second language folks receive equitable care and response. >> my name is audrey martinez and i am here to support this office of victims assault and harassment. i have been through sexual assaults through my whole life and tired to be told that it is my fault for embracing feminism. where do i go when i need support. i am still sexually harassed even after so much belongings and property taken a way from me. i am a queer man who has gone through a lot of and even a lot

of therapy sessions. i support this office for men and women who have gone through sexual assault to be a productive citizen for a healthy environment. >> my name is bianca and i am a friend of jane doe. >> no parent should have to receive a phone call that i received from my child and the moment was froze in what i was doing. i am so proud of her. her strength is added mile an a. she continues to share her sto

story. her rapist walks the streets meanwhile jane doe lives in constant pain. this man has been empowered by the lack of arrest, prosecution and injustice. i have no doubt that his activity continues. no woman should have to wait for hours for processing, jane do did. a woman who suggests that the video tapes be secured immediately should not be ignored and jane doe's was. prosecutors and changed and there is m no prosecution. my daughter's life is defined by this rape and she suffers ptsd. in the home she grew up in she cannot sit with her back to an

open space. please facilitate the funding to help women recover and you cannot imagine the pain that is with each of us in jane doe's family it's there every day and every night. please, please help women victims thank you. >> i want to say thank you to supervisor ronen on reading the way on this important life changing legislation for helping create the sharp office. i wanted to come and speak tod today. i was born and raised in the city and i am still living here. at the house party i was tooken and thrown in a car and raped

and shortly after like hours after i contacted one of my friends who actually was on the youth commission when this happened and they met me at general hospital and i went through the rape trauma center to collect the dna and all that stuff and did all the processes because that is what i was told i was supposed to do and as someone who was a city commissionerrer at the time i had to go through the steps and still to this day i haven't gotten a call and never gotten a call back from general hospital and no one ever contacted me and you all are probably the second people that i told my, my life because the only other person that knew was the friend that i told me to meet at general hospital so i want to thank you for all your leadership.

thank you. >> i am the soa advocacy directr and i've been hired to advocate for women survivors. we see about 350 rape case as year which is almost double the 131 reported rapes in previous years and as we know it's a very unreported crime. the establishment in a city office exclusively focused on sexual assault and harassment is very important and i support this wholeheartedly. the women's building is committed to working with community partners, city government and all women identified individuals.

i urge the supervisors to move this issue forward. i want to thank hillary ronan for her leadership and bring attention to the women that were here. i don't see many men in the audience and that is part of the problem and why this issue has been ignored and put under the radar because women ove often he the voice and agency and this will do a small part in remed remedying that. thank you. [bell ringing] >> good afternoon. i am not a victim of sexual

assault i do want to thank supervisor ronen for always being on the right side of issues. i am a broadcaster that broadcasts to the l latino community. i have heard a lot of stories and a lot of women are afraid to come forward because even though they are a sanctuary city they don't feel safe and they have even a worse problem and listening to jane doe's problem remind me of my niece who was being sexually harassed by her neighbor but when she went to the police here many the mission they dismissed her and said it's okay don't worry about it and it wasn't unti until her father intervened several times that the man stopped. for too long women have been

dismissed and not been believed and ignore ignored and subjectee humiliation and disaren't. i want to support the office of sexual harassment so we can all start healing and help survivors of this hideous crime come forward without having to feel like they are going to be victimized again. rape kits are not tested in a timely manner, it's indefensible and we need it now. we need to come out of the dark ages. >> marcella rodriguez, i keep

working going into classrooms and makes presentations on dating violence and sexual violence for high school students. students. when i do that kid ask me what should i do and i give them the resources that i have and i have a list of therapists and lawyers and providers they can go to. every time i do that, i'm like yes, i am doing what i can but i know along the way something is going to happen and likely they are not going to get the services they deserve. it's really hard to talk to kids and tell them that because i cannot just lie to them and say oh, go and speak your truth and justice is going to be made when that is not the truth. i am here to ask you to please go forward with this project

because we really need the support of the city and we need kid and everybody to be sure that once they speak up they are going to actually be heard. that's it. thank you. >> my name is whitney. thank you for inviting me. i am here to support the office of sharp. it needs to happen for sexual assault survivors. i was raped here in san francisco in 2010 and it was my first year of graduate school. i experienced so much trauma during this time period that i didn't even realize that until years later that i had been sexually harassed by my own police detective. his job was to protect me but instead my trust was shattered repeteth and my voice silenced.

