>> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. i want to welcome you to the october 30th, 2018 meeting at the san francisco board of supervisors. thank you for being here today. can you please call the roll for attendance? >> yes. [roll call]

>> thank you. please adjourn me in the pledge of allegiance. please rise. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands. one nation under god, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. all right. thank you very much. colleagues, we are going to be approving the minutes from september 25th, 2018 for the

full board. is there a motion for the minutes? motion made by supervisor viewer seconded by supervisor ronen. can retake this without objection? excellent. without objection, those meeting minutes will be approved after public comment. please call the consent agenda. >> items one through six are on consent. these are considered routine. of a member objects, and i an idea may be removed and considered separately. >> all right. on the question, shall these items be passed, please call the role. [roll call]

>> thank you, very much. these items shall be passed unanimously. let's go to the regular agenda to unfinished business. could you please call item seven >> item number 7 is an ordinance amending the administrative code to increase as of july first, 2018, the minimum hourly compensate -- compensation rate for nonprofit corporations to $16.50 and followed by cost-of-living increases beginning july 2020 to increase the minimum hourly compensation rate republics -- and public employees for under entities to $16 1650 as of 20 -- july 20th at 1750 as of july first, 2020, $18 as of july first, 2021 and $18.75 as of july first 2022 and followed thereafter by annual

cost-of-living increases building just beginning to -- july 1st 2023. >> thank you, very much. colleagues, can we take this same house same colloquy this ordinance is finally passed without objection. thank you. madam clerk, please call the next item. >> item number a is an ordinance amending the health code to revise the availability of massage practitioners --dash eliminating temporary permits and clarifying the administrative process to appeal a decision authorizing denial of a permit for offences related to prostitution adding and operating standards prohibiting the operation of massage school establishing reinspection fees and updating administrative and permit and penalties authorizing a position of a lien for violations declaring violations to be public nuisances and discontinuing the acceptance of applications effective january 1 st 2019.

>> thank you. i would like to recognize supervisor he. >> thank you. first of all, i want to thank supervisor tang for her leadership on this portent human rights issue. we all have heard of the horrific stories and businesses using massage establishments as fronts for illegal activity. often it involves the trafficking of and -- of women and girls into the sex trade. this continues to be a challenge for our neighborhoods and i want to commend the staff of the department of public health for their persistence and commitment because of the leadership of advocates like supervisor tang, we have seen progress in cracking down on those that abuse the system. while our laws are being stretched to weed out the bad actors in this room that we know it is forever evolving.

the legislation before us today makes huge strides in trying to tighten up the existing regulations on massage establishments and ensure the safety is only issuing massage -- massage establishment permits with the trust that the applicants are truthfully going to run a massage business. in a safe environment for workers and customers. in whole, i am in full support of the intent of this ordinance. however, there is one provision i would like to suggest omitting this provision states the department can deny permits on the grounds of a previous conviction of prostitution or solicitation of prostitution. while i understand the intent, after much contemplation, i felt this provision is yet another barrier and another burden on the already isolated and built a nice group of people. despite whatever our personal beliefs may be on prostitution

or sex work, i think many of us on this board, including myself, felt uncomfortable to add this language. those who are convicted of these charges are often women and they are victims,, whether they are trafficked or forced to make difficult decisions to sell their bodies to survive. while we are trying to weed out the bad actors, we may also be hampering the ability for a woman to go into legitimate work in a massage industry. i brought in this book, not because -- some of my colleagues already think that i am making my next trip with something to thailand, but this book was published or republished in 2007 in which i went to thailand in 2008. i read in there it was really interesting, that the women that

were incarcerated in the jails had the opportunity to learn new trades and six months before they were released, they had a program to teach these women that were incarcerated and many of them were prostitutes. so they could do legitimate massage. the idea was to place them in massage businesses and so many people were interested they ended up starting -- starting their own businesses. it got so popular they almost have a chain of these. my wife and i have gone into these partners and they are really nice and so forth. that really struck me that things could turn around for people and i want our system to

