replacement, behavioural health counselling, and in cases where people decide that they are going to continue to use, our focus is using the best evidence to help people manage their addictions, and in some cases this will include helping them manage their alcohol use and their nicotine use so that they can stay safe and in place as much as possible to help their community and to help themselves. >> thank you. the next question is from charles rain, citizen news. does a serological or diagnostic testing passport seem likely for san franciscans who want to return to work in the future? >> dr. grant colfax: well, look, the world health organization issue add warning last week against the use of these so-called immunity passports. we simply do not know what the utility of an antibody test yet is. we are obviously looking at that very carefully.

what an antibody test means in terms of shorter-term or longer-term immunity is developing. the science is still not there yet. so we will certainly be looking at how testing for a diagnosis of covid-19 is integrated into our next steps with regard to a gradual reduction in the restrictions around social distancing, but certainly antibody passports, to speculate anything beyond what i've said would be premature at this time. >> the next question is from san francisco chronicle. how many staff members and residents have tested positive for the virus and died at central gardens? >> so at this point we have a total of 72 cases of covid-19 diagnosed in central gardens. we have 37 staff and 39 residents. overall, there have been 160 cases of covid-19 confirmed in

the 21 nursing home facilities across the city. i want to emphasize that these facilities are overseen by the state and also emphasize that we are requiring all nursing facilities in the city to test for covid-19, and as i said previously, we have started this work in laguna honda. at laguna honda, we are continuing to have our 21 cases of covid-19 diagnosed, and to date there have been no deaths at laguna honda. >> as a follow-up, you previously said that san francisco does not count a nursing home death or case within the county's number if the resident lives somewhere else. we checked with several other counties. all count those numbers within the county, despite where the nursing home residents has a registered address. how do you explain that

discrepancy? >> dr. grant colfax: so thank you for letting me clarify the issue. so first of all, we count covid-19 cases during our outbreaks as cases, regardless of the county of residence. so when i report these outbreak numbers around nursing homes, that includes all the residents, not where their home address is. and our measurement of confirming deaths at -- with covid-19 is not specific to nursing homes. it's not even specific to covid-19. it's basic vital statistics, that if a person dies, even in the confines of the city, but has a permanent address somewhere else, that death is reported in that jurisdiction. >> next question is from jany harr, associated press. how much outside room time is given daily to people in hotel rooms recovering from covid-19? do they get smoke breaks?

>> dr. grant colfax: depending on the facility, i can't speculate on the exact amount of time, but i can say in referring to the work that the agencies are doing, that the mayor thanked personally, and across the entire spectrum of our support system for people in isolation and quarantine, we work with people to ensure that they get the breaks as much as possible that they need in order to maintain their isolation and quarantine, to support them, and to support the safety of the community. >> next question is from joshua sabotini, san francisco examiner. can you expand on your remarks if there were some pilot programs this month related to business, and does that mean the city will allow retailers like bookstores to have curbside pick-up? >> dr. grant colfax: so again, i think once we see what the governor releases later this week in terms of guidelines and recommendations, we will be

studying those very carefully in the local context in which, again, we will continue to follow the data, science and facts, collaborate with our business leaders and other partners to start establishing some very specific parameters, including how potentially curbside pick-up could potentially be executed. >> thank you, dr. colfax. the next set of questions are for director trent roar, human services agency.

>> good afternoon. trent roar, human services agency. >> director roar, your first question is from angela hart, kaiser health news. please explain how the city has been approaching hotel and motel owners for leasing their spaces out for project room key. what are the challenges in the state providing assistance? >> thanks for the question and the opportunity to clarify project room key and its sort of role in county operations. before i respond to that question, i want to piggyback a little bit on what the mayor -- how the mayor responded to i think it was your question, ms. hart, on the characterization of san francisco's hotel leasing being slow. you know, slow is an interesting word to use. you know, it's a distributive word that's usually use to compare pace relative to something else or relative to a

