housing. i do think that supervisor peskin is doing his job today. you know, we are district elected supervisors and are supposed to represent the concerns of the neighborhoods that elect us. i am sitting here today keenly aware that i sit as the sole lgbtq member of this body. the in heritor of decades of activism by queer and cannabis activists working together to rationallize the drug laws and hiv positive supervisor jeff sheehy who spoke about medical cannabis saving his life and the lives of countless others and though his body may have died earlier this year, dennis paron's spirit is strong in my district and must remain true to that legacy. given that, and given my strong

belief it is long pastime to bring cannabis out of the shadows and eliminate the stigma attached to its use, and notwithstanding my great respent for chinatown and personal affection for the author of this legislation i cannot support it. with or without this legislation, neighbors will still have the opportunity to oppose proposals for particular cannabis businesses, and that is as it should be. but i simply cannot vote for a blanket ban on such businesses in any portion of this city even very, very special portion of the city like chinatown. >> president cohen: thank you, supervisor mandelman. supervisor yee. >> supervisor yee: thank you, president breed. >> president cohen: cohen. ok, old habits die hard, it's ok. >> supervisor yee: i deeply apologize, president, president, president cohen. i think i deserve to be demoted

and take the last seat down there. so, this particular legislation i've had probably some, lost some sleep over it, because i don't -- i saw merits for either a support or don't support for this piece of legislation, and i probably was walking in here, and again, there's -- we have heard some arguments already and some of the justifications and yes, part of why i was having some issues is 75% of the people in san francisco voted for, to legalize the marijuana. and we've gone through much discussion on the board in terms of, you know, how do we roll out the program to allow for businesses to start up and we

talk about equity and so forth. so, all those things weigh heavily with me, and i probably walk into the chamber favoring not supporting this, although i was still pretty much on the fence on this, and i think supervisors peskin remarks struck home somewhat, growing up in the same community that he represents, and knowing the dynamics and what has happened over the many, many decades in which, whether it's one thing, one issue or another, one type of business, the tech business, this business or that business. wanting to go in and looking at what's close to our financial district and so forth. always, always fighting the gentrification of that particular community and because

they see that even though it's one of the most dense area in terms of population in san francisco in fact, what i see is that if you have a lot of money you can buy those buildings and you can buy those buildings and make it even more like financial district, and so over the many decades, starting from me in the 60s when i saw that fight, i realized what supervisor peskin is talking about, maybe he didn't mention as much as also the notion of what's going to happen there in terms of gentrification. there are, i believe, and i know so, because i've heard people talk about, they have people that have a lot of money that can go in there and buy things, and just flip everything around and at some point it's just going to, you are going to be wondering, what happened to this, this particular area and

why isn't there -- was there -- read history there used to be a chinatown there. so, i'm really mixed and, because we are going to -- if this passes, is it going to be a threat that other districts might follow suit and say hey, we have our neighborhoods, too. possibly. i could possibly see that i may introduce something, although i don't have 14 pending businesses trying to get their licenses around my neighborhood. so -- i guess what i'm saying, reluctantly support this. >> president cohen: thank you. supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: i wanted to add to the comments, i think they were both thoughtful from all sides. i will say in the context of crafting our overall ordinance that we passed last year, i

actually did go to talk to many of the constituents in chinatown and i did talk to the community tenants association, to the merchants, i did speak with community development, chinatown community development corporation. a lot of the leaders in that community and overwhelmingly people kept resonating with the same theme, which was, and i think we all agree with this, there are many parts of san francisco, i know supervisor ronen and fewer have put forward our cultural districts and that conversation, there are certain parts of the city that add significance and play a special role in our history, and chinatown is one of those places. and when you are talking about a small merchant that's been there for years that's paying a certain price per square foot, versus someone else that can come in and exorbitantly raise the rent, you are no longer able to compete. so, this to me is more decision,

less about whether or not you believe in dispersing cannabis across the city in a more balanced manner. it's more about from my perspective, do you believe strongly in preserving a part of san francisco that plays a significant and special role in our history. also, paying special recognition to many of the things that supervisor mandelman said, that you can look at this from the perspective of access to lifesaving medication that was criminalized and has been criminalized and still cr crimnalized in the united states. but if you do open the floodgates, and many conversations over the course of town as it pertains to the preservation of chinatown, you will see those pressures and will see a massive influx in gentrification and displacement in terms of the businesses, in

