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tv   Government Access Programming  SFGTV  July 29, 2018 11:00am-12:01pm PDT

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continually and was mag a magnificent. i was to comment neha, and even when things get hairy, she managed to find a path forward, listening carefully to what we were trying to achieve and then finding the legal path forward, so i'm grateful for your leadership and your tenacity, charles, jack, and alexa, who's not here. thank you. >> thank you, president bermejo. i think this is a great ordinance. i think this is all great work, as debbie said. it's the product of a great team, and i think even more than that, it illustrates so
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many things that are terrific about this department, creativity when faced with a problem, the willingness to really push the envelope. the solid partnerships you all have with so many people and organizations in the community, the outreach work you do, and the leadership role that you take. i have a couple of comments on the ordinance, which -- >> the resolution? >> the resolution, yes, thank you, which anthony has told me i should go through and then hand him my piece of paper. one thing that's not on my piece of paper which i would like to have raised for your consideration is adding a new paragraph, which i hate to write these things here, and maybe we don't have to, but i'm wondering whether we should have a paragraph that addresses the controversy that both of
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you referred to, and that was illustrated by this morning ease chronicle, a -- this morning's chronicle, a paragraph that talks about the extensive efforts that you all have -- that have preceded the ordinance to work with the business and disability communities. the -- as a result of which there are exceptions for medical needs, for example, as well as the fact that there's at least a year that people have to prepare for the imposition of the actual ban. i think that such a paragraph would strengthen the resolution. and then, if my colleagues don't mind, could i just go through these few? they're really not that many,
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particularly if you consider that i'm the one that's suggesting them. >> and commissioner wald, if i may, i just clarified by the deputy city attorney that we do need to write the amendment now. >> i know we do. >> okay. >> i know we do. i said i hate that we do that. perhaps somebody could write it for me? so on page 1, and line 15, i'm troubled by the expression marine plastics. so me, that sounds like something -- like it sort of belongs there. i think it should be changed to read plastics in the marine environment because we are, after all, talking about trash. >> that -- that works for me. >> on page 2, and line 1, where we refer to areas impacting urban runoffs, i would just
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refer to say, a study of street litter that contributes to urban runoff or something like that. in line 3 on page 2, the word fifty should be replaced by the number 50. i don't like to give charles extra work, but i had a lot of problems. i had to read the whereas that begins on-line 16 several times, and i think we could take it -- >> a question. what -- what's the beginning of that sentence so we know -- >> it's line 16, whereas,
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fluorinated chemicals. and then, page 3, line 17, where it says what the ordinance does, i think it would be clearer if it says the ordinance ensures that no person may sell or distribute any food ware that is not verified through third party certification to be free of fluorinated chemicals, as opposed to any food ware that is not fluorinated chemical free and verified. no person may sell or distribute any food ware that is not verified through third party certification to be free of fluorinated chemicals.
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i don't mean to change the intent of any of these things by the suggestions that i make. i -- i just think that for people who know even less than i know about this topic, which is not very much at all, that some of these suggestions would make it easier for them to understand what it is we are talking about. and that's my list. >> while charles is writing -- [inaudible] >> thank you. charles is writing the amendment or --
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>> president bermejo, may we move to public comment as we do the rewriting? >> sure. any other comments from our commissioners first? >> do you want my help? >> okay. commissioner ahn? >> just a brief comment. it hasn't escaped my attention, actually, the implementation of this ordinance around boba tea. i know the original roll out was around boba guys, which i thought was very good. but recognize there is a higher cost to pom coastabcompostable would just urge you to be diligent in your outreach to immigrant communities. >> sure. i appreciate your comment. i think there's been some press or some concern around the availability and how so many
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people are switching. and we would take that into consideration. if there's just a backlog and one's not able to get a suitable boba alternative, you know, we would give people that time. we -- in our experience with other ordinances, a lot of players that come forth once they see that it's not going to be san francisco, other jurisdictions as well, you'll see a lot of scaling up. with scaling up, costs will come down, as well. so you know, i think they're -- there's going to be a period of time they're going to want to look at different alternatives. i know they are already doing that. it's interesting, there's even new players coming forward that have ideas that they can provide, reusable straws and provide a washing service for them, so that can certainly be something that might work if it's on-site consumption.
