tv Special Building Inspection Commission SFGTV February 13, 2020 8:00pm-9:31pm PST
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>> good afternoon. today is thursday, february 13, 2020. this is a special meeting of the building inspection commission. i would like to remind everyone to please turnoff all electronic devices. the first item on the agenda is roll call. [roll call] >> we have a quorum. our next item is item 2, discussion and possible action on the department of building inspection for fiscal years
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january, and we went over the budget. throughout the entire budget process, there will be some revisions, so what i'd like to do is go over the changes from last meeting to today. so first, we'll start with revenues. so you'll see three -- four revenues, but actually, i am going to count the first three. based on our prior actuals and what we anticipate next year, we're proposing to actually increase that from the budget from $27 million, to $28.4 million. and then, you'll see a really
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big increase in interest. last fiscal year, we collected about 3.6 million. we're anticipating collecting $3 million again in interest, so that's why we bumped it up to over $2.5 million. let me just let you know, although we are increasing -- because although it seems counter intuitive that we're reducing fees, and we're not collecting fees, and we're slowing down. back in 2015, we had a fee study. we worked with the controller's office, and we had a major reduction in our fees. and based on what we thought that reduction would be, and also, a slowing of the economy, we have been budgeting since 2015. so although -- if you go to the next slide of our major revenues, although we're proposing for residents for plan review, which is actually the blue line to go down to
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20 -- 28.5 million. once again, we're increasing above budget, but we're still budgeting below what our actuals have actually been. and the -- the caveat and the disclaimer is this is based on what we know today, similar to what the rest of the city will do, there's a nine-month report that comes out in march, where we have nine full months of data, and if we have to make revisions, we can make revisions on that, too. so if we see a trend going down, we can do that based on that, but that's what we see going on based on today. any questions on the revenues? and then from doing this, by increasing the number of revenues that we anticipate, the fund balance that we need to balance the budget has gone
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down by about $2 million, so it's about $15 million now. so on the expenditures details, the revisions are, we have an atrition rate where we have been keeping some positions vacant. we're proposing to increase -- to reduce that atrition to allow for another additional ten positions or so, which that's to keep ahead with dealing with the mayor's directive on housing, and we have some code enforcement things that are going on. we also have to do some things in technology, and then, we also have to strengthen our communications and kind of lengt legislative team, too, so that's primarily the changes from last time, that we reduced that atrition to allow us to hire a few more positions. we already have new hires, but we'd like to hire those plus some vacant ones. and then, the next slide is
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basically the division budget. so i gave you the summary, and you had this the last time, so now, instead of us being at originally -- we're at $86.9 million now, and this is how it just breaks out by division. so in addition to that, there were some questions on the budget at the last meeting, and so i went -- i wanted to go back and give you some updated information. i know commissioner mccarthy had some questions about city attorney revenues. i did follow up with city attorney keith, and he confirmed he's not expecting any major cases next year, so he thinks that keeping that budget could be fine. if anything changes, we could also change that later. there was also a question about housing permit tech staff, and we went back and looked at that. currently, it's budgeted for eight teches and one supervisor, so eight administrative support staff,
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however, there were two vacancies due to people leaving. over the last two weeks, housing inspection services as well as inspection services and permit services held interviews, so conditional offers have been made to three people and they should be starting if they pass backgrounds and everything else -- hopefully, we'll have those three positions filled and -- sometime in march. there was also a question about c.b.o.s and colas, and so i did follow up on that. and so anything at this time, we haven't had any instructions, but any with information about citywide -- so whenever it's at a citywide level, that'll be handed off when we hand our budget off to the mayor's office. and then, finally, this is something -- separate from the budget, but i know that one commissioner had asked a little bit about permit fees, so --
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especially for 100% affordable projects. so basically, because we have 100% of affordable projects that are in the system, but most of them -- i won't say new, but they're big projects, but they haven't gone to the full completion, so it's hard to get an actual accurate of what the filing fees will be. most of them are in issuance, and even after post issuance, there may be issuance fee. i had staff run a sample of projects that are in the pipeline and get a sample of what the fees are. so these are --
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[inaudible] >> okay. so i'll just talk about it. but again? okay. so this is a draft. all my notes -- so the notes. it includes d.b.i., fire, planning, d.p.w. and p.u.c. when you come to d.b.i. and you pay a filing permit, it includes everything. so we broke it up into two different categories. for new construction, $12 million to $16 million. then we did alterations, and the reason we broke it up that way is building permits are based on valuations. all the projects that are in the system, they could be
