>> president breed: good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the board of supervisors meeting for tuesday may 1st, 2018. madam clerk, please call the roll. >> clerk: thank you, madam president. president breed. >> president breed: here. >> supervisor cohen present. supervisor fewer present. supervisor kim present. supervisor peskin present. supervisor ronen present. supervisor safai present. supervisor sheehy present.

supervisor stefani present. supervisor tang present. supervisor yee present. madam president, all members are present. >> president breed: thank you, ladies and gentlemen. please join us for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> president breed: thank you. madam clerk, are there any communications? >> clerk: yes, madam president. on april 25th, the office of the clerk of the board received a communication from the office of the mayor. vetoing file number 1801-16, appropriation for $1.1 million to the department of public works for time limited geographically street cleaning pilot pursuant to his memo.

pursuant to charter section 9.104, the board may within 10 days of receipt of the veto message reinstate any by two thirds, deadline by may 5th. >> president breed: thank you, madam clerk. please read the consent agenda. >> clerk: items 1-13 comprise the consent agenda. any item may be removed and considered separately. >> president breed: roll call vote. >> clerk: on items 1-13. [roll call] peskin aye. ronen aye. safai aye. sheehy aye. stefani aye.

[roll call] 11 ayes. >> president breed: adopted unanimously. next item. >> clerk: ordinance to amend the health code to ens institute judicial proceedings under the act to appoint conservators for persons with mental health disorders and assisted outpatient treatment proceedings. >> president breed: it's no secret our city is grappling with a severe mental health challenge and sadly we have many mentally ill individuals

who can't care for their basic needs and need to be appointed a conservator to give them the help and shelter they need to get better. to be left on the streets is inhumane and not helping anyone. these challenges become more acute and must be addressed with sensitivity, compassion and dignity, the same way individuals dealing with mental health challenges should not be locked up in jail. mental health conservatorship should not be handled like criminal cases. being mentally ill is not a crime. these should be handled as civil cases, the same we handle family law. that's why i brought forward this legislation by transferring the responsibility of conservatorship cases from the district attorney to the

city attorney, we are decriminalizing mental health issues and ensuring we help individuals get help they need to get healthy and stabilize for the long term. i want to thank the committee for sending this out with a positive recommendation, thank city attorney dennis herrera and district attorney george gasconfor working with us as well as department of public health, barbara garcia and supervisors sheehy and kim for co-sponsoring this and colleagues, i respectfully ask for your support. supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: could you add me as a sponsor please. >> president breed: yes. without objection the ordinance will be adopted unanimously on the first reading. next item please. >> clerk: item 15, resolution to retroactively authorize the sheriff's department to accept

expend $300,000 grant for justice and mental health collaboration program funds to be administered by the bureau of justice assistance for the period of october 1st, 2017, through september 19th, 2019. >> president breed: same house, same call? without objection the resolution is adopted unanimously. next item. >> clerk: retroactively authorize agreement amendments for specialized and technical services for natural resources and watershed management and monitoring in the following amounts, not to exceed $6.5 million, $6.4 million [reading] >> president breed: same house, same call? without objection the resolution is adopted unanimously. next item. >> clerk: item 17, resolution

to establish the leather, lesbian, gay buy sexual transgender, queer, cultural district [reading] >> president breed: supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: thank you. i just want to say a few words, this social cultural district has been in the works for about ten years since the western sum up plan was introduced in 2006 and took quite a bit of time for us and the community and neighborhood to put together. this is the time came out of the desire to make sure this is more than just a historic district with name plaques and art and culture that would commemorate the history. we want to give them the tools to ensure this could continue to be a living, breathing, district where we support our small businesses that represent the leather community as well

as serving organization and housing to ensure this community continues to live, thrive and work in the western neighborhood. i ask for your support in the south of market which will join philipinas, which will celebrate in the san francisco south of market neighborhood. >> president breed: thank you. supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: i want to congratulate and ask to be added as a co-sponsor. >> president breed: thank you. can we take this same house, same call. without objection the resolution is adopted unanimously. next item, please.

