the next step on the part that darrell was talking about that is automated, the parts that can be automated ids we are wrapping up the intake and we will -- at that point, we can review the permit history that we have existing today and to display its. that is what the three r. is all about. this is the worksheet that shows the permit history and that is what you can see. that is the worksheet that popped up. >> go ahead. >> this is where all of the research is aggregated. they can then select from these which ones they want to include on the reports but there is no photocopying. all of the records they select are associated with that records

so they have a complete record of everything they have included >> that is the completed report. now what goes on behind the scenes is not necessarily captured here. it is all the research they have to do. is this complete? was or something done where there were adjacent properties and somebody wrote at 16 b. and we are at 16 a cleat they do a ton of research to make sure the list is complete. depending on if the work was done prior to 1980 they have to go hunting through boxes and hunt down the information and to manually add that. this only shows you what is captured. >> so if they find something that isn't captured, do they add it to the database? then it becomes digitized. >> they are able to add it to the report. >> as you saw the three art reports generated, that gets --

if the applicant wanted and e-mailed it to them they can automatically e-mail it out. those documents are automatically attached to the record. >> so next time someone brings it up -- >> so if someone requests the report, same address, people aren't starting from scratch they pull that off and they can see all the permit history that was, at the time done and they simply have to augment that going forward. it will be a real timesaver for them. it is one of those examples of something that is -- it is a good thing but it does require change management and understanding. >> exactly. >> thank you for the demonstrations. it is something we can all look forward to. i do have two questions. regarding the uploading of the plans to the system, have you

tested it to see how much volume it could hold on the speed of the uploading? because plans can be very big. >> yes. uploads do work and one thing i want to caution is we are not implementing any form of electronic plan check but basically this is replacing what they do by e-mail today. they were able to upload it. the exact thing happens today with existing infrastructure. the only difference it is through e-mail instead of up to -- uploaded. >> the occult -- the electronic plan check will come later. >> are we going to -- is the permit systems going to be handling -- do they have to respond to the same system? will they be done separately like they do now through e-mails and letters?

>> it is largely done the way it is done now. everything is visible online. if we had to ask the applicant to change some plan pages, this process is what happens today. >> it will be documented and it will not be -- >> you should be able to see that or request went out and that is what we are waiting on right now. >> since we have embarked on this whole thing, one of the most major changes has been demands on data security and backups and redundancies. i know you have addressed in the past many of the redundancies that are built into this but could you specifically speak to any modifications or changes you have seen necessary? >> the data security, this will be hosted at a site and there

are processes that they must go through. there is a number of audits. there is an i.s.o. audit that they must complete and adhere to and send documentation and proof that the audit was conducted by a third party and compliance was confirmed. and there is a number of audits that they are subjected to to ensure that the data is secure and the data transmissions are encrypted appropriately and not visible to the outsiders. they have submitted and provided that information. it is very good. these are industry standard audits and do, in fact, have proven compliance. thank you. >> we don't store any credit card information or any of the transaction that happens and we passed that to your city

third-party payment providers to do the actual transactions for payments. we don't run the risk of having this data available. >> thank you. >> thank you, for the presentation. i want to stress that this is a gargantuan list that has been going on for a while and i think it is important to make sure that all of the bugs are worked out and not focused on a specific date. it would be horrible to roll this out after all this work and have it not work. i want to thank you for what you are doing. i am wondering about, forgive me if this has been discussed earlier, in terms of staff training that you have spoken a lot about, are there other plans for training the public? when that is rolled out to, where there be days where you'll be training at d.b.i. for contractors?