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filing, issuance -- not many. of all the fees that are -- all of the projects in the system, the fees that are currently in the p.t.s., we just m.i.s. disported by these evaluation ranges, and some of them have been computed there. they may not have been paid yet. like, this doesn't include any post issuance fees, this is based on the current valuation, so when we see that the current valuation is $15 million, but once it gets to permitting, that may change the fees. so that's why i'm saying that's an average of the 40 or so projects that we have in various stages. and with that, i'm open to answer any questions if there
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are anything else -- if there's anything else about the budget. >> commissioner? >> thank you for your presentation and thank you for following up on our questions. i appreciate that. >> you're welcome. >> so could you confirm, on the budget, there's seven current t.e.'s and -- >> eight. >> in housing? >> in housing, in the inspection services. >> and how many are there now? >> those are the three vaca vacancies, and i just mentioned that they're going to be making offers to them. and there may be one other person on leave, but that's not really a vacancy. >> okay. we have two right now, and
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then. >> so you need to speak into the mic, please. >> oh, sorry. it should be chief housing inspector -- oh, so there's one. so there's an additional one, is that what you're saying? >> you need to speak into the mic, deputy director. >> currently, we have two permit teches plus one supervisor. we used to have eight permit techs plus a supervisor. we're hiring three. we're very appreciative of those. so that would be five, one on leave, so that would be six. >> okay. my question is i don't see -- when we went back to look at that's what's available, i think it's seven and one or six and one. i'll go back to see, but i
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thought that filling the three would be fully staffed. and of course, with the one person out that would come ba,too, so i'd have to go back and look at that. >> commissioner moss and then -- >> perhaps i -- perhaps this isn't the right venue for it, but if we were building more housing now than we ever have in the history of san francisco, how come we lost the two plan check -- or two tech positions? is there a reason? >> first of all, i haven't been able to go back and see that. if someone would show me, it's been a director of staff -- a picture or phone book, but i haven't gone back to see the actual f.t.e. that was available back in 1999 or something like that. i have not seen that. but as i said in general, the reason why it's like that is
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because in 2008, '09 -- so you won't see this in just the housing commission, but when the economy started doing better, in 15-16, we started hiring our staff back to where it used to be or back to where we needed to do those things. so i would not be surprised if there was something different than before, but i have not seen anything that shows that there are eight people or ten people. i would have to go back and look at that at the annual salary ordinance. >> okay. >> i'm sorry. i think i may be a little confused, but going back to the original clarity, there are two positions that are filled, and three potentially being hired in march, plus one person on
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leave, plus a supervisor? >> seven, yes. >> so what is the actual number needed or what has been previously done where we have been at full capacity? >> i would believe since the number since i've been there has been that number, the six and the one -- or the seven. i'm not aware, since i've been there in 2015, of there being, like, an additional eight people there. i'm not aware of that. >> so commissioner -- >> i'm sorry. >> no, deputy director, finish your task, please. >> but i know what did occur is that chief housing inspector did give us a report on some things that were slipping because of the vacancies that he -- so for instance, i think one person worked on something in particular, and i think that person hadn't been there in a
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while. well, that's one cht three that's going to be filled, and i think that there were three that left in january, and those were the three that were going to be filled. so i spoke with -- well, i didn't speak directly, but when i spoke to the supervisor, i thought the request and from the deputy director of permit services, the request was that we fill those three. so originally, i think there were going to be two that were going to be filled at that interview, and then, another requisition submitted to fill those three, so that was the last that i've heard of that. >> commissioner, go ahead. >> yeah. i'm actually curious to know what is the work that was slipping not having the eight that we've had before. is it possible to get that summary? >> sure. i think the chief housing inspector can give that to you. but it wasn't presented to us
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as if we didn't have eight, i thought it slipped because one in particular, someone didn't pick up on with someone who had left before. and also, i'm going to say this with a caveat. some of this is a little uncomfortable for me because some of this h.r. stuff -- at a high level, it's fine, but i have to make sure we're sticking at a very high level, so that was my understanding. the report that you submitted talked about in particular one person that had left, and that person had gone, and so you weren't able to do that work, and so that's why the position wasn't filled when your supervisor sat on the committee -- on the interview committee. and then, the other two were the two more recent people, so that was my understanding. so i'm not sure what -- the request is there that one person is looking or with the seven people -- i don't know what the actual ask is now.
