great -- i have to do a shout out for green streets, which started in my district and is an amazing program that specifically works in public housing facilities and really works on education and behavioral change. i think we need that. i think we need more of those intensive training both for, you know, kids and in big, large complexes where that habit isn't formed. but then, i think we need compliance at this point. if we are -- if our curve is going in the wrong direction, and people say they know why it's important, and they say they know how to do it, but they're just not taking the time, well, they need to take the time. and it's time now. we've been very generous in our education, and if that's what's truly been causing the problem, then we have to do that. i don't have much faith in president trump or his administration certainly on environmental issues, but the

fact that we're sending our trash to china so defeats the environmental purposes of properly disposing and reusing. >> let's be clear, the trash -- the trash -- >> supervisor ronen: the energy that it takes to transport it, it's absurd. and then, you know, the other thing is i was surprised to learn -- i learned this quite recently -- the amount of methane that is released from landfills and the impact on climate change and our environment. i don't think that is as well known in terms of why it's so important specifically to compost. and then, whatcom posting does to take methane out of the atmosphere, right? the double -- the double sort of bad part of it, and then, the positive effect you can have with composting. i do think we need to have a

better education campaign about that aspect of our zero waste goals because we are a city that very much compares about climate change, probably have more electric vehicles than -- than other cities, but yet we're still sending 30% of what should be composted to the landfill. we need to do more education on that part. but i really -- you know, the last thing i would say is, you know, in terms of the big business, more commercial side of the waste, i think the local 287 did do the walk in my shoes night, and part of my job i did that night was separating the waste which was an amazing experience and very hard and very eye opening. but what i -- what i like about that program is that the workers are making sure that all of the waste is properly disposed. but we are sending a message to

the people upstairs that are the workers during the day that they don't have to do that separating, and i think that's the wrong mess annual. so relooking at how, you know, these lead certified businesses are doing that, i don't know, some presorting and then an extra look at it is important. i appreciate that supervisor safai held this hearing. it's pretty outrageous that 60% of what's still going to the landfill is recycling and composting in 2018 after everything that recology and the department of the environment has been doing, and i think it's time to step it up. >> supervisor safai: okay. before we take public comment, i just want to thank you guys for all the hard work in preparing this presentation and putting these thoughtful answers together. i think that it sounds like we have some real opportunities to in terms of enforcement, in terms of looking at some of the

large generators, in terms of looking at changing people's behavior and education, and also thinking about expanded workforce opportunities to expand the ability to do more recycling and composting. so before we take public comment, supervisor yee has joined us, and he'd like to ask a few questions, i guess -- or make a comment. >> supervisor yee: i just want to make a comment, and thank you for having this hearing. as i was listening toward the tail end of this, education is a big piece of how we can be successful, and i actually have a resolution, piece of legislation moving forward to urge the school district and hopefully our departments to work in partnership to reeducate our students because we do an okay job at the elementary school level, the younger kids. and by the time they get to high school, by youth commissioner for district seven

tells me that most of the high school kids tend to forget what they learned, and we need to reinforce it. so hopefully, that's something we can look at more seriously. >> supervisor safai: great. so like to open it up for public comment. anyone that wishes to publicly comment on this item, please come forward. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is john bouchard. i'm the secretary and treasurer of teamsters local 250. we perform the sorting and represent all the drivers that collect the material. and i'd like to echo a couple of points that ms. rafael and mr. porter made particularly in regards to the c and d collection and where it's being dumped. i think it's important that the

materials being picked up is regulated in a fashion that we know where it's going, and it has been a big problem. there are a lot of bad players out there who are taking this material outside of san francisco, and i think it would be beneficial for all involved for the city to consider an ordinance that require any c and d being generated in san francisco -- [inaudible] >> supervisor safai: i'll ask you a couple questions. just from your perspective, how does it affect the workers because your time is up, but we should probably add a few seconds. how does it affect the workforce? >> well, the workforce is not being afforded the opportunity to get their hands on the material. obviously, we cannot sort the material that's coming before our workers, so i think it's important for -- to be able to have control over what's being sorted and recycled and what's

