equipment or wires that they have to step over it nor do we want any music to be so loud so customers can't keep a conversation. however, we do know that some artists would prefer to perform and if that is the case, we plan to give notice to our direct neighbours in advance and we hope to keep it at a reasonable volume. with that said, we plan to have someone from the commission of entertainment to conduct a sound test. i am also currently doing research on those magnetic window frames that you can attach acrylic glass so that we don't -- we did receive one complaint across the street, at the apartments above cold hardware. i don't want to bother them. i've given the neighbour is my personal phone number, my work e-mail, i made it very clear i want to keep an open dialogue with them. we don't want to disturb. we want to accommodate. i would also like to add i did meet with officer walsh. a very nice man.

he did not add any conditions to the permit. all in all, we think that live music would be cool. we definitely want to keep the theme of a relaxing and cozy and we pretty much are picturing a woman or a man playing on a guitar on a stool. we think it would actually help out the community. we hope that it would increase business, not just for us but for neighboring shops. and lastly, i made it very clear to everybody how appreciative, how grateful we are to be part of the russian hill community. we don't want to ruffle any feathers. russian hill is a hidden gem. we think a little live music would add to the neighbourhood. thank you. >> thank you. commissioners? >> it is only 350 square feet. it is small. where do you plan to put your stage? >> there is a neighboring business. they are a wind story. they mention to us they don't want anything on their side

because they do not want the bottles to rattle. our other side is project juice and they close at 7:00. we figure we would start, if we got the permit, we would start a seven or 8:00. but we would probably keep it close to the window, but away from the wall and may be -- if there was amplification, we would be facing project juice so as not to bother anyone. >> so basically, it is acoustic, and a microphone for the vocals. >> yeah. i'm really picturing something like bob dylan, acoustic. we have a t.v. screen that we usually put a fireplace on. we want to keep that canon lodge -- cabinet logic theme. we are open minded too. i was thinking jazz music as well. >> you know, you have to shut the doors when you are playing. do you have enough air?

350 square feet is not very big. >> we would shut the windows and shut the door. you may cut stuffy. we learn as we go. step one is to get the permit and then we will see how we go from there. >> all right. >> is this an in-house p.a. system? >> we figure, -- hopefully it would be mostly acoustic, but if they did need amplification, the artist would have to provide. >> how do you plan to test their equipment and make sure that they are within the limits that we set? >> that would be an obstacle because every artist would have their own amplification. if we do get a sound test, we would have some idea. i was actually talking with mike , and the -- and the neighbors, the resident and the neighboring business, i would want them to come by and actually hear it out. i would want them to tell me if this is the right volume. that way our bartenders would know from experience that that

would be the right volume. >> we will also set a sound limit for you via this permit. i'm curious, aside from listening with your ear, do you have any other things you will use? >> i guess communication. just making sure that the neighbors know. every do use amplification, neighbors would find out. they would have my number if every -- if anything would go wrong. we live in a digital age. we can text them. if we have to pull the plug, then we would. we don't want to bother anybody. we really want to accommodate, and if we have to shut it down, we would. >> i highly recommend getting a sound metre. you can rely on that to count and test what will -- what your actual decibel level is. aside from that back i think we want to make sure that as you sound like you don't want these complaints, we want to make sure

there are ways people can address it. if you are within your limits, it makes people -- and it makes people upset, that is something we can contest and push back onto. this sounds great. it's really small, and i think we want to support small businesses doing more like music i hope this goes well for you. >> thank you. >> may be as one suggestion that these small little speakers, if you had your own, they don't cost much, and they set the level to that, then the musician wouldn't have to provide their own. then you have a little bit more control. >> i think it's a good idea. >> look into that. it is a possibility. >> i think if we see any history of knowing the industry and bands and performers that come in and really have their own preference for how loud they like things, then generally it is louder than neighbors like things.

the more you can work around to that with the technology that is available, that will be in your interest. >> noted. >> okay. any more questions? okay. you can go ahead and have a seat [laughter] >> okay. commissioners, let's begin conversation. i'm sorry. is there any public comment for this item? seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. >> i moved to approve, and there is no police conditions. just an approval with our standard good neighbour policy. >> second. >> commissioner thomas? [roll call] >> okay.

