>> president yee: good morning, welcome to the march 12, 2019 meeting. madam clerk, please call roll. [roll taken]

>> clerk: all members are present. >> ladies and gentlemen, would you please join me in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> president yee: so, on behalf

of the board i would like to acknowledge the staff at sfgtv, that would be michael and kalina, who record each of our meetings and make the transcripts available to the public online. madam clerk, any communications. >> clerk: none to report. >> president yee: colleagues, approving the minutes from the february 5, 2019, board meeting and february 6, 2019, special meeting minutes at the budget and finance committee meeting. are there any changes to these meeting minutes? seeing none, can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented?

approved after public comments. please call the 2:00 special order. >> clerk: item number 1, welcome the honorable mayor london breed, present in the chamber to engage with formal policy discussion, each question and the corresponding answer two minutes each. public comment during general public comment and may address the board up to five minutes. >> president yee: do you have any -- any open remarks? >> mayor breed: i do, thank you president yee, members of the board, and the public. great to be back in the chambers. a number of hearings discussing our response to homelessness. the solution we all know to addressing homelessness is to build more housing and provide

more supportive services. we can't just keep talking about what we are doing, we must do more. my shelter crisis legislation, which will be before you next week, helping us to maximize our investments to deliver shelters and services, to get our unhoused neighbors off the streets and do it quickly with compassion. thank you to the co-sponsors of this legislation, supervisors brown, walton, haney, mandelman and stefani, and a safe navigation center in the south beach area. i know district 6 is doing more than its fair share in services and housing. and reiterate commitment to find other suitable shelter locations throughout the entire city. my team is working around the clock to vet sites that they are proposing to our office and i

sincerely hope that we will be able to announce a site west of van ness avenue this year. i look forward to your support on our shelter crisis ordinance, and shelter locations within the next week. and with that, i'm happy to take your questions. >> president yee: thank you, mayor breed. madam clerk. please call the first topic. >> clerk: topic was submitted by the board member representing district 10, supervisor walton, regarding the violence prevention services city-wide. >> supervisor walton: thank you so much, for being here with us this afternoon. my question is when will there be a point person coordinating violence services city-wide. >> mayor breed: thank you for your question and hopefully in the next couple of weeks. we plan to hire someone to help not only facilitate the coordination of a number of

services that we have to address violence prevention on our streets but also to propose the kinds of policies that are going to help make our streets safer. as you know, based on your work in the past young community developers, working with our street violent intervention program, we know that getting involved and developing programs and working with members in the community before anything happens is a key to keep our community safe. something i have been committed to my entire career and that's not going to change. we need to make sure we are investing in the right programs. we provide opportunities for all young people before they even end up getting involved in our criminal justice system in any capacity in the first place. this is why i launched opportunities for all where we will provide paid internship opportunities for all high

school students in san francisco. we have to really interrupt the cycle of violence that's sadly has destroyed our communities in san francisco for far too long by shifting and making the right investments and yes, coordination of services is critical to the success of keeping our communities safe and i am here to work with the partner on these particular efforts with you. >> president yee: thank you. you may now ask a follow-up question directly related to the opening question if you have one. >> supervisor walton: thank you president yee, and mayor breed. opportunity for all, i'm excited about the initiative and the work that's going to be done through that. are there specific jobs available with the community initiative work that's happened the past summers with exposing our young people to careers in law enforcement, etc., under

opportunities for all, ex spapag that? >> president yee: mayor breed you may respond to the follow-up question. >> mayor breed: the goal for opportunities for all is make sure every young person has access to an opportunity, but we also understand that there are challenges with some young people who may have difficulty add justing to a work environment and may need a little bit more support. in fact, the 9,000 spots that we have been able to secure, 1,000 of those spots are targeted at our young people who have really the biggest challenges, the ones who need a lot more support, a lot more attention and a lot more resources. with the goal of providing opportunities, yes, through our cadet academy, yes, through city employment, yes, through our non-profit agencies, but also so many opportunities that exist right downtown in our financial