terms of the people, and so for me, i think that they -- this particular part of our city has enough significance in history and plays a special enough role that it is warranted to have this particular protection, and then you know, adding on to the arguments that were laid out. i mean, if you look at the pending application, if you look at the dispersement, you cannot argue it's about access, it's just the market for profit and so for me, people that want to access medicinal marijuana or marijuana have plenty of options in that part of town and i think that seals the argument for me. so, i'm happy to be a co-sponsor of this legislation. >> president cohen: supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. i wanted to just remark about the gentrification pressures that cannabis stores are putting on neighborhoods.

i do think that that is a real worry. for me, the fact that there are no applications for cannabis stores in chinatown and the fact that this law is so brand-new, and that we spent so much time arguing over the details and striking that very, very careful balance, is what's tipping me over the edge to not supporting the legislation today. i will -- i would say, though, given, you know, my passion for cultural districts, the fact that chinatown is a very, very special and precious neighborhood in our city, that i -- i think it's incredibly important for all of us to protect and preserve, but it's a hard vote. but i -- i just don't see an imminent threat right now. it looks like from what i can gather that this legislation will pass. but if for some reason it didn't

pass and there are applications in the future, while i do think the c.u. protections we put in place are probably enough to protect chinatown, it's something i would be -- i would be open to in the future, but for me, this law is too new and -- and i don't see that gentrification threat happening at the moment because there are simply no applications for cannabis stores in chinatown. so that's what's putting me over the edge of voting no today. >> president cohen: thank you. colleagues, any more discussion? all right. i'm going to come down and discuss.

all right. i appreciate that. supervisor kim, i'll have to learn how to catch your eye so you don't have to walk so far down this way, to come down and just to discuss some of the policy matters. so, you know, supervisor peskin raised i think an interesting point to his credit, really compelling. i asked him last week, i need compelling reasons as to why you are doing this, and so he, the argument that began to move me is around the fact that correct me if i'm wrong, nine already m.c.d.s in existence in your district, is that right? >> supervisor peskin: according to my staff, there are, hold on, there are -- i have two numbers, and maybe there's somebody here from planning. i have 12 and i have 16, and i think the difference is that four of them, i believe, are delivery only, i think. so, i need to confirm that with

planning. is there somebody here from planning to confirm that? mr. star is here, and i believe i have 14 pending. >> i don't have the numbers in front of me, but you have quite a bit of delivery in your district, at the embarcadero, one address has a lot of deliveries there. >> mr. star, please identify yourself. >> aaron star from the planning department. >> thank you. >> so, supervisor, if i'm not mistaken, based on another conversation, or what i read in the legislation, we are just talking about a 14-block carveout. >> supervisor peskin: through the president to president cohen, i passed out a map before we continued it. what's called the chinatown mixed use districts, which is some of them are half blocks, and when you add them together,

they are about 14 blocks that are bounded to the north by broadway, to the south on bush street, but only along the grant avenue corridor, so kind of half blocks. and then the land going to the east to kearny and then up to powell, about 14 square blocks. that's adding together half blocks. >> as of right now, you don't have one m.c.d. or dispensary inside that 14-block radius, right? >> supervisor peskin: that's correct. >> president cohen: ok. and to the best of my knowledge, my research shows there are no pending applications either for this block, is that correct? >> supervisor peskin: correct. >> president cohen: discussion around a moratorium, would you be able to entertain a legislation instead of passing

legislation today, could we in turn put in place a moratorium, to sunset to allow us to revisit at a later date? >> supervisor peskin: that was suggested by the planning commission there be a sunset date on that. the community that i represent was not open to that. having said that, legislation is a human creation and can be changed and altered and rescinded in the future if, you know, attitudes and more' change. >> president cohen: that makes sense. i'm going to pivot to mr. star from the planning department. if you could tell us what was the discussion at the planning commission on this particular item, that would be helpful. >> aaron star, planning department, glad i showed up for this. so, it was actually the planning department that recommended that it be a two-year moratorium, the planning commission decided that

