>> good afternoon and welcome to the march 19th, 2019 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors. please have a seat. madame clerk, please call the roll. >> thank you, mr. president. [roll call]

>> mr. president, all members are present. >> ladies and gentlemen, would you please join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> i pledge allegiance allegiance to the flag of the united states of america... >> on behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge the staff at san francisco government t.v.

they record each of our meetings and make the transcripts available to the public online. madame clark, are there any communications. >> i have not to report, mr. president. >> okay. colleagues, before we move forward with our meeting today, i would like to take a moment of silence in honor of the victims and the families whose lives were forever changed at the hands of armed terrorists in christchurch, new zealand, last friday. >> i want to continue before a have a moment of silence, on behalf of the board, i want to share our community will stand with our muslim brothers and sisters. while we are shaken by this hate filled attack, we must continue to hold true to our values in

san francisco. we will stand united together, we will protect one another, we will defeat and disarm hate anywhere and everywhere. please, a moment of silence. >> thank you. colleagues, today we are approving the minutes from the february 12th, 2019 meeting, are there any changes to these meeting minutes? seeing none, can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented? motioned by supervisor peskin. without objection, these minutes will be approved after public comment today. madame clark, please reach the consent agenda. >> items one through seven are on consent.

these items are considered to be routine. if a member objects, and i to maybe removed and considered separately. >> colleagues, what anyone like to sever any items from the consent agenda? seeing none, madame clark, please call roll on items one through seven. >> on items one through seven... [roll call] >> there are 11 aye. >> the resolutions are adopted unanimously. madame clark, let's go to our regular agenda.

please call item number 8. >> titanate is an ordinance to amend to the police code to establish procedures for the office of cannabis to issue permits and temporary waivers authorizing sales and/or cannabis consumption and to amend that business and tax regulations code to establish an application fee for permits to amend division one of the transportation code to allow for temporary waivers of article 19 of the health code in connection with events approved by -- and to affirm the determination. >> madame clark, please call the role on this item c on item eight. [roll call]

>> there are nine aye with two no. >> this ordinance is finally passed by a 9-2 vote. madame clark, please call the next item. >> item nine is a resolution to authorize the director of real estate to exercise a lease extension for real property at 1740 cesar chavez street for a five-year term, april 1st, 2019 through march 21st 2024 for a total initial annual base rent of $420,000 with a 3% annual increase. >> chair peskin: please call role on this item. >> on item nine... [roll call]

>> there are 11 aye. >> great. this resolution is adopted unanimously. please call item number 10. >> item ten is resolution to authorize the director of property to execute a commercial lease between the city for a lease at 101 heights street. annual base rent of $12,000. plus percentage rent of net income and an allowance for attendant -- tenant improvements and to adopt the determination. and to make the appropriate findings. >> colleagues, can we take this item same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is passed unanimously madame clark, please call the next item.

>> item 11 is a resolution to authorize the mayor's office of housing and community development to accept and expend a one million-dollar gift from the san francisco foundation to the neighborhood development special revenue fund to approve the use of the funds for the interim activation of city property at 101 hyde street. >> colleagues, can we take this item same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. madame clerk, please call the next item. >> item 12 is resolution to retroactively authorize public works to accept and expend a $225,000 grant from the san francisco bay area rapid transit district for the pit stop public toilet program july 21st 2018 through june 30th 2019. >> supervisor peskin? >> thank you, mr. president and members. i just wanted to think public works, and particularly jeremy spitz who sent us all an e-mail

at 9:43 a.m. explaining, and i adequately so why this is a retroactive contract, four and accept and expend, and i think that is good practice, and i would encourage other departments to do the same for future -- future retroactive applications, and while i have the floor, i will note that is also the case relative to item 15 which hasn't been called yet, so i won't take time, but i want to thank the department of environment. >> okay. , colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? without objection, it is adopted unanimously. madame clark, please call the next item. >> thirteen is a resolution to authorize the general manager of the san francisco public utilities commission to execute a determination of lease between the city and orchard supply company for a portion of the s.f. you see parcel with the approved terms and conditions

and a ground rental rate of approximately $1.3 million per year over the remaining five year term of the lease to terminate on april 30th, 2019. >> supervisors? >> thank you, mr. president. i have no issue with this resolution. i want to say for the record, i think that this presents a wonderful opportunity, although albeit not inside the city and county of san francisco or the p.u.c. to work with the city to explore the opportunity to do some affordable housing in a very transit rich location. we spoke into the director of the p.u.c. and he's informed us that actually the city has reached out to try to work in partnership with us on this site i want to say we fully support that opportunity. this is a wonderful location near the b.r.t. station and the airport and an opportunity for san francisco to continue its goals of building more affordable housing inside the region in the greater bay area.