your permit application is conditionally granted. please follow up with our executive director for next steps. thank you. congratulations. okay, our second permit application for this evening is for a place of entertainment. this is for executive order bar and lounge, located at 868 mission street. this is a venue that will be going in very close to the mall. and the owner and operator has been in the industry for quite some time. he was also the owner and operator for sip bar and lounge. sorry cat just a little bit of what he was looking out to do for entertainment. some small acoustic and live performers. standup comedians, d.j.s, doing top 40 or house, rock and roll,

and so i did not receive any letters of protest on this item either. i did receive some letters of support. i know the owner and operator gave me a download of all of the outreach she did in the area. although it's very densely commercially populated, as opposed to residentially. a little bit less concern about people sleeping nearby. in the back of your packet, you will see substation permit also, provided -- they provided aid to recommended conditions for you to take a look at. when discussing your approval, they are very typical from southern station. nothing really out of the ordinary. here i am here to tell you about their application and their plan operations in entertainment.

here is the owner,. -- here is the owner. >> good evening. good evening, vice president, commissioners. executive director. welcome to the team. and fellow audience member. [laughter] and one of my d.j.s. my name is john. sanchez and i am applying for a place of entertainment permit. thirteen years ago when i did this for sip, this was not part of the process. we were all strength -- trying to figure out how to regulate things as far as entertainment. some people were aware they had to have an entertainment license there are various different kinds. cabaret, dance hall, it is very nice to have it streamlined now. and organized in a more efficient manner.

i ran sip for about 13 years and was told by my landlord they had to do a soft story retrofit on my building in chinatown. that process would have entailed moving everything that i had accumulated, it if you can imagine, 13 years of things you accumulate personally, imagine a business accumulating 13 years of staff. but having to move that out so they could retrofit the whole ground floor and then come back and potentially have to face a rent increase or different terms in my lease, i stopped the opportunity to find a place where i might be a little bit more successful and have more foot traffic and it would be closer to home. i live in the district south of market on the full sum between fourth and fifth, about three or four blocks, long blocks, away from the new venue which is on

the street level, ground floor of the westfield san francisco shopping centre. directly above me, and behind me ended to the side of me are bloomingdale's. i'm surrounded by bloomingdale's one of my neighbors is the pickwick hotel parking garage. across the street is the sip in mission parking garage and good vibrations. the spritz, a pizza shop, further down on the corner, at the end of jesse west allie is the cavalier restaurant. and then there ball are disbarred within a bar that they open up every now and then with a pink door for v.i.p. and rock stars. so i've got the hotel above charmaine's, bloomingdale's and

to the mall above me, no one directly across the street from me, a buffer of the pickwick hotel's garage, and the pickwick hotel right above it. i have reached out to all of those entities except for the parking lots. as far as my coming out there, as well as other hotels who are nearby. the intercontinental, and the marriott, and so forth. i have gone through all of the various inspections and permits, and as the director has explained, i am looking to have the ability, once again, to have standup comedy on weeknights, acoustic performers, something different and just seven nights a week of d.j. music.

because that would drive me nuts and not everyone wants to hear top 40 d.j.s every night of the week necessarily. i want to be able to provide different kinds of programming. be it a speaker or a lecturer, and i think the commission oversees all of that. whether someone is speaking publicly, or singing publicly, or playing an instrument publicly. that is all under the hospices of this commission. i got really close to the microphone there. i also -- i have a very patiently going through the process of transferring a liquor license of type 48, which is a pure alcohol liquor license, beer and wine, into the district , which has involved the a.b.c. and vetting of the police police department, and planning, and a period of comment and protests from the community. pcn resolution that was passed

by the public safety and neighborhood services committee. and then the full board of supervisors to get the type 48 into this space. although i do have a huge kitchen, on a plan to serve food as well, but it will always be a 21 and up venue because of the 48 license. the sfpd alcohol liaison unit required that i agreed to conditions of operations which are part of the liquor license. they involve all of the recommendations that the sfpd have recommended to this commission, and a few additional items, basically policing the area, maintaining generally a good neighbor attitude towards the neighbors and passersby and visitors in the area.