benchmark or relative to other areas doing similar work, and it's difficult to use that adjective when talking about a deployment that know county or state has ever done before, no county human services agency or county government has attempted to lease and rent hotel rooms directly from hotel owners, and so this is all new territory. so to characterize it as slow, i often wonder, slow compared to what? because there really is nothing to compare it to. i should say that, you know, i'm on calls with my county colleagues throughout the state regularly sharing best practices, trying to problem solve together, and i can assure you that we're all facing the same difficulties in leasing up rooms, whether it's negotiations with hotel ownership groups that are overseas, whether it's hotel ownership groups who are reluctant to rent their hotels to homeless, deployment of staff, unique setup at hotels all present challenges in terms

of pace. but in these discussions, you know, in sharing these challenges, what certainly is clear when looking at san francisco's progress relative to our homeless population, whether it's state-wide or the bay area, there's a couple numbers i'd like to share. the first is that san francisco has about 5% of the state's homeless population, but when you look at the total number of rooms being leased state-wide under project room key, san francisco has about 15% of those rooms. again, we have about 5% of the homeless population. when you narrow down to the bay area and the bay area counties, san francisco has about 20% of the bay area homeless population. a little over 8,000 homeless is about the same as almeda county, a couple thousand less than santa clara county, so of the 20% of homeless in the bay area and you look at the rooms that san francisco county has actually rented, we have 45% of the total rooms rented in the bay area are in san francisco

county. so i don't know if those numbers indicate that we're slow. i don't know if they indicate that we're fast, but certainly when measuring against a benchmark or other counties, we seem to be doing well in terms of ramping up to meet our needs of our homeless and other vulnerable populations. now specific to your question about room key, so project room key is the state-wide -- the name of the program, and really what project room key is is a funding source for counties and general county human service agencies to lease hotel rooms. the guidance for project room key wasn't announced until march 27, and it was along with $150 million state-wide to counties to support our operations. and as i've mentioned before up here, we started our operations in san francisco three weeks before the project room key guidance was announced. we started on march 9. the mayor and myself and the director of health met with the

hotel council on march 18 to share with them our need for hotel rooms for our isolation quarantine needs, as well as for our homeless individuals. we released our request for hotel quotes on march 19, and we entered into our first contracts a week later and opened our first hotels on march 30, which was three days after the project room key guidance was announced. so we started before the state was really activating their response. we thank the state for their partnership. we certainly thank the state for our share of the $150 million that they've appropriated for this cause, and all the rooms that are leased through san francisco county's efforts, through my human services agency and our staff, along with the city's department of real estate and the city attorney's office. we approached these leases directly using our county staff, working directly with hotel owners in negotiating and

developing and signing contracts, and we're not relying on the state to negotiate for us. we're fortunate in san francisco. we have the institutional capacity to do this on our own. i think project room key is really providing support to counties that might be smaller, don't quite have the infrastructure that we do, or counties, frankly, that are very, very large who need the additional support from the state. but at this point, san francisco is able to do this on our own with our own staff and resources, and our partnership with the hotel council and other hotel groups, leadership of the mayor, and we're able to do this on our own and aren't needing to rely on the state, but do appreciate their leadership and certainly the resources they've allocated to us. >> the next question is from mission local. according to the latest alternative housing update, there are still hundreds of rooms available. are there plans to move homeless residents not just those who are considered vulnerable? >> yes, you do correctly note

that there are empty rooms, according to the report that we release daily, and let me help clarify why. there are two categories of rooms that we have secured and staffed. one is for isolation and quarantine purposes, and these are for individuals who are covid positive or who are showing symptoms. they need to isolate or be quarantined because they don't have a place to do that. principally these are homeless individuals. we have 530 rooms under contract for isolation and quarantine. only 248 of them are occupied. what does that mean? that means that we have almost 300 empty rooms that are available should we need to isolate our quarantine additional individuals. this is an intentional design. we want to have flexibility to be able to respond when there's an outbreak at a congregate setting, like shelters that we've had, at mse south, where

we were able to successfully quarantine 90 people over the next day, when we have outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities or nsros. we have built this system to allow us to respond to those pressing public health needs that are, frankly, very difficult to predict. so you will see on an ongoing basis several hundred rooms that are being held and that are open to respond to outbreaks and the need to quarantine individuals. the next group of hotels are for vulnerable homeless individuals, either from our homeless shelters or from our streets, and these are individuals age 60 or older or those who have underlying health conditions. we do close to 300 vacancies among those hotels. 260 of which are in two hotels that we have under contract, and we are working with our non-profit partners to develop the site management staffing. our non-profit partners have been stretched. you heard early the mayor thanking them for their work and their partnership, but the