because the ordinance was so new, and that it had not had time to play out, that they just recommended disapproval. so, there is -- >> president cohen: disapproval. >> disapproval of the ordinance. >> president cohen: what i would like to do, pivot off what supervisor brown said and the department said, if you are open, supervisor peskin, making a motion for a two-year moratorium on your 14-block window and after two years we can revisit, or if you want a year and a half, 18 months, i'm open to it. >> i would respectfully stand my ground and oppose that amendment. >> president cohen: appreciate that. to the deputy city attorney, would this -- could you talk about the impact on notification if we were to make some changes? >> sure. deputy city attorney. if the board chose to amend in a sunset date with a provision

that basically says after that sunset date, the code will revert back to its 2018 version, that would not trigger a referral back to the planning commission, but also not trigger a referral back to another committee meeting so the board could adopt that amendment today and pass the ordinance on first reading, if you chose. >> president cohen: supervisor peskin, sounds like you could not support a two-year moratorium. what about 18 month? >> supervisor peskin: that would be even shorter in duration. through the chair to president cohen. when the department recommended two years, it was the sentiment of all the aforementioned organizations and leaders that that was not acceptable and as their representative i'm not in position to support that. >> president cohen: all right. appreciate that, thank you very

much. colleagues, i actually am going to change my position, and i'm going to support the motion supervisor peskin has put forward and the reason why i'm doing so is that the new information that he shared with me today about the number of applications happening, i'm comfortable it's in 14-block tight jurisdiction and also i think the argument is sound, the one made about access, and that there is enough access to, for anyone that wants to consume cannabis. so, i just want to let my colleagues know that i will be supporting item 25. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: through the chair to the president, thank you, supervisor cohen. >> additional comment on this item? >> president cohen: to my colleagues, supervisor kim and yee, looking to you guys.

all right. keep those eyes roving. madam clerk, seeing there is no other -- seeing there is no other discussion on this item, could we, we call the roll. [roll call vote taken] >> clerk: eight aye and three no, mandelman, ronen and brown in the dissent. >> president cohen: the ordinance passes. madam clerk, it is after 2:30. could you please call the 2:30

special order. >> at this time, madam president, we will now be subject to a wonderful 2:30 commendation period. >> thank you. all right. colleagues, i am, i have, we have -- we have two special commendations, first i'll be recognizing miss anne cronenberg for her retirement from the department of emergency management and then we will have supervisor tang who will be honoring pier 39 for proactive work on the "skip the straw" campaign. i'm looking forward to that. but before we go any further, could we please call up police anne cronenberg. ladies and gentlemen, is she here? yes. [cheering] anne, do you hear that resounding applause? >> yes. >> president cohen: i know, it's humbling. please give me a minute to just

lavish you with some love. so, colleagues, the reason why i really wanted to recognize miss anne cronenberg, the executive director of the department of emergency management, because it's an important time in her life, this marks the occasion of her retirement. after 40 years of public service, anne will be retiring from d.e.m. on august 10th. starting in 1997, anne served as department of public health deputy director for public health emergency preparedness, responsible for disaster preparedness and planning for emergency medical services. and after 15 years, with san francisco department of public health, in january of 2011 became the executive director of the department of emergency management. and during her time as the e.d. of, i'm going to step into city jargon, she directed upgrades to

the 911 dispatch center and also executed major hiring initiatives to increase the 911 dispatchers. anne has also secured funding for city-wide emergency operation watch center. and this center will enhance san francisco's ability to gather situational awareness of evolving incidents and address immediate needs of the community. she spearheaded efforts to redefine emergency preparedness education that in 2014, d.e.m. launched s.f.72.org, not only explains how residents can be prepared for any type of emergency, but also promotes a critical component of emergency preparedness and community connection. are you all prepared to live on your own for 72 hours, that's the critical question that we all need to ask ourselves and it's a life or death question. thank you for bringing it to our attention. under anne's guidance, d.e.m.

