can. my name is beverley upton. i'm the executive director of a 17-member domestic violence consortium. the san francisco domestic violence consortium. i'm so happy to be in my 19th year. the members of the domestic violence consortium have domestic violence programming at their core. in addition to the 17 agencies, we probably have another 30 or 40 brother and sister agencies that do domestic violence work, certainly worthy, but of the consortium, our members are primarily domestic violence agencies. when we look at who's doing domestic violence work in san francisco, again this is who we see as the front line. of course, as supervisor stefani has mentioned, just like suicide issues and other issues, they pop up everywhere. right? so of course people in other

areas see domestic violence as well, in youth programs, family shelters, homeless shelters. lots and lots of social services. it affects every community, every community holds the seeds that hold domestic violence in place and they also hold the seeds of liberation. and we are honored to be a part of this. that said, i want to say that our community is really broad and deep. emberly and i could never represent the 60 languages and the breadth and depth and diversity of the folks that are doing this work 24/7 in san francisco. so let's start. i will share -- this is my first time doing this. so bear with me. if not, if it doesn't work, i'm walk you right through it. our main home for this work is the department and the commission on the status of women. so the first thing i plan on

sharing is the cofb report from last fiscal year oking? here we go. well i don't see it at all. [laughter] oh. let me try it one more time. but i will not waste your time because i can walk you through this and you all have the doc. but i'm going try it one more time. john was so patient with me. i'm sure we can do this. there we go. let's try. nope. how is that? >> we are seeing a tile that has b.u. for your initials at this time. it did work in our -- in our -- >> it did work. >> wait a minute. something did just pop up. >> it briefly worked. >> ok.

we'll track it one more time and again i won't waste the committee's time. we'll just keep moving. >> this a powerpoint presentation? >> try it one more time. >> what are you seing? >> you'll want to use the floating menu to select a share option. >> you got it. >> very good. >> and just so you know, i can't see it anja see any of you. so i'm just going to move forward. ok? anja see you. but of course i have my copy. so, the community is made up of two crisis lines. now other agencies do have crisis lines. but the city contract with women inc. for the domestic violence crisis line will be here with their initial post covid numbers in a few minutes and san francisco women against

rape for sexual assault crisis line. there are three domestic violence shelters in san francisco. they are comfortial. -- they are confidential and they are life saving services and we'll talk more about them. i'll just say that they have done a fantastic job in keeping the services up and running and keeping survivors and their families safe. they never stopped sheltering people. i also think this is a great time to say that much like my colleague at suicide prevention department of public health, dr. lee kimberg is our liaison. she started meeting with the shelters, the transitional housing programs and the departments on the status of women and the domestic violence consortium every week to help make sure that they were trained and ready of whatever covid demanded of them and so far it has been successful. thank you so much.

i mentioned transitional housing. there are four transitional housing programs in the city and then there are about 25, 26 programs in the city that are advocacy, training and i call them the beloved community. those may not be traditional violence agencies. they might be community united against violence. those may be cameron house. those may be lyric. but they are the beloved community and the communitis that they serve and the neighborhoods that they're in trust them literally with their lives and domestic violence is part of their overall work. and certainly worthy of our support always. then we have five legal programs and i'll count them off, although i'm so glad emberly is here. i'll start with hers.

the consume k*if restraining order clinic, the justice adiversity center of the san francisco bar association, bay area legal aid and asian pacific islander legal outreach and then legal services at work. and that kind of makes up the community. those agencies, as you can see by this report, are all funded by the departments on the status of women. i'm going to try to -- ok. hop out of there. yes? ok. all right. so, if we look at -- you can see their numbers before. one of the things i will say is that san francisco turns to its community-based service providers first. for many reasons. you can imagine that the immigrant community may feel much safer where they're not concerned about any immigration issues, that speaks their language and understands any of their cultural issues.

the lgbtq community may feel more comfortable speaking with somebody who understands their issues as well. and then certainly san francisco mostly through asian women's shelter but certainly other agencies as well speak over 50 languages and so really that's where the community turns for support. when we look at the family violence council numbers, you'll see that they're asking for support from the community before reaching out to 9-1-1 and law enforcement. if we look at the post covid numbers -- i'm going to do this again -- can you see these? >> it's like it is updating. we can see it, but it looks to have a very peculiar zoom. it's only letting us see a small quarter of the upper left

hand corner. >> why don't i let us out of that and i'll just walk you through it. i'll be brief. >> for members of public who may be watching this meeting, i will have copies of all these presentations attached in a legislative research center so you can refer to them in the future. >> thank you so much. so, these are some of the freshest numbers that we have. and when the media calls, when the chronicle calls, when atlantic magazine calls and wants to know how things are in the post covid domestic violence atmosphere, we really look first to our [inaudible] line calls. and so i think we're seeing and my agencies have -- and my member agencies have been helping me think about this because the first couple of weeks, we saw women inc.'s numbers alone go up. 130%. so that was, you know, quite

alarming. but they were able to handle the demand and they've just done a great job in counseling people, setting up support groups. they had support groups before, but nofk shelter in place, we had to figure out how to work remotely and then working with survive, you even have more of a challenge because you have confidentiality and safety as the corner stone of your work. and so that is, you know, even more challenging. so if we look a their crisis line numbers, for march, 885 calls. april it went down to 738. and in may, just a few -- first few week, down to 220. >> earlier than usual. >> am i -- ok here? ok. which kind of mirror what is our colleagues from suicide prevention said and my agency have been really helpful in helping me think about these.

so the first two weeks it looks like people panicked. they did not feel safe, they weren't used to being kind of locked down with somebody that may have abused them in the past or that they were afraid of. and so they reached out in record numbers. those first few weeks we're looking at for women inc. a 130% increase. huge. huge. the next few weeks, people realized that the services were going to be there for them. that they could reach the crisis line 24 hours a day. that those who had no other options other than shelter could still find some safety. now the shelters -- and i don't mean to speak for them -- that is a service area worthy of its own hearings. but they really had to respond to covid by doing social

distancing, more single rooms for single adults. certainly keeping families together. and so they were still able to stay open in the covid era. but i think the community also benefited by the now apartments that became available through the d.a.'s office and the mayor's office in veritas. later, in the last few weeks, the d.a.'s office has helped find a few hotel rooms that additional survivors and their children mostly could be in to ensure their safety. so, right now we're not totally at capacity. but the need is there and, of course, we're all worried and want to be ready for post covid. i think this might be a good time for me to ask emberly if

she had anything she wanted to share about any of the legal programs. i also want to thank emberly and her team over at restraining order clinic two have never stopped meeting and serving clients since day one. thoughts? >> i believe that your mic is muted. and it will be up to you to unmute your own mic. so if you bring your cursor near the center of your screen, you'll have a floating menu that pops up and one of options you have besides turn camera off is unmute. >> there. am i unmuted? >> yes, you are. >> thank heavens. thank you. good morning, everybody. i'll add really quickly what the legal services organizations and the court -- the courts have been doing during this time. the legal services organization in san francisco have continued

to assist domestic violence survivors, of course, throughout the shelter in place period. it is obviously more difficult to do this work when the survivor is sheltering in place or quarantining. it's even more difficult when they are sheltering in place with the person who's harming them, what that has meant is we, you know, scheduled 10, 15-minute phone calls when the survivor is able to talk. we do a lot of it over text, when that is safe and when the person who's harming them does not have access to their phone. it means everything takes a little bit longer. primarily we've been doing our work with survivors through zoom or over the phone. but there are archaic rules and it has to have either an original signature or a faxed signature on it. i think one of our clients

during this time has had access to a printer and a fax machine which means we had to get original signatures. we can't used scanned and e-mailed signatures so we meet with clients either outside our building where my office is in the women's building and the mission or we meet with the survivor outside her home and do close to a social distanning as we can as we hand over pleadings and a pen that we have a survivor use to sign the forms and then we have the survivor keep the pen. the court -- each county's courts have responded to this emergency in their own way. san francisco courts, you know, have stayed open with reduced services but they have continued to handle restraining orders every single day. the court has been reviewing restraining order requests

every day during this process. they have also continued to have hearings on restraining orders live in person hearings, prioritizing cases where the parties have children together to attorneys at court every wednesday throughout this period to staff the domestic violence restraining orders through wednesday morning and to be there with their clients. certainly folks have the option to appear by phone. the court prefers that. but a lot of people just aren't able to do that or are really nervous about doing thatful they want to be in the courtroom and see that they are being seen and see that they are heard by the judge. and they have physical evidence that they want the judge to look at. so we've been in charge of maintaining social distancing in the hallways outside the courtroom. we bring one case at a time into the courtroom to be heard by the judge.

the attorneys have sanitized the tables and the chairs and the microphones after each case. we worked very closely with the court. i would really like to give a shout-out to the presiding judge of family court in san francisco. judge monaco wily. she has been in contact with us from the beginning expressing her concerns that domestic violence survivors need to know that the court is open and is having these hearings and is there during this period and they have been there for them. unless folks have questions that's really all that i had prepared. but i'm happy to answer any questions, of course. >> chair, i have a few follow-up questions, thank you, both to beverley and emer by already if the incredible work you are doing. you answered my question about being able to still get restraining orders so i'm glad that we're geting this information out there and, like i said, thank you for going out there and doing that work.

we'll have to change those archaic rules somehow. so, we'll be looking into that. i know that's probably a state thing, but still [inaudible]. so beverley, i saw the materials that we reviewed be ever this, that only 14% of reported cases that were reported actually to the police department were presented to the district attorney and i'm wondering if you can discuss why such a small percentage make it to the d.a.'s office. >> certainliful actually, this might be a good segue just to run through those numbers a little bit. those are the family violence council numbers. i won't struggle with sharing them. you have them and they're available to the public. i will also say that they're a draft. some joined us from your office, supervisor, last wednesday. and the family violence council wants to take one more month and look over our numbers. so, what you have is now a draft. i thought it was going to pass. but it didn't. and for good reason. so, one of things that we

really want -- that we see again echoed is how many calls are coming in to the community. last year, reported to the family violence council 8647. only about 7,000 to 9-1-1. but supervisor, i think your point about how many calls actually get through the district attorney's office is one of the issues that we want to meet with them further about. but it is always possible in a 9-1-1 call, especially that more than one person is calling about a call. and there is kind of a process, as you all know, from public safety for how domestic violence cases get ultimately to the d.a.'s office and sometimes it can be quite a long journey. right? so they may start by calling 9-1-1. 9-1-1 will probably send out a police car. but of those 7,000 calls, they're not all 7,000 separate cases. right? so then you have a responding

officer in certain areas right now. there's a pilot project where that officer even has an advocate on call to speak with a survivor when they roll up to the scene of the crime. so -- or the domestic violence perhaps incident. so then it goes from the responding officers and again this is worthy of its own hearing. this is not my area of expertise other than my experience. then it goes to the special victims unit as do child abuse, elder abuse, stalking, trafficking, financial crimes and internet crimes against children. so, it is quite a busy unit, special victims unit. those cases go there and then they're investigated. that takes some time and then

they're presented to the d.a.'s office and then the d.a.'s office decide what is their course of action is going to be. and there are many factors and, again, not my area, but worthy of its own conversation, i think. but you are seeing what the domestic violence community nationally sees which is the pyramid. i'm holding my hands like this, right, is it really starts in the community and then it builds and that can be the seriousness of the domestic violence. it can also be more third-party involvement. schools, neighbors. then you see the most serious cases being presented and then the decision in the district attorney's office how to take them forward and i'll just say, you know, the domestic violence consortium and i would say nationally the domestic violence community does not see

mass incarceration as a solution to domestic violence. that said, certainly there are individual cases that present public safety risks so those are cases that you would want to know more about and how the community and the criminal justice system is responding to those cases. i would also say one good criminal justice response that we have seen is really fast tracking the text program for 9-1-1. so for survivors that did not feel safe in calling and verbally talking about what their issue was, to be able to text, has been a big step forward. we have a couple of model cities, l.a. and here in the bay area, richmond that we know of and there could be more. it's just getting off the ground, it is not perfect.

