doing business. unfortunately, we don't have a lot of control over it. >> okay. your answer is we would not have any harm if we were to hold this over for one week. >> it's fine. >> okay. >> hold on a second. mr president, supervisor mandelman, what is before us says that you have entered into the agreement. is that true or untrue? >> with the board of supervisors approval, we did enter into the agreement when it first began, and this is an amendment to the agreement, the second amendment, where they are encumbering additional funds for this year. [please stand by]

>> the clerk's always asked to include that language when we submit our resolutions because the agreement is already, you know, it's an amendment to change an agreement. that's already in place. >> seni would you like us to continue. >> supervisor peskin: i've made a motion to continue this so we can have real and meaningful answers. madame clerk, if you would like to weigh in as to why this is

retroactive. i'm sorry this has become so challenging. >> to the president, staff are conferring on the topic, so a continuance is a good idea at this point. >> there has been a motion meant to continue and seconded. if there is no -- seconded by supervisor safai. no objection then the motion to continue passes. >> supervisor yee: madame clerk, 303. so why don't we go to the clock special order item 1 through 44. >> 41 through 44 comprise the public hearing of persons interested in the decision of public works dated january 4, 2019. approving a tentative map for three-unit condominium project.

item 42 is the motion approve the department's decision to approve the map for the project and make the appropriate findings. item 43 is to disapprove the department's decision subject to written findings in support of the disapproval and item 44 is a motion to direct the preparation of findings. >> thank you, president preside. i'm asking that we continue matters 190039, 190041, 42, to march 5 with the hearing remaining open so we can continue to hear from the parties and the public at that meeting. we've been meeting with the appellant and my office is working directly with her. this is not an old case. the appeal was filed just last

month, so allowing for continuance will not prejudice either party. >> supervisor yee: thank you. the department's staff, do they wish to make comments? i don't see a department rep here. these items will be continued and we'll take public comment. >> mr. president, i believe aaron star is here from planning although this is public works. >> aaron star, manager of legislative affairs for the planning department. no comments to the issue that the appellant brought up are issues that are dealt with the during the entitlement process and our response lays out that process and when she had an opportunity to respond. i'm here for questions if you would like. >> supervisor yee: thank you. with that understanding, these

items will be continued. we'll take public comments on the continuance. are there members of the public that wish to speak on this -- madame clerk, question? developers of this project. so, yes, aaron is correct, this is just a mapping of a three-unit condo project that was previously a one-story warehouse that we've been -- we're almost finished with construction and we're simply

now going through the city for the approval process on the condominium so they can go for sale in a few months. so this is a standard procedure. >> supervisor yee: thank you. any other public comments? seeing no other speakers, public comment is now closed. so, colleagues, there is a motion on the floor to keep the hearing open and continue these items to tuesday, march 5, 2019. can i have supervisor stefani, did you have a comment? it's been seconded by supervisor peskin. i need a roll call. can we have the same house, same call? seeing no objection, then the motion passes. madame clerk, we have special order items 45 and 46. >> clerk: yes. item 45 was scheduled pursuant

to a resolution adopted on december 11, 2018 where the board of supervisors will convene a committee of the whole, a public hearing today to consider the resolution contained in item 46, the establishment of a property-based assessment district to be known as the soma west community benefit district and to order the levy and collection of assessments against properties located in that district commencing with the fiscal year 2019-20 and specified conditions and to make the appropriate findings. >> supervisor yee: okay. we're now sitting as committee-of-the-whole. the purpose of this is to hearing on the proposed levy, improvement district named the soma west community benefit district. pursuant to the intention adopted december 11, 2018. as described in the management

district plan, the proposed district is an estimated 2738 identified parcels, located on approximately 100 whole or partial blocks. details of the covered area are in the file. at the conclusion of the public hearing, the department of elections will tabulate the ballots and report to the board of supervisors. members of the public may view the public tabulation by the department of elections on the basement level of city hall in room 59. the board of supervisors will either levy the assessors, nor approve the establishment of the district if there is a majority protest. we will proceed as follows. first, the office of economic and workforce development will be allowed to present and provide information. then we will hear from all speakers in support of this