not. it has to come before the sorters, and i think it should be coming to our facility because then, we have some more control over how it's being sorted. >> supervisor safai: and particularly, the work that you guys are doing out in the pier, right, that's one of the larger operations. how many people are doing that work right now? >> we have about 150 members at pier 96. >> supervisor safai: and they're doing solely the recycling, the blue stream? >> correct. >> supervisor safai: and what exactly the work entails? >> yeah, they pull material out that's not recyclable. they bail them, get them ready for shipment. >> supervisor safai: are you dotion the fi doing the film plastic now, as well? >> i think that's a question for mr. porter. >> supervisor safai: i see someone nodding their head and

giving a thumbs up. >> this is one area that i probably disagree with mr. porter is the stuff that's coming in in the black stream, you know, i don't agree that that entire load is contaminated. at that point, i do think it's useful to go through that material. you know, other facilities do that, and even if you pull -- >> supervisor safai: i facilities in the area? >> i know the area where i come, south san francisco -- >> supervisor safai: so they actually put the waste from the black stream out on a belt, and they'll pull out a significant amount -- >> yeah, they have a commercial belt that does that. and they also have a floor sort. >> supervisor safai: say that again. >> they also have a floor sort. >> supervisor safai: so they dump it out on the floor? >> right, or the company trucks come in, they dump it on the floor, and they go through it before it hits the recycling lines. >> supervisor safai: it seems to make sense to me that if there's 60% in that stream from

what we've been told today, 60% of that could either be compostable or recycleable, it seems to me you could get a significant amount of that or an opportunity to divert a lot of that away from -- >> and some of that material, as mr. porter stated, may be contaminated, but if you can even pull 5% of material out of that one black bag that's recyclable, that's useful, right? and because national sort is a real problem, it's important for recycling to be cleaner than ever, and i -- right now, our members are doing the best they can. but i think to more efficiently sort this material, i think it's important that you have more eyes and hands on the material. i don't believe that technology is the answer there. i believe that workers -- you know, human workers are the answer. you have to be able to get your hands on this material and sort it. i think that's important.

and that might call for expanded facilities. i know they're -- the c and d facility is being expanded, but it might be time to look at expanding, you know, the recycling facilities, pier 96, for example. any time you go there, there's recyclables up to the door waiting to -- that are dumped and waiting to be sorted. to get through that, you need more workers. to accommodate more workers, you're probably going to need expanded facilities. >> supervisor safai: okay. thank you, mr. bouchard. >> thank you. >> supervisor safai: any other members of the public wish to make a comment? i see one person. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you for having this hearing. i wanted to be able to bring up these bins that you guys see throughout city hall and your own personal offices. when we first started

discussing this legislation back in 2008, there was no reference to the workers that actually were doing the work, both at that time, recology. at that time my mentor bob morales was sitting at the table. i wanted to be able to show you because for us, it was a lot of work that all of these -- our janitor janitors had to bend under the next, not once, but twice to be able to get both of these. i wanted to say when it first started out, janitors felt empowered by the legislation, because it gave them an opportunity to tell tenants you're not recycling in the right streams. after the honeymoon period, it turned into disciplinary action -- >> supervisor safai: can you allow her to keep speaking, please. >> -- doing their portion of recycling.