thinking. >> thank you, colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. please call the next item c item 14 is a resolution to retroactively authorize the department of environment to accept and expend an approximate $3 million grant funds from the association of bay area governments for an energy efficiency program as part of the bay area regional energy network program, generally first 2019 through december 31st 2019. >> can we take this same house same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. please call the next item. >> item 15 is resolution to authorize the office of economic and workforce development to accept and expand an approximate $177,000 grant from the north valley consortium, the nova workforce board to develop a bay area apprenticeship model within the tech sector, april 1st 2019 through september 30th, 2020.

>> colleagues, can we take this same house same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. madame clark, please call item number 16. >> item 16 as a resolution to authorize the acceptance an expenditure of senate bill number 1, the local partnership program for funding in the amount of approximately $1.75 million for the boulevard pavement renovation project. >> can we take this same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. please call the next item. >> item 17 is resolution to authorize the director of the mayor's office of housing and community development to submit an application to the california debt limit allocation committee to permit the issuance of residential mortgage revenue bonds n/a not to exceed amount of $35 for 385 through 387 eddy street. >> can we take this same house, same call? without objection, this is

adopted unanimously. please call items 18 and 19 together. >> items 18 and 19 are being called together. we have two resolutions to approve and authorize real estate divisions acquisition of a portion of it residential real property located at 493 sunrise way in an amount not to exceed $50,000. item 18 acquires the property from an individual, in item 19 -- [speaking foreign language] and to determine the determination and make the finding for both items. >> colleagues, can we take these item same house, same call? without objection, there's resolutions are adopted unanimously. please call the next item. >> item 20 is a resolution to receive and approve the mayor's office of housing and community development annual report on residential certificate of preference for displaced tenant housing, neighborhood resident

housing and other affordable housing preference programs for an all new construction object located within the city marketed between july 1st, 2016 and june 30th, 2018. >> colleagues -- supervisor mar? >> thank you, president. i would like to briefly remark on the housing preference annual reports. report on the three lottery program certificates of preference for households displaced by the redevelopment agency, displaced by tenant housing preference and neighborhood resident housing preference programs. advocates worked hard for many years to put these programs in place. while they are a useful tool, we know this is insufficient. among 9,620 applications, only 305 families that house between july 1st 2016 and june 30th, 2018. 305 out of 9,620 is absolutely unacceptable. remember, they are people with preference, many, as a direct

result of racist housing legislation. and not the population as a whole in need of affordable housing who are even less likely to obtain housing. we agreed that we need to prioritize these preferences, but we also need to build more affordable housing. there were no preferences eligible for projects in just a four, one, or seven, and display the image of what we might have what -- thousands of potential applicants are from poor currently live on the west side and in my district pick the preference policies will not reverse the rampant displacement crisis. we need to dedicate resources for projects in all neighborhoods, and particularly where affordable housing has not been developed like district four. thank you. >> supervisor welton? >> thank you, i also wanted to comment on the report along with supervisor mar, and i 100% agree that we need to build more affordable housing, particularly consistently across the city.

i do want to highlight the fact that the data shows in the report that the neighborhood preference legislation is working. we fought very hard to put that legislation in place. because of the outmigration of block forks, because of the folks that we are losing people of color in the city every day, and so the hard work of the preference is demonstrated that it does work within the data and in the report, but we have a long way to go before we can reverse any trends of outmigration and in order to be able to keep our population's indigenous as we grow as a city. i want to thank the supervisors for calling for this reports because this is something we have to closely monitor and watch year after year, but i am excited to see it working as we continue to build more affordable housing in our communities. >> supervisor brown? >> thank you. i want to thank everyone who really supports the work we have done on this legislation.

