of san francisco and a vibrant

>> good afternoon. welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors land use and transportation committee for today, monday, january 13th, 2020. our first land use committee meeting of the new year. i am the chair of the committee, aaron peskin, joined by my right vice-chair supervisor safai and for his first meeting of the land use committee, our nuecesesnewestmember, dean pres. also another first, our new deputy city attorney to the board of supervisors anne pearson is joining us for her first sole solo meeting. our kirk is erika major. do you have any announcements? >> silence all cellphones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards ex copies of any documents to be

included should be submitted to the clerk. they will appear on the january 28th, board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> thank you. could you please read the first item? >> item number 1 is the health code to authorizes the director of department of public-health to allow an existing medical cannabis dispensary to operate under that permit at a new location provided the permit'. >> thank you, this ordinance is sponsored by our former committee member, matt haney, and on supervisor haney's behalf, if you want to speak to that that would be great. if if we have any quiz for them.

the floor yours. >> thank you, supervisor peskin. i'm speaking on behalf of the supervisor haney. our office introduced this ordinance to amend the health code allowing for some limited for cannabis dispensaries under the article 33 permit. the main reason our office is taken this on we saw an opportunity to support smile business and what we continue to see in san francisco is that cannabis businesses are incredibly vulnerable to conviction. businesses that have otherwise been good actors can lose all of their investments and jobs at the whim of their landlords. as the city rolls out its article 16 license and moving away from article 33 we wanted

to make sure we provided protection where possible especially for equity business applicants without providing openings for predator tee big money cannabis operators to push out small businesses or further incentivizing landlords to inconvict their tenants to turn a bigger profit. we worked very closely with both the department of cannabis and public-health to make sure that we are both supporting the needs of vulnerable businesses and balancing that with making sure that this limited portability is narrow and specific enough to prevent abuse. this ordinance would authorization the director of the department of health to allow a gathered permit tee to change the associations with the permit with the following criteria are met. one, the permity submits a written request requesting the change and identifying the proposed new location. two, the permity has been verified by the office of cannabis as an equity applicant. three, the permity has been evicted from the location associated with the permit been

notified that the lease at the location will be or has been terminated or not renewed. four, the new location has an existing authorization for medical cannabis dispensary use. five the the permity has complied with all applicable requirements of article 33 of the health code, the planning code and the police code with respect to the new location and six, the planning department department of building inspection, mayor's office on disability, fire department, and office of cannabis, review and inspect the new location as required and report their determinations to the director and the director determines that the permity has satisfied all of these requirements. additionally, our office in discussion with the departments, is requesting an amendment that adds a requirement the permity has been listed in the article 33 permit application submitted on or before january 25th, 2018 as an applicant or a person who would be engage in the management of the m.c.d. again, the goal of this legislation is to further

strengthen the ability of equity cannabis businesses to survive without creating loopholes for abuse and the knowledge this is in some ways a gap measure until the city has phased out it's type 33 licenses. we believe more can and should be done to protect small cannabis retailers in s.f. and this legislation hopes to accomplish one small part of this work. i have copies of the amended legislation as well as an updated legislative gu digest tt outlines what i have presented to you. >> thank you, we'll come grab those. >> supervisor peskin: do you have any questions for supervisor haney's staff? would you like to hear from the office of cannabis or the department of public-health or is that sufficient and ms. majors handing around the amendments, if not, are there members of the public who would like to speak to item number 1? please, come forward.

first speaker, come on up. >> morning or afternoon. my name is bram goodwin. i'm with the san francisco social club and also the browny mayor democratic club. i want to start by welcoming my supervisor, because i live until the hait, dean preston. it's a thrill to see you here and i appreciate your service. thank you. i urge the support this item so that relief, one of our legacy cannabis dispensaries can relocate. service their local customers including many medical users like myself. relief was one of the original cannabis dispensaries when there were future choices. which being around then helped me buy legal cannabis. we are now two years into cannabis legalization which has

brought some positives, such as legalization, giving us our rights, lab testing, some new dispensary openings. but, it is brought my much higher prices to consumers. very high cannabis taxes leading to greater market share fort illegal cannabis market. slow roll out of additional cannabis businesses due to red tape. the lack of compassion programs due to legal issues. in the concern that some new equity dispensaries could be back doors for national change. that is why it is important to approve this agenda item so one of our local community-based dispensaries will be able to continue to service this community. i would urge all of the supervisors to read the recently released control report on the state of san francisco cannabis. to take a closer look how this newly emerging industry forming.

help guide it to a consumer-friendly local based enterprise. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> hi, my name is gilbert and i'm a disabled veteran. i believe you should reward a good behavior. the relief is one of the few clubs that is honored 2/15. i've gone to clubs and they have no idea what i'm talking about when i ask for my discount. anyway, they're one of the good players and it would be sad to is he them go. reward good behavior. grandfather them in and also, they're also into compassion, equalization, and legacy. anyway, the thing is that right now, over 100 veterans are benefiting from their compassion program. you are going to hear from some

of the veterans here. they're in the evac program. you know, you know about our veterans getting shortchanged by the federal government. it's good to be able to give them a break once in a while. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, committee members. my name is greg. i'm a former harm reduction service director of access to love sf. co-founder of the black and brown cannabis possie. a group of concerned medical cannabis patients dedicated to preserving compassion services as well as our legacy dispensaries. we stand in support of supervisor mainly's legislative situation -- legislation -- i'm

sorry. solution, i'm sorry, in order to preserve one of our legacies dispensaries. i have had the privilege to work with hiedi and the relief team, which i might say, she and her crew has been in the business of serving our community for over 15 years. and have supported compassionate services with us at access to love and throughout the city. let hiedi and the relief dispensary be a rule instead of an exception. and ones again, thank you supervisor haney for your leadership, and thank you for your consideration.

>> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> access of love sf cannabis harm reduction and we were next door neighbors to the relief club. relief were great neighbors hoping to improve our block and generous supporters of all patients sad vow k advocacy gron francisco. they're part of legacy group of san francisco which -- excuse me. which upheld traditional compassion values. we urge your vote yes on today and we are looking forward to the city attorney developing a plan of restorative justice for all the legacy, medical cannabis dispensaries and compassion programs. let's move forward with legacy and equity and compassion reparations. thank you. >> my name is larry ferie.

i'm getting locked up here. just reading the paper today, in this paper they have an article on the marijuana problem in the sense that they're going to raise the tax on marijuana again, higher, which makes it hard for shops and stuff to sell marijuana because there are less shops around and more people are going to buy illegal marijuana. they're going to kill themselves with things that have been stepped on, drugs that have been put into these illegal drugs, you know, are killing these people. it's not the marijuana clubs, which are certified, their dope

is been tested. it's like ok, so most of the cities don't want marijuana clubs. but then that means permit'. -- >> it would be better for the health of the veterans and stuff. i'm taking marijuana right now and stuff because i have a lot of problems. i'm 78-years-old. i need this drug. we need a place where we can buy these drugs legally. that's why i'm here. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: next speaker. good afternoon, land use and transportation committee. my name is june bug and i'm born and raised here in san

francisco. i'm a san francisco voter and i live in district 5. congratulations, dean preston. i'm here as a cannabis patient today and i'm also the co-chair of the rose kenyan group. i'm in support of this permit because this deals with having safe access to our medicine. 350 face closure and that was one dispensary that provided safe and affordable access to medicine, a.k.a. cannabis. in 2012, patients faced another crisis of losing a lot of the legacy dispensaries that provided safe access.