achieving zero waste is going to be a feat in itself. if homeowners in san francisco and as you eloquently put it, a lot of our children we've seen grow up in the public schools in san francisco, if they can do it, i don't see why the tenants that are working there 9:00 to 5:00 consider themselves too -- don't want to be bothered with having to do that part when our janitors have pointed it out, they're disciplined because there's been contamination between the streams, and our members are the ones being told you're not doing your job when in fact it's supposed to be the whole building, including the owners that have to buy into this culture. if the tenants and homeowners understand it takes a village, i don't know why the tenants in the buildings -- the office buildings and tenants don't understand it's going to take anyone. if you can picture a homeowner who's recycling in the proper

streams, can you picture a worker sorting through 1.5 million pounds of trash in seven hours. i see the shirts they wear, the luncheons they host, but the problem i have is there's no recognition for the actual janitors and teamsters that are actually doing the hard work, which is absolutely important as part of this let's save the earth. and it doesn't mean that you giving yourself a lead certification, a platinum, a diamond lead certification means that you're a clean building. it means that the workers are doing the job for you to get there. and the problem i have with that is there's no amount of certificates that are going to make a building really clean if they're not doing their part. and it's a culture that frankly, everyone understands 2020 is coming around, and if we don't get to that level, that's the problem we're going to have.

in buildings that there are sorters, we have a much better success rate to meet some of those standards. not at 100, but we're doing a lot better in those buildings where there's sorters in house at those buildings. and i would like to ask the department of environment that they show us the numbers by telling us how many building owners have been find, how many do they just cut a check, and say i'll pay the fine but i'm not going to bring in the people to do the sorting? how many of them are not meeting the standards that the city placed on us back in 2009? and finally for us as the workers, i have to tell you, it's not an easy job, being able to bend down 2, 300 times a night just on one floor. it doesn't include the amount of work additionally that they have to do. but in order to be relevant, in order to be able to meet the standards of the environment

and leave an earth that our children can be proud of, that we can all inherit, it's going to take an effort -- there is no arrogance here. this is just are you being a responsible building owner? are you being a responsible tenant? are you being a responsible resident, homeowner? but i think we should take a page from children in kindergarten and t.k. and first grade that are being taught that it's a culture that we all have to do, and it's not just up to just the janitors and the sorters and recology from 350 to be able to do this work. so i really implore you and appreciate this hearing today, and i hope something comes out of it. thank you. >> supervisor safai: thank you. i was going to ask a few more questions, but you answered all my questions. >> supervisor ronen: director safai, i just wanted to comment on that. i made some comments already. first of all, i have to say when i was a candidate for supervisor doing a night in the shoes of a janitor was one of

the most profound things i did during the campaign, and thank you for that. i'm so glad that you offered that opportunity and forced that opportunity on every candidate. that's what i did most of the time is i sorted the trash. first of all, your members were incredible, the knowledge and the support that they gave me in doing it was just tremendous. but it was insulting. i mean, the fact that the workers upstairs couldn't, you know, do that first sort and then the janitors provide a check to that or, you know, correct things that were missed was ridiculous and insulting. and the fact that they get the lead certificate on the backs of the janitors that are doing this work was -- was really eye opening for me, and i just -- i just -- i had already made some comments, but i just wanted to and i hope youd underscore your

know, fine or go have talks with those buildings, that culture needs to change, and it needs to change yesterday. so thank you. thank you for your testimony. >> supervisor safai: and i would say, director rafael, it would be really interesting to know based on that 60% number of what 30% compost, 30% recycleable that could go to -- that's going in our waste stream, how much of that's coming from the large generators? how much of that is actually happening in the building? because we do have examples that you said, at&t park, embarcadero, the ferry building, some of these places that actually have people, you know, sorters, janitors doing the work on-site have a significant impact of terms of how much they're diverting versus buildings that don't. >> i would just ask that you also look at it as a bigger picture of building owners. so for example, himes has 555

california. they can be able to have -- i'm sorry. boston properties and embarcadero, they only have one building that's sorting or over himes building on mission and 2nd street is only -- out of their 28 buildings, they're only recycling at one. they only have one sorter at one of their 28 buildings, and i would look at it in that order. when we are doing our surveys of how many sorters we have in buildings, we look at it by building owner, and these are not just i own one building, these are really property owners that are expansive, j.l.l. buildings, boston property buildings. now you have himes or whatever, but i would just ask that you