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is that a question i should ask someone -- or is that something we do afterwards? i'm not sure. >> yeah, i think we do. i think the general -- correct me if i am wrong. i'm not -- but i think the general belief is, we understand there was three positions to be filled, right? >> mm-hmm. >> duly noted, it's probably only seven. we're still not making -- as we add up the numbers, we we're a six, so where's the other two, correct? >> mm-hmm. >> so if you don't have this, that's fine. we can do this off -- i'll be honest with you, deputy director, because it's personnel, we could get this another way maybe through the sector someone so we have an understanding. but i guess he just wants to make sure the level of service is there considering we're doing so much housing.
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>> i just want to figure out, is the request that there should be seven? >> i'm okay with whatever it was before. >> okay. >> what i'm worried about is we're not going bafrds. >> oka >> -- backwards. >> yeah. >> i just want to make sure that we're serving the public. >> all right. i can do that. >> okay, deputy. okay. are there any other questions? >> i'm saying we should actually have a conversation and figure out what he needs at a different time. >> yeah, absolutely. yeah, absolutely. so deputy director, is there anymore questions for her? are you finished with your presentation? >> yeah. >> okay. >> so the only thing is we will submit our budget on february 21 to the mayor and budget office. our budget will actually be submitted with some of the other two-year enterprise departments, so that means
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we're going a little bit earlier, and as i said, we'll have other revisions because we haven't looked at a lot of the work orders. a lot of that gets done as budgets are being submitted. as we get updates on the budget, what i'll do is when we have our monthly meetings, i'll come in and keep you apprised of okay, maybe there's an increase here or maybe we were adoing this or something. but for now, we'll need this to submit to the mayor's office. >> thank you. once again, i know this is a busy time of the year, and thank you for a look. thank you, and i know you represent us great. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> public comment on item 2.
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and this is the budget. >> yeah. >> okay. >> we are here for the budget. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i work for general housing clinic, and i oversee the committee oversight commission of the general housing clinic, and i'm here just today to rei reiterate just all the clerical positions that affect our work. we ourselves call in for help from the clerks, and so we're just here to support the rest of the budget for eight people total. thanks. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is deanna suarez. i think one of the things, aside from advocating for the
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procurement of clerks, we all have to remember, as sam moss pointed out, the quality of service depends on the quantity of work that people have to do on a daily basis, and just because you're at fully staffed capacity doesn't mean you're at capacity. the clerk are the first stop of complaints, they're also a key to the follow up and the director's hearing. our job is to make sure that folks are finding remedies and finding solutions through the department. and without properly staffing up or even thinking through what kind of staffing our departments really need, yeah, i think running programs, the f.t.s, kind of like what is the job planned for them and all that matters, but i think it's appropriate to here when tenant advocates on the ground are asking to resolve backlogs or to ex-ped yat the process, that you hear the fact that we need
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more clerks. thank you. >> thank you for that. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name's aleen mejia. i am a community organizer for the code enforcement outreach program? a little bit about what we do. we help a lot of tenants who have severe reliability issues, and as you know, a lot of times, landlords aren't particularly responsive to us, so it does help having the housing department. it does help speedy up the process, so we are for having more housing clerks for the d.b.i. thank you. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is sayery, and i'm the director of housing rights committee. i'm here about two issues
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today. the first one is i also want to support being really staffed up on clerks. it gums up the whole system if there's not enough positions, and it's really important to the enforcement. it's one thing for an inspector to come out, but we need to do all the step s in that process. the second thing i want to talk to you about is the code enforcement outreach projects. we do outreach to various communities, whether that has to do with special language skills, with cultural competency, our inspectors are amazing, but there are real reasons why some of our communities don't trust the city offices or just don't even know how to access it. so we go knock on doors and talk to people, and we do it all over the city in lots of neighborhoods in very, very
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high risk communities. when we see people's feelings collapsing in on them all the time because of their housing situation. and i just want to advocate that we get a real cost of doing business increase this year. we would like to ask for 5% cost of doing business increase. most of our staff could qualify for affordable housing in san francisco. it's really expensive to live in the city, and we would also like you to, on sort of a bigger level, to look at the wages this year to really, like, get -- the increases have been so small compared to our cost and -- over the last ten years. and our code enforcement specialists have really specialized training. it's hard to recruit and it's even harder to train at these
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wages. so i wanted to thank you for that and thank you very much for listening to us today. >> thank you for coming. >> hello. my name is denny johnson. i work for housing rights committee also. i'm a public housing advocate. i work with low-income tenants living in public housing who are experiencing living in unsanitary and deplorable conditions, so i go in and mediate between property managers and landlords and advocate for repairs and healthy environments for tenants. i also live in this community, and doing this job and being able to have ceot behind me, and it's also allowed me to sustain living in san
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francisco. it would be important to us to have this organization behind us, and further assist committees that have been left with a sense of hopelessness. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. my name is daisy pang wifang w housing rights commission. we serve communities out in the west side, and the ciop. ciop has allowed us to do the work that we do and meet the cultural competence that we do outside in the san francisco area. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hi. good afternoon. my name is leticia absen. i'm a lead housing coordinator with part of the housing
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outreach program and provide counseling to tenants around their rights. we also echo the request of the 5% cola increase. there is a shortage of housing clerks in the department, as you heard, and they are a crucial community resource. they help tenants file complaints, actually, answer the phones and talk with folks and answer questions, and they're instrumental in moving forward the complaints when landlords are not in compliance. there are many repair cases that we support that don't require tenants to file complaints with d.b.i., but more recently, we have been having to file those complaints, and the community needs the department to be fully staffed to support with these code violations and make sure that we're all living in
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safe and dig any -- dignified housing. thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm going to interpret for alicea. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is araceli. i'm a tenant rights counselor and organizer with casa husta for several years. i am here in support of the request of an increase in budget to the department of building inspection. because this would support better service to our
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community. they need to be listened to with their requested repairs sometimes. okay. so when they last documentation or need more support from d.b.i., from the department, the landlords don't do the repairs that they need to do. this leads to tenants almost being self-evicted or forced out because of the lack of these repairs.