be able to support that notion that, yeah, given the opportunity, we could go on with our lives. because of that, i feel strongly that we need to omit the language about that. i hope that my colleagues will support the amendment that i would like to present. i think everyone has a copy of the legislation and it has been redlined. and whoever would be authorizing the director to deny a massage establishment permit to any applicant who has been convicted of any offences related to prostitution or solicitation of prostitution, unless the conviction was vacated based on a showing that the individual was a victim of human trafficking. so my staff have spoken to the department of public health and they are ok with omitting this

language. hopefully, colleagues, you will be supporting my amendment. >> thank you. i would like to pose a question to the maker of the sponsor of the legislation -- glaciers -- legislation to supervisor tang. are you an agreement with this change? >> yes, we had a conversation about this though it was not my preference and we didn't have that many situations here in san francisco, at least of those types of cases that i think supervisor he was mentioning. i will support this amendment just out of respect for supervisor he and i guess the intent behind what he wanted to accomplish in the amendment. i will support it. >> just so i am clear, what is your attempt? what are you trying to do with this amendment? you want to strike out language. >> the language that was red i want to strike out. and the reason which i gave was

i want people to have an opportunity to get into a legitimate business and i've seen in other countries -- or other cities in another country, i saw people did this very successfully. >> are there any examples in other countries or any statewide >> in thailand. >> i am asking for an example in the united states. >> no. i don't think humans are any different in thailand than they are in the united states. >> that may be true by the rules that govern them are different. supervisor kim? >> there are many examples here in the country. not everyone may be aware of them. but just recently kept the new york times did a very long feature on women in massage parlours in queens and the work that they do to get these women

that are doing sex work to get into licensed massage therapy, i don't believe this is a unique program. it is a natural way for women who are stuck in certain types of industries to accept by getting this type of training. they may have a conviction on their record related to prostitution or solicitation of prostitution. overall, the conversation has been, in the criminal justice system is the over incarceration of women that are involved in this trait. but almost a complete lack of any arrests or convictions of the men who participate in unifying these services and there is a complete inequity in terms of what we are seeing and who is getting arrested, convicted and incarcerated for these types of crimes. and supporting women to exit this type of work is exactly what we should be encouraging. >> thank you. >> i want to echo that. i was concerned when i saw the

language because it does seem to me that the fact that someone has engaged in sex work at some point in their lives, male sex workers or female sex workers that they should be barred from entering into legitimate massage is not a good idea. i was concerned about the language. i am happy to see the proposed amendment. >> thank you. >> similarly, i am very supportive of the amendment. i went to visit los angeles recently a few weeks ago with my office to study how they are dealing with street sex work in a residential neighborhood. it is something that is a major issue in the mission district. and what we have heard is that los angeles, actually from our chief of police, is an example of how to address the issue while supporting the sex workers to find a different path of employment that is healthier and

safer. and that that is what has made the additional enforcement that they have done, they have done in conjunction with a community-based organization that is peer based and focuses on former sex workers training current sex workers in other job paths. this is happening -- i don't know if massage is one of those paths but this model of helping workers find other viable career paths is happening very successfully in los angeles. not only in the country but in the state. thank you for this amendment, supervisor you. >> thank you. >> i think that there has been some really good points made. one of the points that i would potentially say in response to that is instead of focusing on people that may have been convicted of prostitution or the

crime itself, how about the people that are putting the applications forward that might have been promoting or forcing people into prostitution or sex trafficking. so may be what we would do is you could potentially deny a permit to someone that was forcing people into prostitution and/or participating in sex trafficking. that could be -- that way you take it away from the victim. the person that has been involved and put it on the onus of the person who is actually been pushing that forward and forcing people. i think the spirit of this -- we talked about this in our committee. the spirit of this, at least for my understanding, was to focus on the people who were applying for and had been promoting data versus actual massage. not looking at someone -- at least that was not my intent to, someone's history in terms of their involvement. i don't know if that could be amenable in the amendment,