district, two minutes each. then we'll hear from all spokers in opposition -- speaker in opposition to district. during the hearing, a property owner wishing to change their vote or who has not yet voted, may speak with the department of elections staff at the table just outside of the board chamber. they will provide you with the affidavit and ballot. after the hearing closes, the ballots will be counted. supervisor haney, will you -- would you like this share remarks right now? >> i can share them after the presentation. >> supervisor yee: okay. would the office of economic workforce development like to share comments? >> sure. chris core kvist, i am part of the team that oversees the

community benefit program. i'd like to thank supervisor haney and his staff. i'd like to acknowledge and thank former supervisor kim and her staff for their support during the early days of the formation process. i'd like to thank the soma west steering committee, including the chair and the drive through the campaign. i'd like to express gratitude for the work of irving place consulting and their work on this. the process could not be accomplished without the support of city departments. i'd like to thank the clerk's office. city attorney's office. the department of elections. and from oewd. any questions for oewd? >> supervisor yee: seeing none,

i guess we will continue by having public testimony. okay. would the public in support of -- in support of this assessment district come on up? >> steve gibson, president urban place consulting. you know for the last two and a half years i was the director of the tenderloin cbd. and that is relative when we look at the programs and services that the soma west cbd has designed into their program. particularly, i want to stress the idea that the guiding principle of most cbds and definitely soma west, we have it

designed as all district stakeholders housed and unhoused have the right to live, work in a clean, healthy safe neighborhood. that is what cbds are about. and we're looking to building it on the tenderloin model where we employ with the downtown streets team. we work with them to get people off the streets and into employment. in the past year, in the tenderloin we've hired five of the downtown street teams to provide. they have full-time job, benefits and were able to get into housing. so it's all about making the neighborhood safer, healthier, and a better place for everybody, not just those who own property or businesses, but all the stakeholders who are in the district and become a vibrant community for all.

[bell ringing] thank you for your support and we look forward to working with you as we go forward. we have a number of stakeholders here to express their support also. thank you. >> supervisor yee: next speaker, please. >> my name is james. i'm the chair of the soma west community benefit district. myself and our volunteer steering committee has been working tirelessly over the past many years to outreach to property owners, businesses, renters, workers, organizations and non-profits, big and small. while we connected with these people, they all live or work in the neighborhood and they have hopes and beliefs for this neighborhood. they believe in the western part of soma, but they all started to express their same frustrations. the same issues, the same problems. we were able to work with them, collaboratively, to put this together. it wasn't one person.

it wasn't a single organization. it was everyone coming together to have a vision of a safer, cleaner, more vibrant neighborhood. this has been my most rewarding experience in my entire life. and it is all of the people that i have spoken with who want something better for our neighborhood. it's so frustrating to actually hear people in this process that if this doesn't pass will probably move out of the neighborhood. and i don't want that. i don't think it's safe. i don't think it's right to have people fear for their lives. i don't think it's right to have people stepping over problems with shit and trash on the streets. this has been a culmination of everyone's efforts and i'm very excited with the opportunity that presents itself today. i support the soma west community benefit district.

>> supervisor yee: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i'll be brief. my name is amy leduc. i can the manager of the st. joseph art society, the nonprofit foundation that just reopened the newly restored church on the corner of howard and 10th. we're here to say we're in support of the soma west community benefit district. we're excited to work with the neighborhood, to work with community organizations and to work with the community in which we live and work to make the neighborhood a better place. so thank you very much. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm ryan jackson. i'm a renter in the area and appointee to the west soma seat for the advisory commission. and i'm really, really happy to be part of this steering committee that is putting together the soma west cbd.

