>> good morning, everyone. the meeting will come to order, welcome to the june 29, 2020, meeting. i'm supervisor hillary ronen, chair of the committee. and with me is vice-chair, catherine stefani and supervisor gordon mar. and our clerk today is victor young and i'd like to thank sfgov-tv terror staffin for stas meeting. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? clerk: the board of supervisors legislative chamber and committee room are closed. however, members are participating in the meeting today remotely. each member will attend through video conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present. public comment will be available on each item on the agenda. both channel 26 and sfgov-tv.org

are streaming the number across the stream. and each speaker is allowed two minutes to speak. and the opportunity to speak during the public comment period are available by calling 1-(408)-418-9388. and, again, that is 1-(408)-418-9388. and the meeting i.d. is 146 661 0524. again, that is 146 661 0524. and then press pound and pound again. when connected you will hear the meeting discussion but you will be muted and in listening mode only. when your item of interest comes up, hit star, 3, to be added to the speaker line. speak clearly and slowly and turn down your television or radio. alternatively you may submit the public comment in either of the

following ways. email to myself, the rules committee clerk at bic.org@sfgov.org. if you submit by email it's forwarded to the supervisors and it's included as part of the file. and finally items are expected to be on the board of supervisor agenda of july 7th, unless otherwise stated. >> chair ronen: can you call item one. >> clerk: item one is the charter amendment to amend the charter of the city and county of san francisco to create the sheriff department oversight board to revise and report findings and recommendations to the sheriff and the board of supervisors regarding sheriff department operations, the sheriff department office of inspector general, under the direction of the inspector general appointed by the oversight board to investigate complaints of non-criminal misconduct by employees and contractors of the sheriff's department. and the in-custody deaths and

the policy recommendations for the sheriff's department and the finds and results and recommendations to the sheriff and the oversight board at elections to be held on november 3, 2020. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. and i wanted to welcome a bunch of guests to the committee, including supervisor walton and our district attorney, and the public defender and the sheriff. and i'm going to ask supervisor walton, the author of this measure, to speak first and then we'll hear from the b.l.a. report and then i know that the sheriff needs to leave at 10:20 so we'll ask to hear from him first. supervisor walton. >> supervisor walton: thank you so much, chair ronen and i thank you all for attending this important hearing this morning. i'm going to try to be as brief as possible and efficient in my

comments. i do want to just start off by saying that we are at a pivotal time in terms of justice reform, not only here in san francisco, but across the country. and prior to being elected in 2018, i met several times with public defender, and we had several conversations about the type of justice reforms that we would want to see if i were to be elected. and one of the most major and significant was how our people were being treated that were in custody. and all of the allegations of misconduct, abuse, that was running rampant to some degree in our jails. so that's something that we worked on right away, as soon as i assumed office. in fact, the public defender, his office and i began to immediately work on the appropriate sheriff's oversight. and one of the things that we focused after seeing all of the information about gladiator fights in the jails, lawsuits

and allegations that were being heavily reported, we knew that it was a time for us to have independent oversight, particularly around investigations of certain assaults and misconduct in our jails. so i want to take the time first to thank the many callers and the ma many individuals who are incarcerated and advocate for the need for sheriff's oversight. and the stories they shared and the time they took to be sure that my office was continuing to work on this important issue is appreciated. and in particular i want to thank particular individuals who were in custody who called my office weekly to continue to push for their justice and share their story. along with the stories of others who felt that they did not have a voice. shortly after our initial work, unfortunately, our beloved public defender passed away. but today we remember him and his tireless commitment to justice reform. with the recent uprisings and

calls for justice reform, due to the many instances of law enforcement attacks on black people and people of color, this charter amendment comes at the right time. cities across the nation are rising up in protest and speaking up about the many injustices that have plagued us for decades. as a black man, i represent the african american community. my community has been hurt with the overcriminallization of our members, the lack of resources, and the institutional and structural racism that exists in our country today. and it is finally being acknowledged and it is time that we begin to take the steps to repair the harm. the moment is now to take a closer look at how we fund law enforcement and how we hold law enforcement accountable for all of the members of the community. this ordinance is a first step in rebuilding community trust and giving community members an opportunity to share and be heard. the cost of this justice reform

and accountability is projected to cost close to $3 million. this is at a time when we are redirecting resources to invest in improving outcomes for people of color. this is the type of investment that we need to make. i believe that it is important to work together to build systems in which trust, transparency and accountability are ensured. during this process i have been able to work closely with the sheriff fro. from the beginning he's been open to justice reform and to proposed changes that many advocate for. he's done amazing work and already committed to update the use-of-force policy and reaffirm the department's 30-year prohibition of the use of restraint and/or chokeholds. i have also worked closely with the sheriff's union to share why we feel this is important. it needs to be implemented, especially now. it is my hope that it will serve as a tool that outlasts all of us here today and will give the

community the assurance they need and that they can trust that we will always be able to be accountable and they will be heard. during our work on this topic, we reached out to experts in the field and was honored to work with robert atark, the founder of accountability associates, an oversight and police practices consultant whose career spans over 30 years in oversight and law enforcement. she is the author of "police misconduct: complaint investigations manual." and she worked endless hours helping my office to submit what you have before you today. i would like to also thank kathleen belts who has been instrumental in bringing her experience as assistant inspector general at the los angeles county office of inspector general. whom i met with in los angeles county during my research. miss belts helped to answer many of the questions that we had and helped us to put together what you see before you by using best

practices to improve the oversight of corrections facilities. we had a great team of volunteers who worked endless hours on this policy. in particular, i want to thank former public defender and the current district attorney chase bodine. mr. bodine helped to think this through and he continued his commitment to the work with our office on this. and i want to thank the public defender and his staff for the hours they have contributed to make sure that this oversight will continue long after all of us. and i have to thank mistracy brown-iarldo, an aide in my office who worked tirelessly with the entire community to work on this charter amendment to give us what i believe is the independent oversight that we need to make sure that we can protect individuals who are incarcerated. last, here's a brief overview of what is being proposed in the

charter. the proposed legislation will place an initiative on the november 3rd ballot in 2020 to amend the city's charter to create a civilian sheriff's department oversight board and office of the inspector general to support the sheriff department oversight board. the sheriff department oversight board and the office of the inspector general will be responsible for investigating complaints against the sheriff's department and other city employees or contractors who interact with individuals in sheriff's custody. as well as making recommendations for disciplinary action and policy changes that are related to use of force. the sheriff's department oversight board and the office of inspector general would have the power to have subpoenas or testimony, but the sheriff would have the discretion to impose discipline on the sheriff department employees with thorough thought out

recommendations from the sheriff department oversight board. the board consists of seven minutes appointed by the board of supervisors and take a majority vote in november to pass. in the end i want to thank everyone for all of the work they have done to getting us here today. i think that this is great policy and a positive step forward to getting to the accountability for law enforcement that we all wish to achieve. supervisor ronen, i know that you already called o on the sheriff, and if it's all right with you i'd love to bring him up at this time. >> chair ronen: perfect. yes, sheriff, good morning. >> good morning. sorry, i have hit the mute as we all know on these things, it's part of what we have to do now. good morning, everyone. and thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. i apologize for the accommodation that has to be considered for my time. we're swearing in a new assistant sheriff today and

that's part of our process of change and looking forward to moving in a direction of making sure that we are responsive to the needs of the community. and this legislation represents exactly what supervisor walton mentioned. and as he also mentioned, we are a part of the collaboration in making this happen. i do want to make sure that everyone is clear though that my position as the sheriff in regards to the legislation itself and the work that we are doing to try to make sure that it is responsive but also responsible. and as i have mentioned earlier, i do support overall the concepts in regards to the creation of a community advisory board of an oversight board which would look to being a part of the transparency and the accountability that we hope to achieve in making sure that people are very clear on what our office does and how we do it. i want to though to make sure

that we're also responsible as elected and as an elected official myself included, that there are concerns about this legislation with regards to the cost as supervisor walton pointed out. i believe that we have an opportunity to merge both those plans which i had in place prior to covid happening and all of the different things that have occurred which have changed our perspective on how to get things dondone, and also put delays on some of the hopes and the goals that we have as newly elected official coming in. one of which was the creation of an advisory board. i shared that with supervisor walton and i'm happy to see that there's a board consideration here in the legislation. i want to say that i'm supportive of that. i am supportive of the creation of a board so long as it includes members of areas of concern for us with mental health, rehabilitation and re-entry, and victims' rights,

equity and diversity, restorative justice and pre-trial release, all things that we are very familiar with in the sheriff's office and want to ensure that would be part of the discussions. not just a focus in terms of the behaviors of our staff, but also how we get things done. i also wanted to offer up that part of this process would include what we already have in place which is an office of the ombudsperson. and this office is actually responsible for the review of the grievance process, the review of what we would call a grievance process but would also be known as concerns or issues that are brought up by our in-custody population in order for us to make sure that we're responsive to any concerns they have about the process. i would want that to be a part of the language here. and we are continuing to work on the amendments to the language. so i want to say as we move forward that my comments, while we're not looking to say completely no to this whole

thing we want to make sure that it's as responsible as possible in terms of the language. so we're absolutely in support of that. the construct that is listed in terms of the participation of the board of supervisors and the mayor in determining who is on that board is something this we are also open to and look to, working towards the construct that we will use moving forward. the concern that we have in terms of the budgetary issues have to do more with the duplication of some of the things that we already have in place. as most of you know, we have an m.o.u. and a memorandum of understanding with the department of police accountability right now and both my attorneys and the people from d.p.a. have been working on expanding on our current m.o.u. to cover some investigations and some constructs of things that we would anticipate falling under the purview. which will expand more on what we have already have in place and also be a huge component of what we're talking about here in this legislation regarding the

creation of an office of inspector general in regards to investigative body. it's my belief that in regards to review and investigating of complaints, both against our staff, complaints of misconduct and against all other people who interact with those in our custody and care, both out in the community and in an incarcerated setting, i think that we are duplicating a process that is already being addressed in terms of those investigations by independent investigative body represented by the d.p.a. and i would speak to this as we discuss moving forward making changes to this legislation or this proposed charter amendment so that we focus more on the community advisory board as opposed to the creation of a new investigative body. in regards to the office of

inspector general, i do know that these investigative components are part of that office that is proposed to be created under this amendment. i would say that we should look further into such an office being created without the administrative burden of the investigations, but with full access to and reports back on any investigations being conducted by d.p.a. so other than having the problem of being pressed for time now, i hope that i have been able to show this by the sheriff's office. we're looking forward to moving forward and making sure that we address the areas of concern by creating an advisory board, by creating a construct of a process, which includes the current processes, so that we can be more transparent and accountable as an office. and, you know, you mentioned trust, supervisor walton, trust

and transparency and accountability. i want to just say that we're working towards the transparency and accountability with these processes, but the most important thing to remember is that as an elected official my trust come from the fact that i was elected. and that i would still be making the decisions regardless of whatever final product that we have. those decisions will lie with me in terms of discipline, in terms of follow-up on the recommendations and the advice of any of the bodies that we end up with as part of this charter amendment. so thank you for your time. i appreciate that you've been -- i've been given the opportunity to speak. i am going to have to go right now and thank you very much. supervisor ronen. >> chair ronen: thank you, chair. so however you would like to run the hearing, should we hear from the d.a. and p.d.? >> thank you, supervisor ronen, it's find to hear from the

