tv Government Access Programming SFGTV October 28, 2019 6:00am-7:00am PDT
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gely for bad reasons the neighborhood was largely written off by the city. but that allowed a lot of diverse tastes to flourish there. and i think it would be a shame to try to choke off the same thing happening in other neighborhoods. so please support this project and reject the discretionary review. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> i'm hillary, i live in glen park. for my public comment i would like to read from an article that appeared on sf gate in december of last year. it's called owner explains why he's expanding his entire everywhere but sf. born and raised in san francisco has grown up and no longer feels welcome at home. closed the store in the castro after the lease expired but he's given up looking for new locations in the city and moving on. he has a total of 50 sandwich shops including out lets in arizona nevada and texas and opened three more in recent
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weeks but in san francisco there's only one remaining so why is the sam women shop doing so well outside the -- sandwich shop outside the city? permitting gridlock made sf too expensive for small business owners. most small businesses can't endure a year of paying rent or waiting for permits before allowed to start making money. another problem is by san francisco standards, it is considered formula retail. this triggers additional red tape such as 30-day comment period. it took two years to open, i know what i'm doing, he said, if it wasn't for the city i could have opened in 60 days and i know that because we opened in oakland in 60 days. he says the system is set up so only formula brands like starbucks can withstand a year of rent without generating revenue. in other states they are having issues with vacancy so they are making it easier.
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san francisco is doing the opposite. i was going to say all these things and i realized i read an article that said the exact same thing. please don't take this discretionary review. and support the flying falafal. i just had one coming in and it was delicious. >> next speaker. >> i'll try to be fast because it's late. i ask you to approve the project. i assume you will because this is unexceptional. i shall not be here. [indiscernable] more red tape. we hear there's a retail crisis. so i ask you please stop the discretionary review process so i don't have to come again next time a business opens. thank you. have a good night. >> thank you. next speaker please.
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>> my name is sam and i support approving this project. first and foremost, the new restaurant on castro street will be a big win for the local economy. it will create jobs at the restaurant and among its suppliers that will raise tax revenue for the city to use on education healthcare and fighting the homelessness crisis. it will create more choices for consumers and generate foot traffic for the other businesses in the neighborhood. but more important than any of those things approving this project sends a strong message. the zoning code is supposed to protect people from congestion, pollution and unsafe building practices. it's not supposed to be an excuse for special interests to seek out their own narrow concerns. and yet the only reason we are here tonight is because a business is trying to keep a competing business off its turf and we should stand up to that and rather than wall off
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our neighborhoods we should welcome businesses eager to invest in the community. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good evening commissioners. steven. we've built a system of government that's undemocratic, uninformed and fully captured by special interests. this discretionary review is an abuse of process that's supposed to serve underrepresented members of our community not business owners who want to keep out the competition. i support flying falafel because i believe in entrepreneurial america where small business people can pursue their dreams. an america that doesn't foster bad behavior, that welcomes shops on every corner. i urge this commission to say no to capitalism, special
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interests capturing the regulatory process. instead say yes to competition yes to small business, say yes to capitalism that serves the community. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> i'm jeremy london from liberal. i'm a proud san francisco resident of 15 years. i'm a homeowner here. and i think we need to allow for more in our economy. while there might be reasons to require these kinds of reviews for certain things, i think it's obvious that this isn't one of them as my associates spoke earlier, i want to cosign on their comments about how this is a abuse of the process. but speaking more broadly and i think most of you know our economy is transitioning away from a as much retail i think we all know, we are
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overretailed. why? because we know the economy of retail is moving more and more online, especially for the types of residents who tend to live in neighborhoods like the castro. we need to allow for this kind of flexibility to allow our businesses and our space to accommodate for how the economy changes. we can't letting away economic change or growth nor should we. we shouldn't mandate retail when retail might not be viable anymore. we shouldn't mandate full service restaurants when full service restaurants might not be viable anymore. and many of the reasons why full restaurants aren't viable anymore because of labor cost which is tied to our housing crisis. we should enable businesses to adapt to the challenges that businesses face. it's hard to own a small business in san francisco and requiring months and hours and months and hours and people waiting here to give