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thank you. >> thank you. hi. good afternoon, commissioners. i'm diana alonzo, with the community housing program, and we also support the budget to support eight housing clerks and a supervisor. maybe there were eight in 1999, but it's 2020, and our people need it. miss rock works with some of the most vulnerable populations, tenants that live in s.r.o.s, and consistently, we have violations in the hotels that we need cited by d.b.i. tenants call in the complaints themselves to the line, so we need clerks to handle the process, whether it's the penalty process, making the complaint. we've had a lot of cases where, you know, there's no traction
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in the case, and there's a lot of work that happens behind the scenes by the clerk to make sure that it gets to a hearing. the tenants depend on those cases moving along with the work that the clerks are putting in to make sure that the work gets done. s.r.o.s are only eight by eight or ten by ten, and when there's no heat or only one burner working on the stove, that's when they need us to fight for them to get the repairs done. tenants are using the line. they're making a complaint, and we definitely need -- we need more clerks. thank you. >> thank you. if i see no more public comment, we'll close public comment. commissioners? >> yeah. >> commissioner moss? >> i know -- i don't want to
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mess with h.r. stuff and all, but i want to echo public comment that we need to make sure we have all the level of public staff. i see the current staff, how hard they're working, and it's very much appreciated, but i think we can do better if we so choose. thank you. >> commissioner? >> just listening to everybody that spoke out first, i really hear the passion and commitment for what you do on the ground level. and so i just want to commend all of you for that, for coming up here, you know, and for doing that. >> commissioner? >> i want to thank you for getting up here and speaking to truth for what you do. i think now the question that's kind of posed in my mind, you know, what is the right number?
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is it eight? is it not? and how do we get to that? if it's not, and we're underserved, we are wasting our time trying to get to eight. i don't know what the right number is, and i don't know how we look into that to do the right thing. >> before -- if you're going to make a motion, i echo, and i thank everybody for coming out here. i've seen ciot evolve, and as commissioners, we've talked about how difficult it is to get people, and you do good work, as i say. you have to be, as you're doing, more proactive and speaking for what you need to keep doing the service that you do. the big thing as a commission is we've got to make that nexus. what's the data? why do you need eight?
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you have to help us with that. you've got to be kind of more precise and why you're asking for that. obviously, a wage increase is something that most departments see all the time. is it 5%? is it 6%? what's the going rate, and particularly with the staff, we need to know, are we being underserved? i think the chief building inspector should -- housing, sorry, should maybe come back to us, and we can talk about it, where we can kind of try to have an understanding of what the service level that's needed. but to that, commissioner, then, please, go ahead. >> so point of information -- did i do this right? city attorney, do we follow rules where i make a motion and then speak or can i speak and then make a motion?
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through the chair? >> i think what's unusual is this was not on the calendar, so i don't know that we can make a motion. >> i'm not sure what the motion would be. if you're making a motion to recommend and approve the budget, that would be on -- on -- >> it would be an amendment to the budget. >> oh. >> maybe you state the proposed amendment before we -- >> so my proposed amendment would be to increase the f.t.e.s in the housing permit technicians to eight plus a supervisor. it doesn't mean we fill them, it doesn't mean that we fill them immediately, it's just the possibilities -- the line item. >> that would go into the
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fiscal regulations, which i would not be -- deputy city attorney rob kabla. i would have to bring miss johnson up to see if that's possible from a physical perspective. the budget is a lot of things beyond the housing inspection services. we approve or consider the budget as is, and then entertain another discussion about the specific item as a future item. >> yeah, that's how i would see it. >> mm-hmm. mm-hmm. mm-hmm. >> yeah, i don't -- deputy, please, just once again, we're in territory that we want to make sure that we get right. >> so i'm not sure about what can or cannot be added. if there's a request that we increase the number of f.t.e.
