good morning. today is wednesday, july 17th, 2019. this is a regular meeting of the abatement appeals board. i would to remind everyone to please turn off electronic devices. the first item on the agenda is roll call. president, >> here. >> vice president lee? >> here. >> commissioner clinch? >> here. contribution commissioner mccarthy? >> here. >> commissioner walker? >> here. >> commissioner konstin is excused. next item, b, is the oath. will all parties giving testimony today please stand and raise your right hand. do you swear the testimony you're about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge? >> yes. >> thank you. you may be seated.

i wanted to state for everyone's information that the department will present its case first and the appellant, each side has seven minutes to present their case. next there's public comment and members have three minutes each to speak. and then lastly there's rebuttal time of three minutes for the department and then the appellant. our next item is -- actually i wanted to make a brief announcement that case number 6861 has requested a continuance, so that case will be continued for 30 days. is there anyone here to speak or public comment? okay. seeing none, our next item is item c, approval of minutes. discussion and possible action to adopt the minutes for meeting held on april 17th, 2019. >> okay. are there any corrections or comments regarding the minutes, as presented?

>> i move. >> i accept the minutes. >> second. okay. moved and seconded. >> thank you. there's a motion and a second to approve the minutes. is there any public comment? seeing none, all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? the minutes are approved. next item is case number 6862, 2945 -- becky, nancy and stanley. action requested by appellant to obtain a 90-day extension to do the work. would staff like to come forward? >> good morning. my name is mauricio hernandez, chief building inspector for code enforcement process.

so the summary is work without permit, over excavation and removal of a retaining wall, at the rear lot and hazardous condition. a notice of violation was issued back in august of 2018. number regards to the excavation that was observed. -- two building permits, one for shoring and the other one for remediation to comply with a notice, repair the retaining wall. and also provide -- [inaudible] in regards to the damage done to the foundation. as you can see on the back, there's some picturing showing the damage.

this is the foundation of the existing adjacent property. the retaining wall is the one on the -- already removed and that's the exposed soil conditions of the adjacent property. staff issued order of abatement. and 3/20/2019 the owner was given enough time, he was also given an extension of the hearing, in order to correct this. there's only two permits filed to correct the conditions. one for the retaining wall.

and then the other is to comply with notice of violation prior to shoring and all of the repairs done to the foundation. the staff recommendation is to uphold the order of abatement and impose -- [indiscernible] >> commissioner clinch? >> can i ask a question? are you done yet? do you know the condition today, since it's been about a year. >> i believe it's still the same. we haven't gotten any progress. i was reviewing the file and we haven't had any action from the owner, since we issued the order of abatement. >> okay. >> has the neighboring property weighed in on this at all? >> yeah. we actually issued a notice of violation for the neighboring property. but we have that on hold, because they're not at fault here. so we are working -- we are

actually trying -- if you look at the whole chronology of the actions, we are trying to work with them, because we know that there's a civil matter to all this. a civil dispute in all of this. there's two properties involved. but at the same time we still need those permits to be issued, we need the shoring, we need the assessment report. and by looking at the file, the assessment report was never given to our inspector. >> i see. thank you. >> is there cooperation from the other neighbor? and these are the pending issues that they actually have to sign a waiver to allow them to perform the work. has that waiver been issued? >> i apologize. i don't have an answer for that, because i know at one point we had a meeting with the owner. and, you know, again there was more of a civil dispute saying we didn't cause the damage, so

why are we needing to be doing the work. >> yeah. well, i don't think that's -- the question is obviously it's very clear who has to do the mitigation work. but it needs the cooperation of the person that is affected by it. so the question is is there a situation where the neighbor is not given the legal autonomy, to go ahead and get the work done? >> assuming they are. like i said, we had a hearing for the other property. >> yes. >> around the same time as this one. we did send it back to staff, because they were -- >> yes. but there is cooperation. is there the signed letter, which is what the department needs to process a set of drawings from that neighbor? maybe mr. sweeny can tell me the exact name of that form that's needed. >> well, it's a building permit. but there's a letter stating that your structural engineer