>> clerk: item 18 is an ordinance to amend the police code to prohibit firearms at certain public gatherings. >> you are free to exercise your first amendment rights without fear of those carrying concealed firearms. last fall a right wing group wreaked havoc. in charlottesville, there were concerns due to a 2010 firearms law. in a country with a gun homicide rate 25 times higher than other developed nations we are lucky to live in a city that takes gun violence seriously. when i was an aide, i worked on and this board passed the strongest gun safety laws in history and giving law enforcement the additional

tools they need to keep our neighborhoods safe. san francisco leads the way and it's time we do it again. especially the threat of n.r.a. number one priority bill pending in the senate, a bill which would eviscerate. some states don't even require background checks for conceal carry permit. the proposed rally costing millions struck the fear of violence in many and the entire presidio virtually shut down. it's time for san francisco to lead the way and protect the public. the student led march for our lives, pride parade and other related events. freedom of speech and right to

peacefully assemble and protest should not be infringed, chill or suppress by the presence of guns in our society. i want to thank supervisors for their partnership. [reading] who came to the committee meeting, colleagues i hope you join in supporting this legislation. thank you. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor stefani. supervisor cohen. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. supervisor stefani, i just want to say thank you for sponsoring this legislation, i'm delighted to be a co-sponsor, it's incredibly important and ironically timely our vice president mike presence had an event where there was an n.r.a. gathering and no gun zone, a safe space. i would like to see this not

only in public gatherings but echoing the cries from the parkland students that schools also be safe zones. so perhaps, i don't know if there's legislation in the works but maybe we should work on ensuring schools are included in the safe space and prohibition of guns. thank you. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor cohen. seeing no other names on the roster, colleagues, can we take this item, same house, same call? without objection the ordinance passes unanimously on the first reading. >> clerk: item 19 ordinance to amend administrative code to establish a program by which the city would provide up to 80 hours of paid release time from work for employees directly and significantly harmed by a regional disaster where the mayor has declared a regional disaster affecting the city employees subject to eligibility criteria established by the human resources director and program terms and conditions. >> president breed: same house,

same call? without objection the ordinance passes unanimously on the first reading. next item, please. >> clerk: item 20, ordinance to amend the administrative code to change the eligibility age for one of the seven former inmate numbers appointed to the reentry council from the mayor from ages 18-24 to ages 18-35 and to require that inmate member to have been an inmate before the age of 24. >> president breed: colleagues, this is a simple change to the composition of one of the seats appointed by the mayor on the reentry council, currently the mayor appoints 3 of the 7 seats reserved for former inmates on the reentry council. one of those seats requires an individual to be between the ages of 18-24 to ensure a transitional age youth perspective is represented. the adult probation department recommended two changes which are reflective of the ordinance, the first is to

expand the age range of this seat to 35 and the second is to add a requirement that the individual holding the seat would have had to be incarcerated before the age of 24. the department has requested this change due to the difficulty in filling the seat with a current age parameter. they believe this change will help ensure the seat could be filled and the perspective of a formerly incarcerated youth actually represented. so with that, colleagues, i ask for your support. supervisor cohen? >> supervisor cohen: thank you, supervisor breed, i would be happy to give you my support, i would like to lend my name in co-sponsorship. >> president breed: thank you. seeing no other names on the roster, can we take this same house, same call. without objection the ordinance passed unanimously on first reading. next item, please.

>> clerk: [reading item 21] >> president breed: same house, same call? passes unanimously. next item? >> clerk: [reading item 22] >> president breed: same house, same call? without objection the ordinance passes unanimously on the first reading. next item. >> clerk: item 23. motion to approve the mayor's reappointment of ben rosenfield as controller of the city of san francisco for a ten-year term. >> president breed: supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: thank you. i think i have the distinction

of being the only here back in 2008. he had the pleasure of grilling ben in committee. i want to rise to sing his praises over the last ten years. in large part the financial health of the city and county of san francisco is a direct result of the work that ben does both as the controller, controlling our spending, as well as the policy advice that he gives us and when ben says that we are taking big risks, i listen to him and expect we all listen to him very, very carefully. he is someone who likes to solve not only financial puzzles but policy puzzles. i know we like to think he is the guy who comes up with magic money but there's no such thing as magic money.