it only recognizes english right now and no character languages other than the roman -- or the alphabet. there's clearly more work to be done. we're also honored to sit at the language access work group with the police department and the department of police accountability and move through the this pandemic. we certainly want to have equity for all of these services. but that said, it is still a huge step in the right direction. >> thank you for that answer. i will definitely be following up with you on all of that. especially we need to make sure that it's not just in english, the text so i want to follow up on that for sure. and everything you said about s.v.u., i think that there is some more digging we can do there. i also had in the materials -- you know how i am about gun violence and especially for being a woman in the united

states given the fact that we're awash in guns and seems like there was a 44% increase in armed assailants and which is very dangerous for women, not just women, but typically it's usually women. and i'm wondering if you have any insight into what caused that increase. i know we've seen a lot of panic buying of weapons. if you can touch on that a little bit. >> i would be happy to. i have to say that i've really been relying on our colleagues at the giffords foundation for their breadth of knowledge around domestic violence and gun safety. we are seing is panicked gun buying, especially just like the crisis line, right? up 130%. so, gun violence -- gun buying and panic ammunition buying from current gun owners just skyrocketed and this is anecdotetal, but i was on a webinar the other day and a

gentleman, retired a.c.f. agent said that the first few days after the shelter in place nationally were the highest gun buying days since 9/11. so, whatever that means, that's -- you can interpret that 100 different ways but i think it is significant. another thing he brought up was how many people are first-time gun owners. buying guns for the first time. some people certainly are using it to intimidate their partners and their families. some people have a misguided idea that somebody will come for their toilet paper someday and want to be able to defend themselves. but it is very serious. we're in an unprecedented time of seeing untrained gun owners locked in their homes with their partners and their children. that is concerning and i know

supervisor stefani shares our concern. now certainly our colleagues at the sheriff's department and probation are going out and trying to retrieve guns from partis that have restraining orders against them. but, of course, it's -- you know, it is quite concerning and we have lots of people who are brand-new gun owners who just went out in the first few weeks after covid and applied and if they didn't have any criminal background, they might be able to buy their gun fairly early and what we learned from this retired a.t.f. officer is because shelter in place, most people have not received any training. >> you have people out there with brand-new guns, lots of ammunition, lots of stress, possible past abuse lots of tension in sheltering in place with their families. very disturbing. >> thank you. and before i turn it over to my colleagues, i just wanted to

follow up. i know emberly we talked about the restraining orders, the domestic violence restraining orders. but there are several types and beverley brought up something that i've been working on. as we pass legislation on to create a restraining order program. for those people who have guns and may not have had a domestic violence incident yet, a gun violence restraining order is something that people can still get at this time. that is restraining order that if you believe that somebody is a danger to themselves or others and has guns -- has weapons that need to be taken out of home you can petition the court and reach out for what's called a gun violence restraining order. if you can touch on that really quick. >> yeah. the judge who issues the gun violence restraining orders has continued reviewing those restraining orders. i don't have information on any petitions of those that have been filed during this time. that same judge is reviewing

every day the petitions for what we call civil harassment restraining orders. that is a similar type of restraining order to the domestic violence in that it can order the restrained party to have no contact with the protected party and to stay away from the protected party. civil harassment orders are used in situations where the party did not have a relationship that would make it a domestic violence restraining order. croc, for example, assists survivors of sexual assault and stalking who are outside the context of a relationship. in getting those civil harassment orders. the judge has been issuing temporary restraining orders but there have not been hearings happening in those cases, temporary restraining orders have stayed in effect but the hearing dates keep getting what we call continued or postponed until it's going to be safe for everyone in the courtroom. the court is planning to re-open services on monday.

on june 1 with safety precautions in place for social distancing and limited number of people in the elevator. so it will take longer practically speaking to get into your courtroom for your hearings. just because you go upstairs in the elevator and they have limited number. but the court is re-opening and i expect we'll see those hearings happening soon. >> thank you very much. if there's anybody that would like to ask any additional questions? >> i have a couple. domestic violence and relationship to homeless and i know it is a big, huge giant topic and particularly [inaudible] with their partners because they are afraid of losing their housing and then what happens when they do go seek hem and then add on the overlay of the pandemic and the

sort of challenge -- my understanding is the increased challenge of finding any kind of shelter anywhere that is letting people in. and there are people on the street and i'm thinking of a particular woman in my district who was actually -- i think she had even got and restraining order. but if you are on the street and live one block down from your domestic violence abuser, this is very complicated. and so -- and dangerous, actually. and so i with wondering if you could talk a little bit about the way these things are overlaying, domestic violence, housing insecurity and then covid on top of that and what's available for women who are

currently housed but fear the loss of that housing if they separate from their abusive partner and what is available if you are ton streets attached to someone who is abusive. if anything. >> it is a complicated and complete response. i'll start by saying that studies show us that domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness for women and children. that people will leave their homes to try to keep their children safe. and parents in general end up homeless due to domestic violence. certainly we do work with the family shelters. i'm thinking of hamilton house and a few others to try to support families who may have

been facing homelessness and may have domestic violence and may be trying to stay together. right? and then i think we have a more complex and effective solution which is trying to work with folks that may already be unsheltered. [please stand by] providers right now are stretched.

they were already stretched beyond the breaking point. now there is even less available. i don't know if -- with the family shelter, i don't know if it's the same kind of imperatives around thinning out, because family shelters have their own bathrooms. i have concerns. >> of course, you do. >> [laughter]. as well you should. but i do think, you know, the community is broad, deep and diverse. so we are able to pull in communities, especially folks working with unsheltered women. as i mentioned like safe house and the glenda hope center over in the tenderloin. certainly glide has been helpful. but i think your instincts are right, supervisor mandelman. this is going it be very, very difficult. >> supervisor stefani: can i add, from the legal side, if someone decides they want to request a restraining order, one

of the forms of release is a resident exclusion or move-out order. so someone can go in and get them ordered out of the home. but that gets complex because we're working with so many survivors, they don't want to become homeless themselves. and they also don't want their partner to become homeless. so they decide not to file for a restraining order. we see the same thing with police, because so many survivors don't want -- in general -- to have this person arrested or put in jail, but especially don't want it to because they're afraid the person might either get exposeed to covid -- although i'm glad to hear we're not having this in san francisco -- or the person might not be held at all after arrested and might be much

angrier the police were called at all. we have heard that the person just cut off the ankle monitor and left it on their mailbox or texted a photo to them. >> supervisor mandelman: that raises my second bucket of questions, which i know is not the primary topic of this hearing, but it kind of goes up to it. which is also covid-related and what is happening with the imperative around sending out to jail which is from a public health perspective correct. but i have also heard these stories. i don't have a sense of whether it's anecdotal or systemic. you know, situations where abuser is taken in but is essential out immediately. you know and in part i'm understanding because of the imperatives of the change policy around covid and not holding

people. and that the most likely place for that person to go after being released, you know, if the abused party is willing -- is willing to have them back is for them to go right back to that home. which is challenging. or they can just, as you're describing, if you're threatening and taking a picture of the broken ankle monitor and then eventually communicating, i could come for you any time i want to. it raises, again -- again, i don't want to say this is more than anecdote. but if it's happening in a systemic way, we are going to have horrible stories. we're going to be, you know, vexed in thinking we could have

done something differently for having created an untenable situation where we're pushing abusers and abused back into each other's worlds. i don't know if you have anything to say about what is happening with the jail protocols. and the way these crimes are getting left right now. but i was curious about your perspective? >> i'll jump in on this. that we've been really leaning on our sheriffs department. on our partners in the sheriffs department. deputy sheriff kathy gorewood and michele fisher has been so sensitive to this issue. they started doing victim notification early on when it looked like early releases were going to start happening. so they've been doing this for quite some time, but they really raised the bar. they're watching very closely. and then contacting the survivor, the victim in the

case, if they can, to let he or she know their partner, their abusive partner has been released. so it's certainly not perfect. it's certainly not bulletproof, but it is a step in the right direction. and we just find ourselves in this very unique and very complex time i think in the criminal justice system. especially married with the covid. >> that adds a whole additional layer to all of these problems. which is why it's a good thing that supervisor stefani called for this hearing. >> yes. yes. i forgot something. i just wanted while we're all here, say food security from our agency to the folks that they're working with, it's not in the numbers i don't believe, but i remember speaking the first week

or two, and they let us know their board had appropriated $2400 for them to give to clients. those are survivors of domestic violence who were worried about how they were going to put food on their table for their kids mostly. and that we're seeing in every aspect, every layer of the services. the beloved community that i talked about, cameron house, glide, they're giving out groceries at record numbers. families are afraid of not being able to take care of their kids and put food on the table. also sometimes it's also one of the factors in the abuse. if you leave, you can't come back. or if you don't leave -- so -- but anyway, survivors of domestic violence are doing really a lot of extra work to try to, you know, secure food for their kids and their families. and so this is an area where the

domestic violence community has really stepped up. and you know, i'll also just share much as my colleague from suicide prevention did, we, too, are up for serious budget cuts for direct services. as you know, i don't do direct service but i work with those who do on a daily, daily, minute by minute basis. the commission on status of women met last night. they don't see any other way around an r.f.p. that would reallocate $500,000 and mayor is looking at another $500,000+ cut. that is a million dollars out of direct services. so that is very, you know -- that is worrisome because we're all worried about what happens when things start to loosen up. are we going to be overrun? are we going to be able to meet the need? so instead of hiring this staff, the agencies might be looking at

reducing staff. we don't want to find ourselves there if we can help it. >> very alarming. well, unless vice chair stefani has more or supervisor walton has comments or questions -- >> i didn't even tell you guys. i'm concerned -- >> you got something going on. >> no comments or questions on my end, sorry about that. >> got it. okay. thank you, supervisor walton. so, mr. clerk, any public comments? >> thank you, mr. chair. operations will check to see if there are callers in the queue. let us know if there are callers ready. for those already connected, press star and then 9 to be added to the queue. for those already on hold in the queue, continue to wait until you're prompted at the beep. for those watching our meeting

on channel 26, sfgovtv, if you wish to speak in, please call in by following the instructions on your screen. (415) 665-0001. enter the access code, 9261 926116335. >> mr. chair, there are no callers wishing to speak. >> thank you. we will then close public comment. vice chair stefani, any concluding remarks? >> yes. thank you. i just want to thank linea, beverly, for coming and presenting today. you are three incredible women that i admire greatly. thank you for the work that you do. and thank you for the work that your organizations do.