as a legislative aide, in district five, this was something that i took and push through, for then-president breed. i met -- that was neighborhood preference. the reason behind it is because we were seeing a lot of developments being built, whether that was seen the mission, the southeast part of this city, and what we kept hearing was who are we building this for? it is not for us, and so one of the things that we had looked at , and this is actually from new york, they have been doing neighborhood preference since the seventies, and it works, is keeping -- helping to not gentrify neighborhoods, keeping neighborhoods together, so anytime there is an affordable complex being built, 40% of that actually goes to neighborhood preference, we also had a pushback from the federal government, saying we couldn't use neighborhood preference, but we went to washington, d.c. and

fought that, and we were able to use it at the willoughby kennedy senior housing development. do i think that we need more affordable housing on the west side? absolutely, and i feel that as we are looking at creative housing, we should be looking at preferences. anytime you're looking at housing, to make sure that we keep neighborhoods together, because i all of us leave ourselves into the fabric of a neighborhood, and when we need to move, or we have to have housing, we want to stay in the neighborhood that we love. so i feel it is very important that all neighborhoods in our city have affordable housing being built that they too can take advantage of these preferences. thank you. >> thank you. supervisor fewer? >> thank you. i think that what i pulled from the report is also echoing what supervisor morse -- mar said, is

that my district has a great need for affordable housing, and they do have preference and there is not a single site in my district of affordable housing to actually accommodate them, so , yes, definitely, we need more on the west side, and especially just piggybacking on what supervisor brown said, these people have lived in our neighborhood sometimes all their lives. so looking for more affordable affordable housing complexes to be built in my district so we can accommodate people on the west side. thank you. >> thank you. colleagues, can we take this same house, sin call? without objection, this resolution is passed unanimously madame clerk, please call the next item. >> item 21 is an ordinance to amend the building code to enact and expedite and streamline permit processes for solar energy systems to affirm the determination and make the appropriate findings. >> colleagues -- supervisor

peskin? >> i wanted to acknowledge and thank former supervisor katy tang who passed this on to me. >> colleagues, can we take this same house, sin call? without objection, this ordinance passes on first reading unanimously. madame clerk, please call the next item. >> item 22 is an ordinance to amend the planning code to require all projects using the state density bonus lot regardless of environmental evaluation application date to pay the inclusionary fee on any additional units or square footage allowed by the state to affirm the determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> colleagues, i believe this nation will need to be continued due to amendments that are not prepared for today. before we vote on a continuance, supervisor peskin, would you like to share any remarks? >> thank you, yes. there needs to be some additional findings that we did not put in an committee, and

there is a deputy city attorney who is working on that, and they should be ready at our next meeting, so i would like to ask for a continuance to our first meeting in april, which is our next meeting. >> okay. there is a motion made by supervisor peskin. is there a second? seconded by supervisor ronen. without objection, this ordinance will be continued to the meeting on tuesday, april 2 nd 2019. madame clerk, please call the next item. >> item 23 is an ordinance to amend the building code to adopt standards for constructing homeless shelters and to create an alternative approval procedure for homeless shelters during a shelter crisis to amend the business and tax regulations code to provide for an expedited permit appeals process to affirm the determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> colleagues, same house, sin call? without objection, the resolution is adopted unanimously. please call the next item.

>> item 24 is an ordinance to amend the ministries of code and planning code to streamline contracting and siting of homeless shelters to affirm the determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> colleagues, same house, sin call? without objection, this solution is adopted unanimously. madame clerk, please call the next item. >> item 25 is an ordinance to amend various sections of the building, plumbing, electrical and housing codes to correct or clarify existing language to reenact a permit requirement specific to fences and at enforcement provisions for the building façade inspection and maintenance program to affirm the determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> colleagues, same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. please call the next item. >> mr. president, you indicated that that item 25 was an ordinance passed on first reading. >> it is adopted unanimously.