i appreciate his decency and integrity and pleased you are willing to serve another 10-year term. >> president breed: thank you. supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: thank you. i just want to say a few words about ben rosenfield, known as the clark kent of san francisco written in an article. i have come to respect him and his office and team. i don't say this about a lot of people and departments, it's really a noble department. it has a tough job of maneuvering through a lot of political minutia and does its best to produce hard numbers and data.

to help us to lead an agenda to best serve our city and county and i think that's a tremendously difficult task to do, even numbers and facts aren't just numbers and facts so to be able to do that, attempting to do that with as much objectivity as possible is a very important endeavor and trait and i appreciate that is always the line that the controller and his office walks under. so i just am thankful you want to continue to do this work for another decade and i think the city is in very good hands under your leadership. thank you for your service and for all you do and thanks for holding our hands when we are crying on budget night and sharing worse stories whenever we think this is the worst budget night ever and keeping us in perspective every single year. so thank you, ben. very excited to support your renomination today.

>> president breed: thank you. i just want to assure everyone that budget night will not be painful this year. as your budget chair. we are working very close to make sure it's transparent and fair for everyone, open in space for everyone to consume and to put a finer point on what supervisor peskin and supervisor kim shared, i want to echo, ben, your consummate professional and it's actually a delight to work with you. i value your wisdom and your perspective. and for those of you who haven't had the privilege to work with ben rosenfield, he is a gentleman. even when you disagree, he is able to find and take the high road. to put a finer point on things, i want to acknowledge he is very ethical and he leads with a very strong moral compass for honesty and he has an

incredible high level of integrity for his work and i think that is remarkable and that's not to say other city departments don't behave or perform in that way but it's just an opportunity to highlight a gentleman serving san francisco, for how long? for 20 years already. it's a tough job. and you do it with style, with a little bit of elegance and grace and i just want to express my appreciation for your leadership and for the seem you lead. you lead a very strong team that is very dedicated, very smart, very fair. all the things and attributes we look for in a city controller. i look forward to casting my vote for you. thank you. >> president breed: supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: thank you. i just want to say what a pleasure it is to go back with willie brown and we have worked together on many, many issues.

it was a pleasure also to engage with you, technical advisory committee you put together for updating our inclusionary housing and the objectivity, the professionalism and the work that your staff allowed that process to move forward in a very positive manner and we ended up reaching an 11-0 vote. it's been an honor and privilege to work with you. i think it's a testimony to the good work you have done to have four mayors you have worked under all support you and continue to ask you to serve san francisco. so as many have said before, you are the consummate public service, so it's my honor today to support you. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor. supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: thank you. these reappointment opportunities, every time are nice because we get to say all these nice things about you, that you usually only hear when you retire. i want to echo all my

colleagues being legislative aide and supervisor, getting to work with you is an absolute pleasure. i learn so much, you are always willing to think creatively to help all of us achieve our policies, goals, aims, while always being honest and forthright and i want to echo everyone and appreciate and i'm glad to be supporting your reappointment today. >> president breed: thank you. supervisor peskin, did you have more to say? no? supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, supervisor cohen. i just want to say i appreciate working with you in the 11 years in this building and you didn't treat me less important when i was an aide or when i became supervisor, like i said, it's less about what we say on a given issue but how we hear people and treat them and i think kindness is so important in public service.

in this public realm, kindness has to be at the forefront of all of our minds, we are going to disagree but kindness is something you bring to the table, and you exude that and i appreciate that. >> thank you, supervisor yee? >> supervisor yee: thank you. i echo my colleagues' comments. i want to say simply, for five and a half years it's been a pleasure working with you, mr. rosenfield and i will be supporting you today and tomorrow will be another day. >> thank you, i didn't want you to think i didn't like you, ben, so i thought i would at least get on the roster. but you know how much i love working with you. you are always so professional, no matter which side of the aisle we might be on and a steady hand during the budget process when some of us might be falling apart. thank you, ben. >> president breed: thank you.

