohen: okay. so i want to talk a little bit about the project waiver agreement. i see that it's -- the costs have increased permanently and pretty dramatically in fiscal year 2019-20. i was wondering if you could just talk a little bit about why that is the case. >> the 260 million? >> supervisor cohen: yes. >> so we assume for projection purposes cpi increases for open labor contracts, and so seiu

and the majority of our labor unions will be open in that year, so we assume that inflationary costs. other drivers are pensions still, and what i haven't really talked about but it's still really important with our health care costs for employees. this report assumes nearly double digit cost increases for both active employees and 8% year over year growth just to pay for our current employees' health care, and i think nearly 9% for retirees, and that's a big benefit for that salary and benefits line as well. >> supervisor cohen: okay. that was my next question, what accounts for the variances in the employee and retiree pension rates? but we have to adjust that at the retirement board. people are living longer, the retirement costs are exponentially growing, and then what else? >> some wage increases, projected growth.

>> supervisor cohen: and then, i think my last question, if you could talk about what's the cap it will expenditure rate in fiscal year 2019 and 20. >> so last year, the mayor's budget included full funding for the capital year both in 17-18 as well as 18-19, so i think it was a combined almost -- over $300 million that year, and so we do -- we will have to figure out how much room we have in the budget, whether or not we're able to fully fund in the second year of this, so 19-20 in this capital plan, and we'll work through it with a capital planning committee to figure out that funding level, but that would exceed 300 million, as well, if we were able to fully fund that. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i'm going to see, colleagues, do either of you have questions, if not, we're going to go ahead and pivot to the bla. nothing? okay. perfect. thank you. thank you for this -- for the memo.

you and mr. rosenfeld did a great job. we're going to hear from public comment. is there any member of the public that would like to comment on this item? please come on up. please come on up to the podium. you'll have two minutes. hi. welcome. >> hi. one suggestion. i believe you can increase consumer spending by reducing public transit fares, offsetting the increased transit revenue with increased sales tax revenue, and you can survey the riders did on the amounts they're spending depending on the time of day. also, 60% of the public is in federal employment and they are absorbing 50% of the budget, and i was wondering if there's now a 2.2% unemployment rate if it would be better to eliminate under performance while there are so many job opportunities.

also, i was wondering how accurate and reliable our department budget numbers can department heads depend on the figures they are receiving from their insubordinates, and yeah, the longest running economic expansion in recent modern history has led to global concerns in rising spending with -- [ inaudible ] >> -- russia creating satellites in neighboring territories, and germany seeking to establish a european class of satellites independent of nato and the u.s. >> supervisor cohen: thank you for your comments, are there any other members of the public wishing to comment on the five year plan? seeing no further public comment, public comment is closed. colleagues, if there are no

further questions orment coulds, i will make a motion to continue this to the call of the chair. supervisor yee has seconded that motion, and we will take that without objection. thank you very much. madam clerk, is there anything further on the agenda? >> clerk: no, madam chair, there is not. >> supervisor cohen: thank you, friends. we are adjourned. >> good morning.

i love this day. it's wonderful to be here with all of you. so many people in the room who are my favorite people in the planet. thank you for joining us this morning. every year we try and make this breakfast as special as possible to celebrate our work together. on behalf of the environment, on behalf of our city and on behalf of our plan secretary this year is of course no exception. so to get us started this morning, we have an up lifting performance from students from the school of the arts here in san francisco let's welcome them now.

[♪]

[♪] [♪] [♪] [applause]

while they're walking outlets give a hand for the inspiring students of the arts! [applause] there is something so timeless about that song. i remember when it came out in the 70s and 40 years later it's still ringing true. though, in san francisco, where is ed ruskin. where are you, ed? oh my god, he is back there. ok!

