>> 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 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 have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to

its history. in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a fund-raiser.

since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪] [♪]

>> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website [♪]

>> 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. [♪]now in terms

of essential workers and what's available. what we plan to have this summer and what people can do to either sign up or what other programs to do to prepare under the new guideline for the programs that they want to make available to people. so, let's get started. phil, you -- we hit the ball running, both you and maria su got together because we knew the schools were going to close. but we also knew that there was an essential workforce out there. people who were driving muni, people who were working at hospitals. they had children. they needed child care. they were concerned about taking their children to their

elderly parents. they couldn't leave them at home. tell us a little bit about the program that you established that is available currently and will potentially be extended once programming starts for june 15 during the summer. >> thank you, mayor. yeah. you asked us as soon as the schools closed to start thinking about our kids and working families, particularly our health care workers and first responders and people who were needed to help in the city's response. and so the department of children, youth and family and recreation park department are working closely together under the guidance of department of public health, set up an emergency child care system that is now in its 12th week. we, over time, served over 475 kids, 19,000 hours of child care offered during that time and we served over 4,000 meals at over 25 different sites.

the program runs between 6:30 in the morning and 7:30 p.m. and kids have been involved in distance learning and a little bit of recreation and it's really been, you know, wasn't what we were used to doing and we had to stand it up pretty quickly, but it has been an amazing experience and i'm really grateful for my partner in runing this thing, maria, and the department of youth and family who have been terrific. >> and i want to just add -- because i know that, you know, sadly, you had these kids and these pods with limited number of social distancing. these are kids coming together on a regular basis. something similar to what we're going to be doing this summer. and, unfortunately, there have been people who have made nasty comments or complained or even yelled at, you know, the kids. and so what i want to say to people is to back off and mind your own business and to leave kids alone. because at the end of the day, these are kids whose family members are putting their lives

on the line to help support this city. so, i can't reiterate enough that it's important that folks really just stay in their lane, mind your own business. we're providing essential service. and we want to extend this and make this available to more kids. so, let's talk a little bit about -- phil, can you just talk a little bit about june 15? >> sure. >> we're going start programming and we're going to extend the number of kids that we're able to serve. not just in our park system, but our overall summer program so i want you, phil, to touch on what will be available for our park system, both for our young people and our teenagers and then we're going to jump into maria su to talk about programming in general. >> sure. so, our child care operation -- it's summer, and child care was intended to operate while during the school year while the school system -- when the school system was closed and what families and kids are used

to during the summer is camp. you're right. the truth of the matter, it will look somewhat similar in that we're going to have pods of 12, but beginning june 15, rec and park -- between rec and park t private sector camp providers and our nonprofit providers we expect that there will be over 200 different camps available to kids can. we are going to prioritize. kids of parents who are working in essential businesses, who are part of the city's response, who are, you know, in allowable businesses and, frankly t kids who need us the most right now. many of our kids in the city have been without their coaches and mentors for going on 10 weeks and we want to reengage and make sure that these kids,

above all else, have something to do this summer. so, starting june 15, camp providers will be allowed to operate. they're going to need to certify that they're going to comply with the health order and guidance coming out of public health, which means kids still need to be in pods of 12 for older kids. the minimum session for camp providers will be three weeks and the boll rationale behind that is to keep kids from normally during a normal summer kids go to one week of this camp and one week of another camp and the health -- and our public health officials have asked us to keep kids together in a consistent pod. so we'll have three three-week sessions beginning june 15. at rec and park, we're planning over 25 different camps. we expect there to be another 40 to 50 private camp providers operating in our park system. i believe that maria is estimating nearly 100 nonprofit

camp providers will operate around the city and then there are some other muscle private providers that will be operating on, you know, nonpark property in different spaces. we're going to start working with camp providers as quickly as possible, right after we're done speaking with you. and for our camps, for rec and park camps, we'll begin priority registration on may 26 for all of the participants that are currently in our emergency child care program and our kids in our scholarship program who are a little bit more vulnerable and who really, really need us. we're going reach out to those populations first and then city-wide, registration for rec and park camps will begin on june 6. all of this information will be laid out on the department of children, youth and family's

website, dcyf/cares.org. and i'll turn it over to maria to talk about the other providers and program staffing. >> thank you, phil. thank you, mayor, for this opportunity to share with our residents of the work that we're doing right now. so, like the mayor shared, we are in the process of expanding the opportunities for families, particularly for summer. we're really excited about this because, as a parent myself who has two children, this is going to be great opportunity for our young -- our young people to go out there and engage with others and just really address the social isolation issues that we know is happening in our families right now. so dcyf is really excited to be partnering with rec and parks and the rest of our summer providers in the city to stand up all of these programs for the dcyf-specific agencies, which are the nonprofit

agencies, that our department provides supports to, we are going to be working with them to open up camps and programs that they will then be made available for all of our families. we are looking at around 100 programs that will be available for families starting june 15. we are asking all of our nonprofit agencies to follow health guidelines, which still has shared, restrictive groups of young people in consistent three-week programming at a minimum. we will also put on our website, dcyf.org/care. more information around the health order, around the drexives and the guidelines, with how private camps are also fulfill all of those