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by one or is it, i guess, two now, is that -- i don't think it's up to the -- the deputy director of finance to say whether -- i don't know. i don't know what the rules are when you can and cannot amend this, but if that's something that's going to be given us to by the b.i.c., i would go in and make the change. >> deputy city attorney rob kapla. i am aware of but not familiar with the requirements about adding f.t.e.s and some of the limitations that we had. >> exactly. >> so i would want to make sure we're in compliance before i get the proper motion. >> so i didn't understand what you are saying before. so there have been instructions from the mayor's office that we're not to increase our f.t.e.s, so that's what you're
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referring to. >> yes. >> okay. i thought you were referring to something else after the second reading or something like that. >> i'm not entire leisure whly the restrictions would be based on the mayor's office request. i'm not sure if this is something we would want to consider as a full item. >> so may i make a request? could we -- could i get time to kind of follow up to see on what this means based on the budget instructions and that, and then, we can follow up on that later and still -- because as i've said before, although you're approving the budget, the budget will change multiple times because we're getting it to the mayor's office -- this isn't the final, but very to have it approved by -- from the
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b.i.c., and i can follow up by finding out the increase and how that's done. >> we can propose that as an amendment or change to the budget down the line. but the budget as proposed and as heard twice should be considered now, and -- as it's currently formulated. >> agreed. >> and just could i add something there. and then once again, no matter what the instructions are, if there are instructions about possible this can happen, and someone asked before -- i think you made a good point, there would need to be some justification or something that would show that, too, at the end of the day, too, all right? thank you. >> commissioner, did you -- >> so just a point of clarification. this is my first rodeo, so i'm getting to know all of the things that we do. but after we approve this, we
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can make a motion to change the budget, and that would actually change it and we vote on it? i'm confused. >> deputy city attorney rob kabla. the budget process is complicated, but i believe the b.i.c. can recommend a change to the budget. but of course at the end, it is b.i. krichl b.i.c.s recommendation that goes to the mayor and supervisors for approval. so we can recommend changes to the budget going forward. >> and then, the secondary question was just the comment about the mayor's directive not to increase staff. is that a suggestion or is that a requirement to each department? >> because the mayor's office eventually will approve the budget, it's guidance how you formulate. so i think as deputy director mentioned, if we were to suggest an increase in f.t.e. and not a decrease in f.t.e.
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somewhere else in a department, we would need to provide a justification, which is another reason to present this at a later date to say this is possibly why we're increasing the f.t.e. count. >> yeah. >> being okay. i think we have a handle on it now. commissioner moss? >> okay. so we will need to make a motion -- >> no, you're okay. >> thank you. i just also wanted to thank the ciot folks for coming out. full disclosure, i worked in ciot about 15, 20 years ago. i know your work, and i'm grateful for all the work that you're doing. my understanding is the cost of doing business can be invoked in the current budget line, which is why i'm not going to calendar that as a budget item on itself, but i just wanted to say on the record that i agree with the 5% request, and that
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that can be -- and if that can be just noted, but i'm not going to be recommending an increase on this line item at this time for that reason. >> okay. thank you. madam secretary, we need to call the item. >> there needs to be a motion to approve the budget for fiscal years 20-21 and 21-22. >> move to approve. >> second. >> call the question. >> okay. so we have a motion and a second to approve the budget. i will do a roll call vote. [roll call] >> okay. the motion carries unanimously.