it's absolutely critical to keeping our residents safe. i want to thank our partners that beverly mentioned. those running the shelters and the legal agencies. as you mentioned, beverly, our beloved community who helped guide all this work. and really saves lives. and also want to thank again my staff andy and sam. sam is representing me on the family virus council. andy for helping put this hearing together. i'm very lucky to have those two working with me on this. the final thing i want to say. for whoever is watching or might be scrolling later on when this is replaying on sfgovtv. and who is struggling. again, i cannot emphasize enough. the strongest thing you can do is ask for help. there is no shame in needing it. the stigma around anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts and recovery and addiction and

all of that, has to go. there are so many people that are in your same circumstances that you might not think are. and you're not alone. so, please, have that courage to pick up the phone and call someone. and in doing so, you really create a pathway forward for so many other people who are struggling as well. so, i just want to say, please, there is no shame, reach out, we are here for you, we will make sure the resources are always there. and finally, given what we're seeing going on. we all alluded to it in terms of what we're going through with covid-19 and this time year under and the angst and the anxiety and how people are treating one another. we see it from the top down, how ugly it can really be. i was thinking about the one quote that people say. be kind. because you don't know what other people might be going through. and i used to tell my staff when

i was county clerk that they might think they're just helping someone with a marriage license. or they might think they might be helping someone get a birth certificate. but in that interaction with another human being, you smile at them, ask them how they're doing, compliment them. you have the power, really, to turn someone's day around. so just be kind. and i know we're all going through difficult times. again, that's okay. but i want to thank my colleagues and thank everybody that presented today. i think this is a topic that is so incredibly important to me for many different reasons. and again i can't thank you all enough for this. with that, supervisor mandelman, i would like to make a motion to file the hearing. >> supervisor mandelman: all right. we will vote on that motion. mr. clerk? >> on the motion offered by vice chair stefani that the matter be

heard in file. stefani aye. walton. walton aye. mandelman aye. mr. chair, there are three ayes. >> supervisor mandelman: motion passes. mr. clerk? thank you. vice chair, stefani. thank you to all of our speakers. >> it was an honor to be here. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: mr. clerk, any other items today? >> there is no further business. >> supervisor mandelman: then we are adjourned. thank you, thanks, everybody. have a good rest of your day. >> thank you, you, too. >> thank you. ly appreciate our

state leaders supporting us during these unprecedented and uncertain times, and thank you to the industry for your support and your continued support and for coming out with your questions and being certainly engaged in this process. so first i want to thank our esteemed guests today. we have treasury fiona mah. we have state senator scott weiner and senior advisor to the governor, nicole eliot, and i will briefly read their bios for you and then we are going to sort of jump into it. i know we have about an hour. i want to make sure that we use our time wisely. i'm marissa rodriguez, the director of the office of cannabis. we also have eugene hillsman, deputy director of the office of cannabis and jeremy schwartz who is a permanent analyst with the

office of cannabis as well. so fiona mah was elected to serve as california's 34th state's treasurer. the state treasurer's office provides financing for schools, roads, housing and other critical infrastructure projects that better the lives of californians. previously treasurer mah was a member of the state assembly from 2006 to 2012 and prior to serving there, the treasurer served on the san francisco board of supervisors from 2002 to 2006, representing district 4. thank you, treasurer mah for being here. it's so nice to have you and it's so nice to have one of our own as everyone on this call today. so if you'd like to take this time to share with our community your thoughts on what's happening right now and any support for the cannabis community that you'd like to share. >> sure. can you hear me?

>> -- our own, everyone on this call today. so if you'd like -- take this time to share with our community your thoughts on what's happening right now and any support for the cannabis community that you'd like to share. >> sure. can you hear and see me? >> i can. thank you. >> all right. there i am. thank you, marissa, for pulling us all together and for everyone who's on the call who has been staying in touch and keeping in touch and very, very frustrated during this time where the federal government is helping most everybody else except if you're in the cannabis industry, which is not very fair, as we all know. over a year ago i testified in

congress on the bill, the safe banking act as some of you remember. it finally did have a hearing earlier. i think it was -- was it when the democrats took over congress again and it got through the lower house, but it is, once again, stuck in the senate. i know that some have been trying to get cannabis in some of the stimulus packages or assistance, however, because cannabis is still a schedule 1 drug, they are not eligible for many of the assistive programs that are coming out of the federal government. however, california is a little different, as we all know. not only in california can you deduct your ordinary and necessary business expenses against your income, unlike at the federal level, but we have

really tried to move this industry forward the best that we can, at least here in california. so many of you, all of you, should be paying your tax, your sales taxings to the california department of fee administration. there was a 90-day deferral on paying and filing your first quarter sales tax return. in addition, if you do need working capital, you may qualify to take a $50,000 loan and defer payment on a year. your annual sales revenues have to be less than $5 million, so that may not pertain to some of the bigger companies, but some of the smaller companies may be able to take advantage of this. and you need to call the california department of tax and fee administration and register for this program. again, it is interest free,

$50,000 loan for up to a year, and you need to call sdtfa to figure out and sign up for their instalment plan. so unfortunately that's kind of the only program that is related to some sort of relief for the cannabis industry. the i-bank also has put money into a loan loss reserve for [indiscernible] however, the only way you will be eligible for that money is if your bank is accepting cannabis clients, and i know there's probably close to two dozen banks now in california that have legally applied to take cannabis clients on, so you all know who you are out there. but definitely check your -- the ibank.ca.gov and see whether your participating lender

participates in that and you may be eligible and qualify to get certain loans from the i-bank. so that's about all i have to report right now, and i will be here for the duration to answer any questions you may all have. >> thank you, fiona. we certainly appreciate your leadership, your unwavering support of the cannabis industry. you were instrumental in this webinar happening, so i thank you for that. we are live here at the emergency operating center for the city as we put this webinar out to our community. again thank you everyone for tuning in. next we have our senator, state senator scott weiner who was elected in november 2016, senator scott weiner represents district 11 in the california state senate. district 11 includes all of san francisco, broadmoor, daily city and portions of south san francisco. the senator helped to champion compassionate cannabis care programs by introducing senate

bill 34 which was approved by the governor in 2019. prior to his election to the state senate, he served on the board of supervisors representing district 8. thank you and happy to have you on the call, senator. >> thank you very much for -- excuse me, for having me, and hello remotely to treasurer ma and to nicole. and hello, i'm sorry to be here by phone, but i hope you can hear me okay. hello to the entire cannabis community. we're going through some really hard times right now as a community, and we all need to look to the light at the end of the tunnel. we are going to get through this, and our goal needs to be that when we do get through it we can get both individuals and

businesses back up on their feet, and so a lot of the work that we're doing right now is just to try to preserve the status quo, to keep renters stable in their homes so we don't have mass evictions, either now or after the worst of the emergency when people have massive back rents that they are expected to pay right away. we don't want that. we want to make sure that we're stabilizing people, and we want to make sure that we're stabilizing businesses in their spaces, and non-profits, so that we don't see permanent mass closure of small businesses and non-profits, and so we're working on a few pieces of legislation. on the residential side i'm working with someone on legislation to protect renters and i'm also offering legislation that's 939 to try to stabilize small businesses and non-profits in their retail and office spaces by saying no moratoriums -- or no evictions,

and we're going to have to deal with how we look at back rent. and then we're going to have to particularly for hospitality businesses, like restaurants and bars, that when they do reopen we will be required legally to have much lower capacity so that their business model no longer matches up with the rent in their lease, and we're going to need to address that as well. so we are working on these issues. specific to cannabis, we all advocated successfully in san francisco, and i know in other places it happened -- not everywhere -- to classify cannabis as an essential business, and that was a real win. and i'm glad that it happened. but i know that the industry is really struggling right now, like all small businesses are. and in particular not being

eligible for the federal small business loan, forgivable loan program. i know that's a huge hit and just one more example of the irrationality of our federal law. can't get any of these benefits. it's not okay. in terms of the legislature this year, we are going back into session. we've been in recess for about six weeks due to the pandemic. the assembly returns to session on monday. the senate returns the following monday, on may 11, and we will be pursuing a more limited policy agenda this year around covid-19, of course, but also around some of the highest priority areas, like housing and homelessness and mental health, addiction, wildfires and so forth. and so we're all reducing the

number of bills that we have and making them much more focused. i don't know that this year is going to be a big year for cannabis. i know there are some bills that have been introduced, and i'm sure that some things will happen, but i was hoping that this year we would be able to, you know, finally pass the tax reductions, you know, the tax -- the state taxes are too high and are i think really stifling the industry and encouraging the elicit market. so that's something we have to address. weren't able to get it done last year. and then we have to deal with the issues of cities just effectively banning cannabis, and big swaths of california where it's effectively illegal, and so -- but i'm not confident that either of those are going to get resolved this year

because just of everything that's happening. but stay tuned. we'll keep working, and again, thank you to everyone for all you do. >> thank you, senator. we really appreciate that, and we certainly appreciate your continued support of the industry as well. certainly difficult times, unprecedented times. there is no one who's immune to this, and we certainly appreciate that, and also appreciate the fact that we are deemed essential during these times. but you know, still, there's a huge impact and we want to see what ways and how we can support the industry to get through this. so thank you and we appreciate having you on this call. next we have senior advisor on cannabis to the governor, nicole eliot. we know nicole very well, and we are so appreciative that you could take this call today. ms. eliot serves as governor's senior advisor on cannabis.