also expanded alert s.f. and this is the city's only emergency text message alert system that now reaches more than 100,000 people. so i encourage anyone not yet registered to alert s.f. to text your zip code to 888777 to receive these critical alerts. also i want to acknowledge that anne initiated a multi-year project to update san francisco's aging public safety 800 megahertz radio system, so the first responders have reliable radios that communicate both inside and outside of the city. in addition to anne's local achievement, she is a national leader in the field of emergency management and the past six years served on the federal emergency management agency national advisory committee. advisory council, excuse me.

also represents san francisco on the big cities emergency managers association board of directors where she is been a powerful mentor and influencer throughout the united states. anne, i want to say thank for your public service. thank you, the city of san francisco has been extremely lucky to have a leader like you. i'm grateful for your friendship and your mentorship over the years. i think you have friends and family also in the chamber with you here today. would anyone like to stand up and stand in acknowledgment for their love and support of anne cronenberg? thank you for being here. colleagues, join me in celebrating anne cronenberg. [applause]

anne, i know this is a bittersweet moment, it is for all of us, there are several names on the roster that would like to speak before we hear from your remarks. and i first want to recognize my colleague, supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. anne, we are going to miss you. i will never forget when i just started at city hall as a legislative aide for supervisor comepose and you were at d.c.h. at the time and i came to meet with you to learn about your work and the department and you were so welcoming, and so kind, and so wonderful to me, and it struck me at the time and it stayed with me ever since. that's just who you are. and i think that you have been a, a mentor and someone so many of us have looked up to as an example of what it means to be an incredible leader in the community and public servant who

lasts a long haul. you've been here in the city fighting your butt off for your entire life, and the city is so much better off for it. and i can't thank you enough for everything you have given. we are going to miss you a lot, and i hope you have an amazing retirement and have a blast. >> thank you. >> president cohen: supervisor tang. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much, director cronenberg, anne for all of your service. you invited all of us actually to go to the emergency dispatch center and there i truly got to see what an incredible operation that you have run there, and how hard all of your dispatchers work and all the things that they have to juggle during the time of emergencies, all the things they have to know, all the different people they have to contact and maintain calmness while helping all those in critical emergencies, and i just

think you have done a fabulous job with the department and i always rest assured knowing that you have everything absolutely under control and that our city's incredibly safe and prepared for whatever might be thrown our way and you certainly personally have seen the city go through a lot over your years here. and so just want to really thank you for your service. bringing that incredible sense of professionalism to your job, keeping our city safe and protected. so, thank you and thank you to your entire team over there at d.m. as well. >> thank you, supervisor. >> president cohen: supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: anne cronenberg, i'm so bummed that i'm not going to be able to work with you more. but i want to thank you for your incredible graciousness in the few weeks that we are overlapping. i knew of anne before i knew anne cronenberg. not only have you done all that you have done in your city career over the last decades, but you got harvey milk elected.

and i was five years old when you did that. >> oh, god. thanks, supervisor. >> sorry. but -- but the work that you all did on that campaign and the work that you did at that point in your career made it possible for every single queer supervisor who has been on this board since then to be there, and so i just, i want to thank you of course for all of your contributions to san francisco, but especially for that, everybody says, you know, i mean -- many people talk about what harvey would say about this or that thing, and most of us have absolutely no idea. you do. i don't. but i imagine he would be very, very proud of you. >> thank you. >> president cohen: supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: yes, anne, i want to say thank you so much for keeping us safe here in san francisco and also the entire region. i also want to thank you in particular for everything you have done for my district, you

know. having our emergency preparedness month, working so closely with my legislative aides in my office to make sure my residents, the most vulnerable among them are protected and that they know about the tsunami zone in my area and also they know how to get on the alert and i just can't thank you enough for all the service you have done for san francisco. i hope you have a wonderful retirement. a long and happy and healthy retirement. you absolutely deserve, after serving us for so long, you absolutely deserve a long, long time serving yourself. so, much luck and best wishes. thank you. >> well said, supervisor. supervisor peskin. >> supervisor peskin: anne cronenberg, i have known you in several of your different iterations, only a few of them given your true decades of

public service but i knew you as an exemplary leader and employee and friend at the department of public health in my first go around where you were making s.r.o.s livable for the most vulnerable people in san francisco and then in your most recent incarnation in one of the toughest department head jobs that the city has where we work together, sometimes it was tough but we all did it for the same reason, which was to get 90% of our 911 calls answered within ten seconds, and you've now hit and surpassed those numbers exactly the way you said you would. it has been an honor and pleasure to have you as a friend and a mentor, and we are going to take care of your daughter, who works at the entertainment commission and is out there, hi, maggy, and we will call on you for advice and help because i know you have more institutional memory than pretty much any person in the city and county of san francisco's employment. thank you for everything, anne.

