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tv   Mayors Press Availability  SFGTV  March 18, 2020 4:30pm-6:01pm PDT

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housing first model that dr. argon talked about resonates very much with me. i mean, right now it's health care and health care workers. and in housing. and in homelessness issues that i'm primarily focused on with incredible amounts of overlap between those. some of it we have already been moving on and i'm committed to making sure that we have no evictions during this time at all and that we're moving folks from homelessness into vacant units around the city. also working on a number of issues around small businesses that we have talked about, both in terms of eviction protection and in terms of the fund that supervisor ronen has been leading on. and i also am looking at and look forward to collaborating with folks on the broader issue of protecting folks, not just in
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evictions but protecting folks from being taken advantage of during this time, and very concerned around price gouging issues and consumer protection and things that we have only seen the beginnings of, and particularly if this is prolonged that we'll see more. and i think there's a lot to do on that front as well. and then just more broadly what we have been doing, and i look forward to comparing notes with folks on what's working and what's effective is on the outreach side. so we have been calling every senior facility in district 5, all places of worship in district 5. we're moving on now to cutting lists of seniors individually and having one-on-one calls with folks in the district. and i really do believe that the beauty of district representation is that we're able to do that. we have a relatively manageable group of people to reach out to.
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so we're doing that by phone and we're going to also be launching virtual office hours and some other ways that folks can participate and meet online. so as i said, i really would welcome hearing in the upcoming days what is working for folks and what are effective ways that when we're not able to meet face-to-face with our constituents in the same way that folks are able to meaningfully connect. thank you. >> supervisor fewer? >> so my office has been really been concentrating deeply on building a safety net around my constituents and my neighborhood. a couple years ago we launched one in richmond which has four basic concepts. one of them is we take care of each other. so we have a website that we already had all of the community-based organizations that have joined. so we have listings of them. and we have also about 3,000 of
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our constituents who have joined in the community and then we have also have had about over a hundred small businesses. but we have been having almost daily phone calls, conference calls, with all of the organizations like c.b.o.s which actually serve the senior population in my district. so we have been coordinating around meals, meal delivery, what everybody is doing and how they're augmenting their programs and we're plugging in support and giving out information. but we're the conduit to the one richmond website that we direct everyone to to help small businesses and communities and posts for volunteerism and the most up-to-date information about the vs the coronavirus ane things that are happening within the district to impact them. i feel that it is my main responsibility as an elected official that the people of my
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district are depending on me to be a leader and also in times of panic and in fear to know that they are not alone, that weigh are in this -- we are in this together and we will get through this but we have to work together to do it. so we're doing a campaign around how to keep -- to obey, quite frankly, or adhere to the public health guidelines. i think that what we heard today in closed session but also in the public session, is that the main thing is to get the word out there so that people comply and people actually are following the rules of what we know has worked in other countries and other communities to actually to help stop the spread of this virus. and i feel that in my district i have a lot of vulnerable people and it is my job to put a safety net around them so they're fully informed, they are supported, and they are supported by each
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other also. and so in this time when public health and all of these departments are working on these huge, huge issues, housing thousands and thousands of vulnerable people and finding hospital beds i find that what i can contribute is to keep this community of 80,000 people safe to have a safety net around them and so -- and also that they are not overburdening our system with a lot of phone calls and also i have as i said a lot of seniors in my neighborhood trying to keep them also connected through phone trees and phone banks. but also just trying to keep everyone fed and making sure they have resources. as chair of your budget committee we're still doing meetings via telephone now, with groups that want to meet with us around budget. i think that chelsea in my office has 15 meetings set up to talk about the budget.
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as your budget chair i feel that my office does 10 times the work of your offices around been. it is going -- budget. it is going to be completely challenging this time because in years past as you know that we have been adding things and it looks as though the outlook is not good and we will have to cut. and that is always a very, very hard thing i think for all of us to do. and a lot of those decisions i think come down to our budget committee. so i just want to say that i think that during this time though that it is about unity. i think that about working together. and this is a very scary time in san francisco. but it's a very scary time in our nation. and also in the world. and in san francisco, as i said before, you know, this is -- when we're put to the test we perform. and i think that we'll be fine. i just want to also express to president yee that i am happy to have my office take a shift down at e.o.c. and help participate
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in that effort. thank you. and thank you to everyone for everything that they're doing. >> supervisor ronen? >> yeah, i just want to thank you all. i got a lot of just great ideas in terms of the district and constituent work. so just agreeing with supervisor preston that if we can hear back from each other how those straft gees are going i -- strategies are going i think that would be helpful. in terms of our budget chair, supervisor fewer, a lot of the items that we're going to bring forward are going to cost money. and so i'm wondering if we can start to come up with some principles in the budget committee about sort of how we're going to prioritize, where we're going to add money and subtract money?
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because those are -- this is not -- i can't say that? >> i'm not an attorney but an attorney would stand up and say that you can't say that. >> so the item that we're still in the middle of it is the hearing and i think that we've heard from the people who are asked to speak and the conversation is going beyond the scope of the notice item now that we're talking about different budget opportunities and budget solutions. >> okay, i thought that it was the city's response to the covid virus, the covid-19 virus which is all-encompassing and the notice says the city of the whole. but, anyway, i said what i needed to say there. so, again, thank you president yee and to the clerk staff for making this happen. i know that it's really late and you all want to go home so i appreciate it. >> we still have a few more items.