b.l.a. and then i would say the district attorney bodine. >> chair ronen: okay, thank you. good morning. >> good morning, chair, ronen and supervisor stefani and supervisor walton. we were asked specifically to provide a memo on the potential costs of the proposed office of the oversight board. we did submit a memo this morning. our estimated costs are approximately $2.8 million for the office of inspector general per year. and another $240,000 for the oversight body. totaling about $3 million per year. i do want to point out though that these are just estimates. we base our cost estimates on the composed staffing level in the charter amendment and discussions with the department of police accountability to understand their costs and workload. the charter amendment does specifically state that budget and staffing would be subject to the fiscal budgetary components

of the charter so that the actual costs would be subject to the board of supervisors approval in the end in the annual budget. and i'm available for any questions that you may have. >> chair ronen: thank you. any questions for the b.l.a.? no? okay. seeing none, good morning, district attorney bodine, great to see you. you are on mute. >> good morning, thank you for that. like the sheriff i was on mute and we're dealing with some technical challenges. but i appreciate you recognizing me, chair ronen and i want to thank supervisor walton for his leadership in this effort to develop a comprehensive oversight plan for san francisco sheriff's department and really more broadly his efforts around san francisco sworn peace officers. but particularly today we're

here to talk about the proposed charter amendment. i also want to acknowledge and thank supervisor ronen and haney and preston for joining as co-sponsors and all of the other folks who supervisor walton already recognized for their hard work on this important initiative. the city and county of san francisco is one of the few dual jurisdictions in the country. one of the few places where the county lines are continuous with the sole municipality contained therein. we have in part as a result of that just two primary law enforcement agencies. the san francisco police department, and the san francisco sheriff's department. over time, we have seen the transparency and the accountability over the sheriff department compared to the police department. we know that there's plenty of room for improvement with regard to oversight and accountability of both departments. but in the wake of scandals over the past several years, including the gladiator-style filing ifile fighting in the jat

resulted in a filing of criminal charges by my predecessor, and misconduct with in-custody deaths and allegations of widespread physical abuse of inmates in the county jail, we have been discussing as a city and the former sheriff hennessey welcomed the oversight. and this is the next natural step towards fully realizing the priority to provide independent civilian oversight for all san francisco's law enforcement agents -- agencies. excuse me. the proposed charter amendment clearly acknowledges the relationship between non-criminal misconduct and criminal misconduct. to be clear, my office has and will continue to have the responsibility to investigate, and where appropriate to prosecute criminal misconduct that occurs within the city and county of san francisco.

my independent investigation bureau under the leadership of our newly appointed managing attorney and bayview native latif gray has two key responsibilities related to the proposed charter amendment. the first is to investigate and review all officer involved shootings and any in-custody deaths within the sheriff's department. the second is to investigate and review all other types of excessive force cases. now i want to reiterate that independent oversight is essential for both the criminal aspect, which i just described my office's role in, and the non-criminal misconduct that happens, unfortunately, from time to time. the proposed charter amendment on my reading of it honors the role of my office and handling the criminal side as well as creating a mechanism for non-criminal misconduct to be independently investigated and evaluated by a civilian-led

team. and the inspector general can carry out those responsibilities. i support the resolution and i urge the board -- excuse -- the charter amendment -- and i urge the board to support placing the charter amendment on the ballot so that san francisco voters may decide whether or not the city should move forward and make this procedure and this process part of our city's charter. independent oversight of the kind envisioned in supervisor walton's proposed charter amendment will help to make our community feel safer. it will help to build trust at a time when it's never been more necessary that we build trust between communities and law enforcement that's here to serve and to protect us, including all of those confined in our county jails. the vast majority of whom are presumed innocent and still ooh waiting prosecution. and the transparency are essential ingredients to building public safety.

we must lead a deep structural change towards a criminal legal system that devotes resources towards the tools that we know that are essential to public safety. i want to thank you again for your time, for recognizing me, and i want to thank specifically supervisor walton for his leadership. i'm happy to answer any questions that the committee may have. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. supervisor walton, i mean, any other member of the committee have questions for the d.a.? >> i have one question. i know that the d.a. bodine but for my colleagues and anyone else who may have any questions. the charter for criminal activity still remains the district attorney's responsibility? >> that's correct. my bureau will continue to be the lead investigating agency

and prosecuting agency for any criminal conduct that we believe that may have been committed by sheriffs, deputies, in san francisco county. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. and any other questions for the district attorney? not seeing any. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> chair ronen: and now we're going to hear from our public defender. good morning, good to see you. >> good morning, and good to see you. thank you for recognizing me, chair ronen. at this moment people across the country are demanding justice and reform from law enforcement, including county sheriffs. but so much of what sheriffs do, including how and when they hold their deputies accountable, unfortunately, occurs away from the public eye. which perpetuates the culture of

secrecy and insulates them from scrutiny. and i'm speaking today as the public defender today but also on behalf of my clients. so many times when we did see someone in county jail we find out that they're in administrative seggation and sed only allowed to leave their cell for half an hour a day. and we don't know why that's happened and we don't know when that's going to end and, frankly, that will often leave some people because they feel that they're being not treated well and can't deal with being in sheriff custody anymore, to plead guilty to something they shouldn't. over the last few years violence against those held in custody and serious misconduct by deputies is taking place by sheriff deputies inside of the jail. the sheriff department, which oversees the county jail, is responsible for the health and the safety of those held in

county jail, many of whom as a reminder are awaiting their day in court and are innocent before the law. and the sheriff's department generally has dealt with those transgressions internally. and is it the sheriff's department sole to do this? and it is one of the many steps that are pursued to make sure that our community treat people in our jail and their loved ones to address any abuse and injustice they may witness, experience or hear about. and so the sheriff can now refer some internal investigations for the department of accountability, no mechanism exists for members of the public or a person outside of the sheriff to file a complaint with the independent agency against a deputy.

supervisor walton and i agreed that the public has a right to know and should have a window into how the san francisco sheriff department operates. the public is needing that access. so thank you, supervisor walton, for understanding the importance of public transparency by bringing this charter amendment before the committee. and thank you for the supporting members of the board. we do want to make sure, however, that if the voters choose to create these bodies that they will be effective. to that end we implore this and future boards to hold such a body -- such bodies accountability and to not allow for the delays that may defeat their purpose. we as public defenders and indeed the public and those that we represent need meaningful and effective oversight which produces quick and timely transparency. and the oversight board is only

effective as the members, the members who have shown a commitment and a record to holding law enforcement accountable. so thank you so much for this effort and thank you so much for your time. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. are there any questions for the public defender? no. supervisor walton? >> supervisor walton: thank you so much. no questions for the public defender. but i just really want to thank him and his entire office, and the other members of the public defender's office who work tirelessly with us on this legislation so that it would be responsive, so we would have a place to hold law enforcement accountable, the sheriff's department accountable, and also allow for the transparency that we have been looking for. so thank you. >> thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you. supervisor walton, is there any other comments or presenters before we open this up for public comment?

>> supervisor walton: so no other presenters. i did just want to add a few things. one, i want to thank all of my co-sponsors on the board of supervisors. you, supervisor ronen and supervisor haney and supervisor preston, for stepping up with us to introduce this charter and to make sure that we do everything that we can in our power as policymakers to hold the law enforcement accountable and to make sure that our folks in custody are safe and treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve as members of our communities. i also want to say that i appreciate the sheriff's comments, and definitely understand that we are facing budgetary constraints at this time. but i also want to be clear that everyone is aware that people are dying unjustly at the hands of law enforcement across this country. we have made our own mistakes here in san francisco that have been highlighted in the media, that have been highlighted in other hearings that we have held as members of this body.

the lawsuits that we continue to pay out because of the law enforcement mishaps, particularly of people in custody. and we are at a pivotal time when we're currently redirecting resources to achieve justice. saving lives does not come at a cost and should not come at a cost. what is a life worth? it's a question that i want us to ask ourselves as we look at the cost benefit analysis of this policy. now is the time for an investment like this. our job is to use the resources for the appropriate form. and that is what we need to be focused on as policymakers. m.o.u.s in place are stronger, but as you heard from our district attorney's office, as you heard from our public defender, there are several constraints of obtaining timely information under the constructs of even those m.o.u.s that exist. now is the time for independent oversight and the department of police accountability, their job

is to really investigate the allegations within the police department. i don't want us to further stretch their already thin capacity as they are responsible for sfpd, and they're (indiscernible) with how they work with the police commission as well as the police department. and so i just want to say that it's great that we allow this opportunity for the voters to make a decision on what they want to see for justice and accountability. we are fighting for law enforcement accountability at all levels, and this is just a start of many reforms. our office likes to talk about the fact that we're going to put forth many reforms in justice and equity packages over these next few months and the next couple years. this is one of them and, again, i just want to thank my co-sponsors and the public defender and the district attorney as well as the sheriff, for working through this together so that we can really fight for the true account thability we need and all of our

bodies, this starts with the sheriff. thank you, supervisor. >> chair ronen: thank you, supervisor walton. i just wanted to add my two cents. first of all, i want to thank you and thank your aide tracy brown as well as kevin gosen from the public defender's office and our public defender and the sheriff and the district attorney for all of your work on this. i know that this is -- has been a long time coming. and i just want to appreciate the fact that you have been working on these issues from the moment -- even before you were elected, supervisor. you have been thinking about and working on these type of changes. your leadership on these issues, especially during this time, has been extraordinary. and it is just such an honor to support this measure, which is

long overdue. i couldn't agree more. especially when you look at what's going on around the country. of course, we're doing better here in san francisco in our jails, but if you look at what's happening in san quentin just across a bridge from us, it's shocking. and take away people's liberty. and we put their life and their well-being in the hands of a department where they have so little power and say over how they protect themselves and how they keep themselves safe and alive. we have to have the tightest oversight bodies making sure that people are being treated with dignity and with respect. and i believe that you have done just a tremendous job putting this mother together and putting all of the checks and balances

in place to do just that. it's somewhat shocking to me that this is a first time that something like this has been implemented in san francisco. this seems like it should have been in place decades ago. but it's never too late to do right by the people of san francisco. and i just commend you so much for finally putting us -- pointing us and putting the structures in place to have us to be on the frontlines of protecting the most vulnerable, including those whose liberty is no longer their own, who are in our jails. so thank you so much for this, supervisor walton. and with that i will open this up for public comment. mr. clerk, are there any members of the public who wish to speak? >> clerk: the operations is checking and i'd just to say that the members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call

1-(408)-418-9388. and then the i.d. is 146 661 0524. and then press pound and pound again. if you haven't already done so, press star, 3, to line up to speak. and please wait until the assistant indicates that you have been unmuted and you may begin your comment. operations, do we have any speakers on the line? >> i have one caller in the queue. >> caller: good morning, members of the board of supervisors. can you hear me? >> chair ronen: yes, we can hear you. >> caller: good. my name is -- good morning. my name is barbara atard, i'm a second generation san francisco

native and i have been involved in oversight with the office of citizens' complaints opened in 1983. i work for the san francisco office of privacy complaints for 15 years and was the independent police auditor in san jose. i'm a past president of the national association for civilian oversight of law enforcement. and work with those who want to establish oversight nationally. i want to say as you have said, supervisor ronen, that we are long overdue for oversight of the sheriff's department. and as we all know that there have been very serious incidents in the sheriff's department. the time is now for independent oversight. i'm very concerned that the san francisco sheriff's department signed an m.o.u. with the department of police

accountability. this m.o.u. stands to dilute the oversight of the police department, the d.a. has not fulfilled all of its mandate to have audits of the san francisco police department. it really needs to focus on the police department. i think that the legislation that you have before you for oversight of the sheriff's department, the i.g., as well as the commission, i think that is a really good model. it's based on models in los angeles and denver, which are great national models. and i urge you to go forward and put this on the ballot for november and i'm available if any of you have questions. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. and thank you for all of your work on this, barbara. are there anymore speakers?

