dennison, and portia diction sdiction -- dixson. >> hello. my name is pedro florez. i've worked with the national council on alcoholism and i've led our prevention and diverse programs while working there, so working closely with many families in the tenderloin, which are immigrants and are forced to live there under the circumstances that we're trying to remedy with the task force. what i would like to do is offer my service, both my insights professionally and my experience in public health and my listed experience as a resident to help support this work. now i realize that this is coming from -- it's not coming

from one of your districts, but i hope that this can be an invitation for partnership, because although the tenderloin is burdened with this problem, it is not just in the tenderloin, it is a problem for all of san francisco. thank you. >> hi. my name is jessie james johnson. i'm a poet and a 20-year resident of the tenderloin. i believe i qualify for seats 1, 2, and 3 and/or 7 and 8. i have letters of support from several community-based organizations, a business owner, one from a property owner, and my landlord. they're included because it's not who i am that are important, but the people that are in my life. these are people who are part of my daily life, people who i

have earned their trust and people who i work with. you might know that golden gate is the epicenter of the open air drug dealing. as different as we all are, we are the different people we must come together to address the crisis we find ourselves in. i believe i can help in reaching a consensus. it's heartbreaking to see the people of the tenderloin working against each other. the visual is an obstacle. i believe that anyone, if asked and given a clear path to follow will step forward to be a part of the solution. some will be challenged to let go of our notion of being victims, and in being a victim, of having no responsibility tot larger community. we have a lot to work through.

the solutions we seek will probably not be found in the deliberations of nine people. who matter who is selected today, this task force must engage everyone in this room to be successful. we need to see ourselves as a community not just of people but with compassion to each other. only then can we work towards the solution. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. >> what he said. i'm sam dennison, and for the last nine months, i've been convening in my living room, a tenderloin committee dedicated to the harms of drug use in our community. submit today mr. haney's -- submitted to mr. haney's office some of the legislation that we're working on today. when i said what he said, i really mean it. i live in a place where one of the people that i treasure the

most was shot in the back over a drug deal. somebody living next door to me was shot through a window with somebody who was playing with a gun. i've also seen people get out of jail trembling because they've lost their home and everything. what we consistently do is the same thing over and over again, and i'm heartened to hear that there are a lot of people from the drug policy i lines group and -- policy alliance group and others who will bring to the table new ideas. i'd like to foster the conversation that there are people who a-- as you know, ths is a very complex issue, and the piece that i have to bring to the table is that community parallel process where we have been engaging with these issues very deeply and thoughtfully.

so my hope is that if i am to be part of this task force, that i can bring that element of listening clearly, speaking thoughtfully and encouraging others to really bring their better self-s to tves to the t. thank you. >> chair ronen: and while portia's coming up, i'll call carol shanks, philip sabbagh, and thomas wolf. >> hello. my name is portia dixson. i'm here -- good morning -- oh, dang. okay. i was a -- i was raised right here in the tenderloin on leavenworth. actually, i was one of the peoples -- i started selling drugs out on the street corners at 13 years old. by the age of 34, lucky i had the support i had. i stopped selling.

now i started working for the gubio project. i work for hospitality house, i work for sort. now i save lives, and i also help people get off the streets and get jobs now, but i'm not coming with the extensive background, but i'm one of the people, and i'm shy, i don't know what to say, oh, this is too much, whoa. >> chair ronen: you're doing great. just -- just tell us who you are and what you want to do and speak from your heart. >> i'm here to take people off the streets and not to jail because jail is not always the way. i'm one of the people, and jail didn't help me. it didn't make me stop. i kept going. what worked was the support from other people, so i've got to go.