look at it by owner and to look at it by sorters to provide that information. >> supervisor safai: we will. any other members of the public wishing to comment on this item, please come forward. seeing none, public comment is closed. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor safai: and i will just say, i appreciate the work the department of environment did. thank you to recology coming out. i think they are a wonderful partner. thank you to the teamsters and the janitors for coming out today. i think we've learned quite a bit. we will continue to work -- we've already started some things working with your office, drar -- director rafael, and i think we will continue in that motion. i think it's interesting to hear the teamsters say they're doing it in south city and other places and they're looking at the black stream. so maybe that's a conversation we can have with recology, and looking at these large property owners, we've already started a conversation with you. we will reach out to them and the janitors and keep this conversation. thank you -- i guess what do we need to do, make a motion to file this?

>> yes. >> supervisor safai: make a motion to file the hearing. >> supervisor ronen: yes. thank you. before i ask you to call item number four, mr. clerk -- i'll wait for one sec. i just wanted to acknowledge and welcome supervisor mar back into the committee room. it's so good to see you back in, supervisor mar. call the next item, mr. clerk. >> clerk: also, i'm going to mention for the benefit of the public, the house has changed. we have supervisor yee sitting as a member for the remainder of the meeting. [agenda item read] >> supervisor ronen:

supervisor yee? >> supervisor yee: thank you very much, supervisor ronen. as you know, may is asian pacific american heritage month, and it's drawing to a close. and i am proud that i was able to partner with the community in this joint legislative effort to remove a racist antiasian legacy from one of our city's public playgrounds, the julius kahn playground in the presidio. our parks and open spaces are meant to be welcoming and open for all to enjoy, regardless of race, religion, gender or other differences. however, former congressman julius kahn's antiasian immigration policy during the early 1900's did not espouse the values that san francisco stands for today: values of respect for diversity, values of tolerance, and values of --

to be inclusive, and appreciation of the many contributions of our immigrant communities. instead, julius kahn's bill made permanent the chinese exclusion act. he further targeted other asian communities by advocating for legislation to also exclude filipinos, japanese and american indians from entering the united states. todd's motion at this hearing to remove joule cuss kahn's name and rename the playground is very symbolic, especially during this month where we have been celebrating and recognizing the richl and long history of asian american's contributions to our city and to our country. today, will you please send a powerful message to our fellow san franciscans that san francisco will continue to be a city that values diversity,

inclusion, and tolerance? that we will not tolerate racism, bigotry and exclusion? i want to say that my father actually was a paper son, meaning that there was a period where many chinese population i am -- immigrants were coming in under somebody's name mainy because of the exclusion act. and i'm saying this because i remember -- even when my grandfather was already here, so it was kind of ridiculous that he had to come in as a paper son. but i didn't know the impact of that until i was probably cl e close -- well, being a teenager when laws changed that allowed for somebody like my father to come to gain citizenship and

the fear that he had. it's almost living -- i lived through some of the fears that people are living through today with the possibility of being deported because of their status and the relief that i saw in my father's face when it happened when he finally regained citizenship stuck to me today. so -- and i'm going to tell you another story. i mean, i mentioned this earlier, that these issues of intolerance and racism, you might think that it's gone away and so forth, and -- and it must have been at least a century ago. indeed, when i bought my home in the west side, and most of the west side was pretty much similar to this story, where people that were either negro

or livestock or orientals were not allowed to live or purchase homes in the west side -- many parts of the west side, especially those associations that had those bylaws that states this. and when i bought my home a little over 30 years ago, that was still in the books, and it took my effort several years later to say, what is this, you know? and after much debate, was able to get the people that live there to actually change the bylaws, so that was only 30 years ago. and today, we're still facing -- i think this -- with what we're seeing today at the federal government, it just gives us an opportunity to say hey, let's don't stand for what's going on today because look what happened -- look what happened 80, 90 years ago.