reality is they are the experts in providing the leadership and the management of these sites, and we're working with them to identify staff to do so. these two hotels totalling 260 rooms we hoped to have on-line by this week. it looks like that will be towards the beginning of next week. we continue to prioritize the vulnerable population. this is a population that fema is reimbursing for, and they are reimbursing for it because this is the guidance from the cdc that these are the most vulnerable individuals to covid and those who could become the most sick if they get the virus. those 60 and older and with underlying health conditions. lastly on the hotels, we continue to actively negotiate with hotels to meet our estimated need of 7,000 rooms. we are currently in active negotiations with nine hotels totalling 1381 rooms, 1,381 rooms.

most of these should come under contract by the end of the week, and if not, definitely anticipate by early next week, unless we run into unexpected problems with the negotiations. we won't stop at those 1300 plus rooms. we continue to negotiate with -- or enter into and assess hotels for potential negotiation constantly. this is a rolling activation that we will keep building on. >> thanks. this concludes our questions for today's press conference. ♪ ♪ ♪. >> i just feel like this is what

i was born to do when i was a little kid i would make up performances and daydream it was always performing and doing something i feel if i can't do that than i can't be e me. >> i just get excited and my nickname is x usher my mom calls me i stuck out like a sore thumb for sure hey everybody i'm susan kitten on the keys from there, i working in vintage clothing and chris in the 30's

and fosz and aesthetic. >> i think part of the what i did i could have put on my poa he focus on a lot of different musical eras. >> shirley temple is created as ahsha safai the nation with happens and light heartenness shirley temple my biggest influence i love david boo and el john and may i west coast their flamboyant and show people (singing) can't be unhappy as a dr. murase and it is so fun it is a joyful instrument i learned more about music by playing the piano it was interesting the way i was

brought up the youth taught me about music he picked up the a correspond that was so hard my first performing experience happened as 3-year-old an age i did executive services and also thanks to the lord and sank in youth groups people will be powering grave over their turk i'll be playing better and better back la i worked as places where men make more money than me i was in bands i was treated as other the next thing i know i'm in grants performing for a huge protection with a few of my friends berry elect and new berry elect and can be ray was then

and we kept getting invited back you are shows got better we made it to paris in 2005 a famous arc we ended up getting a months residencey other than an island and he came to our show and started writing a script based on our troop of 6 american burr elect performs in france we were woman of all this angels and shapes and sizes and it was very exciting to be part of the a few lettering elect scene at the time he here he was bay area born and breed braces and with glossaries all of a sudden walking 9 red carpet in i

walgreens pedestrian care. >> land for best director that was backpack in 2010 the french love this music i come back here and because of film was not released in the united states nobody gave a rats ass let's say the music and berry elect and performing doesn't pay very much i definitely feel into a huge depression especially, when it ended i didn't feel kemgd to france anymore he definitely didn't feel connected to the scene i almost feel like i have to beg for tips i hey i'm from the bay area and an artist you don't make a living it changed my represent tar to appeal and the folks that are coming into the wars these days

people are not listening they love the idea of having a live musician but don't really nurture it like having a potted plant if you don't warrant it it dizzy sort of feel like a potted plant (laughter) i'm going to give san francisco one more year i've been here since 1981 born and raised in the bay area i know that is not for me i'll keep on trying and if the struggle becomes too hard i'll have to move on i don't know where that will be but i love here so so much i used to dab he will in substances i don't do that i'm sober and part of the being is an and sober and happy to be able to play music and perform and express myself if i make.