>> there is a full outreach plan that is pending at the ready upon completion of a good rounded test but there is a lot of outreach planned and there has been a lot of forethought into exactly how that will unfold. we need to get to the point where we are confident those dates are legit by the time we start publishing things and putting them in journals and reaching out to all the organizations. once we put that out there, the dates are stuck. so we do have a plan. it has been worked on in detail. it is on hold until we believe we are ready to proceed. >> commissioner walker has another question. >> to that point, the commissioner should be invited again. i have been one to one of one training which was very helpful in understanding. and even though we were not able to move through everything, it

really does give you a hands on so hopefully we all can go in and give her a run when it is time. >> definitely. >> not all at the same time three at once, right? >> i think that does it. thank you once again for your continuous dedication to getting this finished. >> thank you, very much. >> item eight. director's report. >> good morning, commissioners. before you is the september 2018 financial report. it provides first-quarter

information on revenues and expenditures. that is july, to september. revenues are at $60 million or $1.2 million more than the same time last year. that is primarily because of about a 600,000-dollar settlement that we received from a mitigation case. that is where the bulk of that comes from. on the expenditure side we are roughly the same. about $11 million. right now we have a projection that are at budget simply because it is so early in the fiscal year. if you look at the first page of the memo, you see services of other departments on a 16 million. it is really hard to make any projections because these aren't real expenditures yet. we are waiting until we have more expenditures. in the first quarter we normally set up eos and start working on ordering things pick may be by six months we will make more accurate predictions.

i'm happy to answer any questions. >> thank you. >> and then one other comment, last month i stated that we provide a separate report. it has taken a little bit longer citywide. we did go to a new financial management system. i hope to have that year in our report from the next fiscal year , next month. thank you. >> good morning. i am a legislative and public affairs manager. i will hit a few highlights from the documents that we sent along to you this morning. as you probably know, there is a government accounting and oversight. that has started about the same time and restarted today. they are still on the first item

and dealing with contractor safety. that was tied to the accident in the west portal tunnels that you probably already about. but the last item on the agenda is the standard building standards. the assistant director and i will be going down to participate in this. we understand that supervisor peskin is actually going to have the city administrator and some of the participants in the recent tall building study make a presentation to the committee and answer some questions. we are also there to answer questions. the director has already established an internal implementation team that is cochaired by the deputy director and senior engineer. that they have already had a couple of meetings and begun to look through the various

recommendations and timing from the tall bidding -- tall building study. we will provide you with more details on that as we have them. in addition to that, we do have supervisor tang dealing with expediting solar approval. the department of environment asked us to withdraw the finalization of that in order to add to battery storage and ev charging. the idea is to have an omnibus bill that will cover all three of those areas. we are working with the department of environment and with supervisor tang's office to make that happen. it will probably happen between now and the end of this year. that other item that you approved here a couple of months ago where we establish a formal process for reviewing legislation that comes from the board of supervisors has now

passed. it will take formal effect as of the 19th of november. as a mention to you before, this is a process that we do right now there, it only codifies and puts it into an ordinance that had been missing. the -- with that, i would say, the one other item that rules the committee today is supervisor ronan has recently introduced ordinance to give the building official and the fire marshal additional authority if a building owner has two or more outstanding notices of violation they could require such things as upgrades of sprinkler systems or fire alarm systems. i will be going through that hearing at 1:00 today, even

though i expect that there won't be much questioning around that and that there is uniform support on the board for it. with that, i will be happy to take any questions. >> thank you for the update. i have been seeing there is an initiative from the mayor's office to add a position to help expedite housing development. i want to talk about that a little bit. >> i can't talk about it because i don't know much about it. >> i am just curious what we are doing around that. >> to answer your question, we have a meeting with the mayor and the department head and then we come up with recommendations

to have somebody oversee all of the department to smooth out the process for all the housing projects. then we will create a position. they are still changing the name they are thinking about the name but i send you the e-mail copy this morning. actually, yesterday, i think i sent you and president mccarthy the funding source from our department and the department of public works. we agree to help this is overseeing all the housing project because of lots of issues. they have their own interpretation. >> so it will be included in our next budget as an additional position or something.