photographs were used as evidence that the sex between my rapist and i was consensual because thibutthis was not the . hwhen i was at san francisco general i calledded my professor and told her what happened to me. i was in complete shock and standing there in my hospital gowns. after the exam i drove myself home and the next morning i had a reaction to the rape kit medicine. i was outside of my apartment looking for my car and it had been towed. i fell on to me knees and i was sobbing and i called 9 911 and e operator told me to get a taxi.

the reason i am telling you this is there was the office of sharp where victims can communicate their feelings and be understood. >> [speaking spanish] >> translator, i have to tell you that living through this is horrible. in looking for help in

organizations sometimes it's really hard because a lot of organizations actually make you feel guilty sometimes like it's your fault what happened. that's why i am supporting the establishments of this office of sexual assault as soon as possible. so that those of us who are actually victims of sexual assault can't be ignored anymore from other departments in the city. so that we can actually move forward with our lives and have people that can support us something like the office that you are trying to open.

thank you. >> good afternoon jordan davis speaking in support of creating the office of sexual harassment and assault prevention. in my life i have survives my instances of sexual harassment and assault from too much teachers, strangers on the street and politicians in two different states. i don't want to go into them because it is numb to me so much and so upsetting, but i don't like to go to the police as a disabled transgendered woman and this office is sorely needed. i think about the national reck anyone that the me too movement has created. i sometimes ge get nervous walkg

to city hall given the sexual assault cases that have happened and ta experiences that i have had and with great power comes great responsibility and it's necessary to make sure city government is held accountable. i have a policy with not meeting with any male supervisors in a room alone due to all that has happened across the countries and because of my experiences and i want to close this by saying on a personal note i don't like it when men touch me and given the physical nature of politics i want to say just don't do it. we need to make sure this office is created immediately and funded funded a quatly so people me can feel comfortable dealing with things at that level. thank you.

>> my name is jesse da santos. indiscernible. i know that you have heard this over and over and i though this is going to help us to open this office and to feel more comfortable and this is not going to resolve the problem but this is going to help us so much with this problem and i really appreciate your time. thank you. >> good afternoon i ammar ta and i am from the women's collective. i am in support of the opening

of this sexual assault office. thank you. >> good afternoon i am from the women's collective. >> translator: i have seen members of my family that have

gone through sexual assault and every time the case hasn't moved forward and nothing has happened at any level and there is a lot of fear in the community and a lot of discrimination and we need to do something about it. it would be a big help for everybody without discrimination of any bac background to have ts office. thank you. >> >> translator: i support the

opening of this office and it's important to do it immediately and to be able to support sexual assault survivors. i also have a lot feelings that are stuck in my chest and i feel like i can't even speak. i have a lot of family members including kids that have gone through abuse since they were very small. sometimes what happens is that other family members when they

hear that this person was abused, they tell them that they shouldn't speak up. sometimes the assailants threaten them to not speak to say i will kill you or i will do something to your mother if you speak up about what i have done. i have many stories that are actually real, actual family members of mine that have gone through this, so i ask you to please open this office and ensure we are helping survivors. thank you. >> good afternoon my name is tiffany and i am a survivor of sexual assault. about two years i was drugged and raped here in san francisco by a co-worker and i eventually went to general hospital and got a rape kit done and decided to

make a police report. i met with the invest gator and i want to read you a quotement she said what do you want out of this? i replied i want this person to accept responsibility for their actions. she responseth well after what you told me alcohol played a big role in all of this and i think everyone involved needs to accept responsibility for their actions. she said that to me the very first and only meeting we had. you know rape, sexual assault and harassment is traumatizing and i am still dealing with that more, but what is more additionally traumatizing is when you go to the people that are supposed to help you and they don't believe you. also, what i realized that this crime is held to a really high standard. if i was murdered then okay, they will do something.

