personally, if i'm having struggles, whether work-related, home-related, whatever-related, me, the person i am, i choose not to talk to someone within the department, because i'm a very private person and i totally trust confidentiality and so forth, but for me, having sort of a third party and having that anonymity, maybe going to a mental health network, where no one really knows who i am, maybe they do, but they aren't as closely tied in, to have layers built in, because everyone processes things differently, or is more willing to share. that peer support is amazing helpful for some and the only person will you go to. for others, maybe it's too close. to have realization that people process their stress in different ways, but the bottom line is, to your point, having the resources available when the person needs it and wants to reach out. i think we have done a better

job over the years instead of being reactive. often time it's was a very informal way. hey chief, or firefighter so and so, please give someone call, he is struggling. he is having a marital problem, a substance abuse problem, he is having a hard time with the call we just responded to. that happens and it happens very productively, but to your point, representative cleveland, we recognize it whether people want it or not. in there's a traumatic scene, we automatically send a team out for debriefing. the natural response for people who do what we do is okay, i'm fine, and we move onto the next call. we have formalized that well, i think, over the last few years. certainly, i will commit to working towards taking a look at what we have and seeing what we can do to rework it, or add to it, and i'll have to put a

team together, but i'm confident we can do so. and i'm happy to answer any questions. >> thank you, chief. commissioner covington, did you want to say something? or did you want to go to commissioner hardeman. i see your name was up there first. >> yes, that's before commissioner hardeman chimed in. i think this is a very valuable discussion that we are having. and i think we are moving in the right direction. the chief needs input. she needs input from, you know, a variety of sources and a variety of people. she perhaps will need continued direction from you as well. they all had commissioners involved and still have

commissioners involved, as well as people at various ranks within the department. and i think that's a valuable thing. we really have to make sure that people feel included in this process. that all of this doesn't have to come out of the chief's head. that there is a meeting of the minds, as to how best to proceed. so i think we are on the right track. >> it's a collaborative process. >> yes, definitely. >> commissioner hardeman? >> yes, thank you, mr. president. commissioner alioto veronese, i'm just really surprised hearing the names involved helping you draft this, they want to hire a medical doctor, specializing in treatment of mental illness to be a full time employee of the fire

department. i don't understand it. if you are saying drug addiction is a mental illness, which it's not, it's an addiction, some people may refer to it, but i think that is pushing it too over the edge. i just don't understand that. is that a group decision? who -- without naming anyone's name but how did that surface? it shocks me. >> would you like me to respond? >> yeah, how did that come about? >> there are departments that have looked to the assistant of different types of physicians to form their units. some departments actually have some within their units.

i'm not saying that we need one. that's not what this says. and so, it's very clear to me that the language and the format of this document is misleading people on this commission. because that's not what this document says. this document says, what this document really says, is there are experts out there who know more about addiction, that know more about suicide, that know more about the effects, the symptoms of p.t.s.d., more than yourself, myself, we're not experts at this. the point of this document is who are those experts? identify those experts. give them the input. essentially create the working group that commissioner covington was talking about. and maybe that's why this document should be more clear. because the document is more of an instruction to create a working group, figure out who the experts should be and tell

the commission at the end of the day what that unit looks like so we could make it a part of a budgeting process going forward. so i apologize for misleading you. this document doesn't say in it that we need a full time employee that's a physician, i don't know that's appropriate at all. i don't have the expertise in this genre to know whether or not that's true. it may be true. it may not be true. i don't have those expertise. i'm sorry i mislead you to think somebody in some group i talked to said we absolutely needed that. no, that's not true. but we should be consulting the experts in this area that are doctors. and frankly, you may believe that drug addiction is not a symptom of mental illness. i don't believe that. in some circumstances. that's why these conversations are important. right, commissioner? with all due respect, this is