supervisor fewer? >> i just want to say thank you. >> president breed: thank you for your work to the city and county of san francisco and your new systems at the controllers website which makes it easy to find good information, good data to find exactly how we are spending money and be more efficient in our use of the city's money. they are the best tools, and they are user friendly for the public. you have done an outstanding job and i'm happy to support you, moving your nomination forward. seeing no other names on the roster, colleagues, can we take this item? , same house, same call? without objection the motion is adopted unanimously. congratulations. next item, please. >> clerk: item 24, motion to approve mayor's nomination for

reappointment of cheryl brinkman to the transportation agency board of directors, ending march 1, 2022. >> president breed: supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: thank you. the last was an object lesson in the right way to have a confirmation. mr. rosenfield reached out, i believe to every single supervisor a long time ago and sought our comment and support and of course as with this case, this is an appointment of the mayor that is subject to confirmation by the board of supervisors. we were talking about the budget process. i think one of the most important things about the budget process is the annual moment we get to check in with a department, in front of the public, ask some questions about what they are doing and what their goals are. how they have succeeded in the previous year and what they

intend to do in the coming year. and the reason i'm saying all of this, is because the role of the legislative branch in the confirmation function is very important. and i take it very seriously and i don't think it should be treated lightly, particularly in and around a body like the m.t.a. commission that we have by charter law, granted powers that are, in many ways, the powers that elected officials, legislative leaders enjoy in actually being able to legislate. the m.t.a. does its own legislation that is not subject to approval by elected officials so the m.t.a. commission is all the more important. and what i'm troubled by, and this is in no way a personal comment about ms. brinkman, is the fact that this board of

supervisors, confirmation vote, i say this respectfully, is being taken for granted. the fact there's been no affirmative outreach, at least to this supervisor. and i want to say i reached out to the mayor's office yesterday to say that i was, i thought it was rather extraordinary, not an email, not a telephone call, i mean an opportunity for a check-in and mr. powers was, i don't want to put words in his mouth, was very candid saying the administration as a matter of practice encourages all nominated commissioners to come to the board of supervisors and make themselves available and that was not the case here. i, anecdotally, though i don't know ms. brinkman, have heard good things about her work on

the m.t.a. commission. but i have not had a chance to discuss them with her. this is not about me. it's really about this body. and the importance of the confirmation role. having said that, i will vote for ms. brinkman in this instance and for the other commissioners on the roster, but i want to send a message that this is the last time i'm going to do that and from here on out, and i'm saying this to the appointing authority and i'm saying this to commissioners, you really need to affirmatively reach out to your confirmation authority and not ever take this body for granted. it is important.

with that i will vote for this nomination. >> president breed: supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: thank you. i want to thank you for pushing for the important initiatives we have wanted to see come to fruition to see us get to zero fatalities in san francisco. supervisor peskin, i do think it's important for all members to reach out to this board. given the rule s.f. m.t.a. board plays and they have real authority, that the board doesn't have discretion to oversee, it's important to ensure that relationship exists and as mentioned, not take the vote for granted. but i do want to thank cheryl as well, i do think she has been a very good director and

i'm happy to support her today. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor cohen? >> supervisor cohen: thank you, supervisor peskin, i agree. there's nothing worse than feeling taken for granted. i have been mulling over not voting for her, just for the lack of due diligence that's been taken in this particular matter. i think what's most shocking, it's almost excusable when it's someone who doesn't know the process or new and just learning the process. you could understand that. but this is a seasoned member of the m.t.a. who has been around the halls of city hall for long enough to know what the appropriate outreach strategies should be. first you reach the rules committee and the entire board members, anyone who has the ability to cast a vote for you. i would also like to send a