requirements and then document that they are going to open up. so look for that website to go live -- actually the website is live now. but look for the forms to go live soon. >> great. >> and over time, mayor, i think we're going to try to inventory -- try to provide parents with as much information as we can about all of the camp opportunities because we have to think about it as a network this summer because of the health guidelines. so, we hope to be able to have a list and some reference materials for not just rec and park camps, but all of the private camps happening around the city, too. >> yeah. and i want to touch a little bit because, you know, child care has been important because we have allowed that to continue for essential workers. can you talk a little bit, maria, what we can expect as it relates to the 0 to 5 age group

and what might be available during the summer? >> yes. so, we're really excited that this new health order that you have authorized with our health department to allow the expansion of child care services for more families. so, there are child care programs for children 0 to 5 right now that are providing services for our essential workers and other allowable businesses. under this new health order, we are now opening that opportunity for more families. we have hear that there are families out there who are working, who need care, who really, really need care for their children. and for children to need -- to need opportunities to be with their friends. so, this health order will allow more families to have access to these slots, these child care slots. i do want to caution folks that we are still following health

guidelines and so the slots are going to be limited. we are restricted to a smaller group of children per site. so i just want to set expectations for everyone that it's not just usual child care as we remember how it was a year ago. >> yeah. and i do think it's great that, you know, this is providing an opportunity for kids to come together. so we're talking about pods of 12 within the course of a summer camp or preschool or in other arenas so that not only can kids -- can parents get to work, but also it gives these children an tounlts interact with one another because i'm sure, especially if it is a child who doesn't have any siblings, to be able to play with another kid was -- like i know everything for me as a kid and i just feel so awful that

these kids can't go out there and enjoy one another. this is an opportunity and a great opportunity. but i also, sadly, know it is a very limited opportunity. but do want to touch on, you know, teenagers because i know one of things that happens often times they are always left out. so i am commited to making sure that opportunities for all is available so that we have paid internships for kids during the summer. and that we make that available, especially for our teenagers. because, you know, already they're missing their graduations and activities and events. and we want to make sure that they have a productive summer as well and they're not left out. so, maria, make you can touch on what might be happening with opportunities for all and i know that with rec and park, we have a number of teens that are going to be working and helping

with these camps during summer. let's talk a little bit about, you know, how kids who are teenagers can sign up for some of the programs. >> thank you, mayor. so actually a lot of our programs are doing a lot of connections to young people now but they're doing it remotely. they're doing a lot of wellness checks and follow-up on what academic support these young people need. so, once again with this health order, we're now allowed to have face-to-face and in-person connections with these young people. so, we're going to work closely with our nonprofit agencies to help young people connect to internship opportunities or actual job opportunities at some of these summer programs or at offices that are slowly opening up. so, there's great opportunities for private sector folks who are now interested -- who are opening up and would be interested in being a mentor

for a young person this summer. that would be amazing. however, if that is not available, our young people are actually engaging in project-based learning right now. so a lot of our young people in our workforce program will be doing small projects that are -- that is remote for the agencis that they're assigned to. there will be engagement but it is so much better if the engagement is in person and not remote. i do -- >> how do they sign up? like a teenager that wants to participate and have access to a paid internship? >> for now, we're directing everyone to go to dcyf.org/care so they can find out what's available in the community and make sections there.

i also do want to say that, for young people and for families who are struggling right now because there are young people and familis who are struggling right now we do have a website that is available and under the mayor's leadership, she wanted to prioritize mental health services for families and for our essential workers and other service providers. for those who are struggling and who need support, please go to fieldsan francisco.org to learn more about different resources for parents, for young people and for adults and service providers. >> and also can we call 3-1-1 and be referred if we don't have access to the internet? >> yes. we'll definitely make sure that that's possible. >> great. great. we want to make it as easy for people as possible because i know sometimes you jump on a website and trying to figure it out or if you don't have internet access but want to ma you are that your friend knows that this might be available

for their family. talk about what some of the teens are going to be doing in your program this summer. >> sure. for the last 607 years, san francisco has had a program called workreation, where we actually fund teenagers, kids between the ages of 14 and 17 to work in our camps. and because of your leadership and focus on getting these camps opened safely and getting kids an experience, we're hiring approximately 200 kid this is summer that will be counselors in the camps that we just talked about. i also think there is an amazing opportunity, mayor, for those private camp providers that want to operate this summer to hire teenagers. here's why. the health order and the health guidance requires a minimum of two staff for every pod of 12 kids.

and for private camp providers used to operating with a ton of kids and a few staff, you won't able to do that this year and staff won't be able to move around between pods during the camp session. for private camps to operate, they need to be very well-staffed and we highly, highly recommend that private camp providers hire teenagers to help and provide some support in making sure that your camps operate safely and smoothly and gives these kids a great experience and opportunity to make some money. >> i want to provide an example because, for example, we have been providing a camp at -- well, i guess it is called a camp, i don't know what it is called, but we have been providing support for young people whose families are essential workers at hamilton rec center. so hamilton rec center has several rooms that could be used. so, i know that the plan is

there is going to be probably two or three pods of 12. and each of those pods have their own rooms and their own activities around their rooms and they are also able to go outside and enjoy the field but not in the same pod, although they have their workers that are assigned to their pods. so, it provides for more opportunity to support more young people. so, the good news is even when they're in these situations, they're social distancing, but you know how it is when you're a kid and you're out playing, most likely you're going to somehow have some interaction where you might touch or be next to each other. so that is really why the importance of keeping these pods to what they are is significant in preventing the spread of the virus and giving these kids a chance to have their community of people to hang out with. >> yeah. i think that is what we're going for. it is super important for kids

