continuance. and i appreciate the industry engaging on this issue but given the two-month public process that we have been working through i believe that it's a little bit too late. as a reminder these are just interim rates that will appear on the ballot and the board can revise the intro rates down at any time after passage before this goes into effect. i want to make sure that we consider the options. however, if any of my colleagues believe that this is inappropriate to do so, please, let me know. the amendments today would require that we have a special meeting on tuesday morning, july 31st. and with that i open up the discussion to colleagues. supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: yes, so after review of what we have received today and actually i am of the belief that the board has the ability to amend this by ordering it to later on.

and that it isn't imperative that we conclude this today. i ask the city attorney for his professional opinion on that and whether the legislation proposed allows the board to have the ability to actually make these changes later on. >> deputy city attorney john gibner. as i understand the roposa proco lower the rates for retail and non-retail and scale them up over the course of three years. between 2021 and 2023. >> chair cohen: that's correct. >> if this ordinance is not amended and you place it on the ballot and it passes the board of supervisors can legislatively lower the rates by adopting an ordinance in the future without going back to the voters. so effectively you can accomplish what this amendment would do after the measure passes by adopting an ordinance

at the board. >> chair cohen: okay, thank you very much. that's helpful. supervisor stefani, you have any thoughts? no. okay. all right, seeing that there are no thoughts -- >> i would like to say that i also believe that because it's actually more prudent to actually do it after this has gone on the ballot because then the board would have more data to choose from and to review and to actually make a sound judgment on this. and, actually, the legislation allows for that as we heard from our city attorney. >> chair cohen: okay, appreciate that. thank you. so we can go ahead and open up to public comment. i see that we have mr. lazarus here who would like to speak on items 15 and 16?

>> i am a licensed cannibas distributor in san francisco. and i want to make sure that everyone is clear on what the impact would be on a gross receipt tax. as a distributor i have three responsibilities -- transport, test and tax. i pick it up from the grower. the lab tests it to make sure that it's safe for consumption and i deliver it to the retailer and i collect excise and i collect cultivation and i give it to the state. my business operates on low margins. anywhere from 3% to 10%. a 10% tax on gross receipts, if i buy something for $900 and i sell it for $1,000, a gross receipts tax means that i make zero dollars. i have two options -- i can

charge more or i can go out of business. or i can work somewhere else. i'm just part of the value chain. every other business that i sell or buy from has to do the same thing. gross receipts tax is bad tax policy and it's a depression era policy. there are other ways to gain tax revenue. i'm very grateful for my permit and i'm hiring through the s.f. jobs portal. i know that it will be a very impactful business. please reconsider how you tax with gross receipts. >> chair cohen: thank you. colleagues, i want to acknowledge that the distribution is exempt from the tax and that we are not discussing or considering a tax at 10%. >> jim lazarus, san francisco chamber and i appreciate your work on this and certainly supervisor cohen.

we urge you to proceed with the amendment, proceed with the special meeting next tuesday and to put a measure on that will have the support of the industry and the broader business community. we believe that a tax rate that is excessive comparing the legal cannibas industry to the underground illegal industry will do nothing to move forward the type of changes that we want in this industry and to bring being it out of the shadow -- bringing it out of the shadows and taxing it and regulating it and having it available to the public in the following way. following state of california and following other communities' misguided tax policies is not what we should be doing here today. this industry pays taxes today, and the city's gross receipts and payroll taxes apply to this industry today. but the rates that you add to that -- and, remember, these are additive, may hurt the legalization of this industry

and i know that is not the intention of the board or the industry. so the chamber urges you to take seriously that proposal put forward for a further year delay for a phase-in during the start-up years of this infant legal industry. allowing the board in the future -- we don't want to appear to lower them -- hopefully this is successful enough that under your provisions you will be able in the future to raise these taxes on an healthy industry. that's what we ask you to do. there's time to do it and we request that. thank you very much. >> chair cohen: thank you, next speaker. speaker.sfgov, can i have the overhead, please. president cohen and supervisor stefani and supervisor fewer, thank you for hearing my comments. i would like to congratulate jim lazarus and myself for being 3-3