i could talk forever, but i'm sure everyone is tired. i'm happy to answer any questions, and explain further. and last but not least, in the process of the p.c.n., i have discovered that the neighborhood i live in is part of the officially recognized soma soma filipina cultural district. i have worked with the team there to potentially have many events with them, cosponsored, happening at our venue should our entertainment permit be approved. [please stand by] >> which, i b

kind of standard for my neighbors' bars and restaurants, and all of us are able to stay open until 2:00 a.m. on thursday and saturday nights. so concerns from the hotels as far as sound coming from me as

opposed to coming from their own. >> great. thank you. >> first of all, you know, sit bar, for being in chinatown, when it first opened, the hip bar on broadway before china live, and we're doing -- a bunch of us are trying to revitalize chinatown, and i miss the sit bar being there. i know as an operator, you're really a responsible guy, which is great, but i have some questions about the space because i used to go to volta. it was really good food, but after spending all that money, it closed within eight months. it has a lot of windows. you're doing acoustics, and you're doing sound and i guess will do a sound check and everything. but those windows have any sound reinforcements or any -- are you

compensating for any -- any kind of heavy db? >> well, i guess it's not going to be a club-club, it's going to be more of a lounge. but have you already invested in some soundproofing there? >> i have not done anything to the windows, but i believe we're double paned. i cannot hear any sound outside when i'm inside, and we did do a sound test this past friday with my sound engineer wihich has augmented the volta speakers only with one subwoofer. i believe i sent the sound test results to maggie -- to

executive director weiland. as far as decibel levels, ambient sounds of traffic and noise, when he pinged the super loud bass hum and the different levels and compared with the decibel level inside and outside, our front doors automatically close, so a doorman will be outside, checking i.d.s, allowing people to come in, and it closes on its own. it's on a hydraulic device. we installed a cantilever that will be extending a mesh metal drape in front of it that should dampen any sound that is going in that direction as the door

opens. when i have more money after i've spent pretty much i have right now getting this place up and going, but the plan is to also augment all of the mission street ground floor and mezzanine levels as well as the jesse west windows with the same mesh metal fabricoil material. >> and the events that you plan to have there, are they going to be all in-house? >> yes. >> do you plan someone

that i trust very much will be there. >> okay. thank you. >> hi.

>> hello. >> thanks for coming in. it's exciting about hearing another venue like this coming in when we just heard about mezzanine. it's good to hear there's still going to be night life down there. i've always wondered why there isn't more, but i think part of it is obviously a liquor license issues and having a cap on that. i do want to kind of just appreciate you and commend you for all your community

i've worked with a couple of comedy organizers. one of them, a jaemt named stroymois, operates a comedy group called hello funny. they get a bunch of comics, and they come out, and they tell jokes. and we basically -- in the past, we have not charged anything for people to come in. it's where we were at citizenshisip, it was a very difficult place to get people to come into. the comedy route was something i personally enjoyed bartending during a comedy show, and guests enjoyed that it was a different

format than what they were used to in that space. oftentimes, that was the first experience people had in that space, and then they later on came on the weekends. the d.j. program, i had run since inception of opening sip. we were only open friday and saturday nights, and essentially, i plan to only do friday and saturday and possibly some thursday nights where, you know, one of the ten or 12 different d.j.s that i've worked with over the last decade will come in and perform, you know, from 9:30 or 10:00 until 1:30 to provide a cooling off time and get people to slowly make their way out. i plan to still continue my policy of not charging a cover charge for people coming in because i want them to like the space and not feel like oh, i

paid money and this sucks, and i'm disappointed. i'd rather they come in, and if they don't like what chris is spinning, they can complain or they can leave and not feel like they've wasted money on a cover charge. >> can i interrupt you? >> yeah, sure. >> so it sounds like you're have a rotating set of regular d.j.s. is there any bigger names that you're trying to get to come in there? >> no. i'm not trying to get tiesto or anything. >> why not? >> if i was an august hall, if i was a big venue, if i was designed in that manner, if i had, you know, the kind of sound and speakers that some of these really great devoted dance clubs have, then, i would go that route. but i'm old-er than i was.

i wanted to create a space that was something that the people in their 30's and 40's and 50's could feel comfortable going to and not feel like oh, i feel out of place here because i'm old and married now. or it's too loud here. i can't have a conversation. i like a place with good music where you can still have a conversation with someone, have a good bite to eat, have a good cocktail, and if you're so moved, you know, shake your booty a little bit, but that's not what it's about. it's about creating an environment that is -- is fun and something that -- that the more mature people in -- in our society can also enjoy.