an amazing conversation because there are commissions and departments all over this world that are not having this conversation. so if we don't vote on this tonight, in my mind we have made progress, because we are talking about issues. if you talk to people who actually had addictions within this department, you may find those addictions have something to do with some p.t.s.d. injury they have had. and as a result of that, once we have people that are looking at this issue, commissioner, we may find that the alcoholism, or the pill addiction, or the oxycontin addiction, or whatever addiction may exist with any particular member of the department, right, some people prefer to go to third parties to talk to people. some people will only talk to people that are firefighters. some cops will only talk to

people who are cops because they fully understand them, right? some people like to be more anonymous. some people will turn to alcoholism, pills and other addictions. right? and all of that is more than you and i could ever understand. but this document is basically asking us, is asking the chief, which is really the only thing we could do. our authority, the public should know this. if you are watching at home, the commission's authority, does not go beyond the chief. we cannot tell any of the members of the command staff what to do, when to do it. the chief is the chief of the department. she runs this department. we set policy for this department. and so what i'm trying to do is set a policy this is an issue that is important to us, we would like the chief to look into it. this is something that needs to be explored and nobody is talking about it. they are starting to talk about it. and we're talking about it now.

but i think that when the report comes back to us, once we have a model that the commission will accept, and the report comes back to us a year from now, or six months from now, or whatever it is, i think we will all be surprised what the state-of-the-art unit looks like, it's not, with respect to the chief and all the efforts so far, it's not what we currently have. >> well i hate to give you the bad news, but i've been going to aa meetings with firefighters for 42 years. and police officers. and i wrote my unions addiction policy way back 35 years ago. i have dissected it, rewrote it, had reports given to me monthly on every hour, every minute of every conversation, practically. and discovered that most people's problem is, is drugs and alcohol, without question.

also what people worry about, it's problems at home, children, wife, domestic violence. a member could call up just like you could do now, could you call alex, ask for anything. with my union, retired, my members were able to call up and ask questions about anything. i need to refinance my house, i need to get an auto loan, where is the best place. that's what it ended up being, more than an addiction recovery. my union, if you look at the suicides, and you take the suicides nationwide, they are fishermen, farmers, lumber workers, factory workers, construction workers,

carpenters, miners, electricians, maintenance workers, mechanics, repairers, installers, factory workers, production workers, architects, engineers. then firefighters, police officers, and protective services, probably sheriff and etc. and rent-a-cops. and then artists, designers, athletes and entertainers that's what my union was made up of. almost identical suicide rate was firefighters. so i know a lot about this issue. i have spent many, many, 42 years. i could sit down and write a document that would blow your mind and you would say, that sounds good to me. so i do know some worker does know a lot. >> commissioner, that's the great thing about these commissions.

i didn't know that, if i had known that six months ago, i would have put you to work. >> i don't advertise it, but i thought it was a good time. >> commissioner, i respect your experiences. we all come from different experiences and have different things to add to these commissions. that's why these commissions are great and that's why they are unique and that's why they are important. i have deep respect for every member of this commission and their experiences. i don't mean to down play and i don't think you took my comments as down playing your experiences. for sure i don't have that knowledge. but i appreciate it deeply. i think that's why this is so important. i think that's a very good example of why this conversation is so important. because we all have different experiences, we know this problem exists, right?

we all have different experiences. all i'm trying to do is find a better solution to it. that's it. so when the chief comes back, if we pass something, if the chief comes back six months ago, you could say through your experiences, no, i don't agree with this, because of this. i think the stress unit should have no doctor. but the point is, and i think everyone here would agree, the point is, it's an important issue to look at. so let's look at it, let's put the right language in this resolution so that we can have the chief take a look at this issue, do a deep dive into this issue, come back to us whenever that date is, so we can budget to deal in a more appropriate way than the way we are currently dealing with. that's all this is.