>> madam chair, that completes the queue. >> chair ronen: okay, then public comment is closed. so i would be happy to make a motion to incorporate the amendments. may you read out the amendments, supervisor walton? >> supervisor walton: give me one second, supervisor. >> chair ronen: sure. >> supervisor walton: yes, supervisor ronen, i don't believe that they're substantive and maybe we could hear from our city attorney. >> chair ronen: sure. are there any amendments that we're introducing today on this measure? good morning. >> deputy city attorney ann pearson. my understanding is that amendments were prepared for today. every amendment that is made to a ballot measure will trigger continuance to another hearing.

regardless of whether it's substantive. so if amendments are made today it would need to be continued to the next meeting of the rules committee. >> supervisor walton: thank you so much. we don't have any proposed amendments. we actually worked out everything through legislation and so i'm not clear as to what amendments we're talking about. >> okay, i had had -- i had -- my understanding is that there were amendments. so just -- we want to make sure because of the timing that we get this right. city attorney ann pearson, you said that there were amendments prepared for today? do you know what those amendments were? i can also just call another item and leave this one open while we figure this out. >> if i am mistaken and there are no amendments, then the committee can act on this. but you might want to do that, chair ronen, just to give us the time to confirm whether there

are or not because of the timing issues. i think that is a good idea. >> chair ronen: okay, perfect, thanks. so you'll be in touch and we're going to just keep this item open while we call item 2. mr. clerk, call item number 2. >> clerk: yes. item 2 is the charter amendment to amend the charter of the city and county of san francisco to create a public works commission to oversee the department of public works, create the sanitation and streets department to specific duties performed currently by the department of public works to create a sanitation and streets commission to oversee the sanitation and streets department, and affirming the planning department's determination under the california environmental quality act, at an election to be held on november 3, 2020. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. and this is supervisor matt haney's measure and i'm wondering if he's joined us yet? are you here, supervisor haney? he is not here yet.

i will wait for a minute. here he is. good morning, supervisor haney. >> you're quicker than they told me. sorry about that. >> chair ronen: no problem, feel free to introduce this charter amendment. >> great. give me one second. all right. well, first of all, thank you, committee members and chair ronen and supervisors mar and stefani for giving me the opportunity to present this charter amendment today. i also want to thank the co-sponsors of the charter amendment, supervisors ronen, walton, preston and mar. so i want to start by stating some facts which i think that are incontrovertible at this point. one, our streets, especially downtown, are still covered with

trash and feces and needles. they were that way before this pandemic, and in many way things have worsened in past few months. several of our high density and high traffic sidewalks they are covered in waste and soaked with urine. and despite more money into street cleaning in the past few years, things have not improved and in many ways things have gotten much worse. we have illegal dumping that continues to happen throughout our city. especially on the eastside of the city. and it's also worsened in recent years. on top of that our city lacks clear service baselines and there are broken trash cans when you can find one and not nearly enough when you need one. there's little sidewalk deep cleaning that happens in our city. we talked about this many times. the public bathrooms are insufficient and inadequate. and despite all of this there's no regular accountability or transparency as it relates to the state of our streets or the

progress that needs to be made. nationally san francisco has become literally the butt of jokes because of the state of our streets. and little has been done to change this. this weighs most heavily on the people who live and work in the most impacted neighborhoods, it affects their quality of life, their connection to their community, their dignity and their health. but this is something that impacts everyone in our city. and when i took office a year and a half ago, like many of you i promised my constituents that i would get to the bottom of why the state of our streets have been allowed to deteriorate and what are the solutions. the real solutions, not just more money into a failing approach, but what can be done to actually to solve this problem. as a part of that for last year my staff and i have been meeting withs d dozens can dozens of people, and we've held hearings

that many of you have been part of. we have met with all of the c.b.d.s and we have thought about trash cans and bathrooms and pressure washing and every piece of what d.p.w. itself does. as many of you know that d.p.w. is a department that really is a massive department in terms of its scope of work. and it's something that has grown. it often tends to be used as a kind of a catch-all for the different work that the executive branch has wanted to be done. so here are a few things that we found that has led to us bringing forward what is in front of you today as a solution. one, as i said, d.p.w. is a massive sprawling department. most of its work actually is not street cleaning or even street facing. the department director is not required to have expertise or demonstrated experience or knowledge in the area of street cleaning or maintenance, in part because most of the work that the department does is actually in the area of public infrastructure. there's a disconnect between what the residents of our city

think that d.p.w. does and what they actually do. so for that reason it can be hard for us to even hold d.p.w. or the d.p.w. director accountable for the cleanliness on our streets because his or her job is largely related to public infrastructure and building, which is obviously very important. second, the laws of our city are out of date and they don't actually require the city to do a lot of the cleaning and maintenance that needs to be done. nowhere in our charter does it actually outline that the city has a responsibility or d.p.w. has a responsibility as it relates to public bathrooms, street and sidewalk -- sorry, sidewalk cleaning. and this creates a lot of confusion as to who is actually responsible and accountable for these things. third, there's no real oversight, citizen oversight, or accountability of the department of public works. unlike other large departments, they don't have an oversight commission. they are the only chapter 6,

which is a sort of the larger construction department, that lack a commission. and i'll talk about that as it relates to contracting and corruption, but also that means that there isn't a public process for setting strategy, for requiring innovation for solutions and holding the department accountable and giving input for the public to get answers. i think that the results on our city streets demonstrate the consequences of that. fourth, there are no baseline standard systems or metrics in place for keeping the city clean. and the head of the department as we have seen before can decide on their own what to do and where and when for trash to be picked up and street cleaning to happen. and this approach has failed us entirely. we need a clear set of baseline and a body to hold our city accountable to make sure that they are provided for.

and i think that during covid-19 this need for addressing these issues has only been highlighted further. coronavirus we know can be present in human feces, and the virus can be spread by coming into contaminated surfaces. the need for these type of effective cleaning are only heightened during a time of a pandemic. so the conclusion that we have come to is that we need to undertake a broader restructuring of the city's role in streets and sidewalk maintenance and sanitation to ensure that our city has a clear focused and an organized approach to keeping our streets safe and sanitary. i am 100% sure that we are not going to address this problem that is so well known to so many now by utilizing the same structure that we have, and just pouring more money into it. we are not going to address what has become one of the most endemic challenges that our city faces. i want to underscore that all of

this was true even before this corruption scandal that has rocked our city. another set of facts that are now incontrovertible. the former director of d.p.w. is under charge by the f.b.i., which now is extending and the u.s. attorney is extending across within d.p.w. and across our city department. literally the problem within d.p.w. having set the larger city government. and there are structural reasons for that. the controller today is going to issue his first report on city corruption. and one of the key findings in there is that d.p.w. is uniquely lacking in oversight as compared to other city departments. this massive sprawling department took on more and more and put more concentrated and more and more power within the director. and it continues to be one of the only large departments

without citizen oversight commission. or the clear lack of process and standards that are expected as it relates to the prevention of corruption. as a part of our process to determine the actual reform that was needed, we met with dozens and dozens of employees from street cleaners to truck drivers to architects, to engineers. and what i can report back to you is that the frontline employees in d.p.w. will tell you unanimously that this structure is broken, and that there needs to be massive structural reform. the people who are doing the work are the ones who have been saying for years and years and years that there needs to be change, there needs to be oversight, and they overwhelmingly agreed with the charter amendment that we put in front of you today. i recognize that there are concerns from the people at the top, but the people on the streets believe that this is right approach and it will put them in a position to -- to

solve this challenge both as it relates to accountability and transparency and as it relates to actual clean streets. which they're the ones who are doing the amazing work trying to deliver that every day. so here's what our legislation will do. and then i want to put -- to address the amendments which are significant, which i think that address some of the questions and concerns that have come up. so our legislation will address the structural problems in three ways. one is that we are going to update our laws to actually require that the city clean what needs to be cleaned and provide the services that need to be provided. we do believe that people who own property need to do their part. but a modern city has a role in cleaning its sidewalks and it's transparent and accountable about that. and maintains its trash cans and bathrooms in a way that is clear, that the public can give input to, that has enforceable baselines. and those responsibilities should be a part of the charter

responsibility of the department and our city. second, our charter amendment provides a real look at the state of our streets. currently, d.p.w. really has two large functions. they act as the city's engineers, architects and project managers which make up the bulk of their work. and on the other hand they're also responsible for the boots on the groundwork of maintaining our sewer system and urban forestry and street cleaning and maintenance. our legislation will split the department into two distinct bodies by removing the bureau of operations from d.p.w. and creating the department of sanitation and streets. most other cities in the country have a department of sanitation and streets. this is not a new concept. we have done this before with the creation of the department of homesness and d.p.i., to put a specific intentional focus on something like street cleaning that has become such a huge challenge and is not being addressed by the structure as we have it.

this will allow somebody to actually to have the expertise in street cleaning, to be held accountable for the state of our streets, to have management and direction from a commission, and for us to be able to go to as if it's their singular job to get that done. right now respecting to our new director, it's not -- the majority of the director's job. and for that reason it lacks the level of focus and expertise and intentionality that is needed to do it effectively. third, our charter amendment will create the commissions over d.p.w. and the new department of sanitation and streets. they will set legally enforceable baselines of street cleanliness and make sure that it's under a system under which one person can use their power, sometimes inappropriately, and instead, will actually have a level of input, setting baselines, with due processes and with contracts and making sure that the departments and their work are accountable to the public.

i hope that we'll see real innovation, that we'll see new ideas. and that they'll be able to hold the department respectively accountable to the results. the -- i want to address -- i'm going to share the amendments, but i want to address a couple things that i know that will come up and i want to address them directly. some folks may say that this is not really an issue for their neighborhood or that things are working fine where they are. i want to be clear that things on the eastside of the city are not acceptable and this affects everyone in our city. our city's communities, the bayview and the mission and the tenderloin and the soma are largely people of color and these are communities where people have to walk out every day and step on trash and feces. they've been underserved by the public infrastructures. they have been blatantly failed. and this is an equity issue.