district. our tech sector, our health care industry, all of these opportunities our young people need to get exposed to them now. we need to begin the process of creating a work force for the opportunities that exist here in san francisco with our young people in san francisco and it's something that i am extremely committed to as someone who started off in the mayor's youth employment and training program, learned some of the basics about working in a professional environment, what that did for my life provided opportunities that i never knew were possible. but sadly, too many people that i grew up with didn't have that opportunity because there weren't always enough slots for young people. no young person should be turned away from being exposed to an opportunity to be successful and that's why opportunities for all is so important because we can't continue to fail young people by not exposing them at an early age to all that this city has to offer in terms of a great future for each and every one of them.

>> president yee: you may ask a question of supervisor walton or any other in attendance, the same topic but not necessarily related to the previous yes. and mayor breed said she's good. madam clerk -- i'll just call. supervisor safai, you have a question. please go ahead and state it. >> supervisor safai: thank you, president yee, mayor breed for joining us today and for me the topic i came up with had a lot to do with the focus of -- for black history month, and that tone was youth on the rise and made me think about the condition of african american youth as well as latino, and

other communities. but in particular wanted to dive in on the condition of african american youth having worked with them over the years, beginning at the housing authority and moving on to many other positions. when we think about the current condition of that community when it relates to the infant mortality rate, when we think about the unemployment rate, when we think about the graduation rate, when we think about the incarceration rate, probation rate and murder rate, we see a community in crisis, and as there's been a lot of conversation in this chamber about our unhoused population, and the condition of that community. it is about the same size of the population of african american youth, around 8,000 people.

but yet the conversation is not in your face every day. i wanted to say to you, what are we going to do, what priorities are you going to make to address some of these crisis? when you look at an unemployment rate of 15% and incarceration rate, bookings almost at 40%, it is a community in crisis and i know you are committed to it but i wanted to see how you are committed in this upcoming budget and as part of your priorities. >> mayor breed: thank you supervisor safai for your very thoughtful question. in fact, it's really sad -- i grew up of course as an african american kid going to public schools and i'm the exception in terms of being able to succeed and not the norm. and part of my life's work as i said before was addressing a lot of the violence and challenges that exist in the community that prevented our young people who wanted to succeed, prevented them from succeeding. and the investment in the right opportunities has been what the

biggest problem is. look at the statistics in our san francisco unified school district and the schools that are the most, suffering the most in terms of the young people, many of the schools in the southeast sector of our city. and what does that mean? challenges retention, mental health support and services are needed, to address the issues in order to really target those particular schools and really wrap our arms around those young people and invest in them in a way we never have before to ensure their success. we got to be willing to do something that we have never done before. business as usual can't continue to happen. and so investments in our budget will of course include ways in which i can continue to work with the school district to provide incentives for retention in those schools. mental health professionals, reducing the class sizes, opportunities for all and other

programs with our non-profit agencies who are effective in serving these young people. the truth of the matter, as someone who came from the non-profit world we know which programs were effective in serving young people and which weren't. and that can be the difference between life and death. can't be afraid when advocates say don't take away my funding. we have to hold these organizations to do better and how we allocate funding and work with different department heads. our kids and the future of san francisco, especially young african american kids are counting on us to make better decisions. >> president yee: supervisor safai, a follow-up question? >> supervisor safai: i ran out of time. a lot of the conversation about the out migration, 1980 the population of african americans was close to 20%. today it's 5% or less. and so if we are talking about

out migration, we have to think about the condition of those that are 18 or younger, and supervisor walton and i share the highest concentration of 18 and under in the entire city. highest concentration of african american youth and other youth in the entire city and so for me if you are going to have a conversation about out migration, you have to talk about the next generation and how you provide a pathway for that generation to remain in san francisco, whether it's employment opportunities and away from -- you talked about the unified school district and incarceration rate. we have to have solid intervention practices to keep a population here that will see an opportunity to not leave this city. my follow-up question to build on the previous one, how do you plan to merge the two in terms of stopping the out migration and dealing with the existing population?