>> few people happy of all ages i've gone my job so i have so stay is an i feel like the piano and music in general with my voice together i feel really powerful and strong

>> everything is done in-house. i think it is done. i have always been passionate about gelato. every single slaver has its own recipe. we have our own -- we move on from there. so you have every time a unique experience because that slaver is the flavored we want to make. union street is unique because of the neighbors and the location itself. the people that live around here i love to see when the street is full of people. it is a little bit of italy that is happening around you can walk around and enjoy shopping with gelato in your hand. this is the move we are happy to provide to the people. i always love union street because it's not like another

commercial street where you have big chains. here you have the neighbors. there is a lot of stories and the neighborhoods are essential. people have -- they enjoy having their daily or weekly gelato. i love this street itself. >> we created a move of an area where we will be visiting. we want to make sure that the area has the gelato that you like. what we give back as a shop owner is creating an ambient lifestyle. if you do it in your area and if you like it, then you can do it

>> as a woman of color who grew up in san francisco i understand how institutions can have an impact on communities of color. i think having my voice was important. that is where my passion lies

when the opportunity to lead an office in such a new space came up. i couldn't turn it down. i was with the district attorney's office for a little over nine years, if you include the time as an intern as well as volunteer da, all most 13 years. during the time with the da's office i had an opportunity to serve the community not only as the assistant district attorney but as director of community relations. that afforded the opportunity to have impact on the community in an immediate way. it is one thing to work to serve the rights of those without rights, victims.

it is really rewarding to work to to further the goals of our office and the commitment we have as city employees and advocates for people who don't have a voice. i don't know of anyone surprised to see me in this role. maybe people have an impression what the director of the office of cannabis should be like, what their beliefs should be. i smash all of that. you grew up in the inner city of san francisco. my career path is not traditional. i don't think a person should limit themselves to reach full potential. i say that to young women and girls. that is important. you want to see leadership that looks diverse because your path is not predetermined. i didn't wake up thinking i was going to be a prosecutor in my life. the city administrator reached out and wanted to have a conversation and gave me interest in the new role. i thought you must not know what i do for a living.

it was the opposite. she had foresight in realizing it would be helpful for somebody not only a former prosecutor but interested in shaping criminal justice reform for the city would be the right person for the space. i appreciate the foresight of the mayor to be open how we can be leaders in san francisco. i was able to transition to the policy space. here i was able to work on legislation, community relations, communication and start to shape the ways our office was going to reform the criminal justice system. it is fulfilling for me. i could create programs and see those impact people's lives. i am the change. it took truants youth to meet with civil rights movement leaders who fought to have access to education.

being a young person to understand that helped the young people realize this was an important thing to give up. what we find is that young people who are truanted have a really high homicide rate in our city, which is a sad statistic. we want to change that. >> coming from a community we are black and brown. i don't reach out to other people. i don't think they feel the same way. >> i had the great opportunity to work on prison reform issues and criminal justice reform issues. we created a program at san quentin where we brought district opportunities t to lifs and talk about how we are all impacted by the criminal justice system. we brought over 40 elected das to san quentin for the situation. now we are inviting the police department. our formerly incarcerated group

born out of this programming asked for the opportunity to work on a project where we could bring the men in blue on the outside to come speak to the men on blue inside to start the healing dialogue around how the criminal justice system specifically in san francisco impacts the community. i was attracted to the role. there was a component of equity that was part of this process. the equity community here in san francisco is a community that i had already worked with. before i took steps to visit cannabis businesses i thought it was important my team have a chance to go inside and speak to men who ha had been impacted. that conversation needed to happen so we know how we are making an impact with the work that we are doing. the da's office as we were leading up to the legalization of marijuana in the state we started having conversations on the policy team what that could

look like. the district attorney was really focused on the right side of history for this. we realized it would be quite a heavy lift for individuals who have been negatively impacted by the war on drugs to expunge the record. it was important to figure out the framework to make it seamless and easy. they put their minds to it after some time and many conversations the data analysts and other policy walk throughs on the team came up with the idea to engage the tech community in this process. code for america helped us developed the rhythm to be used for any jurisdiction across the state that was important to create a solution to be used to assist all jurisdictions dealing with this matter. the office of cannabis is the first office to have a completely digital application