to first of all get outside and reengage and, yes, there will be indoor spaces. but a lot more emphasis on being outside this summer for children. and as you know, mayor, for them to be together and hang out and a under the health guidance to your very early point for those who are concerned about the health of our children, under the health guidance, kids within the same pod can play sports. they can do certain activities. >> so, k they play basketball together? can they -- >> together, within the same pod. they can do those activities. and that is why this whole pod concept is very important. our public health officials have been focused on minimizing risk. it is impossible to eliminate it 100%. but minimizing it. and that is the whole premise of these long three-week sessions and these pods of 12. depending upon which spaces a camp uses a camp may be able to have only one pod of 12 kids

but may be able to have two pods or even three pods. as you know in hamilton or season seth rec center where the richmond or jolie, some of our buildings have multiple spaces, some schools where camps might operate have have multiple spaces. and then we've got the best park system in the country. so, we have plenty of outdoor spaces as well. for each pod, each pod requires a minimum of two staff people and staff cannot circulate between pods. so, again, for all you private camp providers out there, hire kids to help you this summer. >> all right. well thank you all so much for the insight. i'm sure a lot of parents are excited about this. i am hopeful that, you know, some of the -- in addition to the private -- the public camps that we'll provide with rec and park and a number of rec centers and nonprofit partners will be able to provide a sufficient number of locations

within the public sector and hopefully in combination with the private sector, many of our kids can have an enjoyable, effective, fun summer. so, we appreciate that and for more information, make sure that we reach out to department of children youth and families on the website or call 3-1-1 and before we wrap it up, i do want to talk a little bit about this weekend because it's memorial day weekend and typically everyone -- first of all, the weather in san francisco, even today, is gorgeous. and most of the time people want to go out and have barbecues and hang out with friends and family and i really like the idea of what you did in terms of circles in park to make it clear like you have to stay away from each other. we want to be next to each other so bad. but at the same time, we're doing so well. we still see the numbers of infections going up. but we see the number of hospitalizations going down,

the number of those who are in i.c.u. going down. san francisco is doing well. and the last thing we want to do is get too comfortable and all of a sudden go backwards so we still need people to keep their distance. we still need people to wear masks. we still need people to wash their hands regularly! wash your hands! but phil, tell us a little bit about what we can expect with the parks this weekend because we are, as much as we know people would want to use the parks, we'll be out in force regulating during memorial day weekend. again, we don't want to shut down any parks but if it comes down to that point where things are out of control and aren't following the guidelines, we won't have a choice. we really need people to be on their absolute best behavior. so, tell us about what we can expect with our parks this weekend. >> sure. i mean, mayor, you covered it perfectly, which is that, look, our parks are super important right now. they are the one place where

people can get outside, get some exercise, connect with nature and you have been amazing at making sure that these spaces are open and accessible. but for them to stay open and accessible, people need to do the right thing and over the last 10, 11 weeks, most people have been. but we need to focus and not ease up so you can be outside but you have to socially distance. we still recommend that you wear a mask. no partying, you know, no big events, no big picnics. just enjoy nature and enjoy a little time with your own immediate family or your own roommates. we will have park ranger, san francisco police department, police officers. we'll have sheriff's cadets, fire cadets, police cadets and the neighborhood emergency response team, all doing education and outreach. there are over 1500 signs in all of our parks indicating

what you can and can't do. just do the right thing so we don't put the mayor in a position where she needs to take more drastic action. it is amazing, mayor, in a lot of cities just threw their hands up and say, oh, parks closed because we don't want to deal with it. you haven't done that. you've kept parks open for people. so, you know, we're all asking the public to do the right thing this weekend. the weather will be nice. you will want to get outside. if you have to get in a car, it's too far. so go to your neighborhood park, enjoy it. but socially distance. if you're deloris or jackson or the marina green or washington square, we've offered a little bit of pop-up behavioral art to inspire you to claim your own space. that is the circles that are in some of the parks. and, you know, they're intended to be joyous and inspirational, but intended to remind everyone that we need to be mindful as

we continue to fight this virus. >> and i just want to say that please don't get offended if, you know, our park rangers or someone walks up to you and asks you, you know, are you guys in the same household just to, you know, make sure that people are following these orders. we have a responsibility. and the other thing is, if you're not the police, then please don't act like you're the police. we don't need you to walk and regulate and tell other people what to do because that creates more drama. it creates more tension. so we are doing the very best we can. we want to make this park and open space available to you because we know how challenging this has been. for the most part, san franciscans have followed the order and we are so fortunate that we have amazing residents in the city who are taking this seriously, even though not everyone is complying which has made life difficult in some respects. but please let us deal with that. we're doing our very best to

try and reduce this curve to the point of it being nonexistence because i know how badly we want to get back to being out there, to going to work and allowing kids to play. but the fact is coronavirus is with us for some time. it is not about getting back completely to normal. it's about adjusting to our new normal in a responsible way. it is going to take time. it's going to take ai, patience. we appreciate everyone for what you continue to do to help san francisco be a leader in this effort. thank you, phil ginsburg, thank you, maria su for your insight. for more information call 3-1-1. i know there might be a lot of questions also about the schools and other things. we're happy to continue these conversations based on your feedback. based on your questions. because many of us are doing the very best we can. this is not like anything any of us have ever expected.

so, we're all in this together. we're going to get through this together and that requires us to continue to be patient, get information to you as soon as it is available and just really try to come together, lift one another up, enjoy the memorial day weekend. and thank you all so much for your cooperation. have a great weekend and we'll see you next week. >> announcer: you're watching "coping with covid-19." today's special guest is dr. steven getnick.

