>> president yee: good afternoon. welcome to the may 21, 2019 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors. madame clerk, please call the roll. [roll called] brown present. fewer not present. haney not present. mandelman not present. mar present. peskin present. ronen present.

safai present. stefani present. walton present. supervisor yee present. fewer present. mr. president, you have a quorum. >> president yee: thank you, madame clerk. can i have a motion to excuse supervisor haney until he arrives in 15 minutes. >> so moved. >> president yee: if there is no -- if there is no objection, the motion passes. ladies and gentlemen, will 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 sfgovtv. michael and maya who record each of the meetings and make the transcripts available to the public online. madame clerk, any communications? >> clerk: i have none to report, mr. president. >> president yee: today we're approving the minutes from april 16, 2019, board meeting, and april 17, special meeting at the budget and finance committee meeting which constituted a quorum of the board of supervisors. are there any changes to these minutes -- meeting minutes? seeing none, can i have a motion

to approve the minutes as presented. made by supervisor brown and seconded by supervisor fewer. then without objection, those minutes are approved. after public comment, madame clerk, let's go to the regular agenda. call item number 1. >> clerk: an ordinance to amend the administrative code to revise the definition of tourist or transient use under the hotel conversion ordinance and to confirm the quality act or the ceqa determination. >> president yee: okay. madame clerk, call the roll. item 1, supervisor peskin aye. ronen aye. safai aye. stefani aye. walton aye.

yee aye. brown aye. fewer aye. haney is excused. mandelman aye. mar aye. there are 10 ayes. >> president yee: this ordinance passed unanimously. madame clerk, call item number 2. >> item number 2 is ordinance to approve the tina modotti plaque as a gift to the city. and to affirm the ceqa determination. >> president yee: can we take this same house, same call? without objection, this ordinance is finally passed unanimously. >> clerk: item 3 is ordinance to amend the administrative code to establish and implement procedures on the acquisition of surveillance technology. >> president yee: supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: thank you, president yee, colleagues, i

want to thank you for our support last week and hopefully for your support on this today. i want to proceed with the second reading today because there is a coalition of folks who are eagerly awaiting this ordinance. the ordinance's final passage, but regrettably, there was one omission basically when we transferred from the clerk of the board to coit. what i'd like to do is vote on this and then duplicate the file at our next meeting on june 4, make those -- read that for a new reading. so the final amendment is on page 14, lines 10 and 11 of the ordinance, replacing the words clerk of the board to coit. i have 14 copies if you all want to see it. i can pass them around. but i'd like to vote and then

duplicate the file and continue the duplicated file to the meeting of june 4. >> president yee: okay. supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: i wanted to be added as a cosponsor. >> president yee: motion to make amendment. is there a second? seconded by supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor peskin: i think -- let me get this right, deputy city attorney, i don't want to make the amendment now because it will have to sit until the next meeting. we want to vote on it then, make the amendment to the duplicated file? >> because you want to pass the original version on first reading today? >> supervisor peskin: correct. then i'll duplicate, amend, continue. >> correct. pass on first reading. >> president yee: got it. okay. so there is motion to -- it's

not a motion, but we're going to duplicate the file and what we're voting on right now -- >> supervisor peskin: so let's not duplicate the file yet. let's call the roll on the item as is. >> president yee: can you -- after it passes, can you duplicate? >> supervisor peskin: you're right. i'm old and forget the procedures. duplicate and then read the first one, amend the second one and read it for first reading. >> got it. >> president yee: so we're taking roll call? do we need roll call? >> clerk: yes. >> president yee: we need roll call on the original version. madame clerk. >> clerk: item 3, peskin aye. ronen aye. safai aye. stefani no.

walton aye. yee aye. brown aye. fewer aye. haney aye. mandelman aye. mar aye. there are 10 ayes and one no with supervisor stefani in the dissent. >> president yee: 10-1 vote? supervisor haney, did you count him? >> clerk: he has returned. >> president yee: thank you. the original version passes. >> supervisor peskin: i would like to make the previously spoken to amendment on page 14 at lines 10 and 11, striking clerk of the board, inserting coit, at line 10 and doing the same conforming change at line 11 and i'd like to make that motion. >> president yee: you're making a motion to amend the duplicated file. seconded again? supervisor mandelman?