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to remind everyone here, we have a few more options. >> clerk: public comment? >> seeing none public comment is closed. ooh i'll make a motion to file this item. >> the motion passes to file the item. let's go to our 3:00 -- 3:00 item. number 16 i believe. >> clerk: item 16 is a hearing of the board of supervisors sitting as a committee of the whole on march 17, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. for the members of the board to hear and receive specific findings with police staffing city-wide and to request that the budget analysts to report. >> okay. here comes the matrix. colleagues, i was going to continue this item. so we'd like to continue this
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item, this hearing to the board of supervisors meeting on april 6, 2020. i can have a motion. >> moved. >> clerk: and we'll take public comment when you are ready. >> supervisor walton, did you say move? >> i did move the motion. >> thank you. is there a second? supervisor ronen. and on this item any public comments? seeing none, public comment is closed. can we take this motion, same house, same call? so the item is continued to april 17th, 2020. madam clerk, let's go to the agenda. >> clerk: items 19-24 with adoption without resolution to the committee. and on first reading alternatively a member may require a resolution to go to
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committee. >> okay. can we take these items same house, same call? seeing no objection, then these motions are -- are passed. resolutions are passed. what else do we have? >> clerk: on behalf of president yee we have an imperative item, a motion concurring in the actions taken by the mayor on march 11, 2020, and march 13, 2020, to meet the ongoing local emergency related to the novel coronavirus pandemic declared on february 25, 2020. >> we have an item to have the board to adopt two separate findings unanimously. adoption on the item itself, let's take the findings first. a motion then to find this resolution is imperative as to threatening serious injury to the public interest and thus
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meeting the standards of sunshine ordinance, made by supervisor walton and seconded by supervisor stefani. and without objection -- >> can we have a discussion on that item? i'm not going to object to sunshine or brown, but i do have quite a number of questions for the city attorney. and i refer to this earlier relative to our powers and authorities. but i'm happy to concur with sunshine and brown. >> okay, let me do that first and then we'll get to the item itself. so is there any -- without objection then, this finding is accepted. now to the brown act finding, is there a motion that finds the need to take action? and bringing to the attention of the board after the agenda was posted and thus the motion meets the standards of the brown act. motion made by supervisor walton
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and seconded by supervisor peskin. and without objection, this finding is accepted. we must now take public comment on this item. is there any member of the public who wishes to speak on the imperative item? seeing none, public comment is closed. and now the assessment of the imperative motion itself, supervisor peskin? >> so, mr. president, colleagues, before i even ask the questions that i have, insofar as it was almost impossible for non-elected officials to come into this building, were any members of the public actually able to come to this meeting? we saw a couple people earlier, but i'd like to ask that question for the record. >> madam clerk, is that yours to answer? >> clerk: there was an actual
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complaint from a member of the boards office who had some concerns about confusion that might have occurred when individuals wanted to walk through the doorway. there was some confusion. supervisor preston your office contacted us about their concern. but other than that we did not have any complaints about today. >> so i'd just like to note for the record that while we're in the middle of covid-19 that it seems to me that downstairs people are having trouble getting into the building. so that is noted for the record. as it relates to the items before us, madam deputy city attorney through the president, if you could tell us what our powers and our authorities are. we have heard earlier today that we have seven days to do something, what happens if we don't do that in seven days.
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and can you explain under an emergency order pursuant to every subsequent declaration that is issued by the chief executive, what the function of this body is? >> the function of this body is to ratify both the initial declaration of emergency, which this board has done. but also to ratify any orders made pursuant to that declaration. so so far the mayor has made -- it was two earlier today, i believe that it's now three, and they're brought to you today through this resolution for your ratification. you do not have to ratify them, in which case they would not be effective. >> and what's the seven-day timeframe? >> the mayor declared the emergency and may issue orders pursuant to the emergency and they may last for seven days until the board takes action. so you will need to ratify
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within the seven days. >> so if the board fails to act, what happens? >> if the board fails to act i believe that the declaration and the orders would no longer be valid. >> i believe -- or is that cited in code? >> i believe and i can double check. >> okay. so we all definitely voted unanimously on the declaration of emergency. so as the supplemental proclamations that are before us, i believe that there's one that is timestamped 11 march, 2020, at 1:50 p.m.. >> i don't know the time but it was on the 11th. >> can you as our attorney and counsellor in front of the 11 members of this board and the public explain what that declaration -- what that supplemental proc proclamation ? >> it is sum vised in the resolution -- summarized in the resolution.