>> vice president nakajo. >> commissioner veronese, i want to thank you for the hard work and the passion. about a year ago when you came, one of the first statements you stressed with your fundraiser was in this regard of stress of the members in terms of the regard. at this particular time i would like to acknowledge and appreciate the commissioners on this commission as well as the chief and everyone of you command staff, and every member in this audience that has been with us for the last three hours. i totally agree with commissioner covington, a good, healthy, robust discussion. and i appreciate you being in it at the forefront so we could discuss it. for me, in terms as well, with the contract question that came about for individuals, it's about options. and it's about options to be able to have the options. and of course, within our own family and our own house, i think we want to reach out to our members in terms of our

own, but i also share the feeling that sometimes i like to go to someone who doesn't know me at all. because sometimes self esteem and guilt is tough enough when one asks for help. so for me, a healthy discussion around options is really important. just one question in terms of logistics. chief hayes-white, who is the administrator of the program. >> the stress unit is built on a lot of confidentiality, there's an ability for members of the stress unit to come directly to me. if there's something that comes to my attention, we are a paramilitary organization. members are given a lot of latitude and they deserve that latitude. there's a lot of trust that goes along with that, having said that they report to the

assistant deputy chief overseeing homeland security, in this case michael cochrane. >> that's what i wanted to hear. the bottom line, responsibility and we have a structure. i'm not saying the structure is sufficient, because obviously there's concerns. and again commissioner, i appreciate you being in this conceptually all the things we are talking about. i can support that, the detail things we are talking about, the budget issues and everything we talked about. thank you for the clarity in terms of the intention of the resolution. when i first read it, it certainly sounded like we were creating a new unit. not that there is anything wrong with it but i think this calls for the response we as commissioners have, that is oversight. that's purely on the level i dialogue, i personally enjoy the dialogue and the frank discussion among all of us and i thank you all for your time this evening.

thank you mr. president. >> thank you, mr. vice president. commissioner veronese you are going to take this resolution and streamline it, bring it back to us in a couple of weeks, for reconsideration. is that correct? >> yes. i will do that. >> all right. i don't know if we need to vote on that. do we need a vote? i don't think so. all right. very good. thank you. we will move to the next item, madam secretary. >> item 8, agenda for the next and future fire commission meetings. >> well we have one item already. for the next meeting. commissioners, any input here? any public comment? >> i want to congratulate

commissioner veronese's cousin on winning the british open. he looks like your cousin. >> does he? >> anybody disagree? there's italian heritage there, connection, he has got to be sicilian. >> i will look him up. i wasn't aware of it. >> this is the win of what? >> british open. he is italian. >> oh, right. >> i think we wanted to put the chief's residence on the next meeting's agenda to discuss that. >> i have the chief's resident's update. we do have a closed session settlement that needs to be approved. are we going to put the mayor's transition update on the next -- >> i don't think we will be ready at that point. >> and commissioners, just as a reminder, i will not be present for 8-8. deputy chief gonzalez is a good fill-in for sure.

he is limited in one aspect and that is of the chief's residence, he doesn't have sort of the knowledge i might have but chief rivera is very well versed on it. i just wanted to raise that for you. >> okay. >> any other commissioners have any additional items to add? >> just a clarification, between now and the next meeting, are we going to be looking for a place for the retreat? we have the google doc that will be coming around. we will need a facilitator for that meeting. usually at retreats you do have a facilitator who is the person who keeps things moving. >> and does an agenda need to

be posted for that? >> yes, it would have to be, yes. >> like a special meeting? >> yes. >> all right. the chief and i will discuss that and come up with a facilitator, if you have input on a facilitator. i know one person that might be useful as a facilitator. >> okay, great. >> we will get a facilitator. >> anybody in the department you could use? >> all right. very good. >> madam secretary? >> item 9, adjournment. >> so moved. >> second? >> second. >> all in favour? favor? aye. >> aye. >> this meeting is adjourned. thank you.