one of the reasons i'm so happy to participate is because it marks a milestone for a lot of different groups. for those who frequent our neighborhood, this takes us one step closer to having cleaner and safer streets that we all deserve. a lot of us spend tireless hours picking up feces, needles, you name it. we could use organized help. this marks two years of outreach. we have worked tirelessly to touch base with our really dense landscape of political leaders and organizations that call soma west home and make sure they have a full understanding of what they're planning and we have their support. for longtime residents, this hearing makes good on years of planning that we've undertaken with the planning department and others. those hearings and meeting date back to chris daily and we're hopeful after asking for the community benefit, that we actually accomplish that today. thank you for being part of our

milestone and thank you for your vote. >> hello. my name is liz. i am the owner of a building in the 700 block of clem tina street. >> pull down the microphone. >> that's better. i own -- my building is called liz land, i'm an artist. my gallery is there. in the 20 years since i bought it, i've seen a change for the better, but it could be so much better than it is. there are times where it feels very unsafe. there are people living there with children, whether they own the building or whether they rent. that's not good for them. there are needles left around. and when the public comes to my gallery, you know, we sometimes have to walk over human or animal waste. it just isn't right. i'm willing to pay the extra

money to see cleanliness implemented. and i thank james for getting this off the ground. he's done a great job with it. i support the cbd. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is teedo. i serve as airbnb global operations. would thank you for the opportunity to speak and the support of the cbd formation. as a member of the steering committee, we have a meaningful way to work with all neighborhood stakeholders, deep rooted non-profits, small business owners and area residents. we believe it will ensure the vitality and cleanliness and safety of the neighborhood for years to come. we're proud to stand with residents and business owners, small and large, and property

owners and tenants to form a district that will address the pressing issues of our neighborhood. we ask that they support the formation of the soma west cbd. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> hi, my name is alex. i'm neighborhood renter and have been participating in the working committee for the last two years. i'd like to emphasize that over the last two years, we've held at least three dozen, if not many more, public meetings, all of our -- we had information sessions. we invited the public to all of our working meetings. we issued multiple surveys that we adjusted the format on in order to increase input from the public. we consider the public anyone who lived and worked in the

neighborhood as tenants or owners. worked in the neighborhood, had a business, et cetera. anyone with an opinion was welcome to share it. and we spent the first year recruiting anyone who would pay attention to join our group in order to participate directly as we were making decisions. you know, it's possible today to walk from 6th street to van ness on folsom and encounter two public trash cans. if you walk down 9th street in mission to bryant, you'll encounter one. these are the sort of issues we hope to address. this is not an intensive cbd. we took pains to educate ourselves and some of the -- [bell ringing] -- cbds had erred in their ways. and you know, we're at pains to have a minimally intrusive, you

know, cleaning oriented cbd. and be happy to share. >> please direct your remarks into the microphone. >> anyone can approach me after the session for further details. we are genuine in that intent. thank you. >> hello, president yee, members of the board. i work in soma west. i'm joined here today to ask for your support of the soma west and thank supervisor haney for his help on this. my name is harold. i operate flowers and have for the last 20 years in south of market. i own a piece of property there and i have a vacant lot next to my piece of property, so i have a good sense of the base level of what is happening in the neighborhood.

i cannot wait to spend the $4,000 a year this cbd is going to cost me to have it be effective. the south of market business association is behind this 100%. and i'm going to take a little bit of time to pat on the back, james spa nilla. he's been fantastic. i've never seen anybody so diligent that made sure a notice was up to date. thank you very much. we need it. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi, i'm a retired coordinator to the rec center. i just want to -- thank you for listening to us. and i also want to let you know that i no longer work a soma or i don't live in soma, but i found this is an important

enough issue to volunteer for. i am really for anything that will enhance and improve life in the soma neighborhood. i've come back and worked on this committee for two years. and i'm hoping that it passes today with everyone's support and your support. it's greatly needed. it will help a lot of people. it will help with the cleanliness and the safety. it can help the homeless issue as well as other things in the neighborhood that can use enhancement, including cultural stuff. i want to thank you once again. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a soma are the and i work with the united players. i always say in public that i was born and raised in san francisco, and until i moved to the south of market in 2000, i