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but the one that was issued on the 11th would order the controller to develop a policy to allow the city to continue to provide funding under existing agreements to non-profit organizations who may be unable to perform all of the duties under those contracts. it would suspend deadlines set by local law requiring city bodies to take action within a specified time if they do not comply with those deadlines. it complies with the board and it gives the board latitude if it cannot meet and comply with the timeframes that apply. and suspend the charter requiring members of the city policy bodies to attend meetings in person. that order by the mayor has been complemented by a similar order by the governor which is with various provisions of the brown act. to extend the deadline to pay licensees and defer quarterly tax payments for small businesses. >> the second supplemental proclamation? >> to impose a moratorium on,
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evictions for non-payment of rent on tenants impacted by covid-19 and suspend for 60 days the shut off of power service and the imposition of late penalties by the p.u.c. and would suspend the initiateiation of lien for delinquent water and sewer bills during the emergency and the controller to accept and extend donations for the purposes of emergency meanedness and sustain the residents and the businesses. >> third supplement to the mayoral proclamation? >> that was signed today after i entered this room. so i have not read it in full and it's not captured here. >> so we're being asked right now to ratify or agree with a third supplemental mayoral proclamation that you cannot advise us on because you have not yet read it? >> this resolution does not propose that you're ratifying the third one. it would only ratify the first
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two. >> got it. and so relative to the third one, which i have concerns with on page 4 at item 5, which i previously expressed, explain to us what our powers and authorities are relative to the seven days. if we fail to act, if we act, when do we lose power on the third supplemental declaration? >> you have seven days in which to ratify it and during that time you could choose to decide that you will not ratify it and pass and say that you do not ratify the particular acts that are expressed in this one. as i said, i will confirm what the impacts of taking "no" action within seven days. >> right. here's the problem -- the problem is that it's entirely possible that this policy body
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that is department number one that is the only standing department in this town since the 1800s stops meeting. we may meet virtually, the governors waive the brown act, but what i need to understand before this board leaves or if we need to change the concurrence motion to ratify or reject the third supplemental declaration. i need to understand that if this board fails to act in seven days, does it continue or does it cease? >> i'm going to have to get back tooto you on that. if you would like to wait i'll look it up now. >> yeah, we can just sit here until you do that. because i'm fine with the first two. i read those. the third one you have not read -- we have not read -- and
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if it goes into -- if it becomes effective and we cannot reject it, if we fail to meet in seven days, and we're in an emergency situation and our job is to be a check and balance to the executive branch, i need to understand, we need to understand, our powers and authorities. >> i will look. i will also say that i'm aware that the clerk is making arrangements for this body to be able to meet remotely so that -- >> i understand that. i will be at the e.o.c. at 09:00 hours but i need to understand what our powers and authorities are and if we cannot reject it after seven days, we need to talk about that before we adjourn. >> okay. fair enough. while she's doing that why don't we just vote on the item itself which is inclusive to the supplements that were laid out already. let's see, do i need a motion
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for that? >> yeah, you do, you do. >> but this third supplement -- (indiscernible) supervisor peskin, supervisor peskin? >> yes, sir? i would be happy to make a motion to concower in the actions to meet the local emergency as set forth in the motion on the imperative calendar that only deals with the two aforementioned first and second supplements to the mayor's proclamation declaring the existence of local emergency. i would like to subsequently, depending on the advice from counsel, to move or not move the third supplement to the mayoral proclamation. so i am making a motion to concur in the actions to meet
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local emergency relative to the motion that is before us on our desks as to the first and second supplements to the mayor's proclamation. >> is there a second? supervisor fewer. and, madam clerk, if we vote on this right now and approve it, do we have -- i guess some leverage still to discuss the third supplement which is not on this agenda? >> clerk: given that supervisor peskin made it very clear, that you would dispose of this item and then the body could at another time or in this conversation talk about that. >> i withdraw my motion pending counsel. >> you can keep the motion, it's just that we won't vote on it. >> all right. >> okay. so, first and second it and we'll just wait a few minutes.
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>> hold on a second. mr. president, are all 11 members in receipt of the first, second and third supplement to the mayor's pr proclamation? >> (indiscernible). >> so are all members in receipt of the motion concurring with the actions of the mayor? those actions are set forth in two separate documents. are those actions before us, do you guys even know what we're voting on? >> we have a two-page motion concurring. we don't have the two documents that are referenced. >> all right, at least i don't. so the first one is a supplement
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and dated 11 march at 1:53 p.m.. and the second one is dated march 13th at 4:47 p.m. and that -- they are both set forth here. but if you don't have them, madam clerk, everyone should have them before we vote on them. >> clerk: through the president, as far as the clerk's office is concerned we have sent those items to each of the members. i don't believe that they were submitted today with the third supplement. the third supplement and the deputy city attorney can correct me if i'm wrong, the third supplement is not before you today to approve. >> we understand that, that is dated 17 march at 2:51 p.m.. >> clerk: so through the president i'd provide you the dates and times in your emails that we have submitted all three to you. >> we're all electronically in receipt and i just wanted to make sure that as this body is going to on a week-by-week
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basis, in person or virtually, ratify thos these things that wl know what we're voting on. this is profoundly important. and, by the way, i have reviewed both of the first two and i'm 100% okay with them. the third one i have got questions about and i would like to understand if we do not happen to meet next tuesday, did we waive our authority or did we not waive our authority? and that is the advice that i am looking for from our attorney at this time. >> yes. i got that part. also if the answer is that we waive our authority because the last day that we could actually vote on it right now is monday
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of next week because that would be the seventh day and next tuesday would be the eighth day. so that's i think is -- and supervisor peskin is absolutely right to question that. if we were to lose that authority, my recommendation is that we could -- for this one item -- also to have a special meeting on it and hopefully the virtual or the online, whatever it is called, we could be away from the chamber, would be up and running. so that we have that option too.
