[♪] >> i am the supervisor of district one. i am sandra lee fewer. [♪]

>> i moved to the richmond district in 1950 mine. i was two years old. i moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [♪] >> when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. it seems so far away. for a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. the stress was storage of the birthplace of that. my father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. it just started to grow very organically. it is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the richmond district. as russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. so parts of the richmond is very

concentrated with the russian community and immigrant russian community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [♪] >> i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. they are beautiful barriers. the presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the pacific ocean. we also also have a national park service. we boarded the golden gate national recreation area so there is a lot of activity to do in the summer time you see people with bonfires. but really families enjoying the beach and the pacific ocean during the rest of the time of year. [♪] >> and golden gate park where we have so many of our treasures

here. we have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. this is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. the theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. it has been around for a very long time. is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. i moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. we would always go here. i love these neighborhood theatres. it is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the richmond district, but also in san francisco. small theatres showing one or two films. a unique -- they are unique also to the neighborhood and san francisco. >> where we are today is the heart of the richmond district. with what is unique is that it

is also small businesses. there is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. and providing for the neighborhood. this is what we love about the streets. the cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you will see small businesses even towards 32nd. at the core of it is right here between here and 20 -- tenth avenue. when we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the -- any other part of san francisco. there is traditional irish music which you don't get hardly anywhere in san francisco. some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to have a sunday afternoon ice cream. and then also, we see grocery stores. and also these restaurants that are just new here, but also thriving.

[♪] >> we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. that is a really great thing to see. i don't know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. i like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. the market is the place i like to come to once a year. once i like about the market as it is very affordable. it has fresh produce and fresh meat. also, seafood. but they also offer a large selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. a variety of rice that they have is tremendous. i don't thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. >> hi. i am kevin wong. i am the manager.

in 1989 we move from chinatown to richmond district. we have opened for a bit, over 29 years. we carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india. we try to keep everything fresh daily. so a customer can get the best out a bit. >> normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. because they have really just really fresh crab. this is something my family really likes for me to make. also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup. they cut it to the size they really want. i am probably here once a week. i'm very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier -- cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets,

which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. we don't speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. i do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. the staff here is very helpful. i speak very little chinese here myself. thinks that i'm not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need? is this what i should be making? and they actually really helped me. they will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. they are very knowledgeable. very friendly. i think they are here to serve not only the asian community but to serve all communities in the richmond district and in san francisco. [♪] >> what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the

sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered.

i pledge allegiance to the flagu nited states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> you thank you. >> this is a reminder to silence all electronic devices. fire commission special meeting, wednesday, november 28th. the time 5:00. item one is roll call. (roll call).

>> clerk: item two. general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for flee minutes for any matter that does not appear on the agenda. address remarks to the board as awhile. do not enter into discussion with the speaker. it does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. >> do we have any public comment? yes or no? if you are going to do a presentation you have to be in public comment. you have three minutes.

>> retired assistant deputy chief. i would suggest nonnobodiable requirements for the chief department. the preservation of life and property is to prevent the city from being destroyed by firestorms after an earthquake. thousands of lives will be lost and nothing else that may have been accomplished up to that time will matter. the chief must understand following the great earthquake it can only be brought under control by a continuous supply of water which is available on three sides of the city in the pacific ocean and bay. the option 12 hydrant system proposed for the outer richmond and sunset using the limited water shore with 14,000 gal per

minute would supply three hydrants. the fire chief should be capable. the chief should know the sf p.u.c. leading expert on earthquakes predicts 20 to 30 simultaneous fires. the chief must not endorse such an inadequate proposal as option 12. simultaneously telling the board of supervisors the fire commission and public this will provide sufficient water to save neighborhoods from destruction fibuyer. this would be -- this would be impossible. to assist in you the requirements the chief must meet in the city above the time bomb created by the 2002 plates i have assembled the information