prior to her current post, she was appointed san francisco's first director of the san francisco office of cannabis where she helped to set up cannabis's regulatory framework and permitting process. she has worked in a number of capacities with city and county -- with the city and county of san francisco, including stints as a deputy board liaison and director of legislative and government affairs in the mayor's administration. thank you for being here. this community really values you and appreciates that you are willing to talk to us during these hard times. >> sure, always happy to have these conversations, and really happy to be back with my bay area family. thank you for putting this together and for treasurer ma as well, for facilitating the creation of this. a lot has happened since i've left. first and foremost, i had a baby. >> congratulations. >> thank you! my first day back was the first

week of the shutdown, so it's been a really interesting transition back to the work environment, but we really hit the ground running starting with obviously deeming cannabis -- commercial cannabis as essential for the state of california, and since then have really been working with our licensing agencies, our partner agencies, like the treasurer, like cdtfa and others in trying to determine what we can do within the current framework and our current constraints to provide support for the industry, whether that be from a tax relief standpoint, which the treasurer really outlined in her opening comments, as well as from regulatory standpoint, and i'm sure some of you are very familiar with some of the regulatory relief that has been extended by your licensing agencies. so trying to figure out what we

can do to be as helpful as we can sort of in the immediate term and figuring out what we can do in the long term to support what will be recovery, but i will quote the governor when i say that these are very sobering and challenging times. we started this year with a multi-billion dollar surplus, and as he stated in his press conference today, we will enter the may revised with multi-billion, tens of billions of dollars to cuts. so it's a tough time for everyone. i think senator wiener really expressed the challenges that the legislature will be faced with when working through the budget, that there are a lot of priorities that we really sought to tackle this year, and on the cannabis side you guys are all familiar with those priorities, tax simplification. the governor clearly indicated a willingness to talk about the structure of tax and whether or not there should be a reduction, either permanently or

temporarily, as well as consolidation. and so that's all being impacted by the environment that we find ourselves in now. so i look forward to addressing your guys's questions today. again, i'm really happy to be here and happy to chat with you guys, and of course this is always an ongoing conversation. >> thank you, ms. elliot. i appreciate that. i want to jump in because i want to be cognizant of time here. i want to let folks know that, one, first of all, thank you for emailing in with your questions. they are really thoughtful, and they -- they are thoughtful and they span a lot of different categories, and so we broke them down by way of taxes, regulatory structure, compassion, unregulated market, the pandemic and banking. we have some general questions, we have some local questions. because i have the privilege of

being able to be in touch with our community more regularly, i will leave the local questions to the end. if we have time, we will address them. otherwise we will send them out in a response separately. but we are going to start now, and the members of our team will take each section and questions just to keep it a little bit more lively so you're not just listening to me the entire time. again, we are reporting -- we are live here from the emergency operating center here in san francisco where city employees in san francisco are keeping the lights on during this unprecedented time. and i'd like to start with the first question, and all three of you, feel free to answer this one. with the current lack of banking, covid relief opportunities for the cannabis industry are severely limited at the federal, state and local levels. while we recognize the legislature is tasked with the economic health of california, we would like you to talk about efforts under way by the

legislature that would specifically address economic relief for the cannabis industry and the likelihood of those efforts being realized in the short term. we'll start with the first section of this question, which is what is being done at the state level to move forward equality for cannabis businesses, specifically in regards to access to covid stimulus relief, lowering the overall tax burden, access to banking, and market rate commercial loans? and i know that the three of you did touch on some of this in your opening remarks, but if you could again just kind of share with our community just your thoughts and your feelings on this point. we can start with fiona ma -- pardon me, treasurer ma. >> that's okay, call me fiona. anyway, as you know, this has been a big priority for me, trying to get banking access since i was on the state board of equalization. i'm glad to report that there are more and more banks that are willing to take on cannabis-related clients. of course they want to maintain some sort of balance, so many of

them will have a certain amount of cultivators, distributors, maybe put folks in test, and they are also looking for other private equity folks who are investing. so they really wanted to diversify their portfolio and risk a little more, but every day more and more banks are willing and open to taking more cannabis clients. but it is slow, and i think this covid-19 crisis has shown how important it is, right, with all of the social distancing and not wanting to touch surfaces, that dealing in cash is more and more probably even maybe a contributor to the covid-19 spreading. so i think folks are realizing that it is so important that we try to bank this industry as soon as possible.

however, we are still always stuck in the senate because the senate is republican controlled, and that is going to be the first step in november, if we really want to see changes to cannabis, we all need to figure out how to, you know, take back the senate in november. >> thank you, fiona. with that, does anyone else want to respond? >> well, i'll speak to a couple of those points. obviously on the federal advocacy side, our federal liaisons are doing quite a bit as behind-the-scenes advocacy in d.c. around the stimulus funding to try to get cannabis involved in that and supporting the efforts of, you know, certain representatives who are pushing clarity via bills to incorporate

cannabis as well. to the treasurer's point, it is a big challenge to get the senate there, but we've seen a number of senators engage, including our state senator, kamala harris, our state senator, i should say, and kamala harris, who has really engaged in that space as well. so grateful for those efforts, but do know that we are definitely working on that in d.c. and then beyond that, on the taxes, i think, you know, obviously you heard earlier that the state has done quite a bit around taxes now, not speaking necessarily to changes to the overall cannabis tax structure, but really looking at the sales and use tax deferral, which the state, you know, believes applies to an extraordinary number of cannabis businesses if they are paying, if they are annual taxable sales, for instance, something like 77% of our retailers would likely qualify for that. so that allows for that deferral

of up to $50,000 and provides a 12-month payment plan. i will note that i believe cdtfa is willing to on a case-by-case basis consider operators that have a high amount of sales, so i think it's worth engaging cdtfa on that opportunity if you think that you are eligible or even if you feel like you might be on the cusp, do take advantage of that resource as well as you clearly now have time to file your tax via the tax extension. so to the extent that there needs to be more clarity provided to the industry on that, please do let me know because we will be happy to push out more information to you guys to make sure that all operators are taking advantage of the resources that the state is providing, that they know about it and that they are taking advantage of it where they can. and then when it comes to banks, i mean, we have an incredibly

committed set of elected officials who are really clearly advocating for, you know, banks' involvement in this space. the administration is also working on that, also behind the scenes, to try and engage banks. to the treasurer's point about the small business finance center and having support to back loans that are being given by lenders, we understand that there are not very many lenders in this space, and so we are working on trying to figure out if there are institutions that are willing to engage in that space, but as you all know, that's a challenging conversation. so do know that that work is happening behind the scenes. >> thank you so much. and where would you point folks to for information, the best place to start this process? >> so i would encourage people to visit cdtfa's website as a starting point, and again, if

you guys need additional information, please do reach out so that we can make sure you guys are able to access all of those resources. >> thank you so much. and senator wiener, did you have thoughts on this as well? perhaps the connection -- senator wiener, are you on the line still? okay, we'll work on that and get back to you. and then let's talk a little bit about, you know, the industry is ineligible for federal assistance. any talk on the state level about perhaps programs, grant assistance, that can help with economic relief in this space? >> do you want me to take that? >> sure. >> okay. so again, i think i mentioned in my early comments to level set

everyone's expectations and unfortunately to be the bearer of a lot of bad news, you know, the state has set a budget -- has indicated they will be engaging in what they call a workload budget. so no new expenditures. so it is highly unlikely we will see new programs stood up, and so when i talk to operators and to additional stakeholders in the industry, i really talk about how we can leverage existing programs. but we have a very challenged general fund, and so additional money going out is going to be very hard to come by. to be completely honest. so hence really looking at working within our existing framework, things like what cdtfa has done around tax deferral. i know there have been conversations about licensing fees, on where we as a state have capital and how we can get creative with that capital that already exists. but it will be a challenge to

put out an additional program. i'll just be very transparent and honest about that, while still flagging that those are ongoing conversations. >> thank you so much. no, we appreciate the honesty. that's why we're here and we want to engage in this conversation. and with that, thank you. we'll move now to a different topic. the unregulated market. >> sure. one of the things that a number of our operators have been interested in is around additional conversations about the state's plan to give legal businesses a chance to really compete against an illicit market that still controls a significant portion of the cannabis market. can you discuss existing state enforcement efforts and how the pandemic might impact proposed efforts? we can start with senior advisor elliott. >> sure. so existing state enforcement

efforts i think we're quite transparent last year the governor outlined multiple pillars for his priorities. enforcement is one of those, and there was a stronger effort to coordinate enforcement across a number of agencies, and i mean a number. it's a large amount. to really get at the issue of the illegal market, the informal market. and so that effort will continue this year. i think our challenge will be how we do that effort within this new work construct, but that is a challenge that we are wholeheartedly embracing, as well as of course there's dollars within our budget to put towards enforcement that includes funding that will go out through the bscc, to local jurisdictions to support local enforcement efforts, and also to our department of fish and wildlife to support efforts on

the rural cultivation side. but i think it's -- the governor has made it very clear, enforcement is a top priority, thoughtful enforcement is a top priority, and so that will be something we continue to pursue and coordinate this year. >> thank you very much. and now we're going to talk a little bit about compassion. >> jeremy schwartz here. thank you, treasurer, ms. elliott, senator wiener if you're still there for making yourselves available. i would like to acknowledge that in getting sportsnet bill 34 across the finish line regarding compassion programs and tax savings, to that point, i'll share an anecdote which is pretty shared amongst some of the inquiries we received. so this gentleman said "i'm

renewing my medical cannabis recommendation with my physician on may 1. however, i'm unable to renew my state medical cannabis id card because san francisco department of public health card office is closed during this shelter in place. is there a way that the state of california could temporarily amend its regulations or otherwise allow medical cannabis i.d.s to not expire in the coming weeks with the understanding that i believe the state vital records office is closed?" so i know that was a mouthful, but any sense about the medical marijuana i.d. card program? >> well, i would just jump in that governor newsom has a press conference every noon called newsom at noon, and he takes this opportunity to talk about executive orders. i do think he has been

exercising a lot of his powers in this covid-19 pandemic, and certainly i think if the industry gets together -- like, this is the first time i heard that there was an issue about renewing your medical cannabis card, that this is certainly something that should be on his radar. but you all have to -- and this is why we're on this webinar here today, is to really hear some of the day-to-day inconveniences or barriers that you all have. but certainly that is a good point. i know i oversee affordable housing, and there is a process called tefra hearings that needs to be done every year, and a number of them were expiring, but unfortunately tefra hearings are mandated under the irs code, so the governor cannot do an executive order to overturn the irs, so i've been lobbying the irs to try to get them to extend

the tefra expiration or hearing process because many of the local governments are closed, like you said, and therefore they are putting in jeopardy a lot of the affordable housing projects that are trying to continue to move through the process. so we are facing this type of, you know, issues when governments close and we still need to get certain things done. you know, what is it that government or the state government can help with. >> excellent. thank you, treasurer. ms. elliott, do you have anything to add? >> i'll just add, i mean, i think this -- you know, i want to give credit to the treasurer for setting up this conversation. she's totally spot on, that these are the types of forums that really allow for these types of challenges to be lifted up and brought to the attention of the state. and that was something that was brought to my attention yesterday. so we are running that down and hope to have an update, but we're definitely looking into it.

>> thank you, kindly. >> and this is scott, i apologize, i had to jump off for something, but i'm back. >> thank you so much. and i don't know if you were able to hear the last question. if you'd like to chime in, happy to, or we can keep moving forward. >> your call. i didn't hear the question, but whatever makes sense for you. >> no, that's fine. we'll keep moving forward. thank you so much. we saw the california department of alcohol beverage control mobilize quickly to provide unprecedented relief for their licensees by issuing sweeping industry-wide relief. to date, they have issued three significant regulatory relief packages, including the extension of licensing fees. conversely, cannabis licensees seeking relief must individually request relief and oftentimes each business has to request the same relief every 30 days. can you speak to efforts under way that would streamline and expand associated relief and associated timelines for implementation?