>> right away, because they need to hide to the person they are. they already announced that person. >> but we will put wider funding >> that's good. >> but they need to work out with the city attorney and budget office. i sent the e-mail. i said it was ok with me. we need to work it out with this city attorney office. >> perfect. i wanted to make sure everybody -- great. thank you. >> thank you. >> update on major projects. >> the major project is roughly a little bit increase and we also add the number of units into the summary. and any other question you have. >> seeing none. >> also, i want to take this opportunity to remind the commissioners here, we have a departmentwide meeting next

wednesday. you are more welcome to join us and we will pass all the information to all staff. >> is that at eight? >> next wednesday. >> at what time? >> 8:30 am. >> said the 24th? >> coffee is provided. >> we should schedule the commissioners to stand in different areas. >> item eight b. is enforcement. >> good morning, commissioners. i'm the chief building inspector this is an update on code enforcement for the month of september. 396 cases complaints were received. of those, 375 were responded to within 24 hours. that is a 95% response right. of those complaints, there were

27. complaints with first notice of violation was 50. and complaints that were received unabated without an nop for that period was 156. and abated complaints with no n.o.v., the number was 278. additionally, i have some numbers for you on vacant and abandoned buildings and vacant commercial storefronts. for the week of october fifth 2018, a total of 326 vacant abandoned buildings were on the list. and a total of 507 vacant commercial storefronts were on the list. >> wonderful. >> thank you.

i was not expecting that update on the storefronts there. when you say the storefronts are vacant, are they vacant because there's no for least signs in front of them? is there a reason why they are vacant? >> the chief inspector is here and he will but you better equipped to answer that question >> i was actually going to ask for an update on that. i did not know -- how far into your survey have you done now? that is hugely labour-intensive to get that information. >> good morning. most of these cases are on the list because we are triggered by complaints. the reason they're saying they're staying on the list is because they are partially compliance to the ordinance. they are either being leased but

we are having problems where the persons are saying, we are putting it on the market but three months down the line it is still being shown as a lease. we still have to keep it on the list for vacant storefronts. >> so in some retail it is hard to lease right now for a lot of reasons. we will not get into that right now. we are just trying to figure out how do you know a bad player to a good player, how are you defining that? >> at this point, what we are doing is if they come up to us and say that we will apply and we will put it on the list, sometimes we update the case and the reason this number is big because a lot of these cases are a yearly thing. where it goes through the list and next year it is up on the list again. because they paid their fees and

they are still open for a whole year. i think there is only a few cases where we have one owner having multiple open spaces or open storefronts or vacant storefronts. and now we are working on it and figure out whether it is a good thing to send it to a hearing and preparing those cases for a hearing. it is kind of difficult when they come in and they partially comply with the ordinance. and now ok you have to hold onto our case. >> i was going to call and have an update on that. who would be giving it? would it be dvi or housing? >> d.b.i. >> ok. so i want to have a conversation about planning to understand how we define these vacant storefronts. i'm getting mixed information on how we get there and i know there is some strong opinions

about some of the retail uses and that will never be able to be filled for one reason or another because of the zoning issues and so on. we will have another conversation about that. i was not expecting an update on that but it is great you're putting that in front of us as well. would that be done on a monthly basis as well? >> yes. great. >> commissioner moss? >> in terms of the public reporting vacant storefronts, i do believe that is an asset that so far has not been tapped as much as we can. i know your office only has so much manpower. is a possibility that the department could issue some type of e-mail that -- and explainer of how to tell if something is vacant and how to report it that can be e-mailed out? like if you are on the city's

e-mail list? i am asking how to get to neighborhood groups. i can think of a couple of citywide groups that i think would be happy to participate. i believe it was supervisor if fewer who had a weekend where they went out and did that. certainly with the elections coming up everything -- everyone is busy. i do think eyes on the streets is something we can tap. i guess i am wondering if this has been contemplated. >> we have something on our website to file a complaint for vacant buildings and we know that d.b.i. and inspection services are proactive and providing us properties when they go out into the field. but we do have that on our website. >> right. i am wondering how often, or if ever we are telling the public that it is on the website. [laughter] >> good morning. i'm a communications director