>> you are correct, it was adopted unanimously, but it was only passed on first reading. >> okay. so this resolution is passed on first reading unanimously. is that correct? >> it is an ordinance that was passed on first reading. >> so i need some assistance here. when i supposed to do? >> in our minutes, we will record that item as an ordinance that was passed on first reading >> you bring much. >> thank you. >> madame clerk, please call the next item. >> item 26 is an ordinance to dedicate property under city jurisdiction and located on a portion of stage trust parcel two commonly known as mission bay park five as open space,

open public right right-of-way in mission bay south, naming the new park mission bay dog park and to make the appropriate findings. >> colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is passed on first reading unanimously -- unanimously. please call the next item. >> item 27 is a resolution to determine that the issuance of a type 42 on sale here and one liquor license to decant s.f. will serve the public convenience or necessity of the city. >> colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. madame clerk, please call the next item. >> twenty-eight is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to set the minimum size size of lettering for exterior and interior signage for the harvey milk terminal, terminal one of the san francisco international airport, and mr. president, this item was amended in committee

and subsequently the budget and legislative analyst has determined that the amended ordinance has fiscal impact on administrative code section 2.6- 3, and should be referred to a fiscal committee. >> supervisor ronen? >> yes, thank you, colleagues, as per usual with the naming of terminal one after harvey milk, there has been another hiccup. even though this law passed unanimously year ago to change the name, the airport did say that they would comply with the law, they have continuously undermined the intent. when they gave us a mockup of what the sign in front of the harvey milk terminal would look like, it had terminal one in huge massive lettering, and, you know, maybe a quarter of this size, the harvey milk terminal. it almost looked like an asterisk.

so we felt the need to introduce legislation to return it to the original intention, which ones to proudly, and out leave name just terminal after harvey milk, unfortunately, every step of the way i have had to fight to make this a reality. when supervisor compost had this idea years ago to name the entire airport after harvey milk , we were overwhelmed by the opposition and the resistance on the part of the airport. we then created a committee to figure out which terminal to name after harvey milk, the committee suggested terminal one , which we embraced, but then every step of the way of trying to get that intention and the life and the legacy of harvey milk a reality in that terminal has been a struggle. i do want to thank the mayor and the chief of staff for

intervening and realizing how frustrating this experience has been. they have informed the airport that they should be working with us and actually making this a reality, so in committee, i am constantly feeling the need to legislate with besa sift -- specificity every step of this process, something we really have to do with city departments when they understand the intent of the law that passes unanimously before that the board of supervisors, they generally work with you to realize that intention. that has not been the case here, so we have felt we have had to legislate to be very specific. so when i made an amendment at committee to make very clear that any sign in the terminal that says terminal one should also include that it is the harvey milk terminal in equal or bigger lettering. the airport determines that there is a fiscal impact, and now we will have to send it back

to committee. so we are going to be back in committee and we hope to have it back to you, if not at the next board meeting, then the following one, but if i can continue to have the support of my colleagues on this, i would appreciate it because we have had to fight to do an snail every step of the way. thank you. >> colleagues, as mentioned, this item has a fiscal impact and should be referred to the fiscal committee, can i have a motion to referred this item to the budget and finance subcommittee? made by supervisor ronen, seconded by supervisor walton. without objection, this item will be rereferred to the budget and finance committee. madame clerk, it is act -- it is exactly 2:30 p.m., and something special is going to happen, so let's go to our special

accommodations. >> it is now time for the annual declared women's history month i recognizes amazing women and highlights a contribution to events in history and to contemporary society. >> colleagues -- [applause] >> just your finger thing here, and we will that you really are supporting this character colleagues, we are celebrating women charge a history month to recognize the efforts of women in our great city. this year's theme is visionary women. champions of peace and nonviolence, honoring women who have shaped history and its future through public service and leadership. women charge a history month is a time to appreciate the contributions of women in our communities who are courageous leaders working to improve the quality of life for all san franciscans. i want to take a moment to

welcome our honourees, their families, and loved ones to the city hall board chamber. thank you for being with us today. since 1996. the commission and department of the status of women guises the vital work and contributions of women in our community. through the women history month program, and i'm proud to be have -- to be part of the celebration, and we should also acknowledge that we will still have a long way to go when it comes to true equity and parity. before we start the celebrations today, i would like to welcome the director of the department of status of women to the podium to say a few words about the history of this event. >> good afternoon president and members of the board of

supervisors. happy women charge a history month. i bring warm wishes from the strongest commission on the status of women in the country, including commissioners, the president, the vice president and our partners. as president yee mentioned, the national theme of this year's women charge a history month is visionary women, champions of peace and nonviolence, here in san francisco, there is no shortage of women persisting, leading the way and fighting for peace and justice, starting with our very own america, london breed. visionaries work alongside us every day as community advocates , nonprofit and business leaders, researchers, healthcare providers, all demonstrating extraordinary courage and commitment in the fight to make our world a more peaceful place.