>> so i'm happy to speak to that. the fee deferral program is based on fees that are shocking to the industry, not as high as your fees, and they have the ability as a long-standing department or agency to weather the financial storm of fee deferrals. so it is not lost on us that that is a request of the industry. that is something we are looking into, but it does take quite a bit of analysis to understand whether or not that's something that the state can sustain, because we are working with a finite set of resources, and those resources support the work of these agencies and the legitimacy of this market. so do know that that is definitely something that we are looking into, but the abc's process is slightly different than the three licensing agency process. it's a bit more challenging, as you all know. >> right. thank you so much. thank you for speaking to that.

and fee deferrals, any thoughts on deferrals? >> are you asking me that? >> yeah, just as a follow-up. >> so that's exactly what i was speaking to. >> okay, yeah. okay. thank you. and i don't know if treasurer ma or the senator would like to speak to that as well. >> well, i would just say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as we have seen in the last ppp stimulus package, a lot of the small business owners did not get any assistance, and there was a lot of folks who, you know, called their congressperson, their senators, and then now in the latest ppp round of stimulus money, they are really -- the banks are really focused on small businesses because they didn't have the chance last time because of the way the system was set up, because everything was done so quickly. so i would just say, you know, keep advocating. reach out to your assembly

members, your senators, obviously san francisco is really small, so we know who they are. and of course the governor's office, nicole, myself, so that when these issues come up we can also chime in that this was an industry that also needs to be supported during this time. >> thank you for that. eugene? >> sure. we know that there was a previous announcement regarding the pre-existing cannabis state licensing agencies. question: do you anticipate that the consolidation of those licensing authorities will proceed as planned? and if not, how will that affect the kind of general com lines associated regulatory change to improve efficiency? and anyone who has some additional knowledge about that can provide some feedback. >> so i know that the senator

talked through some of the legislative challenges and framework that he'll be working through during the budget, and that the consolidation was proposed in the governor's january budget. that conversation is happening in real time. we have a may revised coming out soon, so i don't have any news to break on that, but i will say this: we all know that there is a lot of work to do on the stateside around streamlining, and a lot of that work can be done administratively and will be done administratively. so if that moves forward this year, then there will be a lot of work to do. if it does not move forward this year, i know that this is a concept that the governor is very committed to, and there will be a lot of work to do. so regardless of what happens, i do think that simplification and streamlining in some form will be on our agenda for this year. whether or not that's in the

form of consolidation in statutory language by july 1, 2020 or july 1, 2021. so i'll leave it at that. >> and i'm sorry, could you repeat that question? my phone was cutting out. i'm having quite a day with my phone. >> sure. the question was about the governor's announcement about the consolidation of the state licensing agencies and whether the pandemic would impact the timelines and what are other opportunities to increase efficiencies at the state level. >> oh, yeah, that sounds like more of a nicole question. i think we're all always taking a look at how we can make life easier for people with various regulatory agencies that they have to deal with. i just cannot speak for this year because everything is in such tumult right now. the administration is truly drinking water from a fire hose on covid, and it's just -- it's

too hard to predict what else will happen this year. >> and i'll just add to that, as far as opportunities, i think what i was trying to communicate, and i hope i communicated, but i will be very direct, there is a lot of opportunity space here. we all know that, and we intend to pursue that opportunity space, whether that's done statutorily, regulatorily or administratively. it will be pursued. >> excellent, thank you. and, eugene, if you would -- i think the unregulated market, perhaps we can shift the conversation in that direction for a moment. >> sure. so you know, we talked a little bit about kind of what the potential actions at the state level and how they might impact kind of operators and the existing resources that will

continue to be dedicated to fighting enforcement, and we talked a little bit, i believe senator wiener mentioned the possibility for kind of new legislation was unlikely, but there was a specific question about the jones foyer and rubio bills and what the prospects of them passing this legislative cycle. >> i don't know -- if scott's still on, but i know the assemble is going to go back into session next week, and the senate is supposed to go back the following week. as i understand, they are really going to focus on the budget and covid-related legislation. so we're not really sure what -- legislation will move forward. scott, are you back on? >> yeah, i am.

yes, so there -- i can't tell if there's going to be differences in the assembly. in the senate it's been made very clear to us we're not limited to only covid-specific bills. we have some covid-specific bills and obviously the budget is a high priority, as bloody and terrible as it's going to be, but there are other non-covid areas where we'll be able to do work. and i think i mentioned those earlier on around housing, homelessness, wildfires, et cetera. the assembly is being -- it has been much more putting everything on the committee chairs so they can hear what they want to hear and prioritize how they want to prioritize. and so those bills, those are enforcement bills. i don't know whether under normal circumstances they would have political support to move

forward. i am -- i assume those go to assembly public safety or maybe to assembly judiciary. i don't know how the chairs of those committees are viewing this, so it's very unclear whether those bills will move forward. >> then again, this is democracy, and the legislators are coming back, so i would encourage you to, you know, continue to advocate on behalf of the important bills that you think are gonna move through right now. obviously not all the bills are gonna continue, but if you all as an industry can get together and prioritize, you know, these are the top three bills that we want to see, then it will have a higher chance instead of everybody just trying to, you know, support 5,000 bills. i mean, clearly 5,000 bills are not going to go through this year. >> we appreciate that, certainly. thank you so much. >> just to give you a sense, you

know, i have -- and we -- and the senate, we're not like capping members bills, like you can only two five bills or four bills or seven bills or whatever, but we have been, you know, asked to really self-edit and to move bills that are in very high priority areas, that are time sensitive, and so forth. and so i have jettisoned a majority of my bills, and these are some bills that i'm super-passionate about, and many of them i will reintroduce next year. but we have to be selective in what we move forward. we will have less legislative time, more focus on covid, and you know, it's going to be -- our proceedings are going to be clunky. like in the senate we're allowing remote participation. it makes things a little bit slower. so it's not going to be the -- as fluid and easy as previous

sessions, so that's why we're really narrowing the number of bills. >> thank you very much. jeremy? >> jeremy schwartz here. so reverting back to banking, certainly an exciting development regarding the $50,000 -- the potential for up to $50,000 for a bridge loan. treasurer ma certainly touched on increased operators perhaps providing some banking services, whether they are pilot programs initiated by credit unions. folks are wondering what this group feels is probably one of the most viable pathways forward for access to mainstream banking, whether it is a public banking option, federal intervention or other mechanism. >> well, i think during this

time, you know, individual banks, as i mentioned, more and more are coming on-line, and many of them do have capacity. obviously they want those customers who have had, you know, a good track record, have been filing all their taxes, have all their permits in place. that's the easiest way for folks to get a bank account in this new environment, and it is not easy because they do do an extensive background check, and if there's anything in your history, it may kick you out of, you know, their vetting system. so i would just encourage you to talk to your bankers, talk to other members in the industry who may have bank accounts. there's no list published. people, you know, still are being cautious in terms of how many accounts that they take, but clearly the industry is definitely moving toward opening up banking access for more

cannabis companies. >> and i concur with that. i mean, i think if you're looking for the most expeditious pathway, it is really following the advice of our treasurer and trying to establish those relationships with banks that will learn to trust you as operators but also will want to look into every nook and cranny, just like your regulators do when they review your licenses, your applications. so being transparent on that front hopefully will at least establish a banking relationship, understanding that lending is a bigger challenge in these economic times. you know, the federal government really needs to move on that to create a little bit more, you know, legal and regulatory certainty in the banking space to facilitate things like that. so continue to push your federal

representatives and, you know, try to establish those relationships with your banks. >> thank you. again, i want to thank our esteemed guests today, treasure fiona ma, state senator scat wiener and sfr advisor nicole elliott. we are reporting here live from the emergency operating center, and we are so thankful to have this opportunity to engage with our state leaders during these unprecedented times. i know i mentioned it earlier, but no one's immune to the challenges to date and ahead. one thing i do know for sure is that the industry has always been resourceful, will continue to be, and as a community we will work through these tough times together. it's been a while since we've had an opportunity to come together and talk about the state of our industry from a local level, so i wanted to take a few minutes now that we're getting to the end to talk to you a little bit about what's

happening in the office. many of you know april marked my one-year anniversary, having taken over from nicole elliott, and thank you for standing up an incredible office, and it's because of that hard work that i believe we will be able to make it through these tough times. we had the great advantage to be able to build upon a lot of that hard work, and this last year we had seen tremendous growth, momentum. we've built upon that, and we are proud of our numbers. of course we could never have imagined in a million years that today we would be sitting here telecommuting, having this webinar and dealing with a global pandemic that is going to impact all of us in a major way. and that means that during a time where things were booming we experienced slow process, and

that was frustrating for a lot of our industry, and today that is not different. we will probably see more of that, but we will continue to work hard for the industry and to ensure that we are moving things forward. i want to take this time to thank our mayor, our city administrator, naomi kelly, our deputy city administrator for their continued support of the passion and equity mission of this office. and i am grateful to all of our colleagues and to our industry for all of their support. we will continue to work hard and continue to be supportive of one another. that said, we'll put up our first slide. we'll share that for those of you who are calling in and can't see it. these are our numbers, just to get everyone caught up to date. we verified over 330 social equity applicants, which is tremendous hard work. we are very happy to announce that we met our q1 goal of --

excuse me, our q4 goal last year of permitting our first equity application. since then we have permitted four. i want to congratulate our last permittee, ms. reese benton, who i know is tuned in today. she has received her permit. that is four, and that is even during these tough times, so i know that we will persevere. we have 15 applicants through the buildout phase. this number may look familiar. the reason is a lot of our important city processes had to be slowed in light of covid, and so getting those final buildout permits signed off is not happening right now, as you all know. so as soon as the shelter lifts, we expect to see a lot of movement in that space. we have 83 applications that were formally referred to the planning department for land use entitlement. that's incredible, and in fact there are six more on the way. we are able to continue to do our work. we are, as you know, six in our

offi office. three have been deployed as emergency city workers. the others are keeping the lights on. we continue to engage. if you have questions, please, don't hesitate to reach out to our office. we will have meetings with you, over the phone to ensure that you do still feel connected to our office. 83 applications formally referred to planning is huge, and we are very, very proud of that number. a year ago it was 24, and so there is momentum in that space. with our next slide. >> sure. so in addition to the general development of issuing four permanent permits, the office of cannabis also has about 160 temporary permits as a part of our amnesty program, which was an effort to bring the

unregulated market into the regulated market as we continue to prioritize and process our social equity applicants. in addition, there are legacy operators, medical cannabis dispensaries who are able to sell adult-use products based on their progress towards the equity plans and commitments they've made to the city. we have also developed some technical assistance resources. san francisco is one of the few, if not the only jurisdiction to partner with its county bar association, the bar association of san francisco. these fine folks panel with the bar, provide pro bono legal services to social equity applicants. to date about 250 hours have been provided. in addition, our partners at the office of economic workforce development have contracted with a law firm to provide additional

pro bono legal assistance, which has started in about january/february, about 50 hours to date, for a total of 300 hours. and in addition, although there aren't events at this time, we did issue a permit for cannabis sales, on-site cannabis sales and consumption at the music festival in golden gate park. this is a part of our pilot program which may be extended on a yearly basis through 2021. with that, i'll kick it back to director rodriguez to close us out. >> thank you so much, jeremy. i want to run through this just quickly. there were some questions on the local level for -- with respect to what is sort of happening during the shelter in place. people want to know whether they can have community outreach meetings. the answer to that is no.