has power. they've filed two permits, both should have been over the counterrer. they've been sitting there now for 11 months. >> why are they not processed? >> they haven't come in to do it. it's a simple over-the-counter permit. >> they filed two permits. why have the permits not been issued? >> they're here. you can ask them. if to file the permit, you have to have a letter from the neighbor. or we wouldn't have accepted it. >> so what we're trying to establish here, if this is procedurally not the procedural problem, because both parties are not cooperating. just trying to establish this. it's suppose to happen immediately, not within a year. that's very important information here. we need to know who is holding it up. >> there is two permits. both the permit for the adjoining neighbor wouldn't have been accepted, but it was. because it's on filed status. but this is sandy conditions, out in the sunset.

>> so is the delay because the permit applicant has not come in to pick them up? >> according to what i saw on the board, these are just form 8s. they're over-the-counter. if they would like to. what they did, they went in and they filed it. often times we see that as a way of delaying enforcement action. >> i see. >> one more time if you look at the screen, there was actually a note provided to them on the permit. if you look at the note on 8/29/18. temporary fix is not efficiently compensated for the loss of support under foundation. so one thing they never provided more information on the permit itself. so i don't think it's something that the other owner is actually stopping the job or the permit itself.

>> the next-door neighbor is not here, right? >> no. and the actual notice of violation was actually two things. obtain the service of a structure engineer to assess the situation and -- how to proceed in a safe manner. that was one of the items that we asked for. [bell ringing] the second was obtain a permit with plans to cover this work done as intended. >> okay. any other? >> i'm still trying to ask the staff, do we have the letter allowing the neighbor to work? i mean, i know we were given other reasons, incomplete set of drawings. i just want to know. is the cooperation and letter approved the neighbor to do the underpinning work on? >> the permit that's being shown up there was accepted. we would not have accepted it without a letter from the neighbor giving permission for the engineer to file it. >> okay. >> so, yes, it has to be there somewhere. we don't have it here with us. >> okay.

that's -- okay. that's important. thank you. so we're -- we're thinking this as incomplete set of drawings right now at this point, based on the information that's on the application? >> they went before tom lee. tom lee asked for more information. they never came back. >> okay. that's important. thank you. >> the appellant can come forward. >> use the mic, please. >> okay. i want to show you what we were trying to do. we were trying to clean up a planter box. so i'm going to put a picture of it right here. >> this is the planter box that we were trying to clean up. we just hired a handyman and he just used a shovel, bucket and the back of his truck. he had no intention of breaking this wall. the wall fell down on its own, after he excavated it.

now we're trying to fix it. we contacted officerrertore -- officer tora who tried to full the first permit, because he was not successful. i guess thomas lee requested calculations and albert advised that he didn't think we needed calculations. he said we needed photos of inside the neighbor's property. so i've been in conversation with the neighbor about that. and he absolutely refused to give me photos of inside his property. he's okay with us doing the work on the outside, as long as you do the work outside, he's okay with it. i have correspondence showing that he wants all of the work done outside. i'm happy to share that with you guys. >> okay. any questions? okay.

>> okay. >> thank you. >> all right. >> is there any public comment on this item? there's no public comment. the department have rebuttal? appellant have anything additional you'd like to say? i'm sorry. mauricio is coming. thank you. >> so the violation that was issued provided clear protective action to the owner. if you look at the whole scope of the investigation, we did provide enough time for the owner to work with the department. even the fact that we provided an extension of a hearing.

and we refer back to staff, so they can work with us, but again we still have the unsafe condition. we still have, you know, permits on issue. we still have no, you know, corrective action done at this time. >> okay. so for the record, just go over again the sequencing of dates. i mean, i know it's in the packet. >> yeah. >> the first action, extensions and the like. >> okay. the case was opened last year, in august of 2018. note was issued. the same day -- the next day that we were out there. we gave them 30 days to comply. on december 11th, we referred to code enforcement.

january 15th we prepped for the directive hearing and on the 23rd of january, it was a continuance was requested. to march 5th, 2019. so we -- we consider that continuance and we worked with them and provided a continuance of the hearing. after that, you know, the case was prepped for the hearing again. that's when we provided the order of abatement, because we have no -- again we have no issued permit and we still have no shoring. i mean, if we had a structure engineer's report, then we can work with them and say, okay, look, yeah. we can work with you. at this time on the file we never -- the owner never provided that first item, which was that report. >> okay. thank you. any rebuttals?

