away suddenly on saturday. mr. sarkassian has a rich legacy of serving six decades in the city and county of san francisco and was instrumental in the formation of the armenian community and later at st. gregory's. and as a founder of the armenian school as well as a founder of the local armenian national committee of the chapter here in san francisco. additionally, he devoted his life in the armenian cause for the rights of armenian people. i would like this convey condolences to his wife, sons, and grandchildren and families. >>

>> clerk: supervisor preston. i'm calling for a hearing on june 25, 2018, voters passed proposition f to guarantee a right to council for any tenant in san francisco facing eviction from their home. proposition f required full implementation by july 2019. they have taken positive steps, but have fallen short of fulfilling the promises and the requirements of proposition f. many tenants still go unrepresented, which is in direct violation of prop f. the right to council is an essential part of keeping people housed. prop f requires right to counsel and san francisco residents deserve nothing less. i look forward to working with the mayor's office, colleagues,

to make sure we achieve the universal right to counsel required by voters in prop f as soon as possible. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: thank you, colleagues. today i'm introducing legislation to tighten regulations on landlord buyout of rent controlled tenants and protect tenants from high pressure. they feel like they're living on borrowed time. fearing the day their landlord decides it's time to go. that comes in the form of take it or leave it, facing eviction or taking a cash buyout. we're seeing landlords and attorneys use loopholes to intimidate and force out tenants. with rents continuing to rise out of control, landlords have powerful incentives to remove

and replace longtime tenants. some landlords see a cash buyout as a way to get tenants to move out quickly. my predecessor passed the buyout ordinance in 2014, which among other regulations established reporting to the rent board. they reported 379 buyouts filed in neighborhoods throughout the city, with the highest numbers in the mission district. we also know there are buyouts that are not filed. in fact, some advocates estimate that there may be as many as three untracked for every one that actually does get recorded. we need the facts and need to be sure the laws are being followed. what this legislation will do is the following. first, it will ensure that tenants are informed of their rights. we're seeing landlords deliver required disclosures to tenants after starting negotiations or never deliberate at all.

my amendment will require landlord file a declaration prior to commencing negotiations providing evidence of disclosure and method of delivery. second, it will give tenants time to decide. landlords use take or leave it deadlines that leave tenants no time to reach out for assistance. the amendments set minimum of 30 days between the initiation of a buyout and execution of agreement. finally, the legislation will force landlords to file. landlords sometimes file an unlawful eviction after they start the buyout negotiation, in order to recharacterize them as eviction settlements. our amendments define eviction settlement agreement filed within 120 days of start up of negotiations subject to regulation. lastly, the amendments will push landlords to file by voiding any

waiver of tenant rights that tenants agree to in the agreement if the landlord does not file on time with the rent board. i want to thank the very fierce persistence of tenant advocates who together with the san francisco coalition brought these issues to light. and then, of course, to the late great ted who was the brain behind the original buyout ordinance, that supervisor compost sponsored and i was a legislative aide at the time, who had the privilege of writing that law together with ted. so i can never think of this law without thinking of ted. but the amazing teresa, fred, deepak, scott, are continuing his legacy so much love and

persistence and were the ones to bring these continuing issues to us. i want to thank amy, my incredible legislative aide who is such an expert on housing and just has never ending appreciation for her. and then finally, i'm hoping that this is our very own tenant rights advocate attorney, supervisor preston's first cosponsorship of a tenants right legislation, seems appropriate, but i want to thank you, supervisor preston, for your cosponsorship, as well as fewer, haney and preston. >> supervisor safai: submit. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, madame clerk. colleagues, it's no secret our country is behind so many other countries in supporting families. our national paid parental leave policies force people,

particularly women, to choose between their newborn children and going to work. of course, here in san francisco we're doing a little better than the rest of the country. in 2016, under the leadership of then supervisor wiener, san francisco became the first city in the county -- in the country to ensure that employees received 100% of their salary when they took paid parental leave. san francisco's program works like that. under california law, workers can take up to six weeks of partial paid parental leave. san francisco employees are required to pay the difference of the salaries, so they're making 100% of their salary up to a limit. this law has helped so many people and has become a national model and had major impacts throughout the country. in may, governor newsom he will extend the leave to eight weeks, still not enough in my opinion, but i'm introducing legislation today to update the city's paid