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public comment just so you can open a business is simply unjust. thank you. >> next speaker please. >> please approve this project so we can achieve our dream of falafel shops on every corner. i would like to submit this into the public record as evidence of the future that we want. so small businesses have it hard in san francisco. small businesses are being hit from all sides with sky-high commercial rents the highest costs of living in the country and an insane permitting process. this created a problem with vacant storefronts in many neighborhoods including the castro that threatens the vitality of our commercial district. this discretionary review is completely bonkers. there's nothing
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special about two middle eastern restaurants on the same block. that's just called a city. transparent self interested anticompetitive behavior should not be tolerated. our policies should not be abused for private practice. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> my name is gupta. what all my friends before me have spoken about the economic reasons why the shop should be allowed to go ahead. i support all of those. but i would also like to speak about the benefits of having the flying falafe which is a store that i am a patron of for a number of years. i'm a vegetarian and have been for a while now. and at the same time, i love middle eastern food and
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mediterranean food which stands to be extremely meat heavy and i haven't been able to have a good gyro in a long time. they have the kind of options that are not available at most gyro shops. they have options that include meat substitutes as well as falafel and they are all extremely delicious and i very often have picked up a pita with fake meat, which is almost as good as the real thing from the flying falafel in berkeley. a year ago my brother visited me from seattle bringing his one-year-old daughter, my niece who at that age was not able to eat many things. she was very picky doesn't like things with odd textures. so we were trying hard to figure out what it was she would enjoy eating so we walked into the restaurant in berkeley and picked up a huge box of every one of their available options and that day she sat down
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and ate each of them. she didn't leave a single scrap on the plate. so for my sake and for the sake of my niece please approve, let the flying falafel open another shop. >> thank you. anyone else want to publicly comment in support of the project? seeing none, dr requester, do you have a rebuttal? . >> jeremy on behalf of gyro express. falafel got this case here but it's not about falafel. we welcome the flying falafel to the neighborhood. there's a vacant food service place right across the street. i hope they choose to open there or somewhere down the block. what this case is about i'm going to quote one of the speakers
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in opposition to this dr. he said, we shouldn't enable retail when retail is not viable anymore. i'm not willing to accept that. that is what this is really about. is retail viable? if retail is viable it's going to need quality retail spaces for them to go into. this space at 463 castro is the last really good retail space available on that block. and it needs to be preserved for a retail user. and we welcome the flying falafel to be it it fourth falafel business elsewhere on this block. thank you. >> thank you. sponsor would you like a rebuttal as well? okay. we'll close that hearing. commissioner
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richards. >> in the six years i've been on this commission, we've only heard two change of use drs. the other was filed by a woman who you may know named sonia. she filed it on the laundromat on octavia market. that business had closed and started questioning this whole change change of use stuff. i think asked the director after we've been talking about this retail thing for many, many years now. in fact, 13 years we do need to look at how and what the process is to have businesses go into our neighborhoods. because what worked in 1978 i think when the last real code was written probably needs to be updated or refreshed for 2019. i met mr. asaf in castro. let me just back up. the
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castro used to be a place where a lot of people went shopping. i mean a young gay boy, i would drive up from san jose and go to retail therapy and all these places that are no longer there. retail therapy is now a wells fargo bank. there used to be skin therapy which is now a human rights campaign fund. the list goes on and on and on. i sat on the community benefit district had a task force on retail landscape in the neighborhood. and i left that endeavor in 2014 when i actually came here on the planning commission. our neighbor -- this is my neighborhood. i live a block and a half away. i eat falafel a lot. i like rossy's now that mr. paul suggested i eat there because i talked
