[applause]. >> and so many incredible community leaders and friends who have gathered here today to support the signing of what i believe is important legislation that will hopefully make the changes in the city that are necessary to address what we know our inequalities and services, resources in general, and we know, as a city we have work to do. in fact, we can take this conversation back to two years ago. starting with the unfinished agenda under the san francisco redevelopment agency, recommendations back then of what should be done with the

disparities that exist in the african-american community. later on down the line, when gavin newsom served as mayor, he agreed to work with us and create a task force which produced a report that really highlighted the challenges that continue to persist in the african-american community despite changes, despite investments, the same problems that we are talking about today, were problems that were highlighted, yet there weren't significant changes made. in growing up in san francisco, i can't help but wonder, where did we go wrong? what worried the mistakes that we made, and how are we going to push forward the kinds of policies necessary to fix it? one such policy i'm really proud of that i helped to produce when i was on the board of supervisors, people try to fight is on it, people told us it

couldn't be done, but thanks to our late mayor ed lee, former supervisor melia cone, we were able to finally get neighborhood preference legislation passed. [cheers and applause] let me give you an example of what a difference that makes. we know the challenges that exist with access to affordable housing. time and time again we get asked if -- to support affordable housing in our community. but when the time comes to move into that housing, the people who grew up there, the folks so crowded up in their houses and living with their mamas and grand moments could not get access to those units. the first project where we were able to use neighborhood preference was the willie b. kennedy apartment. because of our efforts, 40% of the 98 units was the people who lived in the community --

community first. in fact, roughly 23 of those residents were african-americans from that community. [applause] we understand that it may seem like a small number, but in comparison to the number of african-americans who would get access to affordable housing, it is a big deal that we were able to accomplish this, but we know that there is so much more work to be done because when you look at the disparities that exist in san francisco, sadly the numbers are clear. high school dropouts, disproportionally african-americans are in the higher numbers of dropouts and suspensions, but less than 6% of the population. you look at the homeless population, you look at the challenges with mental health, disproportionately african-americans are impacted by that. you look at access to housing and a number of other issues.

the list goes on and on. i get that we are looking at an office of racial equity for the purposes of dealing with challenges that exist with minority communities, but let's face the facts. sadly, time and time again, we have seen, on many occasions, the african-american communities lose time and time and time again. we can't just keep talking about these statistics and saying that we care about what happens to this community, and then also criticize me when i deliberately put money and resources into supporting and targeting this community so that we can really provide the change that we need. we need action. we need consistency. we need a change like never before. the office of racial equity is

really about making that investment. it is about saying that we are tired of the reports, we are tired of the promises, and we need to start putting our money where our mouth is. on this issue and so many other issues. so i just want to take this opportunity to thank again supervisor sandy fewer and supervisor vallie brown for their courage. [cheers and applause] for their courage. for being leaders. for being unrelenting. for consistently talking about this, talking about the need to make real change. the african-american community may be less than 6% of the population of this city, but guess what? we are still here. we still matter. and it is time we come together and make real change.

[applause] it is time we come together and hold one another accountable, but also lift one another up. >> here is the opportunity to work with an office to provide that change. i went over my time, but i am excited about this. it is why we put money in the budget to make sure positions are funded. nobody debated whether or not it should be, and now it is time we continue to work with this office so that policy is brought forward, so that more investments are brought forward, and so that everyone in this city, and all city departments understand that when i say we are going to look at everything through a lens of equity and make the kinds of deliberate changes and investments to address what we know has been a problem, then that's exactly what we are going to do. [applause]

at this time, i would like to welcome up to provide remarks, supervisor sandra lee fewer. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. i'm so proud to stand here today with the mayor and supervisor brown, and also my colleague and all of you as we sign this legislation to create an office of actual -- racial equity into law. i'm a fourth generation san francisco and -- san franciscan and chinese-american. i remember growing up in a san francisco where there was more opportunity for everyone. i remember when we had an african-american population of over 15% here in san francisco. i remember the time when we had nader -- neighborhoods with small businesses that were owned by african-americans. this is a very important moments