>> chair ronen: just so you know, you did really, really well. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, y'all. >> chair ronen: thank you. >> hi. my name is carol shanks. i work with food justice, community leader, community organizer. i'm also a community activity, and i do a lot of work for different nonprofits in district 6. i'm a native san franciscan. i am a -- i have experience in incarceration. i have dealt drugs. i am an addict in recovery. i have been out there on the street using. i also have a very, very good rapport with the people on the street, with the drug dealers

and the users, which is very, very important, that they have a voice in this process. it's a lot -- it's more complicated than -- than them just being out there, using drugs. it's much deeper, has to do with being homeless, mental issues, and all those issues have to be addressed. it's not only devastating to the community owners, but it's also devastating to the people out there using and dealing drugs. i have been in meetings with sam in her living room for a few months now in dealing with solutions and helping with limth legislation for matt haney's

office in this. i care. i really care, and i just would really, really like to have a seat and be a voice for the people, so i thank you. namaste. >> chair ronen: thank you. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. my name is thomas wolf. i used to be a heroin addict and homeless. i got clean about 18 months ago. i work with homeless veterans, many of which are dealing with substance abuse. i used to be a drive -up buyer and then i was a walk up buyer.

i know what's going on. i've been out there. now in recovery. what i've done is i've gotten some exposure on social media. i've been on the news several times. what i'd like to do is bring some new ideas and solutions to the table for san francisco. i am a native san franciscan, and i do still live in san francisco, and i still live in the city, and i just want to help, so thank you very much. >> chair ronen: as philip comes up, if i could call janet ector, ibithaj hammond, and sew had a abdue agene, and --

soha abdu ajine and i'm sorry. [inaudible] >> all of this being said, i'm not indifferent to the struggles that people face. i have been volunteering at healthright 360, tutoring in g.e.d. or in some cases, simply learning to read in the past four years, and i found that to be an incredibly rewarding experience. i believe people deserve sometimes second, third, fourth

chances. at the same time, we can't enable people by turning a blind eye to their criminal activity. i'm not going to pretend that i have the answer, i'm simply here as a concerned citizen. i have a strong background in analysis. i have a master's degree in business. i'm real esta i'm retired, and i'm simply hoping i can help this task force achieve its goals. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. >> good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to apply for a community on the task force. i have lived in san francisco since 1976, frequently as a resident of the tenderloin. i was born to and raised in the same marginalized condition

that currently plague our tenderloin community. i went through my own chaotic drug use, including dealing, and subsequently went through treatment at walden house. as a result, i went onto work at walden house for eight years. i'm currently the manager of the harm reduction programs at glide, providing services to people who are actively engaged in drug use. in my current role, i also manage the law enforcement diversion program, working in collaboration with the sfpd, the sheriff's office, b.a.r.t. police, the district attorney's office and several branchs of public health, so i have a lot of experience with the community and deep ties with the community, and i think i can bring a unique perspective to the task force that's grounded in the principles of harm reduction practices as

well as being a voice for both reason and compassion. [please stand by] a lot of people talk about who they are and what's going on. we have to understand who we are.

if we understand who we are, we understand who they are. because it's not us versus them. i spent a year in jail, ms. richards is a great strong leader and i appreciate her. the reason why i'm here today is because restorative justice for me has been the answer. we believe in respect, care, trust and empathy. i'm here to say change is possible. former gang member, sold drugs, dealt drugs, used drugs. family membered o. d.ed but change is possible and it comes through care and concern. it's not about whether we are going to be consistent, it's about who is speaking that language. it's not what i say, it's how i say it. i've seen the pictures of the young men and women that were arrested and put on the tenderloin website and most of them were friends. all i saw was trauma,

victimization. so what's really needed for us is just for us all to come together as we have here and all these people here are stakeholders, just as they are in the streets, and i believe the empathy we are bringing will be the difference. what i would hope to bring, specifically to this agape love that says no, this is the truth. the truth needs to be spoke. there's places in the city where it's not allowed. there are places you would not see this level of drug use. let's start there. let's take that model, let's bring that love and the resources that we have, the outreach would be the biggest difference. if we can provide a difference for them in their lives and the hope, lifestyle, addiction is reel. beliefs, habits and traditions have been handed out that makes us think this is the only way. that is another thing that has to be challenged. so i say thank you, whichever way you go, i'm glad you are going in that direction, and i