supervisor yee or tang? >> she will speak next. >> thank you. this is one piece of several pieces of amendments to the health code. this one, in particular was brought forth by the department of public health after a period of time of going through their massage permitting program and seeing what kind of clarification language needs to be made. in prior iterations of our amendment to the health code, we have actually already inserted language that was suggested about placing, not the burden, but we really want to prevent those individuals who have a history of human trafficking and of sex trafficking or whatever it was, that they would be prevented from opening businesses if they had a history that is already in the health code. again, i will support supervisor

yi's amendment but this is not indicative of the whole entire health code changes that we have made over the years. to not criminalize those who have been victims of a certain type of crime. >> thank you, very much. i will take supervisor yee's introduction of amendments as the motion. is there a second? seconded by supervisor tang. can i take this without objection? i can take this without objection. this amendment is passed. colleagues, on the ordinance itself, would we like to take a roll call voter can we take this unanimous? looks like we can take unanimous vote. ok. we can take this ordinance same house same call. without objection, this item passes on the first reading as amended. thank you. next item, please. item nine. >> it is a motion of them blank -- bringing so much of the children youth and family

oversight and advisory committee >> all right. i would just like to chime in on joanna powell. we had a chance to meet with her twice for this appointment. one thing i would like to signal , not only to her but to any member that is applying to the other seat, for this appointment to the children, youth and family oversight advisory committee, they should have a phenomenal grasp on the issues and challenges that are facing children and youth, particularly in the southeast. it is a major beneficiary of granting and funding and in the beginning, i was uncomfortable to support joanna powell because she did not demonstrate an understanding about the challenges of the southeast schools as well as the students and the families. i have since been able to relax my concerns and have another opportunity to chat with her. i will be supporting her today. looks like we can take that, same house same call, unless there are any objections.

thank you. we will take this same house same call. this motion is approved. please call items ten, 11 and 12 >> item ten is a resolution approving the terminal to specialty retail concession lease number 3 for a term of seven years and a minimum annual guarantee of $225,000 for the first year of the lease. item 11 is the resolution approving the terminal to casual dining food and beverage concession lease number 6 with a term of ten years and a minimum annual guarantee of $250,000 for the first year of the lease and item 12 is a resolution approving a contribution agreement with united airlines airlines inc. providing for a contribution by united airlines in the amount of $6.25 million towards generators and preconditioned air units for ten overnight aircraft parking sessions ending no later than the end state of the twenty-year useful life of the equipment and

making appropriate findings. >> thank you. colleagues, can we take these items same house same colloquy without objections, these resolutions are adopted. next item, please. >> item number 13 is a resolution of authorizing adoption of the san francisco mental health services act annual update fiscal year 2018 and 2019. >> can retake this same house same colloquy without objection, this resolution is adopted. next item. >> it is a resolution retroactively authorizing the department of the environment to accept and expand grant funds and the amount of approximately $334,000 and energy efficiency programs as part of a bay area regional energy network program for the term of july first, 2018 through december 31st, 2018. >> same house, same colloquy this resolution is adopted. please call items 15 and 16 together. >> items 15 and 16 are grants

for the mohcd. item 15 is a resolution authorizing the mayor possess office of housing and community development to accept and expand an award of 15 million for the california department of housing and community developed affordable housing and sustainable community program including a loan of $10 million in a grant of 5 million for a project at 1950 mission street. item 16 is a resolution authorizing mohcd to accept and expand an award of 14 million from the california department of housing and community development, affordable housing and sustainable communities program including a loan of $9.3 million in a grant of $4.7 million for a project at 2060 folsom street. >> thank you. seeing there are no names on the roster, we can take these items same house same call. all right. without objection, these resolutions are adopted. next item. >> item 17 is a resolution retroactively authorizing the

department of public health to accept and expand a grant increase of $467,000 for total approximate amount of $1 million from centers for disease control and prevention to participate in a program entitled national h.i.v. behavioural survey and san francisco for a period of january first 2018 through december 31st, 2018. >> all right. we can take this same house same call. excellent. without objection, this is adopted. next item. >> item 18 is an ordinance amending the planning code to require c.u. authorization for restaurants and prohibits brewpubs within a subarea of mission, alcoholic beverage su d. establish limits on the number of establishments that require c.u. authorization for replacing legacy businesses and new bars and prohibit mergers of commercial space and require ground-floor residential tenant space for large projects and expand the laughter pick services in the mission street and c.t. district and make an