to cannabis medicine for marginalized patients for san francisco. so relief was actually one of the few dispensaries that actually was still providing compassionate services to the community of over 15 years. so having this permit is vital. it's a vital asset to our community and it continues the legacy of providing safe and affordable access to real patients who nee need it. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: next speaker. >> hi, i'm kendra sagger. back in 2015, i had 14 heart attacks. i died 12 times. i am on s.s.i. i cannot afford cannabis at the higher prices in the taxes. relief is always been somewhere where i can go and get help.

please help them. they closed down. we need help and compassion. we need to quit dem onizing weed and marijuana. it's not a killer, it's medicine and i need it. please help us. >> supervisor peskin: next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is gabrielle. i was an employee at relief herbal co-operative. man, it's been six years since i've been around there and wasn't an employee for six years but just being around them and getting to know people they gave me the opportunity to be a part of their family. we're looking forward to hopefully coming back and continuing on building a new community somewhere. we built an awesome community the past six years when i was able to see everything. hopefully everything goes good today. we can continue on and get our jobs back and move forward. thank you.

>> supervisor peskin: thank you, necnext speaker. show your support by waving your fingers. >> good afternoon. i'm edward from the o.e.g. this legislation before you is about keeping this city's legacy and equity-owned medical cannabis dispens dispensary frog dease placed through no fault of their own. it's an equity owned dispensary that's been a pillar in the community for 15 years. they have served the medical community faithfully. they have provided affordable cannabis products for our city's low income, they hire locally and provide a great wage. they have a community plan that serves veterans and provides mentorship for equity applicants. the owner of relief is born and raised in san francisco and is always run their operations compliant with all city and state requirements. i can personally say that they deeply care about their business, they care about their employees and the city they come from. please vote yes on this legislation to keep relief of

san francisco institution and their employees from permanent displacement. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, i'm john glen with access of love. he would remind you of the socially conscious business practices that relief has engage in. they have helped at risk communities and their closure has harmed at risk communities. so i would strongly urge you to green light their relocation so they can resume the help and support that they've given to those who are ill and those who are low income. so they can resume what they've been doing all these years so well. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, next speaker. >> hello. my name is denise dory. i serve district 6, primarily we

support a quick fix for the legacy club relief, which is based in the district 6 area and it's based in equity and compassion and has, without any problems, served our area and improved neighborhood safety. we also urge the city attorney to immediately recede the handful of legacy clubs that served our locals, patients and consumers successfully for so long. we know how successfully because we see what is happening to folks without them. it's not pretty. and so, we are very concerned that legal cannabis is not affordable and equity and compassion are not being preserved by the -- because of the difficulty in relocating our legacy providers. so, i'm in favor of grandfathering relief legacy dispensary they have been participating and advocating for

compassionate programs. and many non legacy dispensaries are priced too high and they're more focused towards the tourists, thank you for your time. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, my name is reece benton. i am also a woman-owned cannabis business here in san francisco soon so open. when i started using cannabis again, relief was the second club i went to here in san francisco. and then eventually when i got into the business, i met hiedi anshe has helped me. i went to her as a mentor and she gave me her resources. i don't see her as a competitor but a legacy and we need these people that started cannabis to be around because they are the leaders and they've been doing this and we need old people or

grand fathers in this business because they've been here from the start and they knows the inns and outs. i feel, as a business owner, and the same sector, that her not being able our relief not being able to move on to another location is a disservice to everybody. i mean, it would be unfair. i'm not open but i don't want to see another club go down and not be open and not be able to service their patients because it's really the patients get attached to people and you have a bond. it would be a disservice for her not to be able to give her patients the medicine and for her not to be able to mentor more people and for her to be stagnant while we're opening and she's not. i hope you vote yes on this because it's well deserved and if she's not moving on, we shouldn't be moving on. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is david i'm a disabled american veteran born in san

francisco. i believe that we need relief to help with more affordable cannabis. it helps with arthritis, stress, everything. before this medical cannabis, my personal, i usually do not patronize a lot of these cannabis dispensaries because they're much too expensive. years ago, i would go to dalores park in the '70s. now, today, it should be more affordable for veterans, people accessible to help the public and i'm standing behind backing cannabis for relief. i've been at relief before and i've been at a few different cannabises clubs in the past. from my experience, they're very expensive and the real crime would be when they're out on the street. people are fighting. that's the problem.

and relief, that's what we need. thank you. have a good day. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is franco. i'm a vietnam vet. i've been on opioids for 20 some years. through the v.a. hospital and the use of cannabis i was able to get off of opioids. i feel much better. it's really cannabis is one of the things that really has saved my life, i believe. it helped me get through the vietnam war and it helped me through all the pain and suffering that i had after the war. i have very, very low income. i can't really afford cannabis or the stuff i need. and they have places like relief that helps us. we are, as veterans, have helped you guys in the past so will you please help relief to help us so

we can feel better and end the suffering. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is timo and i'm a san francisco native born and raised. i also am a cannabis business owner. i've been displaced from san francisco. i can't afford to live here and i can't afford to do cannabis business here so i had to go to it would be a misery if original san francisco people like this can't continue to have business here. don't let them leave like i had to leave. they are helping these people and they've been here from the beginning. they are hiring people from the neighborhood when they were in the mission. i'm here to say this needs to be passed. it should be a formality and i hope it will already go through. thank you. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon, board. my name is arrow. i'm a san francisco native.

i'm a former member of the board of mental health seat number 12 i held for six years, i termed out after six years. i am here to speak for new relief for the veterans that are in here. i'm a veteran along with a lot of my other veterans who are here along with me. people that i live with. we all go to new relief and we have been going to new relief from the beginning. i have came from living in the streets to living in tenderloin to getting a suitable housing with my other veterans. i live in the veterans commons and it's a very nice place. and through new relief, i was able to rise up and come from these depths of being homeless and going and living in tenderloin and rat-infested hotels to living decent and

through new relief, i was able to get help with my mental illness through acupuncture and they have different types of therapies that they do there and it's been a lifesaver for me and i know a lot of other veterans here in have the same thing to say. please, please, help new reloaf. >> next speaker. >> >> how are you doing? as well as a veteran myself 2311 ammunition peck mission. what is going on is that dal

