and this department is part of the city family. we are all cousins, auntties, uncles. some of us are grandparents. we can't just be in our own silo doing our own thing. we are all interconnected. [please stand by].

>> commissioner covington: we need a facilitator because somebody's got to make notes on the flip chart. more than that. we need a facilitate i don't remember because it shouldn't be a hierarchy of the president. he's the president because we elected him president. he's first among equals, but we need someone who is not part of

this body to keep us moving in a more informal setting. we will also have an overview of the housing policy recommendations, which are titled, "solving san francisco's housing crisis," because we have something to do with that. we have something to consider regarding solving the housing crisis. we need to talk about these things, we need to talk about them at length. if using -- it can be -- if you think it can be discussed in 20 minutes, i think that that's an opinion. i think it's going to take much more time if we're digging

deep. we're treating homelessness as if it's not a real crisis in this city -- some people are. we can help solve the problem, help confront, sort out, bring our best thoughts to how to deal with some of these issues. those are just my thoughts. thank you. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, commissioner covington. i think vice president nakajo would like to respond. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you, president cleaveland. just to get some things clear, i'm not against the concept of a retreat. not at all. i'm just questioning the purpose of this particular

session on the 25 titled a retreat based on subject matters that i feel may not necessitate a special meeting. i'm not against it or a retreat if you want to title it. i'm not against it based on the subject matters there because i honestly feel we have and we do have the opportunity to address these subject matters at a regular commission meeting in an open process with the public. i know a special meeting will give us an ability to do that in some ways in subject matter because our calendar is sometimes very crowded, but i also think that in terms of the subject matter, we should be able to and we have dialogue somewhat on. in terms of the report of the summit, when i reported that, i reported it because i was parting it, that i was part of three members that was named on the public safety summit team, three members out of 25, but

the three of us were from the fire department. the subject matter of the prior department priorities in terms of the summit for public safety in the two phone calls that we had with 24 people, it lasted about 15 minutes. had no substance in that. it was basically just introduction and some dialogue. what we did was we initiated, myself and the chief, an ability to meet with some of the members of the department and put that request in some kind of working matter that made some sense. i thought that was quite a challenge because i think we had less than six days to pull that together for a summit on a saturday, and again, my remarks and my critiques are not a negative on the process, but to go through a summit that has about 200 people, to have our team members be given maybe about 2.5-minutes to present, from our point of view, the fire -- and i'm speaking for

myself, i thought at best we could put up some recommendations that required, and that's what i reported. and i also gave you that copy, and i think you gave copies to the commissioners, but that's what i reported, but that's what it is. it's a report on that recommendation by three commissioners that cover those areas. i think those areas and categorical titles, i think they're all good. it separated out different recommendations. i myself looked at that there, and there were some pieces that were there, some pieces that i talked about. but basically, it was a piece that was put together, but i thought it was suffice enough material, and then, i thought the duty charged with that, it could go to the mayor. i'm a process kind of person. you do what you can, or what you think you can, you submit

what's important, not just a piece of paper. you submit that to the process, but in reality, what i was looking for in some ways and some manner by which the mayor and the policy summit would have some indication of what was taken in, not taken in. in other words there hasn't been any officialty to the feedback, and that was just part of the piece to the police piece. i'm telling you, commissioners, what you already know is that the mayor asked the chief of the department and the department to respond to that piece of information that we put up as a recommendation. what that does for me is it gives the department an opportunity to be involved because point of information commissioners, when that recommendation sheet went up from three members of the committee, not even chief hayes-white or any of the

command force, not even you knew what that information was. so it was a process of submitting it, let the mayor's office have it. i thought as a responsible commissioner and dialogue with the president, don't you think the chief of the department and the commissioner should get a copy of that recommendation so that they can have something to look at as to what occurred? a good gesture. i thought it was a very comprehensive, but it's not printed in -- in any kind of level where -- you know, it's not in stone. it's a working piece. part of that working piece is there's got to be a department component to it. ultimately as a commissioner, you can submit what you submit. one member of three members, they put it up as a summit at 200 people. as a member of the commission, you want your department to be able to address what the

questions were. i know we haven't had a session on this, so if anything, perhaps that session on the 25th, if it could be organized to a point of where at least maybe we could take one part of that and let the department at least address it back at commissioners, we're intelligent individuals, and i know we can read and absorb this. sometimes it helps to have a verbal attached to that. but that's that piece in terms of the policy piece and the answer to that particular piece. to me, it's still a document of moving order; it's still a work in process. in terms of the commissioners of being in an isolated manner, commissioner covington, and colleagues, no way intent are we part of an isolated body. i think we're -- every day we sit here, i think we're engaged for every minute we have.