for review. i suggest the information in the binders i have given you will clarify the issues most critical to selecting the next chief. it may assist you in well informed decisions in the future regarding lives and property of the residents of the city which is your primary responsibility as fire commissioners. thank you for your time and attention. >> thank you. >> clerk: i want to remind everybody this general public comment is for items that do not appear on the agenda. item four will cover. >> thank you. any further public comment not on the agenda. public comment is closed. item 3. >> apapproval of the minutes, discussion and possible action to arm prove the meeting minutes of november 14, 2018. >> any public comment on the

minutes? seeing none public comment is closed. what is your pleasure? commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: thank you, mr. president. there are omissions. i understand that the commission secretary was under a time challenge to get this out due to the holiday, but there are a number of things that should be included in the minutes in order for them to be complete and of additional service to the members of the public that we will read them. i request that this item be tabled and that those omissions be discussed. >> are these omissions extensive? >> significant however not extensive.

>> do i have a motion to table to the next motion. >> clerk: you do not need a motion to table. it is the call of the chair. >> do it. >> clerk: thank you, sir. >> clerk: item 4 discussion of desirable qualities for the next san francisco fire chief. this is an opportunity for members of the public and sffd to provide input to the commission regarding the next fire chief. >> is there any public comment on this item? the purpose of this meeting tonight is to get in put from the public. it is appropriate. we haven't had an opportunity to have a new fire chief in san francisco for almost 15 years so this is really an tinter for the public to come forth to tell us what you think are the qualities, the talents, credentials, experience, background that a new fire chief should have for the city and

county of san francisco so we are listening to you. we commissioners will refer three candidates to the mayor for her selection. your input is very important to us. please come forward and identify yourself. >> good evening, commission. i am steve martin pinto assigned to enagain 36. today i am coming to you today as a residents of san francisco, fifth generation from san francisco. president of the sunny side neighborhood association representing 2000 household to district 7 and city hall. as far as desirable trades for the next chief. i would like a chief to be interested in forming a team for sf if we join task force 3 or 4 or form our own.

it is great to boost preparedness to deal with natural disaster or terrorist attack as well as fema funding to boost our training, resources and other great things which are good for the department. i would like to see the next fire chief continue down the path of close integration with the police and sheriff. as the person who responded to the june 2017 active shooter event, i can tell you from personal experience it is essential. we need to continue training together. as these things become more and more common we need to be able to react in the best possible manner to deal with such a situation. also, as a native i am interested in having a chief dedicated to hire more people from san francisco and the bay area. people like myself born and

raised here are passionate about the city. we care a lot and want to get involved in the community and want somebody with those traits. as a 16-year-old veteran of the reserve i think veterans bring a lot to the table the they have the discipline, integrity, mental and physical integrity. veterans would benefit the department and the quality and caliber of employees that we have. thank you. >> next, please come forward. >> good afternoon. i am nancy. i thank the commission for the public comment on the important issue of selecting the next fire chief. first, i have a request of this commission today you add an item

to the next agenda. please include an item to add a project to the new 10 year capital plan to extent is awss system with three new saltwater pump systems to serve all new residential neighborhoods not protected with unlimited water. this is not currently in your 10 year plan. they will be updating this in january. the new chief should make the awss expansion a top priority. second the new chief must be able to effectively demonstrate independence and stand up to the sfpac who fail to provide projects that guarantee firefighters with enough water to fight earthquake fires. the p.u.c. has its own agenda to

replace the water mains with bonds and call it co-benefit to use our drinking water to suppress waters instead of water from the ocean to do their jobs. when i put in the sunshine request to see the fire department standards for a new pipeline from sunset reservoir your department did not have any stampedes to sends me and referred me back to the p.u.c. this is not okay that you demand the standards to give your firefighters the maximum backup they need through high pressure, high volume pipes. right now you are relying on water in the sun set reservoir to fill three needs. one by law to share the water with 27 peninsula cities who are joint owners of the water. two to fight post earthquake

fires and three provide drinking water. this is a lousy deal for those in the western and southern parts of the city. they may own the assets. you are the only beneficiary in the system. please demand your rights. i have provided you with a copy of my article front page with the fire marina district that i hope you will read and see more comments. thank you for inviting us. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good evening. thank you for doing this. it is remarkable. it is very, very important. i am james the author of a 1906 novel. i spend 30 year studying what happened to us in 1906 and 1989.