today because, quite frankly, this is one of the reasons, the main reason that i ran for supervisor. i think that -- [applause] it is so delightful and refreshing that we have a mayor that actually impress it -- embraces this. we need an interruption and we need to interrupt what is happening and how can we get back to the san francisco values that we are all so proud of and we all love. when you come to san francisco, you expect to see diversity. when you come to san francisco, the self-proclaimed, most progressive city in the united states, you expect to see people of color thriving here and yet we are not seeing that. i would like to take a moment of appreciation to really think my legislative aide for doing this work. [cheers and applause]

and also district five legislative aide. [applause] and from the human rights commission thank you. this is the hard work of determined women that we will write this and we will write it good. historic race discrimination has manifested as exclusionary and destructive policies like creating obstacles for chinese residents from owning businesses the racial segregation to neighborhoods, and the internment of japanese americans and the destruction of historically black neighborhoods in the name of urban rule. now racial -- it is not disclosure neri policy, but rather in the inaction of

government to address and protect these past harms done. it is more insidious, and more harder to address. we see now incredible racial disparities in so many areas of life but also let specific islanders -- we see these disparities showing up in employment, our schools, housing , and the healthcare system and more. these disparities prevent people from color in our city from leading lives that are happy, healthy, and economically secure today, we are taking a stand in san francisco to say we will not stand for systemic racism. this legislation is a critical step in acknowledging the history and the current conditions of communities of color and making strong and concrete commitments to address those conditions.

>> thank you, supervisor fewer. at this time, the co-author of the legislation, supervisor vallie brown. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed for your support and your kind words i want to thank supervisor fewer intimate -- director davis for your fierce advocacy and hard work on this, but i also really want to appreciate the people behind us. a lot of times we push them in front that have really got into the weeds to work on this. might aid, thank you -- my aid, thank you. i know supervisor fewer already thank you, but i have to thank you, too. you have to have a doublethink here. district 18, chelsea, and then

human rights commission, i want to thank brittany, raise your hand, brittany. thank you. everybody wants to know who she is. and other than the other h.r.c. stuff that worked really hard on this. they really went deep and really drafted some amazing legislation for us to move forward. i really want to thank all of you for joining us here today for this historic signing of this office of racial equity. this office where we will work -- we will build and work on the legacy of the human rights commission, and it is a powerful tool to break down years and years of structural and institutional racism. our work has just begun, though, but we can't do this alone, and that's why we are all here today

we need the support of each of you to repair past harms and work towards a brighter future. it's all about time, it's all about time. i am so proud to stand on this land that we are here on and organize on behalf of the board. when i think about the native american community in this city, the highest population of women that are murdered are american indians. think about that. when they say we are 1%, why? this is something that i know we will dive deep into because these are things that matter to our community, matter to the city, matter to the elected officials, and as the years when i was a legislative aide, we used to do policy, we used to do funding, thinking we were really

going to help a community, but we didn't know if it would work or not. for me, this office of racial equity will work with the community and bring things to us this is -- isn't that what we want? don't we want the community to bring the policy, bring the funding suggestions to us? they have to come from the community, not from us telling you what you need. i am just really proud to stand here today and be part of this. lastly, i want to make an important distinction. equality means treating everyone the same. equity means ensuring everyone has what they need to be successful. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you supervisor brown. now a few words from the director of the human rights commission in san francisco, cheryl davis. [cheers and applause]

>> this is quite an emotional day for a lot of different reasons. i want to first recognize the commissioners that are here. they are here from the human rights commission. this work, i was just telling someone, it is actually just the perfect storm in terms of how it came out. i remember when mayor breed was president of the board. we had a conversation with james bell from the burns institute in oakland about the needs of doing something around racial equity. she was committed then and we were really try to figure out what it is that we wanted to do. what did we need to do, how did we work to build allies to move this forward. when supervisor fewer came into office, one of the first thing she said to me is we need to do something around racial equity in the city and she specifically said, i want to know what we can

do to do better by african-americans and black people in san francisco. that was unusual, right? this idea that somebody who wasn't black was interested in doing right by black people was new for me. and then supervisor brown, they developed an equity program with the office of economic and workforce development for african-americans in the western addition, fillmore, to help them develop the way to have access to city help. put money for them to get paid to tell us what to do. when we talk about being committed to the work, i really have a little tolerance for people who just like to talk and i would like to say these three women have been committed to the idea and notion of racial equity and getting to the people who have been most harmed by the disparities and putting their money and their mouth where the work needs to be done.