i think we're engaged for every vote that we do. and for me, if i have to verbalize it, it's fore present operation. presently we've got a budget that we submitted, we've got an operation that we submitted. we're operating in the best kind of knowledge in terms of what we have. this recommendation has come somewhere up here. again, i'm not knocking what the recommendation is, because there's always good value in recommendations, but i would like the department to at least have an opportunity to respond to the recommendations to the department that goes to the mayor's office. again, i'm not against the retreat. somewhere i thought it was a little premature, but if it's an open session with dialogue, with concrete information, but getting to the point of the facilitator, the facilitator, and i don't doubt her or her or his credentials, but that person doesn't know anything

about this department, this piece, nor do they know anything about the summary piece. so for us to have a facilitator to create open dialogue, i think probably most of that time's going to be spent so the facilitator can get educated on our mindset. again, we can go through flee flowing communication if that's the case, but honestly, commissioners, i thought we had that in this format or another format. i just think it's quite expensive to pay something to learn something -- pay somebody to learn something about our documentations. in terms of the comment with hierarchy of the president, perhaps i just see the president or anybody else in this commission has the ability to facilitate a conversation or a discussion if it's based on this.

in terms of the afternoon session or the remarks towards housing, i don't see any -- one of my questions was, and i know it's maybe a crude question, but what the heck has the housing issue got to do with the fire department at this particular time? you know, if you want to bring it up in terms of housing or homelessness, i know that all of those issues interact with us in terms of the fire department, but to me, it's a good subject matter. but my subject is operational logistics and service. again, i don't have a problem dialoguing on it, but i certainly do have a problem with a facilitator, if that's the reason why we're bringing he or she in here is to help us

communicate in dialogue. other than that, i know that you requested for some of the command force to be there. if the command force is going to be there, i'm going to start looking at cost effect in the sense that some of this command force, it's not that i don't want you to be with us as we have this dialogue, but perhaps you might have other pressing issues beyond being with us as a retreat or a dialogue that's open session. i'm not saying we don't need your presence there, but perhaps your presence could be well spent somewhere else. if that's the case, commissioner, if you want the command force to be there, perhaps we can organize the retreat on the 25th to have concrete kinds of times if requiring the director of finance or certain members of the department or administration to be there during the dialogue that we're having. and in fact, even chief hayes-white in terms of her presence and participation, perhaps that could be organized

to where we could do the policy summary and recommendation. i don't know that, i think if the desire of this commission it to have a session on the -- is to have a session on the 25th, i will be there. i will do my best to participate openly, but to the question to the cost of a facilitator to facilitate that session, i have some issues. thank you, mr. president. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, mr. vice president. commissioner hardeman would like to -- >> commissioner hardeman: oh, thank you, mr. president. yeah. i sort of concur with commissioner nakajo, not in his entirety, but in his concept. i thought the facilitate i don't remember w-- facilitator was going to be if we were in closed session. but if we're in open session, if olivia is not going to be assigned to the emergency department, she might be able to write things down.

just throwing a name out. that would not be an additional cost burden. the way commissioner cleaveland runs a meeting is very noble, especially if you're an idiot like me and watch some of the station and government channel and watch a lot of the other commissioners are dominated by the president who just want to hear themselves talk for most of the meeting. our commission has always had the commissioners that were not president speak, and then, the president, after everything is talked out, gets his little nibbles here and there, and i think commissioner cleaveland is extraordinary -- i think president cleaveland is extraordinary, the way you run a meeting, how you understand things. i couldn't imagine a better if a sill tater or person running

the meeting better than you. our duty is just to make sure that the housing is safe. we don't design structures, we don't do any -- that's other commissions' responsibility. the fire department has been burdened with some duties that we need in an emergency. i think the fire staff and other people have done a remarkable job to make sure that we're working with the new mayor and her agenda, which i certainly support her agenda, which is more housing, but there's also our responsibility to make it safe.