for d.b.i. i wanted to respond to your question, commissioner. it is something that we are developing right now. the website is definitely something that we have had online. i do think, is more focus and -- this has been since beginning of this year, more focus has been on vacant storefronts with supervisor fewer, supervisor ye, there is also some legislation that is looking into possibly providing stricter adherence to the registration requirements for vacant storefronts. we will be doing a number of outreach and marketing efforts on that. whether it is notifying businesses along the corridors. we are trying to figure out with invest the neighborhoods also in how to best do outreach. we unfortunately don't have e-mails as you are saying. it is something that they have to sign up with us and that we

use for that purpose only and then also we only have property information. there is about 26,000 of them. >> yes. thank you. >> thank you. >> clearly the vacant storefront is a huge problem and the 500 looks like a big number but it is probably a fraction of what is really out there. these are just the ones we know about and have cited. they have been either noticed by your inspectors support when they're out there or they have received complaints, so we have this tremendous problem and i know we are trying to address it in a variety of ways. while i applaud any efforts to do things like temporary uses and quicker permitting of that, do you have any sense of how big

the problem really is? apart from the 500 we have actually cited, even if it is anecdotal, are we looking at a magnitude of three, four, five, you know, what is your personal sense of how big this is? >> to be honest, it is difficult like you said, we have different cases and different ordinances that we have to deal with. this is one of the ordinances that actually has multiple inspectors. we want to be proactive. you have to have inspectors go out there every single day, every single time to walk the streets and march. and then the next week i will guarantee it will go off the list and then you go back the next street. you see what i am saying? it is difficult for us to take -- make an assessment and say this is an initiative that we need to recruit every single time. for us, like i said, the best

thing we have done is we have different inspectors and signed for it -- assigned for this. he will get more help. for right now, he is the only one that is following up and all of these issues. >> a second question, regarding the 326 other vacant and abandoned buildings, do you have any finer grain on that as to how many of them are single-family homes or two or three family versus commercial? >> 326 are residential buildings and then 507 are vacant commercial buildings. >> so the commercial is retail storefronts in and any commercial industrial? >> yes. >> thank you for that. >> i might add one more thing. i think that this is a good

point. this is a very fluid situation. these businesses are coming online and going off-line all the time and coming up to the holidays, we may see some more retail spaces being used. the effort is every week. it is changing. it is ongoing. it is fairly a big task. >> totally. >> thank you. >> is there any public comment on the director's report? item nine is approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of september 19th, 2018. >> moved to approve. >> second. >> there is a motion and a second. is there any public comment on the minutes? are all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? the minutes are approved. item ten is adjournment. >> madam secretary, before we adjourn, i would like to close our meeting in honor of sean

mcnulty who is a very seasons chief of the building inspector for the city for many, many years. he joined the department in 1983 and he retired in some time and three. he was brave enough to come back in 2007 to help out for a year or so and bring his expertise. and his relationships back to the department to help. he was very well respected by the file. he treated everyone with such great respect. somebody pointed out to me it was like as if you are family the way he mentored you. i would like to close out, if i made this meeting in honor of sean and our condolences to his family. >> thank you. >> i join in that. thank you. >> we are now adjourned. it is 11:34 am. [♪]

>> my name tom hewitt. first of all, i would like to welcome everyone to come to this fair. this safety fair, we trying to

educate the public regarding how to prepare themselves during and after the earthquake and then to protect themselves for next 72 hours. >> hi. my name's ed sweeney. i'm the director of services at department of building inspection, and we put together a great fair for the city of san francisco to come down and meet all the experts. we've got engineers, architects. we have builders, we have government agencies. >> well, we have four specific workshops. we have the accessible business entrance. >> my name is leah, and i am the assistant manager with the department of small business. i am leading the new accessibility ordinance that