>> mayor breed: you know, in this city a number of the policies, sadly, that we have implemented have really destroyed the fabric of a very thriving african american community. and i lived through it. it's one of the reasons why i got actively engaged in the political world because i got tired of everyone else speaking for my community when i wanted to speak, you know, with a voice of someone who had lived through it and i think part of what we have to do is make sure again that we make very creative policy decisions and make the right investments. for example, we worked to pass neighborhood preference legislation through this board of supervisors and i've got to tell you it was really challenging and there was a lot of double talk, you know, on the one end, you want african americans to have access and be in san francisco. the other end, you don't want to support this legislation because you are concerned. well, the fact is, we got the legislation passed and it is

working. there was just a hearing i think that you all held to show that folks in communities, especially, you know, a number of african americans, who have disproporti disproportionately left out of access to affordable homes ab then not access once they are built, that it is working to help address the issue. no, i can't turn back the hands of time and right the wrongs we know that have been done under bad policies, including the former san francisco redevelopment agency but i will continue to do make sure we are calling out what we know the data has said for decades. there is a real issue and we need to make real investments. we can't keep saying we want to do it and when i present a budget to the board and ask for support in doing it and then all of a sudden changes and other things more important. we have to put our money where our mouth is and those investments have to take place if we are going to make some real change and we can't wait 'til tomorrow. we have to start today if we

want a better future, if we want to make sure the san francisco continues to be a diverse city, city we all love, we have to make these investments now for the future. >> supervisor safai: thank you. >> president yee: ok, mayor breed, you may ask a question to supervisor safai or any other supervisor in attendance, pertaining to the same topic but not necessarily related to the previous question. >> mayor breed: all right. i'm ok. thank you very much. >> president yee: oh, darn. all right. well, i guess -- with no other questions, i want to thank mayor breed once again for joining us today. this matter has been discussed and now filed. ok. madam clerk, can you please read the consent calendar. >> 2-7 on consent, items are considered to be routine, a member may object and cause an

item to be removed and considered separately. >> president yee: colleagues, would anyone like to severe any items from the consent agenda? seeing none, then madam clerk. call roll for items 2-7. [roll call vote taken] >> president yee: passed unanimously.

madam clerk, go to the regular agenda. please call item eight. >> clerk: ordinance to retroactively authorize the department on the status of women to accept and ex pend approximately $385,000 grant through the blue shield of california foundation for domestic violence programs and provide for addition of one grant funded part-time position beginning january 1, 2019, through december 31, 2020. >> president yee: ok. colleagues, can i have a motion to excuse supervisor walton from this item? motion, please, motion made by supervisor stefani and seconded by supervisor brown. ok. do i -- need a roll call for this? roll call, please. [roll call vote taken]

>> president yee: supervisor walton excused. please call roll on this item. [roll call vote taken] >> president yee: this ordinance finally passed.

10-0 vote. madam clerk, please call items 9 and 10 together. >> clerk: two ordinances called together for 175 golden gate avenue, also known as the academy. map one of the downtown area plan to include 175 golden gate avenue in the downtown commercial district area. item 10 amends the map to rezone from residential commercial high density to commercial downtown general, designate for preservation purpose, and make the appropriate finding for both items. >> president yee: roll call, seeing nobody on the roster. on items 9 and 10. [roll call vote taken]

rz 11. >> president yee: finally passed unanimously. >> clerk: item 11, ordinance to amend the police code to establish procedures for the office of cannabis to issue permits authorizing sales or consumption and to provide a mechanism for the waiver of laws, amends the business tax and regulations code to establish application fee for such permits to amend division one of the transportation code, temporary waivers of article 19l of the health code in connection

with events and to approve the ceqa determination. >> supervisor brown: every year san francisco's biggest cannabis event happens in my district in golden gate park. it's called 420. as a district 5 supervisor, my highest priority is ensuring the safety of attendants, followed by mitigating issues of traffic and cleanliness that impact the surrounding neighborhoods. for this reason we really hope this cannabis legislation would be in place to permit on-site cannabis spending in this year's 420. unfortunately, there just was not enough to develop the regulatory framework and get everything in place about of this year's event. so, there will not be permitting cannabis sales on-site this year for 420. it's important attendees not purchase cannabis from street vendors in or near the park.