through june 1, community outreach meetings won't be happening. after june 1 we'll revisit that. there's questions about cannabis inspections, are they going to happen now. the answer to that is no. we are going to wait until the june 1 shelter lifts before we do that. once it's lifted, we will certainly start to bring up all of those things and start to see some of that kicking off and momentum picking up. there are a couple questions with respect to the grants that i'm going to allow eugene to answer just so you can have some more information around that issue. >> sure. so i know folks have had a lot of questions about the process to -- [indiscernible] to our knowledge it hasn't been distributed to the city in the case of the fund, that they should be arriving any day now. we're really excited about the opportunity to provide some additional support to equity applicants who we know desperately need it. we're hopeful that those will

start to be distributed in the summer of this year. the go biz fund which will require a resolution we're currently in the process of getting all of that information together. you may have seen the safe announcements regarding an additional $5 million of support that will be provided to the city and county of san francisco, so we're really interested and excited about the opportunity to provide that money to equity applicants. we will need to enter into a formal grant agreement once the resolution is passed. it's unlikely that that will happen before june 1, but once the grants are dispersed, it's my understanding that those funds would need to be distributed in the next year. marisa, i can't hear you. >> apologies. sorry, i was muted.

i want to give our esteemed guests an opportunity to close out, and i know there's a small surprise at the end with senior advisor elliott. for those of you who are tuned in visually and can see the screen. so let's start with treasurer ma, if you'd like to close out. >> thank you. i do have a couple more items i would just like to talk about with this group. my website, www.treasurer.ca.gov has two links when you log on. one is to our covid-19.ca.gov which is our official excuse me, state website for health and other resources. and then i have a -- excuse me. covid-19 resources guide that is updated continuously for small businesses, tax relief, food, as well as individual resources,

and so please log on. if you have any questions, you can email me at askfiona@treasurer.ca.gov and we will answer your questions as quickly as possible. be careful of scams these days as people are thinking they're going to get their $1200 stimulus check or other type of loans. government will never call you and ask you for your personal social security number or ask you for your bank routing number or ask you to pay over the phone. so those are all scams. and then if you could just take a couple minutes to answer the census questions, we count people every ten years. the federal government gives us over a trillion dollars to the states, and they allocate it based on some sort of census-related data, so every person that is not counted will cost us a thousand dollars per person for ten years, and we get

a lot of money for everything from education to public safety to seniors to child care. and so please take a little time to do that. and then also the governor released this week a list of approved outdoor activities, so please google it. you will find the list. it's a pretty extensive list. i know it's beautiful here in san francisco, and everybody wants to go outdoors, but the governor's really trying to make sure that we continue our social distancing so that we can continue to protect the health and safety of all the residents. so again, thank you all for accommodating us here today. i hope you all stay safe. be well. help each other during this time, and we will get through this together stronger. so thank you, marisa, thank you to the team and nicole and

senator scott wiener and to all we're doing to get through this pandemic. >> thank you so much, treasurer ma. this would not have happened without your leadership, and thank you for continuing to support the cannabis industry. we really, really, really appreciate you. >> thank you. >> next i'd like to ask senator wiener to close out. did we lose him? i know he was having some difficulty with his phone. okay. in that case, we will go on to senior advisor nicole elliott. >> thank you, guys, for putting this together, for having me. thank you to the treasurer for supporting the development of this discussion and to senator wiener for joining and all your advocacy behind the things that we collectively care about. and to the industry, hang in there. it's going to be, you know, a challenging couple of years. the governor's very -- clearly very committed to seeing

legalization be a successful exercise, and so to the extent that you guys have more questions that we can work to answer or address, please feel free to reach out to me. i am a one-woman show, so i will do my best to respond as promptly as i can, but it's nicole.elliott@gobiz.ca.gov. and we have a special guest who wanted to say hi to her san francisco family. lucy. >> ah! so sweet. >> she looks forward to meeting you all in person at some point when we are released back into the wild. >> that was our surprise. thank you so much. again, thank you, and i just want to double-check, do we still have the senator on the line? looks like we have lost him, but we just want to thank you, senator, for participating and, of course, thank you to nicole elliott and lucy for always supporting our industry and our community, and hailing from san

francisco as all of these great leaders do, thank you all so much. thank you for tuning in. we will have our newsletter out next week, so you will be able to get more information about the billings under the office of cannabis in addition to answers to some of the questions that we couldn't get to today. some of them were bcc oriented, so we will point you in the right direction and get that information to you, and i also want to remind folks that now that it's may and i think you can still get it, but the san francisco magazine has a story about our equity program and features some of our equity applicants, so make sure you pick that up and support the community. we thank you so much. thank you for tuning in to our cannabis webinar. have a wonderful day. ♪ ♪ ♪

listen, your story line, it makes for incredible tv drama. thing is, your drug use is too adult for the kids, so i'm going to have to block you. oh, man. yeah. [inhales] well, have a good one. you're a nice lady. valencia has been a constantly evolving roadway. the first bike lanes were striped in 1999, and today is the major north and south bike route from the mission neighborhood extending from market to mission street.

>> it is difficult to navigate lindsay on a daily basis, and more specifically, during the morning and evening commute hours. >> from 2012 to 2016, there were 260 collisions on valencia and 46 of those were between vehicles and bikes. the mayor shows great leadership and she knew of the long history of collisions and the real necessity for safety improvements on the streets, so she actually directed m.t.a. to put a pilot of protected bike lanes from market to 15th on valencia street within four months time. [♪] >> valencia is one of the most used north south bike routes in san francisco. it has over 2100 cyclists on an average weekday. we promote bicycles for everyday transportation of the coalition. valencia is our mission -- fits

our mission perfectly. our members fall 20 years ago to get the first bike lane stripes. whether you are going there for restaurants, nightlife, you know , people are commuting up and down every single day. >> i have been biking down the valencia street corridor for about a decade. during that time, i have seen the emergence of ridesharing companies. >> we have people on bikes, we have people on bike share, scooters, we have people delivering food and we have uber taking folks to concerts at night. one of the main goals of the project was to improve the overall safety of the corridor, will also looking for opportunities to upgrade the bikeway. >> the most common collision that happens on valencia is actually due to double parking in the bike lane, specifically during, which is where a driver opens the door unexpectedly.

>> we kept all the passengers -- the passenger levels out, which is the white crib that we see, we double the amount of commercial curbs that you see out here. >> most people aren't actually perking on valencia, they just need to get dropped off or pick something up. >> half of the commercial loading zones are actually after 6:00 p.m., so could be used for five-minute loading later into the evening to provide more opportunities or passenger and commercial loading. >> the five minute loading zone may help in this situation, but they are not along the corridor where we need them to be. >> one of the most unique aspects of the valencia pilot is on the block between 14th street. >> we worked with a pretty big mix of people on valencia. >> on this lot, there are a few schools. all these different groups had concerns about the safety of students crossing the protected bikeway whether they are being dropped off or picked up in the morning or afternoon. to address those concerns, we

installed concrete loading islands with railings -- railings that channel -- channeled a designated crossing plane. >> we had a lot of conversations around how do you load and unload kids in the mornings and the afternoons? >> i do like the visibility of some of the design, the safety aspects of the boarding pilot for the school. >> we have painted continental crosswalks, as well as a yield piece which indicates a cyclist to give the right-of-way so they can cross the roadway. this is probably one of the most unique features. >> during the planning phase, the m.t.a. came out with three alternatives for the long term project. one is parking protected, which we see with the pilot, they also imagined a valencia street where we have two bike lanes next to one another against one side of the street. a two-way bikeway.

the third option is a center running two-way bikeway, c. would have the two bike lanes running down the center with protection on either side. >> earlier, there weren't any enter lane designs in san francisco, but i think it will be a great opportunity for san francisco to take the lead on that do so the innovative and different, something that doesn't exist already. >> with all three concepts for valencia's long-term improvement , there's a number of trade-offs ranging from parking, or what needs to be done at the intersection for signal infrastructure. when he think about extending this pilot or this still -- this design, there's a lot of different design challenges, as well as challenges when it comes to doing outreach and making sure that you are reaching out to everyone in the community. >> the pilot is great. it is a no-brainer. it is also a teaser for us. once a pilot ends, we have thrown back into the chaos of valencia street. >> what we're trying to do is incremental improvement along the corridor door.

the pilot project is one of our first major improvements. we will do an initial valuation in the spring just to get a glimpse of what is happening out here on the roadway, and to make any adjustments to the pilot as needed. this fall, we will do a more robust evaluation. by spring of 2020, we will have recommendations about long-term improvements. >> i appreciate the pilot and how quickly it went in and was built, especially with the community workshops associated with it, i really appreciated that opportunity to give input. >> we want to see valencia become a really welcoming and comfortable neighborhood street for everyone, all ages and abilities. there's a lot of benefits to protected bike lanes on valencia , it is not just for cyclists. we will see way more people biking, more people walking, we are just going to create a really friendly neighborhood street. [♪]

may 28, 2020. sfgovtv may 28, 2020.

mayor's press conference.

>> we are going to start on time. i am london breed, mayor of san francisco. today i am joined by the carmen

chu, director of department of public health, doctor grant colfax and director of emergency management, director of housing and homelessness and the director of the office of economic and work force development. today we are going to do things a little different because we actually have good news, and we actually have a guide for what san francisco will look like as we begin to envision a new normal, and a future where we can get our city going, get back to work and get back to our lives as we know it, although we will be making a number of adjustments in this process. four months ago we operated the emergency operations center, and we called attention to what we

knew potentially was coming to san francisco. about three months ago we declared a local state of emergency. at that time we had not one case in san francisco. 10 weeks ago, we ordered shelter-in-place. the fact is we acted fast and san francisco is being praised as a model for not only stopping an acceleration of the curve. we are at the stage where we are seeing the curve lowered finally. there is hope, but we still have a long way to go. the fact is at that time there is no vaccine, although we have made progress, at any given moment, any wrong move, even moving too fast to reopen our city could put us in a situation far worse than what we have seen

in other places like it tally and even new york city. what we want to do is avoid going there. that is really why the reopening has been slow, and it has been safe because the purpose is to keep the public healthy and to make sure that we stop the spread, but also we understand the need for people to get back to work. we understand that not only is public health challenged at this time, but we also realize that the financial health of so many residents of san francisco is in jeopardy. we want to balance those things, and that has been a tough balance. today as people all over the city continue to ask, what is happening? what are we doing? is this extended? good news is that we are going to talk about specifically today

some dates and a number of businesses and things that can resume as long as the five indicators we talked about before continue to improve, the testing capacity has gone up, the ppe capacity, the number of deaths and hospitalizations and other things we are seeing stabilize, and in some cases the hospitalizations have been lowered. that is good news. we want to keep it that way. the only reason why we are in this situation in the first place is because most san franciscans took the order seriously and have done an amazing job at complying with this order. we wouldn't be here if most people wouldn't cooperate. we know there are people out there not following the rules and who are sometimes the bad actors, but we all know there is