>> great. everyone of all ages needs to have fun. >> everyone over 21. >> at your place. all right. my final thing that i just want to say is i think it does seem like the sfpd conditions that they're recommending are pretty standard. just as a comment to our commissioners, i'd probably like to strike most of them, and we can go through that in the motion, only because they're not any different from standard practice and seem redundant. so yeah, i mean, things around having a security plan and complying with s.f. fire code and things like that just seem a little excessive, especially if some of these are codefied in things that this particular business owner has. but any way, it sounds like you've done all your homework and we'll see how this goes. i think it'll go your way, but thank you for coming up here today and explaining it to us.

>> thank you. >> thanks. >> may i sit? >> yes. >> okay. >> no more questions. okay. thank you. >> thank you. okay. okay. public comment on this permit application is open. we have three minutes. >> hi. good evening, commissioners. i just wanted to introduce myself. my name is katrina lawanna. i'm with soma filipina. so we wanted to express our support for john sanchez and his team to open the executive order bar and lounge currently in the vacant westfield space on 868

mission street. mr. sanchez expressed already a firm commitment to be a good neighbor to us and to work collaboratively with soma filipinas to enhance our goals around cultural disability, community development without further displacement, and the connect injustice -- economic injustice that we tried to deal with in the district. we're happy to support a business that has committed to working with local businesses to open up entry level job opportunities. working with soma filipinas art and culture committee already in creating and curating additional art pieces that incorporate filipino and filipina history into its decor. we're hoping that also with these performance nights, it can provide a platform for filipino

creatives to explore their talents and also to propagate current issues in the neighborhood. we're also excited that the executive bar has also committed to hosting six only pop up dinners for aspiring filipino food businesses with no venue rental fees, explore possibility of commissary, and to open bids for filipino pastery chefs for its daily filipino coffee program. we're hopeful that executive order lounge will contribute to the commercial corridor when its eventual activation happens. i think community members and residents have really been looking for night life for quite sometime, especially one that is not just outside of the undiscovered just once a month, so we're really excited.

thank you. >> thank you. okay. commissioners. >> all right. i'll go ahead and move to approve this permit application with police conditions three and eight, prescribing all the rest. there's no major issues with the rest, other than they're codified in our good neighbor policies. i would also amend number eight to include notifying the entertainment commission. so southern station permits officer, the events supervisor special events, and the entertainment commission for situational awareness. that's my motion. >> second. [roll call] >> okay. excellent. your permission application is

agencially granted. please follow up with executive director weiland. >> congratulations. >> okay. the final item on the agenda is number eight, commissioners comments and questions. >> well, you know, just to talk about mezzanine closing because they lost their lease, sip bar closing because of the retrofit. it's just what's happening in san francisco in places like south of market, old places are going to be sold or go out of business, unfortunately. lucky for mr. sanchez, he found another spot, and he has the seasoned responsibility and opportunity to continue a nicely, even better run, maybe -- not -- i'm sure it's run well, but a better place that is more tolerable to

entertainment. so i think in our level, we pushed the supervisors to do some sort of entertainment legacy because it's going to happen. it's just in economic things, whether it's greed or what. it's just the only spaces there's now to build on, it's just the warehouses are now targeted. and if developers are making partnerships with the owners, there's nothing we can do to happen it. and hopefully, there's other facilities we can offer them out there to move their business. you know, that's -- in my opinion as a business owner, it's just hard to -- especially on leases, you know they just don't care, you know? it's -- they -- they might have gave good leases for the last ten years, but this is their opportunity to get out or move on or maybe the parents passed away, and the kids don't want