>> this is the photo that shows -- i met up with a structural engineer. albert was going to provide a free consultation that date to me. but he said you need to do emergency shoring right now. so we got a contractor out to do the work. and then this is the emergency shoring that he did and submitted to the city for approval. and then i followed up later on, per the city, with another inspector to get permission to do the shoring work. so i sent a letter to the neighbor, will you give me permission to do this work. and i guess at that time, a week later, he went to the city and said does he need to sign my letter. and he was told he did not need to sign my letter, because all of the work is suppose to happen on my side. and, you know, so he didn't sign my letter to get permission. i think the inspector was joe

mcduffy and he called me and told me so directly. so, therefore, we didn't get any permission from the neighbor on the emergency shoring work. but i know that he's happy that it's done. so his property is secure. so we're working to install a new retaining wall. this is -- this was 2 feet and 20 feet long. we're planning to install a new structural engineer, 5 feet tall retaining wall in place in the back. so that's what we're working on trying to get approval on. so that's it. >> thank you. commissioner clinch? >> so a question for you. so the picture you showed, how long ago was that? >> this was done august 28th, on the day i met up with albert, for my free consultation. he called a contractor he knew that -- curry construction to come over to do the work immediately. so we did this correction pretty

much a few days after the notice. >> and the intent you have is to tear that out and put in a proper retaining wall, is what you want to do? >> right. we need time for him to draw it out. and yeah to do a proper wall later. so to buy us time to do that. so that was the purpose of this wall. it's a temporary wall. >> okay. commissioner walker. >> what have you been doing for the last year? that's my understanding. i mean, you seem to buy time with that. >> we're not trying to buy more time. we're not able to get a permit from the department of inspection to do the work. we're not trying to buy more time. i'm ready to do the work. >> we've been trying. >> we're not trying to buy more time. >> right, i understand that. why aren't you down at the department with the engineering report. >> we've been told we need to talk to the neighbor, get their permission. they have not given the permission. >> circular here. >> one moment.

>> the way -- the way it happens is their engineer would come down and dispute that pictures are needed from inside of the house. that all of the work can be done from outside of the house. from what i've seen from the pictures, they probably grouted the sand. and then they added more grout to fill in the portion that was missing. >> in the temporary? >> so really the work underneath that house is probably already done. so why their engineer isn't coming down and showing documents of what occurred, i have no way of telling you. >> yeah. >> if you get hung up by one of our engineers, you can go to a supervisor. >> have you been down with the structural engineer to the department? >> yeah. >> are you the engineer? >> no. >> have you been down to the department with the structural

engineer or a report, as requested by our department? >> we have not been down here with our engineer. they've been coming directly themselves on their own. so, no, we have not come here. >> but they have come down? >> they have come down. michael has been -- he said he's been talking directly with an inspector on his drawings, to make sure that it gets approved. we don't know where it is at this moment. i know that he filed for a permit and he hopes to get the permit in 30 days. >> commissioner mccarthy. >> you have to help me out here, i'm getting two different versions of the story here. one is i'm getting there's calculation. i'm being told there suspect calculations. now i'm being told the permit has not been processed because you need to get inside the property to photograph the interior of the other owner, who we've been told is cooperating. but now we're hearing isn't cooperating. so, i mean, this is -- i mean, i'm sympathetic to these people, because i see what happens with

these. but we've got a real problem here. this is a project that's been undermined for a year. >> well, it's not. they've done the work without a building permit. according to the pictures they just showed. they went ahead and did the work without the permit. >> there's been nothing pulled from it. >> we've asked -- >> i'm coming from the point of view that that doesn't exist because we had no permit -- i have no idea the integrity of that shoring job that was done. so this is the problem the -- the problem here. we're trying to get to who is stalling this. i'm getting two different versions here. that's all i'm saying, you know. because i -- as somebody who has had these situations before in the building world, if you have a neighbor who is not cooperating, it really becomes a situation where if you're doing everything on your side, and they're not doing it, we have this standoff. and we need to -- this is going to help me in making my decision