if not because i am still here and it was a an aquain tans it's notenot taken seriously. i told them that two other women were raped and drugs by this same person and the investigator didn't even interview them. the people that are supposed to help us and protect us don't do that. i was dropped by the d. a.'s office and there was another agency who dropped me, so basically i am here advocating for myself and that should not be the case. the mon ter who raped me is still out there and i wasn't the first person and i won't be the last he did this to. yeah, something needs to be done and this sharp office will be a place where victims like me can

go to and complain about the departments who aren't doing anything to protect me or other folks that go through this, so i urge you to support this and get the sharp office going as soon as possible. thank you. >> hi my name is megan way land, speaking on behalf of an organization gabriela that campaigns on women's specific issues -- we have chapters here in san francisco and oakland an also across the u.s. and internationally. many our members are sisters, mothers, children have suffered from sexual assault.

the inadequate response and subsequent disrespect of sexual assault survivors is a second as well as ongoing form of violence against women. we see that our family members an friends are not only suffering immediate act of violence against them but also the subsequent institutional violence. for this reason we want san francisco to lead and we demand the immediate opening of the sharp office and demand that this does not wait any longer. you know we see movements across the country with the hashtag times up and me too where women are saying enough is enough and we have been doing that for decades and centuries, so i think san francisco has the chance to lead and be an example.

>> i am in full support of the immediate opening of this office and think it's important. indiscernible. this was an oversight of our city government and was very unfortunate the outcome of that, but it is our responsibility victims an survivors we are seeing here in this room victims and survivors are here fighting for themselves and it's about

time, it's our moral responsibility to also fight for them and we see time and time again and you have heard in this room that young children are also victims of this, and it's not just women and it's also young men so i really urge you to open this office immediately and it is our responsibility and i hope that the board of supervisors can really hear this out and i know that you all are in full support of it and hopefully this is something that will not get watered down and it is something that we in it's handling are able to hear out the victims and survivors and what they need in a vulnerable time. thank you so much. >> my name is makayla and i will read a statement on behalf of a friend of jane doe. when my job transferred me to

san francisco three years ago jane doe was introduced to me by my best friend's husband. she quickly became my closest friend in san francisco. i was drawn to her for so many reasons and admired her for her work and she would share things with anyway she helped facilitate in san francisco. he was a talented writer and one who dedicated her career to bringing fairness to those who lived in the city. she laughed a lot. there was a lightness that coil out in people when she was around. she enjoyed intricacies of life. if she wasn't training for a half marathon he woul she wouldn

her bike or walking her dog. rewind to 898 ago to a phone call that would change all of it. jane doe called me that morning after the rape weeping and reporting to me that something bad happened and in a state of complete shock i wish i could report that since that horrifying day things continued to get better, instead i have watched the progression of what it means to be a rape victim secondhand. i have witnessed depression, pervasive anxiety, pdsd, shaking of hand and voice and even though she has sought continuous treatment these symptoms persist. i feel angry that my closest friend was taken away from me. sorry is my time over? >> yeah.

>> i support the opening of the sharp office. >> i speak today as an advocate and seven year survivor. my experiences through people that i have met, my friend and my clients and delays and responses to survivors delay it is healings of our individuals and communities. these traumas are deep-seeded. of the hundreds of people that i have met, i have known less than five that come forward. it's important that when someone does report that we take it seriously and respected. there are many out there, queer, trance, people of color that are

treated unfairly every single day. we need to report if we are ever going to make a difference. >> any other member of the public that would like to speak in seeing none, public comment is closed. i would like to make a few comments and -- i know cheryl davis was here but i don't see her now. i want to thank from the bottom of my heart all of you that came out to speak today. sharing your experience and your trauma in such a public setting is scary and it's hard and quite

frankly it's heroic, and i can't tell you how much i appreciate how much you have all educated me over the last few months starting with jane doe, who has opened up my eyes to this horrific crime, it's prevalence, and the absolutely inadequate response that we have in the city of san francisco. the issue of sexual assault and harassment as we have all been walking with the me too movement and the times up movement it's an epidemic. one in two of us will be sexually assaulted. one in six men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. if there were any other crime of this magnitude and this frequency in our society, any