>> second. >> president yee: okay. without any objection to the amendments, then the amendments pass. madame clerk, can you call roll on the amended duplicated file? >> clerk: peskin aye. ronen aye. safai aye. stefani -- >> president yee: no, the amendment, i already called it. and there was no objection, so the amendments are made. this is to vote on the amended duplicated file. >> clerk: stefani no. walton aye. yee aye. fewer aye. brown aye. haney aye.

mandelman aye. mar aye. there are 10 ayes and 1 no with supervisor stefani in the dissent. >> president yee: so this duplicated file is amended and it goes forward on june 4th, i believe. madame clerk, please call item number 4? >> clerk: item 4 is wordance to waive the fee required by public works code on saturday may 112019 to promote the small business week. >> president yee: okay, madame clerk, please call the roll. peskin aye. ronen aye. safai aye. stefani aye. walton aye. yee aye.

brown aye. fewer aye. haney aye. mandelman aye. mar aye. >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: this ordinance is passed on first reading unanimously. please call the next item. >> clerk: a resolution to authorize and approve the second amendment to a lease between ppf paramount 1 market plaza as the owner. pardon me as the landlord and the city add tenant to extend the lease through 2020, to add two five-year options for a portion of the roof and equipment room for annual rent of 185,709s or the monthly base rent with 15,475 with annual adjustments. >> president yee: this is

adopted unanimously. >> clerk: item 67, resolution authorize gz director of real estate to exercise a second amendment for real property at 70 oak grove street to extend the extended term from may 30, 2019 to may 31, 2019 and exercise a second five-year extension term to commence on june 1, 2019 through may 31, 2024 for a total rent of $479,000. >> president yee: same house, same call? without resolution, this is adopted unanimously. >> clerk: item 7 is resolution to authorize the director of property to exercise a lease extension option for real property located at 520 jones street with pacific bay inn as landlord and the city as tenant for a 10-year term. for a total annual base rent of approximately $1 million.

>> president yee: colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. >> clerk: item 8, resolution to authorize the issuance and delivery of multifamily housing revenue notes in an amount not to exceed $20 million for the purpose of financing the acquisition and rehabilitation of a 30-unit rent housing project locatedality 1045 capp street. >> president yee: this resolution is adopted unanimously. >> clerk: item 9 was referred without recommendation from the land use and transportation committee. it's a resolution to declare the intention of the board of supervisors to expand a property base improvement district known as the civic center community. it approves the management

district plan, the engineer's report and orders committee of the whole for the public hearing before the board of supervisors on july 16, 2019. >> this was will be intention of election around the civic center cbd. in committee, we were all very supportive of it. there was one issue related to one of the parcels. i've been working to resolve it. i want to give an update on the land use committee that we're working on that. we expect that to be resolved and to have an update given to us soon. i'm supporting this and i do believe we're going to be able to come with a resolution to the issue that came up in committee. i can answer other questions about where that is if you all

have them. >> president yee: okay. colleagues, can we take this same house, same call? well, objection, this resolution is adopted -- without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. >> clerk: committee reports. item 12 was not forwarded as a committee report. item 13 is a motion to approve the mayor's appointment of dave wasserman to the rent stabilization and arbitration board for a term ending august 21, 2022. >> president yee: can we take this same house same call? without objection, this motion is approved unanimously. >> clerk: roll call. peskin, you're first to introduce. >> re-refer please. >> supervisor ronen: today, i'm introducing two pieces of legislation that will help us

address the crisis of people with mental illness on the streets of san francisco. the first is ordinance establishing a cooperative living program for people with mental illness. that will establish guidelines and procedures for city departments to work with nonprofit organizations to acquire apartments and single-family homes to create cooperative living opportunities for people with chronic mental illness. the second is urging mayor breed to prioritize this need and ensure we have an immediate source of funds to launch the program. every san franciscan i know is deeply troubled by the misery we see every day. during the committee hearings we've held recently to evaluate our response, one of the most glar g glaring gaps is the lack of housing. 44% of homeless clients brought in for acute car leave these

short-term placement programs without a place to go. it's absurd, it's cruel, it's wasteful and we must do better. for many years, several of our most respected mental health providers, progress foundation, positive resource center and conners house have been operating facilitated community living in non-institutional neighborhood settings. for many people dealing with a combination of psychiatric and addiction issues, moving into a hotel in the tenderloin is not the answer. for them, the key is to be away from the chaotic neighborhoods that can trigger continued crisis. cooperative living can open the door to stability and serenity in many lives. currently they house 263 individuals and approximately 50 properties and neighborhoods across the city.