provides, the ownership of relief provides not only help and support for other small businesses like myself who have the ability to hire employees and helping other families using another different context it also basically gives people the ability to do what they're all begging you for which is they're begging you not to push them to heroine or towards opioids and they're bigging you to help them maintain their self respect and their dignity as long abiding citizens to purchase a good they feel helps them with everything from post traumatic stress all the way up to the daily rigors of things we face on a daily basis. the only thing that we know and this particular environment that has been given to us, is that the ownership of relief provides good prices, they are community-based and they interact with us and they help us do things that get our children, including mine, off of the streets and into a working

environment where they can in turn pay taxes which helps to pay your salary so please, please, take into account the people that have shown their faces in front of you are humble, most of them are nervous that's why their voices are shaking because they're only asking for one thing to be given a dignity to be able to purchase a product and a safe environment without having to be harassed or arrested or put in any type of inconveniences. >> next speaker, please. >> my name is alan steiner. i reside in oakland, california but i've been a licensing consultant in cannabis space for the past three years and i just want to call in, i want a second everything that everybody has said about the value of this business on the value of the plant and has just, we're talking about the longest operating cannabis dispensary in

the city one that has fully supported compassion and the value of that and one that has been a great neighbor, i have a friend who lived on lass ski and he cannot say enough good things about this business and i don't think can you live any closer to relief than on that street. right now as an industry we're dealing with a huge lack of shelf space that hurts every producer in the industry having the loss of a dispensary is a very, very deep wound. right now in this moment is the reason for this, is the change in ownership that led to a change in banking and a bank that does not want, that has challenges with being an owner on a cannabis business. we're not talking about a failure in compliance. we're not talking about a failure in being a good member of this community.

this committee absolutely needs to vote yes on this. the detriment is extreme. thank you, very much. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon. i've been a street artist for 35 years and a volunteer with the street fair for the past 42. i have seen a lot of things in this city and i've seen a lot of club is the green cross had to move and it's going to go out

and go over to oakland and you need the money to support the seniors and we need the medicine and do your job. thank you, very much. >> next speaker. >> my name is direct remills and i'm a retired air force veteran. i can tell you personally that they're good for the community. they go above and beyond to help you out. i mean, i like giving you deals and they're family oriented and i consider him family everyone in this door consider me family. i consider him where they went by land would be a benefit to

the neighborhood. that's all i have to say. thank you, next speaker. >> >> i'm pamela and i think relief should be given a medical cannabis sense pens reand they were good neighbors to the community all around and they should be given this permit. >> thank you, next. >> good afternoon. my name is victor flemming. i live at veteran's common here in san francisco. i'm here to support relief and i was in the military and i did the vietnam evac. i think you know what i've seen. without relief and compassion they supply the veterans with

the medicine and an awesome thing they do and we can't lose relief. we need them here in the city like randel said and with the remarkable work that people have working for hem and to lose that and please, please. keep relief. >> next speaker. thank you. >> good afternoon, i'm ronald jones. i'm also a disabled veteran and relief has been a big factor in my life. i also live at the veteran's commons and relief has been close by gotten -- they've

helped me in my depression and my pain management and they've also been a platform for operation evac which i attend regularly and it also helps me in my addiction problems and pain management and relief say good place. please, go for the relocation of relief. thank you. >> next speaker. >> >> my name is rudy. i'm a native of san francisco. a loyal and faithful 49er fan. i'm born and raised not too far from here but i wanted to support relief, my brother dale, he is a filipino owner. he has 100-year history of filipinos in the south of market. this is filipino heritage zone. this dude has been so instrumental in helping out a

youth organization and i wasn't going to come up here and speak until i heard everybody else. but this dude has been so under the radar helping out the people and -- >> keep them up here. he didn't ask for nothing he just said what y'all need for christmas. for the last 10 or 12 years he has been hooking up the kids in the community at the christmas parties with a gang of toys. i just want to come up here and represent for the brother. and they deserve what they would get. being a native of san francisco, let's keep this a san francisco thing. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, committee members. my name is nina parks. i'm born and raised here in occupied in san francisco.

i run into delivery service and i was amongst many activists that fought for the initial language of the equity program. i'm here in solidarity with the continued fight to work for the implementation of a just equity landscape here in san francisco. i have now just recently been voted into be the first chair of the cannabis oversight committee. sf has led the compassion movement. its value system is what has allowed us to get as far as we have in our fight for equity, diversity and inclusion and it has changed the landscape of conversation across the country. but we can't just all be talk. we need to see these policies implemented in a way that actually preserves an up lift legacy that all of these activisted in this community have fought for. i hear the community today and they have shown up here to tell us that they need a club that treats them like they're human and not just a number to meet a profit quota. we have a serious public-health issue here in san francisco. and we need to push -- even

though we're pushing for universal health hear we need a supporting caring community and mitigate the compounded trauma of being inlow come in this city. please vote yes to keep relief lit. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm mark, i'm a third generation san francisco an. i live with 108 veterans in the only neighborhood you can't grow pot. the relief and -- i was in the service and many friends haven't made it. through illness and through suicide, they're not here. programs like relief and operation evac have made a major difference and i thank the committee for its intention to forward a recommendation of approval to the board.

thank you. >> good afternoon, erika major and honorable members of the board of supervisors. my name is ryan miller and i founded operation evac, an organization to prevent veteran suicide and opioid overdose with reoccurring social support groups in partnership with cannabis dense pens res. when we launched a memorial day 2016, relief herbal co-operative was our first dispensary client and it's not only an honor but my morale obligation to advocate on their behalf. our work and service to welcome home warriors is only possible with a support of our generous dispensary hosts of which relief has led the way to ensure that the san francisco veterans won'ting left behind. the veteran population that we serve is among the vulnerable and deserving portions of our population. our members are mostly poverty class elders, and veterans of color. many of us are formally

incarcerated, have experience with housing insecurity and recovering from substance abuse. it's my privilege to report to you that we're experiencing transformative results in the community. that relief is curated. members are revealing hud is helping us get off the streets and we're choicing cannabis instead of opioids and street drugs. we're abstaining from alcohol and we're finding hope while sharing space in our safe container of camaraderie. relief is not only integral to our origin story but with your vote, you can also support san francisco's veterans in the future. said differently, we humbly request the supervisors of san francisco support ethical operators like relief and expedite their relocation process. we're in the veteran suicide prevention business and the veterans of operation evac depend on you. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is don now i'm a

disabled veteran with a third armour division and i just wanted to lend my support also to the relocation of rerelief and the no johnny come lately. they've been in the business a long time and some of the best compassionate care offered in that industry is being emulated by other groups because of what they saw relief do for so long to so many. i do ask you to support the compassionate care and the relocation of relief. >> hell oh i'm a member of operation evac. i have also been a member of relief since 2016. it helped me a lot with not getting in trouble in the streets and stuff like that and having a place to motorcycle cannabis and not worrying about the police breathing down my neck. worrying about where i'm going to stay and chill out of the

rain and stuff like that. being able to have that place where that and they also provided operation evac with a place to provide compassion cannabis with meditation for all the veterans there and its working really good for them. i'm just saying that i'm in support of them moving into a new place because they are amazing people and i always got smiles and they always made me feel good when i came in there. that's all i have to say. >> thank you, sir, next speaker, please. >> my name is julie sin claire. i work in soma close to where relief was located. i've worked there for nearly 14 years. i wanted to speak on their behalf because they're greatly missed in the neighborhood. they were always good for the neighborhood. i never, ever saw anyone who was

involved with the business or who was a customer of the business causing any sort of problems that people often believe are associated with cannabis. i was also a customer there. my father passed away in 2018 and they were very good about giving me as much information as i required and i also had a knee surgery during than time and i was able to safely access quality information and medicine to help me and i'm much better now. i'm a ballet dancer and i'm back in the studios again. so, that's all i wanted to say. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. if there are any other speakers lineup to your right, my left.