and it is shameful i believe to expect them to continue to live in the conditions that they are and to have a structure that has clearly and obviously failed them when it comes to results. and also now has failed them when it comes to allowing for self-dealing and actual bribery and corruption rather than delivering and doing their jobs. we are also a city that relies in large part on tourism. you know, on people visiting our city. and if you're worried about how much this is going to cost, think about the loss of revenue. if we attempt to open our city back up to the rest of the world at a time when we still have trash and feces and broken trash cans, no accountability of the department that is supposed to get this done, this affects every single person in our city. it affects our city coffers. it affects business in our city. and we cannot accept business as usual when it comes to this

department or the street -- the state of our streets. i also want to address the costs directly. for those who would push back because of the cost, you know, the estimate that the controller has now, which i believe that will actually change, you know, puts this somewhere between $4 million and $10 million. $4 million to provide increased oversight and cost efficiencies to a department that has been rightfully abused, and with corruption and waste. $4 million to create a structure that can actually deliver what has been one of the most embarrassing failures of our city. i think that it is a cost that is fully worth it. we cannot keep spending more and more money into this. and $4 million is .0003% of our overall $12 billion budget. i also understand though that this is a tough fiscal moment

and money is a concern. so we are introducing amendments today that would not only make this measure cost neutral for the next two fiscal years, but to also make it possible to cut administrative costs almost entirely. we have worked these out with the controller and we, you know, we hope to see -- there will be a revised fiscal analysis over the next week once this comes back to the committee hopefully after the amendments. again, we, you know, i have a lot of respect for the new director of d.p.w. this is not about one person. whether the person before or the person now. this is about an entirely flawed structure that is not going to protect the public dollars effectively and it is not going to get the job done. and we cannot go back to or to keep a situation where the state of the streets are what they are. and this measure would put us in a position to be able to finally

create a structure that can get the job done. so with that, there are a set of amendments that i know that i think that most of you have seen. i just want to go through them real quickly because this is what i'm going to ask you to take action on today. and then this will come back. the amendments are the following: one, we are going to ensure that the public works projects are reviewed by the appropriate city departments and submitted to the commission for review. this is also something that was very important to our labor partners. two, increase the cost efficiencies by requiring the annual cost and waste analysis of both departments. for people who are worried about costs, $4 million is a lot less than what was lost to our city through corruption and it's a lot less than what was -- what i believe that has been unnecessarily wasted. third, adding job qualifications to the directors of both departments to reflect the

experience necessary to run the department. the reality is that if you are responsible for ensuring our streets are clean, that's something that you should have expertise in and i should have to demonstrate getting that job done somewhere else or within our own city to be able to run this department of clean streets or sanitation and streets. fourth, to make sure that the commissioners overseeing the public works include those who are licensed architects and engineers in the state of california, and also adding civil engineers to the list of eligible qualifications. fifth, we will add commission feeds for environmental and forestry services to the department of clean streets. sixth and i mentioned this, to allow for economic recovery and the costs for the next two fiscal years by pushing the start date -- the official required start date -- to july 22, 2022. so for the next two fiscal

years, this would have no impact on our city budget. seventh, an amendment adding pest control with the duties of the department of sanitation and streetth. and eighth, allowing the board of supervisors to a super majority to remove or reassign the duties of the department of streets and sanitation. this allows in case there's some sort of changes of the responsibilities or tweaks that need to be made, that the board would be able to do that. and ninth, an amendment requiring that the department of sanitation and streets must act first to complete the work within its jurisdiction before it can be contracted out or assigned to another department. i want to be clear about this one as well, because the reality is that our departments across the city work together all the time. and these two departments will continue to need to work together. this is not an unusual idea. we don't need everyone to be within one department to continue to allow some facilitation of work. but we do want to be clear here

that there will have to be work from public works to the department of streets and sanitation and we want to reduce all and any of the barriers that are there in order to be able to ensure that there are no bureaucratic hurdles to that. so the work has to either be done by the department of public works or it has to be given to the department of streets before it's bidded out or anything like that. that makes sure -- and this was something that came up from the director -- that because it can no longer be done in public works for some reason they now have to go through a whole complicated process and get it out. we have conferred with the city attorney and others that by adding this amendment that is not the case. and lastly, an amendment to allow the board of supervisors by ordinance to allow the department of public works or any other department to have administrative support to the new department, significantly reducing the cost of a new department. this, again, is something that we hope that will bring the

costs down even further. and it will help to clarify that there will continue to be administrative support from the city administrator. we are very -- very, you know, grateful for the support of many of the frontline workers and the labor unions and my colleagues who are the co-sponsors for where we are on this. we think that these amendments address some of the issues that have been brought up. we understand that change is hard. it is complicated. but we can be absolutely clear that keeping this structure the way that it is is utterly unacceptable and it will lead to the results that we have on our streets continuing. this amendment, if approved by you all and approved by the voters, i and many others believe, including the frontline workers will give us a real, real shot, a real hope, to making sure that our city is healthy, clean, safe for

everyone who lives here, works here or visits here. so with that i will turn it back over to you, supervisor chair ronen. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, supervisor haney. as the supervisor of district 9, i just have to say amen. amen. our streets in the mission district particularly, but also in the portala and somewhat in bernal are filthy, they are filthy constantly. it's the number one complaint along with the huge homeless tent encampments in the district that i hear from my constituents on a daily basis. that, supervisor haney, is not exaggerating. when he said that his district -- because i can attest that the streets of my district are filled with feces, urine, trash, needles, dirt,

everywhere, during the worst health crisis that we have known as a country, to have this level of filth in our streets is absolutely unacceptable. and it was that way prior to this crisis and it's continued to be that way during this crisis. i have to say that in san francisco we are famous and we are known for the first of its kind things that we do. you know, mandatory sick leave. healthy san francisco, the first universal health care program. you know, the first office of racial equity and sexual assault and harassment prevention. i mean, all of these innovative ideas that we create are amazing and we're known for it. but, guess what? we have to do the bread-and-butter issues well before we earn the right to innovate on things that don't affect the daily life of our constituents when they walk outside of their door. when we haven't been doing that. we have been failing when it

comes to the basic bread-and-butter cleanliness of our streets. i hear it daily. i hear from travelers who come to san francisco and are shocked, literally shocked by the state of our streets. and something has got to give. supervisor haney, thank you. thank you to you and your staff for taking on this issue seriously, for studying intricately the systems that we have, for working with all of your creativity to come up with a design and with a frontline workers to make the type of change that we must see in san francisco. we must hold ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to the basics. like, i can walk out in the morning and there won't be feces and trash and needles on my front door. that is the fact and the situation for so many of my constituents in district 9

daily. and the fact that this has been ignored for so long is just outrageous. so i could not be prouder to be a co-sponsor of this measure. i cannot wait to see this on the ballot. my constituents will be cheering from their windows to finally see the type of change that they have been begging for from this city for years and years and years. and i just implore all of my colleagues, whether you have to face the filth that we face in district 9 or not, i think that supervisor haney has made the case that this is a city-wide issue and that this is an issue that we should all care about deeply because it's about the health of the constituency and our well-being and every neighborhood of san francisco. so, supervisor haney, thank you so, so much from the bottom of my heart and from every single

constituent of district 9. we can't thank you enough for caring about not the sexy issues but the issues that make a massive difference in our lives every single day. i salute you, i really do. and with that i wanted to see if any of my other colleagues have any questions before i turn it over to the current director of d.p.w., i'm sorry if i am butchering your name mr. director, but i wanted to see if any of my other colleagues have comments first. supervisor stefani, did you? >> supervisor stefani: no. >> chair ronen: supervisor mar, any comments? looks like you're frozen. and i am assuming -- well, we can get to you after we hear from the director if you have any comments. mr. director, welcome.

>> and thank you, chair ronen. i am the acting director here at public works. we have not had a chance to see the amendments yet so i don't have a prepared presentation but i'd be happy to address any questions that will come up. i will address some of the points that were raised. in many of the issues that were -- that as you will see that will be addressed in the proposed measure before us, and we have put processes in place that have addressed some of the deficiencies that were here at public works. in large part they seem to be isolated to the issues regarding -- and the homelessness issue -- with the response to the homelessness and in the navigation centers and things like that in place. in large part those issues have

been addressed. i think that is not necessarily stated in the proposed report. and the one thing that i would like to also point out is the one thing that, you know, that needs to be addressed is, you know, certainly in our job to keep the streets clean and things like that, however, we also need to recognize that the street behavior also needs to be addressed. that's one of the things that i'd be happy to work with the supervisor and the supervisors and the community to make sure that happens. i mean, i think over the last week or so specifically in the tenderloin, and going about executing the tenderloin plan, i think we have seen a difference there as we have been able to reduce the number of tents in the tenderloin. and it's made a big difference. it's not one thing that one department can do, it's going to take the whole of the city and

the city government, and the residents and the supervisors and everyone involved. so, again, i completely hear and understand the frustration that the supervisors have. i get the same emails and phone calls daily from the residents and the business owners not being happy and i'm trying to solve those problems. but the one thing that i have learned in my relative short time of being in this role, is that it's not something that the public works can solve by itself. there are some structural things that we have been addressing. but, again, it's not something that is just a singular public works issue. as i said, we have not had a chance to (indiscernible) and we will be happy to comment more. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. i appreciate that.

supervisor mar, did you have any comments before i open up to public comment? >> supervisor mar: yeah, i just -- i'm sorry, i'm having connection problems so i'll keep my camera off for now. but i wanted to just thank supervisor haney and his staff for their work on this really important charter amendment measure. yeah, i'm really pleased to co-sponsor it. and i think that it's very much needed. not just, again, not just as you said for the district that are seeing a crisis in sanitation and health, but for the entire city. including my district where this measure will go a long way towards ensuring that our city and our departments provide much better sense on important issues, basic issues, like filling potholes and maintaining and planting more trees. and even the important infrastructure projects that are under d.p.w.

so i think that the reform and the increased reform and the increased oversight that will be provided by this measure will be beneficial for our entire city. so thanks again, supervisor haney, for all of your work on this. >> chair ronen: thank you. and i will now open this up for public comment. mr. clerk, are there any speakers on the line? >mr. clerk, are you there? >> clerk: sorry. my turn to have to turn on my mic. the members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this should call 1-(408)-418-9388. the meeting i.d. is 146 661 0524. and press pound and pound again. if you haven't already done so, please dial star, 3, to line up to speak.

a system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. wait until the system indicates that you have been unmuted and you pay begin your comment. chair ronen, i wanted to confirm that yourself and supervisor mar would like to be add as co-sponsors on this item? >> chair ronen: oh, yes, i have been a co-sponsor the whole time so i don't know why i wasn't on. but, thank you. and, yes, add me. >> supervisor mar: me as well. >> all of the correct co-sponsors should have been on the new amendment. >> clerk: any speakers on the line at this time? >> there are currently four callers wishing to speak. i'll unmute the first caller. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. each speaker has two minutes to speak. thank you so much. >> caller: hello. can you hear me? >> chair ronen: yes, good morning. hi. >> caller: hello. good morning. i was calling in because, you

know, i used to work at d.p.w. and i no longer working there no more, but i'm a homeowner in the city of san francisco. i have seen so much dirt and so many homeless people all around my area too. and i am very, very happy that they are willing to fix that department up and to make it an individual department, an individual department inside of the department. because we have this really needed to be done. and i applaud the supervisors that are willing to do that. thank you very much. and i applaud you for that. that's all i am going to say and i'm all in for that. and i will be voting on that when the votes come in. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. next speaker. thank you. are you done with your comment? >> caller: yes, i am. i just wanted to say that. he said basically the things they wanted to say. so that's all i wish to say.