appropriate findings. >> thank you. >> thank you, colleagues. i am passing out some simple amendments to this legislation. these planning code amendments before you today will apply to a portion of the mission alcohol and beverage sed in the mission neighborhood transit district in district nine. they are intended to encourage small retail arts and nonprofits and manufacturing businesses in the mission to thrive and grow and further strengthen protections for legacy businesses and reduce rent pressure on these mom and pops from competing uses in large-scale developments. these amendments have been vetted through public community meetings as well as individual sit down to the variety of residential and commercial stakeholders. the small business commission and planning commission and land use and transportation committee have moved this word with the unanimous recommendation for approval. i want to speak to some misunderstandings about the impact of the change of small breweries. there was a few newspaper articles that were a little bit

confused by the legislation because of language used. let me be very clear. i think that small and local craft beer manufacturing is a great business model for p.d.r. space. we do now and will continue to allow rooms at the small breweries. the confusion has been around the use of the word brewpubs in the legislation which led some people to think that they were proposing to ban breweries and top rooms. that is not with these amendments will do. but we need to improve the language of the legislation so there is no confusion in the future. brewpubs are not a defined use in the planning code. it is a word associated with a specific type of a.b.c. license that permits breweries to serve hard alcohol which is used as a loophole around the mission special use district limitations on additional bars. i'm introducing amendments today that replace the misleading word brewpubs with a.b.c. type 75 licensed establishments which will, it is specific and

accurate. it is not a step tempted to ship sense of change. it is just meant to clarify what the legislation actually -- it is not a substantive change. it is just meant to clarify what the legislation is actually saying. >> you have any questions for supervisor ronen? it is pretty straightforward. we can take this same house same colloquy. >> we need a second for the amendment. >> i'm sorry. motion made by supervisor ronen and seconded by supervisor peskin. we can take that same house same call, without objection the ordinance passes on the first reading as amended. ok. thank you. we will take the amendments first big amendments made and seconded by supervisor peskin. we will take that without objection. all right. all right, the origins as amended, we can take this same house and call without objection thank you. next item. >> item 19 is an ordinance amending the planning code to permit affordable housing on

undeveloped lots in zoning districts and making appropriate findings. >> supervisor kim? >> thank you. this is now the second time the boy it is seeing a version of this ordinance. way past the original ordinance several weeks ago. this is a duplicated version which has some cleanup amendments and allows us to strike a balance between preserving our light industrial and art uses in the south of market while needing -- while meeting our critical needs to build more 100% affordable housing. we provide an additional allowable use on sally parcels. allowing them to build 100% affordable housing on 24 identified parcels that are undeveloped within the service arts light industrial parcels. under existing law which is not permitted. this applies particularly to parcels that are undeveloped and contain no existing structures as well as on surface parking lots that have no existing building.

but we had to provide some cleanup language to make sure that guard stations, kiosks and small buildings under a hundred square feet for billboard advertising signs were not interpreted as structures. i do have two more amendments that i would like to make to this ordinance today and colleagues, i have sent out distributed copies of these amendments. it is a change on page 6 and 2 -- tata -- two or. and then on page 6, adding two lines 24, will make explicit structures that are accessory to parking -- parking lot to use such as those providing general advertising signs. we feel this is already encapsulated within the ordinance. it is to make it even clearer if there were any debates about

what the intent was so there is no question that general advertising signs are also included and they are explicitly included as accessory to parking lots. colleagues, i ask for your support in adopting these amendments and then for finally passing this ordinance very quickly, i want to thank audrey and erin and dan on the planning department and tipping point communities for their work for helping to help find a site supra -- build 100% affordable housing including on the sally parcels that we are here talking about today. >> thank you. is there a second on the amendment? seconded by supervisor brown. can we take these amendments without objection? excellence. these amendments are accepted. thank you. supervisor fewer, i'm sorry, supervisor kim. we will be taking a vote on the