we're just basically having a meeting. we can call it a retreat, but i think it's a meeting. i think different commissioners have a different structure in their organization that gives them a leg up on other departments in the city because the command staff is predetermined, and people are -- take the lead, and -- based on their position, so we don't really -- i don't know if we really have to try and adjust that. that's done. we can work with the chief and the department chief, if they feel a structure change is necessary at any time. so i don't think we have to have that as a -- or as a commissioner, if we think the structure is improper, we can do that any commission meeting

we want. we haven't had a retreat on this commission since i've been a commissioner probably because we're pretty open. the only time we go into closed session is when we have litigation, and that's to protect the person's privacy. so any way, i agree with commissioner nakajo. >> thank you, commissioner hardeman, and your confidence in my running for a third term. i think -- i haven't crossed that bridge yet. commissioner veronese? >> commissioner veronese: first of all, i want to be thankful to the commissioners for their service to this commission, and the amount of time they put in free of charge. i think we get paid $20 a meeting. that being said, at any meeting the commission should be at, the resources of the department should also be at that meeting. i'm looking out at a crowd of

60 people who donate their time every day to be a part of this department, including the people up here. it is the obligation of the department to be there at the whim of this commission because this commission's role, at least in my mind, and maybe that's the difference that's coming out of this conversation, is i think there may be a significant difference of opinion of what the role of this commission is. i think i have a clear differing opinion. when i first came into this commission, i listed off four or five things that i wanted to work on because my role here -- and i made this very clear -- is to leave this department in a better place than the way i found it, and i hope that every minute i put into this department, that is true, so there's several things that i have been working on, including the stress unit, drones, marine unit, and a number of other things that i've been working

on. i've made it very clear to the commission president that i want these agendas to be filled with action items. since i've been on this commission, i think i've voted on five things. i think three of those things were allowing the chief to go on a summit, and the other two things were the budget. that's not my role as i see it on this commission. my role is to make this department better, and otherwise, i'm wasting my time. when i took a look at this agenda, full disclosure. there were seven items on this agenda, when i came in at 9:03, we were on item four, and i thought, why am i here? why are we wasting the time of everybody that's out there? we could be doing these presentations and putting them out there, informing the public if that's just our role, but that's not my only role, just

to ask questions, it's to leave this department in approxima b place. i don't like calling this a retreat. it makes it sound like we are up at a spa, relaxing all day, and that's not what we are doing. we are getting something out of the meeting and direct that meeting in a way. it's a very specific role. i pooh-poohed it when i first came in the role, and came out of one of those with a sin veer appreciation of the role of those people. that being said, we owe it to this new administration to take a look at the issues that came up in these policy summits and to put some ideas around it.

this time last year, we had no idea that homelessness had anything to do with this fire department. we really didn't, not in a way that was meaningful. today we're looking at numbers where we can make diagnosed based on good data, and that came from good ideas, an idea that i had to start tracking homeless related calls. that's what these are about, to flush out ideas from our diverse backgrounds. we have many ideas. many of mine are bad, many of mine scare a lot of people because frankly, i come from an alioto family where my mother's a sicilian mother that had very extravagant ideas that scared everybody, which included banning smoking in restaurants,

which is the policy around the world, or a needle exchange that has been changed to needle give away, but these are ideas that scared people. and they're ideas that need to be vetted out, some good, some bad, but we have to evolve as a department, and we're not going to do that sitting here during these informational sessions. so i think that i appreciate the opportunity to speak on this. i would support a meeting, retreat, whatever you want to call it to flush out some of these ideas that have been put out by this diverse group of people that the mayor put together. i think we owe it to the mayor to do that. maybe something comes out of it, maybe something doesn't, but it's worth my time. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, commissioner veronese. commissioner covington? i'm just going to take this all under advisement at this time. i don't have an opinion to

express. >> commissioner covington: okay. all right. housing. you can't build a house in san francisco without the involvement of the fire department. that's housing, from the very beginning. not just when something goes awry with your electrical system and your house is on fire. we've just spent quite a bit of time going through the figures of people who are without homes, and the amount of assistance that they need from the professionals of the department.

i don't understand why some people don't see the link between the need for so much medical assistance and the fact that people are not housed. people who are housed do not have the kinds of problems that people who are homeless have. the department is the one that has to go and rescue these people to try to give them what they need on an immediate basis but not on a continuing basis. we have to look at these linkages and figure out how we can keep our fellow citizens get out of tents, get from under freeway overpasses, whatever it is. this is a discussion that is worth having for this department for this commission.