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to him about this. but our neighborhood is probably one of the worst places to go for any retail experience. the only retail experience left is cliff's. and i pretty much know everybody by name. and i say to staff, i'm back here for another f-ing trip to cliffs. they own the building and that's great because they are going to stay, and the family wants to stay. the rest of the retail landscape is i'm having a hard time thinking about where else there is retail. there's a rollo on market street. and i don't know, am i missing any? is that all that's left? okay knobs across the street. so i guess the question i have is we look at north beach. north beach has a high vacancy rate. we are supposed to have a 20 percent concentration of eating and drinking establishments
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which is the recommended number. we get something for north beach and i think they're at 75 percent eating and drinking establishments. i went to original joe's recently, i said let's go into a store and get something. we walked on grant street, green street. the only thing we found was city light folks was the only retail place left in north beach. that kind of thing is happening in the castro. i mean we are a retail desert, becoming a retail desert at this point. the neighborhood is in a death spiral. i think flying falafel would help us get out of the death spiral. i firmly believe we need it to come into the hood. i met mr. asaf for a cup of coffee at starbucks, one of the only formula retail we have there. before the voters decided we need to clampdown on it. and we talked. could
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you come up to the podium, please? when we talked, you indicated that you need a 100 square foot store. and after we had coffee at starbucks i said let's walk around the neighborhood and look at all the available 100-foot little places that are available and vacant. we went across 18th street for the shoe store used to be. walked up 18th street where the eyeglass shop used to be and then we found a place next to where you want to go in a parking driveway next to parkitos. if you want great food, try it. we had this conversation and you said these other spaces probably would be better because they are probably smaller maybe cheaper. one is already retrofitted for a restaurant. it was a restaurant
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and it's no longer there. and we talked about what you needed the subject property address. and you made a couple of calls to the folks that had available for rent signs were in the window, correct? and i said, well you probably need to call your real estate agent. he said she didn't find these spaces and they are literally right next door. do you recall this conversation? >> yeah. >> and i said -- i walked into the clothing store that was in the all american boy and it seemed to be thriving. and i said to you why not sublease the place to the person whoever had that pop-up store. it was pretty crowded. it was almost like all american boy was back. but it was all american everything women's and men's clothes. what was the situation around the pop-up store because it looked like it was successful and it looked
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like there were probably better locations. so can you tell us what happened to the pop-up store? >> i offered them to potentially continue. >> okay. >> and they didn't want to. >> they didn't. >> yeah. one of the reasons is i think some houseless person i think may have attacked one of their employees. i'm not sure. >> oh, really? >> yeah. >> so one question i don't see anybody else on the roll. if we -- i mean, planning and zoning serves a purpose. so north beach is just kind of dead because it's got too many restaurants and no retail. i want that to happen to our -- i don't want that to happen to your neighborhood but i think flying falafel would be a great addition. if we were to approve your -- not to approve your project today would you still move
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into the neighborhood? >> i would try. i would try to find a better. >> more appropriate space. >> another space. >> okay. do you feel there are enough other spaces that you could choose from? >> that i don't know. it's not as straightforward as just picking a vacant space. >> sure. >> so there's -- we would definitely try. >> okay. great. and i think the merchants would probably also assist, because i think you would be a great addition to the neighborhood. i also think some type of retail space in that location should stay because it's one of the last retail locations we have left. and i would love to hear what any other commissioners think but i'm starting to formulate we can have both flying falafel and a remaining retail space in the neighborhood, and we can all win. >> commissioner moore.
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>> i have a question for you. just looking at scenario that was just discussed between the two people couldn't the falafel store of that kind, that size be more quickly approved under a small business application? this could be done in weeks right? >> not really. this is a discretionary review based on a project that. >> can you turn the mic on? >> i'm saying if this wouldn't get approved in this location, he could come back and facilitate without dr. >> assuming he goes into another location that is permitted use by right as he is here, if it requires a change of use, he would go through 311. if it is an existing limited commercial or limited restaurant space he could go in without going through the notification process. >> and he could basically proceed.
