>> president cohen: i'd like to bring the chamber to order. good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. i want to welcome everybody to the chamber. [ gavel ]. >> president cohen: i want to welcome you to the september 11, 2018 meeting for the san francisco board of supervisors. i'd like to be able to conduct this, and i'd like everyone to remain in the chamber. thank you for being with us today. madam clerk, could you please call the roll for attendance.

>> clerk: thank you, madam present. [roll call] >> clerk: madam president, you have a quorum. >> president cohen: thank you. ladies and gentlemen, will you please rise and place your right hand over your heart for the pledge of allegiance. [pledge of allegiance]

>> president cohen: thank you. and in honor of 9-11, i'd like to observe a moment of silence and recognition for the first responders and fellow americans that lost their life 17 years ago. thank you very much. madam clerk, are there any communications? >> clerk: there are none to report, madam president. >> president cohen: all right. thank you very much. please call the 2:00 p.m. special order. >> clerk: item 1 is the honestable mayor london breed is -- honorable mayor london

breed is here to discuss eligible topics submitted by the board of supervisors. the mayor is welcome to begin an opening statement for up to five minutes, after which we shall start the question-and-answer session which shall not exceed two minutes perquestion or response. >> president cohen: thank you, madam clerk. ? >> the hon. london breed: i want to start by acknowledging today is the anniversary of the september 11 attacks that shook our country 17 years ago. that morning and through the following weeks, we also saw unbelievable acts of heroism as our first responders gave everything they had and more in the face of tragedy. this morning, i attended the san francisco fire department's annual september 11

commemoration first responders to honor those first responders who gave their lives to help so many, and i want to take a moment to acknowledge the people, the lives, the thousands of live lost during that tragedy. we will continue to honor them and honor their memory on this day. this week is also a proud moment for san francisco as we are serving as the host city for governor jerry brown's global climate action summit. it is an honor that -- to host this momentous gathering of leaders from all over the world and to welcome so many visitors to the beautiful bay area. this is also incredible opportunity for san francisco to show the world that we have and will continue to lead on environmental efforts. when it comes to addressing climate change, san francisco has shown the world what is possible. since 1990, we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 30%, while our economy has grown by 111%, and our

population by 20%. as part of the summit, cities all over the world are making commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation, and implement clean energy policies. in addition to hosting the summit at moscone center, there will be events across the city focused on how we are going to work collaboratively to combat climate change and work together to address it. regional, national, and global collaboration is even more important and looking forward to seeing each and every one of you participate in this summit and continue to work together collaboratively to address issues around climate change. finally, i'm proud to announce that today, i'm partnering with supervisor peskin to introduce legislation to create the affordable housing and seismic safety loan program.

in 2016, san francisco voters passed proposition c, which freed up $260 million of unspent bonding authority to be used for the preservation of at-risk housing. the legislation we are introducing today will allow the mayor's office of housing and community development to use those bond funds to offer loans to acquire, improve, or rehabilitate our existing buildings and convert them to affordable housing. our housing crisis requires us to both commit to building more housing and also preserve our existing affordable housing stock. thank you to supervisor peskin for your leadership on this issue, and i look forward to working with you all to pass this legislation and get going on those projects. >> president cohen: thank you, madam mayor. to the members of the public and to my colleagues, just a reminder, this is something new

that we're e are implementing. this is in recognition of policy decisions that we made earlier this year that allows the mayor to come into this chamber and answer questions and be able -- and also be able to ask questions to members of the board of supervisors. you may recall receiving a message, and i believe i talked to you individually, indicating that you must submit a topic of discussion. not the question, but the topic of discussion, that of which you'd like to ask a question to the mayor. she in turn will answer your question and can ask you a follow-up question or any member of the board of supervisors a question. you will then have an opportunity to respond, and then, she will have an opportunity to ask another question. you will then have an opportunity to respond, and ethan, that will be the closure of this policy -- then, that will be the closure of this policy discussion. madam mayor, thank you for being here. madam clerk, can you please call the first topic.