i appreciate commissioner alioto veronese saying that this has been a valuable conversation because it really has brought to the forefront how differently some of the members of the commission view their job or their commission as a commissioner. this is so much more than a titular position. you know, it's very nice to be called "commissioner," but there's a lot to it if you're really doing the work. the work is why i'm here.

i have energy, i have a brain that works well, and i want to use my brain to its fullest. as i said, it is more than listening to reports at a podium. it's getting out there with the rank-and-file, but it's also coming up with new ways of looking at things. and if the new mayor, if mayor london breed took the time to reach out to 200 of her fellow citizens in the city and county of san francisco to ask them to serve on these transition

teams, and the people did serve on the transition teams, and they came up with recommendations for the new mayor and her administration, and then, they did a report out to all 200 people who were working on various topics, that warrants our attention. that warrants our -- our attention in detail. those recommendations went to the mayor, and then, the mayor -- this was -- the mayor's staff asked the heads of the departments to respond to those recommendations. i suggested this retreat before that e-mail went out, long before that e-mail went out, so this is not in response to, you know, the chief of the department's response, but that is part of the retreat.

that is part -- looking at the response from the chief of the department. i don't know how we could do this in 90 minutes, and again, if anyone had any hesitations, any confusion, any need to put back on this, i have several phones. everyone has all of my numbers. you can call me any time. i didn't receive a phone call, and i find that to be curious. but i still strongly believe that we need a retreat.

i'm not going to quibble about a facilitator or no facilitator. i think that's a red herring. people who have attended retreats before understand what a facilitator. facilitator is not a subject matter expert, a facilitator is more like a miner, pulling things out of folks so that you can have not only a cohesive conversation but a complete conversation, so that's all i have to say. thank you. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, commissioner covington. vice president nakajo, response. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you, president cleaveland. and at this point, i hope we conclude this subject matter. i just want to say for the record because it sounds like

it may not be or whatever, but nobody on this commission, particularly myself, has any confusion about the relationship of this fire department to homelessness. part of the ms-6, prior to the time you were on the commission, commissioner veronese was it was a targeted concept. the homelessness agenda which was there previously on the six has now taken a greater visibility than ever before, so in terms of the homelessness or housing, there is nobody on this commission that doesn't think it's an issue. i'm just asking with all of these issues that we have at hand, what can we realistically do? again, i will be participating openly, and i've never participated, as we say, half baked. i've always been part of earnest endeavors.

if the facilitator, that decision is there, i will participate in this. i think maybe the differentiation or interpretation of commissioner roles is an interesting comment. i think that through the course of our experience and our interaction with each other, perhaps we can find what that role differentiation is. in my 24 years on the commission, i have never seen too much marked differentiation in terms of our overall roles. i've seen a difference of opinion, i've seen a respect of that difference of opinion. i've seen a respect of individuals, but other than that, commissioner covington, i totally respect you and appreciate your leadership and your endeavors within this. i knew always i could openly call you and ask you, and therefore when i haven't called you, i understand what the issues are, so i don't see

anything in terms of any necessity up until this point when i thought i better speak my piece or forever hold it. and it was a bad example of an analogy in terms of marriages and such, i apologize, commissioner. i will take that back because you warrant more respect than that. i was just saying any of you out there, if you're not real sure about something until it happens, you all better get up and say something about it within the proper manner and proper procedure of it. so with having said that, i hope we can end this subject matter. thank you, mr. president. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, mr. vice president. i do believe this has been a very healthy conversation with all of us involved. we will proceed with the so called retreat as it has been published, and i welcome everyone's participation on the 25, so we will proceed with it as scheduled, and we will have a facilitator.

so madam secretary, would you call the next item, please. >> clerk: item 6, agenda for future fire commission meetings. >>commissioner cleaveland: is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner veronese would like to speak first on this. i think -- i think i just -- go ahead, commissioner covington. you want to start first. >> commissioner covington: thank you. for future meetings, drone policy. i think it would be great to have an update on that and how it's coming along. the stress units, there was. >>commissioner cleaveland: peer support. >> commissioner covington: yeah, peer support resolution,

we need to visit that. and then, also, the resolution conference. we've been under a trial basis for three years, and we need to move onto the next step for that. >>commissioner cleaveland: you'll be happy to know that our council has prepared language to amend those appeal processes, and we will be putting that on the agenda -- a future agenda. >> commissioner covington: very good. thank you. >>commissioner cleaveland: commissioner veronese? >> thank you, commissioner covington for mentioning the stress unit and the drone. i other thing that i was tracking as i mentioned earlier was station 16, station 5, the academy site, the marine unit, the location of the new boat when it gets here, this accessory dwelling unit update, and the homeless call tracking thing. but i'd like to add an item since that's not nearly enough.