why are we repeating ourselves? and this is an opportunity as we look at removing this name for us to have dialogue, for us to have a discussion of, is this what we really want? that's what happened. that's part of history that's happened. we don't need to repeat it. we need to also find people that -- that also contributed to our history in a much more positive way to our society that reflects our values today. so this is why i personally feel passionate about doing this, and i'm very happy that commissioner -- the park commissioner, allen lowe approached me about this as i'm doing a parallel name change for phelan avenue with the same rational2ed. -- rationale.

i want to thank him, i want to thank his colleagues for leading this charge. and i want to also thank my cosponsors of this lemgs lation, supervisors fewer, peskin, and kim. and i want to thank the people that came out today for the press conference: jane chin, my former classmate and interim executive director of the chinese historical society, cynthia choi, who's the coexecutive director for chinese affirmative action. and also the asian american bar association, president david xi. >> supervisor ronen: could i just say a couple words? >> supervisor yee: yes, you may. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. i just wanted to thank you for bringing this forward and would ask to be a cosponsor, as well. >> supervisor yee: thank you. >> supervisor ronen: i am so happy that you're making

this -- this change in our shameful, racist history here in san francisco. i think it now is exactly the same not only because it is asian american history month, but also because this similar racist xenophobic attack is happening today, every single day, so it's concentrated today on the latino community, but it's part of -- not just the latino community but largely the latino community being the face of these attacks. and it comes from -- it's -- it's -- it's not new. it's a long history where different communities, the chinese community, the japanese community, the filipino community have been targeted by the federal government with that local officials thcomplic

in blaming larger communities which could not be farther from the truth, whether it's crime, unemployment, etcetera. this has never been the fault of immigrant communities. we are a nation of immigrants, and this will never be the fault of immigrant communities. we are stronger, we are better, we are a more informed cohesive community because we are a nation of diversity and immigrants. and i am just very, very proud to be cosponsoring this today and really thank your leadership, supervisor yee. >> supervisor yee: thank you, supervisor ronen for your words, and i see that sharon chung, staff from supervisor stefani's office is here, and she would like to make a comment. >> thank you, community members of the my name is sharon chung, and i'm the legislative aide to district two supervisor catherine stefani.

i want to thank supervisor yee for taking the lead on this. we are eager to work with community leaders and neighborhoods in taking the next steps of renaming this community park. thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you. i'd like to mention that the julius kahn park is actually in district two, part of supervisor stefani's district, and right now i'd like to ask commissioner, commissioner allen lowe, would you like to come up? [inaudible] >> supervisor yee: okay. >> good morning. my name is linda zhang chl i'm an associate with the law firm of perkins couie.

i want to thank the many organizations and individuals who are here in support of this issue. for 61 years. the chinese exclusion act severely restricted immigration and entrance of chinese people in the united states. in the heart of san francisco one of the most diverse cities in the u.s., we still have a park named after a congressman who pushed to make that exclusion permanent. [inaudible] >> when the act was set to expire in 1902, kahn introduced the kahn bill to make the act permanent. the chinese exclusion act remained in force until 1943 when the chinese and americans became allies in world war ii.

san francisco's a city of inclusion. our parks should celebrate inclusion now and carry that message for generations to come. thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is lindsey kwak. i'd like to give a little bit more background on julius kahn. he did not stop at the chinese. after the exclusion act was made permanent, he pursued the exclusion of nap knees, asian indians and even said horrible things about filipinos on the floor. exclusion acts of 1923 and 24 did bar asians, but imposed literacy tests, imposed quotas on people from other nations

including eastern europe where julius kahn was from, and julius kahn did not vote in favor of either of those subsequent acts, and so that shows that he had this particular annimus against asians, and so he really did pursue -- he had a racist agenda. we have reached out -- we spoke with the jewish community relations committee, and they reached out to local jewish historians, who have confirmed our research, including a researcher named fred rosenbaum who has gone onto say the jewish communities in the east looked to jewish leaders in the west and said what's going on? they were horrified at this campaign that was driven from the west coast, and they were concern thad it would spread to the immigration policies would spread to jewish communities, which it ultimately did and was he have, very bad in the end. on a personal note, i am a