>> thank you. >> supervisor yee: thank you president cohen. anne, i think when i got to become a supervisor and one of the first invitations i received was to go visit the emergency -- your office, where everything was happening, and i was so impressed with the operation and during that visit you went on to explain what was going on there, what -- what you folks actually did, and the fact that it felt like you had been short-handed for a while, not being able to hire at the time, and just doing an amazing job with the numbers

of people and resources you had. and at that point, i said to you, you know, something, we have to change that, and we really got to get more resources. we have to get more people trained because your staff was going to burn out if we didn't do that. and you have done an amazing job. you basically, what i saw was i realized that later, i walked out and i think she was advocating, and trying to make it better, not only for the people working there, but actually for all san francisco to keep it, to keep us safer, so i think you know, we are going to -- i'm going to miss your effort and your leadership there and hopefully, i don't want to say, i don't want to feel less safe, but certainly -- certainly i'm hoping that whoever replaces you, that i'll feel as safe as you have kept the city for us.

thank you very much, anne. >> president cohen: supervisor stefani. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, president cohen. anne, i will never forget meeting you when i was an aide to a supervisor, i just watched the documentary the times of harvey milk and you walked in the office and said you were anne cronenberg and i was star struck, so happy to meet you. i was in awe of the passion with which you pushed one of the greatest causes of our time, which was the acceptance of our lgbtq community and working for the first openly gay supervisor who accomplished so much, what was displayed in that movie, i was awe struck by you when i first met you and then to get to work with you over time, to work when you were at d.p.h., and the c.p.m.c. legislation and everything they were working on and at d.e.m. to see how you have turned that place around, i've always been in awe of everything that you bring and

i'm going to miss your warmth, your passion, your kindness, the history you bring into the building and the work, and i think you are one-of-a-kind and thank you for everything you have done for me over the years, you have always been there guiding me and encouraging me in my career and i'm really going to miss you. >> president cohen: thank you, supervisor. supervisor brown. >> supervisor brown: >> supervisor brown: hi en h ann anne, tensions were in and you were so calm, you kept your calm and your composure, and i thought wow, this woman is someone i need to model myself on. and i always think of that, you know, when i get in these situations that are stressful of how you just, you were very calm, you took what he said, and

then you reacted in a way that was just so professional, but right on. right on target. and i just want to say thank you for all your service and when i heard that you were going to department of emergency management, the perfect job for her, if anyone can stay calm, it's here. thank you for all your years of service and i agree with supervisor stefani that it's amazing when we watch the movie and we, yeah, harvey milk and we realize like where you came from, and the legislative aides offices, i remember those in that movie and how horrible they were, very horrible. so, anyway, i just wanted to say thank you very much for all your years and we are going to really miss you, and i hope you are looking for that calm person out there to replace you. thank you. >> thank you, colleagues.

>> anne, you have had a fantastic seat, a front row seat and also a hand in shaping this city. not only as a campaign manager for milk and watching how life has transformed for the lgbtq community but making sure everyone is safe and do it with such an even demeanor. impecable. i have admired you over the years and happy to bring you to the chamber to say thank you. i'll give you an opportunity to say a few remarks at this time and then afterwards invite you into the well so we can take a group shot. >> thank you. let me say i don't feel so calm this second. i have been before you dozens and dozens of times and walk in and it's not always the most pleasant experience, you know, but i know what your roles are, and what my role is, as a city department and city representative and we are both doing what we need to do to make things better for the residents