the fire cancer prevention -- i don't know what it's called specifically, the unit. i know they have been tracking -- since they started tracking, they have been tracking 200 members that have developed cancer. they are currently tracking 70 members that have cancer, and this brings up a topic that i had mentioned in the past, but i'd like to get more clarity and perhaps have the department come and speak to us about it, and that's the issue of decontamination. we have seen in other practices where people are exposed to carcinogens, and they go through a decontamination process. i would like to get a better sense of what this department does after it sends its members into fires to get that

exposure. i've read the decontamination policy, the practices and procedures. i'd like to see if they are the most up-to-date practices, what the best practices are nationwide. so currently, what we're doing, if we could be doing things better, what other departments are doing in this area, and i would encourage the department to speak with tony stefani, who i believe is a member, a retired, chief? a retired captain who works with the cancer prevention foundation, and work with captain stefani to see -- or get his unput -- input on what a best practices decontamination prolooks like. i understand boston's got a pretty good policy. i think it would be great to have this as a future meeting

topic so we can get on top of this issue and breakdown this machismo -- historical machistmo of bringing back contaminants into the fire station, contaminating other people, make sure that we're being an example nationwide on this issue. on a separate topic, commissioner covington had mention does this mentioned this to me, and i think that she may have forgotten to mention it. i think the fire department, fire prevention -- fire marshal, rather, had mentioned that there are sometimes topics that come up, maybe they're seasonal, that are worthy of public service announcements. and i'm wondering if we could use lite perhaps the time before or after our meetings to

use the public television to put out a public service announcement, for example, warning people not to use extension cords for permanent wiring, that type of stuff. i know that the department does this type of stuff, but i'm wondering how the commission maybe through its resources to standardize the publicizing the public service messages on behalf of the department. maybe -- maybe the television people do this any way. i'm not sure, but i'd like some more information on it if it's possible to standardize it. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, commissioner veronese. vice president nakajo? >> commissioner nakajo: mr. president, in the future consideration for agenda items, is it possible if we could have a presentation by our outreach recruitment personnel -- i believe that's keith baraka, and i don't know who's in charge in terms of the administration employee groups,

but i would sincerely like to make a request of the asian firefighters about appearing in front of this commission to give us an update on the latest goings on with the a.f.a., particularly since we have some rejuvenation. i would be very curious as to what is going on presently with the a.f.a., for that matter, would just like the employment groups to be more engaged. thank you. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, mr. vice president. perhaps we can put all of the employee affinity groups on the agenda so that we can have an update on all of the groups. i would like to have a chief's appraisal, appraisal that needs to be done annually. and i don't know whether we need to think about any sort of

strategic plan update or just review the strategic plan and see where any modifications might be made, might be missed or might be needed, so put that on as an overview. okay. moving right along, madam secretary. >> clerk: item 7, adjournment. >>commissioner cleaveland: i'd like to adjourn this meeting in honor of firefighter william fisbury who passed away earlier this month. do i have a motion to adjourn? motion by commissioner covington, seconded by commissioner veronese. thank you. meeting is adjourned.

>> good afternoon everyone. on the mayor of the city and county of san francisco. [cheers and applause] >> mayor breed: i'm really excited to be here with some of our city's most incredible leaders. members of the board of supervisors, and including the person who has led the efforts for each and every one of us that brought us here to this day thank you so much. [applause] for farm too loan, survivors of sexual harassment and assault of how to navigate through tangled web of city departments and

resources as they fight for justice and accountability. but thanks to the leadership of everyone here, we are helping those survivors receive the help and the support that they truly need. recent surveys have shown that more than 80% of women and 40% of men and have experienced some form of sexual harassment. nearly two thirds of those assaults are not even reported to authorities. so why is that klee because time after time -- why is that? time after time survivors have been dismissed by the system. the system that is supposed to help individuals get the treatment they need to help heal from the traumatizing experience that they have heart. we have heard so many incredible stories about things that victims have had to go through, to the point where they just given up. and to have to recount such a