otherwise this is the last speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is hiedi and i'm a native san franciscan, a wife, a mother of two, and one of san francisco's two women cannabis business owners for 15 years servicing the south of market area. with a few more women on the horizon, which i'm so proud of, we've seen an explosion in the evolution of cannabis recently. however, there is one thing that re mains stagnant in this industry. federal law. after doing so, we still find ourselves evicted and our business shut down through the federal banking laws. they would allow others to have our land lots permitted to a new location.

i am equity and i please ask you to support myself and future equity applicants and all cannabis policies. i want to thank you the city for recognizing this issue and that operators in good standing need protections in place through no fault of their own finding thatr businesses. i appreciate your time and i respectfully ask that you vote yes on this proposed legislati legislation. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is vaughn and i represent a small cannabis retailer, who holds a medical cannabis permit and who was wrongfully evict bid a landlord in san francisco. with supervisor haney introduced this legislation, one the goals of the legislation was to protect small business who are vulnerable to eviction. because mcd holders are tied to their location small businesses are good actors can lose the goal is to provide protection to small businesses for equity

business applicants that to prevent big well-funded cannabis groups from pushing out small businesses in sf. i believe this legislation in its current form does not safeguard against potential abuse by landlords at the new location. we're not opposed to the legislation in principle, equity mcd applicants who have been abused by landlords. my client say perfect example. however, the current language of the legislation fails to consider behavior of the landlord at the new location. if the goal to prevent abuse and create loopholes, we encourage them to behavior the landlord at the new potential location. to ensure that no landlord abuse actually occurs at the contemplated new location, we requested it be amended to prevent portability where there's a wrongful judgment or forceable detainer judgment against the landlord that was successfully obtained by the prior m.c.d. holder in that

location such as my client. to ensure the legislation design to benefit only equity applicants and an amendment the permitment holder who moves to that location must have at least 51% opioid of the cannabis business for five to 10 years. after moving to that new location. we're willing to meet with the committee to discuss some of these proposed changes to the current version of the legislation. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is -- i was wrongfully evicted by my landlord. i operate a small business and also the permit order for m.c.d. to provide the protection to small business and should be also considered potential built bit lender at the new location. i'm not opposed to these regulations. i emphasize with applicants who have been billion dollar b buil. i would like to say how we could

prevent the new land you'll built otherwise it could be a danger of moving around another location and another location. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> hell o my nam hello. thank you for your time and thank you for listening. i'm here basically just to say please give relief what they're asking for. i've been a citizen here in san francisco for 25 years now. i moved here when i was diagnosed with aids. i knew this was the place to come to live and i would survive here. 33 years later, and countless dispensaries being closed and me having to look for new places, to get affordable medication, i don't think there is anymore in the city. i keep searching online looking and price and looking for prices that i can afford and it's not here. it's not here in the city anymore with the taxes.

it's unaffordable. i can go to relief and buy the same product for less than half the price that other places are selling it for. it matters to me. it matters to me to stay alive and to be healthy. i'm trying to get back to work. i'm in school. relief has been major in keeping me safe, keeping me alive and keeping me healthy. i just have to ask you, please, give them what they're asking for. thank you for your time. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is an tan. mtwan.before i was in californis in arizona, where i had an

extreme drug issue. i was addicted to many, i guess, problems or things that i should not have been taking. i came out here to california not in search of, i guess, a need to use but a way to get away from the things that i had done. with the medicine or the drugs from relief, i was able to ease myself back into the real world or at least a stable, i guess, mode of thinking. and with that, i was able to play football in college and win a state and national championship with the team that i had played for. due to the fact that i was able to come back to, i guess, a real

mode of like, i guess, a real stable place to progress my -- >> supervisor peskin: i think we hear you. >> right. it helped me to stop what i was doing to progress back no a regular living situation. further myself there. i also performed well in track and instead of going cold turkey and easily being drawn back into the situation, it allowed me to ease the tension into a regular living situation. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you for your testimony. seeing no other members of the public on item number 1, we'll close public comment. supervisor haney and his staff have asked for an amendment that is in the long title on page 1 and the substance is subsection

c on page 3. if there's no objection colleagues, i will move that and we will take that without objection. and i have been advised by the city attorney that because ha amendment is deemed to be substantial in nature, this will require a one-week continuance so without objection, we will continue the item as amended one week to our meeting of the 20th of -- there's no meeting on the 20th. on the 27th. we will continue this to the 27th of january. we'll do that without objection. madam clerk, could you please read the next item. >> clerk: item number 2 is the ordinance to establish the inner balboa street neighborhood commercial district. the outer balboa, bay view, the court land avenue ncd, geery, the san bruno, the coal valley,

lakeside village, lower haite street and the ncd amending the zoning map to include the new neighborhood commercial districts and affirming appropriate findings. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. before we hear from supervisor ronen's stave, i want to thank supervisor ronen and her staff and the co sponsors supervisors fewer, wall son, haney, preston, yee and i would like to add myself says a co-sponsor and supervisor safai would like to be added as a co-sponsor. i really want to thank planning department staff and the planning commission for hearing this in record time. obviously this is motivated in large part by the impending vote in march on the vacancy tax measure that applies to named n.c.d.s so this would be the

largest if we pass it, increase in n.c.d.s for many decades. a few have been added one by one over the years but adding 12 in six different districts is a big deal. ultimately, as reflected in the legislative digest, we'll give neighbors and neighborhoods and their supervisors the ability to fine tune those n.c.d.s as is the case with the other two dozen of them that are spread throughout the city and county of san francisco and with that, the floor is yours. >> thank you, so you much, chair peskin and members of the committee. amy bynard here to speak on the legislation before you. i was going to say almost exactly what you just said. and in the interest -- you said is so well. i'm not sure i should go through that once more. so, i would just like to

reemphasize, i guess, is part of that that what this does is adds 12 new named n.c.d.s to the existing 30 named neighborhood commercial districts and neighborhood commercial transit districts in the city each of which are very distinctive and neighborhoods in different ways and that along with the ability then to move forward and find ways to support our neighborhood commercial districts through very specific controls, none of which are changing in this legislation, just to be very clear, it does not change any of the underlying controls. we know in findings ways to encourage property owners to keep the storefront occupied is essential and so we wanted to make sure that in having a measure on the ballot that would allow for the city to use a tax

strategy, that we knew that residents would be assuming that other neighborhood commercial districts would be included and we wanted to make sure that we were meeting the voters expectations so should they pass this measure at ballot, that these will be included and i also want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, to city attorney staff who really, really came forward quickly to make this happen and to planning staff including audry who is here today who really stepped up and then of course to the co sponsors. and then, there are some very minor technical non substantive amendments that we wanted to introduce today.