fourth generation san franciscan who grew up playing at julian kahn playground. i have very fond memories there, and when i learned about julius kahn, i was angered, disappointed and ashamed to know that a park that i had experienced so much joy and fun in was honoring a man who was so racist against people like me. so on behalf of kids like me and the 37 community organizations that have also signed onto this effort, i implore you to move this resolution forward and urge the -- direct the recreation and park commission to rename the playground. thank you very much. >> supervisor yee: thank you very much. so right now, i'm going to go ahead and call for public comment. so if you want to -- if you want to make public comments, go ahead and lineup to my left, your right. that's okay. they can just lineup.

>> supervisor safai: do we do two minutes or one minute? >> supervisor yee: two minutes. >> two minutes. i agree, and i stipulate to this historical move, and i feel the hardship of this type of racism, but we can't stop there. i move for you -- both of you supervisors to put the finishing touches on the removal of james d. phelan. you've already got rid of his name on a street in the city and county of san francisco. i further urge you to remove the statue which is located in the front door of city hall when you come off polk street and make a hard left, his statue is right there. i move to have you take charge just like the mayor did in new orleans to get rid of those racist statues that condemned and used slavery to build new

orleans and kidnap my nationality and made up slaves and then highlight those statues like they're some kind of monument that should be saluted. i further move you to incorporate a hearing pertaining to the ethnic cleaning of my neighborhood, the fillmore western addition which ethically cleansed my nationality, ruined numerous generations of black people from the fillmore area, and this person -- whatever his name is? forgot his name. but any way, justin hermann, who got rid of my nationality. it's real who are identifying for somebody that's comprehensive on black history because 1964 was the year we got our civil rights, and dr. martin luther king made his "i have a dream" speech, and that was the same time frame when justin herman plaza got rid of the fillmore district, which

was 60 square blocks and 5 to 10% was japanese and chinese people. so we need to have a hearing on the fillmore. >> supervisor yee: thank you. >> good morning. i'm jane chin. i'm the interim director of the chinese historical society, and thank you for this opportunity to address you. in the midto late 1800's, this country was lady liberty stands in new york harbor, give me your poor, your hudled masses, yearning to be free, this was not for the chinese. the exclusion law severely impacted the lives of the chinese people and the tens of thousands of men who were already here.

first because the law required chinese to have proper documentation in order to reenter the united states if they were to leave to visit their family in china prohibited them from leaving. and second, without being able to visit their wievs aves and children they left behind in china, their family unit was destroyed. imagine men could not return to their wives and children they left behind. imagine women in china never to lay eyes on their husbands again. imagine children never to know their fathers. nor could these men marry in the u.s. as the page act of 1875 restricted the entry of chinese women and -- [inaudible] >> -- passed in the states prohibited and prevented men from marrying white men. further racism against chinese

forbid them from living outside of the boundaries of chinese neighborhoods. that said, chinatowns were built across the country due to racism is a fact. due to exclusion, family life was exhibited not by choice -- [inaudible] >> supervisor yee: thank you. your time. thank you. nice seeing you again. >> thank you for -- committee members, for hearing our request and hearing the voices of the community today, and thank you to supervisor yee for leading the charge for -- towards truth and reconciliation. i'm here representing chinese affirmative action. i'm also here as a parent and someone who lives in san francisco and enjoys all of our parks and amenities in our great city.