placing four or five residents together to share a home, these organizations provide 24-7, on all, individual and household case management services. until now almost all of them were leased from private owners. these leased units are now facing the same eviction threats that threaten many of our city's renters. we're losing units when we desperately need more. my legislation will require mocd and dph to assist with a loan program, scaling up the program so we have an economic and stable stock of units appropriate to the need. dph will provide oversight and direct client placement and enter into contracts with the providers. we cannot continue to have people spinning through a revolving door of treatment in the streets. we cannot afford the human cost of the financial waste or the

frustration of san franciscans with the status quo. we know this model works and i look forward to passing this legislation and taking this step to solving the chaos on the streets. i want to give a huge thanks to amy who put the legislation together and steve, and richard for sharing wisdom and experience in shaping this legislation. i also want to thank my cosponsor, supervisor matt haney and i look forward to working with them as the legislation moves forward. and the rest i submit. however, i wanted to respond to our president's request that we give an update on our work on outside commissions, which i think was a great idea. and i have been serving on the

metropolitan transportation commission since february. i was motivated to step into this role as they continue their consolidation and takes a strategic approach at looking at transportation as it intersects with housing and jobs and our desperate need to get people out of their cars to combat climate change. at the same time to house the bay area casa was wrapping up its work and released recommendations that kicked off a lieu of state legislation that was supposed to follow the production framework of the compact. i joined that body to ensure that san francisco would have a strong voice in the regional response to statewide legislation. i am also on the mtc's administration committee and the programming allocations committee, which puts me in a position to keep a close eye on funding streams and help mtc

exercise the powerful sticks and carrots under its control, that supports our existing communities while making way for newcomers. it's an exciting time to have join joined. there is a new fresh perspective. we met recently and discussed priorities, discussing transparency and leadership under her leadership. san francisco's role in the regional transportation network and our long-term funding needs. supervisor, president yee, i think reporting on our reported work outside the board is important and i would happy to give updates. the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: thank you, madame clerk. just want to give a little -- i'll start with the update that

president yee asked us for. i sit on two outside bodies, but i want to focus on, for the limited amount of time, the investment retirement fund. many of you know we just approved a new commissioner, the commission is moving in a very positive direction. our resources are -- and fund is very well funded. we're over 90% funded in terms of our retiree obligations. there was most recently a recent conversation -- public conversation about one particular account that was very important to me. and i think it's very important to many of the folks in afl-cio. it was a housing investment trust account. $50 million. that money is taken after the fund invests with the housing investment trust and is used to build affordable housing and 100% union construction projects. we've done about nine of these in the city. one of which is just down the

street. 20% of those units are affordable. and this is a wonderful fund that we invest in. without getting into too much of the weeds, there is an obligation that was set by the retirement fund to meet the 7.4% return, which was reduced to 7.3. this particular account is more, if you will, like more of a savings account. it doesn't return that level of investment, but it does better than our treasuries and it's something that is important. it's more of a safe account. we've made the decision over the last number of years to move almost $800 million out of those pools and this particular fund is one that we get a double purpose with. we make money for our retirees, but we also have the ability to invest in and do affordable housing for working families. we did not cancel that account.

i was against cancelling that account. i want to continue working with the body and the retirement board to preserve that investment and ensure that we have a find investment account. this is a very small piece of it, but one that is extremely important. the second thing, i had prepared along with supervisor peskin, we've been talking some time over the last years about reforms at sfmta, the governing structure, the way it runs. we're prepared to do a charter amendment. we've been in discussions with the controller's office and we're talking with them about methods to conduct an independent assessment. so we're talking with the controller, putting that -- an assessment together so we can look at all the different ways