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>> but he would have to find another location with the same use. this is a change of use. it's permitted by right. it's different from -- normally we are taking a use like this, it's a conditional use authorization, there are particular findings we are making. this is an unusual situation. this is a change of use 311 notification rarely are these are discretionary reviews filed on these. so in essence, it is a permed use by right -- permitted use by right. >> would anybody like to make a motion? >> commissioner richards. >> i'm not sure how commissioner fung feels. he hasn't weighed in. i'll wait to chime in after him. >> there's a lot of empty spaces. if he signed a lease, i'm supportive of it.
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>> so what would your motion be. >> i want to be on the wrong end of a motion. >> i make the motion to disapprove of the change of use. is there a second? >> i second that. i want to see where it goes. >> commissioners on the motion to take the dr and disapprove. [roll call] the motion fails 3-1 with commissioner fung voting against. is there an ultimate motion? can you explain if there is no alternative motion it is approved. >> that's right it's a principally permitted project. you could entertain another motion. >> i couldn't in good conscience continue this because he is paying renton this place.
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i don't want to -- renton on this place. he is being harmed financially. >> we'll take up the matter for 20141063 at 633 folsom street. this is an informational presentation. >> good evening commissioners. planning department staff. the item before you is an informational item about a public art component 633 folsom street. it is associated with a 12-story office building under construction which is expected to be completed in 2020. the project sponsor selected our project downfalls in a sculpture which is proposed in a space along folsom street. he is here to provide more information on the art and artist.
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this concludes my presentation. >> good evening commissioners. i'm jody from art source consulting in san francisco. i'm pleased to be presenting to a planning commission the public art for 633 folsom street. >> excuse me, ma'am. those persons leaving the room if you could do so quietly, we would certainly appreciate it. go ahead. >> our submittal which you have reviewed includes detailed background on the artist, a comprehensive budget zoning maps and information on the materials and fabrication. so today i'll present a brief overview. the company the project sponsor retained my company to retain public art requirement for 633 folsom street. this is a renovation project adding five stories onto an existing building. the project architect
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has completely redesigned the facade and its street level presence. construction is underway and on schedule. the building is topped out the facade is currently being installed. and the completion is scheduled for 2020. while the company has a requirement for public art the company will be investing $450,000 to realize this exciting piece of public art for the city of san francisco. i wanted to bring your attention to exactly where the site is. there was some question about where it is on this site. as you can see on this
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slide it's highlighted in green. as the art consultant we met with planning early on in the process for feedback about the site in particular as it pertains to public art. the strongest recommendation that was made by planning was the public art be situated in the popos along the folsom street side. they wanted to see the artwork allow for public engagement. after understanding the planned use we conducted extensive research into artists whose work was relevant to the site. our client's criteria was to engage an internationally recognized fine artist whose work would bring something new to san francisco. the artwork placement takes into consideration pedestrian traffic folsom street drive biviews and as well as -- drive by views and as well as building occupant views from above.
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after two rounds of narrowing down artists and reviewing proposal, the artist sam falls was selected. the process of artist design development was very collaborative with the architect as well as with plant the project contractor. so that the artwork can be seemlessly integrated into the popos. the sculpture is a monumental work of art that utilized granite and quoters. the -- quarts. each piece of steel represents two creative forces, photographer ansel and poet gary who had a strong influence on the artist and who spent time in the sierra. he designed the piece to engage the area in order to achieve a significant sculptural installation as well as be a catalyst
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by adding seating along the length of the upper side. i have a quote from sam falls. this work extrapolates previous sculptures i have completed that merge the designs minimalist art with the timelessness of nature for a site specific large-scale installation. the fundamental concept is to employ the architectural materials of stone and metal in such a way that the historical relationship is combined with a contemporary design and installation to highlight the passage of time and their environment. we are very pleased to be engaged in this exciting new addition of public art to the san francisco landscape and very much appreciate your time this evening. thank you. >> thank you very much. i had a speaker card. is jody here? >> that's me. >> okay. >> you heard from me. >> all right. thanks for that testimony. >> there's another speaker card. >> that's for general public comment.