it's to call out under the use -- that the dwelling unit mix will refer to planning code section 207.7 and it corrects where residential districts is described as those -- that full word. it changes that to our district. it's global through out the entire piece of legislation that needs to be introduced and then we're hoping to hear this at the full board tomorrow. so, yes, we're a committee report. >> supervisor peskin: audry.

i just wanted to recite some quick statistics. three of these, the inner and outer balboa street n.c.d.s as well as the geery boulevard would be in the first district one and the first two of them in district 5 which would be the coal valley and lower haite street n.c.d.s and one of them in district 6, the lower polk street n.c.d. which would be just south of the existing polk street neighborhood commercial district. two of them in district 7. the lakeside village neighborhood commercial district and the inner ter aville. three of them in district nine and mission burnal, san bruno avenue and court land avenue and one in district 10:00 which would be the bay view n.c.d. so i wanted to put that on the record and i know that supervisor safai is about to ask

staff why these were not n.c.d.s, they were n.c.1, n.c.s., n.c.2 but not n.c.d.s. the n.c.d. undertaking was done in the mid 1980s and why those were not individually named districts is now getting on to 30-year-old history. with that, ms. maloney. >> good afternoon. the planning commission heard this item last thursday, januaro approve it and i am available for questions. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: seeing no questions. are there members of the public who would like to testify on item number 2? seeing none. public comment is closed. and supervisor safai. >> can i -- i was just going to wait until after public comment. so, i mean, supervisor peskin said it but i'd like to hear it directly from you. what was the genesis of this? i understand that we're attempting to do this through

our vacancy tax but why were these areas not and how many are there currently in n.c.d. named? >> how many current named n.c.d.s are there? that's a great question. i don't have the number off hand. i can show you a map if you would like. >> superivsor safai: that would be great. >> so all the n.c.d.s in the legislation were determined by planning to be a neighborhood that have evolved in the last, as supervisor peskin said, 30 years to start to have their own identities that would require potentially them to have their own unique zoning, different than the rest of the city that is zoned that category so as you know, with something as zoned n.c.3, for example, any time a zoning controlled changes for the nc3 table it changes all of the nc3 districts, which we have throughout the city. certain neighborhoods that's no longer appropriate. they need to be more tailored to the specific neighborhood. let me pull up that map for you.

>> superivsor safai: some of this is good to be on the record. >> it's not a map of the full city. this is showing what we could, without it becoming too small, so the green districts that are circled in red are those that are proposed for rezoning. the green districts that are not circled are all of our other generalized n.c.s. to n.c.3 and i apologize that district 1 and 3 are cut off. for the rest of the city any of the colors you see there are our current individual named n.c. districts. >> superivsor safai: can you slide down. ok, there you go. is that purple one is one that orange one is one and then what -- this doesn't -- this isn't the whole city. >> this is not the whole city. i apologize.

we don't have a map of all the n.c.s this is so show which were being added. this is as close as a map that i have off hand to show you where the other current individual names. >> i think the geneva mission is pretty clear. >> yes, correct and there is one right right here and that is these three districts right here and the ones that are proposed

seven excel see year and eight japan town and nine north beach and polk street and sacramento street, union street, pacific avenue, 14 24th street. 18 irving, 19 taravel, 20 nud 2h and then we have 21 soma, 23 ocean avenue, 24 glen park, 25 folsom street, 26davis, and 28 haze goff, 30, 24th vet, 21 upper market. there you go. >> thank you.

>> so seeing no other questions and no public comment, i will move to accept these technical changes and we can take that without objection and then accepted the item as a committee report as amended to be heard tomorrow at the full board of supervisors on its first reading in time the north of market affordable housing deposited in the city wide affordable housing zone and affirming appropriate findings. >> thank you. we have been hearing this since last summer. i understand that the mayor's

office of housing has asked us to continue this to a date certain of january 27th. is there any public comment on this issue? seeing none. public comment is closed. if there's no object sex we'll l continue to january 27th. could you please read item number 4. >> clerk: an ordinance amending the plumbing code to delete the lola mendment to the california plumbing code to the rules and regulations. in the section of cross connection controls and affirming appropriate findings. >> supervisor peskin: this has been kicking around since late 2018 as the puc and the department of building inspections have been learning how to communicate better so resolve this issue and on behalf

of the puc we have mr. john scarpula. the floor is yours. department of building inspection and dr. june wine tropp and my colleague ken pain from the sfpuc water quality division. thank you for hearing this and for the patients as we all worked on this. >> it's about time. >> so, really quickly, before we get into legislation, what is a cross connection when drinking water wipes you conducted to water fixtures across correction is created. if it's improperly connected, contamination can result in a back blow event. a back flow event is when contaminants reverse flow from the fixture or equipment, actually into the plumbing pipes. back loads can jeopardize the

water supply of a given property such as in the photo on top where you see a containment swimming pool going back into the water supply of a house but lead to larger issues where the water quality of a city can be put into jeopardy. this can happen a lot of times in large highrises with a lot of plumbing fixtures that are fed so a hospital example is one and you have water supply feeding to x-ray machines or bubblers or cooling towers and you reversal of the chemicals that are used in those systems that can get into the water supply and it's a real concern. so that is why we have back flow preventers such as those on the screen. so i'm sure you all have seen these in front of buildings or actually in the building and these are all meant to protect the buildings water supply in the city's water supply. so, with this legislation aims to do specifically with the amendment that supervisor peskin referenced, is drawn to alignment the three different areas where cross connections

regulations occur in san francisco. they occur in the san francisco plumbing code, san francisco health code article 12a, and in the spuc water service agreement that every water receiving property must sign with the puc. and so what you have was you had these three different codes and unfortunately there were differences in these codes. what would happen is a contractor would put in their black flow prevention unit, dbi would say this is great and they're moving along on their project and puc and dph would say actually while it may be dbi codes it doesn't meet our codes. it cost the contractor time and money and they're frustrated. so the purpose of these amendments are that when you look at the d.b.i. plumbing code and you look at the health code and the puc code they're all the same. it eliminates those issues. so specifically, the four amendments i will reference that again supervisor peskin passed out, first there's a paragraph

recognizing that san francisco is at a higher risk of cross connection failure due to our topography and large pressure differences causing back flow to occur when a pressure shifts, water can flow backwards because the pressure changes. so we have a high-risk of that in san francisco. second, all back-flow or devices that are testable must have passed lab and field evaluation tests performed by a recognized testing organization. that is also both on page 2 both of these amendments i'm referring in terms of ordinance and on page three, there are two additional amendments. carbonated beverage dispensers with up stream copper piping pose a risk health hazard from the reached copper in the event of a back pressure event.