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>> hello, mine is not turned on. >> mr. president, supervisor aaron peskin is rising to make a motion to recess the board meeting pending legal counsel's answer to our last question. >> second? second. seconded by supervisor mandelman. >> can i ask a question. could we -- could i make a
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friendly amendment to your motion and say that we -- we leave it to our president to decide whether or not we need a special meeting on monday or -- or if we're unable to vote down the order number three? >> yeah, that's what i suggested earlier that if we don't get a clear answer then we could always do that. and we don't need a motion. excuse me. can you get to the mike, i can't hear you. there's a motion on the floor to vote on the first and second supplement and there wasn't any questions about that, except supervisor peskin asked if we read it -- >> point of order. actually there is a motion to go
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into recess. so i think we need to address that motion first. >> oh, okay, i was getting there. >> can i make a friendly amendment to the motion before we vote on it? >> i think if the body wants to vote on a motion to recess they could. if the president wanted you to state your friendly amendment, the first and second would have to agree to it. >> i see. do you agree to it? >> so we could come back in five minutes and whatever. >> so, colleagues, in the age of love and covid-19, not getting basic answers to the most important legal questions about the authority of department number one, the legislative branch, are things that we have to have in real-time that we should have actually been advised of days ago. i am happy to step out of these chambers and to ask our deputy
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city attorney if she cannot resolve this question, which i would imagine that is set forth in a very basic citation, then we can continue this. if that is not the case, i would accept the friendly amendment. but if we can -- we don't have to recess, but, mr. president, if the sergeant-at-arms can go consult with the city attorney as to whether or not this is going to be answered in the next five minutes or the next five hours, then i would accept or not accept the friendly amendment from my good colleague from district 9. >> we are in session and i will leave it for now until we get an answer. we're in session and we're just not saying anything.
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so if you would like to turn off your microphone currently that would be good. >> mr. president, i would respectfully suggest that we vote on the motion made and seconded to recess until we -- 10 minutes. i stick with my motion to call the question. >> call the question to recess. supervisor walton? >> (indiscernible). >> i know that you seconded it already. okay, roll call. >> clerk: 10-minute recess, mr. president. >> yes, or shorter. >> clerk: supervisor mandelman, and supervisor mar. mar aye. and supervisor peskin. peskin aye. supervisor preston, preston aye. and supervisor ronen, ronen aye. and supervisor safai, safai a,
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and supervisor walton, walton aye. and supervisor yee, yee aye. and supervisor fewer? fewer aye. >> okay, welcome back from recess. so what we have on the floor right now is -- i believe that it's still valid -- the motion, seconded to -- to accept the -- >> the findings -- >> we voted on that already. just the item itself. >> and now the item is just before the board, mr. president. >> supervisor peskin. >> thank you, mr. president. it is my understanding that as to the motion that is before us
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on the imperative calendar, concurring with the actions taken by 11 march and 13 march that there were typographical errors and i believe that the copy before us fixed those errors, is that true or not tr true? >> the president's office indicated that it is true that the typos have been corrected. >> okay. so in the dearth of legal advice to this body and the legislative branch, i'm happy to vote on the affirmative on the motion that is before us on the imperative calendar and, mr. president, i hereby respectfully request that an absence of legal advice that we schedule either in-person or virtually a special meeting of the board of supervisors on monday, to deal with the third
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supplement to the mayor's proclamation. >> so there was a request and i will honor that to schedule that for monday. >> thank you, sir. >> so we have a motion on the floor. so roll call please. >> clerk: supervisor mandelman. mandelman aye. supervisor mar, mar aye. supervisor peskin. peskin aye. and supervisor preston. preston aye. and supervisor ronen. ronen aye. and supervisor safai, safai aye. and supervisor stefani, aye. and supervisor walton, walton aye. and supervisor yee, yee aye. and supervisor fewer, fewer aye. supervisor haney, haney absent. there are 10 ayes. >> so the motion carries. deputy -- deputy city attorney pearson, did you have an answer? because we're wondering what action to take with the third item.
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>> so i apologize for the delay. this is not an issue that our office was advised on before. under state law when the mayor declares an emergency the board must -- may last for seven days until the board ratifies it or chooses not to. that's with respect to the declaration of emergency. under the charter, the board is also expected to ratify any orders that are taken or made pursuant to that declaration. the charter does not include a specific deadline or timeframe for that action the way that state law imposes on the act of ratifying the declaration of emergency. so what's being brought to you now are -- is a request to ratify the orders under the charter and the board must ratify them but as i said that there's no specific deadline. so they must be brought to you as quickly as possible. when they are brought to you may choose to ratify them or not. if you don't -- if you don't take action and don't meet for
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the next 10 days they'll remain in effect until you do. you will have not lost your opportunity to take action. and to vote to not ratify them if that's your choice. >> the first statement that you made, that you talked about -- in which it sounded like we were to take no action that the action would be in effect for seven days, and if after that that we don't take any action that the action would disappear? that's according to state law? >> there are two things that this board is asked to ratify. one is the initial declaration of emergency made now, a couple weeks ago. and under state law the board is required to ratify that within seven days. and had the board not taken action within seven days there would not have been an ongoing declaration of emergency, but the board did ratify that.