didn't know what a community existed there. i didn't know how many people actually lived there. i didn't know what they had to deal with in a lot of ways. so i want to be very clear that while there are some large names associated with this effort, this has really been an effort of residents. this is an effort of people who spend their time in the neighborhood, day in, day out. we host community meetings at our center and this effort was born there. we're super proud at the hard work that james and the rest of the committee have done to get this to this level. the young people we serve traverse unacceptable conditions to and from school. to and from the grocery store. so this is really about enhancing the neighborhood. i am happy as a property owner to pay the minimal fee we will have to pay to contribute to the cbd because i know that the benefits will be far-reaching for everyone who spends their time in soma. thank you for your support.

>> next speaker, please. >> hello, members of the board of supervisors. i'm a resident of district 6. i, too, was born and raised in soma and also an alumni of bessie car michael elementary school and now i work in soma west. i ask you to support the cbd because this is an opportunity for us to work together and support the neighborhood. thank you to supervisor matt haney for your support and leadership in this effort and i truly appreciate the efforts that your office is working on this. please vote in support of this. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is brendan tobin. i've lived in the district nearly four years. when i first moved to the district i wondered why the other side of the street from me, across 5th was so much

cleaner. then i found out it was because of the district operating on the other side. i was excited to hear that people were working to form a community benefit district in my neighborhood. so i joined the committee and have been helping the last year and a half with a lot of the difference efforts. especially e-mail communications and facebook promotion to keep the neighborhood informed of what is happening. and spread the word about the community benefit district. so helped to promote dozens of info sessions on facebook and online. and been maintaining a monthly news letter about the community district for the last year and a half. i want to thank jim and all the members of the community steering committee, as well as jane kim and matt haney for their support throughout the process. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is lia. i'm a resident of soma west. i've been a proud member of the community for the past few

years. i am so excited to see this community benefit district move forward. it's been badly needed in the neighborhood. and i'm really just want to thank matt haney and the steering committee for all the work they've done to organize this. i hope that it passes and moves forward because i think it will be a tremendous benefit for soma west. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is deborah. i'm an 11-year resident of soma west. i am grateful for all of the help i've had from supervisor kim as well as supervisor haney in support of this. i'm on the steering committee and i can tell you from the inception of the steering committee, i've never worked with a more sincere group of people that are interested in the benefits that a community benefit district will bring to the area.

myself and everyone else started with great frustration in multiple meetings. and from that, was born the better and changed environment. that's why we're here today and grateful for your support and hope to get to community benefit district with your help. >> my name is sarah simon. i'm here to ask for your support and the formation of the west soma cbd. thank you for your consideration. >> next speaker. negotiation negotiation next speaker, please. >> thank you, supervisors. my name is chris foley. i've been involved in soma for 30 years. usually i stand behind misha and

speak behind her. i dough renovated the church at 10th and howard. cbd, i'm on the community benefits district. a cbd is not about kicking homeless people off the street. it's about enriching people and giving them opportunity and helping them and cleaning streets and doing higher education. i hope to pass this cbd. thank you very much. >> thank you for your comments. >> if the people in the front of the line are not going to make comments, can you have a seat? >> good afternoon. my name is mark. i'm from the san francisco parks alliance. urban designer. we have multiple developments and community efforts going on in the western soma area.

i believe in the discussion for open space, cleanliness and community outreach, this is a much needed effort. in order to sustain and maintain such an endeavor, i believe a cbd is needed and the community has supported for multiple years. and it has the park alliance support. thank you very much for having us. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker. >> hi, i don't leave in the neighborhood, but am very much invested in it. my name is jenny spa nello, that should sound familiar. we visit the area frequently. there are many times we don't feel safe. we just feel that it needs to be cleaned up. and very proud of what the steering committee has done and thank you, all, for your concern and we hope this passes. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> another familiar name, my name is jim senior. and i'm very supportive efforts i've seen done and supportive of my son and steering committee. i've watched them work very hard over the last several years on this and i started to see it from the ground level when my son first moved into the city, talk about one block at a time. there were problems on his block. i saw the efforts he was making with the neighbors and the businesses within that block to help clean up the block and get it where we felt safe. please stand by. please stand