thank you very much. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. next caller, please. >> caller: hi, my name is gabby, and i'm a policy and planning manager at pnpc and we're here to provide support for supervisor haney's for the acoincidentability of our department of public works. we experience firsthand the impacts of the current conditions of our streets and sidewalks has on our residents and neighbors, both housed and unhoused. we all struggle to safely navigate our streets and sidewalks. for those of us who live and work in the tenderloin, soma and mission and bayview, it seems as though the city has accepted that our neighborhoods will be held to different standards than other parts of the city when it comes to basic necessities like cleaning the streets. especially during a time of covid-19 and heightened fears about the spread of this

infectious diseases we need bold solutions to keep our cities clean with real accountability and oversight. we need to be dedicated to making sure that our streets and sidewalks are clean, and we have trash cans for litter and public bathrooms available for people to use. solving the crisis of street sanitation and bringing real oversight to the issue will make a huge impact on our streets and the quality of life for all citizens of san francisco. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. next speaker, please. caller: good morning, supervisors. i am a business agent and a city representative for labor 261, representing over 5,500 workers and 1,200 city and county employees. we thank you for your leadership and we strongly support these measures and urge you to do the same. in fact, this morning we issued a letter calling for an

investigation into the public works and the p.u.c. corruption because it's gotten that bad. and we need your support on the legislation before you for both the division of public works and the commission oversight as well as the public advocate legislation. we have seen firsthand the lack of transparency and corruption has done to our city. the workers have filed many complaints over the decades that were never addressed and seen seemed to vanish in the wind. our system is broken. some city leaders would like you to believe that the cost of these pieces of legislation is too much with our present fiscal reality. but we believe that it's the exact opposite. we can't afford to not pass these fixes. and the biggest cost is that of public trust. and we have a responsibility to the taxpayers to lower corruption by providing transparency and accountability and oversight. please pass these pieces of legislation so that the citizens

have a voice. thank you for your time. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> caller: hi, good morning. my name is mary wilke and i live in the south market. and i have been working at the equity center. and i'm calling in support of supervisor haney's charter amendment, because having a department of sanitation and streets will have a great impact for the clients that we serve. and i have two statements from two long-time san francisco residents. and so one is a 92-year-old filipino world war ii veteran who uses a motorized wheelchair. and he would ask how he feels about being downtown, or around downtown, he says that it is too dirty and it's hard to navigate with a wheelchair. it is hopeless. and an 85-year-old resident says

that i feel discouraged to go outside due to the dirty streets. especially now that there is a pandemic. i am afraid that the dirty streets will cause more health concerns, especially for seniors like me. i am a senior with eyesight problems and i visually cannot see what i am stepping into and i worry that i might step into human waste. that's why i am always careful whenever i walk the streets. and the statements that our clients have provided at the equity center. and we support supervisor haney's charter amendment because we believe that clean streets mean accessibility and safety for seniors that we serve. thank you very much. >> chair ronen: thank you. anymore speakers? >> caller: yes, this is david elliott lewis. i'm a 36-year resident of the city. and i have been sad to see the state of the decline of our

streets actually over those 36 years. with real-world consequences. i've had friends who ride bicycles and bicyclists who have been severely injured because of unsafe potholes. i've had friends who have had broken axels because of unfixed potholes. i live in the tenderloin for the last 14 of the 36 years and i have suffered a decline with the streets in terms of dirtiness and cracked sidewalks. it's been gross mismanagement of this department. and it's been kind of a national embarrassment for our news. matt haney's charter amendment actually promises to fix this in so many ways and i think that the oversight commission over both new resulting departments and streets and sanitation, i really think that it will help to solve some of the -- the embarrassment for our city recently. and that embarrassment is not

new. it's been going on for decades. so i hope that you will support this. and i will vote for it. i think that it will pass unanimously. i think that most voters -- anyone who has lived in the city for a few years -- will vote yes on this. so i'm really grateful for matt haney for introducing it. and i'll be a supporter. and i thank you for your time. david elliott lewis, community resident. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. next speaker. >> caller: hello, i'm the executive director for the tenderloin merchants' association and i help to operate two different restaurants. the measure that is being proposed, you know, i took the day yesterday to speak to different business owners about this and we're all pretty much

in agreement. it's hard to make the argument that these departments wouldn't benefit from an oversight commission. the streets have been slightly improving but that really is not going to take care of the problem that we have seen as a whole. i wanted to speak about the state of the tenderloin and the streets. even before the pandemic. so the pandemic is really not an excuse to use here. they've been in a state of disarray for many years. and with the resources that our city has, i don't think that is appropriate. i don't think that it's appropriate to send that message out to the rest of the country since we're, you know, one of the best cities in the country. so i think that the businesses are fully supportive of this with matt haney. and we thank him for helping to bring a lot of the -- this automated trash cans to the

tenderloin are really helping. we need to clean our streets. i realize that due to the budget, the budget problems that the city is facing, we have to have to priorities. and it's involving the death health of the people in the city and the tenderloin. and we have the most kids in the tenderloin so they can't walk through dangerous needles and whatnot. thank you so much. thithis is rene colorado. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. next speaker. caller: linda chapman speaking as a property owner, 50 years as a property owner. and (indiscernible) on larkin street in the neighborhood commercial district. which is at least a bit better

than it used to be. i just wanted to thank you, supervisor haney, and that concludes my remarks. >> thank you. next speaker, please. (please stand by)

>> i don't know how this city could expect people -- children, families, seniors, disabled -- to live like this. especially in the tenderloin, it's unacceptable that the city has held us to different standards than other parts of the city, so thank you, supervisors, for introducing this. honestly, we need an oversight committee. the idea of separating the two is fantastic because that way, we actually can really have -- all the departments can be dedicated to their work. it'll improve the conditions of

our street and just restore the trust in our system, and it's just -- i mean, we need -- we need it because it'll make such a huge impact on the streets and the quality of life for our residents. i say conditions are bad in the tenderloin right now, but that's an understatement. i had never seen it this bad precovid. thank you for this visionary solution, and thank you, and i support it. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker? >> operato >> operator: just like to say, before we get to the next speaker, we have three callers left in the queue at this time. next speaker, please. >> hi. i'm a member of the healthy

gardens student trees initiative. i'm calling to speak on behalf of matt haney's movement to revive d.p.w.s scope of work. clearly, the department needs more scrutiny to put resources where they belong. we need clean streets and oversight if money is nn't bei used the way it should. the tenderloin can't lose trees. the whole city is in great need of more urban canopy, and this is an area where changing the structure of d.p.w. could really help the city, so sanitation, and i also just want to thank matt for all of his great advocacy on behalf of

the neighborhood. >> thank you. can we have the next speaker, please? >> hi, everyone. thank you -- thank you so much for having this call. my name is john mccormick. i am an activist at tndc, and i have lived in the tenderloin for five years. i am calling to support this legislation from matt haney. like other callers, i definitely do find it unacceptable that we're one of the richest cities in the world, and we can't figure out how to deal with trash, feces, and urine. how do we expect our most vulnerable populations to live like this? something i wanted to bring up i haven't heard so much in the public comment is how do clean

streets affect our economy? you know, our -- our -- our politicians, our legislators are so gung ho about getting things started back up, but when our streets are dirty, our streets aren't clean, we're seeing our business conferences cancelled, we're seeing our tourists decline. there's so much beyond keeping people healthy, and i believe that should be the reason for creating this legislation, but there's other factors to consider, as well. tourism -- san francisco has a lot of schools. people are seeing a lot of news about our streets not being clean, and they want to go to school somewhere else. i think this is one of the few cities in the world without

public sanitation, and i think we can pull this through. thank you very much for everything, and i hope this goes through. >> thank you. can we have the next caller, please? do we have any other callers? >> good morning, supervisors. my name is raquel. as you know, soma filipinas is an organization of children, youth, families and seniors. remember, one source of discomfort and shame is the state of our streets. it's not only for our visitors, as the previous caller, you

know, mentioned that, you know, it's a concern for people we're trying to draw into the neighborhood, but it's also quality of life issue when our kids 18 years have to watch every step they take. and then also, in this time, it's a public health issue, and we have to worry about bringing disease into our home. having a separate sanitation department would help this problem, and i appreciate supervisor haney's initiative. having a separate department focused on keeping our streets clean could make a huge difference. it's also important to make sure that there's no

self-dealing, to have more transparency over issues and contracts, but i think it's also an issue of equity when not all neighborhoods get the same level of street cleaning as we deserve. and as we know in san francisco, the more affluent neighborhoods have better conditions on the streets. so thank you very much for hearing this item, and we hope you pass it out of committee today. >> thank you. are there anymore speakers? >> hi. my name is gem. i live in the tenderloin. i've been here since 2009. i work as a mentor with ihss, the public authority. and i feel that if this goes through, and this oversight can help cleanup the tenderloin, it can make a huge difference in

the mental health of our community, and our elderly and disabled will be able to walk outside with their walkers. i walk on a walker, and it is so hard to be able to walk on our streets with my walker and not track it on my floors. many people are afraid to go out on our streets. not only that, we have children that walk the streets every single day when they're here. this should be unacceptable to all, and this neighborhood committee to possibly bridge a communication gap between the department and this community, if they are really willing to listen to us and what we need. if this oversight committee would be really willing to listen to our needs and help us cleanup this neighborhood, it could increase the mental health and just overall improve the whole city because of the mental ability. thank you, matt haney, for

this. i hope this gets out of committee, and i hope this neighborhood gets the help it really needs. thank you. >> thank you. can we have the next speaker, please. can we have the next speaker. >> hello, good morning. >> hello? >> hello. my name is lorenzo -- hello? >> yes, hello. >> my name's lorenzo -- my name

is lorne, aenzo, and i've live the tenderloin for 15 years. in my 15 years, i've never seen the streets so dirty. and we're one of the richest cities in the world, and we cannot figure out how to get trash out of our streets with this situation. it is very frustrating, how can a city which has the most number of millionaires and billionaires cannot provide the basic necessity of cleaning the streets. we've been a leading story on the newspapers and news for so long, and if i remember, this story was even featured in the united nations newspaper.

if we create this, it will help improve the life of all san franciscans. i urge you to support matt haney's sharper initiative. thank y because this is the right thing to do. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. thank you so much for all your support in this, matt haney. i think it's an incredible move for accountability and oversight. i don't feel that this is a budget issue, it's a health epidemic. our filth is at an unprecedented amount. we are seen, and san francisco is seen as being one of the dirtiest cities in the country. we are one of the major cities without a department of sanitation, so i believe that a

department of sanitation makes common sense. it shows that it will prove to have accountability and oversight with a data driven decision, so i urge everyone to vote and help cleanup our city, and thank you so much for your time and your progressive movements on this. thank you. >> thank you. can we have the next speaker, please? >> operator: madam clerk, thha completes the queue. >> chair ronen: so thank you so much. so public comment is closed, and i will -- or supervisor haney, did you have any last comments before i make a moment to incorporate the amendments? >> supervisor haney: well, i wanted to definitely thank everybody who called in, and as you can hear, there was a huge amount of support from the people that i represent, but i -- and i really want to thank everyone who called in.

they see the failures every day. they know what's happening now isn't working, but i think there's a lot of support for this across the whole city. this is a huge concern of residents, and again, i respect the new director of public works, but really, this is a structural issue, and it needs to be fixed, and we need someone who's really taking responsibility for clean streets and for the state of our streets and is accountable for that and has the support and oversight and direction and standards and services that -- in order to do it. and we don't have it -- that right now, and i think this is a solution that will put us in a position to be able to solve this -- this challenge with innovation, with data, with accountability, and i just think it's -- it would be really awful if we told the

residents of district 6, of district 9, of 10, of our whole city, that we're going to keep doing things the same way that we've been doing it, and they're going to have to accept these conditions. i can't imagine a bigger failure of our imagination to actually try to do something better and new, to give the type of attentionality and concern that not only are we seeing dirty streets, but corruption in departments at a level that we've never seen. this will help restore the public trust as well as the public right-of-way. so i hope you'll take the amendments, and we'll be back at least once next week. there's -- for the further amendments, and if there are further amendments next week, and then, for a final vote.

