>> supervisor tang: good afternoon, everybody. welcome it our land use committee meeting monday, july 16, 2018. i'm katy tang, chair of this committee. we're joined by supervisor kim and supervisor safai. our clerk is erica major. madam clerk, any announcements? >> clerk: yes. make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices completed speaker cards and documents should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will

appear on the july 24 board of supervisors meeting unless otherwise stated. >> supervisor tang: thank you. please call item one. >> clerk: ordinance to amend the environment code with single-use food plastics and the appropriate findings. >> supervisor tang: we were just at a press conference outside about this ordinance. really excited to be bringing this to land use committee today. as you all know, we have -- there's been a lot of talk around the world about the issue with plastics and especially with single-use plastics of how it's so pervasive in every part of our lives. i think this legislation is trying to address one aspect of it, namely around plastic straws. however, it's to highlight a bigger issue that we have in our world. it's estimated that by the year

2050, we'll have more plastic in our ocean than fish. and every day of our lives, we use single-use plastics and we don't think twice about it. this legislation today would, first of all, ban the sale and usage of plastic straws in san francisco. it would also require that many drink accessories be plastic-free, including stirrers, toothpicks, and cocktail sticks. it would require that single-use accessories upon customer request or self-service station. it would require that food ware is compostable. and after july, 2020, no longer allowed to have chemicals, which is harmful even to our health. and so i know that this issue has really gained a lot of attention around the world. seattle, vancouver, taiwan, u.k., alameda, davis, berkeley and more are taking a stand

against single-use plastics. in fact, there are different companies that are adopting changes on their own, such as starbucks with the strawless lids. alaska airlines deciding they will go plastic-free with their food ware. so this is really, i think, taken the world by storm, theish y you -- the issue of single-use plastics. we want to thank the department of environment and many associations starting the work with restaurants and bars, such as the lonely whale, last plastic straw, and so many others. want to thank our co-sponsors, supervisor safai, mayor breed, safai sheehy, peskin, yee, ronen and fewer. i'm sure that more will join us as well. so i think that a lot has been said around this issue, but i

will turn it over to supervisor safai and then department of the environment for a presentation on this. >> supervisor safai: thank you, supervisor tang, chair tang. want to thank the department of environment and everyone involved in this effort. it's a pretty exciting thing for me personally. i've had a pet peeve of straws for many, many years. it's interesting when you walk into a restaurant and you say, no straw, please, and your glass still comes with a straw to your table. so this is really about changing behavior. debbie's beaten into our head reduce, reuse, recycle. this is just not necessary to have a straw with a cup of water. there are people with a medical necessity for a straw and we fully respect that. we have other options,

permanent, and that's wonderful because it's legislation like this that changes the indust live and people's behavior. we use hundreds of thousands, if not over one million straws a day just in san francisco. think about the tourist industry, think about all the people that come into the backbone of our economy, our restaurants and our small businesses. if you talk to bartenders, if you talk to people in the industry, we're encouraged to use straws because people drink their drinks faster with a straw and will order another drink. that's true. we're not taking away the straw completely. we're taking away the option that is awful for the environment and that's the plastic straw. so so many other things in this legislation, but that's the one that has seemed to have caught everyone's attention. so i want to thank supervisor

tang for her leadership on this. it's been a pleasure to work with her and everyone else that has worked on this. it boils down to the conversation about, you cannot even recycle these small bits of plastic, the straws, the stirrers. they fall through the cracks of the machines. so it's also about having a product that you actually can recycle in general. and so thank you, supervisor tang, and thank you for all the advocates in the community that have worked with us on this to get this to this point. >> supervisor tang: thank you. i know it's been an issue since a news article came out this weekend, but want to reassure you that we thought about those with medical needs who do require straws. and so there is an exception in this ordinance that specifically addresses that concern. so i want to be sure that people are very much aware of that. with that, let's bring up our department of the environment.