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off-site's a little bit trickier, but there are even reusable programs for people taking stuff off-site, so i think there are different options, and we would track those, work with, you know, various players and certainly work with the -- you know, the various businesses that are affected. >> commissioner sullivan? >> that was also my question, that i was going to ask about the boba tea purveyors, but you've already covered it, so thank you. >> any other questions from commissioners? director raphael? >> yeah. i was just going to say with the boba, it was interesting because we had our presentation at the boba tea place, and the owner was thinking creatively about how they'd address this
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issue. they take such pride about the ingredients of their bobas and how sustainable they are and local. and so for him, it was just the latest challenge of i haven't figured it out yet, but i know i can. there are a lot of reusable boba straws that they were giving out to gifts as people, and we hope they will have their reusable boba straw in their backpack or purse. i have mine, so it's just a change of habit. it's clear for a boba, a straw is a part of the drink, so it's not so much eliminating the straw but finding an alternative. and they were excited to try, and we're excited to work with them, too. this is -- as jack said and as you all know, san francisco is not alone in this. this ban on plastic straws is far and wide, and so the -- i
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believe in the power of capitalism, and i believe that when there is a gap in the market, somebody will rise up to fill it. >> this is for sure true. i wondered if because -- if this is also a movement, and it's not just in san francisco. you read about it, you hear about it, who is opposing something like this? for instance, the restaurant association, and how do we -- if there are people who are opposing or organizations, what kind of outreach are we doing to them or can we do, as maybe in an ambassadorial role as commissioners, to give good information out there and sort of preach the gospel of no plastic straws? >> yeah. well, there were a lot of meetings that me and the supervisor tang held with different players, and there was some concerns raised
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initially by the restaurant association and chamber. they've come around to support it. i think it's really a matter of talking through and say our approach is one of helping businesses comply, showing them the alternatives, giving them the time they need and reaching out which is sort of how we've done our other ordinances. this is a business, but it's also what consumers can do and sort of promoting that. so where you have the opportunity to kind of encourage people to think about how they can reduce their impact, bring their own, debbie was saying the people get into the habit of carrying straws, that is a good example. i think it's an amazing amount of material that's being generated. we estimate 1 million straws are being used in the city every day, and there's on the order of 300 million disposable cups being used in the city every year.
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just the quantities are so dramatic, so i think there's really some huge opportunities for us to reduce the impact. when he with think about zero waste, we think about the old mantra, reduce, reuse, recycle, compost. that's something that gets to more of a cultural change and a shift in attitude and perception, so we just need to kind of help walk the talk, i guess. thank you. >> thank you. director raphael? oh, commissioner wald? anthony? >> all right. president bermejo, i've consulted with policy and communications sector, with the two suggested amendments. so besides those proposed amendments by commissioner wald, we propose, on page 2, line 18, after the word grease,
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to start a new whereas that says, whereas fluorinated chemicals are extremely persistent in the environment, leach into the environment and into food. the second -- the second proposal, commissioner wald, would be to, on page 3, after the final whereas, before the resolved, to add one additional whereas clause, whereas efforts to work with the disability community have resulted in kpemss for people with disabilities and medical needs and allows people one year to prepare for the ban, therefore be it resolved. okay. that's resolved. okay. that's ibe it resolved. okay. that's it?