>> this district is eligible to submit a question or a topic. the district ten submitted a question or a topic regarding housing reduction and accessory dwelling units. president cohen, this is the time for you to ask your question stated to that particular topic. >> president cohen: thank you, madam clerk. madam mayor, i thank you for being here, and i have a timely question that has to do with housing. residents all across san francisco continue to experience the impacts of our housing crisis. the southeastern neighborhoods have experienced growth, however, i believe more can be done to ensure that we are producing more housing of all types, including smaller projects throughout the neighborhoods in the city of san francisco. many of us on the board of supervisors supported legislation a few years ago which permitted the

legalization and the addition of accessory dwelling units, also known as a.d.u.s, particularly in this building -- particularly in buildings undergoing seismic retrofit because they represented an opportunity to build more housing units in a variety of neighborhoods. since that time, city departments have -- they've, quite frankly, been slow on permitting these units. we've not seen the benefits of the prior legislation as promised. what can the city and specifically you as mayor do to encourage development of these units and to, most importantly, get them on-line. >> the hon. london breed: well, thank you for that question. i'm so happy that you asked that question, president cohen. for years we've known that san francisco has not done enough to produce housing in general, and we are sadly living with the consequences, one of the least affordable cities in the world and housing costs are some of the highest.

we must produce more housing especially for low, moderate and middle-income san franciscans. the southeast neighborhoods have done an incredible job of working with our city departments in developing partners to accept new housing, and i applaud your leadership, president cohen, not only helping to build more affordable housing, but the efforts that you and i worked together on rehabilitating public housing so those residents aren't left behind. a.d.u.s or inlaws had an important piece to our housing puzzle, especially in the neighborhood that you represent. as you mentioned last week, district 10 is home to the highest number of african americans in our city, many of whom are ageing and they are ageing in place. a.d.u.s can be a critical conclusion to their challenges which providing units that can how's family units or in home support care workers. a.d.u.s und under utilized -- use under utilized spaces like

garages and under stair areas, and they're disbursed throughout the city, so little impact on neighborhoods, and when added to a building currently subject to rent control, the new units are then under rent control. this is the only way we're adding new rent controlled units in san francisco, and i agree, the city's permitting process for reviewing a.d.u.s applications is overly complicated. and since 2014, 377 new a.d.u. units have been approved by the city, and of these, 346 are rent control. but as of today, 900 new proposed a.d.u. units are stuck in various stages of review. the backlog is unacceptable, which is why last week, i announced an executive directive, requiring that the backlog must be cleared within six months, and new application

must be reviewed and decided on within four months. i also directed the departments to resolve code conflicts that trap too many of these applications and have prevented them from moving forward. the departments have now issued clear guidelines, and there is no more excuses for these units to be held up when they meet the basic standards. so no more delays. we can get these units permitted, built, so we can create the badly needed housing that we need all over san francisco. >> president cohen: all right. thank you. i appreciate that. madam clerk? >> clerk: madam president, you may now ask a follow-up question directly related to the opening question. >> president cohen: thank you. so my initial question, at least it struck me when i was listening to your response is, is there anything we as a board can be doing to assist with the steam lining of the permitting process? >> the hon. london breed: i think what we need to do here is -- and this is what i'm

working with my departments to do -- is provide legislation options for you to pass at the board of supervisors that remove barriers because some of these policies that we pass here in this chamber, some of them are redundant, some of them are complicated, some of them are contradictory to one another. so we want to provide you and your assistants, push forward legislative changes so that we can move housing production forward faster. >> president cohen: thank you. madam clerk? >> clerk: president cohen, you may respond to the mayor's first question. >> president cohen: i have no sponsor any other additional questions at this time. >> clerk: madam mayor, do you have a question that you would like to ask the president or any other member of the board? >> the hon. london breed: oh, my goodness, what a great opportunity. but not at this time. thank you, madam clerk.

>> clerk: all right. with no questions, madam president, i believe this would conclude the thank you, madam

president. it would be three districts who could submit four questions on any specific topic co. >> president cohen: i just wanted to make sure you were aware of your options. madam -- thank you. >> the hon. london breed: thank you for having me. my pleasure. >> president cohen: all right. madam clerk, could you please call the conscent agenda. >> clerk: items 2 through 5 are on the consent calendar. these items are considered routine. if a member objects, the item can be removed and considered separately. >> president cohen:

colleagues, would anyone like to remove an item on the consent agenda? supervisor kim, i believe. supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: thank you. i ity -- i'd like to sever item number 5 from the consent calendar. >> president cohen: thank you. madam clerk, please call the roll on the balance. [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president cohen: thank you. without objection, items 1

through 4 pass. [ gavel ]. >> president cohen: and madam clerk, please call item 5. >> clerk: those were 2 through 4. >> president cohen: you're right. please call item 5. >> clerk: item 5 is an ordinance to amend the planning code to permit in zoning districts and to affirm the ceqa determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> president cohen: supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: so colleagues, i want to thank you for your support of your ordinance last week. it's come to our attention that since the first reading, we do need to make a slight amendment to this ordinance because we realize that the way we have defined some type of structure would include a bill board, which would prevent building affordable housing on a parking lot with a bill board. so our city attorney will be drafting an amendment that i will be able to introduce next week, so colleagues, i just ask for a motion to continue item number 5 to the following week at the board of supervisors.