and we're here to express our full support in renaming the julius kahn playground, a playground that's enjoyed by many immigrant families, families that would be excluded if julius successfully excluded. and i think the point of this, too, is it's a lesson and opportunity to understand the generational harm that he has caused but also to draw lessons to today. we represent clients who are low-income, limited english speaking, many recent immigrants who are particularly vulnerable under this current administration, and san francisco can once again lead the way, taking a stand against bigotry and xenophobia and standing by its residents, and that means taking this action. we really do implore supervisors to the renaming and look forward to that opportunity to think about a

worthy name to our park for this great city. we are here to stay, we don't have to prove our justification or our worthiness and we're here to also say what happened under julius kahn was wrong and what's happening today is also wrong. thank you. >> good morning. i have a very bad cold, so i was coughing over there. didn't mean to disrupt. i'm speaking as a parent as well as a victim. i think we have all been victimized by what happened in the 1800's. i applaud supervisor yee, who is my district supervisor, and all the other supervisors, especially our commissioner allen low for taking on this project. i'd like to urge you to go one step further, one step further

for the victims: issue an apology. official apology from the city and county of san francisco for the pain and suffering san francisco has caused a generation since then. my son actually graduated from university high school and had a graduation ceremony at julius kahn playground. i feel so victimized to realize that my son's high school celebration occurred in the playground named after a racist who victimized my whole generation and generations before. so i really urge you to go one step further. i think changing the name has been supported by many people, but it's more significant if you can actually admit following to the victims, to

san franciscans, to the citizens of the united states. i want to say that senator mark leno in 2009, he issued on behalf of california to the entire exclusion act that caused pain and suffering to the chinese. please san francisco take lead and do this also. thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you. and i'd just like to make a comment that although we start talking about exclusion acts and more state and federal legislation, there were actually a lot of local legislation in san francisco that were very racist in itself, and it's something that i'd like to, you know, maybe pick up in regards to what judge singh just mentioned, maybe in the future resolution, an official apology. >> thanks.

good almost noon, lissuperviso. my name is michelle olivas, and i am here to stand in solidarity with them. we also applaud commissioner low for helping to make this happen. names are important, words are important. what buildings are named, what statues are named is concrete examples of institutional racism. this issue is not about erasing history, this is about remembering remembering, lifting up, shining a light on the past, it is wrong then and it's wrong now. our children shouldn't have to look up at the name of parks or buildings and know that that person not only hated them and spoke hateful words against them but spent their entire career working to exclude them and ban them from this country. so we just urge you to support this resolution. i'm so happy that we're at this

point in time when we're having these conversations. there has never been truth and reconciliation about how this woman was talking about how lands were stolen from the natives living here before, things that happened before, slavery, there has to be some kind of discussion, has to be some kind of reconciliation, it's not about forgetting, it's about remembering those people and saying it was wrong then, and it's wrong now. thank you. >> hi. good morning. my name is karla moreau, and i am the director of west filipino community center. yeah, so this is a very, very obviously emotional topic for all of us. and the reason why it's really important, as an organization

that represents filipino families, asian americans, we've been around for 50 years, so we've served thousands of filipinos, thousands of asian americans, all of whom were -- cambodians, all asian americans that were targeted by this man. and so i just want to urge, i just want to stress that our neighborhood in soma has a few parks that we utilize. over the summer, our summer programs worked together, and we go to various parks because we don't have a lot of open space. so the thought of our kids going to this park and asking who is this man, and us promoting that is so psychologically terrifying to send a message to our kids about that.

so stand in support for this and really urging that we move forward. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is sandy morey, and i'm here as an individual who's active in the japantown community and japanese community as a whole. i'm supporting the resolution that spree yee has put forward and supported by supervisor ronen. my understanding is the rec and park commission has the authority to remove the name from the playground, and so according to -- to according to its policy, this commission may change the name of an existing recreation and park facility if there are most extraordinary circumstances of city or national interest, and so the exclusion of chinese and other

asians from the united states is a shameful and extraordinary part of our nation's history. given similar imminent threats to immigrants today against which the city and county of san francisco has taken a stand. it is important that the city remove the name of a man who represents hateful, racist, antiimmigrant policies from the popular playground in san francisco. so thank you, supervisors, for making this move. >> good morning. my name is roy chan. i am a chinatown community planner at c.d.c. in 1940, my dad was a teen achbager who worked on a ship in san francisco, and because war broke how the in the pacific, i had to find a way to stay in the city. during that time, the exclusion act was in full effect thanks to julius kahn. he actually called the chinese