today, supervisors, you will be highlighting some of the finest individuals clicking in san francisco. when you make your presentations , i will also present certificates of honor from the california state senator, scott weiner, philip tang, and david to. there will be a group photo for all of our honourees and a reception for honourees and their guests in room 278 immediately following the presentation. i want to recognize my associate director who has been working very closely with your aids to make today's event happen. i return the proceeding back to president and the boards he may introduce this year's women charge a history month honourees people very much. >> thank you. we will now be presenting the honourees by reverse alphabetical order of supervisors' last names. that means i get to go first. [laughter]

for once i'm not the last student to be called. [laughter] okay. i will start with district seven henri, and that is -- honourees, and that is make special friend lisa spinelli. i am so thrilled to be honoring lisa today, quite frankly, we have been trying to get her to come to the board for months so we can honor her for other reasons. so it is fates that we get to celebrate her during women making history month. lisa is a visionary who truly believes in the core of civic engagement and responsibility. she is international on a daily basis about this mission, she is intentional, i'm sorry on a daily basis about this mission. her day job is to train and facilitate.

lisa is nationally renowned for her work in supporting over 100 organizations in a more than hundred nonprofit executives as a professional facilitator and master trainer to help them achieve their goals. lisa's superpower is empowering individuals and organizations to fill their best potential. so she is so effective in bringing the best of our -- best out of people, and as -- has a special focus on young people. she has mobilized and inspired hundreds to get more engaged with our public schools. she is currently on the board of the jefferson aboard -- awards foundation, and court appointed special advocates which is an essential organization to provide mentorship and support

for youth who often are left behind in the legal system. i know how much lisa loves this the work. she is a former chair of this particular organization, and when you hear her talk about this organization, you become a believer. that is how compelling lisa is. she walks the walk and she talks the talk. lisa is also serving as the chair of the americorps committee, the national public service initiative. in fact, she was on a launch team four then president clinton to make this possible. as if that is not enough, in 2007, she was appointed by the governor to the board of commission -- commissioners were california volunteers. a state agency for volunteerism and service. lisa also previously served on the department of children, youth, and families.

beyond her passion for developing a growing organization that serves the greater good, lisa is also closely connected with her local neighborhoods. i came to know her more closely when she was the president of the sunnyside neighborhood association. at the bell boa -- out at the balboa reservoir site, there were discussions about a potential housing project. as you can imagine, with any land use in san francisco, things have got out of hand quickly. here we had an opportunity as a city, as a community to engage in a robust discussion about the future of a new opportunity site to bring in affordable housing options and housing for families i knew that we needed special guidance to shepherds this conversation in the right direction. that is when we created the community advisory committee and had lisa help stir it. i think without her doing this, it probably would have gotten nowhere.

with a short period of time, lisa was able to develop a robust, transparent and engaging process for community members and stakeholders. the process is still moving forward with a developer selected and would not have been possible without her laser focused leadership. she established a motto the other communities in the city want to emulate. it was a lot of work for our city staff, but it was effective lisa kept pushing this adg become a true model of democracy and civic engagement. i wanted to share this part of her work because i think we often overlook how leaders provide guidance in little, understated ways. lisa, you are an inspiration to so many people because of the way that you are able to bring people in and build people up. i am honored to know you, and i'm grateful for the many roles you play in the community.

thank you for all you do and you continue to do. [applause] >> thank you. it is a delight to be here. i look at the service as a thing that i do behind-the-scenes it is hard for me to be here. it is all about getting people to own things and step up and make a difference. i care tremendously about foster youth and how other citizens can come in and support and really make a difference for those young people, and the bank that i always try to do is when someone asks, i always try to the task because it's through that yes that we get to a better

place, and so i'm honored to be honored with ten other amazing women for women charge a history month, and i thank you very much kick together we are better. thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you. next step would be supervisor schumann walton from district ten honoring shirley jones. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> thank you, president yee. i appreciate the order. a someone who is always had to go last most of my life. in my short time here on the board of supervisors, i have not had an opportunity such as this to do something that brings me more joy than to honor this remarkable trailblazer. as we celebrate international women charge a month, i am honoring our lows -- local district ten hero, miss surly -- shirley jones. [cheers and applause]