it. there's a lot of things, and i hope that more people like mr. sanchez -- i hope deborah finds another place for mezzanine, and i think we should look at other spaces that might be viable for them to move to, recommendations or what. otherwise, it's going to happen no matter what, you know? right, guys? you guys kind of know. >> yeah. figure out some way to get new development to include entertainment venues as part of what's considered part of what new development has to include. i don't know. i don't know if that's possible to do, but i feel like the new development that goes up never has any entertainment venues, and they end up closing down the other ones, driving up the property values or driving up the noise. how do we make it part of an expected contribution to a

community when you build something new. >> right. >> and commissioner lee, your comment on owners passing away and their kids, and that's exactly what happened to deb and mezzanine. here. it's really sad. i just had one little announcement. i just wanted to plug our holiday party another time. i'll have another opportunity on december 4, but i wanted to let you know we have 900 rsvps, which is kind of incredible, and we have all of our talent scheduled now, so we have honey mahogany as emcee. we have the helements as our opening band. they're age 13 to 15, so that's going to be adorable. and then, we have our closing band, lydia and the projects,

which is an african american female fronted soul band doing covers, for the most part. and we also have some big attendees that are supervisors and senator wiener is going to say a few words, and the mayor is attending and saying a few words, as well. keep pushing it out there. we have a lot of food donations, we have a photo booth, so "ay." >> director weiland, what's the dress code? >> party fabulous. definitely not casual. i think you all need to be ambassadors of entertainment, so maybe a little sparkle would be cool. >> sparkle? okay. >> can you remind people -- >> to all of our avid viewers out there -- >> all our fans. >> i know of maybe three.

this is going to be on monday, december 10 at august hall, 420 mason street, from 5:45 to 9:00 p.m. the weird start time is because we have to have a commission meeting at 5:30 since we'll have a quorum. >> okay. thank you. so on behalf of the entertainment commission family, we'd like to extend our deepest condolences to you, laura, for the loss of your partner, kanani koga. we're deeply saddened, and our hearts and prayers go out to you and your family and your loved ones. we are here for you. >> thank you. >> yeah, and we dedicate tonight's meeting inform her beautiful spirit and legacy. >> thank you. >> commissioners, do you want to

add anything? okay. all right. is there any public comment on commissioner questions and comments? seeing none, public comment is closed. this meeting is adjourned at 6:52 p.m. thank you. >> good morning everyone. i'm the director of the department of homelessness and supportive housing. it is so wonderful to see everyone here at the grand

opening of this family access points. let me start the program by introducing the director of catholic charities in san francisco. [applause] >> thank you all. thank you, jeff, for your presents an introduction and thank you, mayor breed to, for your presence and endorsement of our program. i am honored to be here with you today and be present at this very special occasion. catholic -- catholic charities, although we have been serving the population in the bay area for 100 years, this is one of the third programs, one of three programs in the mission. we have 35 programs. this is just one of three. we have been very, very blessed. we have funding now to open this site. the mission access point is really what it is.

it involves immigration services , as well as homelessness prevention. if it were not for the city of san francisco who gave us the money to start this program, we would not be here. i am very grateful to the city of san francisco. our sustainable plan is to see more funding so this program can grow, providing homelessness prevention services to the greater community has been such a big need to. as you know, we are seeing the numbers of homelessness increase our brothers and sisters are suffering every day on the streets. there are many who are not even counted. there are families living in their home, up to 20 people in a small space and they are often not counted. i would suggest to you that we have to work together, along with the city, and other nonprofits in our community, and our business community. those private-sector communities , to come together and solve the problem. none of us can do it alone. i am grateful to the mayor

because i know she is committed to helping us solve this critical problem. bless you all for being here. we serve everyone. i want to make sure everyone knows that. we do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation , or faith or anything else. the catholic charities are here for everyone. it is a safe space. we will always be a safe space. 116 years in san francisco and in the greater area, 153. we expect to be here for another 150 years plus. again, i'm grateful for your presence, your endorsement, your support, and mayor breed,, please honor us with your words. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. i want to start by thanking catholic charities for their 150 years of work and services in the community, but more

importantly, their willingness to step up and manage this incredible center that is going to be an incredible resource for , not only, sadly, some of our homeless families were struggling on our streets, but also our immigrant community. with the services that will be provided. as we sadly know, we have a president, who every single day, is attacking our immigrant community and here in san francisco, despite the attacks and despite the threats that come our way, we will continue to stand strong and provide resources and support to our immigrant community, for our people who are san franciscans, because sadly, we are under attack as a city and we will continue to do what's necessary to move the city forward which will include all san franciscans part of doing that is having a coordinated entry system in order to help our families grow and thrive.