other health epidemic like rape happening in this country, i am pretty sure that alarm bells going off that resources would be poured into this issue and there would be protests in the streets until someone did something to address this crime, but because as we see here today it's mostly women who are victims of this crime and who are coming forward in heroic ways to tell our stories, we do not give it the attention and respect and the seriousness with which this time and this epidemic deserves, and to address something this large, i mean, one in two women in our lifetime. that means my 5-year-old daughter has a 50% chance of being sexually assaulted by the time she dies.

wow, all four of us have daughters on this committee, and as a matter of fact supervisor yee has granddaughters. to sit with that statistic is so gross and so wrong that we have to step up and doing something about it. sharp is just one small intervention in this hugeness of this crime. we need to do more and step up on prevention and educate our young men in schools all throughout san francisco and colleges all throughout this town about how this crime impacts us and what it would mean to treat one another with respect. we need education across the board for all of us to understand what consent is, to understand how to keep ourselves safe, to educate public

officials like jane doe as educated me and now all of you have educated me about what you go through once you have been a victim of this crime and try to speak up and get help. we need education everywhere. we need cutting-edge health care because when this crime occurs there is trauma to your body, there is trauma to your heart and trauma to your mind that takes years and years if not a lifetime to heal, and we do not have that level of health care in our city treating this crime like it should be treated. we need thorough investigation, so someone in a case like jane doe and tiffany tell us when they know they are not the first and they know they are not going to be the last, where they tell our police officers that they personally know of other women

who have been raped and drugged in the same way and then get brushed off. no more. we need cutting-edge investigations. we need the best toxicology reports and we need to immediately grab video camera and take these crimes seriously, so we stop further women from being victimized again and gain and where appropriate and where a victim wants to go forward with a prosecution, we need to treat that seryoursly and get the best investigators. we have heard time and time again that the vast majority of women raped do not come forward and don't file police reports and don't go to a hospital, why? because perhaps when they do they are treated so poorly what would be the point. there are issues like

documentation status that terrorize women and women who have spoken today who are transgendered who do not feel safe in your criminal justice system so we need to look at these issues that compound sexual assault and need to figure out how to allow women to feel safe to come forward in the first place and get medical treatment which they so richly need and deserve and then there are countless women who go to the second where the rape is their secondary medical issue and they are in such bad shape because they are living on our streets and they have a serious substance abuse addiction and they are not sexually assaulted just once but that is a regular part of their life living on the streets of san francisco.

we need a safe place for survivors to go so they don't go back to the same street where they are sexually assaults again and again and again. the sharp office is one intervention in a much larger intervention that needs to take place in the city and county of san francisco and all over the country. sharp is just one intervention but so critically important. it is because we have heard story after story after story after story over decades length of time that the same issues that plagued us a decade ago are plaguing us today and that police officers in the special victims unit who supposedly get special training are telling

survivors because they had a drink an that was drugged and ty drank the drink that per perpetrators to this violence. unless you had a knife to your throat and ha thought you were going to die is probably not enough to bring a case guard anforwardand it's not enough ev. stories where even at general hospital that rape is a part of life for women, which is true, one in two of women are raped in our lifetime. these are the stories that we heard over and over in a hearing we held a couple months ago, and what we heard today and what we have been hearing after talking to survivor after survivor

aftersurvivor. we do not have the systems in place in the city of san francisco where we are taking this crime and the women seriously who are coming forward and asking for them and sharp is going to change that. it is not a panna see yeah or a cure all. it is designed to fix our systems and designed to look at city departments and start change right here at home where we have power to set the example for the nation about how cities and city departments should be working together and treating rape. it is very important to me because over the last couple days whether i have heard from the mayor's office or the department on the status of women or police department or colleagues very confused about