with the code and any poet able to close loop industrial water chillers, which again used chemicals and shall be protect bid a reduced pressure principle back throw assembly which is say higher level of protection and i'm here with all the folks i mentioned before who you much more technical so they want to dive into what these are for each of these specific i'm happy to have my colleagues get up. with that, we're hoping that you will adopt the amendment and it sounds like there may be substantive but i hope that we move forward. >> supervisor peskin: thank you for edifying this committee and for finally working it out between the various departments. are there any questions from committee members? >> i have a general question. how often do -- you might not be able to answer this, john, is

someone here from d.b.i.? how often do people, these back flow tests, how often do they fail? >> dr. winethorp will come up and take that one. how often are the tests being performed? >> good afternoon. i'm dr. june winetropp i'm a manager from environmental health and the health department and i manage the cross connection program. so question, your first question how often are they tested? they are required to be tested once a year. the testable devices. that's actually important part of what this amendment is about is that the previous devices that were allowed were for the carbonators were not testable and now we're all agreed that it's a good idea to have, when copper is present, for the --

there's a soda machine, then we need to have a device that's testable once a year. >> supervisor peskin: you say we all agree. what made you all agree on that? what brought that about? i mean, i know we've had carbonated systems and we're mainly talking about restaurants in a lot of cases. so what made you all come to this conclusion? >> well, first of all, the amazing collaboration between all the different parties that brought us together. the code, the plumbing code change in year 2000, before that, the reduced pressure principle device was required by the plumbing code and then in the year 2000, the plumbing code changed and san francisco adopted wholesale as we do the puc and dph said we still want to keep the more conservative method of protecting and as time

went by, the distance between the differences between the two codes kind of got lost and that's part of why we tried to say wait a second, now we need to all be on the same page. so the other things we all agreed to that i'm happy about is that we are going to approach the state building standards commission and ask them to address this in their adoption of the california plumbing code so it won't be just us being different. rather, that the whole state will be different. >> san francisco is the only one doing this? >> no, no. not at all. i misspoke. there are a few other jurisdictions that require the reduced pressure principle testable device fo soda machine. >> superivsor safai: what are those? >> san mateo and l.a. i think.

>> superivsor safai: let me ask this, is it normal for three separate agencies could be involved in back flow reprevention? i know we have our water department but it's always perplexed me why d.p.h. was involved and water testing oversight? i mean, i understand why p.u.c. would be and i know -- i get calls from individuals account holders and they have to have their sprinkler system and their house tested every year and it's a source of frustration but i'm just curious why there's three different agencies involved in this. >> it's something that is a goal for me is to kind of figure out how we can make it more collaborative and clear to the responsible parties but it is the state code that any potential cross connection be protected by a testable device.

the health department jurisdiction inside of the property so it kind of makes sense for us to be the one that is entering the property and saying we want you to protect yourselves or your apartment dwellers. we use it sort of by proxy to protect the whole water system and that is why the puc wants to be involved even if it's just inside of the building. so it is confusing. we'd like to fix it. we did do a big change to the health code article 12a a few years ago and i think there's some more work to be done to bring that -- to make that a little bit clearer and easier for all of the people who are regulated by it. >> superivsor safai: i didn't hear anything of why is it now you've decided that if you have copper piping, that is a problem in terms of carbonated devices. >> we didn't just decide it.

we just had this difference for 20 years between the plumbing code and the health code and truly part of the plumbing code actually specifically says that if it's a high hazard, a health hazard you do need to have a testable device so the plumbing code was not consistent with itself and so as we know, sometimes it takes a lot of time for us to address problems. it took us 20 years to address it here. >> superivsor safai: thank you. >> thank you. >> so, i don't think we need to hear from any of the other involved departments, which would be mr. murray from d.b.i. are there members of the public who would like to speak on this? >> seeing none. public comment is closed. we will take the amendments described by mr. scarpula which

are substantive in nature. we'll do that without objection and continue the item to januar. which meeting is going to be a repeat of this meeting and we will do that without objection. madam clerk, could you please call items 5 and 6 together. >> clerk: item number 5 is the resolution declaring the intention of the board of supervisors to order the vacation of the va laio street right-of-way generally bounded by parcel block number 0138 lot number 001. generally located between broadway street and the embarcadero as part of the improvements for the hotel theater and public mark development project on seawall lots 323 and 324 and setting the hearing date for all persons interested in the proposed vacation of said public right of away. item number 6 is an ordinance ordering the vacation of streets on a portion of the va laio

street right of away for the hotel and entertainment venue and public open space project in affirming appropriate findings. >> as a housekeeping item, how about we insert before we even hear from staff, on the calender item number 5 number 191179 on the top of page four that the date would be february 1 south of 2020. we don't we make that amendment before i forget to do that and we'll do that without objection. the floor is yours. >> thank you, supervisor peskin. good afternoon members of the committee. my name is ricky and i'm a development project manager with the port. i'm here to describe the

proposed legislation before you. i'm joined by staff from the port. the planning department. the department of public works and the develop team representatives. i start by providing a brief background on the development and proposed legislation that would help move the development forward. it was a tenant with the port and he was in good standing and it operated at the threater operation on peer 27 and 29 for 10 years until 2011. the part-time teatro lease without understanding that teatro could relocate to other port property if conditions were met. one is a acceptable development propose.

in may of 2015, the board of supervisors waved the competitive bidding requirement for to negotiate a lease for the site. after many design interrations and intensive community outreach, they came out with a current proposal before you. the elements of the development is as shown on this slide here. the key components of the hotel, the dinner theater component and the public park. this proposed the approval of the lease and the street vacation to move the development forward. with the community outreach and vetting of the project of urban design, the developer has received the approval on this

slide. the most recent is the recommendation of the budget and finance committee of the board. listed on this slide is the benefit of the project. on this slide number five, the proposed legislation and vacation required to help moving it forward. the proposed certification will facilitate this development contemplated by the port waterfront land use plan. why providing much needed open space within the waterfront district. the next couple of slides i will just quickly go over the site and the current site and highway

currently exists and passing and and the two that need to be vacated. as you can see on this slide here, it's currently being used as a packing. you could see the as well as davis street that is all currently being used for packing. this site is located at the corner of broadway and embarcadero and that is daily street on the top and va lair owe street and david street is not connected with the embarcadero. on this slide here is and you can see as indicated, a portion of davis street on va lair owe street and including the dimension of the areas to be vacated. the next slide is showing anna

sem bell site and after the to provide more continuous site requirement and the next steps as we anticipate the full board hearing as you've indicated on january 14th and and address your comments or questions. >> are there any members of the public who would like to testify on this item?

closed public comment. any questions from committee members? i've been advised by council given the impending public hearing that item must be sent without recommendation so we will send item 5 as amended to the full board with recommendations and item 6 to the full board without recommendation. that will be the order and we are adjourned. >> item number 5 as a committee report. >> i'm sorry. >> we are not adjourned. we will send item number 5 with recommendation as a committee report to be heard tomorrow item number 6 of course will be heard on february 11th at 3:00 p.m. that will be the order and we are now adjourned.