will support you in any form. >> thank you. [applause] >> good morning, honorable supervisors. my name is rhiannon bailard. i'm the executive director of operations at uc hastings law and i serve as vice president of the board for the tenderloin community benefits district. i'm here today applying for a seat as a business owner representative on the task force, because uc davis law wants to be part of the solution. we understand this is an incredibly complicated problem and one that can only be resolved by having a multidisciplinary, multiinstitutional holistic approach as you've heard from so many different perspectives that we have heard today. my background, among other functions, i oversee safety and security. so what that means is i'm responsible for 1500 people that live, work or study here in the city and specifically in the

tenderloin. and 300 of those are student residents. i'm the one that's responsible for their feeling of a lack of safety. we have had others have commented increasing violence that we've seen, increasing frequency, increasing in the extremity of it. we've had multiple homicides in and around the campus. we have had assaults in our parking garage. i think anybody here can speak to the amount of violence that we've seen. and i'm responsible for responding to my community. and i also know that the tenderloin has more children than any other neighborhood in san francisco. it's completely unacceptable in terms of what's happening right now. at the same time, i absolutely agree with the comments that have been provided by sam and others that it's not black and white of us versus them, victims versus perpetrators so we need this holistic approach. and what i bring in addition to having that safety and security background is someone who really focuses on consensus building,

who focuses oncoming to compromise-type solutions to be able to hear all the voices that are attributing, seeking to resolve it. i appreciate your time today. thank you. >> as curtis comes up, is kim diamond, teresa lynn friend, eric brizee >> my name is curtis bradford. i'm applying for seats 8 or 99. i'm in the tenderloin district. i've lived in my current s.r. o. for the last ten years. prior to that i've been homeless and using and couch surfing and room hopping and sometimes doorway sleeping and using and sometimes dealing in the tenderloin for many years prior to that as well. i got clean nine years ago through the storm wall project and through glides 90-day

outpatient drug treatment program. after that i became a facilitator at the treatment program for eight years. i'm one of the founding members, along with jesse here and co-chair of the tenderloin people's congress which is a grassroots organization in the tenderloin. i'm currently serving my third year as a board member of the tenderloin community benefit district. spent five years on the board at t.n.d.c.'s reportable housing developer. i'm a full-time employee as a community organizer in the tenderloin. as you can see tenderloin is in my dna. and i'm deeply engaged with the community, with the residents, the families, the seniors, the small business owners, nonprofits, with the staff. i have this broad spectrum of folks and that's what we need. we need somebody who can bring

all these broad semi trust specm together. this is a challenging subject and it's going to require someone who has relationships and can build relationships throughout a spectrum of perspectives in the neighborhood. and i believe that i bring that to this. i'm one of the members of the steering committee of for the masses. i think i have a lot to bring to this, and i hope you'll consider me. thank you. >> hello. good morning, supervisors. my name is kim diamond. and i'm a voice, just a human voice. all i bring to you today is life experience. this is what will be my first

board appointment. i'm a resident of k.c.c. since 2012. i've been on the homeless route, i've used drugs to survive. i walk outside my door every day to drug deals being made. i want to be a point to help accomplish find real solutions for these problems on our streets, just like many, many more of those beautiful voices before me and have spoken all of this too. i want my grandchildren to be able to visit me. i want them to be able to be safe. i was unsure that i was qualified for this position in the beginning but going through the process showed me some things. i already knew the tenderloin had given me my street experience and smarts and i was surprised by the awesome support letters i received. i didn't get started until just last thursday. i found the e-mail explaining the process so i sat down, sent out requests to everyone i could think of and i received good ones but there were a couple

that threw me a little. they stated they couldn't support me, they had to support their people in their organization and that's one thing that really stood out that made me realize that i could hear my dad telling me to get my head out outside clouds. i had only one thing in mind, to contact people who know me personally so i truly bring to this seat a representative of none and representative of all. i will listen to everyone and speak for all. inclusion is not just a word to me, it is a way of life. exclusion of any kind is a wall. i put your attention to remember the idea i put forth in my paperwork that i don't have time to go into. i don't care who gets credit for it, i just think it's a program that is worth it in our neighborhood. thank you for your time. >> thank you so much.