>> president cohen: thank you, supervisor kim. is there a second for that motion? seconded by supervisor ronen, and i believe without objection, this item can be taken -- motion seconded by supervisor ronen, and can we take this without objection, colleagues? this is for the september 17 meeting. all right. without objection, this motion passes. [ gavel ]. >> president cohen: all right. madam clerk, let's go to the regular agenda. let's go to new business. please call item 6. >> clerk: item 6 was referred without recommendation from the government audit and oversight committee. it's a resolution to receive and approve the proposition for theisk of years 2016 and 2017. >> president cohen: madam clerk, on item 6, please call the roll. [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president cohen: thank you. this resolution is adopted. [ gavel ]. >> president cohen: next item, please. >> clerk: item 7 is a resolution to approve certification of the memorandum between the california automated c automated -- towards a single statewide automated welfare system. >> president cohen: all right. thank you, madam clerk, so on the question, shall this item be adopted, please call the roll. >> clerk: on item 7 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president cohen: thank you. without objection, this resolution is passed unanimously. [ gavel ]. >> president cohen: madam clerk, please call the next item. >> clerk: item 8 is an resolution to authorize the mayor to sign in the affirmative to rename a district with respect to certain parcels of real property owned by the city that would be subject to assessmented within the district. >> president cohen: supervisor kim? >> supervisor kim: thank you. colleagues, i just wanted to thank members of the our resident community and the western south of market for spending the last 1.5 years working with our office and specifically ivy lee to move

forward with a special district which concerns a lot of work. so i just want to thank the chair of the c.b.d. steering committee, along with a number of other west soma community leaders and also want to recognize chris corgis who dedicated a portion of his time to help us form yet another one in district six, so thank you for moving forward with this first step, and i look forward to hopefully seeing most of this through this year. >> president cohen: all right, colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? all right. without objection, this resolution is adopted. [ gavel [ gavel ]. >> president cohen: madam clerk, next item. >> clerk: given that it's not quite 2:30 or 3:00 i will turn

the agenda to special introductions. first is supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: thank you. colleagues, today first i'm going to introduce a hearing request to look at san francisco police department and san francisco unified school district's protocols when minors are questioned and apprehended by law enforcement. my concerns stem from stories that i've been reading and parents that i've been talking to regarding the gun fire incident that took place at balboa high school on october 30 and specifically how sfpd and sfusd handled the apprehension and questioning of minors in this situation. i want to say that i know that there's sort of a collective trauma that we have in the united states, all of us, around gun violence, especially in schools, given the number of school shootings there have been. but i was concerned when i talked to a parent who is very active in the violence

prevention community in the mission who told me that his son was in his classroom when a police officer came in, identified him as a suspect in the incident, held a gun to his head in all of his classmates, handcuffed him, escorted him through the school and out the front, and then took him to the police station where he was questioned alone, even though his father was at the station, asking to be in the room with him. he was later released from the police station without being charged. he wasn't involved in any way, shape, or form with the gun incident. and overnight went from being a 16-year-old that never got into trouble, was star member of the football team, to the guy who had a gun who was arrested in front of his classmates. his parents were so traumatized that they were reluctant to let him go back to balboa high

school, but he is a senior and wanted to graduate with his friends and continue to play football. so i'm holding this hearing to get a better sense of what are the protocols, what are the protocols when there is an incident like this, when a student is being questioned, arrested, detained on a school campus? how to protect those students' privacy while also making sure that we're taking care of all of our kids. and then, also, what are the rules and the protocols around questioning children without their parents present? i can say that my daughter's only five right now, but when she gets older, the thought of her being questioned by a police officer outside of my presence really does not make me feel comfortable, and i want to make sure that parents have an ability to access their children and -- in those