>> hi, i'm chris man us and you're watching "coping with covid-19." today my guest is the director of the behavior therapy center of san francisco and professor emeritus in counseling psychology at the university of san francisco. doctor, welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> let's talk about managing anxieties during this pandemic. what types of issues are people facing at the moment? >> there are a number of issues and i really want to point out that this is affecting everyone and has come on very quickly. so it is normal. if you are not experiencing some anxiety, something is a touch off because this affects us all. i think some of the main ones are our health and worried about getting the virus and our developing serious complications. i think for a lot of people who

are single, living alone, in isolation, has been very difficult. i think being in close quarters with people who we normally have some space from now are together 24/7. that's produced a lot of stress and anxiety. that loss of connection with others. we already addressed. and having kids home. for a lot of people. >> yes, absolutely. what are the other problems that they might have? >> i think without that dynamic, the good things are not a problem. it is the difficulties we have. and when we're together 24/7, again it's like hooking everything up to an amplifier. >> so, what kind of problems could be created from working home from home, perhaps for the first time in your career? >> a lot of people are not used

to working at home and a working at home just isn't the same. for one thing, there is a lack of social interaction. some people find that that affects them greatly. some people are actually finding they're getting more work done at home without distractions from work. the lack of structure is probably the most common. we see it here with work at the office. people are kind of watching. we know that our schedule is, suddenly you're at home and you are on your own. >> absolutely. if those are some of the issues people are facing, what are some of the techniques people can use to overcome their anxiety? >> caller: i think there are many. one of the first is how managing and keeping track of your thinking, we think and talk to ourselves a lot. that's normal. we have a dialogue with ourselves often and we need to monitor that a bit.

people tend to ruminate versus problem-solve. that is they tend to worry about all the things that might go wrong. and what i suggest is, look, there are things that can go wrong, but ruminating about the worst-case scenario is not going to be very productive. sit down, figure out what the things are that you have to deal with and try to problem-solve. i think any of the self-control techniques for anxiety can be helpful. and there are dozens of them. the common ones are meditation, relaxation techniques, yoga, for example and another is diaphragmattic breathing. if you google that, you can learn diaphragmattic breathing in about 10 minutes online.

it's incredibly simple and it is a really nice way to reduce anxiety in the moment. self-control procedures, exercise. whether if you're fortunate enough to have equipment at home, that's great. if you're not, get outside and go for a walk, keep your safe distance, of course. but you need to be active. that's helpful. >> i think people marry be dealing with information overload at the moment. how do you suggest people manage that? >> i was just going to say that. i think it is really important to kind of limit the information you get. not in terms of accuracy. i think in terms of accuracy, you want to identify a few sites where people are coming with evidence-based information and scientific information so you can form yourself well. once you've informed yourself, you need to not be watching all day long. i've talked to people who are

mesmerized from the tv and a it keeps that anxiety going so you need to limit your viewing for sure. this can be stress for people who have economic concerns and worried about their family and friends and loved ones who are essential workers. what would you suggest they do to help manage anxiety and stress? >> there is a number of things. one of major ones for depression is behavioral activation. simply, it really means that people will tend to not be depressed as a number of reinforcing activities to engage in. whether it is hobbies, you read, you listen to music, you crochet, you -- whatever. these kinds of things are very important so you want to make sure that you're engaging in activities that literally make you feel better as opposed to

sitting around ruminating, worrying about the worst-case scenarios that might happen. >> what about trying to do some self-development? >> yeah. it's a very interesting time. i've talked to a couple of my own clients who are finding, in a very positive way, that this isolation, while at first can generate a lot of anxiety, particularly if you're just not good at living alone. for a number of people, it's giving them a chance to sit back and really think about what is important in their lives, what are the priorities. i think that maybe if there is any silver lining in this epidemic, it's really forcing all of us to kind of rethink what's really important. >> indeed. you know, though, at the same time, there are people who are feeling very lonely at home. how would you encourage them to overcome that? >> you get online.

facetime, skype, zoom, like what we're doing right now. you can stay connected. it's very possible. most connections are important. we are social critters and we need that connection. i think for people who don't have those options, pull up photos, take a look at pictures of family. you need to stay connected. and it's very important. >> and finally, do you have any suggestions that are specifically for families? >> yeah. well, again, i think one of the interesting things that's come about from all of this, is i talked to families on video is they're obviously spending more time together. while it's a bit awkward, particularly for parents who are in the house working a lot. it's a chance to really deepen relationships and spend more good, quality time together. i think parents really need to step back and kind of plan their day a little bit. not micro manage it, but have

some ideas. can the family play games together? a lot of people i talked to, they're even together as a family for the first time. so i think there are a number of things that people can do. i think it is qulaouzful for the families to take five, 10 minutes and say how did the day go? i talked to someone in the phone book before we started who said they noticed what time of day all their anxiety kind of comes together and they start sniping at each other. now they're taking a few minutes at tend of the day to say, ok, how are we doing? >> i think they need modeling good behavior, something you can do within the family, too, to try to -- >> that's right. i think that's relevant. very relevant to how children are going to do. most of the research from

crises, particularly things we can't control showed that children do as well as their parents do. so i think it is important for parents to think about how they're react aing and they stay calm because whatever they do is modeling, coping for their children. so, that can be very useful. it can also be problematic. >> when we talked earlier, you mentioned that acknowledging that your kids are afraid is important. >> yes. i think that ties to your last question. i think modeling -- you know, it's not incompatible with saying, yeah, you know, mom or dad is a little nervous, too. it means a lot of stuff is going on, but we're going to be ok. we're going to stay together. we have our time together. we're going to be safe. we'll -- fill in the blank. so you can do both.