horrible tragedy, time and time again, is something, that what we're doing here today to address is hopefully, is going to help to deal with this. this is not ok in the era of the me too movement and we cannot stand by and let survivors go through this experience alone. today, i am proud that the board of supervisors is taking a huge step forward and helping survivors of sexual harassment and assault by creating our new office sexual harassment and assault response prevention. [cheers and applause] >> mayor breed: it is why we are here today. we, as a city clearly need to send a strong message. we hear you, we are here for you and will do everything we can to put the resources necessary to make sure that we don't just pass legislation to make an office like this possible. we actually passed the budget

allocation to support the success of this office. i want to thank all of my colleagues who are here. every member of the board of supervisors was a sponsor of this legislation. every member of the board of supervisors thought for and voted to support the funding to make this office a success. i also would like to take this opportunity to address cheryl davis from the san francisco human rights commission. she's not here today but she will be leading the charge in this effort, because we know that she focuses on issues around human rights and equity and things that matter. this clearly matters to the city and county of san francisco, which is why we are putting it at the forefront of the human rights commission. i am grateful to cheryl for her leadership. thank you to all the commissioners here who are here from the commission on the status of women. it does take a village to move things forward in this capacity. we have had an incredible leader in this effort. someone who has been a fighter

and relentless in not only just producing this legislation, but making sure that every member of the board of supervisors served as a cosponsor and a real partner for this particular efforts. ladies and gentlemen, at this time i would like to introduce supervisor hilary ronen. [applause] >> hello ladies and gentlemen in san francisco. today is an amazing day and victory for all women, but also all survivors of sexual assault in san francisco. let's give that a round of applause. [laughter] [applause] >> i want to start off by thinking mayor lee, first off when she was still a supervisor for being a very early sponsor of the legislation, and now for signing it into law and holding this beautiful ceremony. i think it elevates the importance of the legislation. thank you so much, mayor breed.

and to all my members on the board of supervisors, it is so rare to introduce a piece of legislation that is unanimously sponsored from day one by every member of the board of supervisors. i think that is a testament to how amazing this board is. and my colleagues who care so much about this issue. it is also a testament to the women behind the legislation. i did not write this legislation alone. i wrote this piece of legislation with a group of six survivors of right who worked every single day -- of rape and they brought the issue to my attention to begin with and then who said we don't just want to complain, we want to sit down and solve this issue. so i just want to give a huge shout out to those women and a very specific thank you to jane doe, who you will hear from in a moment, to rachel, who is here with us today, tiffany who couldn't be here because she's

on one of those rare two-week vacations, but who will have a chance to celebrate at the board of supervisors in a few weeks, to britney, to maria, who is here with us as well, thank you for being here, at also to audrey you you will hear from in a moment. we had an incredible team together, with my legislative aids, and specifically carolina morales, two champions this was all of her heart and soul from day one. if we can give them all a very big round of applause, they deserve it and so much more. [applause] >> so it was also surprised me that there were many women in san francisco who don't come forward and report sexual assaults, rape or sexual harassment, because we know this is an epidemic all throughout the country. but what did surprise me is that

women who did feel comfortable coming forward, who wanted accountability from their perpetrators, who wanted to be involved in our city system to investigate and prosecute and to get some accountability and justice, that they were treated so poorly by city departments. that was, honestly, a shock to me. the more i learn learned, the more i realized that we couldn't just have a meeting with the heads of those departments, who i know have the best intentions. we needed something more regular that was going to get us the type of systemic change that would make sure that san francisco would not only dissuade survivors from coming forward and reporting these crimes, but would also take a step forward and make sure we are on the cutting edge and meeting the nation in terms of the best practices of dealing with sexual assault. when we have statistics that one

in every two women in her lifetime a sexually assaulted and one of every six men sexually assaulted practice is not something that we can just throw our hands up and say, that is a shame. this is an epidemic that must be taken with all seriousness. we must have systemic change at every level. and by starting a sharp office in san francisco where survivors and victims can come forward and say, i am not being believed by a city employee, i am not being taken seriously, i'm not being treated with dignity, i'm not being respected, that from day one, they will have an advocate to help them navigate through these difficult systems will be with them side-by-side as they are going through the very painful process of telling their story and getting justice. so this is a very important step is one of only many steps that