critical moments in the future. so i've asked that this hearing be held at the public safety and neighborhood services committee. i believe my colleague, ahsha safai is cosponsoring. balboa high school is in his district, and this was a pretty traumatic event for everyone, and especially for his constituents, so i'm looking forward to understanding better how we can strike the right balance in our schools, and the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor ronen. >> president cohen: please add me as a cosponsor, madam clerk. >> clerk: thank you, madam president. >> president cohen: roll call for introduction. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, madam clerk. i have two in memoriams, and i would like to close the meeting

today, along with my cosponsor, aaron peskin, steven kendrick. he was a native californiian. i moved to san francisco in 1973. he helped to establish the russian hill neighbors in the early 1980's. he was an incredible leader in our community. he was survived by his three daughters, claire, rosemary, and kathrin, and his grandson, theo. his contributions will live on. i'd also like to close today's meeting in memory of michael robert painter. michael painter passed away this summer after a long life and distinguished career in

landscape architecture. he was the creator of the presidio placement concept. he had his own firm since 1969, and in the course of his career, completed over 850 projects, winning over 60 awards. he was a distinguished alumnus of the college of environmental design at u.c. berkeley and a fellow of the american society of landscape architects. he's credited on multiple awards for his work on the presidio parkway, including from spur and the project of the year award from the california transportation foundation. michael is survived by his wife, sue, of 59 years, his son, josh, his daughter, melissa, son-in-law, sandro, and grandson alonso. my thoughts and prayers go out to michael's family and his friends. his contributions to the presidio and san francisco will be remembered for generations. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor stefani. madam president, since it is

230, we are going to move to the agenda. >> president cohen: given that it's 2:30, we are going to pivot and there are four special recognitions we would like to recognize today. first, i will be recognizing the achievements of mr. lyle beckman. mr. beckman, are you here? we'll check to see if he is in the anti-room. i will be honoring the life of joe tatui, also known as jungle, and if his family is in the chamber, i'd like to acknowledge them as well. aaron peskin will be recognizing raymond li for 45 years of service to the chinatown community, and we will be following a presentation by supervisor mandelman who will be honoring dana van horter for his contributions to the community.

i'd like to introduce to you a gentleman who goes by the name of reverend lyle beckman. reverend, why don't you just come to the podium. just stand there. [applause] >> president cohen: ladies and gentlemen, mr. -- reverend beckman is going to be retiring from the san francisco knight ministry, now some of you may not be familiar with what the knight ministry is all about. let me share a little bit of fact with you. the knight ministry provides compassionate not judgmental pastoral care, and crisis intervention every night of the year, and the night ministers walk the streets of san francisco. i want to just uplift and to recognize that lyle has served for 40 years as a pastor. he was born in lincoln, nebraska and raised in st. paul, minnesota. then he finally found his wits

and found his way to the san francisco bay area. lyle has worked in congregations for over 20 years, most notably in inner city congregations. during these calls, he has also found time to serve in prisons as well as the police chaplaincy, and in a congregation working on gang intervention. he's had quite a distinguished career. reverend beckman served as pastor at first united lutheran church at a time when the congregation was expelled from the larger church for calling and ultimately or-daning openly day pastors. this gentleman is a pioneer and he's a fierce advocate and a

cha champion, when it was policy not to recognize open lay gay men as members of the clergy, he stood out as a proud gay man. committed to a ministry, he believes that all body gods -- he has an impeccable to love, justice, and love. and understands that love permeates everything he does. he has served the knight ministry since 2004. he began as an assistant night minister and a part-time office assistant before becoming its executive director in january of 2007. during reverend beckman's time as an executive director, the night ministry expanded its staff, and its programming by sponsoring two outdoor worship services, two feeding programs, a wellness program, an

education and moentoring program, including clinical pastoral education. he founded the night ministry's open cathedral services onnest aer sunday in 2008. -- on easter sunday in 2008. hillary ronen, i think you're probably quite knowledgeable about the night ministry serving meals in your district. for the past 20 years, he has provided partnership to individuals who are lonely, anxious or who are just simply afraid. i am personally delighted to present this acknowledgement because there was a personal connection between reverend beckman and myself. my father is a lutheran pastor, i have remarks from him. i couldn't be here today, reverend, but he sends his

best. he wanted you to know that he's very grateful to your pastoral leadership for providing him an opportunity to complete a seminary training. he learned a lot by walking the streets of the tenderloin in the late night and early hours, and i think our city is better because of the work that you have started and have grown. and with that, i want to just say thank you, we salute you for your service to our great city, and we are going to wish you the best in your retirement, and you may wish to address this body with whatever words are on your heart. oh, excuse me. before i begin, supervisor kim would like to make a few remarks. >> supervisor kim: i just also want to add my acknowledgement and thanks to the entire night ministry in particular in the district that i represent in the tenderloin and south of market.