here. i'm trying to get to the bottom of this. >> it would appear that the neighbor is cooperating, but with the caveat that i don't want -- i don't want people in my house making a mess. i don't think you have to do the work on the other side. i think all of the work can be done from their side of the property. >> okay. we're assuming. can you explain to me what the neighbor's exact objection is as to why they won't let you into the house, so you can complete your permit, that you're telling us that they're cooperating for you to get. >> we know they're not cooperating with giving access to inside their house. they didn't say why. they won't give access to their house. but we've been asking, you know. we said it would probably clear -- but they won't provide it. just simple pictures of a wall or a doorway would be helpful. but they haven't provided anything to us. >> we've had emails, you know, talking to them, asking them to sign a release of the piece of

paper that you guys -- from the department of building inspection. they don't want to sign the piece of paper. we made an offer to them. but they said no way. so that's -- we gave them the deadline to july 5th. but there's emails here indicating they don't want nothing to do with us. >> it's your testimony that the permit that you're trying to pull and your engineer is trying to pull has all of the information it needs to be issued, except you've been denied the permit -- hang on one second, inspector. you were denied the permit because the neighbor is not cooperating. >> right. >> right. >> okay. well, that's -- that's where we're at. please. >> okay. >> inspector. >> well, we can -- all we have is tom lee, who is retired now, he did 30 years with us. and 8/29/18 he says over-the-counter review, but not approved. temporary fix is shown on plans

is not efficiently compensate for the loss of support under existing foundation, due to overexcavation. comments noted on plans in exchange directly to e.o.r. at counter. engineer of record at counter. >> yeah. >> the engineer was talking to them, almost a year ago. >> yeah. >> hasn't come back. >> and i'm not -- i'm not coming from the point of view it was done correctly anyhow, right. so i think we need to go -- fast forward now. you have a neighbor that's not cooperating. that's the question that was asked at the very start of this hearing. and you an n.o.v. on that neigh. you should be forcing that n.o.v. based on the testimony we're hearing -- >> exactly. >> we've said that in the past. >> through the chair, and what's in front of us here is the n.o.v. of a neighbor, is that you have on hold. so what the testimony here today from your side is -- doesn't make sense. isn't adding up here. >> but the reason -- not too

long ago, our policy was give notice of violations to both parties and take it all the way through the process. we've been criticized by this commission often by why we're attacking, why we go after the person that didn't do the work. so we've changed up. so now we give both sides a notice of violation. but we -- but we only go on the enforcement -- on the people that caused the problem. >> if i can make a comment, we pushed the other case to the director's hearing. the hearing officer actually was the one that referred back to staff. it wasn't the staff that send it back. second, the owners were actually willing to work with the other owners. but again that's more of a civil dispute, that if something happens in between them, i have no control over. but they were because they were actually able to file the application. the other item that we have

issues with is the owner, even if they had an engineer's report, never reached out to the inspector, saying we have the engineers involved now in the process. so that we can submit a report, so they can submit a report. and we can say, okay, look, give me a sketch, a stamp, a sketch with the engineer. we can approve that shoring for now. but nothing of that happened. nothing of that nature happened. so we did actually enforce the other notice of violation. we went up to the director's hearing and it was a hearing officer that made the ruling and that decision, sending it back to staff. >> so what's in front of us here today is the temporary -- sorry, through the chair, is a temporary permit to protect the property, not the actual undermine -- not the underpinning permit. >> so there was two permits that they were suppose to get. one was the shoring and one was actually the remediation of the work. >> okay. what's in front of us is the shoring permit, right? >> yeah.