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okay. so the other amendments are, just to go through them all, on page 2, line 15, remove the word marine, and after the word plastics, add the in the marine environments. the other is on page 2, line 1, after the word litter, that contributes to. on page 2, line 3, replace the word fifty with the number 50. so we have added the changes. on page 3, line 17, after the word that -- after the word not, to replace it with verified through party certification to be free of fluorinated chemicals. and then, the addition of that additional clause about the business and disability community. you're welcome.
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public comment. >> yes. we have one request for public comment, at this point, from lawrence carter long, disability rights education and defense fund. >> good evening. >> good evening. >> how are you? thank you for taking my comment. i hadn't actually planned to speak, but these issues seemed to be rising, so i appreciate the opportunity to give some insights. a month ago, i didn't think about straws. i don't use straws. i send them back every time they're offered to me, but as the communications director of a national disability rights organization, i started getting phone calls, both from consumers, from businesses, from news organizations about these proposed bans that are rolling out across the kroo and indeed internationally, and i think there's a lot that san francisco can learn from the
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mistakes that have been made in other cities. for example, seattle. first, it proposed the ban a year ago. they found that it was unworkable -- ten years ago. i'm sorry. ten years ago, they found it was unworkable, and then, just recently, a few months ago, decided to implement that ban on july 1. they had their own disability policy commission that is designed to assist in making these decisions. that's why it is there, who were never consulted before the law was implemented. and then, they had to scramble. they had to deal with people like me going on n.p.r. and calling them out, right? we've had places like p.b.s. news hour, calling, asking about bans in los angeles and new york city. they are now faced with rewriting that ordinance. here, there's some questions
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that have been brought to my attention that my community has. the ordinance says, strict compliance is not required where it would interfere with accommodating medical needs. okay. on the surface, that sounds fine. but we've got to ask, who is doing the accommodating? how are they doing the accommodating? we also have to wonder, how are we going to ensure that everyone who needs a plastic straw for the time being can get one? how is a person supposed to show that they require a straw due to medical needs? are we going to tell people to get a prescription to go to mcdonald's? what does it mean? the devil is in the details here. no other constituency is required to bring their own cup, their own cutlery, or their own doggie bag. it's ironic to me that 28 years
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ago this week, on july 26, the americans with disabilities act was passed, saying that americans with disabilities have the right, the same right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we should not be faced with these additional burdens. an option is not a mandate. may does not equal must. we cannot -- because we didn't think it through, put an undue burden on the disability community on people who were left out of the initial conversations. so please, i implore you before these things are implemented that we give firm, concrete and specific answers to these questions before implementation, because i can tell you, we all love hurdles, too. but we don't want to roll back
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the protections that we've fought for in that process. next july, i want to be standing on these stairs with us in celebration of this going into effect. i can't do that. the disability community can't do that unless we're considered, consulted, unless you learn from our insights, our expertise and our experience in making these decisions. thank you very much. >> thank you. any other public comment? okay. we can move onto a motion for the resolution. >> i'll move approval of the resolution as edited. >> so moved. second? okay. it's been moved by commissioner sullivan and seconded by commissioner wald. all in favor? [voting] >> any opposition?
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any abstensions? great. the motion carries. [inaudible] >> anthony, item 12. >> clerk: the next item is item 12, announcements. this item is for discussion. >> commissioners, any announcements? any public comment on announcements? we want to be thorough. neha's here. okay. next item. >> clerk: the next item is new business, this item is for discussion and possible action. >> good evening, commissioners, charles sheehan, policy
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manager. next meeting is september 24, so a little bit to go. we will be reviewing the green report and the pesticide list. and we're working on the joint meeting with the commission on the status of women. we want to bridge the global action climate summit with the bay area women's summit that's happening here in december. the date for the joint meeting is october 24 at 4:00 pm m., so please hold that for your calendars. we're still working on a location for that joint meeting, so if you do have any ideas, let anthony know. the next policy committee meeting is august 6, and the next operation committee meeting is october 17. >> commissioners, any questions?