i want to thank you for your decades of service and congratulate you on your retirement. i assume it's the type of retirement where we'll still see you serving our community because i imagine you probably don't know how to not serve, but i just want to appreciate you taking the time in leadership. i think one of the challenging parts of the job that we have or for me in particular where i live in the south of market is umm can -- is coming home to a warm place and still seeing people on the streets and knowing that they have nowhere to go. i think the night ministry makes a tremendous impact for all of us, so thank you. >> president cohen: thank you, supervisor kim. pastor? >> thank you, board, thank you, supervisor kim, thank you, president cohen. it's been a real honor and privilege to be part of night ministry. if you know about night ministry, we've been around for

54 years, and when we were established as a program of the san francisco interfaith council in 1964, we were only the second crisis line to be established in san francisco. do you know which one might have been the first? san francisco's suicide prevention in 1962. but if you call suicide prevention and you ask a question like this, if i kill myself tonight, will i go to hell, they won't answer. suicide prevention does not engage in religious or spiritual or philosophical conversations with people, and they've never done that. so some of the same people that founded suicide prevention thought that there ought to be a place where people could call and engage folks in a spiritual or religious or philosophical

conversation about life and death or about the struggles that they were experiencing or anything that they wanted to. so that's the first way that we're different from now so many other crisis lines that we can access day or night. another way that we're different is that when someone calls our crisis line, we can talk with almost anyone about almost anything, and today, so many of the crisis lines are specific. you can call a certain line if your issue is you're a victim of domestic violence, you can call another line if you're experiencing suicidal thoughts and tendencies. there are other lines for being lonely. we'll talk with anyone about anything. and no, you don't need to talk with us about religion. we'll even talk with you and not pray with you or pray for you if that's what you wish.

but the third way that we are so unique and so different is that if you call us, and you need to speak or want to speak face-to-face with someone, because sometimes, telephone communication isn't always the best, we can make that happen. so in those wee hours of the night, when people are so lonely and so frustrated, so anxious, so afraid, you can have a -- a face-to-face conversation with someone that we hope they understand really does care for them. and again, we see so many people in so many different levels of despair and need at night. so i'm glad that we are out there, and i'm glad that you support us in the way you have. you've been so encouraging and so helpful in all the ways that -- that we expect you to be. as you know, the city has

changed a lot in the last 54 years. we hope to be around for the next 54 years with your support and your help and the help of great volunteers like we have here with me today, and with san francisco in general being a city that will be always eager to meet the needs of the people that call san francisco home. thank you very much. [applause] >> great. going to take a picture? please gather round to get in.

[inaudible] >> supervisor yee: okay. next, the next supervisor that's going to present a special commendation will be supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: great. i am so pleased that dana van gorder is my first presentation on the board of supervisors. he is a legend. for decades, he's been one of the lgbt community's fiercest and more effective advocates. from the very first days of the hiv/aids epidemic, dana has been on the front lines, and it's no exaggeration to say his

advocacy saved many lives in this community. he did some of that serving as a legislative aide, first to harry brit and then to carol migdon, and former senator, former supervisor migdon often spoke of the extraordinary contributions that you made to your efforts, and i know that every queer and other supervisors in this office have sought your council and insight on so many issue dos. he was a founder and advocate of the lgbt community center. more than 15 years later, the center hosts over 150 programs and well comes more than 9,000 individuals each month and is leading efforts to end lgbtq

homelessness, connect transgender and gender nonconforming residents with jobs, and provide nondocumented lgbtq members with forms for citizenship. his extensive research and writing was indispensable in shaping the understanding of how to stop the spread of aids. he developed and monitored legislation and advocated for funding to ensure the strongest possible response to the epidemic in california. he secured $10,000 in funding for a statewide campaign to prevent meth abuse among gay and bisexual men. for the past ten years, he's served as the executive project of project inform. under his leadership and directive, they worked with the obama administration to ensure the effective implementation of

a national aids strategy as well as the adoption of getting to zero plan in san francisco, seeking to achieve zero hiv infections, zero aids deaths and zero stigma by 2020. from his early days as an activists until now, dana has been known as someone to take on tough issues. tomorrow, project inform will be honoring dana at an evening of gratitude and a decade of hope at monroe jazz club in north beach. thank you so much for all of your tireless work to improve the lives of queer and hiv positive people. in celebration of your decade long tenure as your role of executive director and in appreciation of your long time service to our city, we offer our highest commendation and appreciation. thank you, dana.