>> good morning. my name is teresa friend. i'm the director and managing attorney of the homeless advocacy project of the justice university of the bar association. we provide social services to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in san francisco. i've supervised it for over 25 years. it is located in the building we own at haight street in the tenderloin. we have 20 employees. we serve 1500 clients a year at that location. our block of haight street, 100 block, is the site of active drug dealing on a daily basis. you have excellent applicants. you can't go wrong. i will tell you why i would like to serve. but i can't say that i'm any more qualified than the number of people who have spoken. i believe i would be a good addition because first, the office is at ground zero of the issue so we have every incentive

to find an answer that works. every day my staff and our clients have to navigate through a crowd of drug dealers to get and out of our building. in addition to other issues that have been mentioned, some drug dealers sometimes sexually harass our female staff members, just on friday we had a dealer threaten our security guard, threaten to kill our guard because he asked them to move away from the front of our building. at the same time we represent a lot of clients who have serious addiction issues who liv on the street. our staff has been traumatized by watching police sweeps with people thrown on the ground and their things thrown away. so figuring out the most effective way to address the problem is a high priority for me and our organization. i also just want to say in addition to having been an attorney for 35 years i'm a certified mediator. it will be important for everyone to really listen to each other. and i think i can help

facilitate some of that communication. so i thank you for your consideration, as i said. you can't go wrong. >> thank you. >> i'm also going to call up nicole richardson, tom whalen, max young. >> good morning. my name is eric brizee. i'm operations manager for american conservatory theater. we operate on market street, a costume shop on market street and the theater on geary street. so we circle the entire district. i also chair a meeting, the 1100 block meeting. we work with health and safety issues on the mid-market corridor. we've been meeting for about a month with support from city, law enforcement, d.a.'s office, health and human services, et cetera. i have been educated a lot this

past year on the different aspects of what's going on in our streets. i think that we can all say we are at ground zero. i tend to think of them as hot spots. we have a bad hot spot at seventh and market which really affects our patrons to the theater, our actors, our staff, anybody in that area knows it can be cyclical and the intention on the task force is i'm an operations manager. i work with research, finding out what the problem is and supplementation. i previously managed -- i was executive officer to the citywide alcoholism advisory board, members appointed by the rules committee. i believe they still are. so i have a background in substance abuse. mostly treatment. what i hope to bring to the task force, and i agree you can't go wrong. you have so many qualified

applicants that i don't have quite qualifications but i'm willing to serve as a voice, administratively, if not appointed i really do plan on attending and listening and having input. thank you very much. >> hello. my name is nicole richardson. and i am a married mother of two boys under two years old. pray for me. i'm a woman of color who has lived in the tenderloin for four years at the intersection of turk and jones. i lived in the bay area for six years total. throughout that time i've lived in the other areas such as the mission district, the sunset district and east bay.

i have a bachelor's degree in advertising and a master's degree in arts administration. i'm originally from flint, michigan, which is another community with its own issues. and i lived and worked all over the united states, such as detroit, michigan, atlanta, georgia, boston, massachusetts, portland, oregon, and of course san francisco. since living in san francisco, i have only worked in the tenderloin. i started working at san francisco city impact, which is an organization that introduced me to the tenderloin. while working at this organization i developed relationships with residents, while being a resident myself, and i received access and inside look inside many of the s.r. o.s. my husband and i have become business owners of a marketing agency within the past two years. and we have had the pleasure of services businesses off of

market street such as restaurants, and we are currently involved with the tenderloin community benefits district or the tlcb. throughout my time living here, i have witnessed many drug interactions during the day. and it ranges from the obvious with the groups of drug dealers around a particular area to the not so obvious coordinated operation with cars and lookouts and things of that matter. this is something that affects me every day as a resident and most importantly as a mother. it is very traumatic for me and my children to constantly witness open air drug usage as a result of drug dealing. it's so bad i don't let my child walk on the sidewalk, due to the feces and the needles. there has been numerous times

when i've seen needles on the sidewalk and i've had to teach my two-year-old it's something that is bad and is to never be touched. this is a huge problem. and i feel remiss to live in a city where i have to teach this to my child for his own safety. within the past two months alone, i've been assaulted on the street of the police station and have come home to an open box of needles in front of my door where my family come in and out of with strollers. this makes me emotional to this day. i feel like i could offer solutions from my unique perspective and as someone who has lived in various areas. is that my time? >> it is. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> hi. good afternoon or good morning.