[♪] >> i just don't know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. it is an experience that you can't have anywhere else in san francisco. [♪] [♪] >> district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city.

we have four neighborhoods that i represent. st. mary's park has a completely unique architecture. very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in san francisco. the bernal heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of san francisco. there is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. it is as if you are swinging over the entire city. there are two unique aspects. it is considered the fourth chinatown in san francisco. sixty% of the residents are of chinese ancestry. the second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the garden district. there is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. not only for san francisco but for the region. and of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the city's second biggest park after golden gate. many people don't know the

neighborhood in the first place if they haven't been there. we call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. where we are right now is the mission district. the mission district is a very special part of our city. you smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. they have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. and then you walk further down and you have sunrise café. it is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. >> twenty-fourth street is the birthplace of the movement. we have over 620 murals. it is the largest outdoor public gallery in the country and possibly the world. >> you can find so much

political engagement park next to so much incredible art. it's another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [♪] >> it was formed in 2014. we had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. we worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. so the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. >> in the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the mission district have been displaced from their community. we all know that the rising cost of living in san francisco has led to many people being displaced. lower and middle income all over

the city. because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. >> it's a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. there is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. there are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesn't completely erase the communities. we try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more equitable development in the area. >> you need to meet with and gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. the people on the businesses that came before you. you need to dialogue and show respect. and then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [♪] >> i hope we can reset a lot of

the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. so we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and working-class. >> back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. this is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. we created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. that is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. we have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [♪]

>> i have been living in san francisco since 1957. i live in this area for 42 years. my name is shirley jackson, and i am a retirement teacher for san francisco unified school district, and i work with early childhood education and after school programs. i have light upstairs and down stairs. it's been remodelled and i like it. some of my floors upstairs was there from the time i built the

place, so they were very horrible and dark. but we've got lighting. the room seems lighter. they painted the place, they cemented my back yard, so i won't be worried about landscaping too much. we have central heating, and i like the new countertops they put in. up to date -- oh, and we have venetian blinds. we never had venetian blinds before, and it's just cozy for me. it meant a lot to me because i didn't drive, and i wanted to be in the area where i can do my shopping, go to work, take the kids to school. i like the way they introduced the move-in. i went to quite a bit of the meetings. they showed us blueprints of the materials that they were

going to use in here, and they gave us the opportunity to choose where we would like to stay while they was renovating. it means a lot. it's just that i've been here so long. most people that enjoyed their life would love to always retain that life and keep that lifestyle, so it was a peaceful neighborhood. the park was always peaceful, and -- i don't know. i just loved it. i wanted to be here, and i stayed.

>> good morning, everyone. i'm barbara ga sierra, the director of health and i'm be your m.c. this morning and i want to thank you all for being here today for this program announcement. and i want to thank victoria manner, one of our incredible care facilities, for hosting us this morning. and so we have several distinguished leaders with us this morning. and our mayor london breed, we hope to have our president of the board of supervisors malia cohen. and our new supervisor rafael mandelman and the owner of the victorian manner bernadette joseph. bernadette is the second generation of owners of this type of facilities and we really appreciate her family's commitment to the communities that we serve. our residential care homes are very important form of housing

in san francisco, providing compassionate support for our community who live independently. the department of health, the department of aging, and i want to acknowledge that we have our department heads with us today. and both departments depend on these homes and facilities to ensure our clients are safe and that they get the care that they need. so we're so fortunate to work and live in a city that cares -- cares for its most vulnerable community members. our strongest leaders for this is our own mayor, mayor london breed. mayor breed is committed to ensuring those facing behavioral and health challenges are provided care and housing that they need. so please welcome mayor london breed. [applause] >> mayor breed: thank you, barbara, and thank you, everyone, for being here today. i'm really excited to be here

and as mayor i have made it clear that one of my top priorities is to not only address many of the challenges that we face with so many people struggling with mental illness, but, more importantly, to address issues of homelessness. we have to make sure that we invest in preventing homelessness in the first place. and we know that this particular facility, along with so many others throughout our city, continue to struggle financially. they struggle financially due to lack of funding from the state, from the federal government, and what that means is that time and time again in our city we need to figure out ways in which we can continue to support the great work that this facility is doing and others like it. so today i'm really proud to announce that we're investing over $1 million over the next two years from one-time revenue to stabilize residential care facilities that support our most