you can re-assure but in a realistic way that once the kids know it's normal to be anxious in these times. >> thank you for coming ton show, doctor. i really appreciate the time you've given us. >> you're welcome. thank you for having me. >> and that is it for this episode. we'll be back with more covid-19 related information shortly. you have been "coping with covid-19." >> as a woman of color who grew up in san francisco i understand how institutions can have an impact on communities of color. i think having my voice was important. that is where my passion lies when the opportunity to lead an office in such a new space came

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

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

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

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

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

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

we are first to do it. it is one of the most rewarding parts to offer a seamless -- to offer a seamless approach. that is how they can find solutions to solve many of the community challenges. the best way to respond to prop 64 was to retroactively expunge 9,000 cannabis related records for san francisco. it feels like justice full circle for my personal experience. in the past i was furthering the war on drugs just as my directive. really coming from a place of public safety. that was the mandate and understanding. it is nice to see that pass a society we are able to look at some of our laws and say, you know what? we got it wrong. let's get this right. i had the privilege of being in

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

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

it was about leaning in and being at the table to say my voice matters. you find your passion, the sky [♪] >> i actually knew when i was young, when i was in high school. it was the iconic dancer. [♪] >> the hula that he did was what i'm totally accustom to. the extensions that he did where he left hula flavor of the rest of his dance and performance was

almost like stepping into a new sphere. it's not just the physical, the movements and the tempo and the lyrics, it's that he keeps it, i think, philosophically connected. [♪] >> he was young. he was ready to be molded. he came with a combination of fear and respect and awe many of it's a perfect place for a new student to be because it offers you that opportunity to mold them. >> with patrick, when he came to class, he was like a sponge. like a sponge. and he kept true to it. you know what i'm saying. when it was starting to study, he was so intense. he had to be told to relax. >> patrick is a sweetest, kindest, most loving man i met.

>> he is charismatic. he is motivating. he is inspiring. he is brilliant when it comes to choreography. you've got the whole package. >> i think patrick is a good example within the whole world of being able to have a firm grasp on past traditions while shooting forward. ♪ the first time ♪ ever i kissed your mouth >> with hula songs, they're in hawaiian. not everybody knows hawaiian. when you watch a hula, you don't understand the story being told. he can use ledge songs and put a hula do it and everybody understands what it's about. [♪]

when they came out in that black and that one simple hairpiece, less is more. you get to enjoy the dance. you get to enjoy the faith. those are the things i look for. [♪] >> i think he is one of the best risk takers. and he makes me braver, to try things. i love thinking of an audience going, what the hell. what? [♪]

>> i think it's all about variety. he looks for something else that could relate to other cultures, other people other than just hawaiians, it allows him to explore other cultures. they are so loyal to him. whatever he brings, they know that they will be surprised, entertained. a part of something that is inclusive rather than exclusive. [♪] >> he loves san francisco. san francisco embraced him when he needed it most. and he is on a constant give back. he has built such a nice inga tral working relationship with the community.

>> his passion for it is, i think what touched me most. there's a drive there. there's this energy that comes from him that motivates you to do better. it motivates you to do more. it gave me that encouragement to start my own group. to do what he is doing. i want to replicate that. i have some young hula students that are excited to be a part of that lynn' age where it falls back and goes all the way back. it motivates them to want to keep doing it. >> i'm very proud to be the fly on your wall. to know that you have made me proud and that you will carry the legacy with you. he is so deserving of this legacy and it will carry on. with everything that he has given.

>> you do leave a legacy in passing. >> you go. you go catch your legacy. and you continue to teach hula. you come back and you learn more stuff and you keep teaching me about that kind of stuff. and then, with all of that, laugh. [♪] [♪] >> hi, you're watching "coping

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

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

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

>> hi, everybody. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm joined here today by our county health officer, dr. thomas aragon. he is a native san franciscan and has been with the department for over 10 years, has been responsible for all of the decisions that are being made to keep us all safe and healthy. just yesterday, we made an announcement about a safe re-opening plan and i want to talk a little bit with him today about the kinds of decisions, the very hard decisions as a public health officer that he has to make to keep us safe. i want to touch a bit on how are we going to re-open safely. why the decisions around masks and locations that are opening

at the time they are opening. i know so many of you have so many questions and also there is a lot of uncertainty. so today we want you to meet your county health officer and we want to dig deep and talk about why the decisions that are made are important for us to follow and what we can do to remain safe and healthy in san francisco. at this time, i just want to welcome you, doctor. thank you so much for your work. we know that that we have been working hand in hand with other county health officers throughout the bay area. a lot of hard decisions that we've had to make in every step of the way, i know you focused on public health. let's start from the beginning. i know that initially we were having discussions about the need to start to reduce the number of people at events and then finally begot to this shutdown and it was necessary. so tell us a little bit about