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>> so these supplements should be ratified but there's no time limit? >> right. the supplements are not a new declaration of emergency. these supplements are orders of actions taken under the emergency authority. and those are required under the charter to be ratified by this board but as i mentioned they are not subject to the strict seven-day timeframe that is the declaration of morning is emergd be subject to. if you don't act as i said for 10 days, they will remain in effect until you do. >> and our action could be to ratify or not to ratify? >> or to alter. >> or to alter. supervisor peskin, did you still have a question? >> thank you, mr. president. through the president to our legal counsel, can you please advise this body as to the original declaration which
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explicitly stated that this board could -- not that any of us would or want to -- cancel that declaration of emergency. how would that technically work? >> i would assume that you would do that by motion. >> so, in other words, relative to timeframes on a given tuesday, a member could introduce a motion to cancel and on the subsequent tuesday's calendar the board could vote by a majority to cancel? >> under the charter normal notice posting of agenda requirements under the board of supervisors are not applicable to the board's actions pursuant to the ratification of the declaration of emergency and the orders issued thereto. so there may be -- so there might -- >> i'm not talking about ratifying but talking about canceling.
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>> you would do that by motion. are you asking how long -- what type of notice that you would need to give of your motion? >> yes, ma'am. i mean, in an emergency situation could we do that in 24 hours, 7 72 hours? >> an emergency to declare that there's no longer an emergency? >> correct, because, listen -- this is not going to happen -- what i'm looking for is advice to this body which is a check and balance to the executive branch of government as to what our authorities and powers are. so what i'm trying to determine is -- and i do not believe that the mayor of the city and county of san francisco would ever abuse her authorities or her powers, but if we believe that to be true, do we need 24 hour
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notice, 72-hour notice, one-week notice, how does it work? >> supervisor peskin, i suggest that she do the research and get it to us by the 24 hours with the answer because right now -- i get a sense that you need to have some time to look more carefully. >> i will totally defer to you, mr. president, relative to supplemental orders that do not appear to be covered by state law but appear to be covered by charter law, i would like to reiterate the advice that i think that you gave us. which is that we can act at any time, failure to act does not in any way affect our future powers, is that true or not true, through the president? >> that is true. under the charter the mayor should be bringing these orders
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to you as quickly as reasonably possible so that you may act. either to concur, amend or not concur. and if you do not -- and in the period that you do not act, they will remain in effect and you will not waive your opportunity to act when you do meet to consider them. >> okay, and then let me to underscore one word that you said. that is unbelievably important, and i want to make sure -- because you've said it twice, through the president, the word "amend" which is that this body can actually amend the chief executive's order. >> that's correct. >> thank you, ma'am. >> supervisor fewer? >> yes, deputy city attorney, so just for clarification, if when the time that we are not voting on that, if her mandate is in
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effect, is that correct? >> i'm sorry, could you repeat the question? >> so is it an order for her mandate to actually be in effect, the board must vote on it? or if we choose not to vote on it, it will remain in effect until the moment that we do vote on it? >> it's the latter. it will remain in effect until you do. >> so that means that it is happening -- in other words, it is happening without our permission, is that correct? or without our -- >> it's happening pursuant to the original permission that we delegated unless we revoke an order or amend the order or ratify the order. >> so, quite frankly, just to vote on it is somewhat of a formality, because it is still in effect even if we vote on it or not, is that correct,
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mr. miskin, supervisor, through the supervisor. i mean, is that right? >> i have no idea. >> oh, is that right? >> there's two -- there are two orders that have been issued -- or three now and two that are the subject of this resolution. they are now in effect. and they will be until this board takes action and you may choose to ratify them, or you may choose to not ratify them. but -- >> if you choose to not ratify them it means that they're still in effect though, is that correct? >> at the point that you choose to not ratify them, they'd no longer be in effect. >> okay. thank you. >> so in that case, mr. president, i would like to make a motion to rescind the vote on the imperative calendar as to the motion concurring with the actions taken on 11 march, and 13 march. >> and the reason for that is because rather we vote today on
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it to ratify that it's still in play? >> based on the advice that we have received, if we fail to act, it is in -- it is deemed to have been in essence a concurrence until we act. >> okay, so there's a motion to rescind the vote. any objection? a second to that? can i have a second? supervisor ronen. any objection? i think that the house has changed. so we need to vote on it. >> yes, it has, right. on the motion to rescind, supervisor mandelman? mandelman aye. supervisor mar, mar aye. and supervisor peskin, aye. and preston aye. and supervisor reasonnen, aye. supervisor safaia, aye.