volunteers. >> my name is mark a proud grand date i didn't all over san francisco residents are adopt rains to keep our sewer system healthy i'm adopted a grain draining i thought of a simple illusion to a big problem it will help out the neighborhood and be responsible for the places we live i want or apparent to the web site and >> first of all, happy new year. it's definitely it is definitely a happy new year indeed for so

many people who rely on access to safe, affordable housing in san francisco. it is our number one priority. when we look at the challenges that we face with homelessness and we are wondering why aren't we able to do more, it is because we need to make sure that we have housing, we have opportunities to do more. it is why i'm committed to opening up 1,000 new shelter beds to get people off the streets. it is why i'm committed to master leasing so many buildings that might be available like the abigail hotel where we are standing in, where we have access to 62 new units that will help people who are formerly homeless get a great and safe and affordable place to call home without the social services , so it's not as expensive as someone who might need a lot more support and wraparound services.

this is what some of us call in this world step up housing because sadly we know there are people who will -- the goal is to understand what the challenges are. do they need assistance with mental health? do they need assistance with their addiction? do they need assistance just to get a job and get back on their feet? often times, if we are able to transition them out of the shelter, it's usually into supportive housing where there is a network of people who are there to provide wraparound supportive services to get them back on their feet. and the great thing about the bristol in places like the abigail which we are here in today, is those people have benefited from incredible programs and are ready to move on with their lives and are not

in need of the social services that they want or are in need of that is great. we have to make sure they have opportunities to move to the next level. that is what today is all about. and really focusing on providing opportunities for people to step up and be in attendance and to be able to take care of themselves is important. we know affordability is challenging. it takes a village to make opportunities like this possible thankfully here in san francisco we are making investments in acquiring as many units as we possibly can to provide these opportunities. it does take partners like tipping point and daniel is here today who has been an incredible partner in raising the money and investing it and providing opportunities for people to get help. today is an opportunity to do just that. let me just say that it's not just about the abigail where we

have 62 units. we are going to be opening another place of 89 units at coast street which will be managed by the episcopal community services. one of our leading housing providers. and there are people there who are sadly in our shelters and will be able to transition to those units. that will make room for more people. i think that is what is great about the system that we are setting up and all the amazing partners that continue to work with us to provide these incredible opportunities, and importantly, the building owners deepak patel and sam patel, thank you so much for supporting and working with us here in the city to allow us to work with you to get access to these buildings and thank you to all the service providers and the tenderloin housing clinic. i know randy shaw couldn't make

it here today, but he is a firm believer in step up housing and he has been fighting hard for a long time to make this a reality for people. so when people talk about san francisco and the fact that, you know, there's homelessness, there's challenges of homelessness, we know that. it is not unique to san francisco. it is happening all over the state of california. the fact is, we had not done enough to build housing so that we have what we need to get people housed. we just haven't. so here in the city we are lucky because people care about making sure people are housed. the 600 million-dollar affordable housing bond passed by voters will be a great opportunity to invest in building more affordable housing , but we can't build it fast enough. so having access to the abigail, having access to the post street -- post street site and the bristol where there is another

step up housing, those are so important to getting people housed now. so i just want to thank everyone who is here today and all of your work that sometimes escapes under the radar and people are not completely familiar with everything that goes into making an opportunity like this possible. it is appreciated, it's going to make a difference for 89 people at post street and 62 people right here at the abigail. it's going to make a difference for so many people and i'm so grateful we have this opportunity to do just that today. how the person who has helped in our efforts to move the needle on homelessness, who probably every time i call him, and i tell him about somebody, he not only knows the name of that person, with the whole story about their medical history and family, and when they came here and everything else, believe it

or not, it's a tough job to manage our homeless department in san francisco, but jeff kaczynski does it because he cares and because he knows that last year when we helped 2,000 people exit homelessness, that's 2,146 people that are not sleeping on our streets tonight and that matters. ladies and gentlemen, the director of the office of homelessness here in san francisco, jeff kaczynski. [applause] >> thank you, mare breed, for those kind words and thank you for your leadership to expand critical resources that we desperately need to help people living in crisis on our streets. she understands that shelters are only part of the solution. we have to create housing opportunities are all types of low income households, especially for people who are

experiencing homelessness. every single night, the city houses nearly 10,000 formerly homeless people and every week we help 50 people of -- permanently exit homelessness. however, for every person we help exit homelessness, there's three newly homeless people coming behind them. obviously we have a lot more work to do. housing is a big part of the solution to homelessness. and thank you to mayor breed's focus on leadership on this issue, we have 1700 units of housing and housing subsidies in the pipeline in addition to those that we are celebrating here today. there's a lot more of these openings to come. it's also really important to remember that behind all of these numbers are people. each person with lived experience, each person who has struggled with homelessness has a unique story. however, the one thing they all have in common is resilience and courage and taking the steps to move beyond homelessness. it's hard work and it's a challenge and it is a great

honor for myself and for my colleagues to play a part, a small part really, in helping people overcome homelessness by bringing buildings like the abigail and the post online. doing this work, i don't want to diminish how hard it is, because it is tremendously difficult, it takes a lot of people, a lot of leadership, a lot of hard work, a lot of funding, so in addition to the mayor, i want to thank other people that she already mentioned, but i want to thank them as well. of course, i want to thank daniel from tipping point. tipping point community is contributing $3 million towards opening the next 300 units of housing including these two sights. we're very grateful for the support that they have given, and also want to thank not only deepak and sam patel, the owners of the post on the abigail. there is more than 3,000 privately owned units that were masterly -- we are master leasing throughout the city. they're responsible for nearly

half of the permanent supportive housing in the city and they are unsung heroes and very important partners. i want to thank them and their colleagues and all of the owners of the board for the 3,000 units that the city is master leasing. and i want to acknowledge all the amazing staff who have worked on this issue, all of my colleagues at the department of homelessness and supportive housing, my colleagues at the mayor's office, the city attorney's office, the mayor's office of community development, the real estate department, all of these staff work tiredly -- tirelessly on these projects. before i took this job, i spent most of my career running affordable and supportive housing in texas and in california and i know how hard it is to operate buildings like this and to do the work and turn housing unit into a home for somebody who was experiencing homelessness. these sites operate 24/7 and the nonprofit organizations that run them do an amazing job of

helping the people who are struggling to exit homelessness or to move on from permanent supportive housing to be successful and to become their best selves. i especially want to acknowledge and thank beth stokes from the episcopal community services and everybody who is here. tabitha and randy who couldn't be here from tenderloin housing clinic. they do an incredible amount of work making these projects happen and we are grateful to them and to everybody else who is part of this. thank you for being here today. >> thank you, jeff. again, as i said, we can't do it alone. we are fortunate to have an incredible partner in tipping point, and tipping point provided $3 million to help make this possible, which moves this project along sooner rather than later and to speak on behalf of to think -- tipping point is daniel. >> thank you. thank you to everyone who is