how the decision was made to really get to this point. >> that's a really good question. if you remember in march, everything was moving incredibly fast around the world. we saw what was happening in italy. we saw the number of cases, the number of deaths and understanding the information that was coming out of [inaudible] so i think that -- [echoing] i think that that information that was coming out and seeing how other countries were responding, the united states has not been there yet. we did not have a surveillance system. and so as we moved and started shutting things down, i think that really set the mindset. we were incorrodably supported by yourself, elected officials in the bay area were very supportive of everything as we moved forward. i think that is what really set up the ability for us to collectively make a decision

because we really felt we have the support of elected officials and also of the population. that was on march 16 that we got together and decided collectively to do the shelter in place. >> yeah. and i remember those days because i remember -- as i was given arbitrary numbers of, you know, closures of events, i got to a point -- i know i ran out of. a little patience when i felt like, well, why sit 100 versus 50 or why is it 1,000 versus 500? we got to a point where we knew that, in order to protect as many people as we can, we were going to get to that point so why continue to kick the can down the road? so, we appreciate the support and the guidance you proud on helping us to make that decision. tell me the role of a county health officer. i am making decisions and leading the city, but i'm

getting advice from from my county health officer. that's you. tell us about your role for public health in san francisco. >> the way it works in california -- so, authority really exists at the state level. and in california, we're fortunate what they do is that every health jurisdiction has a physician health officer, by law, to implement legal authority around health issues throughout california. and so that's existed for many, many years and so it's a big state to have policies that are customized to the issues that people are facing. san francisco's very unique because we're a city and a county. whereas the county health officer in los angeles has to deal with 88 cities. i only have to deal with one city. so, it makes it a little bit -- it makes it easier for san francisco to be much more agile in responding to public health threats and i think that is one of reasons why san francisco

has been a leader in public health is because we're very agile and so that is basically how it works. >> so, yesterday we made an announcement. working with the economic recovery task force, the department of public health, we focused on and our assessor/recorder who has been leading this effort, we talked about ways to re-open safely. and we announced this plan and, of course, it was really challenging. because vefn though, from your perspective, you see the numbers are changing and the testing is going up, the p.p.e. and we're in a better place. people really are frustrated. they feel like this is moving too slow. and they don't understand why one business over another is able to open or why museums are able to open. or why did we pick the things

we did to open. again, people are -- this is not just about me wanting to go to the hair salon. this is about the fact is those folks who have hair salons in places with direct contact with people, they have no income coming in and they are struggling. so, can you talk a little bit about the decisions that you're making? i mean, i believe they're too conservative. you believe that they are a little bit faster than what you would like them to be. help us understand what goes into making a decision as to who is re-opening and why, based on our s.f. safe re-opening plan. >> so, one thing to appreciate that -- we have never experienced this before. so, while it was in some ways straight forward to shut down the economy, opening it up is much more complex because there's so many stakeholders that are involved. and the city cannot act by itself so we work with a region

and we work with the state. so we've been working with the state and really making sure that we have smart alignment with the state. the state has some challenges because they're going to come out with recommendations that's almost a one size fits all for california. so, while it may be too slow for humboldt county, it may be too fast for san francisco. we face some very unique vulnerabilities that other cities don't face. we're the second densest city in the country. we have, when commuters come in, we have a lot of folks and so while we have made incredible progress, we want to lock in those gains. we want to lock in those gains. and we want to move forward in a way that is going to be safe for everybody. we're really committed to not moving backwards and i think as we learn more about this virus and how it acts, we want to move forward and not backwards and safely in alignment with our region and the state.

>> so, doctor, here's my pushback on that because, for example, in grocery stores where the system exists or even target is open because it has a component of a grocery store, you wait in line, you're wearing your mask. only a limited number of people are able to go in. you're still there. there's no rules about what you can and can't touch, even though people are, for the most part, socially distancing themselves within those stores and those locations. and they're not probably touching as much. they may have gloves. so, why is it that, like, for example, book stores and other retail businesses, you know, why -- why can't they do the same thing sooner rather than later? >> so, what happened was that we realised is that to open up the economy, we had to phase things in. so, that is really critical. and the state provided an overall framework and economic recovery task force applied

criteria to identify the areas that had the highest risk and the lowest risk. and what you do is you start with the lowest risk areas and you just slowly move through those phases. and one of the challenges is that some people in the later phases say i can do that safely and that may very well be true. it's just that we can't do everything at once and that is really the challenge. even though some people -- some industries in later phases could, in theory, do things safely. we have to phase it out so that we don't move too fast. the next thing we do is we give it about two to four weeks to really understand the implications of what we just did. because we don't want to do too much and then have to move backward. just to give you an idea, there's already two counties and one is sonoma and the other

is lassen where they felt they moved a little too fast. sonoma is slowing down and lassen pulled back from one of their re-openings. it is critical for us to be mindful and make sure we have enough time to make sure that we don't get ourselves into trouble. check the numbers. and then continue to move forward. and i think what we do know from the 1918 influenza pandemic, those areas that moved at a good pace did better economically because they did not have a large second wave of infections. >> let's talk about that. while we're averting one public health crisis, we're unfortunately creating another. and so i know that depression is seting in with some people. folks who had no income and no ability to take care of themselves and their families. we know that domestic violence, suicide, child abuse, all these things are a result of what we