helps existing owners better comply with existing access laws. so all buildings that have places of public accommodation in san francisco, they must comply with this ordinance. >> the a.d.e. was setup by the board of supervisors, and the ordinance was passed about a year ago. >> one of the biggest updates that we have is that the deadlines were extended, so all of the deadlines were extended by six months. >> and it's really to help the public, the business community to be specific, to cut down on the amount of drive by lawsuits. >> so on this workshop, we're going to be covering what the compliance looks like, what business examiand property owne need to know how to comply with the ordinance. we'll also talk about the departments that are involved, including the office of small business, department of building

inspection, planning department, as well as the mayor's office on disability. >> hi. i'm marselle, and i manage a team at the building department. today, we'll cover the meaning of a.d.u.s, more commonly known as accessory dwelling units. we'll talk about the code and permitting processes, and we'll also talk about legalizing existing dwelling units that are currently unwarranted. >> this is the department of building inspection's residential remodelling workshop. my name is senior electrical inspector cheryl rose, and at this workshop, we're going to be answering questions such as do i need an electrical permit when i'm upgrading my dwelling, when

do i need to have planning involved in a residential remodel, and what's involved with the coerce process? we're going to also be reviewing inspection process, and the permitting process for residential remodel in san francisco. there's always questions that need answers. it's a mystery to the general public what goes on in construction, and the more we can clarify the process, the more involved the consumer can be and feel comfortable with the contractors they're working with and the product they're getting in the results. if you have questions that aren't addressed in this workshop, you're always welcome to come up to the third floor of 1660 mission street, and we're happy to discuss it with you and find out what you need to do. >> the program is very successful. the last piece is already 60% in compliance. >> well, we have a very

important day coming up. it's sept 15. last four has to be compliance, which means that the level four people that have to register with us and give us a basic indication of how they're going to deal with their seismic issues on their building. >> i'm francis zamora, and i'm with the san francisco department of emergency management, and today we talked about how to prepare for emergencies in san francisco. and so that's really importantiimportant. in san francisco, it's no secret. we live in earthquake country. there's a big chance we will be involved in a major earthquake in the next 30 years, but we don't have to be afraid. these are going to be your first responders outside of the police officers, paramedics, first responders, these are going to be the people that come to your aid first. by getting to know your

neighbors, you're going to know who needs help and who can help in case of an emergency. one of the great ways to do that is for signing7for nert, san francisco neighborhood emergency response team. it teaches you how to take care of yourself, your loved ones, and your neighborhood in the case of an emergency. information is just as important as water and food in an emergency. san francisco has an emergency text message alert system, called text sf. if there's some kind of an emergency happening in san francisco or your neighborhood, it could be a police action, a big fire, a tsunami or an earthquake. all you have to do is text your citizenship code to 888777, and your mobile phone is automatically registered for alert sf. >> my name is fernando juarez, and i'm a fire captain with the

san francisco fire department. we have a hire extinguisher training system. you want to pull the pin, stand at least 8 feet away, aim it at the base. if you're too close, the conical laser that comes out, it's too small, and the fire won't go out on the screen. if you step back, the conical shape on the screen is bigger, and it will take the fire go out faster. so it can tell when you're too close. >> my name is alicia wu, and i'm the director of a san francisco based nonprofit. since 2015, we go out to the

public, to the community and provide training in different topics. today we're doing c.p.r., controlling external feeding and how to do perfect communications in each topic, and also, i hope that they can bring it home and start gathering all the supplies for themselves to. >> on any given day in san francisco, we're very well resourced in terms of public safety professionals, but we all know in the event of a large scale disaster, it will be hours and days before the public safety professionals can get to you, so we encourage people to have that plan in place, be proactive. there's websites. we have a wonderful website called 72hours.org. it tells you how to prepare yourself, your family, your pets, your home, your workplace. we can't emphasize enough how

important it is to be >> hi today we have a special edition of building san francisco, stay safe, what we are going to be talking about san francisco's earth quakes, what you can do before an earthquake in your home, to be ready and after an earthquake to make sure that you are comfortable staying at home, while the city recovers. ♪ >> the next episode of stay safe, we have alicia johnson from san francisco's department of emergency management. hi, alicia thanks to coming >> it is a pleasure to be here with you. >> i wonder if you could tell us what you think people can do to get ready for what we know