message to folks out there that don't take our votes for granted. we would like to hear from everyone that is seeking an appointment, or a vote, to any kind of lay board or commission. thank you. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor cohen. supervisor fewer? > supervisor fewer: thank you, supervisor breed. i just want to say i addressed the m.t.a. commission about four budget items, about taxi drivers, crossing guards, language access and chariot shuttles and i only received a response from one commissioner that was commissioner torres. upon these appointments agendized today i have to say a little disappointed not hearing any response at all from these two commissioners up for reappointment or any other commissioner, except commissioner torres, which is really disappointing, considering a person on the board of supervisors will

actually vote on the reappointment, four issues, when they take time to go before the commission to express their interest in these four issues to not have any response at all. i'm going to be looking at these four topics in the m.t.a. budget. these are people who oversee $1.1 billion of money. this is a huge budget. and the idea that a supervisor who will vote on their appointment actually came to the commission to address these four issues and not one has ever responded even via email or a phone call or to follow-up on these four concerns i had in the $1.1 billion budget, i feel is sort of taking our vote for granted. and if i sound a little irritated or agitated in my voice, it is because i am. i have to trust that they are probably very busy, but i am also busy also. serving my 80,000 residents in

the richmond district and these are four concerns i felt were so important that i took time out of my day to go up and address their commission respectfully, and i think it's very disrespectful to not have responded in any matter at all around these four issues. thank you. >> president breed: thank you. supervisor fewer. colleagues we have the option to continue the item as well. supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: i was going to make a motion to continue for two weeks. the fact no one from this board has heard from the director, even though i support her, i think she should do her due diligence, i was going to suggest two weeks. i feel that's a better amount of time to the board. >> we should just vote. >> president breed: supervisor sheehy? sorry, supervisor kim has made a motion to continue this item for two weeks to the meeting may 15th, 2018, is there a second. seconded by supervisor sheehy.

seeing no names on the roster, colleagues, can we take the continuance of two weeks without objection? without objection this item will be continued to the meeting of may 15th, 2018. next item, please. >> clerk: item 25 motion to approve the mayor's nomination for reappointment of gwyneth borden to the m.t.a. for term ending march 2022. >> supervisor cohen: i support her. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: i was going to make a motion to continue this for two weeks. >> president breed: seconded by supervisor sheehy. i will not be supporting the continuance. i think i have a great respect and relationship with supervisor borden who has been

very proactive with my office in addressing issues that are of serious concern to me and my constituents in d-5 on a regular basis more than any other commissioner that sits on that commission. she has done an outstanding job. i'm not prepared to support the continuance, i'm prepared to support her today in moving this forward. supervisor is a fy? safai? >> supervisor safai: thank you. i do want to say commissioner brinkman did reach out to me and members of our committee and did have the opportunity to come out and speak. >> president breed: supervisor safai. i will need to ask to rescind the vote. >> supervisor safai: i just wanted to say that. and commissioner borden did the same thing. we had the opportunity to meet. i know she met with other members of the committee and

so, i think what happened was that they might not have known it was happening, it was being straight to the board. again, that's not an excuse. as pointed out, these are reappointments so there should be an opportunity to sit down with everyone. i'm fine with the continuance for commissioner brinkman based on that. commissioner borden did spend time with our office. i'm okay with voting on her today. >> president breed: supervisor cohen? >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i just wanted to maybe have discussion why we would continue commissioner borden, why you made that motion. i won't be supporting it, but can you speak to why? >> president breed: supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: for the same reason continuing ms. brinkman. she spent time speaking to my office as well. we should give both directors

an opportunity to meet with all the supervisors who wanted to speak with them. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor kim for that. commissioner brinkman did not reach out to my office as well. hearing some of the concerns expressed by the rest of you in terms of outreach from that particular commissioner and i guess i have to reverse that item to talk about it but [chuckles] following my own rules. well the board's rules. commissioner borden and i have had extensive discussions, not just about this reappointment but mostly consistently about the challenges of things we continuously face in the m.t.a. which is why i'm comfortable moving this appointment forward. i think they are two separate issues, as far as i'm concerned which is the reason i won't be supporting the continuance. supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: i was

just going to ask a temporal question which was -- is supervisor borden in her hold-over period -- in other words, would she be able to continue to serve? i'm sorry -- >> president breed: so what i'm going to do, supervisor peskin, you bring up a good issue. because we may need to also figure that out for the previous commissioner and the continuance as well. >> supervisor peskin: i was just informed they expired march 1st, with a 60-day hold-over provision in the charter means they expire today. >> i'm happy to make a motion to rescind item 24 to a later time in this board meeting. >> president breed: supervisor kim made a motion to rescind the motion on the continuance.