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and supervisor fewer, fewer aye. and supervisor haney, haney aye. there are 11 ayes. >> so is there a motion to continue this item to next week? >> i still had more questions for the city attorney. >> supervisor ronen. >> thank you. so given that we can amend these orders, can we also add additional orders? >> given the importance of these questions, of this emergency and these answers, i would prefer to have the time overnight to look into all of the questions that you have. there have been very few emergencies declared in the past and i'm aware of prior emergencies that orders have been made that the board did not agree with and were overturned by the board. but i would much prefer to not give you quick answers in such --
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>> that's totally fair. i think that is a great plan and i am glad that we just rescinded the vote then that we just took. that sounds great. if you could give us the answer to that question, that would be great. and one other question for you to research is, if we add a new order that the mayor doesn't agree with, does she have the power to veto it? that's another question that you'll look into? thank you. >> supervisor preston. >> thank you. and along similar lines, just understanding better the process if we were to amend one of these supplemental -- what that process would be. and whether the ball then goes back to the mayor or that becomes the final order. and i want to say that i appreciate supervisor peskin teasing this out a bit and i think just to observe that we have a number of things right now that are both the subject of
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mayoral supplemental orders and parallel legislation moving in this body. and so to the extent that we have the authority in this process to amend more efficiently we can sort of merge those efforts for the board to weigh in. but i think that it's critically important that we understand what that process is moving forward. >> supervisor peskin. >> through the president to deputy city attorney pearson, i know that you have the hardest job with a new client that happens to be 11 people, and i appreciate your indulgence and, please, do not mistake any of what's going on tonight in the middle of an emergency as a reflection on anything. these are the fundamental questions of this board, of our
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democracy, and this emergency moment. so, please, do not mistake anything that i am asking or that we're asking in any way personal whatsoever and we're just living through some tough times. and as elected officials we really have to understand the checks and the balances, so bless your heart. >> so, madam clerk, just handed a note to me to say that the mayor does not veto motions. so whatever that is. and so right now i'd like to have a motion to continue this item to the march 24th meeting. >> so moved. >> a second? >> okay, seconded by walton. and no objectionings. and the motion passes to continue the item to next week.
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and so deputy city attorney, so there's been several questions that were asked. and as i agree with you, rather than just at this point, that you can do research and if you could give us a written answer, is 24 hours adequate? >> absolutely. >> tomorrow at midnight. all right. madam clerk, anything else. >> clerk: yes, mr. president. today's meetinga adjourned in memory of the following beloved individuals on behalf of supervisor peskin for the late mr. mel sharp. >> okay. so with nothing else then, the meeting is adjourned.
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>> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses, and challenges residents to do their shopping within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services in our neighborhood, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i am the owner of this restaurant.
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we have been here in north beach over 100 years. [speaking foreign language] [♪] [speaking foreign language] [♪] [speaking foreign language]
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[speaking foreign language] [♪] [♪]
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>> mayor breed: thank you. welcome to chinatown. thank you, supervisor peskin to allowing us to come and hang out with you today. i am san francisco mayor london breed here with many members of the board of supervisors, state officials, sf travel, wow, a lot of people here. we all know that one of the biggest challenges that we are facing not just here in san francisco but in this country and throughout the world is the threat of the coronavirus and how it has not only impacted people and public health but how it has, unfortunately, impacted our economy. when we first heard of this virus in january we launched the emergency operations center. what we noticed during that time and supervisor peskin can attest
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to this. we didn't get support and people visiting our community in chinatown and other places and as we can see as this develops, this virus is not discriminating based on race. this is impacting people all over the world and has impacted a number of people right here in san francisco. as of today we are up to 14 cases. i am really proud of the work that has been done with the department of public health to be proactive and making sure that we are prepared and making sure that we keep people healthy and safe and looking at the vulnerable communities, seniors and people with illnesses answer challenges and providing resources and support and being aware we have a vulnerable homeless population and making sure we have places for people
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to be quanteened and in case there is a situation that we as the city we are prepared to handle it. i want to be clear we can't live in fear. we have to make sure we are doing everything to keep ourselves, our families, our communities safe but we also have to make sure that we are addressing some of the other challenges that have happened as a result of this issue. that brings us to the economy. we are definitely going to feel impact. we are in china town because we know the businesses in this community have probably felt the impact, the economic impact more than any other community in san francisco. we have been working together, my office and the state and, as i said, a number of the board of supervisors, we have worked together to come up with a number of immediate things to do
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now. we will be coming back with other things that we can definitely do in the future. we want to provide immediate relief to our small businesses. i wanted to make an announcement today about some of those things that we plan to do. working with our treasurer and other city departments, we have been able to identify a number of ways that the city can provide immediate assistance to small business. to begin with, we are allowing small businesses to defer the next round of quarterly business taxes to next year in february of 2021. i know that is going to provide significant relief for small businesses. we will also be delaying a collection of our unified license bill for at least three months. these bills include charges for
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restaurants, food trucks, bakeries and smal small busines. our time is to delay those fees. we are actively looking at other ways to delay more fees for our small businesses as they deal with this challenge. we also understand that our community-based organizations or non-profits wonder what is going to happen to us and our work forces specially those who may stay home to care for a child or sick parent with no sick leave. we will work to make sure all community-based non-profits that receive funding from the city continue to receive that funding. we want to make sure that you know that in today's emergency declaration that i signed it was a revision to make sure we are able to support our small businesses through this
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situation. we are also establishing a fund to provide immediate relief with $1 million in the fund to provide at least $10,000 grants for small businesses and our goal is to, of course, assess the need and provide the support immediately and look at increasing that support as time continues as we are able to determine whether or not more businesses would need that as assistance. those are just a few things that we are doing here locally to immediately support small business community and we know that even though this is a small step forward that there will be more work we need to do to support the business community. as you can see with many of the leaders here today we are committed to doing just that. i also want to talk a little bit
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about our efforts with our state officials, our partners to find relief around employment benefits. in fact, this past monday i was in sacramento meeting with a number of other mayors and the governor newsom and state senator scott weiner to talk about expansion of unemployment and disability benefits in a way that will help support people during this issue. we are also working with the private sector in looking to partner with our financial partners and identify resources line of credit loans and things for small businesses as well and businesses in general. we are asking private sector employers to step up and be as flexible as possible with their employees. helping the employees take time off if they are sick. in the city and county of san
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francisco with all city employees because we are encouraging people to stay home. if you are sick without enough sick leave we will allow you to advance that sick time. you don't have to wait until you accrue the sick time, we will basically allow you to take the sick time, get paid for the sick time off and you can pay it back after you work for the time you work later on. we in the city are leading by example by making sure if someone is sick and they need time off for whatever reason they are able to do and not worry if they have an income. the office of economic and resource development are working over time to develop innovative strategies to help the business community, employees and employers. there is more to come. this is the first in what will be a number of announcements as they come. at the end of the day we want to make sure that what we promise
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we will do to support the business community and employees and residents of san francisco, we want to make sure we can deliver on that promise. we know that these are just a few things we can immediately deliver on. that is why we wanted to announce them here today. for resources, you can check the website oewd slave covid-19. if you have questions or concerns or want more information call 311. as i said, we are here to work together. we know that this has been a challenge for so many people. there is a lot of fear, uncertainty and folks wonder how we will get through this. we will get through this. this is not unfamiliar tear for refor -- territory for san francisco. we can think back to the h.i.v.