>> and that, like i said -- >> that could be issued? >> yeah. and the bill was flexible enough that if we had an engineer's report saying, yeah, this is imminent hazard right now, here's my corrective action. i need to do this work within three days. honestly as a chief or a senior could say, yeah, sure. show me an engineer's report, show me the stamp and we'll work with you and you can provide some emergency measures right now. and then we can move forward with the retroactive permit. but didn't happen on this one. and we have given enough time. and as well, like i said, we've issued the other owner notices of violation. we send it to the director's hearing and it was per the hearing officer that was referred back to staff. >> okay. >> commissioner walker. >> thank you. this -- you know, it helps us see through the different layers of this. first-time recalling past hearings where we actually had all parties come together at

this hearing, which seemed like a good thing. i mean, i think that the discussion, as i recall it, was yes, we're inconveniencing people around. but there needs to be some sort of forced negotiation. and it's not going to happen necessarily, what's holding it up is an engineering drawing that includes an interior assessment of the neighbor. if you need to see that, it's not being forced. so i would say that there's no reason not to uphold the violation. but i'm -- i get that there needs to be more time involved. it's just -- i have the concern that president mccarthy does, that we've been sort of allowing this to sort of linger for so long and aren't really aware of what's going on under that foundation. so i think that we need to do something really quickly. and maybe it's splitting the

cases here and dealing with the shoring, as an emergency -- as a temporary thing. and, i mean, either way this has been going on way too long. and i don't know yet why that is the case. so i still need to sort of discuss or hear from the other commissioners about that. because i don't know how that affects our access. >> commissioner walker, perfect. >> okay. any other comments, commissioners? okay. thank you. okay. please just return to your seats. okay. so we have a situation where, you know, we have a danger -- a potentially dangerous situation. it's gone on way too long. it does sound like there is reason to uphold the order of abatement. and we can enforce the fines.

but getting to the point of separating this, so that we actually get a solution, that first and foremost, the temporary shoring or the emergency shoring be done under permit and with inspections is the first priority. we have to know that that was -- any work that was done there was done correctly. you know, clearly it's a bit out of character that, before a permit was issued to do it, the work was done. so i would think that -- i'm sorry. commissioner walker. >> maybe we should take public comment and finish -- >> we did. >> we did already. i think that -- i think i would tend to want to uphold the order of abatement assessed costs and

just, based on the findings of the actual violations, and the necessity to move forward around this emergency situation of the foundation. i think that staff usually goes forward finding a solution that satisfies the permits, as that plays out. that's my feeling of how it goes. >> correct. >> so it would allow the first part to happen and then hopefully the engineer would be engaged for the subsequent fixes of this. so i don't know that we need to hold an -- for this to happen, but we could. maybe we can get a weigh-in from staff on that. >> do you have any perspective

on it? >> this work could be done, you could rebuild the foundation with that footing probably in a couple of weeks. easily. it's not a big job. >> yep. >> through the chair, i think what commissioner walker and what the commissioners are thinking, we break this up into two parts. one is the temporary shoring of the property, to issue a permit immediately, where i would envision they would send their contractor or their engineer down, let's say tomorrow. issue that permit because what you need for that is done. >> possibly. >> yeah. okay. >> tom lee, who wasn't happy with how they did it -- >> yeah. have the engineer go down there and correct whatever needs to be done there. and then that would -- then we can send somebody out to see if the work that they've already done does meet that criteria under that permit, right. >> we can do that. >> then we as a commission know

it's stable. then i think somebody needs to sit down with the homeowner to know we now need a detailed set of underpinnings drawings, to include the cooperation of the neighbor next door in full. >> well, the emerging shoring permit probably is the same. >> is it? >> and then the second permit is to put back the retaining wall that was moved. >> right. right. that permit would have the cooperation of the next-door neighbor, and get past this situation we're dealing with. >> commissioner walker. >> so i think that the question here is does the first part of reviewing the emergency shoring, does that require the neighbor cooperation or can we do that with just the engineer? >> well, we already have -- we have a permit that's in play. >> so you just need to inspect it? >> i need an engineer to come down and sit down with our engineer and bring -- and bring

calculations. and calculations i don't think they need to go next door. >> okay. >> yeah. so then -- >> first step. >> yep. >> okay. >> if their engineer wants to come down and meet me, i can bring him downstairs. but i need their engineer to come. >> commissioner. >> if i may, through the chair. >> sure, go ahead. >> your engineer. >> i need your engineer to come down tomorrow and see me. >> okay. >> what time? >> i'm there at 7:30. >> okay. >> okay. >> thank you, deputy sweeney. >> okay. >> so i would move to uphold the order of abatement. >> correct. >> assess costs. >> correct. >> facts presented showing evidence of violation of our codes, sufficient to uphold this order. and work for a speedy resolution