seconded by supervisor sheehy. without objection that's been unanimously. we will come back to that because we have a 2:30 special accommodation, that will give us time to sort out some of these details to make sure the m.t.a. department and its commission can still continue to function. with that, supervisor stefani, you have the floor. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, president breed. colleagues, today i'm honored to commend the students who helped to organize san francisco's march for our lives rally and march down market street to the ferry building. i would like to call up four students from lieuel high

school and cleo couldn't be with us today. on valentine's day this year i was sitting in rules committee and got a message alert about another school shooting, this time parkland florida, marjory stoneman high school. as a mother of a 13-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter and someone who has been fighting for common sense gun laws since columbine, 19 years ago april 20th, news like this absolutely devastates me. i cannot begin to tell you the hope that i felt since watching the reaction of the students in parkland and our students here at home who have said enough. immediately after parkland i heard from jason chen asking for a meeting. supervisor tang and i met with them as they were making plans to march and turn out thousands of people on march 24th, one of the many rallies around the country that day.

to say we were impressed is an under statement. they are determined to fight for their lives, hopes and dreams and will not stop until students feel safe in their classrooms. they are places for learning, not places to worry about gunfire and lockdown drills. as one of the students from parkland said, what happened in parkland could happen in any school and that's exactly why students have to lead this conversation. it's clear no one is safe from gun violence, if adults can't get this done, we will. in the spirit of letting them lead i'm going to stop talking and turn the floor over to them but first i want to thank you four from the bottom of my heart for your activism, your tenacity, your perseverance and your hope that you bring to this conversation. our future is going to change for the better because of your commitment to ending gun

violence, this gun violence epidemic plaguing our communities and country and i can't thank you enough. the floor is yours. >> thank you very much, supervisor stefani. [applause] on behalf of all the students involved in this effort, thank you so much for your commendation. over the past few months we have all been working tirelessly to turn our aspirations of a youth-led anti-gun movement to a reality. we learn through trial and error the challenges of organizing an event of this caliber. we spoke to officials at every level of local government including yourselves and fully mobilized a rag tag group of high schoolers into an impassioned group. from every walk of life all

driven by the same understanding this new generation of mass school shootings change needs to happen and it needs to happen now. or our lives as children will be in danger and at risk. never again should we be scared by a fire drill or a backfiring car. never again should we be afraid of staring down the barrel of a semi automatic weapon. enough is enough. and on march 24th, with your endorsement we marched down market street with hundreds of our peers. it was truly a movement and we are at the vanguard and to say it was inspiring is just an under statement. this is only the beginning and we have continued to further these efforts from walking out of class on april 20th, which was the anniversary of the

columbine high school shooting, sending 300 students from over 30 schools to sacramento to discuss with our california representatives about gun violence and what we can do to solve it. we live in a country where seven children on average are killed each day by guns and to be honest, that's seven lives too many. we are extremely grateful to live in a city where we have paved the way for common sense gun reform and on behalf of all the student leaders we are extremely thankful for this honor and are optimistic for the future of gun control and this youth movement. thank you so much. [applause]

>> president breed: thank you. let's give the next generation of leaders a hand. thank you all for your advocacy. [applause] march for our lives was an amazing event and you did an outstanding job. thank each and everyone of you for your leadership and advocacy on gun control issues. with that i would like to go back to our agenda. madam clerk, let's go to our next item. item number 26. but we will return to 24 and 25

shortly. >> clerk: thank you, madam president. item 26 is a motion to amend the rules of order of the board of supervisors by adding rule 1.3.2 regarding political activities that are prohibited during public comment at board of supervisors meetings and the authority to enforce the rule. >> president breed: colleagues, could we take this item? same house, same call? without objection the motion is approved unanimously. next item, please. >> clerk: item 27 is a motion to appoint gisele rainer, term ending february 1st 2019 to the park and recreation advisory committee. >> president breed: same house, same call? without objection the item is approved unanimously. next item?