welcome, debbie rafael. >> thank you. thank you for the opportunity to address you on this issue today. i want to do a callout to ashley summers, who has been tenacious with her follow-up and enthusiasm. i'm incredibly grateful for her work on this. i want to quickly set a context, walk you through the components. you have started to mention them. and look forward. how will this roll out over the next months? drowning in plastic. when i saw the cover of this national geographic magazine, it was incredibly timely and an indication that the whole world is very much focused on this issue of plastics in the marine environment. these incredibly scary statistics, like at the current rate, there will be more

plastics than fish by weight by 2050. how can that be? what can we do to take action? we cannot wait for things to happen at the state or the federal and what can cities do? it turns out, there's a lot. how does that plastic get into our oceans? it gets there for the manufacturing process and gets there by litter, that things end up on our streets, curbs, sidewalks, don't stay there, especially light plastics. the wind carries them through the storm drains, sewers, and out into the beaches. and anyone who has done a coastal cleanup day will know how much food ware they find and collect as they walk up and down the beaches. in fact, plastic straws themselves are always among the top 10 items of things collected in coastal cleanup days. and as supervisor safai said,

while they're theoretically recyclable, they're not actually recyclable. these small, bill plastics, if you put them in your blue bin, they don't end up in the bales of plastic. they end up in the fines, f-i-n-e-s, the things that cannot be recycled, and go to the landfills. in effect, it's not recyclables. the ordinance that you, supervisor tang, have authored, does several things. it eliminates sources of litter and makes the san francisco dining experience more environmentally friendly. at the end of the day, that's the vision we have for policies like this one and it does so in five different ways. the first way is by saying that no plastic accessories and not

compostable plastic either -- stirrers, straws, plastic plugs, toothpicks. they cannot be plastic made from fossil fuels, but cannot be made from p.l.a. or compostable. and i want to point out the reason for that there are two important reasons that we don't want to substitute compostable plastics. the first, they blow into the oceans just like other plastics do. once they get into that ocean, marine environment, they don't guy -- bio degrade. they have the same problems for the marine environment that traditional plastics do. the second problem with compostable plastic, in san francisco, we have people that are very careful about where they sort and they may take it and put it in the green bin. when you get to the compost facility, when you see that straw and you work at the facility, you don't know what kind of plastic it's made out

of, so it's being taken out of the compost out of an abundance of caution. so there is no place for single-use plastic, whether from fossil fuel-based or compostible-based. the second element, it's not only substitute, but it's really about reduce. we're trying to get people not to take these to begin with, so you have to have them on request. it's not that that -- that the plastic forks and knife packets that come automatically with your takeout or straw that comes with your drink and clearly as supervisor safai said, it will take training, a habit change in our restaurant business, but it's upon request only. thirdly, we talked about this element a lot. it's exciting and it's new. it's the idea that we don't want

food ware lined with toxic chemicals, particularly the chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects that leach out into food and they're not necessary. there are alternatives out there that are nonflorinated. this law will be the first in the nation to ban their use. it's incredibly exciting for me. b.p.i. certification as of 2020 will be florinated-free. >> supervisor tang: quick question from supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: so the b.p.i. is the lining that comes in for the food ware and the paper coffee cups and is there an alternative for that? >> b.p.i. is certification program and what it does is it

certifies that certain compostability or packaging are meeting environment standards. the lining that you see on cups, that glossy lining on cups, that can be made of various chemical constituen constituents. the problem we have is especially not in cups, but in the clam shells, we're seeing a good proportion of clam shells use as chemical choice fluorinated chemicals. it makes it so harmful for our bodies. >> supervisor safai: that's what i meant. b.p.i.-certified means non-fluorinetded. >> because of the ordinance and leadership of san francisco, b.p.i. is stepping up as an