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crisis. we got through that because we have some of the best public health officials anyone in the world along with the h1n1 and the sars. we got through it. we got through it by coming together, making good decisions, providing the facts, using data to communicate the message and not living in fear. that is what is going to get us through this. that is how we will be stronger and more resilient. i want to thank all of the folks here today working with us and i want to start by acknowledging some of our elected leaders who are here. our recorder is here, our treasure is here, and then we have members of the board of supervisors including our president, president norman yee is here along with your
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supervisor peskin and catherine stefani and sandraly fewer and rafael mandelman and hillary ronen. that is a quorum. we have been working to deal with these challenges. along with other leaders from the san francisco chamber, chinese chamber, business community, sf travel. we are all here because we are in this together. we are all here because we are working together to make sure that we are providing the city with the resources that it needs in order to make sure we get through this together. i want to start with state senator scott weiner to talk about the work they are doing at the state level to help us address this significant challenge. senator weiner.
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[applause] >> thank you, madam mayor. first and foremost, i want to just say that i have complete confidence i in may or breed and the supervisors and the department of public health and the city government is doing a great job here. we are very focused at the state level on the health of our community. no city or no county is in a vacuum. we are all in this together, and the governor and the leadership of th the legislature are focusd on this every single day. we are going to get through this. we will keep our community as healthy as we can be. there is a lot of pain that this
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process is causing and it is going to cause with people getting laid off, small businesses struggling and potentially shutting down, people losing hours and workers struggling to pay bills. we need to make sure we soften the blow and support the service workers, people who cannot tele commute and take time off and small businesses who have very, very little margin. we have a number of safety net benefits. not everyone knows about. i encourage people to look into it to see if you can be helped. we have disability insurance. when people are sick unable to work, particularly for an extended period of time. if someone has to take care of a loved one, they can file for paid family leave. we have some of the most robust
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paid family leave in california among the 50 states. there is unemployment insurance. in addition for employers and businesses impacted, there is a redoesed work hours benefit where someone whose hours are cut can get partial unemployment you don't have to be completely laid off to get unemployment benefits. businesses experiencing financial hard ship can apply for 60 day expense for payroll taxes. the state we have made sure to wave all co-pays to make sure people can get tested for covid-19 and they are not charged for hospital services as a result. this is the beginning. we will see more work happening at the state level to make sure we are having that robust social safety net for individuals who are at risk for workers struggling and small businesses
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and i will close by saying we need the federal government to step in a big way. the federal government is the only level of government that can spend and go into deficit spending, which we cannot do at the state level to make sure we provide a stimulus and not a bad stimulus like what the president is proposing but a stimulus to support workers and small businesses. the federal government is in the best position. we are all doing everything we can at the local and state level. we need the federal government to be a strong partner here. let's pull together as a community to get through it. this is the best city and most resilient city on the planet. i am optimistic what we are able to do. thank you. >> thank you. president of the board of supervisors norman yee. >> thank you, mayor breed and
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state senator scott weiner. i am glad that the state is weighing in on this. we can't do it by ourselves and we can't do it in isolation. mayor breed, as you named off my colleagues on the board of supervisors. there are eight of us. we have a majority so whatever you want we will give you. this is not a joke. we have two branches of government, executive and legislative. we do battle sometimes. we disagree sometimes and we agree sometimes. this is one commitment all 11 of us on the board of supervisors are agreeing to. this is not about the legislative branch or the executive branch. we have one government. we are going to work together. we are totally committed to this. in terms of solving this issue and also to provide some of the
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relief that we need to give to businesses to workers and to everybody else impacted with this virus. now one of the things i want to mention is that the board has not had the opportunity to come together to have a discussion. my colleagues urged to have this type of discussion. thank you supervisor ronen for spearheading the push. next week at some point we will have a discussion in which we could be part of the solution and the mayors and department heads will be there to help with this discussion. rest assured we have no division when it comes to the virus. it is going to take all of us to battle this. we will defeat it quicker than people will realize. thank you very much. >> thank you for your
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leadership, president yee. i would like to introduce the supervisor for this community, supervisor aaron peskin. >> hello everybody. i am district three supervisor aaron keskin. kespeskin. well to to a community that on the business side and residential side has been impacted long before the rest of the city and county of san francisco, and thank you, mayor breed, and to my seven colleagues for gathering here today because chinatown is indeed suffering. let me also give you doctor colfax's advice which is after today none of us should ever stand so close to one another as we are right now. that was bad material, sorry.