in which the sfmta governance, budget and direction can be looked at in a positive way. also given the fact that the executive director, or the director of the sfmta is going to be changing and we're in a time of transition, we felt it was important to actually start with an assessment before we put forward something that might potentially hamstring the new incoming director. we'll have more information on that in the coming week or so, but we appreciate the work he's done on this regard. and the rest i submit. >> president yee: thank you. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor stefani. >> supervisor stefani: thank you. per president yee's request to update everybody on our outside boards and commissions, i first want to report on the mental health board. last week, i introduced an ordinance changing the name to

behavioral health commission. changing the title is important, because we're not just addressing mental health issues, but the relationship between mental health and substance abuse disorders. it empowers the body to look at the challenges our city and residents are facing when it comes to behavioral health. to confront the challenges, we must recognize the incredible complexity of the substance abuse, mental health problems in our city and work to destigmatize it. this small action expands our view on mental health services to behavioral health services. it's a vital step forward to addressing the behavioral health epidemic in the city. the other is the family violence council. members represent a range of partners from the superior court, san francisco police department and other members of our law enforcement agencies to our human services agency, domestic violence consortium.

recent discussions have focused on helping our departments train and inform first responders on approaching and identifying cases. efforts include taking a look at manuals, checklist and reporting, so there is greater collaboration on getting victims the services they need. i'm very excited that the council is a direct partner in supporting the effort to implement a gun violence restraining order in our city. gbro empower families, household members or law enforcement officers to temporarily remove a person's access to firearms or their ability to purchase them before they commit violence. bringing the work of the family violence council back to the board of seniupervisors, i've directed departments to implement protocols. i'm also working to determine if additional resources are needed to enforce restraining orders in our city. the rest i submit.

>> clerk: thank you. supervisor walton? >> supervisor walton: thank you, madame clerk. first i'll start with the report on the terms of joint powers board. four things i want to highlight. we're in open dialogue about the right organizational form for caltrain going forward in order to carry 250,000 riders. we need to identify a structure to step in that capacity. with that said, second point, you saw resolution introduced by supervisor peskin and i last week. i want to thank supervisor peskin for introducing the resolution in my absence. but the resolution is to support a strengthened independent agency to lead the next generation of regionally significant projects and endeavors towards a future caltrain high-speed rail corridor between san francisco in gilroy, which means caltrain is growing.

we need the governing structure in place to support the growth and want to work towards developing what that structure looks like. the third point, there has been a conversation at the joint powers board about a tax measure to develop consistent funding source for caltrain, which would have to pass across all three counties, san francisco, san matteo and santa clara. we are exploring the feasibility of this as a dedicated funding source. the last point, the business planning is still taking place. we received the report of that a couple of months ago. that planning is still under way. and this sets forth the direction for the future of the railway. i want to introduce two resolutions in support of california state senator jerry hill sb38 and sb39 respectively,

to combat the use of tobacco products by young people. despite the progress of reducing smoking tobacco, tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the united states. killing more than 480,000 people each year, and many forms of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases among other health disorders which are more than aids, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined. according to the center for disease control and prevent, the number of high school students reported being current users of tobacco products increased 36% from 3.6 million to 4.9 million students between 2017 and 2018. sb38 will prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products throughout california. san francisco has a history of leading the charge when it comes to protecting our young people from tobacco products.

my predecessor, district 10 supervisor cohen at the time, and previous class of supervisors, worked to ban flavored tobacco products that unfairly target youth and people of color. their efforts were challenged by big tobacco at the ballot last november. fortunately, san francisco voters passed the ballot initiative to ban flavored tobacco products by 68%. sb39 will reit -- create a robust process for those distributing the products by mail or online with a signature or verification process to make sure the purchaser is over 21 years of age and requires signature on delivery. they will use delivery containers that are labelled with the words, contains tobacco

products, signature of person, 21 years of age required for delivery. sb39 will take the necessary steps to make it harder for anyone under 21 to purchase any tobacco product online, including e-cigarettes, thus restricting the use of tobacco by youth. there is already an existing law that prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from buying tobacco products, including e-cigarettes according to the act also known as the stake act. it already is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under 21. i'm sure you've heard by now that juul is gathering signatures. which if you read into the proposal, is an effort to roll back the city's ban on the sale

of flavored tobacco products, while under mining the enforcement of selling to anyone under 21. juul also states that provisions of law applied to prohibit the sale, manufacture, or online resale of vapor products, which basically means that san francisco would not be able to remove any existing tobacco retailers, manufacturers or distributors from city property. this proposed ballot measure will undo many efforts that san francisco has worked on to limit the exposure of tobacco to youth. it's no surprise juul is using the same playbook as philip morris, seeing as or treeia