organization and saying as of 2020, nothing around the world will get b.p.i.-certified if it has fluorinated chemicals in it. >> supervisor safai: the coffee cups don't have that? >> correct. >> supervisor safai: do they go in the green bin? >> the blue bin. that's a change we've made. if they have stickiness on them, we don't want them in the blue bin. >> supervisor safai: the lining on the cups is really what we're talking about. >> correct. in some clam shells, not all. because it's only in some, we know it's not necessary, so we're sending a message to industry, get it out. >> supervisor safai: i wanted to be clear on that. i appreciate that. thank you. >> sure. thank you for asking. it is new and, as you say, it gets a little bit overlooked in all the straw conversations. it's super important and

exciting. also exciting and to get at reduce and reuse is looking at our events. san francisco loves its events. we have hundred of them throughout the year. they are a huge source of pride. unfortunately, they're also a source of litter. often what we see are disposable food ware items. cups being among them. there is is a challenge to our events. to take a look at what options are available for them to reduce their use of disposable cups. the rule is, any event on city property that needs a permit that has more than 100 people participating, must provide a re-usable cup for at least 10% of their attendees. there are four ways one can meet this requirement. the first, you can promote to your attendees that they bring their own cups. the second, you can hire a rental cup service to provide cups. you can have a deposit system, or you can sell promotional

cups. the image is of selling promotional cups, but it's not the only part of the way. we've designed it to have maximum flexibility so we can come into compliance. this is a forward-looking element. we understand that part of recycling is creating markets for recycled terldz. -- materials. this is a fluid part of the industry right now. the way it's written is understanding that right now in 2018 may not be the moment to require recycled content, but it gives the department of the environment the ability through registration -- regulation require it to be done by 2020. there will be requirements made

and opens up the potential to drive recycling markets through the use of recycling content. those are the five elements of this law. there's tremendous possibilities here looking forward for our small business community. we worry about costs. we've want to keep san francisco affordable for our residents, our small businesses. what we find when we talk to small businesses is just doing on-demand straws reduces their need for straws. because that need is reduced, if there's a fractional cost increase to a paper straw turnover a plastic straw, on the whole, their costs are down. it saves labor, because we don't have to keep refilling the straws in the self-service area. and people are finding more and more the businesses themselves that their customers really appreciate this kind of environmentalism and this ethic.

this issue of availability. can our businesses and our stores get alternatives to plastic and compostable plastic? as supervisor tang said, we are not alone. there are cities and states and countries around the world that are calling for alternatives to plastic. believe me, capitalism works and the companies that supply the alternatives are ready and waiting to give alternatives, whether it's a stirrer, small straw, toothpicks, all of these items. starbucks is figuring it out. perhaps necessity is the mother of invention. we may see some underful alternatives coming out. certainly the other thing that businesses can be assured of is that they have a year before this goes into effect, july, 2019, so there's lots of time to send more signals to the

marketplace that we're looking for morality earn -- more alternatives. the importance of people needing to consume beverages to their needs. there is a small carveout for those that need the straws. hospitals and pharmacies will be able to offer plastic straws if they are needed for people with medical conditions. it's important to us that we're aware of unintended consequences and impacts and we've been working with the mayor's office of disability to ensure this is responsive to people's needs. so, once it's passed, which i'm hopeful and expecting it will be, the job comes to the department of the environment to make sure that everyone is aware of what they need to do, that our residents are aware not to expect straws, and our businesses are aware of what their responsibility is.