>> for over 50 years back shirley jones has been a leader and activist in the bayview hunter's point in san francisco. champion the rights and needs of residents. mr. jones is part of the rich history of bayview hunter's point, and the entire city of san francisco. she has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for residents. mr. jones is currently on the board of young community developers, and is the president of the bayview hunter's point foundation for community improvement. she does not stop. she is cofounder of the california association to health education, employment, and dignity inc. where she served and dedicated over 30 years while simultaneously mentoring dozens of persons throughout her career

the first infant child development center in san francisco located in the school setting providing additional social services for parents. over the years, miss jones has prioritized making our community a better community by seeing that we have low income housing in our community. she has prioritized making sure that african-american communities stay in san francisco, especially since the percentage of african-americans are at an all-time low in the city. she is a native of arizona, and she came to san francisco in 1941 with her parents and nine siblings. she grew up in the mission district, it was the first african-american to attend martial elementary school. her leadership skills were honed at an early age as she was president of her class and student body president at every junior high and went on to

become class president for two years while attending galileo high school. she moved to bayview's hunters point at -- in 1966 when community activism was at an all-time high, miss jones began her advocacy by volunteering at the equal opportunity council where she met her mentor and fellow trailblazer, dr. jess kent -- jackson. [applause] miss jones credits dr. jackson with taking her by the hand and that was the beginning of history in the making. she is known as a no nonsense woman, and if any of you have ever cross her path, you will understand why. she knows how to go straight to the corner and get things done without taking shortcuts. she says she has had many comrades in arms that have

worked beside her over the years to help make bayview hunter's point in san francisco more responsive to residents's needs. she is an active longtime member of cornerstone missionary baptist church, and they're here in attendance. miss jones is the proud mother of five daughters, all born in san francisco. deborah scott, anita ward, and terrel senior. she is also affectionately known as mom to duane and veronica jones, patricia johnson, charles and annette lewis, arlene and corey drummer, and sanders. and too many of us as a grandmother and a mother and mentor.

these are inspirations for community service and planting the seeds for our next generation. thank you for your amazing service for our community for the last 50 years. if you are here in honor of miss jones, please stand. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> miss jones, thank you so much for your amazing service and we will briefly here just a couple of words from our attorney general of the public utilities commission as well. [laughter] >> i do not want that title. >> mr. kelly?

>> anyway, i just wanted to take this opportunity to personally thank you from the agency, most people don't realize that you are a founder of the southeast community center, part of the big eight, you and us panola. he founded and really made as commit when we wanted to expand the treatment plant to do something for the community. without your leadership and really forcing the agency to do good by you, and you are still there making sure we still do good by you in the community, this community center would not have been built. i want to thank you for your leadership, and i want to thank you for all the effort that you've done to help the agency really pay attention and give back to the community. thank you so much. [applause] >> i will try not to cry.

as a woman, we always cry. i'm looking around at the table and some of you all i have worked with, and mr. chairman, him and i have done a lot of battles. he is from his part of the city, and i was from bayview hunter's point and we worked very close together. i am glad to see you stand where you should be standing. to my community, i love, love, love. don't think we don't fight. i don't win all the battles, but i am in there until the end. i want to say thank you so much. i'm glad to have my pastor, my children, and all the other friends and family that are here

i have five daughters and i have over ten son so i must have done something real well. he is one of my sons. thank you so much, i appreciate it, and god bless each of you. [applause] >> okay. , that was nice, next up, supervisor stefani from district two who will be honoring rita so no -- rita so no.

>> thank you, president yee. colleagues, i am absolutely thrilled today to recognize the incredible rita semel as district two honouree for the history month celebration. one of the greatest highlights of my year, last year, was getting to meet rita and getting to know her over the year. when i saw the theme this year, visionary women, champions of peace and nonviolence, i immediately thought of rita and was so grateful to have the chance to acknowledge everything she has done in her life to promote peace and nonviolence and to thank her on behalf of thousands of lives that she has touched, for her wisdom, compassion, empathy, and commitment to loving all of us

and bringing people together to do the same. of rita has dedicated her life to promoting civil rights and interfaith understanding. she was born in new york city but later moved to san francisco , and we are so happy that you did, with her family. she received her degree in political science and plan to attend columbia university school of journalism, but world war ii altered her plans. take a little break? >> hold on just one second. >> thank you, president yee. >> okay. , go ahead. >> thank you. he was a member of the d-day invasion and was injured in