is a coming earthquake in san francisco. >> well, one of the most things that people can do is to make sure that you have a plan to communicate with people who live both in and out of state. having an out of state contact, to call, text or post on your social network is really important and being able to know how you are going to communicate with your friends, and family who live near you, where you might meet them if your home is uninhab hitable. >> how long do you think that it will be before things are restored to normal in san francisco. >> it depends on the severity of the earthquake, we say to provide for 72 hours tha, is three days, and it helps to know that you might be without services for up to a week or more, depending on how heavy the shaking is and how many after shocks we have. >> what kind of neighborhood and community involvement might you want to have before an earthquake to make sure that you are going to able to have

the support that you need. >> it is important to have a good relationship with your neighbors and your community. go to those community events, shop at local businesses, have a reciprocal relationship with them so that you know how to take care of yourself and who you can rely on and who can take care of you. it is important to have a battery-operated radio in your home so that you can keep track of what is happening in the community around and how you can communicate with other people. >> one of the things that seems important is to have access to your important documents. >> yes, it is important to have copies of those and also stored them remotely. so a title to a home, a passport, a driver's license, any type of medical records that you need need, back those up or put them on a remote drive or store them on the cloud, the same is true with any vital information on your computer. back that up and have that on a cloud in case your hard drive does not work any more.

>> in your home you should be prepared as well. >> absolutely. >> let's take a look at the kinds of things that you might want to have in your home. >> we have no water, what are we going to do about water? >> it is important for have extra water in your house, you want to have bottled water or a five gallon container of water able to use on a regular basis, both for bathing and cooking as well as for drinking. >> we have this big container and also in people's homes they have a hot water heater. >> absolutely, if you clean your hot water heater out regularly you can use that for showering, drinking and bathing as well >> what other things do people need to have aren't their home. >> it is important to have extra every day items buy a couple extra cans of can food that you can eat without any preparation. >> here is a giant can of green giant canned corn. and this, a manual can opener, your electric can opener will

not be working not only to have one but to know where to find it in your kitchen. >> yes. >> so in addition to canned goods, we are going to have fresh food and you have to preserve that and i know that we have an ice chest. >> having an ice chest on hand is really important because your refrigerator will not be working right away. it is important to have somebody else that can store cold foods so something that you might be able to take with you if you have to leave your home. >> and here, this is my very own personal emergency supply box for my house. >> i hope that you have an alternative one at home. >> oh, i forgot. >> and in this is really important, you should have flashlights that have batteries, fresh batteries or hand crank flashlight. >> i have them right here. >> good. excellent. that is great. additionally, you are going to want to have candles a whistle, possibly a compass as well.

markers if you want to label things if you need to, to people that you are safe in your home or that you have left your home. >> i am okay and i will meet you at... >> exactly. exactly. water proof matches are a great thing to have as well. >> we have matches here. and my spare glasses. >> and your spare glasses. >> if you have medication, you should keep it with you or have access to it. if it needs to be refrigerated make sure that it is in your ice box. >> inside, just to point out for you, we have spare batteries. >> very important. >> we have a little first aid kit. >> and lots of different kinds of batteries. and another spare flashlight. >> so, alicia what else can we do to prepare our homes for an earthquake so we don't have damage? >> one of the most important things that you can do is to secure your valuable and breakable items. make sure that your tv is strapped down to your entertainment cabinet or wall so it does not move. also important is to make sure

that your book case is secure to the wall so that it does not fall over and your valuable and breakables do not break on the ground. becoming prepared is not that difficult. taking care of your home, making sure that you have a few extra every-day items on hand helps to make the difference. >> that contributes dramatically to the way that the city as a whole can recover. >> absolutely. >> if you are able to control your own environment and house and recovery and your neighbors are doing the same the city as a whole will be a more resilient city. >> we are all proud of living in san francisco and being prepared helps us stay here. >> so, thank you so much for joining us today, alicia, i appreciate it. >> absolutely, it is my pleasure. >> and thank you for joining us on another edition of building san francisco, 911, what's the emergency? >> san francisco 911, police, fire and medical.