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any public comment? we hope to see you on those dates. okay. next item. >> clerk: the next item is item 14, adjournment. the time is 7:27 p.m. >> okay. we are adjourned. i can hit this [ gavel ]. >> thank you. and thank you for the comments. thank you for everybody who's still here to listen to the really important information that is being presented today, and thank you for the last public comment, and those are heartfelt words, and certainly will be taking them into consideration. thank you. have a good night.
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>> 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
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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]
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>> 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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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]
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>> 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
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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,
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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>> 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
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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.
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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
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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]
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>> i came to san francisco in 1969. i fell in love with this city and and this is where i raised my family at. my name is bobbie cochran. i've been a holly court resident for 32 years. i wouldn't give up this neighborhood for nothing. i moved into this apartment one year ago. my favorite thing is my kitchen.
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i love these clean walls. before the remodeling came along, the condition of these apartments had gotten pretty bad, you know, with all the mildew, the repairs. i mean you haven't seen the apartment for the program come along. you wouldn't have believed it. so i appreciate everything they did. i was here at one point. i was. because i didn't know what the outcome of holly court was going to be. you know, it really got -- was it going to get to the point where we have to be displaced because they would have to demolish this place? if they had, we wouldn't have been brought back. we wouldn't have been able to live in burn. by the program coming along, i welcome it. they had to hire a company and they came in and cleaned up all the walls. they didn't paint the whole
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apartment, they just cleaned up the mildew part, cleaned up and straighted it and primed it. that is impressive. i was a house painter. i used to go and paint other people's apartments and then come back home to mine and i would say why couldn't i live in a place like that. >> for the first time in nearly two decades fishers have been granted the legal right to sell fish directly to the package right off their boat -- to the public right off their boats in san francisco. it's not only helping local fishers to stay afloat but it's evoking the spirit of the wharf by resurfacing the traditional methods of selling fish. but how is it regulated? and what does it take for a boat to be transported into a floating fish market?
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find out as we hop on board on this episode of "what's next sf." (♪) we're here with the owner and the captain of the vessel pioneer. it's no coincidence that your boat is called the pioneer because it's doing just that. it's the first boat in san francisco to sell fish directly from the boat. how did you establish your boat into such a floating fish market? >> well, you know, i always thought that it would be nice to be able to provide fresh fish to the locals because most of the fish markets, you would have to do a large amount of volume in order to bring in enough fish to cover the overhead. when you start selling to the public that volume is much less so it makes it hard to make enough money. so being able to do this is really -- it's a big positive thing i think for the entire community. >> a very positive thing. as a third-generation fisherman joe as his friends call him has
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been trawling the california waters for sustainably caught seafood since an early age. since obtaining a permit to sell fish directly to the public he is able to serve fish at an affordable price. >> right now we're just selling what a lot of the markets like, flat fish and rock fish and what the public likes. so we have been working for many, many years and putting cameras in them. there's the ability to short fish and we have panels that we open and close so we target the different species of fish by adjusting the net. and then not only that but then the net sort out the sizes which is really important. >> joe brings in a lot of fish, around 20,000 pounds per fishing trip to be exact. >> we had one day one time that we sold almost 18,000 pounds. >> it's incredible. >> i know, it's hard to imagine. >> but this wasn't always the case for joe. >> the markets that we have left in california, they're few and far between, and they really are restrictive. they'll let you fish for a
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couple months and shut you down. a lot of times it's rough weather and if you can't make your delivery you will lose your rotation. that's why there's hardly any boats left in california because of the market challenges. my boat was often sitting over here at the dock for years and i couldn't do anything with it because we had no market. the ability to go catch fish is fine, i had the permits, but you couldn't take them off your boat. >> that was until the port commission of san francisco rallied behind them and voted unanimously to approve a pilot program to allow the fish to be sold directly to consumers right off their boats. >> the purpose of the program is to allow commercial fishers to sell their fish directly from their boats to the end consumer in a safe and orderly manner for the benefit of the overall fishing community at the port of san francisco. we have limited the program to certain types of fish such as salmon, halibut, tuna and rock fish. crab is restricted from this
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program because we did not want to interfere with the existing crab sales on taylor street and jefferson street. so this is not meant to favor one aspect of the fishing industry more than another. it's to basically to lift up the whole industry together. >> and if joe the program has been doing just that. >> it was almost breathtaking whenever i woke up one morning and i got my federal receiver, my first receivers license in the mail. and that gave me permission to actually take fish off my boat. once we started to be able to sell, it opened things up a bit. because now that we have that federal permit and i was able to ppetition the city council and getting permission from san francisco to actually use the dock and to sell fish here, it was a big turning point. because we really didn't think or know that we'd get such a positive response from the public. and so we're getting thousands of people coming down here buying fish every week and so that's pretty cool.