and batting a thousand at the budget and finance sub-committee. i am pleased to hear that you are considering additional amendments. i worked with the california growers association and the chamber of commerce to create rates that this industry could get behind and support. the rates as proposed when you look at the rest of california are, in fact, reasonable for a cannibas tax. but not reasonable from a tax of any other industry. so the rates that we propose up here on the overhead, have no tax for 2019-2020 and then phase-in for retail and non-retail. i point out that retail will pay double the tax of non-retail in our proposal here. because on retail they have a lot more hurdles than us. so consider the amendments that we've requested, consider the special committee hearing, and thank you to everyone for their very hard work on this very

important matter. and if anybody is interested in learning more about the retailer alliance, alliance our website. >> chair cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> hello, my name is brandon brown, the treasurer of the sfcra, and i appreciate the board allowing us to speak on this issue. i don't want to sound like a broken record but i want to just remind the board that the reason that we tax cigarettes and alcohol and other drugs is because they kill people and cannibas hasn't killed anybody, it's actually curing people. and so i'm not going to say that the tax isn't justified but i would love to know more about why we're getting taxes on top when no other industry has a social equity program.

thank you, president cohen, for kind of spearheading that. and so compassion programs and the other industries have that. we already have pretty high tax, state tax. there's already a gross receipts tax for businesses. and so i think we're really just asking to be treated like every other business in san francisco. i guess that also the main difference between cannibas and other businesses is that we cure people, we cure ptsd, and we cure cancer and we cure child leukemia and other various basic pain allmentpain ailments that e quality of life for a number of our elderly and the military coming back from war with a lot of issues. and pharmaceutical companies as we all know are not a big help in that respect. and so i would like to just bring some of those more

emotional facts to the table when we talk about who's going to really be affected by this. it's going to be the consumer, like the distributor here pointed out, it's raising the price and they'll go out of business. so the cost will be handed off. >> chair cohen: thank you. and also i want to say, mr. brown, medicinal is not going to be taxed and recreational is what is taxed. thank you, next speaker. >> hi, i am jolene enns and i'm here as a worker in the industry. for the last 12 years i have been supplementing my income or completely supporting myself in the cannibas industry as a worker, as a trimmer, just doing labor. and for a long time that was enough. those jobs that you used to pay $25 an hour or the equivalent are now gone. i'm fortunate that i got a job with a small cannibas company in the city.

we occupy 4500-square-foot facility in soma and we have a 25,000-square-foot cultivation facility that had to be moved to oakland because we just couldn't afford to do business in the city here. i'm here today because i am worried about my job and the jobs of others like me that are going to be squeezed with more taxes on our industry. it was pretty clear before the regulations came into effect that when prices were low for wholesale product and rents were high, the only way for producers to make up that difference was to lower the rates that they paid for their workers. so i can toitle totally see that happening in this industry too. there's no margin right now and we're really scrambling to get products on the shelf that are

compliant with all of the regulations that are, you know, still shifting. so i'm here to speak for the workers that are trying to make a living in this new industry. thank you. >> chair cohen: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is dr. chris emerson, the c.e.o. of the manufacturing company here in san francisco. we operate at a severe disadvantage already against the illicit market and so we can have runway and the state will start enforcing that, the high tax rates are destroying the companies that are trying to be compliant within this. so not only 15% excise tax but lease taxes that we have to account for. and so upstream and downstream we have a heavy tax burden. there's also 280-even so as a business in san francisco or federally i pay roughly 30% more for taxes because we're not able to take a lot of writeoffoffs tt

other businesses are. and we understand as an industry that we'll pay higher tax rates but the tax rates proposed at 1.5% with the ability it go up to 7% over time is untenable for companies to really survive or that want to remain in san francisco. and i would like to draw also to your attention supervisor cohen that there's a very significant possibility that the medicinal market in california is going to be gone in a few years. the state of california doesn't want a two-tiered system and most retailers and operators in this space, almost everything is going to quote/unquote, a recreational market. and it's just that there's too many barriers for the medicinal market to actually survive. it's something to keep in mind. so as mr. lazarus suggested we urge you to consider this procedural needs to have one more special session so that amendments we propose could be considered, thank you. >> chair cohen: thank you, next speaker.