i'm the last one. i am max young. i own a business and building on 34 seventh street and have been directly impacted by the drug dealing that's taken place. i've been in that location for 20 plus years. i'm a native san franciscan. my grandfather had a shop on market. my great uncle lived in the tenderloin. i'm familiar with the neighborhood and the city. and i am pissed. i amex trimly frustrated with -- i am extremely frustrated with what's going on out there. we need a change. i've been yelling about this for five years. i've watched my neighborhood degrade. it was moving the right direction for a number of years and it seemed to slide back downhill. the previous speaker, i feel for her. i can't imagine what it would be like. i have two little girls. i don't take them to my neighborhood where i work.

i can't. i don't feel it's safe for them. next door to me there's a ballet studio in the odd fellows building. i'm watching their students get out of the car and run up the street. i've watched their enrollment decline. it is not safe out there. people cannot walk up and down the street. just recently we've had a police car parked in civic center plaza 24/7 with the lights flashing. that's the only thing that's made an impact but it's not sustainable. we need to make a change. i've been complaining about this the whole time and screaming and yelling so i need to throw my hat in the ring and say i can't just complain, i have to be able to do something. so if i can help, i'm in. we appreciate what you guys are doing. we are thrilled to see this task force take place. i think i can speak for everybody in this room that we are excited to see some change. so thank you. >> thank you so much. i just wanted to give one last

chance to the five applicants that didn't yet speak. if any of them are here, michael michael, not here? i will open this item up for public comment. anyone who wishes to speak on this item. i will ask applicants not to -- can applicants speak during public comment if they are speaking about other candidates or in general? >> i believe they can provide support for other applicants but they cannot speak on behalf of themselves >> okay. so if applicants want to speak in public comment on behalf of other applicants, feel free to do so. but please don't speak about your own candidacy. that time has come and gone. david, please start us off. thank you. >> good morning. holiday greetings.

david eliott lewis. you have a tough job. 25 applied, 20 spoke. there's nine seats. and from the 20 that spoke, they all sound amazing. all of them. how do you choose? i have personal experience with about five of them. and i i want to highly recommend, because they live in the neighborhood, they've been impacted by drug dealing. several of them have lived experience as they've already shared, with the experience of open air drug dealing. and i think the committee would be well-served. and these are jesse james johnson, sam dennison, cheryl shanks and curtis bradford. all amazing people. and also i would like to mention kim diamond too. i know all five of these individuals. they all do really good work in the neighborhood. and i think the committee would

be well served. they understand processes, they know how to work in the group. they live and work in the neighborhood and real life experience. let me read this one more time. jesse james johnson, sam dennison, cheryl shanks, curtis bradford and kim diamond. i hope you'll give due consideration to those five but whoever you choose, it will be a good committee. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> supervisors, my name is brian edwards. i'm a community advocate and organizer with the coalition on homelessness. i have a harm reduction background. i want to echo what david said. there's a lot of great, qualified people applying for these seats. i want to speak to three specifically. one is curtis bradford. i first met curtis year years ago when he had his life together and i didn't. and i have consistently seen him

in the community holding space and sticking up for vulnerable folks, especially drug users. i think with this task force, we have an opportunity to moderate the hysteria and moderate the relentless urge to criminalize and make it go away. drug use is just like homelessness, we can't make it go away. it might go away from one district but it will go somewhere else. and i've never seen a more tireless, passionate advocate for folks that use drugs and tenderloin community members than curtis bradford. i would also like to endorse sam dennison and janette ector from glide. they have always been facilitating community, building coalition and fighting back on the hysteria. we can't criminalize anymore. we've tried that. we've tried it over and over again. and we have a mayor that is attempting to continue it. we saw it with urgent care sf. that was drug war part two.