what sharp is. it is an office designed to get accountability and to change city systems internally in franco we are not anyl no longer doing wrong by women, but we are setting the standard for the country about how we do right by women in al and all sexual assat survivors because it's not not only women but men too. i hope i have made that clear. towards that end i am going to make a few amendments to the legislation today that i want to bring forward. we have talked to all the city departments and we agreen agreea few amendments are warranted a. the first is on page 7, section f. it's introducing language to clarify our intent that the department of human resources continue to address personnel-related managers

include sexual harassment claims from one city employee to another employee. we never intend for sharp to takeover when there is a complaint in the city of fran, so we are putting language in to clarify that. number two, page 5 lines 1-4 and lines 11-13. >> supervisor safai: please slow down. >> supervisor fewer: this is specifically namin naming that e sexual assault response team also known as the sart be engaineengaged by the sharp offd

dow is an important agency that works closely on this issue and that the sharp office should be regularly collaborating with and in particularly working with the dosw to build upon previous recommendations of that office where appropriate. finally, please let me know if i am going too much, page 7 lines 3-6, i am requiring that all the staff members, we are asking again for three staff members in this office, that all of them be trained as sexual assault counselors to ensure that they have the necessary expertise to serve survivors while also helping to protect survivor's confidentiality. there was an issue brought up by

dosw about whether a survivor brings a complaint to sharp whether their confidentiality will be maintained and we have worked with the city attorney office to have the strongest language for that in this training. in any cases where any entity tries to breach confidentiality, the city attorney will fight to keep that as they always do and the survivor will have an option whether or not to bring a complaint if she wants to bring it for her or himself. with that i am happy to answer questions from my colleagues and

whenever my colleagues deem appropriate wanting to bring up dr. m oranges rassi. >> supervisor safai: why don't we bring up dr. morassi. i want to thank i thank you for being today and there are a number of affected departments and i am disappointed they are not here today because this is a very important conversation that we all can learn from. is there another department represented? if you are here representing the department of public health, it would be helpful to sit over there so we can directly ask you questions. >> department of public resources, department of public health and district attorney's

office. >> supervisor safai: good because there is definitely some questions that can be asked. dr. morassi. i want to thank supervisor ronen for the important work of radically improving san francisco's repons to sexual assault and harassment. at the hearing and today we heard devastating testimony from survivors who shared their stories publicly and we stand with the survivor leaders in recognize that the city must do a better job of responding to rape victims. 49% o.overtwo years we pointed e

need to strengthen the work of the existing sexual assault response team and made this recommendation part of the family violence counselor's five year action plan. unfortunately this recommendation was not funded and we will not be ignored any longer and i want to thank supervisor ronen for including our suggestions about the sexual assault response team and our work as well. in addition to creating a mechanism for victims to. [reading] is the best way to make the systems changes we need to create a model response to assault in fran an san francisce share the goals of sharp

alliance. the homicide that occurred in 2000 we spent 12 years trying to improve response by working with departments, community folks, stakeholders and in 2014 between 2010-2014 we were able to eliminate all domestic violence homicides for a period of almost four years and i am hoping we eliminate drug facilitated rape and other forms of sexual assault. [reading] important no note tha to note tk

is not limited to women -- a sex worker policy that establishes the right of sex workers to report rate without being arrested or prosecuted, a policy fully supported by police department. the local policy inspires state legislation which was signed by the governor just last week. supervisor ronen mentioned prevention -- [reading] we really appreciate the amendment of including the

department in this work. we want to partner with the board of supervisors on advances this work. i do think the funding and staffing piece is very key. we want to distribute our part in a comprehensive response to sexual assault and thank you all for your leadership. >> supervisor safai: thank you. supervisor ronen do you have any questions? >> no. thank you so much thank you for your comments and working with us to create this legislation. >> supervisor yee: i really want to thing supervisor ronen for bringing this legislation forward and i'm really good i am a co-sponsor of this, and so i also want to thank the public

for coming out and telling your stories and i once we have sharp up and running that we don't have to hear anymore of these stories. sharp is what we need to change the culture of our responders to take these issues seriously, and i will keep it real short. i think supervisor ronen really articulated the need for this and the passion that she has shown for this, particularly this legislation. i can't do much more than that, but basically what i feel is that sharp needs to be done now and it needed to be done decades ago and we need to move this legislation forward as quickly as possible. >> supervisor safai: thank you supervisor yee. i just want to add on and i'll be very brief but i just want to