no way we will get 100% compliant. the fact we have a significant number of people in the city complying with the order is the only reason why we are at this place right now where we can really start having a conversation and what san francisco will look like when we begin to open, all of the questions, concerns, uncertainty. i understand because i feel the anxiety from not knowing myself as the leader of this city, but i want you to n know every day i am fighting to make sure that we implement the policies not so restrictive we are not able to get back to our lives. i want to take this opportunity to express appreciation to so many san franciscans for not only complying but supporting neighbors, delivering food to seniors, people who have gone out of their way to support

small business community, those suffering. people i know are still paying their hairdressers and barbers and other people, people who are going above and beyond to do a little bit more for someone else because so many people are struggling. the people who have contributed to give to sf the small and large donations, that money has gone to help provide food, rental assistance, support for small businesses. everything has made a difference. we know that there are so many people still struggling, over 100,000 people have applied for unemployment in the city. we still see resilience of the city and people continuing to fight harder more than ever to make sure that their business is able to reopen, they are able to continue to cover themselves, take care of bills, but also to take care of the people that

they are here to serve. this has been challenging, but we are getting through it, and we are getting through this together. the path forward, i want to talk a little bit about that. i want to really, really appreciate not just the department of public health for working with us on finally giving us an opportunity to have some sort of date or timeframe for what we think is reasonable to communicate to the public on a re-opening plan, but i really want to acknowledge and appreciate the economic recovery task force and carmen chu will go into more detail about the work they are doing as well as other leaders of that committee, rodney fong with the chamber, rudy with the labor council and

our treasure jose and my partner in this effort, president of the board of supervisors norman yee, amazing people and talented people working hand in hand to not only provide the guidance for re-opening san francisco for our business community, but economic recovery and what that might look like, what the new normal with guidelines in providing that to our businesses who are wondering, when i open what am i required to do? we want to continue to make sure we are getting you prepared for what we know is to come. just to talk a little bit about the next phase. i want to go over the fact that the state, and there is also some confusion as to the state guidelines that are different from the city guidelines. i want to clarify.

the fact is the state has issued guidance for the entire state. now the numbers in san francisco are not the same numbers in napa county. everyone has a different scenario and different guide because they are facing different. every county has different challenges. the state has provided us a guide, and we are following that guide based on the data in san francisco to make in formed decisions as to when we believe we will be able to open safely. the last thing we want to do is begin the process every re-ope re-opening and see a surge of cases and then have to go back to closing the city completely. we are in a good place because you follow the guidelines. i want to talk about what is going to happen over the next

couple months so that people can begin to prepare for re-opening and to work harder on masking, hand washing and social distancing. starting june 1st what are available the child cares that are not open now are able to open, the botanical gardens and outdoor museums and historical sites, places outdoors. that is going to happen on june 1st. in phase 2b on june 15th most indoor retail. as you know we announced on may 18th retail will be able to open for pickup and drop off. now the opportunity to allow people to come inside of your stores are available. outdoor dining, summer champs, professional sporting events and entertainment venues with no spectators with approved health

plans. private household indoor services, that is if you have, for example, housekeeper or nanny, that can resume. religious services answer the ceremonies. if you need to go to the dentist our other appointments, that is what you can look forward to. in phase 2c, july 13th we anticipate indoor dining with modifications, hair salons and barbershops. i know everybody is excited about that one. real estate open houses by appointment only. to be clear, even though this is a guide, this guide and these dates are subject to change if the data determines a needed change. this is to provide everyone with

a guide as to what we are looking at and if the numbers continue the way they are we will get to the point where these businesses can open. now in phase 3, the one i am looking forward to the most, schools with modifications, bars, other personal services like nail salons, massage parlors, tattoo parlors, gyms, fitness centers swimming pools and indoor museums. in phase 4 we have not yet determined a date. all of this is contingent upon what happens as we open phases 2 and 3 and the data in determining what is a more reasonable timeframe. we hope that live audience sports and performances, nightclubs, festivals and all

hotels and lodging for leisure and tourism. i want to be clear again that this is just a guide. this is a goal that i have, of course, to get there. the only way to get there is through your cooperation. as a result of having more people moving around and contacting around one another in this capacity, it requires that we get a little bit more strict with the face coverings. we know that social distancing, face covering and hand washing are really key to helping to prevent the spread. what we are asking people to do in our new face covering requirements is when you are outside and say, for example, you are enjoying the park. we ask if you are within 30 feet

of someone else to wear a face covering. we want you to just think about it in a way it is not necessarily just about protecting yourself, it is about protecting other people. we want more people who are outdoors to wear face coverings in addition to some of the requirements that we had before and again i want to go back to a comment i have made time and time again. if you are not the police, please don't act like the police because part of the last thing we want to see are people who are confronting other people and creating what could escalate to a violent situation. just let us do our job. do your part because as long as you do your part, your part is having an impact on everything that we see happening in this city. these numbers are going down because you are doing your part. for those who are bad actors,

unfortunately, we are not going to be able to control all of those folks at any given time. the last thing i want to see is a confrontation because someone decided that they were going to go out and try to regulate the need for people to wear masks. we are doing the very best we can. in fact, the numbers are good. what i would like to open faster, yes. would i want it to happen faster? yes. they will only happen with our shared experience. i am really excited. this is a great step forward, and what this means for our city is just getting adjusted to our new normal. i know that more than anything we all want to go back to the life that we once knew before covid, and now for the next anywhere between 12 and 18 months, we are going back to the

life we knew before, however, with some adjustments to our new normal as a result of covid. you all seem to be getting used to it. i see folks in line wearing a mask and keeping a distance and making the add adjustment. i appreciate all that each and every one of you are doing to comply. it is the only reason we are in this place where we are to start to talk about a safe opening plan for the city and county of san francisco. just two things to clarify before i bring up our assessor, carmen chu, the health order for stay at home is extended indefinitely. this plan is being implemented, but we are still asking people to stay at home if at all possible. also, there has been some confusion around office space.

i think that the goal is to provide guidelines for working environments. there are some people who need as essential workers or as business open need to work in offices. what we ask people to do if possible. if you have the ability to tele commute. we are asking you to tele commute. we ask that you make sure you are keeping your staff safe. we are adjusting to the new normal, and we have all of this information at sfgov.org. please reach out. we are not where we want to be but we are in a better place today than we were last week. finally, i just want to mention that tomorrow we will have a conversation at 1:00 with our

county health officer. i know that a lot has been said about county health officers all over the bay area and the decisions they are making. it is time to meet your county health officer. he and i will have a conversation to talk about the decisions that are being made and why and how we can follow these protocols in an effective way to help delivery opening sooner rather than later. i am looking forward to that conversation. with that i would like to turn it over to our assessor recorder, carmen chu. as soon as i finish wiping the microphone.

>> thank you very much, mayor breed. i do want to at this moment take a moment to acknowledge her leadership not only in helping us to weather the initial health response but to guide us as we begin to think about reopening the economy. i want to thank my co-chairs on the economic recovery task force, jose and rodney and they are doing incredible work to move san francisco forward. i am pleased to be here with you. this is an important step as we begin thinking about recovery in san francisco and in the wider bay area. as i mentioned before san francisco and the bay area led the way in the nation in terms of public health response.

that effort helped to save lives here, and there is no reason to think that san francisco and the bay area can't also lead again with responsible and thoughtful approach to reopening our economy. through the task force we heard from hundreds and hundreds of san franciscans on the task force, businesses, residents in all neighborhoods from different sectors and industries about the challenges they have gone through. so many people are out of work, so many people are afraid of losing their homes, businesses and so we really needed to provide away for people to begin to plan and think about what that future may look like. i think one of the things we heard so much from people was not only the economic challenges were difficult but this idea and concept of uncertainty was also incredibly hard not knowing exactly how the disease works

and learning every day how that is changing with science and experiences around the world and uncertainty when things might be able to change and when restrictions might be different was a huge burden and huge worry for individuals. when we think about today's message and the importance of creating this road map, it truly is creating an opportunity for people to be able to plan and to prepare for what that future looks like. when we think about businesses re-opening, we all know that closing was difficult, but restarting is harder. it is not easy to flip the switch and start a business all over again. the goal is to provide to san francisco an idea what is coming next so we can plan to prepare to all be part of the solution together. a few things we want you to know. i know the may or spoke about

details about elements coming forward in terms of different sectors online. we want to share about the thought process how the plan was developed. the plan balances a number of different components that are important to the san francisco public health response and our economy. first and foremost, we want to make sure we are balancing the best knowledge we have about covid-19. we are constantly learning how it spreads, the way it reproduces, the mitigations successful. we want to build a plan that considers these factors. that is part of this road map here. second, we want to make sure we are considering the limitations and directions provided by the state of california. as the may or spoke about earlier the state provides information for the entire state to follow. we might be able to move in

different phases, slower steps, it has to be taken into account what the state is allowing us to do and what is specifically advisable here in the local jurisdiction. in the plan we also paid special attention to the most hard-hit sectors and those communities who were most economically vulnerable. this is an incredibly important concept to make sure we continue to look at recovery with an equity lens. this is a value of san francisco and something that is important to us here. this is why we have moved things like restaurants, retail forward. those were the hardest hit sectors in san francisco. not only they represent a large number of individuals who have amongst the lowest wage earning as well. we want to look at all phases every opening with equity in mind. finally, the plan understands

that there are several core functions that are really underpinings to the economy opening. those are things like making sure we have a viable public transportation system, considering child care. we can't have a fully open economy if kids are at home with us. these are all practical things we have heard from san franciscans to move forward. the final thing i will say is that i think as mayor mentioned in multiple ways, this plan, this road map is truly a guidance. it helps us understand what is coming forward, it helps us to prioritize our work, helps san franciscans to plan and prepare for what is to come. that doesn't mean it is set in stone. it means the plan will be flexible, adapt based on any changes to state guidance and adapt if we learn about experiences about the disease going forward. again, i couldn't be more happy

to be here to provide a road map, to be able to reflect the concerns that we have heard from hundreds of san franciscans in this plan. a plan that is helpful, thoughtful, again, it balances all of the needs from our public health side but as well as importance of providing a way to make ends meet. we are thankful to be here and looking forward to continuing to work with san franciscans and businesses to make sure we have a thoughtful responsible approach to reopening. thank you so much. >> first questions are for mayor london breed.