see happen and it is even worse for people in low-income and poverty. on the one hand, we are lowering the curve and really been a leader in that effort but there is another public health crisis that is brewing as a result of the decisions that we're making. how are we expected to sustain this? how are we expected to continue to live like this while, you know, there still are a lot of people suffering from something that's a different public health crisis. >> i agree. i agree with you completely. and i think that's really one of the challenges and, you know, when the health officers talk about the issues, we recognize that when you look at health in its complete way, the way you're describing, we absolutely have to take into account those trade-offs. and that is for me. my personal commitment, i feel like i'm now on a mission. i feel like i'm on a mission to

get us to open up as safely and as quickly as possible because we know that we have to have get back to work, people have to get back to seeing their doctors and people have to pay the bills, pay the rent, pay for schoolsment all of those things that all of us need are absolutely critical and that is one of the reasons why some people say to us why are we being so strict? it's because i want to keep moving forward and i completely appreciate everything that you are bringing up and that is what makes these decisions very difficult. >> and what about the seniors living in isolation and need to see their family members in what about the kids who are maybe, you know, only children who haven't played with another kid for this long? like this is not sustainable. like emotional, it's having an impact on peoples' lives so i think it is going to be important that we give guidance. like what kind of guide :? the fact is, people for the

most part r going to see their parents or their relatives or scheduling playdates and i know that we have said that is not a good idea. but people are probably going to do it anyway because they have probably had it. and i honestly don't blame them. so tell us a little bit about how people can do these things safely. i think human behaviour, we can't help ourselves. we want to be around one another. and we want to interact one another. i guess that we want to stop the virus, but we also have a -- you know, if my grandmother were still alive, she were at laguna honda, if she were still alive it would literally kill me not to go up and see her. so i just need you to help us understand, how are we going to see our relatives and other friends and folks safely. what is the solution to? -- to this? >> you are bringing up a really important issue and actually the health officers right now

-- and actually the health department is going to design new strategies to bring people together, to bring households together for just the very reason that you're saying. and so in some ways we feel like can we dodge this bullet? and now we have time to do this right and you'll be seeing over -- hopefully over the next week, we'll be coming out with recommendations for the region on how families, just the way you're describing, can really come together. but we want them to really think through and make sure that they do it safely so we want them to be a aware of the physical distancing, wearing the face covering and washing their hands. it's really important for social connections to stay strong and so we will -- we're moving in that directionful and you'll hear more about it in the next few days. >> because we also know that,

for example, there is going to be limitations to our summer quafrp and limited capacity for child care so what about those families whose kids don't make it into child care or summer camp? what are they going to do with, you know, their children. how -- how -- how are we going to make sure that they have access to other kids? and they have access to the abilities to be around one another and be around one another. i think -- i noticed that i see a lot of teenagers walking around together with one another. some of them are wearing masks, some of them aren't, but it's really tough. i do think it is going to be important that, as we continue to try and push forward more health directives, if we expect people to follow them, you know, we gotta also think about

human nature to provide them with safe guidelines to do so. so that, as you said, we don't see a surge and we don't go backwards. so, i know folks are going to be looking forward to those guidelines because this is going to be critical to our ability to meet the goals of waiting for things to open and get back to work and the other things that we need to do. and i'm expressing the frustration of the people of san francisco because we know it is a fluid situation and i know people are tired. and it is really hard to sustain it and now there is another face covering requirement. can you tell us about that requirement and why is it now 30 feet, why are the requirements a lot -- they seem stricker.

can you talk about what the new requirements are around face coverings? >> yeah. let me just really quickly just give -- a very quick background and why we're very concerned. when you think of covid-19 disease, we know that it's more infectious than the flu. it's 10 times more deadly than the flu. and so we're very concerned as we begin to open things up, how do we do it in a way that we continue to move forward? that is the first thing. because there is no vaccine and no real effective treatment, we only have a few tools available to us. one of them was the hammer, which was shelter in place. we don't want to go there. we want to move away from that. we have only a few things left, which is physical distancing, face coverings and hand washing. and so now we want to make sure, as we lift shelter in place, that we're doing the best we can in those areas. to give you an idea about face coverings. so, we know from the science

that's emerging and from the mathematical models that have been developed that, if 80% of people wear face masks or face coverings consistently, we can prevent outbreaks. that is humongous. and so it's really important for us to appreciate that. the countries that are being successful in keeping their economies open are the countries that have universal face coverings so we have to have -- we have -- for the next year, until we get a vaccine, this is only temporary, it is not going to be forever. until we get to the place where we have a vaccine and we can safely have everybody -- most people immune, this is the bridge that is going to get us there. it turns out that the risk is very low, but the benefit is very high and it is going to allow us to have more movement and families to getting to and, over time, as the infection goes down and the risk goes down, we're going to -- more and more people will be able to

come together. so, it is going to have a big impact. >> so, why 30 feet, i guess. compared to initially six feet. >> so, here's the way that i want you to think about it is that if every time you walk outside -- whenever you go outside the home, and there

down, we're going to -- more and more people will be able to come together. so, it is going to have a big impact. >> so, why 30 feet, i guess. compared to initially six feet. >> so, here's the way that i want you to think about it is that if every time you walk outside -- whenever you go outside the home, and there is a good chance that you're going to have contact with people who are not part of your household, we want you to have a face covering. that is the first thing. easy to remember. when i'm outside my home and there is a good chance that i'm going to have contact with people that are not part of my household, then i should have a face covering. and there's two basis scenarios that that ha. -- that that happens. there's moving around, walking down a crowded street and hiking down a path. so the 30 feet is being hindful that as you approach 10 yards is to put your face covering on. it's about using common sense l. you have enough time to go ahead and put on your face covering. 30 feet, some people like to think of 10 yards if you like football or soccer or think of two average cars. so, when you're walking down the street. the other one is when you're stationary -- and this is really the more common one that you are talking about and that is six feet. so, if you're in the park with your family and you're away from everybody else and eating lunch or having a picnic, go ahead and put that down. this morning, when i got -- when i was leaving my house to work, across the street was a father and a daughter. he was holding her hand and they were walking the dog. they're totally outside and they didn't have to wear a mask and that is exactly how it should be. we give people plenty of opportunities to go ahead and pull it down so they can get fresh air. as long as you're not close to anybody, go ahead and pull it down so you feel comfortable.