just like we've done over and over again with the environmental laws that come through the department, we work with businesses very closely, whether it's mailing to them. we do everything in multiple languages. we will use the press and media and social media. if any affected party, an event, business, school or hospital, is confused and concerned, they need only call us as we will be as responsive as we can to help them with this new law. so effective dates, as i mentioned before, a year from now, little less, july 1, 2019, we'll be plastic-free when it comes to straws and beverage accessories. the food ware will be on request and b.p.i. certification will be required for all compostable food ware. in 2020, six months later, the potential for recycled content

regulation goes into effect. fluorinated-free food ware goes into effect. and so we're building in a pretty nice on-ramp for our affected parties to work with us so everyone feels comfortable with what they need to do differently. so this is one of my favorite pictures. i want to say that this was an incredible event that we did with you supervisors and at that time president breed, now mayor breed. and i think what it shows is that there's tremendous energy for this ordinance, tremendous support. tremendous excitement about the power of local leadership and i'm honored to be a part of your story. so thank you very much. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much, director rafael, your staff, as well as ashley summers, who has worked with so many stake holders addressing their issues. one of the issues that did come up had to to with prepackaged

goods, such as juice boxes that come with straws stuck on to the container it. i'm going to ask that the file be duplicated to address that and not hold this up. so we will address that. don't want to take away juice from kids. any other questions or comments? thank you for entertaining this in land use committee. we don't have a great community to deal with environmental issues. for now, i will open up item 1 to public comment. any members of the public that wish to speak, please come on up. item 1. >> thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. i'm patrick finger, folsom street events. we produce up your alley and

folsom street fair. we absolutely support the first part of this legislation, the no straws, plastic plates, cutlery and we've been doing this for many, many years here in the city. it's worked very well. we do not allow our food vendors to use any kind of plastic ware. and we intend to continue that. the second half of the legislati legislati legislation makes us nervous, about the re-usable cups. we are using water towers. we started using that last year and managed to turn it into a profit center for us. so it's something that we're continuing this year. and we do offer this re-usable water pouch. $3 last year. $4 this year. i guess my question is, will the city, will everyone be working

with events that are already in compliance, that are basically doing these things? because it seems like requiring a re-usable cup for alcohol sales, might be heavy-handed, and it brings up concerns about monitoring alcohol being passed off to a minor or people walking off the event with alcohol. >> supervisor tang: thank you for your questions. if you wouldn't mind staying behind, you can start by chatting with department of environment staff and get through public comment. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i'm annalisa eklund. i will be presenting on behalf of the executive director of the golden gate restaurant association. we would like to thank you,

supervisor tang and staff, as well as the department of the environment for working closely with industry on the litter reduction ordinance. we greatly appreciate that the legislation has been scaled to be more approachable for small business. we share these mutual goals, we have three primary concerns. first, allowing restaurants to deplete their inventory without penalty. it's possible that with businesses moving to offering straws upon request, straw usage will decline, so the existing inventory could last past the ordinance effective date. secondly, making sure that the b.p.i.-free products are available and affordable. the city could go a long way in leading by example having all departments meet the same standard set for businesses. in doing so, perhaps they could

enter into a large procurement project and make it available for small businesses. we ask the city to do due diligence before finalizing the policy and making sure that it is in compliance with the s.b.a. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much. >> good afternoon. jim lazarus, chamber of commerce. thank you for your work on this. we're pleased to support the legislation in principle as we have prior legislation on styrofoam bans and plastic bag bans the board and the supervisors have been understanding for the needs of all types in the compliance process. we're pleased to hear that

pharmacies would be able to sell products necessary for those with medical needs. we agree with the restaurant association, that a delay in the absolute operative date for supplies on hand beyond july next year is something that we hope you will consider. and that you will divide the file and have another hearing on amendments that make it clear that prepackaged foods and drinks from outside of san francisco, the same provision in the styrofoam ban, will not be illegal to come and sell. with those changes, we're supportive and thank you for your work on this issue. >> supervisor tang: next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is dr. tracy woodruff, professor in ob-gyn and director of reproductive health and the environment at the university of

san francisco. the research program focuses on understanding chemical exposure during pregnancy and how it may affect environmental outcome. today i'm here to speak about the ban that is in the proposed bill on the class of fluorinated chemica chemicals. it's used in products including food packaging and food service items. these chemicals can migrate out of the food service items and get into the food, water, and also air or soil where food is grown. people are exposed through food they eat or water they drink or air they breathe. our studies at ucsf have shown that every pregnant woman here in san francisco as across the

united states have measurable levels of a number of these products in their bodies. we're concerned because of the exposures that occur during the developmental period prenatally can have adverse health effects that can result in early childhood and even into adulthood. ordinances like this, bans that have happened, have shown that taking them out of the marketplace, results in a reduction in people's bodies and it shows that the evidence may be helpful. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hi. i'm dawn holiday. i went from for-profit events to non-profit. and non-profits i've been working for are really broke.