>> thank you. >> thank you, supervisor mandelman and members of the board. it's truly an honor and thrilling, not only every time i come to this building but to receive this commendation. i've done the work over the last several decades with great pride and purpose. i'm happy with many of the accomplishments that i've had. i really want to sort of turn the tables and thank the official family of san francisco. i remember very well the -- the day sitting in an office not far from here that cleve jones came in and told supervisor brit and me that physicians in san francisco were seeing gay men with a very mysterious and catastrophic illness. we were in a position to begin to rally state, local and national governments to respond. and in those days, it wasn't

particularly easy, particularly at the national level. but mayor feinstein and supervisor renne who chaired the committee and the rest of the board of supervisors stepped up in an incredible way. i worried about the day that we might see a new generation of elected officials and policy makers and decision makers who didn't remember those early days, and who don't remember the significance of this epidemic, but fortunately that has not come to pass. embodied by the group that is sitting in this room and many others, the response to the epidemic continues to be very strong. i'm very proud to have launched the getting to zero effort in san francisco which is accomplishing great things, to achieve the goals of eliminating hiv related deaths, and in the words of the national hiv/aids strategy, making new infections

exceptionally rare. thank you for your support. i encourage your continued support of that effort. we have the opportunity to end this epidemic, and i know that we all look forward to seizing it. once again, very sweet of you to do this, supervisor, and i will remember this day for many years. thank you. [applause] >> president cohen: congratulations. supervisor peskin, are you ready to recognize dr. li? >> supervisor peskin: thank you, madam president, colleagues. as president cohen said, dr. raymond li has been of service

to patients in san francisco for almost half a century. he was born in hong kong in 1941 and received his doctorate of medicine in 1967 from hong kong university, specializing in pediatric care. and when he emigrated to the united states, he realized that there -- that there are only a limited number of chinese american doctors in the chinatown community, and even less so who are proficient in cantonese and recognizing the growing need at that time to serve the monolingual population, he decided to open his practice not only in chinatown but in the sunset in 1972. dr. li has long been committed to providing community base, culturally competent services to underserved communities, and for 45 years, his office has been open from 11:00 a.m. to

11:00 p.m. without any extra charge to accommodate people's daily schedules of working and dealing with their families. dr. li said that the most of s

commitment to the community. dr. li, please come on up. [applause]

>> supervisor peskin: and if i could ask calvin to bring up that bunch of flowers from the community to thank you for your incredible care and commitment to the community. and dr. li, the microphone is right over there, and calvin will bring up the flowers. >> president cohen: dr. li, welcome. please go to the microphone. >> i really honored and humbled to receive this award. actually, my heart -- i am in wonder at all of this attention, because i'm just doing what i do best. giving back to the community, it supports my livlihood. aside from the day my wife

married me, this day is the second most highlighted day of my life. for this, i thank supervisor peskin and the rest of the board. thank you very much. [applause] >> president cohen: thank you. colleagues, we're going to continue moving on. i want to call the friends and family of jungle up to the front of the -- of the chamber so that we can recognize

everyone that has come to recognize joe. so colleagues, you may be aware, several weeks ago, there was a shooting up on hunters view, up on the hill, where one of our own was shot and clung to life for several weeks at general hospital. tonight, today, i'd like to uplift and to recognize and remember the life of joseph tatui, also known as jungle, and the men and women that you see before you are family members, are members of our city family, and concerned people that are on the front line every single day, do you what they love. joe was born and raised in san francisco in of course the most beautiful neighborhood in the city, also known as bayview-hunters point. he was a product of the san francisco unified school

district. he graduated from balboa high school. after high school, joe spent many years working at the san francisco furniture mart and other odd jobs before he found his calling as a community advocate and most importantly as a community peacemaker. after years of witnessing violence in the bayview community, joe, who is also known as jungle, became inspired to work with the neighborhood youth to help them make a change. he became an outreach worker for the crisis response network and later served this city as a street violence intervention program, also known as svip. here is where he used his ties to the community to deescalate violence and help with programs through safe haven and transportation as well as recreation programs. he was known for his level head. he was known for his friendly approach in his position in the