>> the tenderloin. suspect with a six inch knife. >> he was trying to get into his car and was hit by a car. >> san francisco 911 what's the exact location of your emergency? >> welcome to the san francisco department of emergency management. my name is shannon bond and i'm the lead instructor for our dispatch add -- academy. i want to tell you about what we do here. >> this is san francisco 911. do you need police, fire or medical? >> san francisco police, dispatcher 82, how can i help you? >> you're helping people in their -- what may be their most vulnerable moment ever in life. so be able to provide them immediate help right then and there, it's really rewarding. >> our agency is a very combined agency. we answer emergency and non-emergency calls and we also do dispatching for fire, for medical and we also do dispatching for police. >> we staff multiple call

taking positions. as well as positions for police and fire dispatch. >> we have a priority 221. >> i wanted to become a dispatcher so i could help people. i really like people. i enjoy talking to people. this is a way that i thought that i could be involved with people every day. >> as a 911 dispatcher i am the first first responder. even though i never go on seen -- scene i'm the first one answering the phone call to calm the victim down and give them instruction. the information allows us to coordinate a response. police officers, firefighters, ambulances or any other agency. it is a great feeling when everyone gets to go home safely at the end of the day knowing that you've also saved a citizen's life. >> our department operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. >> this is shift work. that means we work nights,

weekends and holidays and can involve over time and sometimes that's mandatory. >> this is a high stress career so it's important to have a good balance between work and life. >> we have resources available like wellness and peer support groups. our dispatchers of the month are recognized for their outstanding performance and unique and ever changing circumstances. >> i received an accommodation and then i received dispatcher of the month, which was really nice because i was just released from the phones. so for them to, you know, recognize me for that i appreciated it. i was surprised to even get it. at the end of the day i was just doing my job. >> a typical dispatch shift includes call taking and dispatching. it takes a large dedicated group of fifrst responders to make ths department run and in turn keep the city safe. >> when you work here you don't work alone, you work as part of a team. you may start off as initial phone call or contact but

everyone around you participating in the whole process. >> i was born and raised in san francisco so it's really rewarding to me to be able to help the community and know that i have a part in -- you know, even if it's behind the scenes kind of helping the city flow and helping people out that live here. >> the training program begins with our seven-week academy followed by on the job training. this means you're actually taking calls or dispatching responders. >> you can walk in with a high school diploma, you don't need to have a college degree. we will train you and we will teach you how to do this job. >> we just need you to come with an open mind that we can train you and make you a good dispatcher. >> if it's too dangerous to see and you think that you can get away and call us from somewhere safe. >> good. that's right. >> from the start of the academy to being released as a solo dispatcher can take nine months to a year.

>> training is a little over a year and may change in time. the training is intense. very intense. >> what's the number one thing that kills people in this country? so we're going to assume that it's a heart attack, right? don't forget that. >> as a new hire we require you to be flexible. you will be required to work all shifts that include midnights, some call graveyard, days and swings. >> you have to be willing to work at different times, work during the holidays, you have to work during the weekends, midnight, 6:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the afternoon. that's like the toughest part of this job. >> we need every person that's in here and when it comes down to it, we can come together and we make a really great team and do our best to keep the city flowing and safe. >> this is a big job and an

honorable career. we appreciate your interest in joining our team. >> we hope you decide to join us here as the first first responders to the city and county of san francisco. for more information on the job and how to apply follow the links below. . >> i love that i was in four plus years a a rent control tenant, and it might be normal because the tenant will -- for the longest, i was applying for b.m.r. rental, but i would be in the lottery and never be like 307 or 310. i pretty much had kind of given up on that, and had to leave san francisco. i found out about the san