>> so, one of challenges we've had are runners. i noticed it, too. for some reason there are people who are running and i would say, you know, 50% of the time they'll get out of your way and move away from you. but sometimes they just run right past you and are -- so tell us why that -- people are saying i'm a runnerment i'm not going to run with a mask on. that is ridiculous, right? and i'm not a runner, but i know that it is hard enough to breathe in a mask sometimes. so, how do you expect people who are outdoors who want to exercise to wear a ?afk -- a mask? what are the guidelines? >> basically follow the same common sense guidelines. i'll give you the example that i do. i like to run up to twin peaks and so what i do is actually just have my mask right here and most runners actually, this is some of the runner magazines that they recommend to folks. run around when there's no people. when there's nobody around you

you don't have to have it on. but when you're running by a family, let's say, go ahead and put it on. that is the 30-foot rule, the 10-yard rule. and when you pass them and no one else around, go ahead and pull it down. we're trying to make sure it's really common sense so that people do it in a way that is respectful of other people as they come close to each other and come near each other for a short period of time. the 10-yard rule is to remind them to slip it on and then when you're past them and alone again, slip it down. we're not expecting people to wear it the whole time. >> if i'm at the park and having a little picnic in one of my circles, then most likely i can leave mask off. >> correct. exactly. yes. >> ok. all right. i get that there is a lot of confusion there and sounds like we're telling people be on your best behaviour. use common sense. don't police other peopleful just do the best you can. we're all in this together and we want to make sure that we

keep people safe and keep ourselves safe and keep other people safe. >> exactly. and the way you described it is perfect. >> ok. here's the other question. say, for example, woe see the numbers blow us away and surprise us and go down considerably. is there any chance that, based on the timeline of the dates of re-opening, is there any chance that we could see that timeline moved up or things moved out of the timeline and up into the forefront? >> so, you mean moving the intervals closer? >> so, for example, if we see all of a sudden over the next week, we see a sharp decline, right, in the number of hospitalizations and we already see testing has gone up considerably. we're doing a great job with testing. so, we see a sharp decline and whatever you need to see a decline in. all of a sudden, you know, there's a strong desire for people to see

more happening faster. do you think there is a possibility that this safe re-opening plan could be moved up so that is some of these things are available sooner rather than later? i'll give you a perfect example. museum, right? it's not because i want to go to a museum, but i think about the people who work at the museum, the security who works at the museum and the fact is you don't need to touch anything at the museum and there is ways in which we can guide people in the restrooms and so on and so forth. the academy of sciences, they're furloughing employees. but these are locations where there's a real possibility to limit capacity and they're in phase three. i'm using them as an example. >> you're asking a really good question. and i think for us the way that we've been thinking about this is because -- it's because san francisco just -- we know that we're -- we know that we're just higher risk. that is the baseline. and so that's why we've been really anchoring to the state

road map and the state road map is moving very fast and is very likely for some of the things that you're mentioning, is very likely to allow more and more of these things to happen. and so if the state allows that to happen, we will look at -- we will -- if the state starts moving faster, we'll look at our number and if it looks like we can do it, then we're going to go ahead and implement it safely in san francisco. that is what we're allowing the state to really be that [inaudible] that they -- [echoing [ >> yeah. and i want to express my appreciation again for your leadership and also for the timeline and giving the people of san francisco a lot more certainty about what to expect. it is not what we want, of course. we want more. and i will continue to push for more. but, you know, i appreciate the opportunity to have this open discussion. you know, i just want to say to the people of san francisco, again, thank you for all that you are doing to help us

through this. the better that you follow the guidelines around masking, around social distancing and hand washing, the safer we will be faster which will give us an opportunity to do more. and i know we're asking a lot of the people of san francisco and we appreciate that for the majority of you, you follow these protocols and we're also well aware that some people are really suffering. and that is at the forefront of our minds when trying to push for changes faster. but we also want to make sure that we are safe and we don't roll back the gains that we made so far. it's difficult. it requires a lot of sacrifice. it's easier for us to ask you to do it than i know it is for you to actually do i. but we appreciate everything that all of you have done to take part in helping to keep san francisco safe and healthy. you know, i know it is one thing to be a leader and another thing to be the person

stressed out and whether or not they will be able to hold on to their shop or hold on to their apartment after this is over. so, we are keep, those things in mind and i appreciate the work that you are doing, doctor. thank you for joining us here today. please feel free to continue to submit your questions. these conversations are really about trying to get to the heart of the questions and concerns that people have. rather than to do just a regular press conference. this is an opportunity for us to have a discussion about everyday questions that people have. you can definitely call 3-1-1 for testing or other questions and concerns or feel free to e-mail me, mayor london breed@sfgov.org and thank you for joining us here today. >> thank you!