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>> oh, is it? >> yeah. i got this. commissioners any comments? it's informational. thanks for that. commissioner fung. >> not necessarily totally pertinent question but i like the contrast of colors. the only thought i had when i first saw it was how thick is the steel? >> 5/8 of an inch. >> any issues with somebody falling on them? >> i mean, it's been pretty extensively examined with the architects and also with plant. the way it's designed, people can sit along the front side and then the metal comes flush up with the sides. >> i saw that it's fine. i like it. but the
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thought occurred to me about that. it's like at cpmc. for all their planning areas they use a metal edging that sticks up about four to six-inches and i'm thinking what if somebody slips and falls on it. >> yeah. the metal is very, it is sculptural, it's massive. one thing to consider is all the edges have been softened and the artist took care. a little bit. yeah. >> i like it. >> i'm glad. so do we. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> are we done? >> it's public comment. >> if we are we can move onto general public comment. come on up.
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>> yeah. so this is in regards to the conditional use at 458 gross street. >> can you speak to the mic a little more? >> yeah. so it's been more than a year. and it's up for review based on how the neighbors are feeling about it, how it's been going. i happen to live 25 feet stone's throw from the back patio. the conditional use is authorized until 10 p.m there's a lot of people that want bars, that want to drink outside. i get that. but i bet you none of those people want that bar in their backyard. their own backyard, right? so i'm putting my kid to sleep just tonight, 7:00, 8:00, we got noises coming into her room. and it's hard to put her to bed. it's been a burden on my family. and i would love to compromise
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on something like 8 p.m. all the other patios in the valley close at 8 p.m. at least we can do 9 p.m. that's all i'm asking for. >> thank you. >> [indiscernable] >> i understand. i would like to open it up for amendment at a later time. >> commissioner richards. >> can we make sure that -- because we just got a memo on burba today. so i want to make sure that the entertainment commission or whatever does its checks to make sure things don't get out of hand. i don't know that this gentleman here can request an amended cu. i don't know what the process is. if any member of the public can do that?
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>> maybe a little direction director. >> we can get a staff report and based on the staff report you could call back the conditional use. >> thank you. >> do we have a motion for that or just ask you? . >> have a seat, we are going to figure it out. >> have staff make a presentation an updated presentation. the commission can request that. >> put it on the calendar. >> did you have something to say? okay. formally request that on the record?.
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adjourned. >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shop & dine in the 49 with within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop & dine in the 49 my name is jim woods i'm the founder of woods beer company and the proprietor of woods copy k open 2 henry adams what makes us unique is that we're reintegrated brooeg the beer and serving that cross the table people are sitting next to the xurpz drinking alongside we're having a lot of ingredient that
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get there's a lot to do the district of retail shop having that really close connection with the consumer allows us to do exciting things we decided to come to treasure island because we saw it as an amazing opportunity can't be beat the views and real estate that great county starting to develop on treasure island like minded business owners with last week products and want to get on the ground floor a no-brainer for us when you you, you buying local goods made locally our supporting small business those are not created an, an sprinkle scale with all the machines and one person procreating them people are making them by hand as a result more interesting and can't get that of minor or anywhere else and san francisco a hot bed for local manufacturing in support that is what keeps your city vibrant
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meetings friday, here in room 400. san francisco city hall. city hall is accessible to persons using wheelchairs and other assistive mobility devices. assistive listening devices are available and our meeting is open captioned and sign language interpreted. our agendas are available in large print. to prevent electronic
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interference with this room sound system and to respect everyone's ability to focus on the presentation, please silence all mobile phones. your cooperation is appreciated. the mayor's disability council public meetings are generally held on the third friday of every other month. please call the mayor's office on disability for further information or to request accommodations at mod@sfgov.org. our next regular meeting will be on friday november 15, 2019 from 1-4 in this hearing room. we thank you for joining us today. we will now proceed with roll call.