thank you, we have similar questions from the associated press and the "san francisco chronicle." can you articulate how frisco will interact with bay area counties not affected by these changes? what was the decision making that led san francisco to chart its course with this re-opening plan. >> i think dr. colfax can speak to it. the county health officers worked together to try and make decisions that were in the best interests of public health, understanding that as a region we are closely tied to one another because in san francisco, for example, you don't just have to live here to be impacted. people come from all over the bay area who actually work in this city. it was definitely important to work together to develop

guidelines that led to where we are now. we also realize san francisco is more dense. we want to make sure we are doing when it all makes sense that we are able to open and provide the opportunity for folks to move forward safely and we will continue to work with and, like i said, dr. colfax can talk about that, we will work with other counties. we need to do what is in the best interest of san franciscans. >> thank you. the next question is from hood line. there are nearly 450 tents on tenderloin sidewalks. how can businesses in the

neighborhood participate in the reopening options when the sidewalks are already occupied? >> mayor breed: it definitely is very challenging there are so many tents in the city, and a lot of people who, unfortunately, are unhoused. as we deal with this pandemic what we have done is not only provide access to hotel rooms for many people who are homeless but also safe sleeping sites. basically places where people parking lots and streets and trailers and other things to try to move people off the sidewalk. it continues to be a real challenge, and we will do everything we can to continue to move in that direction to provide safe sleeping sites through this pandemic. >> thank you. the next question from stefani abc 7. in new york state there is an order allowing businesses to deny entry to anyone not wearing

a mask. do those in san francisco have that power. >> mayor breed: yes. >> do you think the state is moving too fast towards full re-opening? >> mayor breed: i am not the health expert here. i would like to move faster, but i also understand that we have to balance the data with re-opening. i think that it is different from different counties. san francisco, the numbers are different, as i said earlier, different than napa county or other places where you see lower numbers. i do think the state is providing an overview for all of us, and it is appropriate because some people are ready to open and ready to move forward whereas other cities are not. i do think the guidance is appropriate and it could change based on what we see happen

throughout the state as it relates to the numbers. >> last question is from trisha, "san francisco chronicle." the amount of homeless people who have died on the streets between the end of march and may spiked dramatically compared to the same time last year. what do you make of those numbers. do you plan to reconsider how the city is providing services to the homeless? i think a crisis like this only makes things worse for the most vulnerable, for people who are disenfranchised. we have a homeless outreach team and paramedics and police officers and others who have done an incredible job of really putting their lives on the line to go out in the streets and try to help people and others who have provided meals, support,

and the fact is, you know, we are doing the very best we can. if we were able to help every single person that we know needs help on the streets, we would. it has been very tough especially with social distancing and with the lack of capacity and the fact thi this a fluid situation. when you look at san francisco compared to any other city in the country serving homeless whether it is ensuring thousands of meals each day, whether it is making sure that we have people who are getting services and support and housing and hotels, and spinning out the shelters, safe tent sites and going out there and to try to help support people who in some cases have real challenges with substance abuse disorder and mental

illness. when you look at san francisco compared the any other city, we are doing the very best we can. >> thank you, madam mayor. next set of questions for doctor grant colfax, san francisco department of public health. >> thank you. this is following up on the questions from the associated press and the "san francisco chronicle." can you articulate how san

francisco will interact with bay area counties not affected by cheese changes? what was the decision making that led san francisco to charts its own course with this re-opening plan? >> we are in constant communication with other neighboring counties. we know that this virus knows no borders. to follow the data and science and facts we need to taylor to our specific locals. san francisco is a very dense community. it is a community that also has many people coming in to work from outside san francisco. i think the key points are that the health officers across the region have agreed to a key set of indicators to help us move forward. we will monitor the same outcomes to ensure that our region as a whole is doing as well as possible.

the shelter-in-place orders are largely consistent. again, i think based on local needs, local capacities, some of the responses may be tailo r.e.d. to the gradual re-opening. >> last questions from channel 4 news. is the city concerned not enough people are getting tested? what do you plan to do about that? >> we have made remarkable progress. one of the may or's priorities has been increasing testing capacity in san francisco. we have made remarkable progress on that. to look at our rates compared to other regions, we are doing very well. i am pleased where we are with regard to testing capacity. we will continue to expand that. right now we are in the right place and we will continue to expand going forward as our re-opening expands.

certainly more testing to come as we move forward together. >> lastly, how often should essential workers get tested? are you loo looking at mandatory testing of essential workers? >> we are looking at the evidence and data to establish testing guidelines for workers in san francisco. right now with city test sf we have made testing available for essential workers. they can go to city test sf to get tested. specific guidelines will be developed as these phases move forward. we are collaborating closely with the economic recovery task force to ensure that the public health components every opening are very much represented in these next phases. >> thank you, doctor colfax. that concludes today's press

conference. the full conference will be on youtube at the sfgovtv page. thank you very much.

>> ever wonder about programs the city it working think to make san francisco the best place to work and will we bring shine to the programs and the people making them happen join us inside that edition of what's next sf sprech of market street between

6th is having a cinderella movement with the office of economic workforce development is it's fairy godmother telegraph hill engaged in the program and providing the reason to pass through the corridor and better reason to stay office of economic workforce development work to support the economic vital of all of san francisco we have 3 distinctions workforce and neighborhood investment i work in the tenderloin that has been the focus resulting in tax chgsz and 9 arts group totally around 2 hundred thousand square feet of office space as fits great as it's moved forward it is some of the place businesses engaged for the people that have living

there for a long time and people that are coming into to work in the the item you have before you companies and the affordable housing in general people want a safe and clean community they see did changed coming is excited for every. >> oewd proits provides permits progress resulting in the growth of mid businesses hocking beggar has doubled in size. >> when we were just getting started we were a new business people never saturday a small business owner and been in the bike industry a long needed help in finding at space and sxug the that is a oewd and others agencies were a huge helped walked us through the process we

couldn't have done it without you this is sloped to be your grand boulevard if so typically a way to get one way to the other it is supposed to be a beautiful boulevard and fellowship it is started to look like that. >> we have one goal that was the night to the neighborhood while the bigger project of developments as underway and also to bring bring a sense of community back to the neighborhood. >> we wanted to use the says that a a gathering space for people to have experience whether watching movies or a yoga or coming to lecture. >> that sb caliber shift on the street is awarding walking down the street and seeing people sitting outside address this building has been vacate and seeing this change is

inspiringing. >> we've created a space where people walk in and have fun and it is great that as changed the neighborhood. >> oewd is oak on aortas a driver for san francisco. >> we've got to 23ri7b9 market and sun setting piano and it was on the street we've seen companies we say used to have to accompanying come out and recruit now they're coming to us. >> today, we learned about the office of economic workforce development and it's effort to foster community and make the buyer market street corridor something that be proud of thanks to much for watching and tune in next time for

>> roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip. the light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born. >> working with kids in the ocean that aren't familiar with this space is really special because you're dealing with a

lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. >> when i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. >> we'll get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the idea, who don't like the beach. it's too cold out, and it's those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day. >> over the last few years, i think we've had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. >> surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. >> we've start off with about two to four sessions in the pool before actually going out and surfing. >> swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water

and being calm and not being all -- not being anxious. >> so when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p.e. credits. just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year or two. but now that we've been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids that's consistent, and the word has spread, that it's super fun, that you learn about the ocean. >> starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. >> we usually go to linda mar, and then occasionally ocean beach. we once did a special trip. we were in capitola last year,

and it was really fun. >> we get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. >> once we go to the beach, i don't want to go home. i can't change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. >> our program has definitely been a way for our students to find community and build friends. >> i don't really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know people more than i did before, and people that i didn't think i'd like, like, ended up being my best friends. >> it's a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close camaraderie, but everybody's doing it for themselves. >> it's great, surfing around, finding new people and making new friendships with people

throughout surfing. >> it can be highly developmental for students to have this time where they can learn a lot about themselves while negotiating the waves. >> i feel significantly, like, calmer. it definitely helps if i'm, like, feeling really stressed or, like, feeling really anxious about surfing, and i go surfing, and then, i just feel, like, i'm going to be okay. >> it gives them resiliency skills and helps them build self-confidence. and with that, they can use that in other parts of their lives. >> i went to bring amy family o the beach and tell them what i did. >> i saw kids open up in the ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy

themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. >> for some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a mentorship program like this, it's they want to surf, and then later, they'll find out that they've, like, made this community connection. >> i think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. >> for kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been willing to do on my own is really special. >> we go on 150 surf outings a year. that's year-round programming. we've seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has translated to growth in other facets of their lives. >> i just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something

that is really cool, that they're engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how they're doing, like, in general. >> what i like best is they really care about me, like, i'm not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun. >> we're creating surfers, and we're changing the face of surfing. >> the feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. it's definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but it's definitely fun. >> it leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kid's going to go out and do. >> i think it's really magical almost. at least it was for me. >> it was really exciting when i caught my first wave. >> i felt like i was, like -- it was, like, magical, really. >> when they catch that first

wave, and their first lights up, you know -- their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. >> i was on top of the world. it's amazing. i felt like i was on top of the world even though i was probably going two miles an hour. it was, like, the scariest thing i'd ever done, and i think it was when i got hooked >> hello everyone. welcome to the bayview bistro. >> it is just time to bring the community together by deliciou

deliciousness. i am excited to be here today because nothing brings the community together like food. having amazing food options for and by the people of this community is critical to the success, the long-term success and stability of the bayview-hunters point community. >> i am nima romney. this is a mobile cafe.

we do soul food with a latin twist. i wanted to open a truck to son nor the soul food, my african heritage as well as mylas continuas my latindescent. >> i have been at this for 15 years. i have been cooking all my life pretty much, you know. i like cooking ribs, chicken, links. my favorite is oysters on the grill. >> i am the owner. it all started with banana pudding, the mother of them all. now what i do is take on traditional desserts and pair them with pudding so that is my ultimate goal of the business. >> our goal with the bayview

bristow is to bring in businesses so they can really use this as a launching off point to grow as a single business. we want to use this as the opportunity to support business owners of color and those who have contributed a lot to the community and are looking for opportunities to grow their business. >> these are the things that the san francisco public utilities commission is doing. they are doing it because they feel they have a responsibility to san franciscans and to people in this community. >> i had a grandmother who lived in bayview. she never moved, never wavered. it was a house of security answer entity where we went for holidays. i was a part of bayview most of my life. i can't remember not being a part of bayview. >> i have been here for several

years. this space used to be unoccupied. it was used as a dump. to repurpose it for something like this with the bistro to give an opportunity for the local vendors and food people to come out and showcase their work. that is a great way to give back to the community. >> this is a great example of a public-private community partnership. they have been supporting this including the san francisco public utilities commission and mayor's office of workforce department. >> working with the joint venture partners we got resources for the space, that the businesses were able to thrive because of all of the opportunities on the way to this community. >> bayview has changed. it is growing. a lot of things is different

from when i was a kid. you have the t train. you have a lot of new business. i am looking forward to being a business owner in my neighborhood. >> i love my city. you know, i went to city college and fourth and mission in san francisco under the chefs ria, marlene and betsy. they are proud of me. i don't want to leave them out of the journey. everyone works hard. they are very supportive and passionate about what they do, and they all have one goal in mind for the bayview to survive. >> all right. it is time to eat, people.

>> good evening, everyone. this is march 20th, 2020 meeting of the san francisco police commission. i apologize to everyone and we were experiencing quite a few technical difficulties to log on to the meeting so i'm sorry that we're getting started a little bit late. and i'm sorry that you guys can't see me right now but i'm placing my hand over my heart and if everyone else on the commission and the staff would place their hands over their heart so we can recite the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. so we would be remiss in having a meeting in may without