bought part of the company. we saw it happen last year when big tobacco was trying to overturn the flavored tobacco ban and 68% of san francisco voters voted for the ban. san francisco is known to stand up to big tobacco and we'll continue to do so. the rest i submit. >> president yee: thank you. madame clerk, let's go to the 2:30 accommodations. >> co-chair: we have expected presentations from supervisor stefani, ronen, mandelman, mar and yourself. >> president yee: supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank

you, president yee. i'd like to -- come on up. [applause] colleagues, today it is my great honor to commend stephan franz here at the board of supervisors of his incredible contributions to our city. he has served nine years on park, recreation, open spaces advisory committee known as prozac to the confusion of many who first started working in city government. he led as vice chair and three years as chair. it's our citizens advisory council tasked with advising the department on items from strategic plan and capital plan to ways to improve our parks for all. he was first appointed to prozac, seat 6, in 2010 by

supervisor peer, i was there. and then reappointed by mayor farrell as supervisor, and myself as supervisor to represent district 2. so you survived three supervisors in district 2. under his leadership, it provided key input into the five-year strategic plan and operation plan, and also on the budget for the open space acquisition fund budget. he has been instrumental in leading the 23-member board -- way too big -- to review specific projects and programs for 3413 acres of open space across our city. he has been a member of friends of lafayette park for 12 years, serving as president for five years. stephan built a talented and dedicated board to participate in regular cleanings and

greenings, movie nights in the park and activities for dog owners, tennis players and kids. he lends his incredible expertise to projects and programs in our city parks. he's most recently served as the production manager for saturdays in the park for five seasons of shows. we're lucky he is dedicated to build community, and bring joy and unity to our park visitors. stephan is such a champion of district 2. he's a staunch advocate and has served as an incredible liaison between the supervisor's office and community members. i've called on you so many times, and i can't thank you enough for always being there and caring about our parks. he's been instrumental in helping our other neighborhood parks as well, helping to develop boards and friends group so they can be directly involved in caring and maintaining their

local space. he has brought new ideas with the primary goal of bringing our community together. i can't thank you enough. you've been such a good friend to me, especially last year. you've been a wonderful advocate for the parks. you're an incredible san franciscan. i would like to call up phil ginsburg, i think he's here to say a few words about you as well. >> wow, supervisor stefani, you didn't leave much for me to say. pretty awesome. thank you so much for honoring stephan. it is really an honor to be here today to celebrate and honor him on behalf of the recreation and park department, commission and the larger parks community. as you know, from lafayette park to mclaren park, his leadership and passion for parks has been

felt throughout the city. from dog runs, to movie nights, to capital plans, his expertise and work ethic have helped our park system flourish. perhaps his biggest legacy during his tenure is the productive relationship he helped cultivate between the parks recreation advisory committee and the department. his collaborative and thoughtful and kind approach to citizen engagement has truly helped foster one of this nation's best urban park systems. he warrants today's recognition. i'm just very, very pleased and proud to be here. >> president yee: before stephan speaks, supervisor fewer? >> supervisor fewer: yes. i would also like to thank stephan for lending his expertise and love for the parks and dog parks out to my district in district 1, attending many of our community meetings, most of them in the evening, lending us

his expertise, but also guiding the conversation as we remodel a dog park in our area. on behalf of my 80,000 residents, thank you, stephan. >> supervisor safai: i wanted to add my voice to the chorus, i appreciate so much of what you've been able to do with the community. i see folks that have been active involved in mclaren park. you've been a tireless supporter, helping to activate the theater and making it a piece of community and people feeling safe and wanting to participate. and particularly families and seniors. just really want to add my voice to the chorus and thank you, supervisor stefani, for honoring stephan here today. >> president yee: the open space is yours.