you can't go wrong with a lot of people in this room but curtis, sam and janette, it would be a tragedy to not see them on this task force. >> i'm david. i wanted to recognize cheryl shanks because i've known her for quite a long time. i think that's her last time. she's a real one-hitter. she gets stuff done. i've watched her do that for a long time. if she wants to get a program initiated, she just buses herself until she does it. the other thing i want to say is the amount of tragedy, psychosis insanity, danger, harm, horrible things that are going on in this city right now, it's absolutely incredible. way worse than you probably experienced. and you all need somebody who can get dirty with the people or

it's a very tough job. >> hi. my name is kate robinson, i'm with the tenderloin community benefit district. our staff and my coworkers, we decided to not endorse anyone for this, because there are just too many. we want everybody. can we expand it to 25 seats? but i did want to personally bring up the fact that two members of our arab muslim community did apply and are not here and just want to speak to the importance of diversity of the neighborhood broad representation on this task force and just point out the fact that the arab muslim community is very active. it's a growing population in our neighborhood. and i think it's important to have representation from that community. thank you.

>> good morning again. i'm sarah short. i'm with community housing partnership. we are a supportive housing provider. i'm with the treatment demand coalition. that's one of the ways i know curtis bradford who i'm here to recommend for the task force. curtis is a cornerstone of the community, really, in the tenderloin. there's not one community event or action or celebration that i don't see a post on facebook from curtis about. he's really ubiquitous here and has really rooted himself in the community in very meaningful ways. but i also think that the benefit of having curtis on the task force is that he has such a wide perspective in terms of as he told you, he's used, he's been a dealer, he's been in recovery expert, he's counseled

others, and now he's an advocate on the very same issues. finally, he represents some very important organizations that are grassroots in nature and have a critical base. there's tenderloin neighborhood development corporation and other supportive housing provider that represents a whole number of constituents of the tenderloin. the tenderloin's people congress is an extremely grassroots organization of residents in the tenderloin who are directly impacted by this exact issue. so i, again, strongly encourage you to select curtis bradford as a member of the task force. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. i'm casey with the demonstration gardens. and i'm here to speak on behalf of the process. our public open space is always

a negotiation. and we have the opportunity to redefine what justice looks like in a smaller scale and the tenderloin for the whole city. and i would like to encourage you as you constitute this task force, this working group, to think in terms of diversity, but also humane understanding of all of our different neighbors and how we all have to navigate and negotiate our public space together. i think that the people who have spoke this morning, i'm well acquainted with many of them. and i think you have an unenvyable choice to win -- winnow out to only nine people. maybe we should think how we can use this task force to expand the conversation to include more

people. but basically the process of entertaining a humane discussion of what we can do together in thinking about including everybody in the discussion. that's what i would encourage. thank you. >> good morning. my name is adrian, i work at the hospitality house. i'm here to support all of those members that want to have that seat. i'm formerly incarcerated. i did years in a life sentence so i was part of that problem. but now i want to be part of that solution. so now i see the young women that are -- have children, and that's very important to me, that have the children that are going up and down the streets. it's very important to me that they don't get exposed to these needles, they don't get exposed to the drug sales. they don't get exposed to the

ones that are just out there high. it's a complicated thing when you have to try to explain that to your child, when they ask you the question. it's complicated. and there's a lot that are influenced by what they see. i was one of them. i wanted that fancy car. and there's a lot of children walking up and down the street and they do that same thing. but i want to support my coworker because she wants to sit on that panel as well and i think she would be a good fit. it's porsha. and the young made that was talking about her two daughters, i know her husband, i know her. i facilitate a whole class, organizing leadership development program. her husband is in my group. so i understand where they are coming from. and this is a good thing, a good thing, a good thing, for sure. thank you. >> thank you so much.