combat. rita pursued her journalism goals and was hired as a chronic -- at the chronicle. when she began her career, it was rare for women to even have a journalism career, and in fact , her first title at the chronicle was coffee boy. she did not let that stop there. she quickly became a reporter and was one of two reporters to cover a monumental event in san francisco. when she coverage the signing of the united nations charter on june 26th, 1925. in the 1960s, she continued her focus on civil rights and took actions that would have lasting effects. in 1953, his recount -- received a call from a local catholic priest who sought to form and interfaith task force on segregation in the bay area. he asked her to represent the jewish committee. the committee evolved into san francisco council on religion and race, which she cochaired

for 25 years. after the earthquake, the relief agency formed and interfaith community to eight those affected and displaced. retail was a member of this committee and saw an opportunity to expand the citywide group. the initial committee became what we call today the san francisco interfaith council where she is currently the executive vice chair. rita personally notes that one of her proudest achievements is the interfaith winter shelter program, which provides shelter at over 35 places of worship throughout the city between november and march. in the early 1990s, the presidio was transforming from a military base into a national park big rita believed the interfaith community should have a presence in the new park and gather interfaith leaders from across the bay area. today, the interfaith centre at the presidio continues to manage the interfaith chapel, whelping

-- welcoming thousands of visitors every year. rita has also been an incredible partner on gun violence prevention. after the foot -- fort hood mass shooting into thousand and nine, rita went to fremont for an event. she also spoke at the memorial and the brady campaign last december to commemorate the sandy hook shooting and to honor all lives taken from us by gun violence. rita has countless awards and accolades for her work. in 2008, she received a special honor from the united muslims of america and local islamic societies for her work in going quote the extra yard for peace and quote. she once said, there's no question of who i am. i'm jewish, working together on these issues, people learn things about each other and are open about what they are and what they believe. this statement and rita herself exemplified inclusivity, love,

and compassion that san francisco prides itself on. rita is relentless. i could go on and on and on. i had to really chop a lot out of this. i could go on for ten. i've already mentioned numerous accomplishments enough to fill ten lifetimes. rita is 97 years old. i just have to mention it every time because she is -- i can't believe it's. it is absolutely amazing and still going. here are some of the other things that rita has done throughout your year. she was executive director of the jewish community relations council. and editor and founding... she is vice chair of the graduate much -- seminaries board of trustees, a trustee of san francisco's catholic charities, families -- family service agency, the homeless port of san francisco, and to the united way a commissioner on the human race commission and many more.

if all that wasn't enough, a board member of grace cathedral occasional emanuel. and home health services, clinic by the bay and faith program at the san francisco foundation. obviously, her full impact on our city and community cannot be put into words. she once said, it's important for people to keep going. it doesn't matter what you do, but you have got to do something , so i choose to spend my time doing this, and as long as people figure i can make a contribution, i will do it. rita, thank you for always doing something, and more than something. you have touched my heart the first time i met you, and i am in all of you, and i cannot fully capture here today your contributions to our city and put into words everything you are to so many people and everything you've done. san francisco is better because of you and you have touched so

many lives. i can only say today, thank you for everything, and would love for you to share some words with us. [applause] >> thank you so much, supervisor stefani. i guess i'm just a plain old busybody. i love this city, and i'm happy to do whatever i can to make it better, and i appreciate so much the honor you have given me, thank you very much. [applause]

>> next up will be supervisor safai who will be honor i -- honoring patricia lee. [please stand by]

. >> and when she began her career particularly with the -- the rise in the southeast asian immigrants, there was a significant number of those, unfortunately, that ended up in the juvenile justice system, and i think that having patty as a public defender and a face of that and working on that issue, today, we've seen a significant drop in those numbers representing juvenile protection, juvenile justice. and so that is definitely because of the work that she

has done. herr her innovative practices have become not just a model for california but for the nation. she has transformed san francisco's juvenile justice system into a national model for rehabilitation and innovation. she's strong, compassionate, caring, hard working woman who committed to her community, and when things go down, people know to call patty, 100%. and i can say that with personal experience with two of my constituents involved in balboa high school. they said we were referred to patty's pamphlet of knowing your rights. her passion for justices come from personal experiences