we need to end this epidemic of sexual assault in the united states. and i'm so proud of the leap forward we are making here today without further ado, it is my absolute honor to introduce to survivors who will speak to you next. the first one, jane doe, is actually a city employee who i have worked on for years on women's rights legislation. we worked on equal pay legislation together and is the one that brought these issues to my attention in the first place. we will hear from her and a moment. and then audrey martinez, who is a leader with communities united against violence. it is an organization that works with the lgbtq community to end violence in that community and deal with a very specific issue that that community faces. if you can give them a warm round of applause, that would be wonderful. thank you.

>> hello. mayor brigade, -- mayor breed, thank you. recently, a candidate for congress stated that the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power. often, we suffer in silence. many of us who speak up are further quieted by abuse. but you listens. you listen to me and dozens of rape victims recount the details of our darkest hour. so many of us were not only raped but blamed and discarded by san francisco process law enforcement agencies. those sworn to serve and protect under equal protection of the law. so many of us did not receive proper care at the hospital because the city process sexual assault response team was inadequately resourced. we are told rape is a fact of life.

rape is a sentence. the terror of the crime is only the beginning. the magnitude is unfathomable at first. it slips by shock and denial. but so corrosive is the impact of victims can never be the same nor can we escape the nightmare as it unfolds. i am jane doe. it has been two years and nine months since i was raped. 949 days of my precious life stolen. supervisor ronan knew me before as a colleague and governments, a week or so after the rape, we had a call about work. i blurted out what had happened. sfpd was utterly indifferent and tried brushing me off without so much as an interview. they deemed rape to be complicated but not serious. i was patronized for asking police to take basic investigative steps like securing video evidence or interviewing key witnesses. i couldn't wrap my mind around

it. neither could supervisor whose unwavering ronen support for your support has been a source of strength. she and her extraordinary team, especially early not more alice, have worked with a group of victims of rape to a summons the two stand up. mayor breed, supervisors, i'm overwhelmed with gratitude for each of you. at the beginning of the hearing that led us to today, victim after victim shared harrowing experience as a being trivialized, blamed and. you listens, you asked watchful and smart questions of our city department that consistently failed the rising masses of victims of rape and assault. you stood with us on the steps of city hall to call for change. and today, we take a step forward by taking action. this office will be a source of

advocacy and accountability that shamefully, we don't reelect in san francisco. a voice definitely absent in a course crying out to, me too. on behalf of victims, survivors, warriors, loved ones, all those who ever had or will be affected , thank you. also, special thanks to supervisor stefani for your support. without women and office, we wouldn't be here. it is amazing that today our first african-american female mayor is signing legislation authored by a female legislature and supported by all of her colleagues. and by community members of all genders. this is truly a celebration of empowerment. to those who spoke up in the hearing, at the sv you or in civil court, because your criminal case is on shelf, thank you. i am honored and humbled to

stand in solidarity with you. to those who cannot or will not speak up, who are so far from a seat at the table, we stand in solidarity with you and today, we start the work of building a bridge to you. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, everyone. i am here, my name is audrey martinez. i'm a member of the community united against violence. i am doing what it takes to make the change, the change i want to see in my life. i want to hear -- to celebrate and thank mayor breed and supervisors in all city officials that supported this new love to create an office of sexual assault prevention and intervention.

this office is important because people of all genders need to have a safe place and get help after violence occurs. as an emigrant survivor, it is important to have a space where we can feel cared about without being ashamed. thank you for creating this space that helps foster, sorry, i'm so nervous. to be accountable as a human being and stop being shamed for the experiences that we have gone through. it is about time to get help and start the change . the shame. thank you. [applause] >> mayor breed: again, i know it takes a lot of courage to get up here and share your experience. thank you both so much for your courage and for bringing us to

this point. i'm excited that we are here today to sign this legislation with members of the board of supervisors, president cohen had to leave but we have supervisor vallie brown, supervisor catherine stefani, supervisor norman yee, and others. thank you all so much for your support of this very important legislation. at this time, i will sign the legislation. [cheers and applause] >> mayor breed: here we go.

and today's date is? [cheers and applause]

>> good morning, everyone. this meeting will come to order. welcome to the september 12, 2018 rules committee meeting. my name is >> supervisor safai: to my right is norman