last year a horrifying number of people had to be rushed to the emergency room at the 420 event as a result of cannabis-laced with fentanyl. we are asking everyone to please tell their constituents and friends to buy their cannabis from legal dispensaries before coming to 420. we just want everyone to be safe as possible. if passed, this legislation will help us ensure that future, that the 420 events are safer and i hope you can support this. thank you. >> president yee: supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: thank you, president yee. i just wanted to start by saying i support the intent of this legislation to regulate existing sales and use of cannabis at events, especially cannabis-focussed events like the 420 event. and this is an important effort to promote public safety and public health in cannabis use and sales. but i'm concerned about how this may undermine our existing

policies and protections from secondhand smoke exposure. it's very well-known, you know, by the board, and by the public, that the serious dangers of secondhand smoke exposure and there's tens of thousands of people that die from that every year. and this is why over many years the public health community has worked very hard to create laws and policies to protect first workers in the workplaces from secondhand smoke exposure and then those laws that have been expanded to public spaces. so, i have a question for the city attorney about this legislation. state law section 11362.3 of the health and safety code, prohibits smoking cannabis or smoking products wherever smoking tobacco is prohibited. would this ordinance potentially

allow permits for tobacco smoking at certain outdoor events since the consumption of cannabis and tobacco are linked by state law? >> deputy city attorney. the ordinance would not allow special permits for tobacco smoking, but if there is an event permitted by the office of cannabis, and the city waives -- the prohibitions on smoking say in a park that would otherwise apply, then both tobacco and cannabis smoking would be allowed under this ordinance, and that is because of the state law restriction that you mentioned. >> and mr. givner, any way to delink cannabis and tobacco use in what we are trying -- what the intention of this legislation is, given the state framework? >> i don't believe we could write this ordinance in a way

that would allow smoking of cannabis, but not allow smoking of tobacco. >> if we create permits for cannabis consumption, we would be legally obligated to legally permit tobacco consumption. >> it depends how you word it. allows cannabis smoking, then we also must allow tobacco smoking. we could allow cannabis consumption other than smoking without allowing other types of consumption. >> thank you. so i -- i guess i, i guess given all the work that the public health community and i would say even the board of supervisors have taken to protect workers and the broader community from secondhand smoke exposure, and that includes 15 different ordinances that we passed here at the board of supervisors,

creating smoke-free spaces, one of which is smoke-free outdoor events ordinance, i can't support a carve out or weakening of our no smoking ordinance understanding these dangers. so, i would propose amending the legislation to limit permits to sales only or to sales only or to limit cannabis consumption to ingestion only rather than smoking. >> president yee: motion on the floor. is there a second for this? seconded by supervisor safai. supervisor safai, do you have a comment? >> supervisor safai: actually had a question for the office of cannabis. through the chair. how many events do you anticipate this legislation would potentially impact? >> thank you for the question, supervisor. in the pilot phase, about seven

events. >> can you name those events? >> sure. eugene hillsman, acting director, office of cannabis. right now we have 420, outside lands, hardly strictly, how weird, clusterfest, pride and carnival. >> to give us background through the chair, what was the motivation for this? were there individuals or event promoters that were asking for this opportunity? >> question to me? >> yes. >> sure. so, i think one of the things we wanted to do is essentially create a pathway for regulated activity with a situation in which we saw significant amounts of unregulated consumption and to create a legal pathway for consumption that we knew was