process. we worked with the digital team to develop the online application. there are going to be hiccups. we are first to do it. it is one of the most rewarding parts to offer a seamless -- to offer a seamless approach. that is how they can find solutions to solve many of the community challenges. the best way to respond to prop 64 was to retroactively expunge 9,000 cannabis related records for san francisco. it feels like justice full circle for my personal experience. in the past i was furthering the war on drugs just as my directive. really coming from a place of public safety. that was the mandate and understanding. it is nice to see that pass a society we are able to look at some of our laws and say, you

know what? we got it wrong. let's get this right. i had the privilege of being in the existing framework. my predecessor nicole elliott did an incredible job bringing together the individuals super-passionate about cannabis. >> the office was created in july of 2017. i came in early 2018. i have been able to see the office's development over time which is nice. it is exciting to be in the space, stickily in thinking about her leadership. >> looking for the office it is always we might be before my time when i was working for the board oforboard of supervisors. i learn new things every day it is challenging and rewarding for me. >> we get the privilege to work in an office tha that is innova.

we get to spearhead the robust exprogram. >> i am excited she came on board to leverage experience as a prosecutor 10 years as we contemplate enforcements but approaching it without replicating the war on drugs. >> i was hired by cam laharris. i haven't seen a district attorney that looked kind of like me. that could be a path in my life. i might not have considered it. it is important that women and certainly women of color and spaces of leadership really do their part to bring on and mentor as many young people as they can. it is superimportant to take advantage of as many opportunities a as they can when they can intern because the doors are wide open. plans change and that is okay. the way this was shaped because i took a risk to try something

new and explore something and show that i was capable. you are capable, right? it was about leaning in and being at the table to say my voice matters. you find your passion, the sky >> hi. i am cory with san sky francisco and we're doing stay safe and we're going to talk about what shelter in place or safe enough to stay in your home means. we're here at the urban center on mission street in san francisco and joined by carla,

the deputy director of spur and one of the persons who pushed this shelter in place and safe enough to stay concept and we want to talk about what it means and why it's important to san francisco. >> as you know the bay area as 63% chance of having a major earthquake and it's serious and going to impact a lot of people and particularly people in san francisco because we live on a major fault so what does this mean for us? part of what it means is that potentially 25% of san francisco's building stock will be uninhibit tabl and people can't stay in their homes after an earthquake. they may have to go to shelters or leave entirely and we don't want that to happen.

>> we want a building stock to encourage them to stay in the homes and encourage them to stay and not relocate to other locations and shelters. >> that's right so that means the housing needs to be safe enough to stay and we have been focused in trying to define what that means and you as a former building official knows better than anybody the code says if an earthquake happens it won't kill you but doesn't necessarily say that can you stay in your home and we set out to define what that might mean and you know because you built this house we're in now and this shows what it's like to be in a place safe enough to stay. it's not going to be perfect. there maybe cracks in the walls and not have gas or electricity within a while but can you essentially camp out within your unit.

what's it going to take to get the housing stock up to this standard? we spent time talking about this and one of the building types we talk about was soft story buildings and the ground floor is vulnerable because there are openings for garages or windows and during the earthquake we saw in the marina they went right over and those are -- >> very vulnerable buildings. >> very and there are a lot of apartment buildings in san that that are like that. >> and time to. >> >> retrofit the buildings so people can stay in them after the earthquake. >> what do they need? do they need information? do they need

incentives? mandates? >> that's a good question. i think it starts with information. people think that new buildings are earthquake proof and don't understand the performance the building will have so we want a transparent of letting people know is my building going to be safe in it after an earthquake? is my building so dangers i should be afraid of being injured? so developing a ranking system for buildings would be very important and i think for some of the larger apartment buildings that are soft story we need a mandatory program to fix the buildings, not over night and not without financial help or incentive, but a phased program over time that is reasonable so we can fix those buildings, and for the smaller soft story buildings and especially in san francisco and the houses over garages we need

information and incentives and coaxing the people along and each of the owners want their house to be safe enough. >> we want the system and not just mandate everybody. >> that's right. >> i hear about people talking about this concept of resiliency. as you're fixing your knowledge you're adding to the city wide resiliency. >> >> what does that mean? >> that's a great question. what spur has done is look at that in terms of recovery and in new orleans with katrina and lost many of the people, hasn't recovered the building stock. it's not a good situation. i think we can agree and in san we want to rebuild well and quickly after a major disaster so we have defined what that means for our life lines. how do we need

the gasolines to perform and water perform after an earthquake and the building stock as well, so we have the goal of 95% of our homes to be ready for shelter in place after a major earthquake, and that way people can stay within the city. we don't lose our work force. we don't lose the people that make san francisco so special. we keep everybody here and that allow us to recover our economy, and everything because it's so interdependent. >> so that is a difficult goal but i think we can achieve it over the long time so thank you very much for hosting us and hosting this great exhibit, and thank you very much for joining