>> thank you. thank you, supervisors. for anybody who knows he, i normally would prepare remarks, but i chose today to be humble and say thank you. i am proud to be here. i am proud to have served the city. it is very fitting today, first of all, as an underdog that i feel i am, to see our warriors five years in the finals. so i'll take this one second to appreciate our team. i'll also take a minute to appreciate my dog, luna, who passed away five years ago today. and why i appreciate luna is because without luna, i wouldn't have been in that park and i wouldn't have spent my time picking up other peoples' -- stuff. [laughter] why i say that is because then president obama had talked about, if you wanted to make change, you had to commit to service. and i heard him. and i heard him personally. i went out there and i started

pick up and engage. and just one, one person at a time, got me to join that board. got me to take on an appointment that i had no idea what i was going to do. and then i became the chair. and as phil said, i worked diligently to kind of marry the relationship between this citizens advisory committee and the department. and i asked that anybody who serves in those roles to continue to advocate and to help us to make our city better. i have to take a moment to thank my parents, both of whom were very socially conscious and pointed me in a direction that helped me to be inspired to build community. i have to thank my wife melissa, because without her, those ten years of those nights, hey, babe, i'll be hope for dinner -- hmm, maybe. to my fellow committee members on prozac for the past ten years, so my fellow members of

friends of lafayette park. without you guys, we wouldn't have the city that we do. so, i'll try to end this as quickly as i can in saying, i'm humbled by this. and i thank you so much. you don't choose to volunteer because of what happens at the end. you choose to volunteer because of the change that you make in the moment. and i thank you all for this recognition. i won't forget it. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> president yee: next,

supervisor stefani and i will be honoring our important ems staff for emergency medical services week in san francisco. we have fire chief nicholson here today. and before we bring her up, i would like to hand it over to supervisor stefani to make some remarks. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, president yee. i'm very proud to share in presenting today's commendation. i see a whole bunch of you in here, come on up. it's a wonderful opportunity to officially recognize this week to celebrate the incredible work of our ems providers and remind us all about the vital work they do each and every day in our city.

the members of ems teams are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and they ensure access to quality care that dramatically improves the recovery rate of those who experience sudden injury or illness. we rely on them. not only do they do incredible work to respond, but they help our communities train, plan and prepare for any type of emergency situation. i am so impressed by the steadfast dedication of our ems community's consistent review of practices and programming to ensure increased efficiency, faster response times and improved care for our city's residents. we're honored to be joined today by the representatives of the ems community, dispatchers, first responders, hospital providers, community representatives and partners. at this time, i would like to invite chief nicholson and mary

ellen carroll, the director of the department of emergency management. chief of our fire department, i think this might be -- is this the first time you're in here since being appointed? >> yes, ma'am. >> supervisor stefani: thank you. the floor is yours. >> thank you so much, supervisor stefani, president yee, members of the board of supervisors, i'm thrilled to be here with you all. thank you so much. on behalf of everyone behind me, we're so grateful to be here today. as you know, we do not do this for the accolades. we do this because we're proud and committed to service. so thank you so much for this. the people behind me are the boots on the ground, they're the people that get this done day in, day out. and they do not get enough thanks from us, but i'm really pleased that we get to commend them here today. so thank you very much.

sister mary ellen? >> thank you, sister chief. thank you so much for having us again. i'm thrilled to be here to represent all of the ems providers and our dispatcher mccullough. we say these guys save lives and in the case of mariah, she helped bring life into the world on this particular call, which is why she's being honored. she's been a dispatcher -- at the time it was barely a year, so this is just the start of the career. i was like, okay, i'm not sure how you're going to beat this, but... i just want to say thank you. we can't do any of this without each other. so we're a total team. and i, too, am so thrilled to work with you, chief, and with all your folks. it was great to see everyone at

dm yesterday for the open house. i never saw so many firefighters and paramedics. i felt incredibly safe. thank you so much for taking the time out to honor these great heroes. >> president yee: before supervisor stefani, i join you for our ops. supervisor brown? >> supervisor brown: yes, i really want to thank supervisor stefani for honoring our ems crew. i have a personal experience and i've never been able to thank you in a formal setting. a little over 20 years ago i was walking with my dog and my friend. and the light had turned green for us to go out and my dog wouldn't move and she stepped out and was hit by a car. that was running the light. -- by a car that was running the light. at that time i didn't have a cell phone to call. and all i could remember is just

yelling for someone to call. and someone did. a neighbor called. and i can't tell you the amazing people that came to really save her life. but not only save her life, they were there for me, because to watch a friend get hit by a car and not move was traumatic for everyone around. and the service and the care they took for my friend and myself in making sure i got home with my lazy dog that wouldn't move, was amazing, because they put me in a car and took me home with my dog, because they knew i was so upset. i want to say thank you for everything you do. and i think all of us, probably, if you've lived in the city long enough, you would have a story, too. so thank you. [applause]