family leave to comply with the new state law and ensure eight weeks of fully paid leave. as a mother, i had the benefit of strong paying laws when i had my children. it made a difference. the rest i submit. >> supervisor walton: colleagues, today i have an ordinance, a hearing and memoriam today. illegal dumping has been prevalent in many of our neighborhoods. from january of november of this year, we have seen almost 91,000 service requests for legal dumping in san francisco for public works and recology. in district 10 alone, we have had 11,177 cases of illegal

dumping from january to november. the second highest in the city. and in district 9, there has been 16,930 cases in the same time frame. making it the area with the highest rates of reported illegal dumping. my office has been working with public works, recology, sfpd, the city attorney, to come up with solutions to stop people from putting their trash and debris on the streets and sidewalks. we had a safety in the public safety neighborhood services committee in march to address some of the concerns. and i'm excited to announce this new piece of legislation to address illegal dumping city-wide. our proposed legislation will redefine and expand the definition of illegal dumping, including what constitutes as one commercial waste, two, electronic waste, and prohibited materials. the legislation will also

clarify the types of violations as well as add enforcement allowing public works employees designated in the police code to issue citations. at the moment, only sfpd may issue citations to the people caught in the act of illegal dumping. this creates the possibility of negative police contact. i want to thank the deputy city attorney christopher tom in my office for working on this legislation along with cosponsors fewer and haney. i would also like to introduce along with supervisor mar, a hearing to be heard at the joint city sfufd select. the hearing is on how class cuts impact low-income communities of color, immigrants, seniors, and in particular, the residents that take these classes for vocational training and for continuing education classes.

i'm also interested in hearing how this impacts high school students who take classes in an effort to meet college entry requirements. any proposed cuts should be heard by the students and communities that will be most impacted. it is our hope through this process, we will get a better idea how to advocate for the students most impacted by class closures. and last, it is with a heavy heart that i want to call this in memorial. in district 10, we lost 12 lives. other neighborhoods have been impacted, such as the western additi addition, tenderloin and the mission. it is clear that the strategy we have in place need to be accountable to these families. our response and follow-up need to come from a lens of healing

and prevention. i am committed to working in the name of these fallen community members and commit to continue to advocate for real community strategies that bring us all together to take care of each other. to you will the families that -- to all the families impacted by senseless violence this year, i offer my sincere condolences and will continue my work in honor of your loved ones. to all those lost lives in traffic accidents, i will work to improve traffic safety and pedestrian safety. finally, to the family of the young native woman who lost her life too soon. i commit to fighting for resources for women and children. together we can honor these memories through our commitment of addressing violence. our district 10 safety plan will be released early next year. and i hope this is the first step in working towards healing and solutions together, along with our vision zero plan to

fight homicides and violent crimes here in san francisco. the rest i submit. >> clerk: supervisor yee. >> president yee: thank you, madame clerk. before i go ahead and introduce my hearing request, i want to make sure that -- because earlier when i was naming off the committee membership, i actually omitted one of our very important committees. which is the joint city school district and city college select committee. so i want to read into the record that it would be -- the members representing our board would be supervisors haney and fewer. and the alternate will remain supervisor mar. and the other members from the other institutions remain the same.