here at catholic charities, this is one of five locations that provides a place that people who are experiencing homelessness, can come in order to be entered into a system so that we can help people get into shelter or get into permanent housing. already, and i think jeff kaczynski who is running this department of homelessness for the city, can talk to you about the numbers and how amazing this coordinated entry system has been in terms of identifying individuals, tracking individuals and transitioning people into permanent housing. i'm excited about what we've been able to do. because i know that you hear a lot about the numbers and what's going on, and why isn't san francisco doing enough to address this issue, and the fact is, san francisco is doing a lot to help house people and help get them on the right path. and one of the statistics that you may not hear often enough is we housed about 50 people a week

and right behind those 50 people there are another 65 people to take their place. there is a problem around the entire state of california about homelessness. about 24% of the homeless population that exists in the united states is here in the state of california. i'm excited about working on regional solutions for the purpose of addressing this problem. san francisco can't do it alone. but we are lucky that we have incredible partners who are willing to step up to the plate and they are still hiring for this location and looking for great and dedicated people to help facilitate this process and serve the community. in fact, thank you for your service in working with one of the clients who is here and who is actually working with the homeless population and is housed herself.

michelle, in fact was a client and was working with the homeless population and is now housed herself. so this is what is -- what success looks like. it is having a coordinated system and working together, providing the right resources, providing shelters, providing housing, getting rid of the bureaucratic red tape that prevents us from building housing in the first place. i am looking forward to collaborations with all the 90 -- nine d. bay counties to address this challenge. access points cannot only just exist in san francisco, but also throughout the bay area. we have to build those partnerships so we can help make sure that people are housed, but especially, especially families. people with the children. that is going to be extremely important to move the city forward. i'm happy to be at mission access point, where we will be

open and available and working with the community. i want to thank jeff kaczynski and catholic charities and all the people who are actively engaged in helping us and making this place a success for the homeless families, as well as immigrant populations. thank you all so much for being here today. at this time, i would like to introduce the supervisor who represents this district, henry ronen. [applause] -- hillary ronen. [applause] >> thank you so much. it is a very exciting day in the mission district. as you all know the mission district is one of the neighborhoods in the city where there are more homeless people living on the streets and in their cars in this neighborhood than anywhere else. it is one of the hard-hit neighborhoods. and to finally have an access point right here in the heart of the mission is so incredibly

meaningful and it is going to make a big difference in the lives of so many people. i also want to say that catholic charities being the organization housing this important program is also, you know, i don't know if it is luck, it is hard to say luck when there's so much hard work involved. but this is an organization that the mission of community trusts. the mission of community trust this organization because catholic charities have been doing the hard work and neighborhoods for decades. it is known as a safe place to come where the services will be linguistically and culturally sensitive, where they understand the intersection between several challenges, whether it's someone who is homeless and might be undocumented and might not be in the english dutch and english language speaker, catholic charities knows how to work with a population and make them feel heard, invested, involved, and

left. that is why i am particularly excited today. thank you. thank you so much for doing this important work and to all of the staff, thank you so much. i also just want to say that thank you to both the mayor and to jeff kaczynski for creating this coordinated system, finally , in san francisco, we are not reinventing the -- the wheel every single time interact with an individual. that is going to make the services that we provide so much more effective and meaningful because we will know what has been tried before and what did work, what didn't work, and be able to engage. finally, at the home, to one navigation center and one that has very close -- is very close by, to the shelters in santa maria and santa marta are, and to a new overnight program, the first of its kind that is starting at one avista horace mann school for the students