ordinance as well as amended? ok. without objections, can we take this as amended? thank you. on the first reading, it was passed unanimously. please call the next item. >> item number 20 is an ordinance amending the planning code to allow new standard required streetscape improvements under the better streets planned, modifying the triggers to construct streetscape improvements in the public right-of-way clarifying the recommended sidewalk with first-rate types and expending curb cut restrictions or offstreet parking and parking and loading and require acu authorization for new or expanded curb cuts. adding criteria for the planning commission to consider. prohibiting new curb cuts in bus stops and on folsom street and eliminating minimum off see -- offstreet parking requirements and making appropriate findings. >> thank you. >> thank you. colleagues, this ordinance is the product of two years of work

with our planning departments. i'm so glad it is here today although i do have a duplicated item that will be coming back to the board of supervisors with some amendments. this modified better streets plan was a result of a project in my district which was a fourth story, $61,000 -- 61 square thousand -- 61,000 square feet building. the planning commission approved a change of use to convert this existing industrial space to office space. however, despite the fact that there would be immense change to traffic and a new influx of workers due to a new office building on this corridor, this project did not trigger required streetscape improvements under section 130 a .2 of the planning code. being that the building was adjacent to a freeway on-ramp where there is a lack of sidewalks and the lack of

pedestrian safety features, this triggered the concern of many residents live in the south beach south of market area. that began the work of re envisioning the better streets plan which passed in 2015 which gave the city the ability to acquire large developments to make improvements to the public right-of-way. however, we did not consider a major change of use in existing buildings and how to trigger a requirement to improve public right-of-way in those instances. over the last three years, we have discovered other areas where the spirit or intent of this ordinance was not captured in a number of different projects around the city. the ordinance we see today it does a number of things. at right sizes the trigger by which the planning department may require or can now require development projects to make street and sidewalk improvements , alongside supervisor yee and myself, the

initiative of achieving vision zero over the next ten years here in san francisco, that is actually now seven years in san francisco. it will also enable staff to more effectively implement the better streets plan and improve safety for people walking, biking but also taking public transit here in san francisco. the plan does a number of things beyond modifying the trigger. also expands the list of streetscape features a city can require developers to build which include extended bull backs, a raised crosswalks and alleys and intersection daylighting. we also clear up where conflicting sidewalk with -- exist allowing the city to acquire the greater of the two widths. also will finally outright ban curb cuts of certain streets like market street and other key pedestrian oriented corridors and also ban curb cuts at bus stops. people shouldn't be driving

through bus stops where pedestrians are waiting to take the bus. we also require conditional use authorization to determine if a curb cut will be granted on other corridors as well. this includes all neighborhood commercial districts and most zoning districts on key corridors but will not require a.c.u. and rh one, rh three, p.d.r. and sally. we also continue to eliminate offstreet parking requirements for projects on restricted streets and colleagues, as you may have heard, i have introduced amendments that are not in this ordinance today that would eliminate minimum parking requirements completely, citywide. that is on a substitute -- that is on a duplicated file that will come before the board in the next couple weeks. it is not in this file that is before the board of supervisors today. i really want to give a huge shout out to paul, are senior

urban planner at the planning department who really has painstakingly worked on this ordinance for two and a half years with my office. i'm so glad it is finally before the board of supervisors today and i want to recognize neil, the manager at the san francisco planning department. thank you to sfmta and public works who have worked in reviewing the ordinance but a big shout out to alice, one of our community residents in south beach at south park who notified our office at 340 bright at how it did not trigger changes to ensure vision zero and cathy at, at walk s.f.,, tom at livable city and janice with the bike coalition. i want to thank john who made sure that this file was ready to be passed today. colleagues, i ask for your support and hope to gain your support in the next couple weeks from when we had the duplicated file come back to the board of supervisors. >> i want to go on record that