the most debasing people on the face of the earth. my dad's outlet was tai chi, and he would go to local playgrounds to practice it, as a way to feel he belonged in a city, in a country where he was constantly told he didn't belong and was not welcome. and so if it wasn't for the repeal of the act, he wouldn't have become a citizen, and i wouldn't be standing here today. i believe that there's power in history in place and names, and renaming this park is a critical step for our city to work towards one which our public spaces are safe spaces where all feel welcome. so -- so the next time i bring

my kids to this park, i sincerely hope that it would be way more than a teachable moment where i have to force them to -- force myself to tell them that this public space was named after a public figure that promoted hate and fear, but rather, it would be a proud moment that our city stood up and renamed this park to something that stands for our values of inclusion. thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you, supervisor mar. >> thank you. it's great to be on this side of the microphone. i really appreciate commissioner allen low and chinese historical society and chinese for affirmative action opening up the discussion at this point in history. i am eric mar. i am a former supervisor from the richmond. when my daughter what's graduating from high school in two weeks, i would take her to

julius kahn after it was renovated around 2003, 2004. it was a a beautiful place, but it also needs an appropriate mam where communities come to decide -- name where communities come to decide a name that promotes inclusion. i think the 38 organizations that support this effort are really on the right track of looking at history and who represents our values to have parks and memorials named after them as well. i teach at san francisco state, and a lot of what i teach is about laws and policies locally that supported white supremeacy, and i think julius kahn, as we've learned, exoticized us, he racial eyesed

entire groups. he demonized fears, and i think blaming the victim approach is something also that he threw in very similar to what's going on today. this is very important. please rename julius kahn, and thank you to the community coalition that's come together. as an asian american professor at s.f. state, 50 years from now, this is an important issue that we will build on as well. >> supervisor yee: thank you. >> supervisor ronen: congratulations to jad. >> my name is doug chan. i'm here on behalf of the board of directors of asian american legal outreach. i'm here, of course, to express my board's strong support for the renaming of the julius kahn playground. on a personal note, when julius kahn ran for the 56th congress

to which he was elected in march of 1899, during the fall campaign in october of 1898, my grandfather was born in number 12 washington alley. supervisor yee has pointed out that the law that became the asian exclusion act was both a continuation of priorcommunity

progressives, moderates, we're all standing together to say we are one city that values the contributions of immigrants and we are one city to make san francisco the opportunity for all of us so it's time to close this chapter. the chapter is gone but not forgotten. we still have to use this as a teaching moment in the future, but time to rewrite a new chapter to build a park and name a park for all that reflect the values of the city and county of san francisco. so with that i urge you to pass this resolution on, adopt this resolution at the board, pass it onto the recreation and park commission where i have 100% confidence that we will do the right thing, even though i will not participate in it.

thank you. >> supervisor yee: any other public comments? seeing none. >> supervisor ronen: public comment is closed. >> supervisor yee: okay. once again, i really want to thank the public for coming out and also the leaders in bringing this issue forward. as you can see, this not only -- i'm very passionate about this issue, but other supervisors early this morning came at the press conference and expressed the same passion, whether it was supervisor fewer or kim. and i've heard supervisor peskin discuss this same issue at a different event. i know he's very passionate about seeing this change. and thank you once again to supervisor ronen and skbrujumpn and cosponsoring because your

sponsor is very symbolic, and i'm gland that supervisor stefani's office came in and lent their support, also. so what i'd like to do is make a motion to pass this out of committee with a positive recommendation to the full board. >> supervisor ronen: great. without objection. that motion passes. thank you so much all of you who came out. very powerful hearing. mr. clerk, there any further business before the board? >> clerk: madam president, that concludes the calendar. >> supervisor ronen: all right. then this meeting is adjourned. thank you.