>> i would like you to consider the burden of small businesses in recycling and street cleaning costs that we have a president of a fee streamlining going on

now, consider that, in addition to the small business support for the project period thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am a property owner in the district, and i just want to be clear, i did vote in favor of the c.b.d., however, i think it is somewhat ironic that i am voting to self tax myself, when at the same time, might -- the city is giving massive tax breaks to giant corporations who are moving into midmarket, and are contributing to the problem. i have got traffic on my street, a little street from the uber drivers, and we continue to entice people to come in here, a few tax breaks, yet, i am taxing myself just to have a safe and clean neighborhood neighborhoods. i challenge the supervisors,

that by the end of this 15 year term of the c.b.d., that you fix the problems, so we have a safe, and clean environment. it should be the basis without us having to tax ourselves just to provide that period thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker. >> hello. my name is vicky. thank you so much for the opportunity for all of us to speak, and i really want to thank james, he has done such a great job in getting neighbor to neighbor. he approached us, and we were able to get a few neighbors involved. a lot of people didn't know about it, and didn't hear about it. they saw it come in the mail. he has been tirelessly checking and checking, and getting everyone to vote, and know what is going on. we really need this, and we really appreciate the opportunity to have this come before the board of supervisors board of supervisors. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker.

>> my name is carol, and i have been in business for thirty four years in san francisco, of which 26 years has been in the south of market. we cater to the musicians of san francisco. our clientele, they are artists and generally low income, and we do not have a lot of foot traffic. while the c.b.d. program it sounds like an excellent idea, it seems very unfair that a small business like mine should have to pay the same rate based on the square footage of the property, as high-traffic businesses like costco, bed bath & beyond and trader joe's and nordstrom. this will increase my tax payments by five thousand dollars annually. from forty three thousand dollars, two forty eight thousand dollars. an increase of almost 12%. this is an increase that i just can't afford, and cannot pass on to my -- >> excuse me, hang on a second.

stop the time. the people -- excuse me, ma'am, i am up here. >> sorry. >> that's okay. are you in support or opposing the c.b.d.? >> i'm against the cost of it. >> continue the time. >> this is an increase which i just can't afford, and cannot pass on to my customers. i believe this high cost will cause problems which will result in the closure of many small businesses that are important to the creative soma culture, and at a time when the music industry and artists are being pushed out of the city, this assessment will likely cause the closed down of my studio studios, iconic and home studios, which is considered an institution in san francisco. although i am in support of having cleaner neighborhoods, i know -- i think the tax for small businesses is too high. thank you.

>> thank you for your comments. next speaker. >> i am the cofounder and executive director of hearing education awareness for rockers. we are a national nonprofit organization. i'm speaking because i've used the linen studio services to put out free hearing screening programs for the musicians, and we recently highlighted our in b.c. nightly news, and helped help to pass the affordable hearing act. other things that it does -- she does, she helps with having a benefit event to help -- help raise funds for that, if someone is ill, in is a very community minded, it is important that we afford to this, but there needs to be some type of consideration

for the affordability and driving out such a great -- it is for the wii people, the little people that have a big impact on the community, and young people, especially. she goes to lots of schools too. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is jenny. i am in support of caroline managing the facility. we have been in business for thirty five years in the city, and i think the program his -- it is a great program, but it is like the same thing goes. it is the cost factor that impacts our business. we help musicians a lot and we don't make a whole lot of money. is taxing on a business. i am for the program itself. that is just my two cents. thank you.