>> hello. my name is laura and i'm with tenderloin people's congress. i recommend all of these people, because i've workabled with them in tenderloin people's congress. i recommend and also other issues on this community, i recommend cheryl, jesse, curtis and sam. i recommend cheryl shanks for this position because she is an excellent community organizer in the tenderloin. she is a justice leader. she understands the issues pertaining to drug dealing and drug use, because she's been there and is now in recovery. she's committed to help her community in the tenderloin, and she speaks about issues important to the tenderloin and her city, san francisco. i also recommend jesse james johnson for his compassion and

in the neighborhood, and he can bring so much to this issue. i recommend curtis bradford because he is a great community organizer, and he's very organized. and he really gets things done. and i highly recommend him as well. and i recommend sam dennison who is compassionate about the community. and i thank you for your time. >> hi. my name is ellen. i'm the director of programs at hospitality house. and i have to say this is the first time i've seen porsha not be able to speak. so i actually want to support her in doing this position. one of the things about porsha, you can't walk down the street without her engaging with each and every person on the street. and she will go out of her way to support people making changes in their lives. and whenever we need help, she

comes. so i really believe that porsha, has a unique voice and can really support this committee. you have a lot of -- one of the things about this room is you have a lot of community members who are very willing and able to support. and i don't envy your job. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is terrence blake. i also work for the hospitality house. and i grew up in san francisco, majority the t.l., along with porsha. i too have spent a lot of time in rehabilitation myself. when i got out of prison. so how i see it, i see people with the committee that you are putting together, if i see people that i can identify with, i would listen to them more. when i look like him, he's another guy that came up here and talked. porsha, i mean, they will have

an impact on the community, because people are seeing them, especially porsha. so i just want to come up here and represent porsha and lou because he's a long term offender like me. porsha has been out there at one point like me, in the streets, and that's what the drug dealers and people that use drugs could identify with, people that look like them. people that have been out there on the block with them and stopped. people that have been in prison with their brothers, uncles, sisters. see, that's the people that we are. so unfortunately i wasn't able to -- i didn't have the time to commit to it, but i definitely want to be a help. and them two, lou and porsha would be a help because the people identify with them. and i just thank you guys for what you guys are doing.

>> my name is maria richards. i echo what this gentleman just said. i don't know if lou needs a recommendation because he did such an amazing job of speaking on these issues, but i don't want that to just sit by itself. he definitely has the experience and knowledge. he is out there every single day, already with his team working on this issue. and he would have a lot to offer. thank you. >> good morning. my name is wendy click, i'm from hospitality house. one thing that some of the community members didn't talk about was we have a leadership development project which is 16 weeks of going through trauma, how it affects your body, working through that, seeing the harm reduction therapist and then civics 101. kim diamond, porsha dix son, jesse johnson, curtis bradford

have all had completed this class. so i'm here to say thank you for allowing them to come and speak and let us support them. i just want to remind you that lou gordon, i know him because i'm a former lifer when i go to the parole department he is always there for motivational speaking, so that is amazing to me because sometimes we forget where we are at and get caught up in the day-to-day living so i want to support her as much as i can because sam gives you not just one option but she gives you three or four to help your mind in thinking. so thank you for this task force. i support those who i just mentioned. [applause] >> curtis bradford, tenderloin

people's congress. a couple names of folks. everybody that apply and everybody that's here i could support any and all of them. they are all amazing people but i have to stand with my community so i'm going to have to -- i really just want to lift up -- because i think they're really important voices so i want to lift up cheryl shanks, her experience, she's demonstrated leadership quality. i've been working with her for some time in the tenderloin and i think her voice and perspective is an absolute necessity for this group. i would like to lift up kim diamond and jesse johnson and sam dennison. because they are all important contributors to this community conversation. and i think they all have something really meaningful to offer. so thank you very much. you have a tough choice to make. i'm glad i'm not sitting where you are today. thank you. >> is there any other member of the public who wishes to speak? seeing none, public comment is

closed. do any of my colleagues have comments or -- oh, okay. supervisor walton is going to make a motion, but i wanted to make a few comments first. this was a very touching hearing. and process to appoint nine individuals to this task force. that doesn't usually happen during the appointments process. but i for one have been blown away by the experience, by the dedication, by the willingness to have hope and belief that you can make things better in a very difficult situation. i really was touched by many of the things that i heard. one person that said that you can't expect to keep doing

things the same way and then expect change. we've pretty much had enforcement-only approach to drug dealing, street level drug dealing in the tenderloin and all throughout san francisco. and clearly, it is doing nothing to improve the situation. we've proven time and time again the literature, the studies that the war on drugs didn't do anything to help the situation, in fact, it probably made it a hundred times worse. i've studied this issue a bit, and if you look what's happening in other countries that have legalized drugs, you see much better outcomes when you treat drug use as a health issue and not as a criminal issue, you get much better outcomes. so many of you talked about your personal experience and about