i've been trying to help with the budgets and trying to get things done for them. and something like this having to have cups for over 100 people and providing cups for that, they don't have the money for it. they just don't. you're making it really hard to be poor in san francisco. they don't have money to pay a fine. they pick up the glass themselves. they're a mighty group of people that have low budgets. it would be great to find a way to build in a budget aary legislation for nonprofits. their budgets are a joke and they don't have any way to figure out who is in their audience let alone whose cups it is. i don't know the answer to this.

i do know that the poor people need to be taken care of here, too. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> i really like this place. my old millionaire aunt would have loved it. it's beautiful. they're dead and i didn't inherit a cent. i spent a half year in jail a couple years ago and when i got out i lost everything except for some notes. while i was there, i got tripped by one of the police officers and split open my head and had horrible black eyes. i was so traumatized, i almost checked to death and a murderer helped to save my life and a bank robber fed me and said, i

will get you out of here. that judge was fired recently. i'm very grateful. i took a job in the streets picking bashing a. i've met ms. tim. so we pick this stuff up and i took a job at tool works and i sorted this stuff. i can't figure it out. i'm glad you clarified. rich people never had plastic on their table anyway. so i always wondered why there would be so much plastic. it reminds me of permit patty and the poor people will be subjected to anything they could find to eat. but good people in college would probably not like plastics and they do gather in the fields. now my father, he was a merchant engineer, and had a pile of

plastic out in the ocean and greenpeace or somebody has to go get it. it's piles, i guess, miles. and there are people that are not concerned with that. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm miriam gordon, policy director for upstream. we're a leader in international movement to reduce plastics and single-use packaging and pleased to support this ordinance, because the ask-first policy and 10% requirement for reuse at events will reduce single-use packaging. the fluorination ban is excellent to improve health. it's not just plastic we need to

break free from. it's all packaging. products used for a minute make no sense. local government spends huge amount of taxpayers dollars dealing with the waste. we're at a pivotal moment now since china is not taking our dirty, cheap plastics and contaminated paper anymore. we're overwhelmed with disposable crap that has nowhere to go. this crisis should be focusing on how to end the throwaway culture in the united states. food and beverages need to be provided in re-usable and refillable packaging. other cities are taking the lead in kicking the disposables habit, like berkeley, which started charging for takeout containers. similar laws are being passed

elsewhere. we thank you for the first step in getting san francisco to become a disposable-free zone. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi there. my name is winnie. i work for the center for environmental health. a nonprofit that strives to protect children and families from toxic chemicals in the air, food, water and everyday products. we support the ordinance to reduce plastic waste and eliminate toxic chemicals. they've been added to popcorn bags and pastry bags for years. new research has shown that the chemicals can migrate into our groundwater. the substances have been shown to cause kidney and testicular

cancer, increase cholesterol level and a variety of the food ware products have been identified. it shows up as an ordinance, if feasible. it would ignite a citywide ordinance for disposable food ware. the board should seize this opportunity to protect our health and groundwater resources reducing plastic pollution that can linger for thousands of years. we look forward to working with the city to implement the ordinance and to put pressure on the manufactures to end the use of these products. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> we're here today to speak in support of this legislation.