>> thank you for my current -- for your comments. next speaker. >> hello, my name is martha. i have lived in south of market for 22 years. i am a tenant, which means i don't get to vote today, and i really want to ask you, this proposal is not about shooing away visibly poor people, whether tenants or homeless people, why do only property owners get to vote, we need something to bring together the community south of market, and crazy forum where residents of subsidized residential hotels can talk with the homeowners, property owners, and all be in the same room together, but i've seen -- maybe even more than when we first moved in the nineties to south of market, i really feel like we are seeing a place where low income people, and maybe even nonprofits, i don't really see a lot of nonprofits. they are feeling like they are not part of governing south of market.

i see these articles that say resident south of market are fed up with the homeless. we are all residents, and i'm a resident, and some of my neighbors i have known for more than twenty years who are homeless, and we all live in the neighborhoods. we should be talking to each other, and have an equal civic existence. the thing about these business improvement districts, i have been learning about them and they are tremendously weighted in favor of property owners as if there were property requirements for voting, which is not what south of market is about to, it is not what san francisco is about. i just want to say maybe at union square it makes sense, but for south of market, this is the traditional haven where poverty services are, where it is still possible sometimes to be poor or different and have somewhere to go, and for south of market to suddenly become soma west, with more security patrols get more power washing to the tune of four million dollars, instead of

using that money for good, i just don't know. thank you. please consider postponing this. >> i just want to say again to the public, this is in support. if you are opposed, you will have a chance right after. any public comment -- come on up. >> hello. good afternoon. i own the san francisco institute of aesthetics and cosmetology. we are on folsom street between sixth and seventh. i have been there since 2002, i am in support. i have seen the benefit. the second business i have is in the castro, and i have seen the benefit. it is a no-brainer. we have to do this. we moved a homeless person today. we picked up two needles, and hosed off feces. i'm 100% in support. i've been there for 17 years. it is tough.

thank you. >> thank you. anybody else want to speak in support? >> hello, i have been a resident of western soma for seven years. i am a homeowner. thank you for having us today, and thanks a lot to james and chris and a few others who have been incredibly tenacious. i spent the last seven years feeling a little like one person against the world not just trying to effect some change around security. i guess all i want to say is that for me, something like the c.b.d. -- my family chose to move from the north side of the city to where we live now in a small alley on the western soma because we felt like we wanted to be in a place where the community was a melting pot, where we were truly in an urban environment. i don't want anything to be really displaced in this community. i think that's what i was really attracted to, but the safety concerns have been a little bit too much for us. i think the c.b.d. in the long

run, for me, is really going to help our community come together and effect cultural change. i think a lot of san francisco residents don't understand the amount of artistic, creative people that actually exist in western soma. wherever -- whether they live there or are in there on a daily baseness. i hope the c.b.d. will help inspire this group, and help draw people into the neighborhood, and help it become a better cultural hub as well. san francisco deserves it, and i think it is hard to find these environments in our communities and -- and in our city. thank you so much for considering it, we approve it. >> i'm john taylor, i have a shop in the district, i also own eight other pieces of property where i have commercial tenants. we have agreed this is a good idea. what happened to us at the super bowl a few years ago was

unforgettable. any protection against that ever happening again, we are definitely for it, we work with james, and we are very much for it. i will be paying a large price for it, but i'm happy to do that. thank you. >> supervisors, as more and more san franciscans want to participate in the community benefit district, we have to incorporate or tweak the legislation. you've heard, and that's where i get involved, that in this area besides the full some fair, you also have many nonprofit catering to those who need help most. about 15 years ago, some architects got together

and i think it was 18 years ago, and they felt a beautiful house that accommodates a lot of people who live in this area. now if you get down on 11th street and walked towards delray beach on folsom for howard, you encounter what many of the people have stated. vcs have needles, and so on and so forth. so you supervisors need to go there with the representative of district six, giving the tour, so you all see for yourselves what i'm talking about here one of the things that has been stated here that you all should not take lightly is that the businesses should not pay a lot of money if you have to address that.

this is not union street or some other streets where you have the richer client tells. so on for quality-of-life issues i am also for those who need help, especially the physically and mentally challenged, not encountering hazardous material. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. my name is brian, i am a three year resident of western soma, and i just wanted to show up and stroked my support. i come from a humble four unit building, but i'm very excited for this, and excited for what i can do for our community caretaking. okay, any other people who would like to make comments in support >> i briefly heard -- sorry, my name is allison.