at the end of the report on september 11th there was one sentence. failure you hav of imagination. this may be the most important hire the further from 1906 the closer to a repeat. historyid should be the greatest teacher. we never learn a lesson. in 1906, the day after the earthquake and fire the united states navy show up at the foot of van ness avenue here with 1,000 firefighters and five miles of hose. they used those massive desem engines to pump the saltwater that stopped the fire or we would have lost the entire western edition only 14% of the city was saved. in 1989 a system created in 1906

the auxiliary water supply and portable water supply system that went online six days before the earthquake saved a repeat. for the fire department pumped 5.5 million-gallons of saltwater to stop the fire. you have one you have the biggest housing units in the city. there are six engine companies and 24 firefighters and 10 people. no saltwater, no diesel pumps. we expect 34 firefighters to stop the fire in the sun set richmond district that is impossible. the bodies lost in paradise and the camp fire were horrified 83 people were killed. we lost 500 people on sixth street between howard and

harrison who burned alive when there was no water to stop the fire. the only thing to stop the fire is massive diesel pumps and saltwater. these young firefighters standing to get in to back up to firefighters behind me, this has to stop. there will be a repeat of 1906 and it's may happen on your watch. the next fire chief has to understand history and has to put an end to this. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good evening, commissioners. i am lieutenant heather buren. i am in the department in 1987. this is my 21st year in the force. i currently am a lieutenant in

the fillmore district, paramedic, past president of the united fire service women and board member. i live in the city that loves this department. characteristics that i think we can agree on and i have heard with the water supply folks imagination. i have heard imagination, firefighter experience and knowledge of our job, vision, strength, leadership integrity, humor. these are things everyone in the next agree we want our next chief to have. allow me to be more specific. i am going to ask you to consider three additional areas of focus that i would like our new chief to direct their attentions and funds to. we all know the mission of the

san francisco fire department is to protect lives and property of the citizens of this great city. it also states to provide a work environment prioritizing health and wellness for us. we could say protect the lives of the folks who spend their lives saving lives. try that three times. it is important. as cancer rates continue to rise in our profession, in the city, in my colleagues and friends, and as ptsi, post tram attic stress injury i is acknowledged. i want our new chief to prevent

sickness among our ranks. the intention if there. if there is no money. second, training. we get the best training out there in the field, but we need continued growth of our training division. that in my mind including a focus on all ranks and divisions. with a commitment to find the funding and to start t to envision maybe to ask the rank and file to envision the design for state of art facility we know is coming up in the near future. i don't really need that. third. >> your time is up. this is your point. >> lastly, i want a leader able to work together to collabor

arraignment with other organizations in the city. that is so important with other organizations of the government in the city and with every rang and division. that person needs to have sat there to understand what it means. if you can't work with other people and trust in your decisions and communicate, we are not going to take it to the place we can bring the fire department. you will have the support, the chief will have the support of rank and file, i promise you. uniting every rank and division as a whole staff to prevention investigation, ems, airport division, support services, homeland security, k-9. this is huge. we need somebody to communicate with all of them. someone who is not scared to ask for help with that. >> thank you very much.

any additional public comment? seeing none. public comment is closed. commissioners, commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: thank you, mr. president. i am happy that we have this on the agenda. i know the time of the day was not the most opportune time and so many people expressed to me they couldn't be here today, but of the few people who did speak to us spoke eloquently and very specifically. i very much appreciate your comments, and i took notes. thank you. >> commissioner hecommission.