i think ed would agree that we build a lot more transit and bike lanes than parking lots. we're on the right track. [applause] so good morning, everyone. my name is debbie and i have the privilege of serving as the directodirector as the san frano department of environment. we have a lot to be proud of when it comes to our environmental achievements as a city and san francisco would not have much to celebrate if not for the collective efforts of all of you with us here today. and so i would like to start by acknowledging some of the leaders who are in the room. the room is full of phenomenal leaders and these are a few of particularly note in my heart. so first and foremost, mayor mark farrell, thank you for your leadership. [applause]

and i can't see where everyone is so i am going to call out names of people who i believe are here with us. supervisor katy tang. [applause] supervisor sandra lee fewer. [applause] supervisor erin peskin. and supervisor catherine stephanie. we also have nicolas from the bart board of directors, john risso from the city college board of trustees and rachel knot tonorton from the board of education. [applause] and of course, our commission on the environment we have our president, johanna walled,

heather stevenson, sarah juan and lisa oyos. [applause] today we also have with us the deputy council general of mexico guirilmo reyes. we have the former u.s. embassador to hungry, elainey kunalakis. we have michael picker, the president of the california public utilities commission. [applause] and now, i want to read a list that is long and storied and important to me so let us hold our applause to the end and these are my colleagues, my fellow department heads without whom we could not do what we are celebrating today. naomi kelly, muhammad nuru, ed

ruskin, phil michael lamb bart, john aim, thom hughie from dbi, michael carland, nicole bond, adrian pond, barbara garcia, brian strong, john updike, and finally, my partner in everything tyron jew from the mayor's office. could you stand up and be recognized. [applause] and lastly, i would like to thank our main sponsor for this

event, so grateful for their leadership and their demonstration of what is possible when you lead by intention and that is kaiser. [applause] >> so, i have to say, as a californian, it's been a tough year to witness this new normal of a changed climate. as an environmentalist, it's been hard to watch what is happening at the national level. it is impossible not to feel not to react.

don't it always seem you don't know what you've got until it's gone. but then, i see students, students like the school of the arts chorus, students like those who are rising up against gun violence and marching for their lives. and that awful feeling turns to hope. and then i see the young people who are suing the federal over climate change because they believe in their right to a healthy planet not polluted by fossil fuels. [applause] and by the way, so do we. so thank you dennis herera a for taking big oil to court and leading cities. this youth movement must be

cared for. our department's school education program team reaches more than 25,000 young people every year in our public and our private schools. we talk to students about composting and recycling, about water conservation, preventing litter, and doing what they can to protect nature in the environment. it's how we are empowering the next generation of activists to stand up and lead. at the department of environment, we are a place where big ideas intersect with how we make people's lives better. and we believe that action matters. that means helping small businesses in the mission district reduce their energy use and save money so they can afford to stay in san francisco. that means protecting the heath of our public housing residents by reducing their exposure to

toxic chemicals. and that means going door-to-door to talk to residents and businesses about recycling and composting so materials don't end up in the landfill in the wrong begin or on our streets. we too are rolling up our sleeves, along with our fellow city department heads to address the city's greatest challenges. ultimately, we want everyone in san francisco to live in a place that is clean and green. we know what we've got in san francisco and we don't want to lose it. and when it comes to rolling up sleeves, i'm reminded of someone whose absence is being felt by so many of us. and that person is mayor ed lee. mayor lee was not about apathy, he was about action. he wanted to know what are you

going to do next? it just so happens that i was with the mayor on what would end up being his last press event, because it was the day he died. he had just come back from the chicago climate summit and he was on fire. one of the last things i heard him say was that we must leave this planet in better shape than we found it. and he knew that our city could do this. he understood the importance of bold ideas, of pushing the envelope because that is what san francisco does. so many significant projects and policies are coming to fruition now because of mayor lee's vision and commitment to action. i often find myself imagining,

he is looking down on all of us and smiling in his humble way with pride at what he put in motion. don't it always seem to go. the loss of his leadership is felt and we are inspired by his legacy to continue this work, to continue this work and move forward. over the next five months, we will be gearing up for governor jerry brown's global climate action summit, which will be held here in san francisco in september. it will be a powerful opportunity to showcase san francisco's values as we share this stage with the rest of the world. and speaking of sharing the stage, today we have with us a special guest from mexico city and i'm really excited to introduce you to her shortly. shows an environmental leader

whose big ideas are delivering climate solutions in one of the largest cities in the world. but first, it is my honor to introduce to you today our host, mayor mark farrell. mayor farrell had demonstrated his willingness to take bold action to protect the environment on a number of fronts. whether it's financing energy efficiency upgrades or zero emission vehicles to help our air quality. one particular issue he championed that remains near and dear to my heart was his work to address toxic flame retardants. they have serious impacts on our firefighters, our children and our low income families. they are chemicals that are legal to use because of weak federal regulations and yet those chemicals have no ac