>> clerk: item 28, motion to reappoint e' leva hughes gibson and zea malawa. >> president breed: same house, same call? without objection the motion is approved unanimously. next item. >> clerk: [reading item 30] >> president breed: approved unanimously. next item. >> clerk: to approve or reject nomination for appointment of gail gilman to the port commission for term ending may 1st, 2022. >> president breed: supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: thank you. as one of the three members of the board that has part of the port jurisdiction in his district, i wanted to make a motion to approve the mayor's nomination of ms. gilman for the port commission for the term ending may 1st, 2022. and let me start by saying the obvious, which is unlike the

previous discussion we had, i believe ms. gilman has been driving us all crazy, so no lack of contact. in all seriousness, ms. gilman who hails from the third supervisorial district has steeped herself in port policy and i have to say i have watched her in her role in the building inspection commission and when she indicated to me she was talking to the mayor's office about potentially becoming a port commissioner, i said do you know the public trust doctrine of the state of california and she was honest and said she didn't know it yet, but weeks later, she was able to recite the intricacies and nuances of that complicated piece of public policy backwards and forwards, which i doubt any other member and i mean no disrespect to mr. adams, can do.

for those of us watching our emails and letters, the breadth of support that ms. gilman has received has, i think, spoken volumes. so i am honored to make a motion approving her nomination by the mayor. >> president breed: supervisor peskin, you are making a motion to amend to approve. >> supervisor peskin: correct. >> president breed: supervisor peskin has made a motion to amend to approve seconded by supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: thank you, i also want to add my words of support for gail gilman who currently serves as an inspector, i first met gail in 2010 when she came onto fill in the big shoes of jeff kazizsky also in the audience.

i just have to say over the last seven years gail has been one of the most tenacious and persistent advocates fighting for supportive housing for formerly homeless residents, and she is someone who is smart, she does her homework, she works hard. she comes to meetings early. she comes to every meeting, she goes to every community event, she is there to listen and discuss and this is what i want to see from our commissioners. she is already doing the work in the community and i know she will give her all to the port commission. i think it could be frustrating when we hear sometimes of commissioners we put in these very important seats to hear their attendance or punctuality isn't great.

i'm sure she will do the work, the port does a number of things that are incredibly important and land use has become one, this hasn't always been the business of the port. but as the port's role has changed in san francisco, they have increasingly become a body that has been building housing. as someone who has done a lot of work around business housing in my district i want someone who understands how development works and also fights for affordable housing. we want to make sure developments built on public property actually meets the needs of our residents and affordable housing is one of those needs. i want to strongly support gail gilman today. i think she will be an outstanding member and there's no doubt in my mind that she won't give 200% to this commission. >> president breed: thank you. seeing no other names on the roster, colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? without objection the motion as amended is approved unanimously. all right, let's go back to items 24 and 25.

it's my understanding the two commissioners in question are here and are happy to potentially answer questions from members of the board. i would like for members of the board to know if they are not moved forward today, they will not be able to sit at another meeting for the m.t.a. until we go through our process, which could be potentially problematic and i would like members of the board to, if you want to ask questions, or if you still want to continue, either one of these particular appointments, i think we are open to discussion at this time on these two items for either or. supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: thank you, madam president. going back to my original comments i just want to send the message going forward. and was not trying to hold them up today.

i think the board has spoken with a single voice relative to the concerns that, i think, we all share and what i would like to do going forward is to invite ms. brinkman to come visit with me and all of us, but i'm prepared to vote for both of these items today. and i think we have delivered the message. >> president breed: thank you. supervisor peskin. would you like to -- supervisor cohen? >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i would like to hear from director brinkman? supervisor? >> supervisor kim: i want to correct the record, i forgot about the interaction. the director did reach out to me. >> president breed: thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor cohen?