so, one of the things i want to do is talk about second hand smoke. just yesterday, the first study of the e-cigarette use over extended period of time was published. over 32,000 american adults were part of this study that took place over three years from 2013 to 2016. the city found there is a real casual link between use of e-cigarettes and a person's risk of developing chronic lung disease like asthma, bronchitis, and more. the study also found that people who used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes are the highest risk of developing chronic lung disease. before i speak further, i want to really give thanks to supervisor walton and former supervisor cohen, for their work

in fighting big tobacco. i think that your work has, and will continue, to save lives in san francisco. but my interest now with the legalization of marijuana, the use of e-cigarettes still increasing nationally, on top of the continued use of tobacco cigarettes is the impact of the second hand smoke for all of these substances. secondhand smoke exposure has skyrocketed over the last two years according to the california department of public health. there has been an 80 -- 86% increase in secondhand marijuana exposure. and 67% increase in secondhand vape exposure. and over 50% of the californians are still exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke. so why should we care about

impact of secondhand smoke? cancer, lung disease, harm to the brain, and heart functions. and these impacts are even more troubling when the victims are our children. secondhand smoke causes lung disease, including lung cancer. secondhand smoke from cigarettes can also cause heart disease. children with asthma who are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke can have more frequent and more severe as mama attacks. asthma attacks. secondhand vape contains high concentrations of fine particles, breathing in these particles can worsen respiratory illness asthma and lung tissue.

secondhand vape contains chemicals like formaldehyde and nickel. cancer causing chemicals like cadmacademca cad and chromium. i recently heard from the residents from my own district asking me to investigate further what the city is doing and how we can do better to provide relief for them. when it comes to being exposed to secondhand smoke. i've also heard doctors pleading for the city to act, because the patients are suffering from being exposed involuntarily from secondhand smoke exposure in their own homes. and they lack the resources to be able to easily find and move into alternative housing.

such as seniors on fixed incomes and families trying to survive with limited income. we know only too well that big tobacco and corporate interests have profited for decades from seducing customers, especially our children and youth, into addictions through nicotine and other substances. we also know that this country acted too slowly to address this major health threat. i don't want -- i don't want that to be the case here in san francisco if there is something we can do to address this issue. colleagues, this is why i am calling for a hearing on impact of secondhand smoke and what the city is currently doing about it. are we doing enough? our residents who have few housing choices, are they able to avoid bearing the health risks that come from exposure to

secondhand smoke? i am not looking forward to this hearing because i wish that we didn't have to be on watch for this, but the fact is, that we do actually watch for this. so the second hearing request, as you know, in san francisco we were hit by some particularly wet weather this month. the weather on the weekend of december 7, we had what we call 150-year storm. and experienced rain that exceeded an inch in an hour. the phrase 150-year storm refers to the estimated probability of a storm event happening in any given year. 150-year event has a 1 to 150

chance or less than 1% of occurring in any given year. in some areas of the city, the storm water drain system just wasn't able to keep up with the sidewalks, streets, homes and businesses were flooded. in the neighborhood, water flowed downhill collecting at the corner of 15th and warner. on that rain, in such a short amount of time, overwhelmed storm drains and brought up sewage. over three feet of storm water and sewage flooded garages. the first floors of homes. bottom floors and inlaw units and vehicles. and only homes -- the only homes spared were the ones that had properly placed sandbags. something that not all residents know how to do.

and may not even have the physical strength to do so. this flooding is devastating. especially when we look at it in terms of the holiday. instead of getting ready for the families and celebrations, residents are trying to deal with the raw sewage in flooded homes. puc is aware that this area does not meet the city standard level of service for storm water management. and this area has been identified as puc as 1 in 4 priority locations to watch for flooding during big storms. this is actually a third time in six years that this area has -- and many of these homes have been flooded. in response to this, two years ago i legislated mandatory flood mapping of the city so that the residents would be able to be

more aware of the risks if they were living in the flood risk area. and we also legislated mandatory notifications to renters and to buyers that the property is in high risk flood area. puc has a project plan to increase the capacity of the storm water management system in this area and to bring this up to city standard level of service. the estimated time line for completion of this project is march 2023. climate change means these bigger rains won't stop anytime soon. and even bringing the storm water system up to the standard level of service of this area, likely won't prevent all future floodings to happen. so we need to talk about two things. the first is that the city has to do more and has to speed up