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okay. our next item is number 3, discussion and possible action regarding a proposed ordinance amending the building code to extend the time for existing buildings, a place of public accommodation to have all primary entrances or paths of travel comply with ordinances as well as other requirements. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is tom esclers. i'm a senior building inspector with d.b.i. the presentation would be to extend the deadlines to september 1, 2020. the e.a.b. program has a -- we're not getting quite the
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compliance that we had anticipated, and there are approximately 11,000 total properties that we're potentially -- need to meet this a.b.e. ordinance. we've received about 4600, so we still have an outstanding number of about 6500 properties. we don't want to go into a code enforcement status and send out, like, 6500 n.o.v.s. we have done a lot of outreach, and unfortunately, a lot of
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people got confused where different people said different deadlines, and everybody seemed to go to the final deadline that was last december 1. so we're just asking for more outreach and being able to process the applications that we get. >> okay. thank you, inspector kessler. is there any public comment? seeing no public comment, commissioners, any questions? >> i've got one. >> yes. >> mr. kessler, based on the extended timeline, when do you anticipate issuing n.o.v.s? >> the last compliance would be
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september 21, 2021, where we'd go into, you know, code enforcement, where we start writing n.o.v.s, okay? so we're trying to drive that number down. we don't want to go into code enforcement actions on this: the purpose of the ordinance was to let people know of their responsibilities under the americans with disability act and the california building code and to make san francisco more accessible. the ordinance wasn't coordinated to enforcement actions. >> commissioner, i have a question. >> yeah. >> so let's just say september comes around. they don't comply, and you start issuing n.o.v.s, so they start accruing penalties.
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are there remedies for these mom and pop small businesses that might have to go through some -- to comply? >> yeah. there are resources through the office of small business that have programs to help small business get grants for architects, helping pay for power door operators and some types of things. >> well, the thing is, too, there isn't a penalty in this ordinance, okay? so if we were to go into code enforcement, we would write a notice of violation saying you're not complying with the a.b.e. program. there's no fine associated with that. it would give them more time to respond to that. if they didn't respond to the n.o.v., then it would go to a
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final notice. then it would go to code enforcement. then we'd start tracking for our time. that's the only fee that they would incur. there would be a monthly monitoring fee until they came in for compliance. >> when they come in for compliance, it still takes a while to get it done and everything. they come in for compliance, but it still takes six months to get the work done. are we seeing them even though they haven't come in, or does the clock stop? >> you know, that's a good question. i generally don't work in code enforcement, so i'm not sure whether we would suspend fee -- again, we are looking for good faith, so there's a potential
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that we would -- you know, once we see it going, we would stop. >> you know, the system is set up where if you do go in, tom is there, and he would guide you through it. he was very helpful to me, and i turned out being compliant when i thought i wasn't. it's just a thought. director, i think if there's ever any help needed, i would definitely recommend that. but it is a good program. i think -- i think extending it out further, i think we're kind
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of demonstrating that look, we see the difficulty, particularly in the small businesses, and i think it will give us that little bit more time to get it done. so if there's no more public comment on it -- no, we killed public comment on it -- i did. this is not an action item -- it is. so i'll need a motion. >> i'll make a motion to extend. >> second. >> we have a motion to extend, commission commissioner? >> yeah. >> so we have a motion to approve and a second. we'll have a roll call vote. [roll call]
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>> and the motion carries unanimously. okay. our next item is going to be adjournment, but just f.y.i., we also -- oh, what? we did -- president mccarthy called for public comment on that item. >> i did, and closed. >> just to let everyone know, we are meeting next week for our regular meeting on february 19, and yes, at 9:00, you'll all be taking photos. all right. so item 4 is adjournment. is there a motion to adjourn? >> motion. [gavel]. >> and a second? >> second. >> okay. we are now adjourned. it is 1:57 p.m. >> thank you. >> thanks, everybody.
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[laughter] >> i build muscle. a lot of people don't know this, but we have a full team of architects that designed specific buildings and public safety. sometimes it is creating a brand-new building from the ground up. other times it is giving new life to one of our historic structures. [♪] >> i had to have some degree of artistic skill from a handcraft point of view to become an architect at that time. it is an incredible amount of loss, in my opinion, to not draw by hand. that skill of having to manipulate a pencil or a pen to make line wait and to make the drawing we've. i have seen this development of technology and this huge transformation in the world his that you do leave some things behind that have beauty to them. [♪]
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>> now a day, technologies a completely different. we're not using paper, we are not using paint pencils, but we are using computers to model our buildings to produce drawings, it is different craftsmanship. >> in addition to the beautiful drawings, the person who was taking care of our file for almost 30 years was the one who organized those drawings and listed all of them in big binders with all the name of the projects, and they were still using these which is amazing. >> 840. we are building an electronic archive of all the drawings for future use. the scanning project started back in march, 2018. we have scans about 36,000 sheets of paper and there's the remaining balance of 93,981.