once again, san francisco is leading the way and showing how its commitment to achieving zero waste and we're in support of that and want to thank you for your leadership and the examples of the other companies that are getting on board like starbucks and alaska airlines and making the commitment not just locally but nationally and globally to reduce plastics. it's been very heartening and great to see. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you for your partnership. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is andrea ventura. i'm the toxic program manager for clean water action and fund. we're here today to support this. on behalf of our recent disposable program, we applaud the reduction of the materials. i want to address the ban and say why this is so important.

i spend 80% of-time on these chemicals, trying to eradicate them because of the effects they have on humans and the environment. i won't repeat the health effects. we've heard those already. but human exposure comes primarily through drinking water or contaminated food from packaging or compost. so taking this step is incredibly important in protecting the people of san francisco and beyond that where the compost is used. this is an environmental problem as well. these chemicals are forever chemicals. they don't break down. they're being found in the arctic because when they end up in trash and in our environmental, they're travelling to our environment and staying there. one of the unique problems that san francisco has, we know these chemicals exist in san francisco bay. there are several reasons for that.

it's not just food packaging, but it can be a contributing factor. what is happening is these things affect the fish. and subsistence fishers are most at need. this is incredibly important. our national office asks me to thank you. my colleagues from other states ask me to thank you for taking this measure. it's a very important step in protecting the public from these dangerous chemicals. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello, supervisors. i'm from waste busters. and thanks to the legislation put forth by the department of the environment and the supervisors mandating composting and recycling, we've been able to provide that service and expose millions of attendees to a zero-waste program since 2010.

and through that process, i cannot tell you how many hundreds of thousands or millions of disposable cups we've had to sort because they went in the wrong bin, recyclables in compost and so on and so on. so this legislation will open a door and allow us to begin offering our re-usable cup rental program again, which we've offered to large events in remote areas, but even just the work so far has put us in touch with companies that are doing dishwashing and allowing us to design a program that could work for events in san francisco. and one thing we've done with that program has split some of the revenue with event producers. i appreciate this effort. and it's a cultural change that we're going for as we go to zero waste and events are a great

place to do that, as we've been able to culture people to composting and recycling. we've seen a reduction in the amount of work we do, as people sort properly and compost correctly, but hopefully we can work together to culture of re-usabl re-usables. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. i'm john b0rg, eagle drink ware. we're in the dog patch neighborhood. i wanted to speak in favor of the ordinance and frame it as a local supplier that's been very involved in reducing single-use plastic ware. we minimize society's use of disposable goods.

we're not a retail brand. we focus on selling product to the food industry, bars, restaurants, events, specialties, independent retailers and amazon sellers, corporate campuses, educational institutio institutions. we've sold a million re-usable cups and crowing in on a million re-usable straws. we're among the first to develop re-usable items, we have a lot of experience in this area. it may seem daunting, but providing education outreach with the stake holders, i'm here to tell you that it will be very doable. i'm hearing pushback on people that are disabled.

and there are programs that can address that. we're willing to work with stake holders to address those problems. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. i'm jackie nunez, founder of last plastic straw. pollution cannot be prevented or recycled, then it should be treated in a environmentally safe manner. that is a quote from 1990. as an activist, we're engaging in a real and sometimes difficult conversations in allowing the rampant extraction and production of this being transferred to our communities. in this case, the single-use plastic food ware and straws and

products as well. at a time when we're fighting to protect or coastlines, we're actively participating in the farm of an oil spill from land and that's in single-use plastics. we need to manage change and take responsibilities. it's time we grow up so our future generations can. when our future generations ask us, what did you do in the dark days of plastics? we can tell them with conviction, we addressed it head-on. i want to thank you, san francisco, for being the adults in the room. and putting forth this measure. i applaud you. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. can you hear me? i'm nicole koblowski and i'm super nervous and really sweaty.