tested product in places in which there was already existing consumption. >> just for -- you don't have to answer this question. maybe to deputy city attorney. do we allow the consumption of alcohol in public parks? >> mr. givner. >> i cannot remember whether the code specifically prohibits alcohol or weather rec park regulates it in certain spaces. i could find it out probably during this conversation. >> the reason i ask for the record, there are some activities that go on somewhat unregulated but don't necessarily have the former policy authorization. so, just wondering, and many of these events have informal and formal alcohol consumption and i understand the nature of the intent of what supervisor brown has highlighted, and i

understand this is an ongoing issue. i just was curious, because sometimes there's informal and for malpractices. i also am worried about the issue of the inability to decouple tobacco smoke and the smoking of marijuana. it is legal, legalized, but there is a big difference in terms of the impact to people's health. tobacco and so it's a little bit harder for me to open that door again for the smoking of tobacco at these types of events. when we spent so many years working against that. i'm just curious about what the origination of it was. there was one event that happens once a year, grown bigger and bigger or now the intent, we went through a whole process of authorizing and i was one of the lead authors of that, of authorizing moving from medical cannabis to adult sale and on-site consumption and we went

through a significant, significant process with the department of public health to regulate the exposure of smoking and on-site consumption, and i think there's only, what, 7 or 8 dispensaries that have that authorization. so, now we would be expanding that to a public place and exposure and some ways in contradiction to the policies that we spent a lot of time to put in place to not expose people to secondhand smoke whether it's tobacco or marijuana. so i just wonder if this is somewhat of a contradiction of the work we have already put in place, although well intended. >> president yee: was there a question? >> no, more of a statement. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, president yee. you know, i think as we look -- the intention of this language is not to open up a new category of events where we are going to be allowing cannabis smoking where it has never happened

before. what we are recognizing here is that there are events and have been for a time and memorial where people have been smoking cannabis and as supervisor brown pointed out, with some anxiety, last year 420 as a semi unregulated event was an event where 12 people purchased fentanyl-laced cannabis. this is a public health, life and safety issue. we want to have these events to be legal, permitted, safe, and i think as powerful as the city and county of san francisco is, the notion that we can dictate that people stop smoking cannabis on 420 or other events is not -- is not something that i want to put to the test. so, i'm not, again, in sponsoring this legislation and putting in this amend which was requested by the department to have to oversee these events, i'm not suggesting that we want

to backslide in terms of our commitment to stopping people from smoking, and discouraging activities that cause lung cancer and other problems. but i think that for this very small number of events that we need to get regulated legalized and safe, 420 top of the list, and again, as supervisor brown said, that is not going to happen this year. people are going to need to look out for their own safety. they should not be purchasing cannabis at 420, but going forward i think we need to recognize the reality a very small number of events people will be smoking cannabis, expecting to smoke cannabis, smoking cannabis, whether or not we allow that and if we want to actually effectively regulate those events we need a provision like the one here in this subsection e. so, i would encourage colleagues to reject the proposed amendment and vote for the resignation. thank you.

>> supervisor brown: yes, thank you. one of the reasons that i decided to pull 420 out of being a regulated cannabis event where we can sell cannabis at the event is because with cannabis sales you have to be 21. so, between 18 and 21 we didn't have a plan and i knew for 420 that was not going to work to try to carve and push 18 to 21-year-olds back from this regulated event, permitted event was not going to work. we didn't have enough time to figure this out. 420 this year will probably bring in 20 to 25,000 people around hippie hill and haight ashbury. when i'm talking to the police

about it, they even say it's something that's hard to control. and so for us to think that we are going to be able to control smoking at these events is going to be pretty impossible. and as we are planning for this event this year, my main concern is the health of people coming to the event and not buying cannabis anywhere on the streets at the event, which now that it's legal people think oh, hey, i can buy cannabis, everything must be safe. that's not the case. and we saw that last year. and so i am going to be doing press releases and we are going to be talking and i'm going to actually tell people where they can go as they are walking up all the cannabis clubs, as they are walking up or taking a bus up to haight ashbury where they can stop if they are 21 to buy