>> my name is elaine brown and i'm here to really talk about something else. we have been trying to reach you, supervisor cohen, for some time and i have gotten emails from my office putting me off and saying you're in budget hearings and i'm here with a number of delegations from your district in hunter's point who are suffering from cancer and so forth because of the radiated land. you chose to not only expand the reach in hunter's point shipyard but said this is a dream to come true to build on that and then put the big scanners out there. i'm here to ask you can we meet with you to tell you what we want to talk about since you won't come to hunter's point and talk to the people there, that the people had to come here. i can't believe that you called all those police to come here. i watched you text them, two minutes later they're showing up like we're enemies of the people. you have shown yourself to be an enemy if you don't have a meeting with us and give us a date for a meeting. i would like to introduce you to someone that you know well, danielle carpenter, whose husband lost his life because of that radiated land. that's my time.

>> two years ago on march 22n 22nd, you and i spoke and we talked about -- you said that you would reopen the case because another whistleblower had come forth. i have not heard anything and now this is going on. we would like to schedule an appointment with you to sit down and figure out what's going on. plain and simple. >> (indiscernible). >> good morning, my name is william dolan and i'm here to speak on behalf of two applicants right now. i represent and work with two applicants that have applicants in the office of cannibas for retail licenses and i would like to first say that we support the proposal put forward by the san francisco chapter of the california growers association, the san francisco cannibas retailers alliance, to adjust the rate schedule as proposed

earlier by the gentleman that put up the schedule on the screen. and we would also like to speak in support of a cap on the tax at 4% instead of 7%. and specifically i'd like to address the issue of how this is going to impact the equity on businesses and after a two-year extremely challenging process of getting license and trying to open up their doors and dealing with the costs associated with that, securing real estate and renovating the real estate and then opening to a very challenge being competitive environment. so i'd like the board to consider the impacts that this will have on equity owners trying to operate in this small business environment and if there's a potential for an additional grace period that asupplies to equity owned cannibas businesses. something to exceed two to three years. that would make their tax plan kick in around 2023 or 2024.

and any type of additional grace period would be greatly be appreciated and extremely helpful for equity applicants trying to open up a business in san francisco. >> chair cohen: thank you. >> good morning, supervisors, my name is ryan ingo-warren and i work in the cannibas industry and a san francisco native. i thank you for your consideration on this issue and as i came in i heard about possible continuations to continue the amendments and i support that. and i apologize in advance if i repeat myself at all. i want to just offer some context. in october 2016, oregon's issues came in effect and the supply chain backlog was so severe that it brought their cannibas industry to its knees and resulted in temporary layoffs of 70% of their workforce. and it's not that bad here yet,

but there are some similarities that are alarming. and that sort is the broader context of the big part of that problem was poorly written statements that were requiring testing accuracies that the labs themselves were not yet certified to meet. unfortunately, that is identical, that particular factor, is identical to what is happening in california. so given that most of that is beyond your control i hope that you will take action where you're able to by reducing the impact of these new regulations on local san francisco businesses, by mitigating the gross receipts tax. as may have been mentioned earlier the proposed taxes are 5% to 50% higher than those leveled against other businesses and we're just proposing a little consideration there. also we have seen higher taxes force patients and consumers back into the unregulated market which may raise public safety concerns with untested product

and reduces your overall tax revenue. so i close by echoing the recommendations of pie colleagues and i'll leave information for your reference. reducing the cap to 4%. and encouraging the state to lower both the excise and the cultivation tax. and doing something about the unregulated operations. >> chair cohen: thank you. next speaker. yes. next speaker. >> hi. i am a resident of bayviewpoint. and i'm here with... (indiscernible) i really want appreciate if you give us a time to meet with you. i have been at hunter's point for a very long time and i now have a clot in my left atrium and i have had a heart transplant and i'm waiting on a kidney. and i do believe that it all came from living up there for 50

years. that's all i wanted to say, thank you. >> chair cohen: thank you. all right, public comment is closed. thank you. so, coa colleagues, i'd like to table item 15 and approve item 16 and move that with a positive recommendation and send this to committee and cent i send it asa committee report. supervisor stefani? indicated yes for the record. and if you have any clarification on anything let us know so that we can get to the information that you need as well as a timeline and answer whatever questions that may persist about the proposed tax measure. and we will take that without objection. thank you. all right. madam clerk, any other business before us. >> clerk: no other business. >> chair cohen: okay.