i'm the vice-lead of ride above plastics. i want to thank the board of supervisors and the city of san francisco for setting such an amazing example. i want to talk about the diversion discounts that are available to small business owners. after switching to paper straws, we're able to save $900. the amount of waste and garnishes that were ending up in landfill because of the attachment to the plastic straw was staggering. i believe it was over 2,000 pound a month. so we traded in our landfill bin and now we compost everything. so i encourage you to call up

recology and see how you can save money on your trash bill. there is just no need for single-use plastic and it's costly in so many ways. and that's all i have to say and rest in peace, my friend, ollie hernandez. >> supervisor tang: thank you for sharing that. next speaker, please. >> hi. my name is riley. i'm here testifying on behalf of lonely whale 580-519 and to address that it's approved by the organizations and community at large. it's a key step to be actions that will set an important precedent for all proposed policy nationally, limiting the distribution of plastic straws. straws are just one of many

sipping -- single-use plastics. in early 2017, my team and i launched an initiative. this was designed to create awareness about the impact that plastic pollution has on the marine eco systems, life, and to provide with a voluntary probability of using single-use plastic straws. we've had support from around the world from officials, government officials, alaska airlines and live nation. we're here to reflect on the policy proposed by the city of

san francisco to address plastic solution through policy change. we recognize that as an organization we must also encourage proposed policy for the rights of all people, including those with disabilities. this is one of the strictest policies in the united states, which is wonderful. i'm pleased that we've heard from katy tang. >> supervisor tang: thank you. sorry. everyone has 2 minutes. thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. i'm eva holman, volunteer for surf rider foundation, rise above plastics. i'm excited to be up here cheerleading this legislation along with all of these people in the room.

i'm also a nonprofit event producer and fundraising person. so i know how difficult it can be to have an event without using plastic. i welcome the opportunity to work with other planners. i want to share you some numbers from the neighborhood cleanup in north beach. we decided to take to the streets and see how much garbage we would pick up in six blocks. i will put it here. >> sfgov tv, the overhead. >> we spent two hours cleaning up six blocks in north beach. we're talking about straws today, but i have to say, i'm equally or more excited about this, limiting the to-go ware that comes in every bag and meal that you get in san francisco. i can't wait until we see a huge impact of this and go into a neighborhood and not find pieces of cutlery and straws and bash

garbage that's unnecessary for a takeout experience. we have in san francisco, 80 restaurants who have gone plastic straw-free. and would like to be a resource to support the board of supervisors and make it easy for everyone making the change. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. any other members of the public that wish to comment on item 1, seeing none, public comment is closed. as i said earlier, i do plan on duplicating the file and keeping one version back here in land use committee so we can deal with the issue around the prepackaged goods that contain plastic straws. >> supervisor kim: i wanted to add my name as a co-sponsor to this item because my name hasn't been added yet and want to thank supervisor tang for all of your work in bringing this forward.

i'm very excited about this ordinance. i think it's a major step forward. i was embarrassed and put my drink with a straw away as we were going through the power point presentation. it is an incredibly important step forward. as someone who spent a lot of time thinking about my garbage and trash and reducing consumption and not being good about composting and recycling. i think this will really support the city moving forward and hopefully will be a leader for the country. so want to thank the team at the department of the environment, too. >> supervisor tang: many thanks. colleagues, if we can make a motion to duplicate the file. okay. and one version -- one version out to the full board with positive recommendation. so moved. i guess we'll do that without

objection with the two of us here. okay. thank you very much. item 2, please. >> clerk: just for clarity, item was duplicated, with one staying in committee for the straws for disposable straws and one is recommended -- >> supervisor tang: both versions look the same. at some point, we'll deal with a version to deal with prepackaged goods. no changes we're making today. >> clerk: item 2, abolishing a 9-foot setback on 19th between quintara and rivera and appropriate findings. >> supervisor tang: i will ask that we continue this item because we discovered at planning that environmental review may be needed on this