>> bring the microphone close. ♪ i'm just sort. my name is allison caps on from the western addition. i happened to be homeless. i guess i'm the only one here. i'm going through some political things in my country right now. i understand being a small business owner, now not being a small business owner has i how the business men feel. i basically sleep outside of the library, the public library. i make sure i leave by 5 million i keep my area quite clean -- i make sure i leave by five a.m. i laundered my garments. i also wander my bed as long as i think it is good enough to enter a building to wash within

the gates of the laundromat. if it is old i get anyone. i understand when the business man feels uneasy the needles. are not a drug addict,, not an alcoholic or anything else, i am basically a soldier to my country, and also to this one. i have seen a lot i have been on the street for one year and two months. i have used a shelter system because of political problems that i'm going through right now in my country, and other countries because of my father's history. basically bank robberies and items hours i have witnessed a lot of things i've never seen in san francisco before. when i first arrived here working in the federal offices, eyewitness a lot of needles and everything else. the children -- the young adults

have become drug addicts and i was even given methadone when i had to go to the emergency room. >> thank you for your comments. >> thank you. >> anybody else who would like to speak in support? come on out. if not, we will go ahead and start with public comments with those opposing. come on up. >> hello. i am with the western regional advocacy project, and the boxes that neither oppose nor support. i am here today because i think that the city needs to take responsibility. we are turning a large swath. this the red area is the soma bid. we are turning a large swath of our downtown public space under the security purview of private business with no appreciable way

for people that aren't. i appreciate the speaker that said they are striving to not make the mistakes of the past, but for homeless people, and it's amazing how many times the word homeless has come up today, even though it is not a homeless hearing, and there aren't that many homeless people in the room, but we hit -- we seem to be a real target of the security apparatus, which in the case of the soma bid between clean and beautiful and safe, is 70 9% of their budget. you guys, the board of supervisors, not you individually, with the city and county, when this enabling legislation passed at the state level, it was commercial property owners and government. state and local government. the board of supervisors amended it to make it a 30% threshold instead of a 50 1% threshold, if it was a 50 1% threshold, we wouldn't be having this meeting here today, because it is only 30-point to eight% threshold that actually passed on the first round of the petition that

we were able to see if you also included the nonprofit and the residential homeowners. and nonprofit property owners. you all have made tweaks to make it easier to continue to see our city under the purview of private security, and that never works well for people who are seen as a urine, feces, hypodermic needles, and the homeless. it hasn't worked in the past, it won't work in the future, and if the streets are dirty, and the people are stripping outside, take responsibility. you are the city. do not fund private business. [applause] >> excuse me, audience, we don't allow noise and here when people are speaking. if you are in support, use your fingers. we can see it. if you are not supporting it to, you can use thumbs down. thank you. next speaker, please.

>> good afternoon, board of supervisors. my name is craig, i lived in soma for about three years and i first moved to the city, i now live in the mission. i did not find to speak on this today, but i could not sit in my seat and listen to these clichéd euphemisms about cleanliness and solving the homeless problem, particularly amid mayor freda's sweeps right now that are simply forcing our homeless to shuffle along from block to block, stealing their shelter, their tents, tents that are being handed out by hard-working volunteers who only want to provide some shelter for the homeless in this terrible cold and weather. i sympathize with the residents of soma who have organized to come here today. i really do. we all want to be able to look up at our beautiful city, instead of looking down and worried about stepping in feces,