>> chair ronen: thank you so much. any other colleagues from my colleagues before i make a motion? no? okay. then i will make a motion to incorporate the amendments as supervisor haney laid out. supervisor walton, did you have any comments on this? >> supervisor walton: no, i don't. i just would say i am in support of this. >> chair ronen: mr. clerk, can we have a vote on the motion? >> clerk: on the motion to accept the amendments -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. thanks, supervisor haney. take care. mr. clerk, can we -- >> clerk: do you want to continue this to the call of the chair?

>> chair ronen: thank you. i would like to make a motion to continue this to the call of the chair. can we please take a roll call vote, and that's on item 2. >> clerk: yes. on the motion to continue to the call of the chair item 2 as amended -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, mr. clerk, for keeping us on track here. and if we can go back to item number 1, supervisor walton, do we have any amendments to the legislation? >> supervisor walton: we do. thank you so much, chair ronen, and to the entire committee for your patience. we do, and we actually just sent you all the entire committee diversions with all the amendments that are proposed. i would just go over a couple of things and just spell out where the amendments are and some of what they outline, but

i won't read exactly what the amendments call for. on page 2, lines 2, it talks about labor representation and how we would include that in the charter. page 2, lines 17 through 23, talks about the district attorney and talks about the training and clarifies where we got the training from. page 3, lines 8 through 9, about holding public meetings and soliciting input and make sure we include individuals that are incarcerated. page 3, lines 12 through 13, talks about by through the first of march each year, talks about presenting to the supervisors or a committee designated by the board, a prepared report that outlines a summary. page 8, we outlined investigations and the fact

that the district attorney will deal with the criminal investigations and clarify that page 4, lines 11 through 15, we added editions to provide notice of and a copy of recommendations, and the reason for recommendations and supporting records to the extent permitted by state or federal law to be employee and make available to public any record information regarding the office of inspector general's disciplinary recommendations to the extent permitted by state or federal law, so this is about transparency. page 5, lines 1 through 3, we added monitor sfsd operations including the providing of services for incarcerated individuals. page 6, lines 1 through 6, the sheriff or anyone testifying may require the testimony of

anyone in the sheriff's department. promptly produce all information requested by the sheriff's deputy oversight office or office of the inspector general, and it includes all of the types of records that should be available for the sheriff's office oversight board and office of the inspector general. page 20, in carrying out their duties, sheriff's deputy and oversight board shall cooperate with the department that provides service to incarcerated individuals. and we added adding the ability to investigate complaints

against the sheriff's department and the jails. >> chair ronen: thank you very much. i'm happy to add those amendments. if there's no comments from my colleagues, i'll ask you to take a motion, mr. clerk. >> clerk: on the motion on the amendments -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. and then, i will make a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair. >> clerk: on the motion to continue the matter to the call of the chair as amended -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. thank you, supervisor walton. >> supervisor walton: thank you. >> chair ronen: mr. clerk, can you please read item number 3.

>> clerk: this is an item to create the office of public advocate, authorize the office of the public advocate to review city programs and services, including services transmating information to the public and to receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve complaints regarding city services and programs, authorize public advocate to receive and investigate specific complaints and to provide for the public advocate's election, removal, and salary at an election to be heard november 3, 2020. >> chair ronen: thank you. supervisor mar, would you like to start us off? >> supervisor mar: yes. thank you for allowing us to hear this today. colleagues, this is before us for a simple reason. we need to make our city

government more accountable, effective, and transparent. we are reminded by the breadth of investigation into our department of public works, building inspection, three city contractors, and a billionaire developer. it shouldn't take an investigation by the trump administration to root out corruption. we must address this locally and structurally. in light of the covid-19 public health and economic crisis, it's important -- it's more important than ever that our city services are effective, accountable, transparent, and trustworthy. we need to be proactive, not reactive. if we had a public advocate, it wouldn't have taken decades for

mr. nuru's wrongdoings to be addressed. this charter amendment will create the san francisco public advocate, a system addressed at eliminating public corruption abuse of taxpayer money, and abuse of the taxpayer trust. the public advocate would review the administration of city programs, including the distribution of programs and services throughout the city, the effectiveness of the public information and service complaint programs of city agencies, and the responsiveness of city agencies to request for data or information. in this way, it's focused on citywide oversight and structural reform. the public advocate would investigate and attempt to resolve complaints from members of the public concerning city services and programs. they would have investigative authority to resolve these complaints, and it's specified

that the purpose of this office is to root out corruption, fraud, and abuse. it would authorize the public advocate to receive and investigate confidential whistleblower complaint concerning ineffective, unreasonable, or unfair treatment of city employees. the public advocate could also introduce legislation at the board of supervisors to propose structural solutions to the problems they find. it's important to note that the city currently does not have a particular official or central office responsible for overseeing how city advocates address and deal with the

public. i'd also like to speak to fiscal impact and emphasize that this is very much a cost savings measure. corruption costs taxpayer money. fraud and wasteful spending costs us money. by directly addressing those issues, the public advocate can help save us money over time. let's look at new york's advocate, for example. in just three years, they saved taxpayers more than three times what it cost to operate her office by uncovering bloated spending and corrupt city contracts. this measure will cost less than $1 million a year, with the controller's office estimating a cost between $725,000 and $925,000.

that modest investment pales to the cost of public corruption. between 2007 and 2017, the city lost $11 million in america's cup because of bad contracts negotiated behind closed doors, by some city officials who then went to work with the contract beneficiaries. and the city lost $60 million to intentional overbidding and undercharging by a contractor for instructiconstruction on t

francisco airport. in consultation with stakeholders, we've prepared amendments to this measure that are available to you today. i just want to briefly summarize the amendments. in terms of the policy changes, an amendment states that the public advocate will defer to the district attorney or city attorney investigations where there's overlap, rather than allowing concurrent investigations. an amendment adds process for referring complaints related to sworn police officers to the department of police accountability and sfpd. another amendment requires referral to d.h.r. and for the agency for which an employee works for employee misconduct complaints that may require disciplinary action. and an amendment changes the qualification requirement for candidates. they must be licensed

attorneys, but they must no longer be licensed attorneys for ten years. in terms of clarifying language, a clarifying amendment rephrases part of the office from investigating, uncovering, and eliminating the waste of taxpayer money to the fraudulent use of taxpayer money to better reflect the policy intentions. an amendment to clarify restrictions on the public advocate's jurisdiction removed reference to collective bargaining agreements, and rephrases the restriction for legislation the public advocate can introduce. and finally, an amendment clarifies that the public advocate has no authority to impose discipline on city employees or offices. finally, i just want to thank, first of all, chair ronen and also supervisor haney for

cosponsoring this. i want to thank city attorney jon givner for drafting this matter, attorney david campos. i want to thank the harvey milk lgbtq local democratic club and local 261 for their endorsement, and all the public sector who provided input so far. the result is a stronger and more focused measure. colleagues, this is not only a worthwhile investment for our city, it's a necessary one. san francisco is ready for change to address our culture of casual corruption. san francisco deserves a watchdog with teeth, and san francisco needs a public advocate. i urge you to support this measure today. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, supervisor mar. is there any other colleagues

who want to make any comments? supervisor stefani? it doesn't seem like it. so i would like to. first of all -- oh, sorry. >> supervisor stefani: sorry, i'm sorry, chair ronen. my camera wouldn't turn on for some reason, but i understand there's amendments made today, so i'll just wait for public comment and make comments next week. >> chair ronen: okay. sounds great. thank you. i just wanted to thank you, supervisor mar, for taking the lead on this important measure. i am having one of those days where i'm so proud of my colleagues on the board of supervisors from everything -- these are the issues of our day: law enforcement reform, cleanliness of our streets, corruption in san francisco, and there's these three incredible ballot measures that are so thoughtful, taking on these issues that have plagued this city for decades, and i

just want to take my hat off to you, supervisor mar, as well as supervisor haney and walton for really working in such a thoughtful way on addressing these really entrenched problems. reading the news this past week, where the -- the u.s. attorney is saying that they are following lines of corruption in the city that has been going on since 2004, i mean, you can't make this stuff up. the stories that are coming out left and right from not one, not two, but three different department heads, and it looks like many more to come are, quite frankly, shocking, and clearly, the accountability mechanisms that we have in place now are not working to root out this corruption and to ensure that we are making the

most of taxpayer money and handling it in an ethical and responsible way. supervisor mar, you have been a leader on government ethics, and i just cannot thank you enough for that, and working hard and working out in a detailed and thoughtful way to make sure that every time we use a dollar of our taxpayers' money that it is going to support the public benefit and the public good, and that we're doing a good job of it. we need this -- this -- this work and this oversight now more than ever, and i am so proud to be a cosponsor of this measure. i did have one question for you, supervisor mar. when reading it over last night with the amendments, i wanted to know when -- it's very confusing language, and i wanted to know when the first

election for the public advocate will happen, and i was wondering if that will be in the same year that all the citywide elected officials are on the ballot? >> supervisor mar: well, thank you so much, chair ronen, for those words. so proud to have you as a cosponsor. regarding your question on when the first election for the public advocate would happen, it would happen in the next citywide or general election in san francisco, and right now, that would happen in november 2022, or perhaps if there's a special election before then. but the charter also specifies then the next regular election of the public advocate would

happen in november 2024, so that would be when, you know, there's other -- other citywide offices are being elected, as well as aaa, you know, other major elections. so the first election that happens before then would be for an interim period, and that's just because of the urgency in creating this office to root out corruption. and waiting until november 2024 would be a long time to wait to start that important work. >> chair ronen: got it. so i have a suggestion -- well, before i make my suggestion, i have a question. i've heard fr i've heard, from some of my

colleagues, a concern about the cost; the same concern about supervisor walton's and haney's measures. you look at new york, and how it's saved so much more than it's spent, but of course that's after it's been up and running. and i so want this measure to get on the ballot because it is so the right thing to do at the right time, but i'm wondering if you'd considered starting it a little later, similar to what supervisor haney had done for the d.p.w. so it doesn't cost money right away for the city budget where we're not facing an unprecedented deficit. i just want to assuage some of my colleagues' concerns so that it will get on the ballot. at least that's my hope.