the spending down of the $700 million that we have already allocated to make improvements to upgrade our storm drains and sewer systems. second, when our city is hit by storms and homes are flooded, we need to do more to respond. our departments need to be on site responding in realtime. when i recognize representatives from puc, the mayor's office and neighborhood services to go door to door to speak to residents impacted by the flooding recently, residents will still asking, is it -- asking if it was safe to handle the water that had washed up inside their homes. and the representatives from our city departments were not prepared to even answer this question. that is incredibly frustrating. when you imagine having your

home flooded with black and brown gook and you can't even respond. if the city can't respond thoroughly when there is a flood that impacts two blocks, how are we supposed to trust that we are ready for any sort of major catastrophe, whether it's earthquake or multi-fires or future flooding. all of these things are not a question of if. it's a question of when. for many of the residents we spoke with, this was the second and third time their homes had flooded in the last six years. puc has funds for homeowners to make changes to help make their homes more resilient to floods. and none of the residents knew about this program. let me say that again. no one knew that there was a way

that they could have secure their city -- secure city help to make their homes more secure. we need to get these resources -- those resources into the hands as soon as possible. i'm not calling for a hearing on how this happened or why our city was caught flatfooted. i really don't care anymore. the fact is that i am 100% disinterested in finger pointing. what i do care about, and what i think should be publicly explained, is a concrete plan of action so that our residents including those on the west side, know and understand what -- that we are there for them during both the good times and the bad. this is one of the four priority areas identified by puc to respond when there is significant rain in the city. the city departments did not

respond effectively. i want to see concrete plan to place -- in place on how we respond to the city and next time -- the next time we have a flood. it was -- it has to have realtime action and every department should have to be -- have clear rules and expectations for their response. if we can't respond when we have a disaster impacting a few dozen homes, i'm really afraid what is going to happen when we have a larger disaster. and also, part of this response mechanism really should be about notifying my office when things happen. there is nobody in four days that notified our office there was flooding. i only found out about it through the media. so the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: i submit.

>> supervisor haney: thank you. today, i am introducing a revised and strengthened version of our legislation to build navigation centers city-wide authored with supervisors ronen, walton, and preston. there are over 9,000 people living on our streets without housing. 65% of those are people who are experiencing homelessness and unsheltered. and there are unsheltered people in every neighborhood in the city. while we must continue to create more housing exits, people who are living on the streets tonight cannot wait for the new housing to come online. we're investing in building more housing faster. we dedicated erat funding and raised the linkage fee to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding

for housing. we passed a massive rezoning and streamlining measure for affordable housing and educator housing. we created senior operating subsidies and so much more. there are 12,000 affordable units now in the pipeline. but while we ramp up the work of building those units and expanding mental health services and outreach, we must be equally patient about finding safe places for people on the streets right now. we have to right-size our homelessness response system and that must include a massive city-wide investment in shelter. we've made it easier to build navigation center with our shelter crisis ordinance which allows the stream line of the construction as well as the contracting process for services. and removes planning code barriers to opening shelters in certain zoning districts that have limitations or restrictions. and as we've spoken about extensively recently, we're investing heavily in mental

health services and drug treatment. but the urgency of the problem has not met the urgency of providing solutions. despite the board and mayor affirming we're in the midst of a shelter crisis and more support for people experiencing homelessness. in the past five years, we've built only 500 navigation center beds in three districts. i know you've done the work to identify sites and asked the department for resources and shelter the homeless population in your districts. we had initially introduced this legislation back in april on the heels of the approval of the new embarcadero navigation center which was just unveiled today. at that time we were told that additional sites in the neighborhood would be announced. it's now been eight months and that announcement has not come. the plan to expand homeless resources city-wide to every community that needs it hasn't come either. and while we wait there are still more than 9,000 san

franciscans experiencing homelessness in the city. this not only requires the department to work with each of us to open navigation centers in our district, navigation centers that fit the particular needs of the district, it also defines what a navigation center is so we replicate what we know works. the original navigation center model was created by statute, by this body. it was authored by supervisor compost. it's important we revisit the legislation and amend it to reflect best practices and strengthen it where needed. our legislation that we're introducing today will take the best practices that work to get 50% of clients to a stable exit, outline this model and makes improvement to get even more people out of homelessness. we've captured the integral parts of the model like intake and assessment plan, access to on site services and daily activities for residents.