their cannabis. i just feel -- i've been to 420 many times as someone who was a legislative aide and trying to go in there to feel the temperature and yeah, you get pretty much a contact high and there is smoke everywhere. so, i mean, you don't even need to buy cannabis if you smoke it, you get the high hanging out there. but it is -- it's just something that we have to control safety-wise and safety of the neighborhood and merchants. a lot of merchants close during this, it's just too much. so, i feel that now that it's legal we have to make these choices to regulate it. they are going to smoke, they are going to smoke at hippie hill and around it, anyone that doesn't want to be around smoke. i say 420, stay away from haight ashbury and hippie hill, thank

you. >> president yee: mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: i think office of cannabis may have some insight into how smoking would work at the very small number, perhaps only one event where smoking would be permitted and pursuant to state law. so if the office of cannabis could pea in how it may work in practice. >> thank four your question. so the state regulations do require a separate and distinct premises for smoking area, so there is a requirement the area be compartmentalized. we would work with our partners at the city -- excuse me, the department of public health to develop a framework for consumption permits as they do for regulate businesses for retailers, written consumption regulations and we follow them.

>> president yee: supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: again, i do support the intent of the legislation to properly regulate cannabis smoking and consumption at events like 420 and the six other events mentioned. i assume those are events, i have not been to them myself, but where this is happening already in an unregulated manner. it's important from a public health perspective. you know, my concern is how this might lead to undermining of all the work this we have done to create protections from secondhand smoke, including outdoor events in san francisco. so i guess i have a question, maybe for the department of cannabis. what's the protocol for like adding more events, or to consider other events beyond the seven that you just mentioned

that would be considered for -- >> thank you, supervisor. one of the things it allows us to do, inform the process for moving forward so a limited pool in pilot phase, seek to understand best practices, evaluate the success or failure of the pilot process, then consider regulation, a process in which the pool is finite and going forward, another conversation about how to permit future events. one of the things we have discussed before at the recommendation of supervisor fewer is to include a report that would essentially provide the information to informed decision making going forward. >> president yee: ok. thank you, mr. hill. supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: through the chair, just have one last question. so, i mean, i guess part of my point was similar to the alcohol question. is there going to be a designated area where it's going to be encouraged, and are you

going to then enforce when people are not smoking in that area? i believe it's going to be pretty hard, if there are 25,000 people, pretty much all of them smoking, right? so, are we are really going to be getting into enforcement? i'm truthfully being serious. it's hard to -- i don't think there's going to be enforcement. i think it's going to be encouragement to follow the rules and then so my question is similar to the, we have rules on the books for alcohol consumption in parks but i mean -- they are not ever really enforced, and i'm not saying we shouldn't be making laws to create better behavior, but i just wonder, are we getting into an issue of enforcement, are we creating policy and/or undermining other areas we spent a lot of time? that's one of the biggest problems i have with what's being proposed. not that it's not well intended, i don't see at the end result there's going to be a significant impact on change in behavior. that's essentially what i'm trying to say. i just wonder if you wanted to

comment on that. do you really think the proposed policy is going to change behavior or create an avenue to hopefully strive toward a changing of behavior? >> what this would do is essentially, it would not replace existing enforcement authority. office of cannabis thinking about our responsibility would allow for the regulation of cannabis businesses, for people engaged in sales, those would be permitted cannabis retailers in which we have a number of opportunities to restrict bad behavior. in thinking about things like selling to underage youth, we would have notice of violations in serious cases, even possibility of revocation of permit. so, in thinking about the public health requirement and public safety, that's the reason why we would think about enforcement for people who are able to participate in sales. in the pilot phase, one of the things we have committed to doing is essentially having a member from the office of cannabis on sites to make sure

that operators were engaging in compliant behavior. >> president yee: supervisor mar, restate your motion so that we are clear what we are voting on this amendment. >> supervisor mar: proposed amending the legislation to limit permits to sales only or to limit cannabis consumption to ingestion only rather than smoking. >> president yee: a motion made and seconded by supervisor safai. roll call. >> before you do, this deputy city attorney. this is an amendment we have not prepared or signed off on at this point. what the board could do today is reverse the amendment made in committee, amendment made in committee allowed the city to waive no smoking requirements in places where there is a permit