[applause] and i say it is a perfect storm because when i look around and i think about felicia jones and dante and the folks who have been pushing on the inside to say that we need to make change, michelle and cheryl, the folks that have challenged us, but at the same time, i think about ruth and their work in the mission. and the work that is being done. this idea that we want to transform city hall is not about transforming the work that happens in this building, it is about understanding how the work that happens in this building impacts everybody outside. [applause] so they won't. i am so full right now because i know that there is not just the accountability and the demand to make this happening from --

happen from communities, but these three women, coupled with the men over here from the board of supervisors, they will make it happen. nobody here is afraid to be told that it is being done wrong and that we need to redo it. if you want it to work right, you all need to make sure that we are held accountable. i am excited about what is to come and being held accountable and moving this thing forward, and as mayor breed said, bringing the change that we have been waiting for for 50, 60, 70, 100 years. thank you for being here today. [applause] >> thank you. as i said to all of you before, as someone who was born and raised here, i'm so honored to be the mayor and i still can't believe what an incredible opportunity this is, but i can't also help but think about the need to make sure that even though there were mistakes that

were made in the past, that change the dynamics of our city, in the past, we have an opportunity to make things better in the future. we have an opportunity not to repeat the mistakes of the past and no, i can't turn -- turn back the hands of time, but what i can do is make sure that the policies and the investments and the decisions that we make now have a better impact on future generations to come. today is an opportunity to do just that. ladies and gentlemen, let's get this legislation signed. [cheers and applause] are we ready?

[applause] streets. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i wanted to wish you a best

wishes and congratulations the community has shifted a lot of when i was growing up in the 60s and 50's a good portion of chicano-american chinese-american lived in north beach a nob hill community. >> as part the immigrant family is some of the recreation centers are making people have the ability to get together and meet 0 other people if communities in the 60s a 70s and 80s and 90s saw a move to the richmond the sunset district and more recently out to the excelsior the avenue community as well as the ensuring u bayview so chinese family living all over the city and when he grape it was in this area. >> we're united. >> and growing up in the area that was a big part of the my

leave you know playing basketball and mycy took band lessons and grew up. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> allergies welcome to the community fair it kicks off three weeks of celebrations for the year and let's keep everybody safe and celebrate the biggest parade outside of china on february 11th go best wishes and congratulations and 3, 2, 1

happy enough is enough. >> i grew up volley ball education and in media professional contrary as an educator he work with all skids whether or not caucasian hispanic and i african-american cumber a lot of arrest binge kids my philosophy to work with all kids but being here and griping in the chinese community being a chinese-american is important going to american school during the day but went to chinese school that is community is important working with all the kids and having them exposed to all culture it is important to me. >> it is a mask evening. >> i'd like to thank you a you all to celebrate an installation

of the days here in the asian art museum. >> one time has become so many things in the past two centuries because of the different did i licks the immigration officer didn't understand it became no standard chinese marine or cantonese sproupgs it became so many different sounds this is convenient for the immigration officer this okay your family name so this tells the generations of immigrants where they come from and also many stories behind it too. >> and what a better way to celebrate the enough is enough nuru with the light nothing is

more important at an the hope the energy we. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> relative to the current administration it is, it is touching very worrisome for our immigrant frames you know and some of the stability in the country and i know how this new president is doing you know immigration as well as immigrants (fireworks) later than you think new year the largest holiday no asia and china those of us when

my grandparents came over in the 19 hundreds and celebrated in the united states chinese nuru is traditional with a lot of meani meaning. >> good afternoon my name is carmen chu assessor-recorder i want to wish everything a happy new year thank you for joining us i want to say. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i'm proud to be a native san

franciscan i grew up in the chinatown, north beach community port commission important to come back and work with those that live in the community that i grew up in and that that very, very important to give back to continue to work with the community and hope e help those who may not be as capable in under serving come back and give >> you're watching quick bites, the show that is san francisco. and today you're in for a real treat. oh, my! food inspired by the mediterranean and middle east with a twist so unique you can only find it in one place in san francisco. we're at the 55th annual armenian festival and bizarre.