themselves that are experiencing housing and security or homelessness, knowing that they will be able to work in conjunction with the school, with the principal, with the social workers at the school and those families, and get them housed as quickly as possible, because we know it's criminal for over 2,000 students in our public school system to be homeless. we have to fix that yesterday. can we know that this coordination between the overnight program and catholic charities running the access point in the mission, that we will be able to do that. congratulations and thank you so much. [applause] >> okay. thank you, mayor breed and thank you supervisor ronen. i was going to do introductions of both of our speakers so i will do this backwards and thank mayor breed for her leadership on supporting coordinated entry,

which is really revolutionizing the way that we address homelessness in san francisco. will be able to help more people more effectively and eliminate waiting lists and really direct people towards services and resources that will help them move beyond homelessness or prevent them from becoming homeless and the first place. mayor breed has been a really incredible champion of this and we are very grateful to her leadership, and i also wanted to acknowledge that supervisor ronen has been very instrumental in bringing resources to the entire city, but especially into the mission district, helping raise $10 million at the state level to open up two new navigation centres. and more importantly than that, saying yes to navigation centres in her district and working with her constituents to help them support bringing services like the access point or navigation centres into her district. thank you very much for your leadership. and of course, to everybody at catholic charities to do such amazing work every day.

now he is my pleasure to introduce another part of the catholic charities family. ellen, who has a few words for us. thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you everyone. good morning. i am the senior division director for catholic charities. it's my pleasure to welcome everyone and open this site. it has been a work of beauty and pleasure to finally have us open i do want to thank our c.e.o. and all the staff who i work with day in and day out to our dedicated to serve our clients in the best way possible. we are an accredited organization. our standard of care follows best practices and we are truly blessed with being able to provide the best services and the highest quality care for our clients.

i also want to say, thanks to all the staff. this focuses us on hope and the tangible ways we can actively hope -- help our vulnerable neighbors thrive with dignity and self-determination. with the city and all of our other collaborative partners, we are focused on problem-solving. solving the problem of homelessness, and ending cycles of homelessness forever. that is our goal at catholic charities. we use problem-solving in our coordinated entry systems in order to end homelessness. we engage everyone in an equitable and community-based, solution oriented practice. where we acknowledge and give people opportunity to stand up and walk on their own to be

empowered to us use our tools so they can sign -- find their way in their lives and support their own children to thrive. i am honored today to introduce a client who we have served through our bayview access point site and our s.f. home homelessness prevention program. our sister program in the bayview has been open for a year now, which is really exciting, and hopefully we will have a birthday celebration there sometime soon. it does the same work. we do outreach in the communities, so we go out teen vans and find families that need our help and bring them into do the problem-solving and the coordinated entry care. his of the client is here today. i think you've already seen her. michelle english. she is a catholic charities client who, with the guidance of our staff and the services at the bayview access point and s.f. home programs, was able to

prevent homelessness, find stability, rebuild her life, and remained with her beloved 8 -year-old daughter, samara. did i get that right? so maia. i knew i would do that. with the stability of a home and a job now, she plans to become a sign language interpreter and pay it forward. please congratulate her and welcome her. [applause] >> how is everybody. first and foremost, i want to say thank you. everybody and jesus, i love you guys so much because without the consistency of it all, i don't feel like i would have accomplished everything. access point and bayview, people get discouraged in the neighborhood and it is not what

it is kept up just cracked up to be. the people inside a very welcoming and loving, like you feel welcome and from the time that i've been there and the time that lady has been assigned to my case has been nothing just greatness. when i feel like giving up and finding somewhere to live, they continue to keep pushing. i did some footwork but i owe them everything. they do the majority of the footwork. i don't really know what else to say, but it is a blessing and if we can keep utilizing the things that are out there. just know that you can reach out for help. i am big on pride i was allergic -- working at a homeless shelter the whole time i was home. i don't want to step out on myself and go ask for help but i asked for help and i received it

so the lesson now is i am able to walk into my home with my baby and she's so happy and i'm just thankful. [applause] >> thank you all very much for joining us today. i believe there's refreshments in the room over here. thank you again.

[ roll call ] >> president brandon: item two, approve meetings from october 23, 2018. >> approve. >> second. >> president brandon: all in favor? thank you. pledge of allegiance. 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, with liberty and justice for all. >> president brandon: please be advised the use of cel