vulnerable population throughout san francisco. [applause] and, let me tell you what it will do. it will help 37 residential care facilities and house more than 350 people in our city, including many of our seniors. some of these people suffer with serious behavioral health and medical issues. many have a history of homeless homelessness. and we know again that the best solution is it to prevent homelessness in the first place. one of the care providers that support one of the ones that will receive funding as we said before is victoria manor which we are here today, located in district 5, which is now represented by supervisor brown. this place has 90 beds and it serves 26 clients for the department of public health. the facilities like these have

been under strain as i said in terms of lack of funding and the city currently spends $2.5 million through the department of public health to provide supplemental funding to close the spending gap. and i want to, again, i appreciate barbara g garcia for identifying where the needs are and making sure that we are using city resources in the most efficient way to support this community. but this is a complex issue which requires a holistic approach to look at now and the financial challenges of the future. and this additional funding is a down payment and demonstrates our commitment to ensure that these providers can care for and to serve our community. the department of aging and adult services is convening a working group along with the department of public health and the office of economic and workforce development to analyze the current demand and study options to meet the needs of the future throughout this city.

i expect to hear recommendations by the end of this year and until then this funding will help to ensure that we continue to serve hundreds of san francisco residents who would otherwise be at risk of homelessness and who would otherwise not be able to care for themselves. i want to thank the supervisors who are here today for their tireless work in preparing this coming fiscal year's budget, who is now our board president and was leader during this budget time, she was also the finance chair, supervisor malia cohen. and i am hoping to sign this into law hopefully soon and i have sent a letter to president cohen outlining my support for this funding and how we're able to move forward in our shared priorities. we know that there's a lot of work to do and it takes a village. it takes a lot of our departments it takes members of the board of supervisors, and

i'm glad to be joined by someone who has been my partner although he's just joined the board of supervisors, supervisor rafael mandelman who has really been a champion for issues around mental health. we're so grateful for his support here today. and i also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge roma guy who has also been an incredible advocate behind mental health reforms and pushing for more mental health stabilization beds in our city to, again, care for our most vulnerable population of citizens in san francisco. with that i'd like to provide an opportunity for the president of the board, president malia cohen, to say a few words. [applause] >> thank you, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. what a wonderful day, mayor breed, also a fantastic start. this is exciting news. i'm thrilled to join the mayor as well as my colleagues, supervisor mandelman and

supervisor brown, as well as my partners in the department of public health that are standing up here with me, to announce this $100 million for board and care. san francisco has always been a city that has been committed to supporting our most vulnerable residents. you know what, we haven't stopped yet. we're actually recommitting and reaffirming that commitment today. this year i'm proud that the -- that our budget process was, quite frankly, most transparent. and policy driven. a collaborative process that we have seen to date. in the month leading up to the budget we spoke with community activists, we have spoken with our residents, we polled our residents and, of course, we surveyed the colleagues on the board of supervisors. resoundingly without a doubt we have heard that homelessness is a top priority for particularly those who are suffering mental health issues. we have a responsibility to keep our residents, to help them to

remain in healthy condition, and it's a top priority of ours and we want to have them in a safe place to live and access to care and treatment. and so it is actually through our policy-driven process that we allocated $47 million in additional funding for homelessness. i think that is an important figure to note. the board of supervisors has directed over $4 million towards housing and homeless solutions and it's going to manifest itself in several ways, ways that you will be able to see instantly. first, in housing subsidies for families and seniors, mental health services and street medicine teams, patch the funding for residential care facilities. that's a critical one. patch 23u7din funding for residl care facilities. and also for those facing eviction. so this additional million dollars for the board and care

facilities is without a doubt welcomed. it's a welcomed investment to help 355 san franciscoians facing displacement and also dealing with mental illness. this is directly aligned with the board's budget priorities and our commitment to ending homelessness and ensuring that our most vulnerable residents are safe, healthy and housed. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] >> thank you, president cohen, it was one of the best budget processes i have been involved in so thank you. we are so fortunate today to have our board member from this district, i have worked with her for many years and we're very proud to bring her up to the podium. [applause] >> thank you. thank you to everyone that is here today. the residents of victoria manor.