of course, i understand that we all want a solution, but i think it is pretty clear that the people speaking here today don't have that solution, otherwise they would speak to it instead of dancing around the issue with these euphemisms. the answer to homelessness, in helping our homeless population is right to bear in the name, they need housing, services, healthcare, a c.b.d. that does not provide that is not a c.b.d. that we should support. it is a c.b.d. that just makes homelessness someone else's problem, and i just had to speak up and say that. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is ian, i am a lifelong resident of san francisco. today i wanted to talk about the ballots that will be counted after this hearing if this passes. the ballots that are being

submitted today, in order for the community benefit district to be formed need to be a majority of the ballots submitted, weighted relative to the assessment fee that will be paid if the bid is formed, what that means is that if you are going to pay a larger fee, then your ballot counts for more, and it means that if your property is larger, then your ballot in this ballot tabulation counts for more. people who do not own property in the soma, do not get to vote in this ballot tabulation. they do not get ballots to submit spirit of the 2,738 parcels that will be taxed by the west community benefit district, only 589 of them, that is 21%, submitted in favor of the community benefit district. so although i think it is admirable that the board of supervisors opened up this opportunity for people to place

comments on the formation of the soma west community benefit district, i think that everyone in this hearing is to think about who is actually allowed to vote. thank you. >> next. >> hello. my name is mike. i have owned property south of market for over 40 years. i have seen governmental organizations and bureaucracies in this city grow and grow, and the problems have become worse and worse. now i am being asked to spate -- pay a special tax to make a bad problem hopefully better, but there is no -- all i can see is a bigger bureaucracy, and a lot of time wasted on solving the real problem, which is homelessness, crime, et cetera. i clean my place, so why doesn't anybody else clean their squad is because people are coming

into the area really needs help, and they need supervisors to do that. the other thing that i am concerned about is the city was just told that you have a registered class because of excess property taxes collected. more then the budget to expend some of that money to do your job. increase police participation, have the streets swept everywhere in the city, not just where somebody like me has to pay extra to get it thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i and the planning and policy manager at the tenderloin neighborhood development corporation. we house over 4,000 individuals across san francisco, mostly very low income at extremely low income households. we have three properties in the soma west c.b.d. district, with

hundreds of residents inside. the first issue i want to raise about the c.b.d., is one i believe is actually being discussed right now, i think we will find out a little bit more, but the other c.b.d. his that we are part of have a discounted rate for nonprofit owned affordable housing, and the soma west c.b.d. does not at this point. it is the same rate whether you are operating a fancier apartment building, or whether you are operating affordable housing like we are. so that will cost us over for -- $30,000 a year in fee assessments. that is something we would like to see looked at. we would rather invest that money back into our buildings. i believe we will hear a little bit more about that in a second. the other issue i just want to raise is one around equity, of something i believe some of the previous speakers have raised, we do have concerns, i took a look at the management plan of the c.b.d., and it talks about

adding bicycle patrol, vehicle control, and foot patrol. we know that the police and security forces have a pretty documented history of racial inequity, and certainly if it is a sick -- if the security force had seen this, we definitely have questions that of the impact that will have on lower income neighbors, on people of color, whether that is increased criminalization or if that is a sense of psychological displacement that the neighborhood it really isn't designed for low income people, but instead for people who can come in and spend a bit more money. we just want to raise those concerns. thank you for your time. >> good afternoon. my name is mary and. i am a property owner of two parcels. i have three questions that i find, it is almost illegal thought in this city, we have to

take a certain neighborhood and say, your taxes are going to be higher, and for what cloth clean it beautiful streets clot that is part of the city's taxes as a property owner. number 2, you have just arbitrarily picked out 15 years that this program will go into effect. why so long? give it a year and let's see, and who will decide if this is even working? if we can see an improvement? and number 3, part of this money is going for administration. what is the percentage for administration of this program? and makes no sense to increase our taxes for this program. i am totally against it. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i spoke with the opponent, but i was told -- with a proponent, but i was told my