say that it's shocking, it really is shocking to hear these stories and i just want to honor the women in this room, particularly the ones that have been victims of violence to have the courage to come and share that publicly. we all speak here as elected officials publicly all of the time it's part of our job, but i cannot imagine standing in a room full of people and having a share a violent experience. i am humbled by this experience and thank you for sharing and thank you supervisor ronan for leading and the time for this is now. thank you everyone for coming today. i have general questions but i want to hand it over to supervisor stefanny first.

>> supervisor stefani: i did sit through the first hearing on this and was very saddened at what i heard, and i just want to again thank everyone who came out. i know this is extremely difficult and i agree with supervisor ronen it is her her c and you empower other women to come out and feel they are not alone. as other people were sharing their stories with us, i started my career as a prosecutor because i wanted justice for victims and protect people from crime and it does break my heart how the criminal justice has failed all of you who testified and this blaming the victim in

2018 is just unacceptable. it is never your fault. if you are drinking and someone says you are drunk and that is what just happens it's never your fault. there is no excuse for being assaulted. i was thinking you really helped shine light on this issue and now we know it's out there. there is that one quote by my anglo, when you know better, do better. i have to tell you it is my intention to make sure that we dual better, so i am happy to co-sponsor and work on this issue and see that it moves forward. >> supervisor safai: thank you supervisor stefani. some of your most recent

versions that you read into if report wthereport we will make . my question is you are strongly referenced in now the most recent version, so i think there seems to be consensus on the strength in that language in terms of ho uh the collaboration woulhow the collaborationwould . i just wanted to speak on that into the record for those in the audience just want to make sure that we have a chartered department that is chartered to do work on behalf of women in the city and we creating a new area in the human rights commission which i fully support and i want to make sure that the language in there about collaboration is strong enough to ensure that collaboration happens.

>> we have proposed language specific on page 7 about dedicating staffing at my office provided there is budget for sexual assault. we have been very ph stymied and recognized this need two years ago and have been unable to move it because of staffing constraints. i did provide a draft of that language it would be separate item c to complement the work of the office and subject to budgetary and fiscal provikings of the chart ter shall have one full-time employee in the area of sexual assault and harassment.

[reading] we want to work together with sharp to make sure there is a comprehensive city response. this is an and conversation and i understand there will be two members of staff at human rights commission -- -- >> supervisor safai: did director davis leave? >> i think so. >> can i just respond to that? i appreciate that request and the reason we didn't include it is because we are still fighting to get the third position of sharp in the budget. it's a budgetary issue and not about the creation of the office. to budgetary needs and request in the department of the status of women, i support many of them and i know there is a whole list of requests that you have supported. i that didn't seem an important

piece of legislation that setting up a new office that's setting up a new office -- i didn't want to confuse the issue and it's entirely important for the board to take up that process during the budget process, but for me my top priorly is getting sharp up and runnening completely and i have been working with the major's office and with our budget and with my main cospoon or who is on the budget committee, supervisor stefani to get that in. >> there were a few areas they referenced often different pages and they wrote down in collaboration with the department of status of women. >> i don't have those amendments

before me so i don't know. >> supervisor safai: it's in terms of the creation of the office it talks about sharp and particular lier about the human rights commission tuned working collaboration with -- page 2, 16 and 1. you took care of it on page 5, so just kind of calling it out a little bit further would you be opposed to that? >> i am not opposed but i i it's redundant and that this clear is meant to collaborate on the department of status of women. >> supervisor safai: that is why i am trying to blend the develop

the two. on page where it says on developing such recommendations the office had seek to build upon -- to protect the status of women. maybe it could in developing such recommendations in collaboration with the status of women. >> absolutely. >> would you be open to that dr. >> i like that but i would like to have reverenc reverence of oe full-time equip lent. >> . so deputy and city attorney can we on page 5, lines 11-13, add the language working