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>> chair denise? present. stephen perman? here. alex madrid? here. lily marshall-fricker. present. helen pelzman? present. orkid? helen smolinski? here. kate williams is absent. council member tiffany yu. present. >> ms. senhaux (chair): thank you. we'll go to action item number 2. reading approve. >> reminder to the guests to speak slowly in the microphone to assist captioners and
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interpreters. public comment. items not on today agenda but within the jurisdiction of the mdc. we welcome the public's participation during the public comment periods. there will be an opportunity for public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting as well as after every item on today's agenda. each comment is limited to three minutes and the council will respond to your comments following the meeting if you provide your contact information. you may complete a speaker's card, or call our bridge line at 1-415-554-9632. where a staff person will handle requests to speak at the appropriate time. co-chair report. report from the mayor's office on disability. pg&e's public safety power shuftoff program. council questions and public comment is welcome.
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break the council will take a 15-minute break. dahlia housing portal, building a digital product that supports access to information. council questions and public comment is welcome. curb management strategy. public comment. correspondence. council member comments and announcements. adjourned. to receive notices of the meetings and electronic copies of the agenda please contact the mayor's office on disability. >> ms. senhaux (chair): thank you, heather. i would like this move a motion for the approval of today's agenda. all in favor? i don't see any abstentions. so moved. thank you council members. we're going to move on to public comment number 3, items not on today's agenda but within the
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jurisdiction of the mayor's disability council. i believe we have a couple of speaker cards. >> nicole: we do. the first is elka. >> my apologies, first time here at the meeting. i've been a caregiver for disabled sister for four years. she's not here today because she passed away last year because her disability was used against her to continue her medical treatment. and she passed away because of that denial of treatment. and i'm here to raise your attention to how discrimination can impact the disabled community when they're dealing with an organ transplant. and i don't know if your office has ever had to deal with a situation like this. i only recently learned of your
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council over the summer. and i spoke with heather in your office. and, heather you were wonderful and provided a lot of information. i, unfortunately, didn't know about your office over the past four years. when i was faced with having to deal with a decision that my sister was being removed from a transplant wait list because she could not speak and could not move half her body i felt trapped and there was nobody i could talk to. the hospital made the decision. it was only one hospital in this city that performs lung transplants. and we had no choice to take her to another hospital. and i just don't want what happened to my sister to happen to another resident of san francisco. and i have some ideas as to what
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we can do to perhaps give a voice to this very vulnerable patient population. and i certainly have more time to do that since i'm no longer a caregiver. but i just wanted to raise this issue to your attention. it is shocking that it could happen in this city. and i remember feeling so trapped in that situation and i hope there is a way that we can help this population. if you have any questions, i'm happy to answer. i'm on the mailing list as well. >> ms. senhaux (chair): thank you. >> i have a question. is that how this works? >> ms. senhaux (chair): not during public comment. go ahead real quick, helen. remind me of your name. alka airy.