this is extra special not only because i happen to be armenian, but there is so much delicious food here. and i can't wait to share it with all of you. let's go. armenia, culture and cusine has had much cultural exchanges with its neighbors. today armenian food infuses he flavor from the mediterranean, middle east, and eastern europe. >> this is our 55th year and in san francisco we're the largest armenian food festival and widely recognized as one of the best food festivals in the area. we have vendors that come up from fresno, from los angeles showing off their craft. we really feel like we have something for everyone in the neighborhood and that's really what it is, is drawing people to see a little bit of our culture and experience what we experience weekend in and weekend out. >> we are behind the scenes now watching the chef at work preparing some delicious armenian kabob. this is a staple in armenian cooking, is that right? >> absolutely, since the

beginning of time. our soldiers used to skewer it on the swords. we have a combination of beef and lam and parsley. and every september over 2000 pounds of meat being cooked in three days. >> after all that savory protein, i was ready to check out the fresh veggie options. >> this is armenian cheat sheet. it's tomatos and mint and olive oil. that makes summer food. and what i'm doing is i'm putting some nutmeg. it is kind of like cream cheese. in armenia when they offer you food, you have to eat it. they would welcome you and food is very important for them. >> in every armenian community we feel like we're a "smallville"age and they come together to put on something like this. what i find really interesting

about san francisco is the blends of armenia that come together. once they are here, the way people work together at any age, including our grandmothers, our grandfathers, skewering the meat, it's fun to see. fun to see everybody get together. >> we call it subarek. it's a cheese turn over if you want. we make the dough from scratch. we boil it like you do for la san i can't. >> the amount of love and karin fused in these foods is tremendous. they come in every day to prepare, cook and bake bread, all in preparation for this big festival. >> nobody says no. when you come them, they have to come tomorrow for the feast. >> what a treat it is to taste a delicious recipe, all made from scratch and passed down through generations. it really makes you appreciate the little things. >> it's one of the best festivals. it's outstanding, a marvelous occasion. >> we're outside checking some

of the food to go options. i grabbed myself a ka bob sandwich, all kinds of herbs and spices. i'm going to taste this. looking fantastic. one of the best i've had in a long time. you know it's delicious b i have just enough room for dessert, my favorite part. we're behind the scenes right now watching how all the pastries get made. and we've got a whole array of pastries here. honey and nuts and cinnamon, all kinds of great ingredients. this is amazing. here's another yummy pastry made with filo dough. oh, my god. really sweet and similar, it's lighter. this is what i like. we have a lovely row here. looks like a very delicious and exciting surprise. i'm going to bite into it. here we go.

um. this is great with armenian coffee. now we're making some incredible armenian coffee. >> we buy our coffee, they have the best coffee. they come from armenia, specially made. and would you like to try it? >> i would like to try. >> would you like sugar or no sugar? >> no sugar today. i'm so excited. really earthy. you can really taste the grain. i think that's what makes it so special. really comes out. i hope you try it. we're having a great time at the armenian festival. we ate, we saw, and we definitely conquered. i don't know about you, but i have to go down to the food.

check out our blog for so much more at sf bites at tums abler.com. until next time, may the force be with you. ♪ ♪ >> first of all, everybody is welcome and we ask two things when they get here. one, that they try something they've never tried before. be it food or be it dancing or doing something. and if they feel like it was worth their while to tell one person and bring that person, that family member, that friend down the street to come with them. >> we're going to have to do a lot of eating so get ready. >> get ready. and you diet tomorrow. . >> mayor breed: my name is london breed. i'm mayor of san francisco. i am so excited to be here. i have been talking about this

legislation since even before becoming mayor. i'm so grateful we're at this point. i want to start by thanking state senator scott wiener for his incredible leadership on this important bill that finally got signed by the governor and one that we're going to be putting into action right here in san francisco. i also really want to thank supervisor rafael mandleman for his leadership and getting it through the board of supervisors so we can move forward on an act that we know is a critical step to help us address mental health reform like never before in san francisco. thank you to the episcopal community services for hosting us today. the bishop here provides permanent supportive housing for over 100 people in this building, an outcome that we want for all people who go through conservatorship. thank you to the department of adult and aging services, the