for a cannabis event. if you would like to go beyond that and limit ingestion or otherwise modify the ordinance, you should, the board should continue a week and make the amendment next week. >> president yee: what's your pleasure, supervisor mar? >> supervisor mar: you know, since i wasn't at the committee meeting where that amendment was made, can you just describe it a little bit more? >> president yee: supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: i -- maybe >> maybe describe the purpose or how it works. the document in front of you on today's agenda shows all the amendments that were made in committee in double underline

font. so essentially, the amendments as the title reflects provide a way for the city to waive the prohibition on smoking where there is a cannabis permitted event. beyond that, i defer to the office of cannabis on the policy. >> president yee: mr. hill. >> is the specific question what the opportunity is to restrict sales and whether that will be allowed? what does the amendment do? >> to waive the ordinance for smoking -- >> basically, sorry, if you have anything on top of what i said to clarify. >> i don't, i don't have any addition. >> president yee: and supervisor mandelman, do you have a response? >> supervisor mandelman: the amendment is in 1621.5 events, the amendment is the addition of subsection e, temporary waiver

of certain city laws. city entity may after discretion considering public health and safety temporarily waive for a period not to exceed the duration of the proposed event, any city law that would restrict or prohibit smoking, blah blah blah. i think what the counsel is suggesting to strike that addition here at the board, so may be that that's what, or alternatively, suggesting continuing. >> i would suggest we don't do either. but i think -- i'll leave that -- >> and sorry, just for, just to technical clarity, additional amendment on page seven, section four, amending the transportation code to be consistent with the amendment supervisor mandelman referenced. >> president yee: ok. once again, supervisor mar, do you have a preference?

>> supervisor mar: i appreciate the suggestion from mr. givner and i think what you proposed would better address my concern around wanting to maintain our strong protections against secondhand smoke at public events. so, what would be the motion that i would make? >> president yee: i think you need to withdraw your motion. the original motion first. would you like to withdraw -- >> and i would like to know what would be the new motion. >> president yee: ok. >> it's essentially a motion to amend the ordinance to remove the provisions that would allow a waiver of the prohibition on smoking. >> thank you. so, i would like to withdraw my first motion.

and then -- and then i would like to make a new motion to amend legislation removing the -- to remove the provisions that would permit the city to waive smoking prohibitions. >> president yee: ok. there's been a new motion made and is there a second? seconded by supervisor safai. roll call on this amend, please. [roll call vote taken]

>> clerk: there are two aye and nine no, with walton, yee, brown, fewer, haney, mandelman, peskin in the dissent. >> president yee: fails. roll call on the item. >> clerk: on the original item. [roll call taken] >> clerk: there are nine aye, and two no, supervisors safai and mar in the dissent.

>> president yee: passed on first reading. madam clerk, i think we are passed our 2:30 commendations. call that, please? >> clerk: yes, supervisor walton, mandelman and ronen would like to honor members of our community. >> president yee: ok. so, why don't i ask supervisor walton to go ahead and bring up your honoree. >> supervisor walton: thank you so much, president yee. so today, as part of the month-long celebration of international women's day, i am honoring visitation valley native, miss sonna yee. granddaughter of 88, a visitation valley resident, fell victim to unfortunate crime in january. since the incident, miss yee has been inspirational in creating

racial unity and healing spaces between communities through various community spaces. she has dedicated her time to trans formative justice, improvings public safety across our communities and working with our office and president yee's office to increase bilingual offices. miss yee is a transformational activist and bilingual yoga teacher, passionate about health and wholeness on all levels. teaches yoga through the lens of access and trauma providing compassionate support to underserved and underrepresented communities such as at risk and immigrant populations. by giving people the tools to connect deeper with themselves and each other, she firmly believes we can heal core wounds, build resilience, and transform many lives. the ripples of infinite.