>> supervisor mar: just like all my colleagues, i share a concern over our huge budget deficit -- unprecedented budget deficit, as well as the important other proposed measures that we heard today. again, i -- you know, the actual cost, based on the controller's office fiscal analyst is very modest -- [inaudible] >> supervisor mar: so i think that given that it's a modest cost and it's going to save us money, even in the short-term,

by finding out wastes of money. that's why i would still strongly prefer to create the office, to have the election as stated in the measure right now, at the next citywide general election. but then, looking ahead up the line, the regular election of the public advocate, when we're electing other citywide offices, that would be november 2024. >> chair ronen: i thought the election where that would -- i thought the next genercitywide election for all offices is 2023. could we ask ann pearson for that? >> i don't have that information, but i'll get back

to you for that. >> chair ronen: okay. could we open this up for public comment? does that make sense? okay. mr. clerk, could we please open this item up for public comment? >> clerk: yes. members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call 408-418-93 # 8. meeting i.d. is 1466610524, then press pound, and pound again. if you haven't already done so, please press star-three to wait to speak. wait until the system prompts that you have been unmuted to begin your prompt. mr. ho, do we have any comments at this time? >> operator: yes. we have three callers in the queue. i will unmute the first caller. >> hi.

this is debra garfinkel. my hand was raised from the prior discussion, but i'm happy to speak. i was just finishing an e-mail to matt. i'm a resident of the eastcott and district 6, and i just want to thank matt and the other supervisors who are working to end the endemic corruption that i am seeing and getting the justice that we as taxpayers are do. i work with the rincon hills dog park, and in that respect, i've had to deal with d.p.w. and just organizations, and i've just seen how difficult it is to get anything done despite the fact that we wait, and we' we're willing to work in

conjunction. i tried to get a stopping point because people are relieving themselves in the dog park, which in a city like ours, is shameful. but i'm concerned about building inspections and other types of possible corruption, that this type of an organization, an entity, would prevent. what i've seen as a property owner in the eastcott is that a lot of building -- a lot of construction is signed off on that's shoddy, and h.o.a.s have to bring the developers and the

contractors to court after ten years, the statute of limitations, for work that should never have been signed off on, and i'm really hoping that this kind of an agency will stop this. it doesn't look good that we're doing business this way. it's dangerous for tenants, it's dangerous for owners, and it makes it difficult for owners to sell or finance. i've never bought or owned anything before, and when we bought our place in eastcott, it was something that really surprised me because we were in litigation for four years over -- my father was a civil engineer. i couldn't believe the construction that was signed off on in our building. and i just really think it's the way of doing business because of the fact that these agencies are corrupt. and i just want to thank the

supervisors who have acted on this. i want to thank matt for the other issue that you've discussed prior to that, and i just hope that we're going to move to a city where we can be proud of ourselves, so thank you again. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. next speaker. >> hi. thank you to the cosponsors of this charter amendment, supervisor mar, supervisor ronen, and supervisor haney. my name is hope williams, and i am a board member of the harvey milk lgbtq democratic club. we believe government can and must be a force for public justice, for righting wrong, but the ability to do that is irrepairablely damaged when government officials are lining their pockets instead of fixing them. the milk club voted unanimously to support placing this charter

amendment on this ballot. the choice here is between upholding the broken and corrupt status quo or supporting structural reform. complaining about costs is a red herring, and public corruption costs us hundreds of millions of dollars. the red herring, when we spend more on overtime pay for a couple of police officers than this entire measure would cost. we urge you today to support the public advocate and be a part of the solution instead of the problem. thank you. >> thank you. can we have the next speaker, please? >> linda chapman. this is absolutely a critical measure, and i did contact the offices of the two sponsors and ask to talk to the aides who are involved in this, because in my profession and working

for the army and the navy, i worked for the inspector general, and i conducted investigations. when i looked at the measure originally, obviously, people don't understand that these restrictions that are being placed on what information is being released and federal investigators and -- [inaudible] >> -- and that also, you know, there are many provisions where they would be sending somebody packing -- often, the person comes to them from some other agency prematurely. those are matters that are handled very differently -- [inaudible] >> i think that the sponsors know this. for example, the i.g. will investigate, it may turn out -- [inaudible] >> -- and turned away because

it's a crime. now, i would like to -- if i can access to e-mail, i'd still go, but i have wifi and no computer. when i asked it of the two aides, one of them hung up in my ear, and the other one didn't get back to me. i did work for the commanding general, and did work with the i.g. and then, i worked with the consolidated personnel office which deals with almost all of the armed services in the area. >> madam chair, that concludes

public comment. >> chair ronen: okay. then public comment was closed. i was wondering if we got any clarity on when this citywide consolidated election, the next one take place. >> yes, deputy city attorney ann pearson. my understanding is that the next general election will be in 2022. the next election where citywide offices will be elected will be 2023. those citywide offices would include the mayor, the district attorney, the sheriff, the city attorney, and the treasurer. some citywide offices will be on the 2024 ballot. that would include the assessor and the public defender. they're not all on the same ballot. >> chair ronen: oh, i thought we consolidated them all. interesting. >> so that is my understanding, is that 2023 will feature an election for the mayor, district attorney, sheriff, city attorney, and treasurer.

2024 will feature reelection of the odd seats for the board of supervisors, the assessor, and the public defender. >> chair ronen: all right. i had mistakenly thought that they were on the same -- all the citywides were on the same year, and we had been working on that for a while. supervisor mar, did you have any response to that? >> supervisor mar: yeah. well, i appreciate the interpretation by deputy city attorney pearson because yeah, i was a little confused about that, too. i think the other consideration of why we wanted to have the regular election of the public advocate in 2024 is because it's a presidential election four years from now. we would expect the highest turnout and engagement in this

decision. but i understand the budget deficit that we're facing, so i'm up to considering amendments on this question, yes. >> chair ronen: okay. this is deferential on this. what would you propose? again, this is so urgent, and i'm so excited you're bringing this forward. i'm just worried we're not going to have the vote this work, put it on the ballot. so one suggestion i had, was, you know, pushing it off -- making sure it's on, but pushing it off for two years and starting on 2023, but i'm really deferential to you on this. >> supervisor mar: mm-hmm, yeah. well, again, with the current --

[inaudible] >> the modest cost of the public advocate wouldn't happen until 2023, after that election. i guess my suggestion would be to keep it as proposed, but we can consider possibly one final amendment. >> chair ronen: okay. we won't consider any amendments other than what supervisor mar originally considered. would you like to do the motion? >> supervisor mar: thank you. so i would move that we accept the amendment. >> clerk: on that motion to accept the proposed amendments -- [roll call]

>> clerk: the motion passes. >> chair ronen: and then, i can make a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair? >> clerk: yes. on the motion to continue the item to the call of the chair as amended, on that motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion as amended is continued to the call of the chair without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you. is there any further items on the agenda? >> clerk: there are no further items on the agenda today. >> chair ronen: thank you very much. the meeting is adjourned.

>> ♪ ♪ we are definitely pioneers in airport concession world a world of nationally if not entirely or internationally >> everybody is cop us right now. >> the people that were in charge of the retail this is where that began. >> i didn't think we would have

a location at the airport. >> we've set the bar higher with the customer commerce. >> telling me about the operator and how you go about finding them and they get from being in the city to being in the airport. >> so first, we actually find a table and once we know what we want a sit-down we go to the neighborhoods in san francisco and other people seminary of the retail let us know about the rain water and are excited to have the local operators in the airport. >> we have to go going through the conceive selective process and they award a lease to the restaurant.

>> they are planning on extending. >> we that you could out the china and the length evens and the travel serve and fourth your minds and it's all good. >> how long for a vendor to move through the process. >> i would say it could take 80 up to a year from the time we go out to bid until they actually open a restaurant. >> i don't know what we signed up for but the airport is happy to have us here. and, you know, even taking out the track simple things there's a learning curve >> with once we're here they are helpful. >> it's an award-winning program. >> we're prude of your awards we have won 11 awards the latest for the best overall food address beverage program and .

>> like the oscars (laughter). >> the professional world. >> tell me about the future food. >> all the sb national leases are xooirz and we're hoping to bring newer concepts out in san francisco and what your passengers want. >> well, i look forward to the future (laughter) air are we look forwrwrwrwrwrwrw

>> hi. my name is carmen chiu, san francisco's aelectricitied assessor. today, i want to share with you a property tax savings programs for families called proposition 58. prop 58 was passed in 1986 and it was helped parents pass on their lower property tax base to their children. so how does this work? under california's prop 13 law, the value we use to calculate your property tax is limited to 2% growth peryear. but when ownership changes, prop 13 requires that we reassess properties to market value. if parents want to pass on

their home or other property to their children, it would be considered a change in ownership. assuming the market value of your property has gone up, your children, the new owners, would pay taxes starting at that new higher level. that's where prop 58 comes in. prop 58 recognizes the transfer between parents and children so that instead of taxing your children at that new higher level, they get to keep your lower prop 13 value. remember, prop 58 only applies to transfers between parents and children. here's how the law twines an eligible child. a biological child, a step child, child adopted before the age of 18, and a son-in-law or daughter-in-law. to benefit from this tax saving program, remember, you just have to apply. download the prop 58 form from our website and submit it to our office. now you may ask, is there a cap

how much you can pass on. well, first, your principal residence can be excluded. other than that, the total tap of properties that can use this exclusion cannot exceed $1 million. this means for example if you have two other properties, each valued at $500,000, you can exclude both because they both fit under the $1 million cap. now what happens hwhen the totl value you want to pass on exceeds $1 million. let's say you have four properties. three with current taxable value of $300,000 and one at $200,000, totaling $1.1 million in value. assuming that you decide to pass on properties one, two, and three, we would apply the exclusions on a first come, first served basis. you would deduct properties one, two, and three, and you would still have $100,000 left to pass on. what happens when you pass on the last property? this property, house four, has been existing value of 2 -- has

an existing value of $200,000, and its existing property value is actually higher, $700,000. as i said, the value left in your cap is $100,000. when we first figure out your portion, we figure out the portion that can be excluded. we do that by dividing the exclusion value over the assessed value. in this case, it's 50%. this means 50% of the property will remain at its existing value. meanwhile, the rest will be reassessed at market value. so the new taxable value for this property will be 50% of the existing value, which is 200,000, equaling 100,000, plus the portion reassessed to market value, which is 50% times $700,000, in other words, 350,000, with a total coming out to $450,000. a similar program is also available for prepping transfers fl interest r from

grandparents to grandchildren. if you're interested in learning more visit our website or >> my name is alan schumer. i am a fourth generation san franciscan. in december, this building will be 103 years of age. it is an incredibly rich, rich history. [♪] >> my core responsibility as city hall historian is to keep

the history of this building alive. i am also the tour program manager, and i chair the city advisory commission. i have two ways of looking at my life. i want it to be -- i wanted to be a fashion designer for the movies, and the other one, a political figure because i had some force from family members, so it was a constant battle between both. i ended up, for many years, doing the fashion, not for the movies, but for for san franciscan his and then in turn, big changes, and now i am here. the work that i do at city hall

makes my life a broader, a richer, more fulfilling than if i was doing something in the garment industry. i had the opportunity to develop relationships with my docents. it is almost like an extended family. i have formed incredible relationships with them, and also some of the people that come to take a tour. she was a dressmaker of the first order. i would go visit her, and it was a special treat. i was a tiny little girl. i would go with my wool coat on and my special little dress because at that period in time, girls did not wear pants. the garment industry had the -- at the time that i was in it and i was a retailer, as well as the designer, was not particularly

favourable to women. you will see the predominant designers, owners of huge complexes are huge stores were all male. women were sort of relegated to a lesser position, so that, you reached a point where it was a difficult to survive and survive financially. there was a woman by the name of diana. she was editor of the bazaar, and evoke, and went on and she was a miraculous individual, but she had something that was a very unique. she classified it as a third i. will lewis brown junior, who was mayor of san francisco, and was the champion of reopening this building on january 5th of