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we can do about 100 sheets per day. hopefully by february 2020, it will be completed. >> we feel that our collection of historical drawings represents san francisco's a rich history. not only do we help make history , we also preserve it for the benefit of future generations. >> after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and i signed up for the below-market rate program. i got my certificate and started applying and won the housing lottery. [♪] >> the current lottery program began in 2016. but there have been lot rows
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that have happened for affordable housing in the city for much longer than that. it was -- there was no standard practice. for non-profit organizations that were providing affordable housing with low in the city, they all did their lotteries on their own. private developers that include in their buildings affordable units, those are the city we've been monitoring for some time since 1992. we did it with something like this. where people were given circus tickets. we game into 291st century in 2016 and started doing electronic lotteries. at the same time, we started electronic applications systems. called dalia. the lottery is completely free. you can apply two ways. you can submit a paper application, which you can
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download from the listing itself. if you a plo apply online, it wl take five minutes. you can make it easier creating an account. to get to dalia, you log on to housing.sfgov.org. >> i have lived in san francisco for almost 42 years. i was born here in the hayes valley. >> i applied for the san francisco affordable housing lottery three times. >> since 2016, we've had about 265 electronic lotteries and almost 2,000 people have got their home through the lottery system. if you go into the listing, you can actually just press lottery results and you put in your lottery number and it will tell you exactly how you ranked. >> for some people, signing up
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for it was going to be a challenge. there is a digital divide here and especially when you are trying to help low and very low income people. so we began providing digital assistance for folks to go in and get help. >> along with the income and the residency requirements, we also required someone who is trying to buy the home to be a first time home buyer and there's also an educational component that consists of an orientation that they need to attend, a first-time home buyer workshop and a one-on-one counseling session with the housing councilor. >> sometimes we have to go through 10 applicants before they shouldn't be discouraged if they have a low lottery number. they still might get a value for an available, affordable housing
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unit. >> we have a variety of lottery programs. the four that you will most often see are what we call c.o.p., the certificate of preference program, the dthp which is the displaced penance housing preference program. the neighborhood resident housing program and the live worth preference. >> i moved in my new home february 25th and 2019. the neighborhood preference program really helped me achieve that goal and that dream was with eventually wind up staying in san francisco. >> the next steps, after finding out how well you did in the lottery and especially if you ranked really well you will be contacted by the leasing agent. you have to submit those document and income and asset qualify and you have to pass the credit and rental screening and the background and when you
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qualify for the unit, you can chose the unit and hopefully sign that lease. all city sponsored affordable housing comes through the system and has an electronic lottery. every week there's a listing on dalia. something that people can apply for. >> it's a bit hard to predict how long it will take for someone to be able to move into a unit. let's say the lottery has happened. several factors go into that and mainly how many units are in the project, right. and how well you ranked and what preference bucket you were in. >> this particular building was brand new and really this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. in my mind, i was like how am i going to win this? i did and when you get that notice that you won, it's like at first, it's surreal and you don't believe it and it sinks
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in, yeah, it happened. >> some of our buildings are pretty spectacular. they have key less entry now. they have a court yard where they play movies during the weekends, they have another master kitchen and space where people can throw parties. >> mayor breed has a plan for over 10,000 new units between now and 2025. we will start construction on about 2,000 new units just in 2020. >> we also have a very big portfolio like over 25,000 units across the city. and life happens to people. people move. so we have a very large number of rerentals and resales of units every year. >> best thing about working for the affordable housing program is that we know that we're
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>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be. >> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality products and something that's very, very good. ♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that
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was begun by san francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪ >> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration. >> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big. so everything is kind of quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell,
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a fourth generation baker here with my family. ♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough. loaves. >> my mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and we've been over 100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪
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>> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint. people mostly recognize tommy's joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building.
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tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean. you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door.
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you'll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important. ♪ >> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings
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them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953. ♪ and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we make reflect the diversity of san francisco.
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we were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition. so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. >> we got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in. but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so
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many people. ♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco. people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. ♪
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>> the hon. london breed: all right, everyone. thank you so much for joining us here today. we are here with representatives from the department of emergency management, the department of public health, and our san francisco airport, and other city agencies to talk about the city's preparedness for the coronavirus and to let the public know that san francisco is ready to respond in order to ensure public safety. since the first outbreak in china, we have been monitoring the situation and taking appropriate steps in order to address the challenges, and i want to be clear that there have been no cases here in san francisco, and we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal agencies to track progress and provide multilingual information, as
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well. the emergency response center has been activated here at the department of emergency management. now i know there have been rumors of a flight coming here to san francisco with diplomates from china. i want you to know that we are not aware of any such flight, and if anything changes, we are prepared to take the necessary steps to address it, and we will make sure that we notify the public every step of the way. so at this time, we have a number of our department heads that are here to talk specifically about their role, what we are doing and what we will continue to do, and i want to thank you all for being here today to help us get the word out so that the public is aware of the facts and the situation here in san francisco. so with that, i want to start with the director of emergency management, mary ellen carroll.