we will have to talk about this. i'm concerned about what you're proposing. it sounds like it will be eliminating parking across the entire city for all new building and construction. is that right? >> he does not ban or prohibit parking being built in the development, it just eliminates developers requirements to build parking. developers can continue to provide parking on site and in fact, we have eliminated minimum parking requirements in the district that i represent. for the project sponsor still continues to come to the board and planning commission with parking in their building. they will continue to be incentivized by whatever the market demands. we will no longer force developments to build parking if they do not wish to do so. we have largely emulated parking requirements in much of the city and we also allow developments ways out of building parking by providing bike parking instead of vehicular parking. this would completely clean that

part of the code and not required a developer to build parking if they do not wish to. that is not in the ordinance that is before us today. >> i know. you gave me heartburn. if you don't require developers to do anything, they won't do it on the south east of san francisco, we have a lot of seniors and children and people who drive. >> as i said, we have eliminated parking requirements in the district that i represent an developers continue to build parking in their development because many projects are not feasible without some parking. however, i think that where we are in the city today, we have moved beyond that. you will probably continue to see parking proposed in projects in your district and probably throughout the outer outskirts of san francisco, as well. i do think there are a number of developments in my district and in the central area that are well served by public transit that don't need parking. it would make building housing more affordable if you don't have to build parking and would

make housing more affordable to folks that are renting and buying it. i look forward to the debate at land use committee and at the board of supervisors. >> ok. is there anyone else who would like to comment on this? supervisor kim, did you make amendments to this legislation? yes, no. can we take this same house same colloquy this ordinance passes on the first reading. >> item 21 is a resolution determining the transfer of a type 20 off stale beer and wine liquor license to 711 located at 195 pine street district three will serve the public convenience and necessity and require positions on the issuance of the license. >> madame clark. i want to call your attention to the time. >> it is 2:30 pm. >> we will revisit item 21.

>> they 2:30 pm commendations, i believe we have four. >> i did not hear you. >> that 2:30 pm commendations. i believe there are four. you do have the first one. >> i do. is ms. miss helen owens in the chamber today? come on up. colleagues, i want to introduce you to a good friend of mine and a mentor. this is a talented, beautiful human being. an author, a mother, a small business owner. her name is helen ellen. she is a native san franciscan. she has dedicated her life to healthy women by showing them how to harness their -- no, know , no. [laughter] >> into the microphone. [laughter] >> hi. >> it's ok. wait, i'm not done. >> oh, ok. >> i will give an introduction and then you will say some things and then we will applaud and we will take a picture. >> ok. >> rh.

back to my notes. she is on point, as you can see. definitely excited and eager. she is teaching women how to harness their -- harness their personal power and heal their minds and the soul and their spirit. she is a veteran motivational speaker and she personally taylor's her storytelling to her audience using perfectly measured accommodation of grace, of humour, of comedy which, is really true compassion. she has overcome obstacles related to severe dyslexia and hair loss as well as she has been recognized for mentoring women on how to emerge strong, particularly when they are emerging from turbulent situations. miss helen owens is a contributor to three books and a first-time author of finding out what she compass. fifteen life lessons for women for -- waging towards restoration, reconstruction and renewal. she is the host and moderator of

that she compass show where interview members and audiences have reported a true sense of sisterhood when listening to her inspirational talks. she is the winner of the distinguished national shining star. an award presented by veterans internationally known from a cosmetics company. and accolades given to women committed to improving their community and uplifting the lives of others. she is also a nominee and finalist in the public service for city lights magazine's top ten influential african-americans in the bay area. she has been focused on local media. i am telling you. this is an incredible human being we have before us. i would like to end with a quote by helen. she says to have the power to rewrite --dash we may not have the power to rewrite our

childhood. my note to my younger self reminds me that despite what is written in our past, our future is always a story we have the power to tell. please welcome helen owens and thank you for your courage and your leadership. >> you are so welcome. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you, so much for this. i. i grew up in san francisco in district ten at harness point. this is what i would like to say to young people who don't feel like they may be able to make it in this world. it is not where you come from. is where you are headed to and where you are going. i was able to start a small business, a multimillion dollar business all by myself. i was a teenage mother and raised two children in san francisco and two brilliant children on my own.