community, and most importantly, and i want to recognize this, that he was on the front line for reducing street violence in our city. the street violence intervention program isaool that we as a city continually invest in. we use it as a tool to continue to build community trust. we as a city have been investing more time and energy as we build out this program. it's heartbreaking to stand here at this moment and in this time to acknowledge the loss of our -- one of our own. the family -- the family members that are here and are not here are grieving the loss of this wonderful human being. they laid him to rest over the weekend. joe was recently honored with the status of chief, tamolau,

is that right? as a chief, he sought to learn, and most importantly, to celebrate the samoan culture and pass it onto the next generation. joe leaves behind his wife, mali -- is mali here today? and mali and joe together have a beautiful two-year-old daughter named jodi. and i hope that we as a community will continue to uplift and embrace jodi and share with jodi our own fond memories of jungle so that she will grow up to know the man that we knew. joe "jungle" will be truly missed. the city of san francisco has lost a giant, an hero, an angel that walked among us on this earth. today, we have jungle's family as well as members of the svip

family. i humbly ask that my colleagues take into consideration that we close today's meeting in honor of joe tatui so that we can ensure that his work lives on. although he has left this earth and is no longer with us, his spirit, his memory, and his legacy still lives on. and family, i know this is a difficult time, but i'm so happy to see you here today, standing united together. i want to give supervisor safai an opportunity to also speak, and if there's any other members on this body that would like to recognize jungle's contributions, please do so. supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: thank you, president cohen. i'll be brief. i think you said it so eloquently. i think san francisco has lost a true giant, someone who dedicated his life to ensuring that our children had a

wonderful role model, somebody that was on the streets and with the community on a daily basis, gave up so much of his own time and his own life and dedicated himself to improving the lives of others. i know he was dedicated to working out of balboa high school. i know he was all over the community where i started in public housing, with working with so many of you that are here today. it is in his honor that we will end today, and thank you president cohen. >> president cohen: thank you. supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: thank you. i didn't know joe personally but i've been learning about him as i've been reading in the paper, and i just wanted to offer my deepest condolences. i do know many of the incredible warriors at sfvip who cite against violence and

who play such an essential role in our community. the amount of violence that each one of you stops every single day in this city, and the love and the heart, and the care that you have for young people and everyone in the community is just profound. and so i wanted to give my personal appreciation and love for the family and for joe, and also recognize the sfvip family who i know is hurting a lot right now, and just let you know how much we love and appreciate all of you and how crucial and important your work is. >> president cohen: thank you, supervisor ronen. supervisor brown? >> yeah. i actually want to talk about the work that you do. i actually met jungle once, and you never forget when you meet someone like that, even one time. but i could tell that you had the passion and the dedication that you need to do the work that you do.

i see -- i know a lot of you in front of me. i've worked with you for years in different variations of c.r.n., people that remember that, then svip. and with so many heartbreaking things that everyone's been through, and especially you, on the front lines, that to see you come to work every day and still do the work with that kind of passion and dedication, it breaks my heart when i think that someone that you loved and cared about, and that was doing that work alongside of you is no longer with you. but he's with you in ispirit, and i think you have to remember that. so i just want to give you a special thanks, that we know the work that you do, and we know that it's hard, and we're here to support you all. thank you. >> president cohen: thank you. supervisor kathrin stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, president cohen.

i hesitated pressing this because it's very emotional. i was very heart broken when i read about it, his work. this problem is a problem that plagues all of us. gun violence rips apart families, and i am just so saddened for your loss. he was obviously someone who was well respected and worked extremely hard on this issue. it absolutely breaks my heart for his loss. and i just want to thank all of you. as my friend, maddie scott says, it takes all of us on this issue, so i just want to thank all of you for being here today, and my condolences to you. >> president cohen: thank you: ladies and gentlemen, these men and women standing before you are our street peace keepers. they're the ones on the front lines responding, when many of us wouldn't have the heart to respond. they work collectively with d.p.h., sfpd, and a host of

people -- host of community people. these are the people that have probably one of the hardest jobs. i'm privileged to present this certificate of honor post humously to joe tatui of his life, of his dedication to the bayview community, working to promote peace, education and understanding and years of work in preventing gun violence in san francisco through the street violence intervention program. it is my pleasure to present all of this on your behalf. a special note to his mother who continues to grieve the loss of her son, and to the elders of the samoan community who came together, who flew into town to be here to recognize this uso, this brother,