and made adjustments mandating that clients get initial stay of 90 days until they achieve a stable exit, not ending up back on the streets. in a survey by the coalition on homelessness, nearly three quarters of clients staying in navigation center or shelter felt like they weren't making progress toward their housing plan. a huge part of is this whether we have in adequate stay. we shouldn't be bringing people in navigation centers just to have them exit back on the street. navigation centres are themselves a critical part of an overall spectrum of services. and they must be paired with both outreach and housing exits. but we have a huge crisis on our streets now. not just in district 6, 9 and 10, but across the entire city. this is a city-wide challenge.

and having all neighborhoods step up is the way that we build on the solution of a navigation center and make it more critically integrated into a plan to solve homelessness in our city. there is absolutely no excuse to have thousands of people sleep on the streets when we have a tool that works, that we can use a lot more, and commit collectively to solve together. this is something that los angeles has done, washington d.c. has done, and having the commitment for not just a bigger bolder investment in shelter and navigation centerings, but to do it in a way that is a shared commitment and equitable commitment is key. i want to thank supervisors walten and ronen. and they've been hearing from their constituents, as i'm sure many of you have, that this is something that neighborhoods will welcome, but they do want to absolutely see it as part of a broader plan.

and equitable distribution. i want to thank supervisor preston for signing on. i know you campaigned heavily on wanting a navigation center in your district. i appreciate you for that. and i think this will be a critical tool in helping us get there by having that shared commitment, having the expectation that it will get done, having the reporting, the transparency, the accountability. i also want to appreciate supervisor safai for bringing a vehicle navigation center to his district. and to really demonstrate in leadership. i don't want to out him here, but he said that people asked about this legislation as something they were interested in and hopeful about. and also supervisor peskin for his leadership in working hard to bring in navigation center to his district, for recommending sites, for introducing a resolution, which i was happy to cosponsor, and i'm hopeful we can get this done and make this collective commitment as a board

together with the mayor to invest in navigation centers across the city. the rest i submit. >> supervisor mandelman: i submit. >> supervisor peskin: i would like to be rereferred. thank you, madame clerk. at the risk of freaking out our new deputy, i would like to make a few more statements for the record that actually involve senate bill 50 as well as what my colleague from district 6 just spoke to, which is that it's not always a one-size-fits-all solution and i will do this in committee, so don't get nervous ms. pearson and mr. givner, but i have championed a navigation center in my district now, fourth time maybe a charm for three and a half years. but there are other districts, like supervisor mar's district -- i'm not picking on

supervisor mar, who actually do not have a homeless problem. we have districts, but we have one city. so respectfully to my colleague from district 6 where we share, if you look at the heat maps, the propensity of homelessness in the city, and i salute supervisor walton and supervisor ronen, who have against all odds, managed to get navigation centres in their districts. but we really need to address it where the problem is. so i just don't see this as an issue. i apologize to the two deputies for freaking them out by saying something i will say in committee. maybe it will come to land use. if not, i will show up at that committee. but i want to say that early and often. >> president yee: before we get -- i'm seeing other people on the roster.

and this is not the time to have a discussion around this. and i don't know if deputy -- city attorney agrees, but i have to put a stop to this. >> deputy city attorney john givener, the roll call is for announcements of legislation they're introducing, but not the board to discuss the pros and cons of that legislation. so as president yee said, supervisors who would like to engage in that debate about this item should have that discussion in committee when this item is heard in committee. >> president yee: unless you have something different -- >> yes. i wanted to be re-referred because i'm cosponsor and i wanted to the prime sponsor to speak first as we do as a measure of respect. but i'd like to make my comments