let's see. you have me all emotional. i would like to say to any woman , we can do it. we just have to work hard and stay focused and believe in yourself. thank you so much for today. thank you so much. [applause] >> i thank you are next. >> ok. is paula here?

come on up. all right, everybody. paula is such a strong young woman. she moved to san francisco with her mother and siblings from guadalajara, mexico as a teenager. by 14, she was a self identified community organizer who was determined to consider a career as an activist. she served on the traditional age youth advisory board with a true colours -- where she worked on a toolkit to help help serve underrepresented lgbtq youth.

she represented district a and focus on advocating for black and brown youth in our city. earlier this year, she authored a motion honoring a man who was a 19-year-old young man shot by the police in the mission district and brought his family to the youth commission where his life could be celebrated. i met paula last year at the improvement club's annual block party. just one week earlier. her sister had been murdered in an active domestic violence a block away from where the event took place. i was struck by her composure and moved that despite her grief , she was already fiercely advocating to make sure something like this didn't happen again. she spoke with me that day about the need for more resources for victims of domestic violence and help them escape abusive relationships and avoid the tragedy that befell her sister. in the months following her sister's death, while also helping to care for her young niece, paula continued her

advocacy and speaking openly to the present with community members about the need for increased funding for victim services. i am so grateful to have the opportunity to thank her for her tremendous work for immigrant and lgbtq communities. i am honored and moved to be able to thank her for her courage and for taking the unspeakable tragedy that she and her family experience and using it as motivation to advocate for victims and survivors here in san francisco. thank you, paula. [cheering] [applause] >> thank you. [laughter] >> thank you. my name is paula and and i am an advocate and advocate -- i -- activist. i work locally and internationally on women possess issues.

so no other girl, woman or child will experience it. i wanted to advocate the honor of this commencement for my sister that was a victim of domestic violence. lastly, i want to thank you for your commitment and determination. thank you. [♪] [applause] >> supervisor stefani, you are next.

>> thank you. colleagues, today we have with us the president of the san francisco gaming course and one of their members, a first tenor. dave was with us a few months ago when supervisor tang honored him for his organ donation and we were all treated to their chorus and their song. it was one of the most incredible days in this chamber. i met dave in 2014 when we were both training for our first triathlon and at that time, i will never forget him singing in the back of a van on our way to the hotel and he was talking

about trying out for the gay man 's chorus. he did and now he is part of it. he has introduced me to the gay man's chorus and their performances i will never miss. the holiday performance is something that has become a tradition in my family and like i have sent, if you have not seen silent night done in sign by them, you have not lived. never cut that out of the program. >> it is coming back. >> ok, good. dave e-mailed me recently and told me about the 40th anniversary. i immediately reached out to supervisor mandel meant and he did something on friday and he will be speaking out as well. i have been so inspired by this group. a community-based cultural and social institution that began and inspires international lgbtq coral movements more than 40 years ago. born on the steps of san francisco city hall in 1970 a, on the evening of may or moscone

he and supervisor harvey milk's assassination, they have spent the past four decades responding to intolerance and human rights issues in our community with the healing power of music. since its founding, hundreds of lgbtq choruses have started across the world and new ones continue to form each year. in addition to being a globally recognized arts organization capped the chorus is also a strong advocate for progressive social, cultural change and spreading the message of love and acceptance around the world. during these times, this message and the chorus' love are needed, now more than ever. the power of music to bring hope to people, to heal people, and to unite people his universal. we know that in just over this past weekend, i gathered with supervisor madeleine on saturday night at the contemporary juice

museum and we gathered in song to him on the loss of those that died at the hands of gun violence at the tree of life synagogue. we united on sunday at the interfaith visual. uniting in song at the end singing "let it be." knowing music has the power to heal. i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. for the love and hope you bring into this world through your angelic voices, your future hearts, and your commitment madeleine to spreading love and acceptance across the country and the entire world. thank you, so much. [applause] >> thank you. supervisor mandelman. >> it is fantastic when other supervisors take some of the pressure off the gay staff.