>> hello, my name is jamie harper. in this episode, we are featuring the park locations in your very own backyard. this is your chance to find your heart in san francisco with someone special. golden gate park's largest body of water is this lake, a popular spot for strolling and paddling around in boats, which can be rented. created in 1893, it was designed foreboding and -- for boating. it is named for the wild strawberries that once flores. a pleasant trail follows the

perimeter past huntington falls, 110 foot waterfall. two bridges connect the trail to the island. the climb to the hills summit, the highest point in golden gate park at more than four hundred feet. you can get quinces of the western side of the city through -- glimpes of the western side of city through a thick trees. the lake is ada accessible. it has a peaceful atmosphere where you can enjoy a warm day. walk along the lake and watched many ducks, and swans, and seagulls. it is a tranquil spot to stroll, enjoy each other's company, and sail away. many couples come here to take a ride around the lake, floating under the bridges, past the pavilion and waterfall. for a quiet getaway, it makes

for a memorable and magical experience. located on 19th avenue, this grove is the place to wear your hiking boots, bring your family, and bring the dog because it has so much to offer you and your loved ones. it is a truly hidden gem in the city. the part is rich with eucalyptus trees. long paths allow you to meander, perfect for dog walking in a wooded environment. >> i enjoy this base and the history behind it. the diversity that exists in such an urban city, the concrete, the streets, cars, we have this oasis of a natural

environment. it reminds us of what san francisco initially was. >> this is a section for dogs and plenty of parking. transit is available to get you there easily. and the part is ada -- park is ada accessible. there is also a natural lake. this is your chance to stroll and let the kids run free. it also has many birds to watch. it is the place to find some solitude from the city and appreciate what you share with a wonderful breath of fresh air. , an experienced this park and enjoy the peoples, picnics, and sunshine. this is a lovely place to take a stroll with your loved one hand in hand.

located in the middle of pacific heights on top of a hill, lafayette park offers a great square a of a peaceful beauty. large trees border greenery. it features tables and benches, a playground, restaurants, and tennis courts. there are plenty of areas for football, frisbee, and picnics. it is very much a couple's part and there are a multitude of experiences you can have together. bring your dog and watch the mean go with the community or just picnic at one of the many tables and enjoy all of the park has to offer. many couples find this is the perfect place to put down a blanket and soak up the sun. it is a majestic place you can share with someone you cherish. it is located along the 1 and 10 buses and is accessed from the

47 and 90 buses. it is ada accessible. for more information about reserving one of these locations, call 831-5500. this number is best for special events, weddings, picnics, and the county fair building. for any athletic fields and neighborhood parks, 831-5510. you can also write us. or walking in and say hello at old lock cabin, golden gate park. and of course you can find more information and reach us at sfrecpark.org.

>> hi, you're watching "coping with covid-19." today i'm going to the grocery store. now, i'm not an authority about the virus. i'm just showing you what i'm personally doing. to find out the most definitive and up-to-date information about the pandemic, i highly recommend the f.a.q. available at sf.gov. i'm taking a list and before i leave i put a sanitizing wind and pair of gloves into a plastic bag. i'm wearing a mask and taking the smallest number of items with me. just my car key, credit card, i.d. and the batching i'm not taking my phone with me. even if i use it to pay, i either have to touch the p.i.n. pad or sign the screen anyway. i'm concerned about cross-contamination. i don't want to transfer the virus from my gloves to the phone and then to my face. whin i get out of the car, i put on my gloves and get a grocery cart.