on why i'm a cosponsor of this legislation and proud to be introducing it today with supervisor haney. i think that is appropriate. thank you, deputy city attorney. yes, we are one city. but we have a containment strategy that keeps people that are really suffering in certain neighborhoods in the city. and those neighborhoods are primarily districts 6, 9 and 10. and we have been dealing with it for decades. and you have three supervisors of those three districts and really grateful to supervisor preston for joining in, because there is a major issue in district 5 as well, who have done everything in our power to be solution-oriented, to find

money, to find sites, to negotiate deals, to open up navigation centers to say we will be not only the ones to take responsibility for this city-wide crisis, but we will do our work that is not traditional work of the legislature. of the legislator. for example, when i went and found a negotiated deal with and went to the money to pay for the navigation center, that was in district 9. when that closed down, got a site and money to get a replacement one. that is going above and beyond and fulfilling our duty as leaders in the city to be proactive and solve a problem. but here's -- and we did a great job in the mission for a while. we went from 260 tents down all the way to 30.

but now we are once again suffering unbelievable trauma in our city streets. and the city -- the mayor's office, jeff co-sin ski has no solution. i know this because i respond to dozens of phone calls and e-mails of people complaining they're not feeling safe, that there are fires being lit in tent encampments, that there is needles, human waste, that there are people in mental health crisis. supervisor haney and i passed this so we have a permanent long-term solution to the problem. what is the city is doing is moving people from one corner to the next. i'm glad that some supervisors don't have to deal with those problems, but those of us that do every day, it's not just, you

know, a natural phenomenon that all people who are experiencing homelessness feel that the only places that they can go are district 6, 9 and 10 with some in 8 and some in 5. it's a man-made phenomenon. it's the fact that police let things happen that the homeless department let things happen in certain neighborhoods and don't in others. if we're serious about all being part of the solution in solving this problem, then please don't put that responsibility on three or four supervisors. please stand up and take leadership. just like supervisors walton, haney and i have done for the entire time that we've been at this board of supervisors. i'm sorry, but this -- >> president yee: so -- >> this is not something that i think you can put on just residents in a few neighborhoods when this is an extreme

city-wide crisis. >> president yee: supervisor walton. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> supervisor walton: thank you, supervisor yee, ronen and preston for stepping up. i work closely with everybody on this board of supervisors and we all talk about how much we work towards solutions that we all know are problems in our city. and every one last one of us has admitted we have work to do around addressing mental health. we have work to do around addressing affordability. and we have work to do around addressing homelessness in san francisco. and we know that every district in san francisco has unhoused population. i'm looking at the data right

now. every last district could actually use a safe place for our unhoused population to be able to stay. right now in district 10, we have two navigation centers. and we are working on our third one. we have several nav -- not several, we have navigation centers in district 6, district 9, and we have a triage facility now in district 11. so we have a chunk of this board that is working very hard to address the issues that exist across the city when it comes to our unhoused population. we've even worked closely together to have some of our families at sfusd school sites here in san francisco. so there is no way we can all stand by and say we want to do

everything we can to address homelessness and provide safe places for unhoused population without everyone stepping up. i know our president has talked about the possibility of navigation centers and shelters in his district. i know supervisor peskin has talked about having a navigation center in his district. and so all we need is for everyone to step up and look for sites and work together so that we can address this problem in unison, because it is a san francisco issue. it is a regional issue. it is a statewide issue. and surely here in san francisco, we can do what we've always done, and come up with solutions that are best served so that people across the region, across the state can figure this out. and we will be the ones that come up with the best policies

to address what exists in our communities. so again i just want to thank cosponsors. i want to thank all of my colleagues because i know in your heart of hearts we can get this done working together. thank you for obliging, president yee. >> president yee: okay. so madame clerk, we're finished with roll call. we're going to move on to public comment. >> at this time the public may address the entire board up to two minutes on items within the jurisdiction of the board to include the november 5, 2019 and november 12 board meeting minutes and items 30-37 on the adoption without reference to committee. a public comment is not allowed when an item has been previously subject to public comment. direct your remarks to the board as a whole not individual members of the board. people with interpretation will be allowed twice the amount of time to testify. if you would like to display on

the overhead projector, just tell sfgovtv. it is a board rule in this chamber, that if you have a feeling one way or another, in support, or against, that you not clap or make audible sounds. if you're in support, just go like that to show your support. we appreciate that. >> president yee: okay. >> good afternoon, supervisors and president. i'd like to bring to the attention the human service agency taking over mother brown's kitchen. i'm a client and i was a few years back and i just returned to being a client. this agency in bayview is the oldest nonprofit in bayview. and it is operated by women at the top. maybe against women in leadership position. i wish we grew up and accept the fact that women are a power now.