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>> thank you, mayor breed, and thank you all for being here. the city has been working with our federal, state, and local partners for almost the last two weeks since the first initial outbreak in china. these partners include the c.d.c., the state office of emergency services, and s.f.o. today, you are all here. welcome to the emergency operations center for the city. we have activated the ops center, and -- basically to ensure our readiness to respond. we -- it's the role of the e.o.c. basically to provide situational awareness and to coordinate resources and information. we will be broadcasting in partnership with the department of public health public health information about how to prevent the spread of the virus and how to stay healthy during flu season. so with that, i'm going to
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introduce dr. tomas aragon from the department of public health. >> good afternoon. my name is tomas aragon, and i'm with the san francisco department of public health. we are working closely with the california department of public health and the centers for disease control and prevention to track this novel coronavirus which originated in wuhan, china. this situation is rapidly evolving and changing. it's important to recognize that there are no confirmed cases in san francisco at this time. we are actively preparing for the possibility of confirmed cases. we have activated our emergency response plan specifically for this type of scenario. this is what we do in public health. we have a lot of experience responding to outbreaks. we are in touch with our health care providers, our hospitals,
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our regional, state, and federal partners as we implement pret implement protocols on how to identify potential cases, how to isolate them, how to test them, and how to ensure they don't affect others. at this time, residents of the bay area are at low risk of becoming infected with this novel coronavirus. unless they have recently been to wuhan, china or unless they're in contact with somebody that's a confirmed case from that area. it's important to know that at this time of year, there's still important things we can do to protect our health. for example, making sure that we wash or hands, that we cover our coughs and sneezes, and that we stay home if we're sick. it's not too late to get the flu shot and prevent symptoms
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similar to the novel coronavirus. at this time, i'm going to turn it over to our colleague from the airport, mr. ivan sotero, from the san francisco international airport, who will give us an update on what's happening there. >> good afternoon. ivan satoro, san francisco international. although the flight from wuhan was cancelled, all departing flights from wuhan, there was a direct flight to s.f.o., and that was ceased last thursday. we still have a flight to s.f.o. for any lingering folks traveling to the u.s., to s.f.o., in the event they stopped in wuhan, and we are monitoring the state department
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flight out of wuhan, and our latest information is that flight will arrive to the u.s. v via anchorage, and it will land in ontario. we will have two checks. first for passengers boarding the plane and u.s. -- officials will do a second check upon landing, and then a third health check before taking off and landing in ontario, so we'll notify you of any changes as the flight makes its way to the u.s., and i understand it will be departing sometime tomorrow. thanks. >> the hon. london breed: all right. so that concludes the information that we have at this time. are we going to take a few
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questions? [inaudible] >> thank you. it's a very good question. we have decided, in consultation with our regional and state partners, in order to not confuse the public, that we would only be reporting confirmed cases. the state will be developing a summary at a state level that you can look at that will have more specificity, and the c.d.c. will also be doing that. [inaudible] [inaudible] >> currently, the risk for acquiring this infection in the
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united states is very low, and at this time, we're not recommending any special measures, including masks, so it's not necessary. >> the coronavirus is novel. can you go over the symptoms, how people will tell if they have the flu or coronavirus? >> it's novel, so that's why we can't confirm with just the symptoms. it's where people have been. so people that have arrived from wuhan, china. that specific information with their symptoms is how we determine who needs to be evaluated. [inaudible] >> -- where will people be quarantined if they do come up? >> so the san francisco airport is located in san mateo county, so the san francisco airport has arrangements with san mateo
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health department to evaluate patients. >> did you want to say where they're going to go? people are afraid. >> i'm not sure where they're going to go to. >> so even though the max is not recommende -- mask is not recommended, people are still concerned and not receiving information. can you confirm what type of mask to wear for the coronavirus, because some people feel they have to have a certain type. >> that's a very good question. the question was, is what type of mask, if somebody chooses to do the mask? at this point, we're not recommending that anybody wear any mask. what mask is used when they are recommended differs on the environment. so in the health care environment, they will be doing things a little bit differently. the challenge is that we don't
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know enough about the virus. we don't know enough about the virus. if we learn more, it will give us more guidance on the level of infection control that's required. >> with an incubation period of roughly 14 days, is there any action to check people who arrived in early flights, considering it takes 14 days for the infect to take hold. >> so when people land from china, they are given instructions in their native language so they know what steps to take next and get connected with their health care provider. >> so no plans from the emergency management system to contact them? >> if they get screened and
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