as discussed here. >> correct. perfect. >> i'd second that. >> i have a motion and a second. we'll do a roll call vote. >> president warshell? >> yes. >> vice president lee? >> yes. >> commissioner clinch? >> yes. >> commissioner mccarthy? >> yes. >> commissioner moss? >> yes. >> commissioner walker? >> yes. >> general public comment, are there any members of the public here to speak for general public comment for items on the abatement appeal board agenda? okay. seeing none, item f, adjournment. >> move to adjourn. >> second. >> motion and second. okay. we are now adjourned. we will reconvene at 10:00 a.m., the building inspection commission. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you.

. >> the hon. london breed: almost. good morning, everyone. i'm london breed, mayor of san francisco, and i'm so excited to be here today with so many amazing people to talk about something that's so important. just this past week, we had a big event celebrating a $600

million affordable housing bond that will go on the ballot this november. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and i want to thank the board of supervisors for passing that unanimously, and i want to say that there's something in there for everyone, for our low-income families and seniors, to our middle-income residents, to our teachers. we know that housing affordability is critical to the success of our city, and i'm grateful to the board of supervisors for passing that ballot measure, and i am hopeful with fingers crossed that the voters will support that, and we are putting forward that housing bond without raising property taxes again, so i just want to say that over and over and over again. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: so today, we have another opportunity. today, we are signing the legislation to put a $628 million bond on the ballot to

help with our emergency facilities all over san francisco, and we are also doing that without raising property taxes. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: the goal is to put this on the march ballot, and so we're going to have to work hard to get voters to approve this one, as well. i just want to start by that i thinking naomi kelly, and the work of the capital planning committee. because of the work of the capital planning committee over the years, we've been able to have a very well-thought-out plan for investing dollars in facilities that the city owns, especially our public safety facilities. and in 2010 and in 2014, voters passed these bonds without raising property taxes but with almost 80% of the vote to support rehabilitating

facilities all over san francisco. and just this year, i was really excited about cutting the ribbon on station 5, which is my home station, where i used to get my toys as a firefighter. our firefighters and our police officers, fixing our buildings and making sure that they can sustain an earthquake is so critical to protecting the lives of our citizens. in fact we are all reminded from last week, the major earthquake that happened in southern california and the devastating impact it had on that community, we are reminded that we have to be prepared. it's not about if, it's about when a disaster strikes. so what are we going to do to make sure that our public safety personnel can focus on the work that they need to do

to save lives and not necessarily the challenge that exist with the buildings that house them and what could happen to people that we need to shelter in a disaster. kezar pavilion is not seismically safe. it is one of the facilities that could qualify for additional revenues so that if necessary, we can use that as a shelter facility in case a disaster hits. we have to be thinking ahead in not only repairing the buildings that we know need to be repaired, like park station, which is currently undergoing some renovations like police and fire stations and public safety buildings, and 911 buildings where we send our dispatchers, all of these

places matter, so when a disaster hits, their only focus is on saving lives of the citizens of san francisco and not worrying about the condition of their buildings and whether or not they're in a bad place themselves. so today, we are announcing a $628 million public safety beyond for earthquake safety and emergency response for the march ballot, as i said. and i am just so excited and so proud of the work that we did collaborating with the board, collaborating with the capital planning committee to do this in such an incredibly responsible way. and i just want to thank all of you for being here, joining us, because this is exciting for the future of san francisco. we know that there are challenges in our city, and we have to make the right kind of

investments, not only the issues that we face today but for the issues we'll face tomorrow. this is just taking one step further to doing just that, and so i'm really excited to be here with so many incredible people, including the supervisor who represents district 5 -- [applause] >> the hon. london breed: many of you all know vallie brown. she's been a community advocate in this district for so many years. not only does she spend time cleaning it up, i mean, personally, literally in the morning, picking up track with her own picker, but she also spends a lot of time fighting for resources in this community. whether it's our public safety locations or our community locations, she's been a real advocate, and some of you know the work that was done here, also, the track that was repurposed.