and also thank you mayor breed for finding this additional million funding to help our board and care facilities throughout the city. and president cohen and supervisor mandelman, thank you for supporting this. i think that it's so important. i have to thank roma guy and barbara garcia because anytime that i have questions they're the boots on the ground and i call them. i want to just thank you for all of of the years that you have been supportive in giving advice. i have a personal story. a neighbor of mine actually was losing her place, her roommate situation because of her mental health issues. when i saw her on the street she told me, this was almost 13, 14 years ago. and she told me her social worker suggested that she go into a room and care board facility. she was really frightened. i think that she had no idea what they were about, and

neither did i, but then i saw her months later and she was so well taken care of. she was happy. and she told me how much this really meant to her. and she had a family -- i think she was an eighth resident in care. and i have been very supportive of the board and care. because if it's the right situation for that right person it's vital. it's taking care of our most vulnerable residents and we need to step up. it's part of our housing stock, and i said that affordable housing is one of my priorities. this is affordable housing for our most vulnerable residents. i want to also thank all of the angels out there that take care of our residents here. and thank bernie joseph for being one of those people, second generation, that isn't saying i can't do it, you know, because a lot of people -- a lot

of people age out in these board and cares and they can't do it anymore. they don't have someone to replace them. and i just really think that it's amazing that it's a family affair because they are a family here. so i want to thank everyone for coming out and i'm very excited moving forward of how we look creatively at supporting our most vulnerable residents. thank you. [applause] >> thank you supervisor brown. our newest board member rafael mandelman, and in recent conversations with supervisors he's very interested in looking at housing, skill nursing and residential care facilities i know is one of his top priorities. so supervisor mandelman, thank you so much. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. i am incredibly pleased to be here to support mayor breed and her team, director garcia, for all of great work you have done to make this a possibility. and for identifying these

additional funds to help to meet the critical need. decades ago when california set itself on the path towards deinstitutionalization and closing our state mental hospitals we were promised a network of community care facilities. i think that we all know that that promise was never kept. but to the incident that it was kept it was through places like this in the community where folks could get the care that they need. today in san francisco we have lost and are at risk of further loss of dozens, if not hundreds, of board and care facilities that provide house askin housine for our most vulnerable neighbors. i have spoken frequently and over the last year about my mother and her struggles with mental illness. she was housed for most of her adult life in board and care facilities. some were good, some were not so good. but they were essential to keeping her housed. make no mistake but for

facilities like this one, hundreds, if not thousands of additional san franciscoians would be in hospitals or jails or on our streets. so as we work to move the thousands of currently unhoused homeless san franciscoians off the streets and into care it's critical that we stabilize our stock of board and care facilities and create more care options for those who need them. i like that the mayor referred to this as a down payment and i think that is the right way to think of it. it's an important first step in addressing a need that i imagine that we will be grappling with for most of your administration but that i have complete confidence that working together with roma guy telling us what to do, we will be able to solve. so i'm very glad to be here and very grateful to be included. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor mandelman. i just wanted to acknowledge

bernie's family, her husband and daughter are here and i know that it's a family -- a family affair for this project. so i do want to thank you for all of the work and the support that you give to bernie to provide such a beautiful location for our clients. one of the important processes for our clients is social support. and so to be together and to learn together and to support each other is one of the important processes and also important contribution that a facility like this provides. so it would be such a great honor and i want to acknowledged kelly, our transitions director, who really manages with bernie and i heard that she's one of the best negotiators as bernie says, that she does what she is told to. and we are appreciative of both of the teams and so i appreciate you, bernie, and i want to bring you up. [applause]