event. opening public comment. no comments. >> supervisor safai: motion to continue. >> supervisor tang: to july 30. without objection. ok. rescind on item 1, can we do that without objection? okay. want to make a motion? >> supervisor safai: to send item 1 to the full board with positive recommendation. >> supervisor tang: okay. without objection. thank you. item 3, please. >> clerk: amending the planning code to create a two-year pilot program removing public notice and review for certain uses neighborhood districts in 4 and 11, modifying zoning controls for certain controls in 4 and 11 and appropriate findings. >> supervisor tang: this is a piece of legislation that i'm very excited about, as well as supervisor safai. it's our way to attract small

businesses to open up in both of our districts, which historically has been very challenging. myself, even as a legislative aide, working with many, many small business owners that want to open and expand in our districts and often are caught up with challenges. so this legislation, i really want to thank monica mohan from my office on how to craft this and if there is a use that's permitted under a planning code and it's switching to another permitted use in our district, so take, for example, former restaurant going into selling retail clothing that they they should not have to go through

change of use. i'm hoping to shave off three to six months or more. in all of my time at the board or district 4 office, i've never seen a change of use permit denied, but we're presidenter advantage conditional use for cannabis, which was newly instituted by the board for formula retail. those might have impact on neighbors, as well as bars, that require a liquor license. for the rest, i do think that it's important to eliminate a

lot of obstacles. it's further from the center of the city and transportation may not be as easy. i hope that maybe if other district supervisors see this, they may want to adopt it because it's adaptable legislation that can be custom-tailored for each district. again, thank you to my staff for working on this and with that, i will turn it over to co-sponsor safai. >> supervisor safai: thank you. very excited about this again. similar it the environmental legislation that we worked on regarding straws and single-use plastic items, this is something that we worked on in parallel. this is something that we put together as a pilot for our neighborhoods, rather than an extensive, city-wide conversation, though we're happy to have that. we wanted to move fore barred

with this pilot. each district has a list that is permitted, not permitted or need conditional use. each of us have our own tables and there are some uses that were not permitted when we began this conversation, one of which was important in our neighborhood that were activities. these were not permitted in my district. there's an application pending that will allow for an arts activity along with artist space. so we're excited about that. it's a space that's been dormant for over 10 years. the approach we had in this legislation was among mission street and other areas has one of the highest rates of vacancies and empty storefronts. we're trying to encourage and facilitate the expansion of

small business at the same time, cleaning up land use controls that allow for uses to be permitted or not permitted or conditional use authorization. so we're super excited. i gave you the case of the arts activity and organization. we were motivated by this, not just about the vacancies but also one of the businesses that came to us was the cafe. and they wanted to occupy a space that had been a women's clothing store, at least on the surface. it wasn't technically ands with an illegal gambling den, but on record, women's clothing store. we've gone through over a year and added about nine months additional time to the cafe to open up. they're just about to open up now. we're super excited. this allows for clarification.

we're trying to drive uses that we've heard from our outreach and planning process that we've done for over a year. so there are some uses that we want to drive to the second floor and want to encourage more on the first floor. i want to thank my staff and supervisor tang's staff in working together on this along with the planning department. we're super excited about the ability to open up, expand, revitalize and to free up staff time to focus on other areas of the economy and department, particularly our housing crisis. it frees up staff time to focus on areas of need. so it's also part and parcel to the streamlining conversation that we've been having in the city. thank you, supervisor tang. >> supervisor tang: thank you for mentioning that it's a pilot program. if it works out well, would love

for whoever comes up after me to continue this. i hope that it challenges us all to think about how we permit and the barriers that people go through and if we want businesses to open up in san francisco, it's some of the things we need to do. with that, i would like to bring up diego sanchez from the planning department. >> good afternoon. diego sanchez, san francisco planning. we heard this on july 12. the commission was very much in support in the ordinance and sees it as a common sense way to attract new business activities. the planning commission voted unanimously and did so with the following recommendations, to permit arts uses and conditional use at the second story a