and commissioner buell, what was the location over here by the triangle? what is that called? yeah, with public and private dollars, we're transforming this area. and when i served as supervisor, the person who was really actively engaged in working with the community and helping to bring together public and private resources to get these projects done for this community was no other than your current supervisor for district 5, vallie brown. [applause] >> supervisor brown: thank you, mayor breed. i'm really happy to be standing here today and to be talking about this. just a few months ago, we were at fire station 5, brand-new opened. not only is it absolutely state-of-the-art and beautiful, but it is going to be a hub if anything happens in this city.

and when i think about we have so many other stations and buildings that we need to have this kind of bond money to be able to fix them up so if we do have earthquakes, if we have things that happen in this city, that we're prepared. when we look at -- i know that mayor breed was talking about kezar and other places, but when we have a major earthquake, and if we think about the earthquake that just happened in southern california, and how strong it was, but it was in the desert. but think about what if it was here, and what it could have done to our city. i think about that every day, and what i would do if my place was flattened in the city. i probably would be camping in the park unless i had someplace to go that was safe, right? i would. i know the no-tent rule, but i

think they have a cot there for me. i asked them, can you put a cot? so i just feel that it's so important that not only is this city ready for anything that could happen, unfortunately -- and we know it will someday, but we have to be ready individually. we have a responsibility. i actually just went to a fire in my district a few weeks ago. everybody ran out of the building. there were, like, 12 people. the things they forgot when they ran out -- they forgot their i.d., they forgot their medicine, all of those things, and it keeps going into my mind, am i ready? am i ready for an earthquake? am i ready for a fire or anything -- any other kind of emergency? so i went home, and i remembered an emergency kit that i had put together probably 12, 15 years ago, when i did nert, and nert was first

starting. my water was expired, the batteries expired, the food expired. i'm like, i'm not ready, and i didn't have the emergency little pack that you're supposed to have by your door to grab and run if something happens. i wasn't ready, and i think about that because i think about what about my neighbor that's elderly, and she has a hard time getting down the stairs? we should be going out, talking to our neighbors. we should be going out, training with nert. please sign up. if you're not a member, it's kind of fun. we need to start thinking about our neighbors and what we can do individually. are you signed up for the alert, emergency alert, everyone on your phone? your neighbor? this is the kind of thing that we need to do because it really takes us as an individual and our neighbors to really protect each other if this happens. and believe me if we have an earthquake, i'm heading down to

cafe revelry, and if his coffee machine is working because these are the places we're going to have to go to see, are they left behind? do they need help? i say that because i appreciate all the work in this city that everyone does. our police chief, fire chief, naomi kelly, and especially our mayor to say we need to look at this, we need to do this now, and being so creative for doing this. i want to thank everyone for coming to district 5. it's nice and foggy here, but cool you down a little bit before you go back to your job. so thank you, everyone. and the next speaker -- are you going to bring him up? all right. thank you. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, supervisor brown. and just a reminder, anyone can

go to sf72.org if you want to get prepared for any emergency situation in san francisco. a lot of great information from emergency management. sf72.org. now i want to introduce someone who's ae be who's been a 25-year veteran of the san francisco fire department and has a very thorough knowledge of how to deal with emergency situations and is why she is currently serving as the chief of the department. please welcome jeanine nicholson. >> good morning, everyone. i love our san francisco summer weather. speaking of nert, as supervisor brown just mentioned, i want to recognize, we do have some nert

volunteers right here, and nert is going to be critical in the event -- [applaus [applause] >> in the event >> -- in the event of a disaster. we know it's not if, it's when. i want to recognize mohamed nuru. he's been a great ally for us and working with us. in the event of a disaster, our fire department needs to respond immediately. our firefighters and e.m.s. workers work 24-7, 365, and we need to be able to respond immediately. and this bill will provide the funding that we need to invest in our public safety infrastructure so we can continue to bring the city and the citizens the best service