>> good morning. i'm bernadette joseph, the owner and director of operations at victorian manor. thank you, mayor breed, and supervisor cohen and supervisor mandelman and supervisor brown, and director of health garcia, barbara garcia. thank you for being here and for your support for our seniors. here at victorian manor we serve over 90 elderly clients with various needs, including dementia, medical and mental health needs. our home provides a place where seniors can live in the community and be as independent as possible. we welcome with open hearts and open arms a diverse group of residents, including a frail and vulnerable elderly population and we see every day what a big difference it makes for them to have the right place to live with the full activity program that enriches their lives.

thank you mayor breed for recognizing the work of residential care facilities for the elderly like victorian manor. the new funding will help us to make ends meet. and to continue to serve the seniors that we care so much about. we are happy that the city is also looking into long-term solutions to keep the facilities like ours, residential care facilities for the elderly, to have them remain in san francisco. so, thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, that's the end of our program. and i'm sure that the press may have questions and i'll leave that to the press. thank you. >> any questions... anything off topic we'll take on the side. >> can you say specifically what the funding will go towards, is it services or more beds?

>> one of the important things that we have done with the facilities is that we have provided them with an extra amount per day for the bed and part of that is because we have individuals with different levels of need and that really helps for the staffing of the beds, and making sure that the right staff is for the right client and their needs. so this will provide extra dollars for a per bed space that we pay for and we work that out with the owners so they have the right staffing. bernadette, if you would like to add anything? [laughter]. >> where is the money coming from? >> the department will be working with the board of supervisors and the mayor's office for the one-time dollars that the mayor allocated for this. >> that money goes towards staff wages and health care? >> and as you know we pay per

diem per day and that extra dollars the staffing has. >> can you talk more about why this is a piece of the puzzle that deserves the extra money? there's a lot of other things out there that need help as well. >> i think that we don't spend enough time talking about stopping something from happening in the first place. when you think about the amount of money it takes whether it's wages for employees, or an increase in the dollars that it takes to feed people, whether it's additional services, physical therapy, social services and things that go into actually taking care of some of the individuals who are in board and care, the costs are going up. then what happens when there's a huge gap, that means most likely that sometimes they can't necessarily take care of all of the clients that they have. and the reason why this is important is because if they have a budget shortfall then that means that they go from 90

beds to maybe even 80 beds so they could at least afford to cover the costs of those particular individuals. this is important because where are we going to put 10 people that might be displaced because of a lack of funds? and so in looking at, you know, all of these particular board and care facilities and the increase in costs and the challenges to meet the need, we have to make sure that we keep every single bed. we have to make sure that we do everything that we can to prevent, you know, something from happening in the first place and that is the possibility of losing those beds which means that those people are going to have to go somewhere. and we have to do everything that we can to make sure that they don't end up on the streets and that's what this is about is prevention. >> any other questions? >> can you explain a little bit about -- i was shocked by the number that we have lost -- it looks like almost 30 of these facilities in the last five years. why that is happening. >> well, it's exactly what mayor

breed talked about is the fact -- and also the fact that some of these were family owned and the cost of doing this -- and this is all over california and this is not just san francisco. but the cost of doing these types of facilities, particularly as they depend on the ssfai dollars that comes in doesn't always match the overall cost of the facilities and the services. so it's exactly why we're trying to provide them some stabilization. we started doing this almost 11 years ago really looking at how to work with the residential care facilities in both ways. one, to provide them dollars to serve clients with higher needs and also to help them to cover their costs that ssfai doesn't always cover. because the increases don't match the cost of doing business. >> all right, thank you. [applause]