>> supervisor cohen: i already asked my question, i would like to know why you didn't reach out. >> thank you, through president breed, supervisor cohen. >> president breed: please identify yourself. >> sorry, cheryl brinkman, currently not on the m.t.a. board of directors, hoping to be reappointmented. i'm terribly sorry, i did think i had until at least the next board meeting to reach out, as board member safai noted i did reach out to the rules committee and supervisor kim but then the time just got away from me, it's unforgivable, i apologize. i stand warned and i think that our entire commission will be on a much firmer footing in terms of reaching out. i will absolutely pop an email to everyone again, i apologize i did on monday when i found out i would be here today. i reached out 24 hours in advance, which is absolutely

not enough for busy supervisors, it's not enough for anybody, really. i will reach out again, provide my email, offer to come in, serving on the s.f.m.t.a. board of director is very important to me. so i really hope that you will see fit to look over this total misstep that i made, complete misstep and allow me to continue to serve on the s.f.m.t.a. board. >> supervisor cohen: how long have you been serving? >> seven years. >> supervisor cohen: how many processes have you been through? >> this will be my third because we are limited to three terms. >> supervisor cohen: it's safe to assume, certainly for the first one you did your outreach, the second you did your outreach. >> for my second one i believe i sent emails. it was four years ago, it is a little blury, i don't believe i actually met with anybody then. when the newest round of

supervisors was elected, i did send emails providing every office with my cell phone number, i always make a point to say i'm absolutely reachable by email, cell phone, people can text me, email me, and i apologize, just as you know things get busy, there's been a lot going on at the s.f.m.t.a. board. i feel that i do a lot, obviously i don't do enough outreach to the supervisors. i spent a lot of time going to community meetings. i have visited so many divisions and visited the paint and signal shop to meet with the workers there and hear about the struggles they go through, the p.c.o. division, the parking control officers, excuse me. the proof of payment fare inspectors ride alongs with meter maids, i've spent a lot of time on internal outreach, making sure they know the board sees what they do, we appreciate what they do, we understand how difficult their

jobs are and what a difference it makes to our riding public. i always take the opportunity to brag on the successors our agency has achieved in the last customer service survey we had 70% rate us good or excellent, it may be i fell down on the job but we are not falling down on the job. >> president breed: thank you. and commissioner, you said that being on the commission is important to you. can you explain more details as to why? >> absolutely. i came to even think of serving because i was one of the original organizers of sunday streets and actually reading through my original letter i sent to mayor newsom to ask to be put on the board of directors. in the letter i talked about how i felt sunday streets was the most important thing i had done in the city. imcome from a background of pedestrian and bicycle advocacy and neighborhood livable

streets and triangle market association, octavia c.a.c. but the work on sunday streets, allowing the city to open up the streets to families to enjoy on foot, bike, to connect with neighborhoods and community to remember what is on offer in their own city was so important to me. if i had a chance to do that on a wider scale we have embarked on really impressive equality- [please stand by...] .

>> i think that people call them fare-dodgers. we say it's a proof of payment -- proof of payment policy. >> supervisor breed: oftentimes those persons that receive the tickets come from the community of concern and we spend a lot of money to address that issue and on the other side, people are riding muni that don't feel safe. so there is concern that we're not providing sufficient support for safety for people in stations at on muni at the bus stops. could you please help me

understand what your thoughts are around those particular issues and why choose to go after people who are evading fares. why are we not choosing safety first? >> absolutely. so when we started the policy a few years ago, we knew that our buses speeding up, we needed to speed up fare-evasion practices. before everybody went in by the front door. everybody paid the fare. it was the bus driver's responsibility to make sure that people paid their fare and bus drivers got into altercations with people trying to be that policing role, which was not appropriate. with all-door boarding, people are coming in all doors. the bus driver is removed from the responsibility of being the fare-inspector. i'm happy and proud that we've