that we possibly can, but especially during a disaster. so thank you all for being here today. good day. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: all right. our last speaker for this program before we finally sign this legislation is the chief of the police department, bill scott. [applaus [applause] >> thank you, mayor. i'll be brief. i just want to reiterate what the mayor said. we have 13 san francisco police departments and 14 other buildings. many of our stations are over 25 years old. these stations, from the day that the doors open, they are open 24-7. they have always been in use, and many of them are in need of seismic improvements, significant seismic improvements. and we don't want -- in the

time of an emergency, we don't want to have to worry about whether or not the station is going to be standing, even though we plan for that if it happens. that's the last thing we want to worry about, so i, too, want to thank you all for being here. the vision of the mayor, city administrator kelly, and the vision of our city for looking forward so our city has the proper infrastructure to respond properly, so thank you for the leadership, and thank you, mayor. >> the hon. london breed: thank you. and again, i want to thank all of you for being here. again, this is only the beginning. the real work beginning when we have to -- begins when we have to campaign to get this ballot measure passed. we have been successful in 2010 and 2014 in getting almost 80% of the support of the voters for a previous eser bond, and i want to make sure that we top that, so i'm going to need your

help. it's incredibly important that we shrine a light on the measure that will be going on the march 2020 ballot for voters to support. i appreciate you all being here, and also don't forget to vote for the housing bond on the ballot this november. all right. let's get this signed. [applause]

>> the hon. london breed: 7, 11, 19, done. [applause]

>> a way of life in san francisco. when the next major quake hits, the city hopes a new law requiring seismic upgrades to five story buildings will help keep more residents safe and sound.

tell me a little about the soft story program. what is it? >> it's a program the mayor signed into law about a year and a half ago and the whole idea behind it was to help homeowners strengthen buildings so that they would not collapse. >> did you the soft story program apply to all buildings or building that were built in a certain time frame? >> it only applies to buildings built in the time frame of 1978 and earlier. it's aimed at wood framed buildings that are three or more stories and five or more units. but the openings at the garage level and the street level aren't supported in many buildings. and without the support during a major earthquake, they are expected to pancake and flatten ~. many of the buildings in this program are under rent control

so it's to everybody's advantage to do the work and make sure they protect their investment and their tenant. >> notices have gone out to more than 6,000 owners of potentially at-risk properties but fewer than one-third have responded and thousands might miss an important deadline in september to tell the city what they plan to do. let's talk worst case scenario. what happens in a collapse? >> buildings have the tendency of rolling over. the first soft story walls lean over and the building collapse. in an earthquake the building is a total loss. >> can you describe what kind of strengthening is involved in the retrofit? >> one of the basic concepts, you want to think of this building kind of like rubber band and the upper three floor are very rigid box and the garage is a very flexible element. in an earthquake the garage will have a tendency to rollover. you have to rubber band analogy that the first floor is a very

tough but flexible rubber band such that you never drive force he to the upper floors. where all your damage goes into controlled element like plywood or steel frame. >> so, here we are actually inside of a soft story building. can we talk a little about what kinds of repairs property owners might expect? >> it's a very simple process. we deliberately tried to keep it that way. so, what's involved is plywood, which when you install it and make a wall as we have done here already, then you cover it with this gypsum material. this adds some flexibility so that during the earthquake you'll get movement but not collapse. and that gets strengthened even more when we go over to the steel frame to support the upper floor. >> so, potentially the wood and

the steel -- it sounds like a fairly straightforward process takes your odds of collapse from one in 4 to one in 30? >> that's exactly right. that's why we're hoping that people will move quickly and make this happen. >> great. let's take a look. so, let's talk steel frames. tell me what we have going on here. >> well, we have a steel frame here. there are two of these and they go up to the lower floor and there is a beam that go across, basically a box that is much stiffer and stronger. ~ goes so that during the earthquake the upper floor will not collapse down on this story. it can be done in about two weeks' time. voila, you're done. easy. >> for more information on how to get your building earthquake ready,y,y,y,y,y,y,y,y,y,y,y,y,y,

(roll call). we have a "rum have a quorum. >> good morning.