public conservatorship, the department of homelessness and supportive housing. it does take a village and it takes all of these departments in order to accomplish what we know is an important goal to help people who we know are suffering on our streets. we're here today because we know that compassion and kindness play a role in addressing what we know has been a real challenge. we know that some of the people that we see on our streets who are dealing with homelessness, mental health challenges, and substance use disorder on our streets are people that we need to come up with new solutions to help. for people who are experiencing just one of those things, it's hard enough, but just imagine all three. the reality is sad. it's a repeating cycle where people are in and out of our

jails and hospitals. in the same areas that they once were with no help and no plan in sight. the biggest challenge we have is that in some instances, people are refusing what we're offering. it's not just -- it's not humane to just say that someone has the right to be out on the street dealing with the same challenges over and over again and allow them to do that, especially because we know what happens in san francisco with the challenges that people are experiencing. that's why we need in some instances to conserve them, to help them stabilize, to provide wrap-around services, and to get them on the right path. for example, el laguna honda hospital, we know that is a rehabilitation center. there are some people who have

been given help and support and transitioned out of laguna honda into situations where they can not only live on their own but be provided with support from healthcare workers and other social services in order to live independently. we know with a physical challenge it's possible, so why not with someone suffering from mental illness. thanks to this legislation written by senator scott wiener and signed into law by our governor, we can get started doing just that. as i said before under the board of supervisors, under the leadership of supervisor a mandelman, we are moving forward and taking the necessary steps to start the process of conservatorship. the city's attorney's office is working closely with others to bring these cases to court and

get the help that they need. we all know that san francisco has a long history of providing compassion to people, but when people don't accept help and the alternative is they may die on our streets, we have an obligation to step in. senator wiener's law requires that we form a working group charged with assessing the new conservatorship and making sure we're meeting the needs of those who qualify. i've appointed three members of the working group and two of us are with us today. simon pang is the department of the san francisco fire department and has experience with outreach on the streets every day. thank you for joining us. kelly dearman is the executive director of the san francisco in home supportive services public authority. thank you, kelly, so much for your work in this effort.

rachel rodriguez is the co-founder and director of the community payee partnership. she wasn't able to join us today but will be part of the committee. there will be a larger working group that will meet later this month and ensure this group meets the goals it intends to do. this conservatorship is not going to solve all of the issues on our streets, but it's better than what we had before, which was absolutely no way to compel people to accept help. but that's why we're continuing to invest in behavioural health beds. the city's budget includes $50 million for substance use and mental health treatment beds. we've launched a comprehensive behavioural health initiative to help the approximately 4,000 people that we have identified who are in the most need of mental health care and substance use treatment. our city departments are working

diligently to create personalized care plans for the 230 people of this group who have the most acute challenges. i want to thank dr. naguseblan for the work that he's done to get us to a place so that we understand what we need to do to start to make smart efforts so that we know the programs that are working and we're investing in those programs and making sure that they work for the people that we're trying to serve. the fact is for the programs that aren't, we need to make a change because we know that there is a need to move forward and address this issue appropriately. we're also expanding our hours at the behavioural health access center and we're opening additional new beds at our hummingbird west beds thanks to tipping point community. all of these things combined are going to help us achieve what

our goal is, and that is to address the crisis. people use that word and throw it around freely, but there is a crisis with mental health in our city. not just what you see on the stre streets, but in general. we need to get rid of the stigma attached to it and we need to make sure we have the tools in place to address it in the most appropriate way. we are committed to making the serious changes necessary and we are so lucky to have a very thoughtful legislator who understands these challenges and who is willing to develop partnerships in order to fight to deliver them so we can make the appropriate changes and investments right here in san francisco to make them work for the residents who need them the most. at this time i would like to introduce our state senator scott wiener and thank him so much for his incredible leadership on this issue. [ applause ].