how spending time in jail didn't improve the situation, but it was when people offered support and surrounded you with love and harm reduction, interventions and when you were approached by people who had shared your experience and had intervened in your life, that that's what made the final difference to become part of the solution and to make positive change in your own life. so really, i just wanted to commend you all. this is an impossible decision, as so many of you have said. i'm so glad that supervisor walton is going to make an effort to actually make a motion here. but i just wanted to thank you all so much. i'm going to be watching your work very closely. the tenderloin perhaps has the most visual concentrated street-level drug use and drug

sales, the mission is not far behind. so whatever strategies that you come up with, i would like to replicate in my district. and i do believe that you are the people that are going to come up with the solutions. and so it won't be only supervisor haney watching you closely, it will also be me. i'm very much looking forward to your work and your report. and with that, i don't know if supervisor mar had anything to say. >> just briefly, i just want to echo chair ronen's deep appreciation for all of you, all the applicants for your willingness, your enthusiasm for stepping up on this incredibly important and new task force that we are creating. and just incredibly educational for me. but also inspiring to hear all of your little bit about your

stories and especially about your perspectives and your commitment to these issues. not just looking ahead but what you've all done in so many different ways already over years. so it's a difficult decision that we have to make right now. i like the idea that was put out about this appointing all of you and expanding the task force 25. supervisor haney and the community, in if i recollecting out that nine seats is the right number -- in figuring out that nine seats is the right number. i'm glad my colleague, supervisor walton, has some recommendations. >> first of all, i want to thank everyone for applying and for coming out this morning. as most of you have noted, we have some very qualified, very dedicated and committed candidates that applied to serve on the task force.

and so i just want to say that i appreciate all of you for being willing to step up. we are under the realization that we cannot appoint everybody who applied and everyone who came and spoke this morning, which is unfortunate, because it is always exciting to see so many people wanting to serve, particularly in a function that will help you do everything you can to make sure that your community is improved in so many ways. as i listened to the stories and like supervisor ronen talked about, some of this affects my district as well in certain areas across my district. and this is something that i've been struggling with working on in community for decades as well. so we are going to be looking to the task force and looking at your recommendations, looking at your work so that we can duplicate this across san francisco. and really address the issues of drug addiction, drug abuse, drug sales across san

francisco as a whole. and so i try to take that into account with my recommendations that i hope my colleagues will support. looking at the diverse pool of what aspects of professionalism they brought to the task force, from business owners, of course folks who have lived in the community for a long time and have detailed experiences with folks in the tenderloin and with drug dealing and drug addiction. i'm going to make a motion and a recommendation. and again, i just want to say if you are not chosen, as someone for the task force today, all that says is we can only put nine names forward. i would encourage you to work with supervisor haney's office as well as members that do get supported for the task force to move forward.

because this is a big issue. it's going to take more than nine people to come up with the right recommendations and solutions. and it really is fulfilling to see so many people want to step up. we are at a point where we can only put nine names forward. so with that said, i would like to move the following names forward with the positive recommendation for appointment to the street level drug dealing task force. for seat 1, lindsay lasalle. for seat 2, jane ector. for seat 3, and i believe they will need a residency waiver, teresa friend. for seat 4, pedro flores. for seat 5, curtis bradford. for seat 6, pour is a dix son. for seat 7, hammonds. for seat 8, max young. and for seat 9, thomas wolf.

[applause] >> i'm going to assume that applause means that my colleague has done quite well in his recommendations. i'm getting thumbs up. so i am happy to support that. thank you for figuring that out for us, because that was really an impossible task. and if i can take that motion without objection, without objection, that motion passes. >> i would like to confirm and be sure i have it correct. lindsay lasalle, seat 1. janette ector seat 2, teresa friend seat 3 with waiver, seat 4, pedro flores, seat 5, curtis bradford, seat 6, porsha dixson, seat 7, louis hammond