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>> through the chair -- >> sorry. >> and did you have any insurance? >> yes. >> can you share with us what that was? >> ms. senhaux (chair): excuse me. i apologize. can we talk offline to get this information? >> okay. >> nicole: thank you for coming. did you complete a speaker card today? i did. >> great we'll have your information and we can follow up after the meeting today. >> all we have is your name but, heather, you have an e-mail. >> ms. senhaux (chair): thank you. >> the next speaker is zack kay. >> hi, thank you. i'd like to speak slowly but
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i'm going to speak fast because there is a three-minute time limit unless the council gives me another minute. >> ms. senhaux (chair): if you need it we can give it to you. >> i'd like to speak slower so everyone can hear me. i'm here today because for a few reasons i have concerns about recent changes in this council. i received an e-mail in early september that response times for issues around disability from this council will be five days. and i was -- five business days, which is quite a long time. i asked about that and was told in an e-mail that we are short staffed almost working on bare bones. when i received that i sent e-mail -- this is september 9 or september 10 that i would be open to volunteering for this council or working for this
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council to help people with disability earn more rights. i had to send multiple e-mails before i got a response. i didn't get a response until this morning and it told me that m.o.d. is not looking for volunteers at this point. i'm wondering why a council that has a five-day response time, working on bare bones, is not accepting volunteers that only want to help people with disabilities. i'm also concerned that these meetings -- i mentioned this before -- are happened bimonthly. that feels like a real slap in the face for those of us who are part of the public and don't get our voice heard. we only get three minutes once every two months. if we're sick or can't call it it's four months before we can share what is a serious -- usually a serious access issue. in my case there has been
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multiple access issues that i've brought to the attention of the council, the secretary. one of them is the accessibility of notices that are put on trees by department of public works. they're doing this to hundreds of trees. i'm asking that disabled people have an option for those notices. because if you're blind low vision, disability -- mobile -- struggle with mobility or sick in bed for a long period, you come out of the house and 30 days later, a dozen trees could be gone from the block and you have no say in it whatsoever. i asked m.o.d. if they would ask d.p.w. to respond to suspend cutting down the trees until the notices are accessible. i've been waiting for five weeks for a response and m.o.d. told
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me that they might be in meetings. for five weeks? that seems to me a strange unwillingness to protect the rights of disabled people. all i'm asking is that we have a right to see these notices and file a protest if we want to save a tree. i'm not saying that m.o.d. has to agree to save the trees or not. i just want disabled people to have the option. and i just -- i'm concerned because you know, people with disabilities we don't have the energy to be filing lawsuits and -- we don't want to make enemies and be you know arguing with people. we're sick. i should be in bed right now. and i'm just asking for help from this council. that's all. so that you know we can get the rights we need. thank you. >> ms. senhaux (chair): thank you. any more public comment? thank you very much. we're going to close public comment and move onto item --
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information item number 4, co-chair report. first of all, i'd like to make a couple of announcements. we have two council members that have decided not to reapply to the council. >> nicole: would you mind speaking into the microphone? >> ms. senhaux (chair): sorry. thank you. i'd like to repeat my announcement. there are two council members that have decided not to be reappointed to the mayor's disability council and they are jim blacksten and sally coughlin macdonald. so they will be missed. i want to thank them for their work on the council for the last couple of years. and i'm sorry to see they weren't able to reapply to the council. i'd like to welcome our new council members that are here today with us. and let me -- they've already introduced themselves but i'd like to give your names again. stephen herman.
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lily marshall-fricker. helen pelzman. i'd like to welcome the new council members and give them an opportunity if they'd like to say something. if not, that's okay. but i wanted to give you the opportunity. okay. go ahead and move ahead. we look forward to working with you. and again, congratulations. okay we're going to move on to information item number 5, report from the mayor's office on disability. and i'd like to welcome our director, nicole bohn. >> nicole: thank you for the introduction. hello, everyone. thanks for being here today. thanks also to everyone watching on sfgovtv and to folks listenings on our bridge line today. i have a number of updates and announcements that i want to draw to your attention. it's been a very busy month for
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us and a lot of the work we've been doing since the last public meeting you'll hear about today through our presenters who are here to give us more information. but there is a few other items i'd like to draw your attention to. one, on august 29, we had our first city meeting regarding the response that is specific to people with disabilities and vision zero. and so on that particular agenda we began conversations specifically addressing our bike lane strategy and accessibility and the city's strategy for accessible pedestrian signal installation. and this is the first of a serious of meet -- series of meetings we're working toward
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