her own journey has showed her what is possible, peace is possible. therefore, miss yee not only sees viscerally feels the connection between an individual's pain and the pain of a community. it is the same. she now embarks on the journey of healing visitation valley and knows that peace in the southeast corner of san francisco is possible. i want to thank miss yee and her entire family for your courage, resiliency, and inspiration. thank you for your dedication to building racial unity and transformative justice. you are an avid leader in building bridges and healing our southeast neighborhoods such as visitation valley. thank you for being such an inspiration across all communities by creating a powerful healing space for peace. and i just want to say that in

the day we were sworn into office we had a violent incident happen to one of our seniors in vis valley, the grandmother of miss yee. most people would not be able to necessarily process that and focus on positive and bringing community together and unifying community. miss yee has worked hard to do that along with her family, and we honor and commend her for that. and president yee, i would like for her to say a couple of years. >> president yee: i want to thank you and susana all you have done in transforming this tragedy into powerful community organizing and healing. i have been so inspired by you, susana, and look forward to our continued collaboration to bring the necessary resources to provide the safety and security our communities so deserve. so, at this moment i would like to give you an opportunity to say a few words.

>> could i just echo supervisor -- >> sorry, i just wanted to add in my also personal admiration for you. you are just larger than life extraordinary human being as supervisor walton and president yee said. you have inspired us so much on the board of supervisors and i just feel very grateful that i have met you, and i've learned from watching you, you know, just operate with tremendous grace and understanding and empathy in the most trying times and really congratulate you today. thank you, supervisor walton, for honoring this extraordinary person. >> president yee: susana. >> wow, thank you, thank you to the board of supervisors, president norman yee, supervisor walton and his chief of staff,

natalie, and responsiveness to the needs of the community. the police department and the hospital staff for your tireless, would, thank you to our neighbor who called the police, thank you to all the community leaders for your compassionate work bridging our communities and family and friends for your love and support. while this award is for me, it's not about me. this recognition is for paw paw, the true inspiration, i saw her at the hospital yesterday and she's able to say her name. yes. yes. ma is her maiden name. this is also for my ma, who is so brave and outspoken. for my extended family who loves each other so much. so i see this recognition as the city's way of saying hey, young lady, keep shining that light into dark corners, keep bringing peace to the southeast corner of

san francisco. i will use my pain to transform it into our collective gain. i will use my words instead of my fists because i know an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. ghandi and dr. martin luther king moved mountains with their nonviolent ways, galvanized the country to make changes. time for us to step out of our suffering, to not suffer in silence, to speak up for justice. you'll find that suffering is actually the bread crumb that will lead you into the light and into the darkness. i know that firsthand. i wonder what lessons we can gain from our own personal pain. so, after an horrific crime we hear people saying we need public safety. well, i kept wondering what does safety really mean? i wonder when it takes to feel safe in these bodies that hold so much trauma. you all know what it feels like to keep checking behind you to

make sure you are not stalked. these feelings of constant vigilance sends adrenalin through our nervous systems 24/7, stress over time, stress causes diseases, diseases of the nation. join me in a creative healing space, many spaces where people can feel safe, can be fully seen. where they can express themselves without judgment. lastly, i want you to remember these words by dr. martin luther king. power without love is wreckless and abusive. love without power is sentimental and anemic. power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice and justice at its best

is power changing everything that stands against love. i hope your love for grandma, who represents all our grandmas, is not only sentimental, but can implement the demands of justice. i know all of our love can transform hurt. join me in this effort. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, everyone. >> president yee: thank you, susana. next i would like to ask supervisor mandelman, please share your commendations.

>> supervisor mandelman: karen lee around? come on up. karen lee is amazing. she's tenacious, bay area native and valley resident since 2010. last year she received the letter that every tenant living in san francisco fears, she received a notice of the eviction at her building. this is the third eviction notice that karen has received and no fault eviction at various residences around san francisco. but this time karen decided to fight. she organized her fellow tenants and made it clear that she and her artist housemates would not go quietly. she was and remains determined to not be