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they like the fish so much that they take pictures of it when they cook it and they send us all of these pictures and then they ask us, you know, constantly for certain types of fish now. and when they come down here the one thing that they say is that they're so amazed that the fish is so fresh they could eat a little bit during the week and it's still fresh all week in the refrigerator. so that's really cool. >> the fish is very fresh and the price is super. i don't think that you can get it anywhere in the bay area. i can see it, and i can stir fry it, wow, you can do anything you want. i just can say this is a good place to shop and you have a good experience. >> this program supports the strategic plan in terms of engagement, people being connected to the waterfront, and also economic vitality. because it's helping the
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fishermen to make ends meet. they have no guarantees in their businesses, not like some people, and we want to do everything that we can to help them to have a good and thriving business. >> how does it feel to be able to sell your fish locally kind of in the traditional way, like your grandfather probably did? >> when i was a kid and i used to work in my dad's fish market, a lot of the markets that we sell to now are second and third and fourth generation markets. so i remember as a kid putting their tags on the boxes of fish that we shipped out of monterey and ship down to l.a. so it's kind of cool that we're still dealing with the same families. and this is probably about the only way that anyone can really survive in california is to sell your own fish. >> one of the advantages of this program is the department people that pull in the fish, they can find out where they caught it and find out more about the fisherman and that adds to their experience.
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the feedback from the fishers has been very good and the feedback from the customers have very good. and there's a lot of people coming to the wharf now that might not have done so. in fact, there's people that go through the neighboring restaurants that are going to eat fish inside but before they go in they see the action on the dock and they want to kind of look at what's happening on the boat before they go in and they have a meal. so it's generated some conversation down at the wharf and that's a good thing. >> as you can see by the line forming behind me getting ready to buy fish, the pilot program has been a huge success. for more information visit sfsport.com. (♪) (♪)
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>> self-planning works to preserve and enhance the city what kind hispanic the environment in a variety of ways overhead plans to fwied other departments to open space and land use an urban design and a variety of other matters related to the physical urban environment planning projects include implementing code change or designing plaza or parks projects can be broad as proipd on overhead neighborhood planning effort typically include public involvement depending on the subject a new lot or effect or be active in the final process lots of people are troubled by
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they're moving loss of they're of what we preserve to be they're moving mid block or rear yard open space. >> one way to be involved attend a meeting to go it gives us and the neighbors to learn and participate dribble in future improvements meetings often take the form of open houses or focus groups or other stinks that allows you or your neighbors to provide feedback and ask questions the best way to insure you'll be alerted the community meetings sign up for the notification on the website by signing up using you'll receive the notifications of existing request the specific neighborhood or project type if you're language is a disability accomodation please call us 72
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[roll call] >> clerk: we expect commissioner hillis to be out and commissioner fong to be in shortly. first up, cases for continuance, 2018-001243cua, proposed continuance to august 23, 2018. item 2, 2014-002541dva, india basin development agreement project, proposed continuance to august 23, 2018. i would like to be clear, the continuance is related to the development portion only. theje