and citizens of san francisco. today is so overwhelming to me. i go so far back that harvey rose was a city employee when i started working for harvey milk. and we had an intercom system, this is way the old days, sentrix system, one button at the end was the intercom, and when it went on, the aides had to push it, and this is harvey, and it's not my harvey. it was this harvey right here, so -- you know, we -- we go way back, and 40 years is a really long time and i feel so honored that i was able to spend my entire career in public service. my three children are here today, my adult children, and they are all continuing the same tradition of public service. i'm very proud of all three of them. many of their friends who i feel

like are my children because we were raised them all together are also part of the city family now. it's -- really beautiful and i am -- i should be just like so excited about retirement, which i am, but it's -- it is very bittersweet. and this last job, the last seven and a half years at d.e.m. was the best. i mean, we had very difficult times, but i have to say, my staff is wonderful, a lot of them are here today. talk about the city's first first responders. you know, i could not do the job that our dispatchers do. they have, in my opinion, the hardest job in the city. [applause] and i want to thank everyone at

d.e.m. for being so wonderful and taking care of the safety of all of our citizens, and really becoming a family to me. so, from my nuclear family, from my city family, thank you from the bottom of my heart. >> thank you, anne, why don't you come into the well so we can grab a shot. [cheering] [applause]

[applause]

>> all right, ladies and gentlemen. recognize supervisor tang at this time. >> supervisor tang: all right. thank you, and thank you once again at d.e.m. staff and anne cronenberg's family who is all here. i would like to bring up some individuals representing pier 39. i wanted to recognize them on the skip the straw campaign on the occasion that we are going to be voting on final reading our plastic straw ban here in san francisco.

and so we have sue le vin here from pier 39, kathy paver, sherry ends, and george jacobs. and i do know that taylor stafford, president and c.e.o. of pier 39 wanted to be here but could not make it. we wanted to recognize pier 39 today because they actually have started the skip the straw campaign ahead of our legislation here at the board of supervisors. more than 15 million guests come to pier 39 each year, so, as a city we really have that responsibility, or that opportunity to spread our message to visitors from all over the world and again, want to recognize pier 39 for seeing that opportunity and whether that is a message of love and acceptance of all or sustainability or stewardship and environment, that is something they have taken upon them now. so, the iconic pier 39, they

have many merchants there, 13 full service restaurants, six eaterys, five treat shops, and all have reduced plastic consumption. out of the 24 places serving beverages to customers, 14 are switching entirely to paper straws, and many of them are also going to an on request model and providing straws only when customers ask for them. and pier 39 is also working with the blue and gold fleet and adventure cap sailing charter to skip the straw programmer campaign and visit the sea lion center to view "straws" every weekend through september 3rd. i was there when pier 39 kicked off the campaign and there were many other organizations there, including the last plastic straw and so forth. so, want to thank you for your leadership and demonstrating to all of us ahead of our legislation passing that it certainly is possible and especially to all the merchants

you work with there who are trying to make this work, and i think can demonstrate to all of us that it works with your business models. so, thank you very much to pier 39 and now welcome you to say a few remarks. >> thank you. >> so many thanks to supervisor tang and the san francisco board of supervisors for recognizing pier 39 efforts to raise awareness and take action to prevent plastic pollution. i'm kathy paver, i run the marketing department at pier 39, and elated to report that all of our food service tenants embraced this idea and they are committed to refusing plastic straws from being used on our waterfront. so, we are hopefully just the beginning of a much bigger initiative. so, each one of our individually owned and operated restaurants and cafes have joined our team, and really to take this affirmative step to reduce the impact of plastic pollution that is having on our waterways and

wildlife. so, going to straws only upon request or converting to paper straws exclusively is now our way of life at the pier. so, seeing 50 million people each year, our commitment to the strip -- excuse me, skip the straw campaign would not have been possible without our restaurant owners and aquarium at the bay and other nonprofits we would like to acknowledge. the last plastic straw, last conserve van si. it's imperative it does not stop at the piers borders. a new section on the website devoted to the skip the straw campaign and visitors can learn about our program's initiatives, key information on solutions and