>> in 201,755.7 million passengers traveled through san francisco international airport. we have on average 150,000 people traveling through the airport every day. flying can be stressful so we have introduced therapy dogs to make flying more enjoyable. the wag brigade is a partnership between the airport and the san francisco therapy animal assistant program to bring therapy animals into the airport, into the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable. i amgen fer casarian and i work

here at san francisco international airport. the idea for therapy dogs got started the day after 9/11. an employee brought his therapy dog to work after 9/11 and he was able to see how his dog was able to relieve passenger's jitter. when we first launched the program back in 2013, our main goal was to destress our passengers however what we quickly found is that our animals were helping us find a way to connect with our pang. passengers. we find there are a lot of people traveling through the airport who are missing their pets and who are on their road a lot and can't have pets and we have come in contact with a lot of people recently who have lost pet. >> i love the wag brigade.

>> one of my favorite parts is walking into the terminals and seeing everybody look up from their device, today everybody is interacting on their cell phone or laptop and we can walk into the terminal with a dog or a pig and people start to interact with each other again and it's on a different level. more of an emotional level. >> i just got off an 11.5 hour flight and nice to have this distraction in the middle of it. >> we look for wag brigade handlers who are comfortable in stressful situations. >> i like coming to airport it's a lot of fun and the people you talk to are generally people who are missing their dogs. >> they are required to compete a certification process.

and they are also required to complete a k9 good citizen test and we look for animals who have experienced working with other orgorganizations such as hospits and pediatric units and we want to be sure that the animals we are bringing into the airport are good with children and also good with some of our senior travelers. i think toby really likes meeting kids. that is his favorite thing. he likes to have them pet him and come up to him and he really loves the kids. >> our wag brigade animals can be spotted wearing custom vets and they have custom patches. >> there is never a day that repeats itself and there is never and encounter that repeats itself. we get to do maximum good in a

small stretch of time and i have met amazing people who have been thrilled to have the interaction. >> the dogs are here seven days a week, we have 20 dogs and they each come for a two hour shift. >> there is a lot of stress when people have traveling so to from these animals around to ease the stress and help people relax a little bit. i think it's great. >> one of our dogs has special need and that is tristine. he wears a wheel around. >> he has special shoes and a harness and we get it together in the parking lot and then we get on the air train. he loves it. little kids love him because he is a little lower to the ground so easy to reach and he has this

big furry head they get to pet and he loves that. >> he doesn't seem to mind at all. probably one of the happiest dogs in the world. >> many people are nervous when they travel but seeing the dogs is just a wonderful relief. >> what i absolutely love most about it is the look on people's faces, so whenever they are stressed and flying is stressful these days you get these wonderful smile. >> i am the mom of lilo the pig and she is san francisco's first therapy pig. >> lilo joined the wag brigade as our firs first pig. >> wag brigade invited us to

join the program here and we have done it about a year-and-a-half ago. our visits last 1.5 to 2 hours and it does take a little bit longer to get out of the terminal because we still get a lot of attention and a lot of people that want to interact with lilo. >> i feel honored to be part of the wag brigade. it's very special to meet so many people and make so many feel happy and people that work here. it's been a great experience for me and a great experience for to totoby. >> it's been an extremely successful program, so the next time you are here, stop by and say hi.

sustainability mission, even though the bikes are very minimal energy use. it still matters where the energy comes from and also part of the mission in sustainability is how we run everything, run our business. so having the lights come on with clean energy is important to us as well. we heard about cleanpowersf and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. it was super easy to sign up. our bookkeeper signed up online, it was like 15 minutes. nothing has changed, except now we have cleaner energy. it's an easy way to align your environmental proclivities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it, and it

doesn't really add anything to the bill. >> president kwon: good afternoon. thanks for waiting, folks. welcome to the san francisco public utilities commission meeting. today is tuesday, july 24. before we take the roll, let me just say one thing. we have a number of speakers here today. we have a lot of speaker cards. to give everyone time, we're going to hold strictly to the 3 minutes. when you hear the second chime, that's when your time is over to make time for the next person. so hold it to that time or you will force me to sing to you and that will get you off qu