francisco mayor's office of housing about two or three years ago, and i originally did home counseling with someone, but then, my certificate expired, and one of my friends jamie, she was actually interested in purchasing a unit. i told her about the housing program, the mayor's office, and i told her hey, you've got to do the six hour counseling and the 12 hour training. she said no, i want you to go with me. and then, the very next day that i went to the session, i notice this unit at 616 harrison became available, b.m.i. i was like wow, this could potentially work. housing purchases through the b.m.r. program with the sf mayor's office of housing, they are all lotteries, and for this one, i did win the lottery. there were three people that applied, and they pulled my number first.

i won, despite the luck i'd had with the program in the last couple years. things are finally breaking my way. when i first saw the unit, even though i knew it was less than ideal conditions, and it was very junky, i could see what this place could be. it's slowly beginning to feel like home. i can definitely -- you know, once i got it painted and slowly getting my custom furniture to fit this unit because it's a specialized unit, and all the units are microinterms of being very small. this unit in terms of adaptive, in terms of having a murphy bed, using the walls and ceiling, getting as much space as i can. it's slowly becoming home for me. it is great that san francisco has this program to address, let's say, the housing crisis that exists here in the bay area.

it will slowly become home, and i am appreciative that it is a bright spot in an otherwise >> look at that beautiful jellyfish. the way to speak to students and motivate them to take action, to save the planet, they do, they care and my job is to speak to them in a way that they can understand that touches their heart and makes them feel powerful with simple actions to take every day. ♪ ♪ >> i was born and raised in the desert of palm springs,

california. my dad was the rabbi in the community there. what i got from watching my father on stage talking to the community was learning how to be in the public. and learning how to do public speaking and i remember the first time i got up to give my first school assembly, i felt my dad over my shoulder saying pause for drama, deliver your words. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a teacher. and then when i got into high school, i decided i wanted to get into advertising and do graphic art and taglines and stuff like that. by the time i was in college, i decided i wanted to be a decorator. but as i did more work, i realized working my way up meant a lot of physical labor. i only had so much energy to work with for the rest of my

life and i could use that energy towards making a lot of money, helping someone else make a lot of money or doing something meaningful. i found the nonprofit working to save the rainforest was looking for volunteers. i went, volunteered and my life changed. suddenly everything i was doing had meaning. stuffing envelopes had meaning, faxing out requests had meaning. i eventually moved up to san francisco to work out of the office here, given a lot of assembly through los angeles county and then came up here and doing assemblies to kids about rainforest. one of my jobs was to teach about recycle, teaching students to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, i'm teaching them they have the power, and that motivates them. it was satisfying for me to work with for the department of

environment to create a message that gets to the heart of the issue. the san francisco department of environment is the only agency that has a full time educational team, we go into the schools to help teach children how to protect nature and the environment. we realized we needed animal mascot to spark excitement with the students. the city during the gold rush days, the phoenix became part of the city feel and i love the symbolism of the phoenix, about transformation and the message that the theme of the phoenix provides, we all have the power to transform our world for the better. we have to provide teachers with curriculum online, our curriculum is in two different languages and whether it's lesson plans or student fact sheets, teachers can use them

and we've had great feedback. we have helped public and private schools in san francisco increase their waste use and students are working hard to sort waste at the end of the lunch and understand the power of reusing, reducing, recycling and composting. >> great job. >> i've been with the department for 15 years and an environmental educator for more than 23 years and i'm grateful for the work that i get to do, especially on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. i try to use my voice as intentionally as possible to suppo support, i think of my grandmother who had a positive attitude and looked at things positively. try to do that as well in my work and with my words to be an

uplifting force for myself and others. think of entering the job force as a treasure hunt. you can only go to your next clue and more will be revealed. follow your instincts, listen to your gut, follow your heart, do what makes you happy and pragmatic and see where it takes you and get to the next place. trust if you want to do good in this world, that