resources for educational programs. >> hi, i just want to say that timing of the skip the straw campaign for pier 39 was perfect. it's summer, we are greeting millions of guests, local, national, international, our opportunity to really educate all these visitors on the skip the straw movement. we partnered with our friends, george and his team from aquarium of the bay and we are showing throughout the summer season, each weekend during the summer season, we are showing the award winning documentary "straws." in addition, aquarium of the bay has put together an exhibit that is on the perils of microplastic pollution. again, further strengthening all that, strengthening and informing our visitors and kathy and i want to thank you george

and his team, you are extraordinary. and two organizations have really helped pier 39 guide us and educate us on how to roll out this program. sherry anes, she is with the fund for sustainable tomorrow. organization that's sole purpose is bring about social change. the focus is through impactful documentaries. "straws," is a documentary and it's an educational impactful campaign that was created and is managed through the video project. these, both of these organizations came to pier 39 through the management team. they sat down, showed us the film and it was a no-brainer. we said absolutely yes, especially attraction on the san francisco waterfront. and you know, our goal is to educate as many visitors as we can that even they just by skipping the straw can make a difference in our environment. and thank you so much for the recognition. it's very much appreciated.

>> thank you for the kind words. i'm george jacob, presidency, one of the six organizations. we are deeply privileged to serve children every year, and not only showing straws at sea lion center but the aquarium, and a new exhibit that talks about the perils of microplastics and the impact that it has on food consumption patterns of sharks and other animals in the bay. so, again, thank you very much for this honor. thank you. >> sherry, from the fund for sustainable tomorrows and i want to just recognize the leadership of the aquarium and pier 39 in taking these steps, and also

thank katy for helping us and you know, making this as visible an opportunity, and i would like to say that what's most important to us, you are taking steps in terms of the ordinance and our getting ahead of the ways, is already creating momentum that we had not anticipated but we hoped for, and so i would also like you to know that more news is coming, that last week the fisherman's wharf merchant's association and the fisherman's wharf community benefit district instructed its sustainable committee to develop a plan so that this movement would be adopted by the neighboring community, and it's our hope to every perhaps six months give you a report on how it's spreading and how we are having an opportunity to educate people from all over the world who don't really know what it is

that we are doing here in san francisco. so, thank you to everybody. [applause] >> president cohen: congratulations. >> thank you. >> madam clerk, 3:19 and i believe we have a special order on the agenda. items 50 through 53. >> clerk: 50, hearing of persons interested in a community plan evaluation by the planning department under the california environmental quality act on march 19, 2018. for the proposed project at 429 beale street and 430 main street to merge two existing lots into 18,906 square foot lot, demolishing existing buildings and constructing nine-story tall

buildings. and proposed project exempt from further environmental review. item 52 and 53, motions to conditionally reverse the determination and a motion to direct the preparation of findings. and on friday, july 27th, my office received a communication from dane inns, requesting to withdrawal his appeal of the application for the project. >> supervisor kim: thank you, as our clerk has mentioned, the appellant has withdrawn this appeal, and so i know that we still need to hear item number 50 but i will be making a motion to table 51 through 53 after public comment. >> president cohen: thank you. any members of the public who wish to provide public comment with the understanding the

appeal has already been withdrawn? seeing no speakers, public comment is now closed. >> supervisor kim: thank you, president cohen. i would like to make a motion to table item 51. no. >> president cohen: city attorney. >> deputy city attorney. in this situation, the board should approve the department's determination that you would pass 51 and tabling 52 and 53. >> president cohen: thank you. >> supervisor kim: making a motion to affirm the committee plan evaluation, approving 51, tabling 52 and 53. >> president cohen: seconded by supervisor peskin. hearing have been filed and without objection. that objection, the motions are approved and tabled. please call item 26.

>> president cohen: 26, ordinance to amend the planning code to allow catering as an accessory use to limited restaurants under certain conditions and to affirm the determination and make the appropriate findings. >> president cohen: roll call on this. [roll call vote taken] >> president cohen: without objection, passes unanimously. next item. >> clerk: item 27, ordinance to amend the planning code to amend the housing opportunities mean

equity san francisco, home-sf program, revise the amount of inclusionary housing and projects for complete environmental evaluation applications submitted on or before december 31, 2019, planning review commission for 100% affordable housing to establish duties for the technical advisory committee and affirm the ceqa determination. >> ordinance passes unanimously. next item. >> clerk: item 28, create a two-year pilot program to remove public notice and planning commission review for certain uses in certain neighborhood districts zoning districts in 4 and 11. >> president cohen: same house, same call. ordinance passes unanimously.