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to ms. lee and her son here at 150 waverly place who are suffering like many businesses throughout the city and county of san francisco, thank you for making your shop open to all of us. to all of the folks from chinatown, the chinese companies, presiding company, to the chinese chamber of commerce represented here today, and to this community, and i have seen it all before. i have been a member of this board during 911, i was a member of this board during sars, and i was not a member of this board during th aids crisis. we will pull through. what the president of the board said is right. we are going to tran send
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politics and work in the public interest, and we all understand that our number one priority is public health. part of public health is economic health. the package that the mayor and the board are announcing today is the first step. there will be many more steps to this. this is going to continue to evolve as the situation evolves. these are extraordinary sometimes. today the mayor and chief health officer took extraordinary actions. this is going to be the new normal until we reduce and then defeat the virus. wash your hands, wash your hands, 20 seconds, wash your hands. thank you, madam mayor, and thank you colleagues. >> thank you for continuing to
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be leaders on this issue. i really truly appreciate it. now, i would like to introduce the president of the san francisco chamber of commerce rodney fong. >> thank you very much. as the mayor alluded to san francisco has seen many challenges. these walls, this alley has senmany challenges. i want to thank mayor breed for taking fast action, decisive be action to support small businesses and working class families in san francisco. this is the kind of leadership we need. our small businesses and employees are going through a critical time. small business owners in the tourism industry understand ho difficult and fragile small business is. one bad week or month can take you over the cliff.
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we know this economic crisis hits the folk the hardest and that is the small business and families and front line staff in san francisco. >> this will bring immediate relief to small businesses and employees suffering from major cash flow for the moment and next several weeks. this will allow small businesses to pay rent, continue to pay employees, so important. this is a first critical step towards creating an economic resilient city that may be on the journey but we will succeed. we are proud to work with the electives and mayor to make this a great city to make this a learning lesson for other challenges in san francisco. we will be strong. chinatown is very strong. thank you very much.
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[applause] >> we have the vice president of the chinese chamber of commerce. >> on behalf of china town and chinese chamber of commerce. we are so glad that the mayor and supervisor are proactive with action against this virus. to promote the businesses in the community. i hope the community around the chinatown and san francisco we have to do something else. we have to do the business in our part. we come out to shopping, we come out to eat, to support the local business. we are working together, we can overcome this difficult time. now let me use a chinese word.
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[speaking chinese] (applause) >> now, i would like to ask our recorder to say a few words.
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>> i would like to ask our treasure to stand beside me. the leaders today not only the mayor and board of supervisors and state representatives but jose and i have been working around the clock to figure out ways to help to support our community. a lot has been said already about the importance of all of us taking decisive action to make sure we are doing all we can to support local businesses. one thing to say is that this is not the last action. what you are seeing a united front to say no matter what it is we believe in terms of political preferences this transcendses all of that we will address it appropriately. when we talk about small businesses and the people employed by those small businesses, this is not something about people once removed. these are neighbors, friends, people who are in our community who are impacted. as much as we are seeing this
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relief package hit the local small businesses it is about helping neighbors and city and our communities. i applaud all of the efforts here. i know all of us before you are committed to ensuring we continue to monitor the situation, continue to take action to preserve and make sure we are healthy and we are going to continue to support our local communities, friends and neighbors. [applause] >> i am the san francisco treasure. i am proud to stand with mayor breed and city leaders to deliver help to support small businesses, particularly businesses suffering during this time. the treasures office we manage the city banking, investments and tax collection. we work very hard to make sure we can do everything to support our local community and the businesses in it. i want to expand on what the mayor announced. there are two important payments
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that we are as a city deferring in order to provide some relief to thousands of businesses here inen the city. all of the businesses that pay business taxes, many are required to make quarterly payments during the year, and the small businesses that we have selected there will be 8,000 of them that will not be required to make first quarterly payment, which would have been due the end of april. they can make that payment on time and in full by the end of february of next year. a 10 month deferral on the time they can have to make that payment of their taxes. over 13,000 small businesses here that pay license fees would normally have an annual payment due at the end of this month of march, a couple weeks from now. the mayor and leaders in front
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of you have coming together to give a three month extension on that payment for over 13,000 businesses here in the city, most small businesses to wait until the end of june to make that payment. we are doing everything we can to support the small businesses here to make sure everyone survives these difficult times. thank you. >> before we end it i want to thank sf travel and the hotel council as well as many of the members of the small business commission that are joining us here today. we will continue to work together to make sure that -- and i appreciate what supervisor peskin said. we have to protect public health and economic health. that is what we are committed to doing. there will be other announcements. thank you all so much. please make sure after this press conference you eat at a
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restaurant in chinatown. thank you. >> good morning, everyone. the meeting will come to order. the this is the march 18, 2020 budget and finance committee. i'i would like to thank kirwan