>> commissioner veronese: this is an opportunity to choose somebody to take this department to the next level. i am a little disappointed. maybe this is not the right way to do this we didn't hear from more members. i know the fire department like members of the police department are never short of an opinion, and those opinions are really important to this commission. we as a economics before we decide need to figure out a way to really gauge the temperature and the needs of the members of the department because this clearly didn't work. there weren't enough opinions here. i thank the people that did take the time to show up. i don't think it is a very good cross section of the members of the department.

i can tell you myself over the next two to three weeks i will pop into the various stations and ask the members to give them an opportunity to directly communicate with me. i will encourage since there are only one of me and five of us that is rest of the commissioners do that. gauging the temperature what the members of the department want is important. i hope to hear from the various local 798 there, black firefighters in the crowd tonight. i hope there is some sort of of memo or something that is cents to the commission to give us a sense what you guys are looking for. you represent a lot of people in your groups and the asian firefighters and groups as well. i want to go into this decision with a lot of information, and i

think it is an important decision. i want a lot of information and i want a lot of candidates as you saw from the last discussion on who is eligible. i don't want five, four people. i would like to get a good depth of people to choose from. i would like to have more information and i will get it somehow, i guess. >> thank you. >> vice president nakajo: thank you very much, president cleveland. i also want to express my appreciation as a commissioner of the important commission of those individuals who took time to come here on short notice in terms of us putting this out as information in terms of an

ability to be able to verbalize. i want to thank each one of you who came to do that. in terms of participation in terms of what you wanted to talk about, qualifications in terms of needs. part of that this session in terms of the goal is one opportunity, but i also think the commission has many opportunities to go to the rank and file and have dialogue. i think inform so many ways this might be a deterrent for folks in terms of scheduling and time. i agree that it would be good if we could go out and have certain interaction with the meshes. i for one think the dialogue with employment organizations such as the black firefighters, asia firefighters is a real good

mechanism by which we could try to get interaction. what that requires for us is that we have a working rapport or communication coordination with those various groups. i didn't mean to leave out the women and veterans. there are functioning employee groups to be made up of the membership. we all know people can pay into membership, but participation is another level. i think for us to be proactive and there is a time period here to start the process. concerning to the calendar we have steps to go before we get into the mechanism of recommendation. i want to thank many of you as well. thank you, mr. president. >> president cleaveland: thank you. >> commissioner hardeman: thanks for the speakers who came

forward. this is about the crowd i thought we would have. i really don't know if any of us will hear anything different. everybody wants the same thing in the chief. training might not be their five are or it -- favorite thing for each candidate. the candidates that have been announced by other command staff people to let know that we could expect a certain candidate to come forward, we have a lot of talented people in the department. i would be surprised if someone from outside the department could have the talent we possess right in this room and this department. i am looking forward to this. this is a terrific honor the

four of us have to pick three people, and i think we will have three wonderful candidates going forward. thank you for coming out and giving your opinion, taking your time. that shows your love for the present firefighters of your occupation and of the department. i didn't think chief tom and his work on the auxiliary over the years is wonderful. thank you. we are looking forward to exciting times. if you have what it takes to be a fire chief, apply and we look forward to interviewing people. thank you.

>> president cleaveland: the deadline for applies is december 7th. we will have another meeting on december 12th, and we can add an item, additional comment on the attributes for future fire chief we could add to the meeting. it would be right after thanksgiving. why don't we add that to the agenda to get additional public comment. i appreciate those that came out tonight and the awss information. it is something that has been discussed multiple times over the years with to date very little action. that is something to look at in the future. we will add that to the agenda for the december 12th meeting to

have additional inputs and comment on the fire chief's position. thank you very much commissioners and thank you for the public coming forward on this item. >> clerk: item 5 report from administration, deputy chief jeanine nicholson on the administration divisions, fleet and facility status, fire nance, support services, homeland security and training within the department. >> good evening commissioners. i will try to knock your socks off with my report from the the administrative side. the commissioner's office are going to be busy conducting physicals for the people that are going to be getting can offers of employment.

the investigative services bureau is in the process of conducting background investigations and meet and greets with people for the next academy. the process is underway and it is exciting. the assignment office. many of the vacation relief moves came out today. there be some more out tomorrow and vacation bidding begins tomorrow for temperature city, the -- for the city. the ffo vacancy and it is already completed. vacation bidding tomorrow for everyone from 11/29 to 12/5. support services. our poe