>> clerk: 29, ordinance to amend the environment code to prohibit single use service ware made with certain chemicals, provided only upon request. require reasonable beverage cups that necessitate a city permit or city owned facility. >> president cohen: same call. >> thank you very much, colleagues, i wanted to speak to the item since i was not able to do so last week. thank you very much to the many co-sponsors of this particular item as you saw from the commendation that just took place at 2:30 or shortly thereafter, there are so many establishments and entities and organizations trying to reduce the use of single use plastics

in our environment right now. and certainly many of those businesses and even bars that have contacted my office are showing that it is actually very much possible, in fact, this is my lunch today, i have a boba in a reusable jar and a metal straw. i know there's been a lot of news coverage of how it is that we are going to survive without being able to use plastic straws. i think it is possible. similar to the plastic bag ordinance first sponsored by supervisor merkurini, and maybe supervisor brown remembers, a lot of fear, anxiety and complaints how it is we were going to comply with the bag ordinance and the composting ordinance came along and people were also, you know, very anxious about well, it's going to smell up our garage with all the bins that we have to throw our compostable materials in and now it's a normal part of the lives and this is the same with the plastic straw ban, which is that we do as consumers have to

take responsibility over our use of single use plastics and what it is actually doing to our environment. and if the fact that our ocean will soon be filled with more plastic than fish does not scare you, then i don't know what will. but to me, it is a very scary thought and we do need to again as consumers be aware of this, and change a bit of our behavior. frankly, i actually wanted to go broader with the legislation but really dialed it back because we wanted to do something that was smaller scale and would be easily adaptable for people. i do want to thank our department environment because if this legislation passes, they have a lot of work to do in terms of working with all the small businesses or retailers in general, in general, different vendor, different venue, i mean, events. there's a lot of outreach that needs to be done to make sure that we are setting people up for success in this. we are not here to play gotcha,

and get restaurants in trouble or so forth, we really want to make sure this works for everybody. and speaking of working for everybody, i know i have heard a lot and i've seen a lot of news reports about the disabilities community. i'll just say that i am actually the author of legislation here in san francisco that i introduced back in 2015 trying to make city-wide all of our places of public accommodation accessible, entrances accessible to everybody. and this legislation was ground breaking, the first of its kind in the nation and frankly i'm surprised there was not more attention around that effort and how it is we can get people with disabilities into public accommodation to ask for a straw if they need one. so i have heard a lot of issues around not being able to access plastic straws, and we thought about this, before we introduced

the legislation. first and foremost a provision that exempts compliance with that ordinance for those with medical purposes who need a straw. we have a duplicated version of this file in which we will further amend that language to specifically spell out issues for those with disabilities, but the intent behind the provision in the legislation is actually already there. i want to note that there are some folks who have asked if we could have a provision in the legislation that mandates that restaurants or retailers actually carry plastic straws for disabilities or medical needs. i want to note that there are several, or many restaurants, many entities that don't even offer straws in the first place to customers, and so that is a whole other issue where i think i don't want that to be conflated with the fact we are exempting businesses or

retailers from complying with the ordinance. again, if there is a medical reason behind it and no one is asking any one to have to demonstrate that they have a medical or disability need for a plastic straw at all. and so that's something that we will continue further discussion on, but again our ordinance does have a provision to exempt those situations where someone needs a straw for medical purpose. so, with that said, colleagues, again, i want to thank the many co-sponsors on this. i think once the legislation is adopted, we will see that manufacturers, they will rise to the occasion and they will produce products that we will all be able to use and so we are not trying to deprive anyone of their boba experience. we will certainly continue working on all the education outreach that needs to accompany the legislation. thank to everyone working on this, including department of environment, surf rider foundation, last plastic straw and organizations like pier 39 that are already trying to demonstrate that this, it's

possible to comply with this legislation even before we pass it. so, thank you, colleagues. [please stand by]