thank you, we're adjourned. >> when i open up the paper every day, i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about what planet i want to leave for my children

and other generations, i think about what kind of contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. >> it was really easy to sign up for the program. i just went online to cleanpowersf.org, i signed up and then started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going switch over and poof it happened. now when i want to pay my bill, i go to pg&e and i don't see any difference in paying now. if you're a family on the budget, if you sign up for the regular green program, it's not going to change your bill at all. you can sign up online or call. you'll have the peace of mind knowing you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. [♪]

>> 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. [♪] go. >> shop and dine the 49 promotes local businesses and changes san franciscans to do their shopping and dooipg within the 49 square miles by supporting local services within the neighborhood

we help san francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant so where will you shop and dine the 49

>> 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] >> when i open up the paper every day i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about the planet i want to leave for my children and other generation, i think of what contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. ♪

clean power sf is san francisco's key way of fighting climate change by renewable energy and offering it to san francisco customers. i'm from the san francisco public utilities commission. the program came about with state wide legislation in 2002 to enable people to take more control over supplies. i first heard of the program when the organization was advocating to launch clean power sf. what i'm most excited about, it's going to bring 100% renewable energy to my home and reinvest into renewable energy infrastructure and jobs. i had gone to a lot of street fairs and heard from the staff at the san francisco public

utilities commission to sign up for clean power sf even before it launched. >> we learned about clean power sf because our sustainability team is always looking for clean operations. linkedin is the largest online network. there are about 530 million members using our site. in this san francisco office there's about 1400 employees working in roughly 400,000 square feet. >> after signing up for the program we heard about the san francisco program and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. i'm the co-owner of the new wheel electric bike shop. we opened this store in 2012 and the new wheel sells and services electric bikes. 11 people work here in san francisco and our store is about

2,000 square feet. electric bikes are fantastic for transportation in the city, they're clean and green and you get places faster than any other form of transportation. it amplifies the power, it doesn't replace it. it makes it easier to get places by bicycle and it's so enjoyable and environmentally friendly way to go and more convenient in san francisco. >> clean power sf requires two products, green, 40% renewable and competitively priced with pg and e. for those who want to fight climate change more, 100% renewable at $0.02 per kilawatt. >> i decided to go with the super greens, after finding it

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homes. >> our mission is sustainability, even though our bikes are minimal energy use, it still matters where the energy comes from and part of our mission in sustainability is how we run everything -- run our business. having the lights come on with clean energy is very important. >> the sunset reservoir has solar panels that take up about four city blocks covering the reservoir and the solar power generates energy for city resources and clean power sf for residents participating in the program. >> it was easy to sign up for the program, i went online to cleanpowersf.org and i started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going to be switched over and it just happened. when i pay my bill, i still go to pg and e and i don't see any

difference between now and a year ago. >> sign up online, just have your account number ready and it takes about two minutes and there's nothing to install. no lines are getting connected to your home. all the power goes through the existed power grid. >> we haven't had any problems with the switch over to clean power. >> it's super easy to sign up. our book keeper signed up online, it took about 15 minutes. nothing changed but now we have cleaner energy. >> we see clean power sf as a key strategy to meet renewable energy goal, we have a goal of 50% renewable energy by 2020. currently we have enrolled about 86,000 customers across the city. about 20% of what we hope to serve in the future and in the next two years we'll offer service to all san francisco electricity customers. >> an easy way to align your

environmental responsibilities 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. >> joining clean power sf is one of the easiest ways to fight climate change, receiving cleaner energy at low and stable rates, you're helping to support a not for profit that helps influence the energy grid and produce more production. >> i would encourage any business to seriously convert to the clean sf service. it's good for environment, business and the community. >> you can sign up online our call and the great thing is, you'll have the peace of mind that you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. ♪

♪ [ gavel ]. >> supervisor tang: all right. good afternoon, everybody. welcome to our land use committee meeting for monday,