>> thank you, all, so much. [applause] >> president yee: all right.

as they're filing out, i'd like to call supervisor ronen to go ahead and offer your commendation. >> supervisor ronen: thank you, president yee. i would like to call to the mic, it's my absolute pleasure to honor joe and jimmie. the director and the star who together co-wrote the most beautiful film of the year. a stunningly moving breaking love story to san francisco. it's called the last black man in san francisco. and it is exquisite. we're going to show a preview of it before i say a few words and then can't wait to hear from our home grown heroes. >> we built these ships.

dredged these canals. in the san francisco they never knew existed. [ ♪ ] this is our home. you two stick together. >> always come back to the old house. >> what if it's empty? >> what if we just peeked inside? >> we could throw parties. we could put on one of your plays. we could yell. live in this house. our house. that's not your old house and that's not your neighborhood. [ ♪ ] ♪ if you're going to san francisco ♪

♪ be sure to wear some flowers in your hair ♪ >> what if we shouldn't be here? we should be here. i don't know how much longer we can keep doing this. >> i'm not leaving. i'm the last one left. >> i'm with you, brother. [applause]

>> supervisor ronen: woo. that preview gives me chills. it's one of the most extraordinary films i've ever seen. and it plays tribute to our city in a way that i've never seen a piece of art do for the city of san francisco. i want to say a few words about both of you before we turn the mic over to you. the last black man in san francisco is based on and inspired by the life of joe's childhood friend and collaborator jimmie, who plays a fiction version of himself in the film. it wont the 2019 sundance film festival directing award and a special prize for creative collaboration. danny glover, a native of san francisco also stars in the film. joe talbot is a fifth generation san franciscan and award-winning filmmaker who grew up in bernal

heights. many of us know his father, david talbot. his home was a gathering place for artists. it was always a safe, encouraging refuge. jimmie's family home was a victorian by the park near fillmore street, but when his family lost ownership of the house, jimmie ended up living all over the city, including public housing in district 9. this was a painful lost. the victorian represented pride of ownership and the last time his entire family was living together. joe and jimmie first met in the park that became their stomping grounds. to joe, the park was one of the true melting pots, two kids from different economic and cultural

backgrounds, could hang out and bond. it started at soda, where he got early formal film education. he still keeps in touch of one of his teachers, who is in the film. joe has asked me to give a shoutout to scott, silva and joe, all of whom he credits with encouraging, supporting and inspiring his career in filmmaking. the last black man in san francisco uses jimmie's dream of reclaiming the home his family lost in his childhood to look at themes of home, no stall ja. it's bold and provocative. the film is a celebration of both the nostalgia joe feels for the san francisco of his youth

and love for the city that embraces empathy and the ability to be open to people. although he's frustrated with many of the changes that have taken place in the city, joe sees home as more than a physical place, it's about the memories that one cherishes. in these times, it's easy to focus on the bad and the ugly. the last black man in san francisco, joe and jimmie, are using their art as a powerful tool to remind us of our deep sense of community and deep love of san francisco. they give a voice to the nature of the changes we face and encourage important conversations how to channel those emotions into positive action and change for the better of all of news san francisco, our city. -- of us in san francisco, our city. it opens on friday, june 7. you absolutely have to see this movie. it will knock our socks off.

congratulations, joe and jimmie, you make us so proud. [applause] >> >> president yee: before you speak, supervisor walton? >> supervisor walton: thank you so much, president yee. i want to say thank god for soda and the talent it pushes out here in san francisco. [please stand by] [please stand by]

>> hopefully everyone sees it, and we may be proud, and thank you again. >> lorie: >> yeah -- no. this is -- [applause] . >> lorie:

> [applause] . >> lorie: >> i [applause] >> it is such an honor for us. >> lorie: we would go on walks, through the heights and the missions, and kind of talk about things we wanted to make in our backgrounds, and stories from our families. >> lorie:families. >> loriefamilies