[laughter] >> i do want to pipe in and add. i am personally a fan of the gay man's chorus and as i said on saturday at the grove, the story of the gay man's chorus is the story of the lgbtq community in san francisco. and the mixture of tragedy and overcoming tragedy that is characterizing the community and is a strength of the communities reflective in the history of this chorus. the first performance was the night of milk's assassination. as it was growing and building and spreading courses throughout the lands, it was also the members of the chorus who were battling an epidemic that was wiping out so many of its members over time. and even just this month, as the chorus prepared for its 40th anniversary celebration, the daughter of the artistic director died and i wanted to

express all of our condolences for that. i am so proud of the chorus and i am so proud of the beauty you bring to our community and they also want to thank you and thank supervisor stefani for giving them the appropriate recognition that they deserve. thank you. >> members of the board to, thank you so much for this incredible commendation. today is the 40th anniversary of the very first rehearsal of the game and's chorus. the birth of the chorus. dave and i would not be where we are, our city, our country, our world would not be where we were not for those 100 men who came to that rehearsal for two years ago. we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. from our then mayor and mayor feinstein to mayor breed who was with us on saturday for our birthday celebration. the amount of support that we

have in this community compared to our brothers and sisters around the world is immeasurable i will end with some reverent words from our 44th president of the united states. we are the ones that we have been waiting for. those men from 40 years ago where the ones that we were waiting for. we hope to be the ones, that in 40 years, our generations are the ones that they were waiting for. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. congratulations! all right. the next person to offer a presentation is supervisor ronen she will be honoring officer percy hernandez today for his years of service in the portola. depending on where you are from. >> you are from there so you should know how to pronounce it. officer hernandez, do you want to come to the podium?

[cheers and applause] >> i have been waiting to honor you for so long, officer hernandez. it was only when there was a threat that we were going to lose you from the portola that i said we have to honor him right now. i am so happy you are staying. you have no idea. thank goodness he did not take to those motorcycles. i am so happy about that. you are the beloved, 11 year beat officer in the portola. i personally don't ever want to leave you from -- lose you from that pollute disposition but i believe you should be a top trainer of all foot beat officers in the city because i don't know any officer who does their job better than you. you truly know the people of the

portola. you agree to residents and shopkeepers by name. you know their stories and their background and their histories. you are respected by everyone in the neighborhood and you even learned some basic chaney's so you can communicate in the native language -- some basic chinese so you can communicate with the native language of the residents in the portola. they love when they speak to you in chinese. i see their faces light up. i see the connection that you have with them even though there is this language barrier. that is something that i haven't seen with other officers that is unique to you. the people of the portola know you love them and those know you love them and are with them. you not only are incredible in providing basic safety in the neighborhood but you also performed exemplary investigative work. you are essential to solving two major cases in the portola.

a bank robbery and a case were hateful anti- chinese graffiti was painted on several walls in the neighborhood. because you know the people of the neighborhood so well, you are able to identify and apprehend both suspects in both cases based on evidence provided in security camera videos. officer hernandez, you are known and renowned for your kindness, compassion and good nature. you exemplified the best of the san francisco police department as a community-based beat cop. police officers like you keep the fabric of our neighborhood intact and improve the quality of life of all individual residents, families catch communities, organizations and businesses. just to tell a little bit about your background, your warning guatemala and emigrated to the united states when you're 12 years old. he is the youngest of a siblings his oldest sun is 28 years old and saves in the army.

currently deployed in korea and his younger sun is 26 years old and is recently finishing his service in the u.s. navy. in 20 -- in 2004, he realized his lifelong dream of becoming a police officer for the sfpd and trained in the tenderloin and then was assigned to the bayview station and never left. thank goodness. in 2007, he was assigned to the foot patrol and has been the beloved beat cup -- beat cop ever since. thank you so much for everything that you do. your community loves and appreciates you. [applause] [please stand by]

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