>> thank you, mayor breed. i really want to thank the mayor for her extraordinary leadership on the really severe mental health and addiction challenges we see on our streets every day. this is a problem that has been many, many years in the making and has to do a lot with state-wide and national failures around our mental health and addiction safety nets, around housing and having enough of it. it's hard at a city level to grapple with these issues, but the mayor is really taking tangible steps to do that. this legislation has been a two-year process, as often is the case, with hard issues. sometimes you have to go back a second year, and this is what we did this year with sb-40. i want to acknowledge the mayor, when she was a candidate, was the only candidate for mayor who supported what we're doing here.

i think the people saw that. regular residents of san francisco understand that there is a real problem on our streets and that we can't have business as usual. because business as usual has not made things better. we have to be willing to try new things. this legislation, i was told when i was sworn in as a new senator, never try to expand conservatorships in california. it's impossible politically. you'll never be able to do it. what we learned is of course it's hard and it concerns civil liberties, which is something that we have to be very mindful of and very cautious when you're depriving someone of civil liberties. but ultimately if you do it in a smart and a focused way, people get it. in the legislature honestly this was overall not a controversial bill. it was controversial in the advocacy community, and we of course respect our devote --

advocates and worked with them. this is a bill that got almost unanimous support on the floor of the assembly. the biggest criticism i received from colleagues, including some very liberal democrats, is why isn't this program in my area because we have people dying on the streets as well. part of what this legislation and this conservatorship program is about is that it is completely unacceptable for us to sit by while people are unravelling and dying on our streets. it's not good enough to say we have voluntary programs that people can accept. when someone is sleeping in their feces and has open sores all over their bodies that they are not having treated, when someone is running in the middle of the street screaming at cars in the middle of traffic, to say that person should simply be expected to accept voluntary

services and take control of their life in that condition, that's not reality. so we as a city, we as a state, need to do more to save these people's lives. these are our neighbors. these are members of our community. it is not progressive to just let them die because they're incapable of accepting voluntary services. i acknowledge that there are people who have concerns about conservatorships. like i said, i'm very mindful of the civil liberties implications. that's why this legislation is very focused. in fact, some of the critics of the legislation have said it's narrow. yes, it is narrow. this is narrow and designed to really help a small percentage of homeless people who are so severely addicted and so severely mentally ill that they are dying on our streets. we know that two-thirds of homeless people have no mental health or addiction issues. they're simply poor and can't

afford housing. even of our homeless population that have mental health and addiction issues, a large majority are capable of accepting voluntary services. that's what we need to focus on. but for a small percentage of our homeless population, voluntary services are not enough. what we need to do is to help them, and a conservatorship can do that. this legislation, like all conservatorships in california, has strong due process protections. you've got a public defender, a judge oversees it. you can have essentially a trial. it ramps up and starts out with 28 days. if it continues after a psychiatric evaluation and a court hearing, it can go up to six months. the judge will have continual involvement so that if the person gets better sooner than six months, that it can be terminated early. this is really about saving lives. i want to again thank the mayor and supervisor mandelman for

their extraordinary leadership in san francisco, to convince the board of supervisors to opt in. i want to thank our department of public health and dos and the fire department for working closely with us in sacramento. and captain pang in particularly repeatedly over a two-year period drove to san francisco to testify and and give real-life examples of the people his team was responding for who were in such deep crisis. it geled what was going on for my colleagues. thank you and it's my pleasure to bring up our champion on the board of supervisors, supervisor mandelman. [ applause ]. >> good morning, everybody. when you speak after scott, you have to adjust the microphone. this day has been a long day coming, but it's an important one. the mayor talked about the

crisis that we face, we have a crisis, but we have a significant drug problem in san francisco. we see it on the streets. you can walk out onto the sidewalk in my district or pretty much any district in this city and see it, but we also see it in our emergency rooms. i know simon is going to be speaking shortly. roughly half the folks that go to these places are taken in with nothing in their system. we have a system of meth psychosis and inebriation. that spills over into other emergency rooms. it places a tremendous challenge throughout the public health system to have so many folks struggling with these issues. then we see it in the morgue, honestly. one of the largest predictors of whether a homeless person will die on the streets is whether they have a meth use disorder. this is a moral imperative to

address these issues and it is critical for the future of san francisco. i want to express my tremendous gratitude for the backbones of steel in the form of senator wiener and mayor breed that have made first sb-40 happen. i am absolutely confident if the mayor had not made this a top priority, this would not have passed the board of supervisors and we would not be implementing this locally. it was her threat to go to the ballot that got sb-45 implemented here in san francisco and gives us the opportunity to take advantage of sb-40. i want to express my thanks for that. the fight for sb-1045 was harder than it should have been. this is a small program and a pilot to test out the approach.