the essential workers at my store are doing a great job. they're sanitizing every cart and limiting the number of shoppers. having a cart can help you protect your space. in this store, there are two new science on the floor. one's directional to encourage everyone to take the same route around the store. the second is to remind shoppers to maintain a safe distance from each other. when i'm done shopping and ready to pay, i stand in line at least six feet from the shopper in front of me. after unloading my car at check out, i go past the cashier and pack my own bags. that is one less person touching my groceries and less of a burden on the store's employees. i thank the cashier and leave the store. on my drive home, i'm careful not to touch my face. i leave my outside shoes on the porch and as soon as i get through the door, i wash my hands for at least 20 seconds. next, i wipe down my debit card, i.d. and car key. and then i wipe down the front

doorknob, clean the sink taps and wash my hands again. i wash my vegetables in cold water and remove the package aing from my proteins and other items. i leave the nonperishables in my garage for a few days unless i need them immediately. my refrigerated items get a quick winddown to be on the safe side and, of course, i wacker my hands again. here's a quick recap of my visit to the grocery store. that is it for this episode. i hope you found it helpful.

>> hi, i'm chris manus is sfgov tv and you're watching "coping with covid-19." today i'm going to the gas station. [music playing] now, these are just my stories. i'm not a medical professional of any kind. i'm a video guy. and the reason i'm getting gas so we can go to the doctors.

if you want to get the most up-to-date and definitive information about the coronavirus pandemic, i highly recommend the f.a.q. that is available at sfgov. there's great info there. today i'm taking two plastic bags and a hair tie and following the new bay area guidelines and i'm wearing a mask. i'm taking the smallest number of items with me. just my car key, credit card, i.d., the bags and the hair tie. i don't want too many items to wipe down later. as aleave, i put on the outside shoes i've left on the porch. can i track the virus inside with my shoes? i honestly don't know. but my floors are cleaner now. when i get to the gas station, i get out of the car, remove the gas cap and put the big plastic bag on my right hand and secure it with a hair tie. there are three main share surfaces here i'm concerned about touching. the p.i.n. pad, the pump handle and the button to select my gas.

after i use my card, i put it into the smaller bag and stash it. most gas stations have a paper towel dispenser or maybe there is a piece of paper already in your car that you can use. once i fill my tank and replace the pump, i walk to the trash can, roll the hair tie up my arm and let the plastic bag fall into the can. on my drive home, i'm careful not to touch my face. i leave my outside shoes on the porch and as soon as i get through the door, i wash my hands for at least 20 seconds. next i wipe down my credit card, i.d. and my car key and, as an extra precaution, i wipe down the front door nob and clean the sink taps. finally, wash my hands again. that's it for this episode, i hope you found it helpful. thank you for watching.

at present. i never can tell whether it's preston o-peskin. >> peskin present. >> clerk: present. commissioner ronen? >> commissioner ronen: present. >> clerk: commissioner safai. >> supervisor commissioner stefani? walton absent. yee present. we have quorum. >> commissioner peskin: for you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes. public comment will be available

for each item on this agenda via telephone by calling (888)204-5984. enter access today 2858465. not sure if it's showing up on the screen. but then follow the system prompts. once you join, you'll be able to listen to the meeting as a participant. when you wish to speak on an item, dial 10 to be added to the queue to speak. each caller will be allowed two minutes to speak. when your two minutes are up, we will move on to the next caller. calls will be in the taken in the order in which they are received. best practices are to speak slowly, and turn down the volume on the speaker. please allow for a 30-second lag time during the course of the meeting. >> commissioner peskin: thank you, madam clerk. i move on to the chair's report.

colleagues, this month, amidst all of the incredible difficulties that transit is facing locally, regionally and nationally, i'm very pleased to share some good news on the funding front. last week the state transportation agency awarded $160 million to bay area transit and rail projects, including funds from muni, bart and the water transit authority. these funds come from the state's transit and inner city rail program, which advances projects that reduce emissions, while addressing high-priority mobility gaps. specifically muni will receive $40 million in funds to improve reliability and travel times for the jade line and m-line, as well as $1.1 million for project developments in the systems. bart will receive $111 million -- somebody needs to hit mute. all right. that's better.