quit ragging on them. number two, the v.a. and the united council of human services has a program, that's where i'm now residing. if we could -- if mother browns and united council could get the support it needs, you run this program and especially i would recommend that the supervisors and the v.a. get together and build a shelter for veterans only. it's deplorable what is happening to our veterans on these streets. so interested in building houses which is a good thing. barack obama left plenty of money for the cities to use to house veterans. why don't you guys get together and really use your heart and your wisdom to don't close mother browns and appoint them as the next navigation center

for veterans only. thank you. >> i'm also here making comments about the mother brown and hope house. i'm familiar with the health care system here. i was on gavin's health care policy committee. kickoff of the obamacare for the bay area. a thing mitch was involved with also. he's down there in l.a. i think we have the resources here in san francisco, both the talent and everything to make the things for the veterans work very well at this organization, with the mother brown and hope health right here. we don't need to go outside of the city to l.a. to have that

done. and thank you very much. happy holidays to everybody. >> good afternoon president yee and supervisors. i'm walton. [ ♪ ] da, dee, da, da, dee, da dee. ain't no mountain high enough ♪ ♪ to keep me from coming to see you today ♪ another cook here. she's 164, but you all know her. her birthday. mary c. that's a letter from the

president of the c.e.o. here's a key to a mental institution house. it's a real old one. st. agnew's. there is a house key. and i'd like to say -- i'd like to say ♪ jingle bells jingle all the way ♪ ♪ oh what it fun it is to say happy holidays ♪ and for john over here, i'd like to say thanks for your work and ♪ old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind ♪ ♪ and we like to all thank you now and thank you for your time ♪ thank you.

goodbye. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm a student at city college in san francisco. if you don't know, please know that we are in a crisis at city college. we are being prevented to achieve our dreams, our american dream of being -- receiving adequate and proper education at city college. there is hundreds of classes being cut. and i'm afraid that we might be seeing our students and our teachers at these navigation centers. it's very sad. i know you're doing a great thing for our community, but our teachers may end up there because there are a lot of class being cut, therefore, there is no jobs for them. there is a wall being built up that keeps us away from

achieving our education. we need these classes back. we need that funding to be available for all of us to take the classes. our older adults don't have the classes because they're being cut. traditional education is also impacted negatively because the classes are being cut. and not everyone is in a fortunate situation where they can graduate this semester. there is a lot of classmates because they can't take simple classes like algebra. they have to wait a whole other semester to graduate from high school. this means they're placed at risk. they could end up in the streets. we talk about the amount of homicide in the city. thank you very much.

if your hesitation stems from concern about proper budgeting, worry encouraging independent audit. if your hesitation is from thinking this is a short-term fix, i can tell you we've been working tirelessly on long-term solutions. if new things won't move you, perhaps things previously said may. the important truths are that knowledge is power, that knowledge is safety, and that knowledge is happiness. thomas jefferson. an investment in knowledge pays

the best interest. benjamin franklin. knowledge is power, information is liberating, education is the premise of progress in every society, in every family. throughout history limiting knowledge has never been shown to be a good thing. me. just now. i urge you, supervisors yee, mandelman, stefani, ronen, to publicly sign on and support the emergency funding today before this meeting adjourns. please shows that you invest in classes for the people that have made san francisco the unique and sought-after city that it is. thank you. >> hello. my name is marcos. i'm a student at city college as well. i'm here with the giant stack of petitions addressed to the supervisors that have not signed