the vehemence to it was unwarranted. pointed at a larger disagreement, senator wiener talked about the folks that championed voluntary services as an alternative to these two bills and that was a man practice we heard over and over again. it is to the mayor's great credit that she has been a leading proponent of expanding voluntary services and has put in the money to expand access to housing to low-income folks and making the mental health beds available and the work that she addressed. it is not an either/or. it is a both and. as was said, we are not going to get there if we ignore the sickest people on the streets, the folks who do not know that they need help. those people have to be our highest priority. there are fiscal reasons for that. financially they are a huge challenge for the city, but more

importantly it is a moral imperative. i am excited to see the department of public health and the office of the conservatorship to implement this project and see if it works and go forward and implement more pilot programs. senator, we will be coming back to you and asking for more legislation because we have a crisis, as the mayor said, and we need bold, persistent experimentation until we have it solved. thank you. i think i am now introducing a hero of mine, simon pang with ems 6. thank you, mayor, for your extraordinarily good appointments to the working group. kelly dearman is a constituent and amazing and rachel rodriguez is fantastic. and simon pang sees these challenges and problems every single day and is tireless and amazing. simon pang. [ applause ]. >> i am a member of ems 6.

a san francisco fire department team that together with the homeless outreach team, the health department's street medicine, shelter health, and medical respite teams provides care to the most at-risk, highest-needs population of our community. people we engage have untreated mental illness, severe substance abuse disorder, chronic and acute medical illness, and are largely homeless. we start with a cup of coffee, then lunch, and we listen to their story. then we become their advocates and connect them to city resources, detox, drug treatment, mental and medical healthcare, and if possible, a pathway to housing. most people we engage and help don't need this bill, but perhaps you've seen that person in stool-soiled clothes that hasn't moved from their location

in hours with skin red and swollen with infection, that is wholly dependant on the kindness of others and the emergency response system for survival. you might have rightly asked, why doesn't someone do something? but what if that person refuses everything the city has to offer, including housing, what then? to allow this person to publicly deteriorate and die is not acceptable. mayor breed, senator wiener, supervisor mandelman, thank you for listening and for acting. sb-1045 and sb-40 provide a tool to help those who can't care for themselves get on a pathway to health and a pathway to housing. thank you. [ applause ]. >> thank you. as you can see, here we are and

this is an incredible step forward. we have a lot of work to do in san francisco, and it just brings me back to really why i felt like i wanted to do this more in the first place when i served as a member of the board of supervisors. there is an individual who was one of my constituents in the community, a senior who was s z sitz -- schizophrenic, who has drug challenges and who those in the community have tried to serve, in and out of navigation centers and treatment centers, has gotten violent with police officers who know him and have tried to help him instead of arrest him. just a number of challenges. when he's in a good place, he's the greatest person and such a swe swe swe sweetheart. he needs help when he gets

social security, he would get robbed. this one person and what he has gone through and the challenges that exist, i was so determined to do something more to make sure that he is getting the help and treatment and support that he needs because everyone is wondering why and i'm not going to mention his name, but if you live in the area you probably know who he is. now we have an opportunity to do more. this is really about not trying to hide people or move them off the streets because we don't want to see it. this is about trying to help people because that could be you, that could be your grandmother, that could be your father, that could be your brother, anyone in your family, and then what would you do? what would happen if there was nothing you could do to help get them the help and the treatment that they need? this is really the most humane way that we could propose to make a real change in san

francisco. all roads lead to housing. we have got to be sure that we have safe and affordable places that people can call home when we provide them with the help and support they need. when it is all said and done, that is one of the most critical things we need in san francisco to address the challenges that exist. this is why all of us are here today to fight for the people who deserve that right in one of the greatest cities in the world. thank you so much for being here and all the incredible support that we have gotten for this effort. it is truly, truly a village that has come together to address this challenge and we will one person at a time. thank you all so much. [ applause ] [♪].

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>> good morning. this is a thursday, october 17, 2019. i would like to reminds members of the public to please silence your mobile devices. devices. i would like to take role. (role call). >> we expect commissioner koppel and richards to be absent. >> i'll be taking role for the parks and rec. (role call). >> commissioners, you have one item under your special calendar, case numbe