bart will receive $111 million to implement pits transbay court capacity program, consisting of vehicle purchases, train control and maintenance facilities, that will enable bart to increase service to 30 trains per hour in each direction. and carry an additional 200,000 passengers per day. and the water transit authority will receive 9 million for a new ferry service between downtown san francisco and mission bay. the vessel and related charging infrastructure will provide a critical 2.6-mile link between mission bay and our downtown. we are, of course, very grateful to the state for making these investments and i want to appreciate secretary kim and his team for recognizing the central roles of muni, bart and bay area ferry to connect our region and director chang and i had a very

good meeting with secretary kim several months ago. and congratulations to all of the agencies on receiving these grants. and thank you to our state delegation and staff, who supported these applications. i look forward to working on each of these projects with all of you to make transit more reliable and resilient. and with that, colleagues, i conclude my remarks. is there any public comment on the chair's report? >> clerk: chair, there is no public comment. >> commissioner peskin: okay. public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: sorry. hard time getting unmute button there. consent agenda. items 4-8 comprise the consent agenda. item has- 5-8 board meeting and

no being considered for final approval. the remaining items are considered routine. staff is not planning to present on these items, but are prepared to present. oh, i'm sorry. i read the wrong item. item 3 is the executive director's report. this is an information item. >> commissioner peskin: thank you, madam clerk. director chang, the floor is yours. >> thank you, chair peskin and commissioners. i'll begin my report with the continuing federal response to the pandemic. of course, congress last week passed the paycheck protection program, previously funded for $349 million. and transit operators, however, continue to strug well the covid impact on their revenues and ridership. on april 22 bed, the m.t.c., metropolitan transportation commission, on which commissioner ronen sits,

approved a strategy to distribute the bay area's $1.3 billion share of the federal cares act relief funds for the transit operators. this includes immediate allocation of $780 million via formula to address the short-term revenue losses, including $197 million to sfmta, muni, $251 million for bart, and $49 million for caltrain. sfmta has sent a letter to the m.t.c. commission and executive director theresa mcmillan, which i'm included in the report. this requests m.t.c. distribute future funding, according to equity issues and allocations that considerations that were not adequately addressed in the first transfer of funds. so that's something that we continue to track with m.t.a.

staff. m.t.c. directed staff at the time to establish a transit blue ribbon panel to make recommendations for future funding from the cares act. and to provide guidance for transit operators to ensure that regional connectivity is maintained with a focus on equity. and this really means ensuring that transit-dependent communities and essential workers are able to maintain access to jobs and transit. we're working with the commissioners to provide input to this process. on the federal front, again we continue to work with partner agencies to identify and advance san francisco's priorities for future potential relief packages or infrastructure bills. additional near-term relief needs include state and local governments, of course, which include state and local departments of transportation, transit systems, which will continue to need funds and support beyond the initial cares act three. and also the toll agencies of

the nation, who are seeking $9 billion to replace lost user fees. on the long-range front, our latest understanding is that congress will likely not take up any infrastructure legislation until they reconvene in june. in the meantime, we are tracking whether they opt for a short-term extension of the current fast axe, a full multi-year reauthorization of the transportation bill, or a one-time economic stimulus bill. so in any case, the drastically reduced gas tax receipts will exacerbate the issues, which were already quite dire, presenting continuing challenges about the debate over how to fund long-term infrastructure investments. moving over to again the tircp grant funds award that the chair just announced. we're so pleased that the bay area did well this cycle. we want to congratulate all of the project sponsors. we want to also thank our state

delegation and several staff amber and michelle for their work with the mayor's office and all of the sponsors on this effort. we did coapply with funds with the water emergency transit authority. and are pleased that the electric ferry was awarded and hope that we will be able to build on that for the taillefery service in the future. turning to local issues. our team continues to coordinate with partners on tracking the revenue for the t.m.c. tax and developing guidelines to administer the revenues once they do come in. i will note they've come lower than pre-covid. due to the impacts, however, of covid we do expect revenue to be much lower and for that reason we would like to propose that we bring this item for the board later in this year. and we'll work with chair peskin and yee and others of you to