making this work possible. we started tipping .15 years ago with a promise to invest in the best solutions that prevent poverty, including housing, early childhood education, and employment. the silver lining to the homelessness crisis that we outlined is we know that -- what it takes to get people housed. that is permanent, supportive housing and it works. over 85% of people who enter permanent supportive housing never experience homelessness again. the opening of the post and the abigail exemplifies the role that philanthropy can play in supporting effective solutions in partnership with the mayor and the city department. tipping point is providing $3 million in flexible dollars for a wide range of needs from apartment repairs to new furniture. these are funds that service

providers can use to do whatever it takes to get units online fast. mayor breed, thank you for your leadership and your commitment to this issue. i want also think the tenderloin neighborhood development association for your tireless work on behalf of our most vulnerable neighbors. i want to thank everyone who is saying yes to solutions. we can do this, but it will take all of. thank you very much. >> thank you, daniel. randy shaw has been a serious advocate for step up housing and i'm really excited that we are partnering on the abigail to make this possible. we also partnered on the bristol , and so these are two incredible properties for step up housing. here to represent tenderloin housing clinic, since randy couldn't be here is tabitha.

>> randy sends his regrets. he really wanted to be here today. this is a really special project to him, a special building to him. he counts stories of the history of this building and him as an organizer in 1980 when he organized residents in this building to prevent the then owners from starting a bed-and-breakfast in this building and they were successful in doing that. he has very fond memories of that project and his work with this building. we are really excited to partner with h.s.h. and the city to open some additional step up housing. this is a really beautiful building. sixty-two units, all bathrooms. we will have a nice community kitchen and laundry room and community room for the residents here. i also want to thank deepak, the owner, for this partnership and h.s.h. and the mayor for providing this opportunity for the residents that will get to

move into this building. and then i also internally really want to thank our director of facilities who has spent countless hours on lots of time already on her work making sure that this building is a success in making sure that this building is going to be a wonderful building for the residents that move in. thank you. >> it is also really great to open up places like this because they provide opportunities, and almost every time we do it, episcopal community services, they are always at the forefront of not only helping with properties like this, but some of our shelters and navigation centers, and so we are grateful for their partnership and their work. here to represent the organization is beth. >> thank you, mayor breed. i got an e-mail last week during the holiday week to see if i was available to participate in an announcement of 150 new homes.

i was delighted. i was super excited to start the year off in 2020 with the announcement of new homes for our unhoused community members in san francisco. it is a great way to start the year. i'm so happy to be here for this announcement. i want to thank everybody who invited us to be part of the celebration and for the opening of the abigail and the post. it's truly a celebration of homes. i want to stress that. i want to thank the mayor for her continued leadership and unwavering commitment toward proven solutions towards ending homelessness in san francisco. it really takes vision and it takes a community. thank you. housing ends homelessness, right we know this. yet supportive housing is a proven intervention for the most vulnerable, chronically unhoused in our community. providing needed housing and

stability for folks to address they're overall health and wellness. quite simply, supportive housing is healthcare. i say that all the time. it effectively reduces emergency room visits, we know this, inpatient hospitalizations for our highest need neighbors who are living in homelessness today supportive housing works, as daniel said. again, we really believe this and we know it's proven. power board and our staff that are here thank you for being here and we are are super excited to partner with mayor breed and h.s.h. and sam patel. thank you. eighty-nine solutions to ending chronic homelessness in san francisco. thank you so very much. >> thank you. today we have a resident of the bristol, mitch, who wants to talk about his experience and why this is so important.

>> good afternoon. i'm a tenant at the bristol hotel and i would like to emphasize that supportive housing does work. i was in supportive housing for seven years and i got the opportunity to move to a newly remodelled bristol hotel. i love it. it's a home for me. i don't expect to leave anytime soon. i'm very happy with the whole process. and anybody who gets step up housing like the abigail is very lucky. thank you. >> thank you. thank you, everyone else for being here today and all the folks who helped to make this possible. again, the solution, as beth said to ending homelessness, is housing. it takes opportunities like this , it takes building faster, and thinking about ways that we can get more creative to get more access to opportunities so we can get people off the streets and we can keep people who are vulnerable housed in the first place. that is our goal.

that is the opportunity we are providing today, and i want to thank each and every one of you for being here. thank you so much. [applause] >> the bicycle coalition was giving away 33 bicycles so i applied. i was happy to receive one of them. >> the community bike build program is the san francisco coalition's way of spreading the joy of biking and freedom of biking to residents who may not

have access to affordable transportation. the city has an ordinance that we worked with them on back in 2014 that requires city agency goes to give organizations like the san francisco bicycle organization a chance to take bicycles abandoned and put them to good use or find new homes for them. the partnerships with organizations generally with organizations that are working with low income individuals or families or people who are transportation dependent. we ask them to identify individuals who would greatly benefit from a bicycle. we make a list of people and their heights to match them to a bicycle that would suit their lifestyle and age and height. >> bicycle i received has impacted my life so greatly. it is not only a form of recreation. it is also a means of getting

connected with the community through bike rides and it is also just a feeling of freedom. i really appreciate it. i am very thankful. >> we teach a class. they have to attend a one hour class. things like how to change lanes, how to make a left turn, right turn, how to ride around cars. after that class, then we would give everyone a test chance -- chance to test ride. >> we are giving them as a way to get around the city. >> just the joy of like seeing people test drive the bicycles in the small area, there is no real word. i guess enjoyable is a word i could use. that doesn't describe the kind

of warm feelings you feel in your heart giving someone that sense of freedom and maybe they haven't ridden a bike in years. these folks are older than the normal crowd of people we give bicycles away to. take my picture on my bike. that was a great experience. there were smiles all around. the recipients, myself, supervisor, everyone was happy to be a part of this joyous occasion. at the end we normally do a group ride to see people ride off with these huge smiles on their faces is a great experience. >> if someone is interested in volunteering, we have a special section on the website sf bike.org/volunteer you can sign up for both events. we have given away 855 bicycles,

376 last year. we are growing each and every year. i hope to top that 376 this year. we frequently do events in bayview. the spaces are for people to come and work on their own bikes or learn skills and give them access to something that they may not have had access to. >> for me this is a fun way to get outside and be active. most of the time the kids will be in the house. this is a fun way to do something. >> you get fresh air and you don't just stay in the house all day. iit is a good way to exercise. >> the bicycle coalition has a bicycle program for every community in san francisco. it is connecting the young, older community. it is a wonderful outlet for the

community to come together to have some good clean fun. it has opened to many doors to the young people that will usually might not have a bicycle. i have seen them and they are thankful and i am thankful for this program.

>> drinclear [roll call] item 3, sound producing devices. the ringing of a use of cellphones, pagers and other similar sound producing are remove. the chair may order the removal of the meeting of any person responsible. for the ringing of of use of a cell phone, pager or sound-producing element. the irony. >> item for approval of the minutes from the january 7th regular meeting. >> daytona 500 a motion on the january 7th, regular meeting minutes? >> motion to approve. >> second.

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