onto the ordinance yet. yeah. we're urging you to join your colleagues and sign on to this allocation emergency funding. i want to thank supervisor walton for calling for a hearing at the committee. we think that is badly needed. we were never consulted for these cuts. i think it's important that the record is set straight about that. there was no community involvement in this. we are losing many vital programs for students today and basically, every day, until this issue gets fixed. we're not looking at this as a band-aid. i want to say that a majority of the petitions, basically all of the petitions were gathered in 36 hours, we have another 300 almost online. so as you can tell, people are very, very -- what is the word -- fired up about this i

guess. people don't want to lose their education. and people are paying attention to what the supervisors are doing here. we need you to sign on to this ordinance publicly and we're asking you to do so as soon as you can, any means or ways that you can. because we need the city college administration and their board of trustees to know that the city will provide the funding regardless of what the mayor says. because we know the board has a majority of people that want to see students stay at community college and we need the support of the other supervisors. we're calling on you to sign on to the ordinance because we want the trustees to restore the classes. we'll continue to do it until the last moment, so we expect your support. if it comes at the last moment, we'll still take it. thank you so much.

>> i'm a city college student. i'm choosing to put my belief in you. i heard that you re-elected into the board of education in 2008 with the highest number of votes that a superintendent search and brought a divided school together. i believe you bring the pieces of usf together too because you have personal experience. you know what it's like to be a student. you attended that campus before. so i understand that you can sympathize with how the students need to have a place to learn, to navigate and develop alongside others. but you can also sympathize with the teachers, too, right? because you not only were a k-12 teacher, you're also a community college instructor as well. you know what it's like to teach with care, to have colleagues supporting the school and to help students. and i believe you care about education, because you have a degree in education and served on the board of education, too.

the cuts are not inconsequential to you. mostly i believe in you because ocean campus is in your district. since you have gone from being a student to a community college teacher to finally a san francisco supervisor, i believe you won't turn us away. be the cosponsor for the emergency bridge funding. thank you. >> far all future speakers on this matter, please direct your comments to see board as a whole, not to individual members. also, if you're in support of this issue, there is a board rule you not make any audible noises. instead, use your supportive hands, please. thank you. >> hi, i'm a part-time student taking a full course load. i'm advocating today for the emergency bridge fund for city college of san francisco instead of attending my final exam.

in two years i completed 24 classes which is enough to earn an associates degree and i want you to show how it's impossible for the current class cuts. i'm a modern maker. i built my own curriculum from departments, engineering welding machine shop, business, fashion, woodworking, floral design, making 100. this is steam. science technology engineering mathematics arts makers. these are skills that people create in real products and experiences that make us smile. these are the skills that start companies and manufacture ideas in san francisco. 24 classes, many of them are multilevel classes requiring to develop techniques. chancellor said no programs would be cut. my curriculum would be impossible today of chancellor

roach's cuts. of the 24 classes completed, 8 are left. 16 are gone. 6 of 13 teachers are gone out of jobs. this is not a burden of students and teachers. it is pure mismanagement of leadership and the chancellor needs to be held accountable. he says we don't need money, but he means they don't need classes, students or teachers. i have spent 400 hours this year campaigning against class cuts. every one of these supervisors have seen my efforts through flyers, tweets and protests. i'm asking for the bridge fund so i can stop wasting my time fighting you and returning to my education. the city is pioneering free education in america, removing 5780 seats from classes is not savings we tolerate. we're watching. >> president yee: thank you. [bell ringing] >> hello, i'm esl instructor at

city college. and i'm here again to encourage everybody to support the bridge funding. you've heard it from the students. you've been talking about the homelessness problem. we have the homeless in our classes. if you cut these programs, there is no bridge for them to get jobs. the vocational cutting is just a nightmare. the 90% cut of the older adult education is faith nightmare. that's another vulnerable population that can become homeless. you're a great city, doing great things. you're progressive. keep it up. because public education is in danger. we have to look out for everybody. we're connected with each other. we provide the employees for many of the jobs here in the hotel, the culinary business. we also -- we deserve to be treated with respect. the