1999. i believe he has not a third eye , but some kind of antenna attached to his head because he had the ability to go through this building almost on a daily basis during the restoration and corrects everything so that it would appear as it was when it opened in december of 1915. >> the board of supervisors approved that, i signed it into law. jeffrey heller, the city and county of san francisco oh, and and your band of architects a great thing, just a great thing. >> to impart to the history of this building is remarkable. to see a person who comes in with a gloomy look on their face , and all of a sudden you start talking about this building, the gloomy look disappears and a smile registers

across their face. with children, and i do mainly all of the children's tours, that is a totally different feeling because you are imparting knowledge that they have no idea where it came from, how it was developed, and you can start talking about how things were before we had computer screens, cell phones, lake in 1915, the mayor of san francisco used to answer the telephone and he would say, good morning, this is the mayor. >> at times, my clothes make me feel powerful. powerful in a different sense. i am not the biggest person in

the world, so therefore, i have to have something that would draw your eye to me. usually i do that through color, or just the simplicity of the look, or sometimes the complication of the look. i have had people say, do those shoes really match that outfit? retirement to me is a very strange words. i don't really ever want to retire because i would like to be able to impart the knowledge that i have, the knowledge that i have learned and the ongoing honor of working in the people's palace. you want a long-term career, and you truly want to give something

to do whatever you do, so long as you know that you are giving to someone or something you're then yourself. follow your passion and learn how to enrich the feelings along the wa >> (clapping.) >> in san francisco the medical examiner performs the function of investigating medical and legal that occurs with the city and county of san francisco from a variety of circumstances

in san francisco there is approximately 5 thousand deaths annually i'm christopher director for the chief mr. chairman the chief my best testimony a at the hall of justice on 870 drooint street that is dramatically updated and not sufficient for the medical chairman facility i've charles program manager public works should a earthquake of a major are proportion occurs we'll not continue to perform the services or otherwise inhabit the building before the earthquake. >> we're in a facility that was designs for a department that functions and in the mid 60s and friends scientific has significantly changed we've had significant problems with storage capacity for evidence items of property and

also personal protective if you're doing a job on a daily basis current little storage for prirjs are frirnlsz we're in an aging facility the total project cost forever ever commercial is $65 million the funding was brought by a vote of go bond approved by the voters and the locations is in the neighborhood the awarded contract in 2013 and the i'm the executive director we broke ground in november 2015 and that started with the demolition of existing facility we moved into the foundation and january so pile foundation and then with second construction of the new facility. >> one of the ways that we keep our project on time on

budget and we're having quality to have regular meeting and the variety of meetings with construction process meeting as well as cost of control meeting and i'm a project manager for public works the office of chief commercial we want walk the project site when we sign up and also with a contractor insinuates for a change over we need to verify what or what was instead of. >> the building is 42 feet tall so it is two stories and 46 thousand square feet roughly we're that's a great question to be on time and budget have the roof complete a the exterior moving with the site work. >> and as you can see we've got a lot of the interior finishes installed. >> in an effort of an differentiate the facility that

designed to work for 72 hours. >> not taking into account there was a lot of structural updates made into this building not seen in other construction throughout san francisco or other barriers we have friday morning examiners from 8 to one public comment monday to friday because of air circulation we literally have to shut the doors and so the autopsy is done without staffing being able to come and go or exit the space and literally lock down the autopsy in the new facility we have bio build one door opens and closed behind you you can gown up and go through a second seizures of doors that has its own independent air supply and now in the exterior opt space

having that middle space have greater flexibility of staff as they move in and out of the area. >> in the current facility investigative unit has small tiny, tiny place in the area of the new facility is almost doubled in all divisions from the current facility and the new facility. >> the planning we have here gives them the opportunity to have the pool needs to complete theirs jobs in a much more streamlined fashion. >> we're looking forward to have secured parking to minimize the egress of you know visiting and the members of the public but really to minimize the investigators remaining remains from our advancing and so the

facility. >> we have a new visitors area we're building that is a little bit more friendly to families. >> one thing you may notice in the room no windows there is no natural light not good for most autopsy but in the new facility at new hall we made that an objective they want to insure we were able to look up in the middle of exam and see the sky and see natural lights. >> that's one of the things the architect did to draw in as much light as possible. >> we have staff here onsite we insure the design of the new design enables the investigators and other investigators skiefksz to consider to house on site this meant we needed to design

and plan for locker room facilities and shower rooms the ability to sleep. >> third of the construction going into the building has been by contributions of small businesses. >> part of the project is also inclusive to the sidewalk have all new sidewalks and new curve cuts and landscaping around the building we'll have a syrup in front of the building and rain guardian. >> the medical examiner's office has been a several if in their contributions of the understanding the exception and needs. >> it's a building that the chief medical examiner has been looking forward to quite a few of the. >> it is extremely valuable contribution to the, neighborhood address san francisco as a whole. >> the building will allow is to have greater very much and serve the city and county of san francisco and the neighboring g.

>> shop and dine the 49 promotes local businesses and changes san

franciscans to do their shopping and dooipg within the 49 square miles by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant so where will you shop and dine the 49 hi in my mind a ms. medina

[♪]

>> i am the supervisor of district one. i am sandra lee fewer. [♪] >> i moved to the richmond district in 1950 mine. i was two years old. i moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [♪] >> when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. it seems so far away. for a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. the stress was storage of the birthplace of that. my father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. it just started to grow very organically.

it is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the richmond district. as russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. so parts of the richmond is very concentrated with the russian community and immigrant russian community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [♪] >> i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. they are beautiful barriers. the presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the pacific ocean. we also also have a national park service. we boarded the golden gate national recreation area so there is a lot of activity to do

in the summer time you see people with bonfires. but really families enjoying the beach and the pacific ocean during the rest of the time of year. [♪] >> and golden gate park where we have so many of our treasures here. we have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. this is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. the theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. it has been around for a very long time. is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. i moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. we would always go here. i love these neighborhood theatres. it is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the richmond district, but also in san francisco. small theatres showing one or two films.

a unique -- they are unique also to the neighborhood and san francisco. >> where we are today is the heart of the richmond district. with what is unique is that it is also small businesses. there is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. and providing for the neighborhood. this is what we love about the streets. the cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you will see small businesses even towards 32nd. at the core of it is right here between here and 20 -- tenth avenue. when we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the -- any other part of san francisco. there is traditional irish music which you don't get hardly anywhere in san francisco.

some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to have a sunday afternoon ice cream. and then also, we see grocery stores. and also these restaurants that are just new here, but also thriving. [♪] >> we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. that is a really great thing to see. i don't know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. i like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. the market is the place i like to come to once a year. once i like about the market as it is very affordable. it has fresh produce and fresh meat. also, seafood. but they also offer a large

selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. a variety of rice that they have is tremendous. i don't thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. >> hi. i am kevin wong. i am the manager. in 1989 we move from chinatown to richmond district. we have opened for a bit, over 29 years. we carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india. we try to keep everything fresh daily. so a customer can get the best out a bit. >> normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. because they have really just really fresh crab. this is something my family really likes for me to make. also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup.

they cut it to the size they really want. i am probably here once a week. i'm very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier -- cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets, which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. we don't speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. i do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. the staff here is very helpful. i speak very little chinese here myself. thinks that i'm not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need? is this what i should be making? and they actually really helped me. they will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. they are very knowledgeable. very friendly. i think they are here to serve not only the asian community but

to serve all communities in the richmond district and in san francisco. [♪] >> what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered. [♪]

>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be. >> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality products and something that's very, very good. ♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by san francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪

>> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration. >> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big. so everything is kind of quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell, a fourth generation baker here with my family. ♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough.

loaves. >> my mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and we've been over 100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪ >> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage

and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint. people mostly recognize tommy's joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building. tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket

fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean. you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. you'll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important.

♪ >> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953.

♪ and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we make reflect the diversity of san francisco. we were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition.

so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. >> we got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in. but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so many people. ♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are

really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco. people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. ♪streets. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i wanted to wish you a best

wishes and congratulations the community has shifted a lot of when i was growing up in the 60s and 50's a good portion of chicano-american chinese-american lived in north beach a nob hill community. >> as part the immigrant family is some of the recreation centers are making people have the ability to get together and meet 0 other people if communities in the 60s a 70s and 80s and 90s saw a move to the richmond the sunset district and more recently out to the excelsior the avenue community as well as the ensuring u bayview so chinese family living all over the city and when he grape it was in this area. >> we're united.

>> and growing up in the area that was a big part of the my leave you know playing basketball and mycy took band lessons and grew up. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> allergies welcome to the community fair it kicks off three weeks of celebrations for the year and let's keep everybody safe and celebrate the biggest parade outside of china on february 11th go best wishes

and congratulations and 3, 2, 1 happy enough is enough. >> i grew up volley ball education and in media professional contrary as an educator he work with all skids whether or not caucasian hispanic and i african-american cumber a lot of arrest binge kids my philosophy to work with all kids but being here and griping in the chinese community being a chinese-american is important going to american school during the day but went to chinese school that is community is important working with all the kids and having them exposed to all culture it is important to me. >> it is a mask evening.

>> i'd like to thank you a you all to celebrate an installation of the days here in the asian art museum. >> one time has become so many things in the past two centuries because of the different did i licks the immigration officer didn't understand it became no standard chinese marine or cantonese sproupgs it became so many different sounds this is convenient for the immigration officer this okay your family name so this tells the generations of immigrants where they come from and also many stories behind it too. >> and what a better way to

celebrate the enough is enough nuru with the light nothing is more important at an the hope the energy we. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> relative to the current administration it is, it is touching very worrisome for our immigrant frames you know and some of the stability in the country and i know how this new president is doing you know immigration as well as immigrants (fireworks) later than you think new year the largest holiday no

asia and china those of us when my grandparents came over in the 19 hundreds and celebrated in the united states chinese nuru is traditional with a lot of meani meaning. >> good afternoon my name is carmen chu assessor-recorder i want to wish everything a happy new year thank you for joining us i want to say. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i'm proud to be a native san

franciscan i grew up in the chinatown, north beach community port commission important to come back and work with those that live in the community that i grew up in and that that very, very important to give back to continue to work with the community and hope e help those who may not be as capable in under serving come back and give