>> hannah: operator, can you put through the next caller. >> chris barker from the calgary herald. >> i'm wondering if you could give me your assessment that was announced today. maybe more specific, what do they need to see in terms of assistant to the energy and airline sector? >> well, it's a very good first measure. but as i said to the deputy prime minister today, i suspect that the canadian economy will need measures that are in order of magnitude larger than this. i noted yesterday, the british government announced an additional 330 billion pounds of additional backstop and income support. the french government announced 300,000 euros. we're talking in the range of 10% to 15% of gdp. this situation is moving so fast that a week ago when i was meeting with chrystia freeland, i was talking about a counter cyclical stimulous in the gdp and i think we all agree it will be an order of magnitude larger. we'll do our part here in alberta and i'm confident the federal government will, as well, and i believe that -- i know they are working specifically on packages for the aviation and the energy sector recognising their unique vulnerability right now. >> do you have a followup, chris? >> there was no childcare benefit. so we just found out the federal package this morning at, i guess 9:00, and minister toews and his team are pouring through this to see where there are gaps. there was a significant enhancement of the canada child benefit here of $2 billion, as well as the gst credit and goes to a lot of low-income families with kids. so we'll go through that and see if more needs to be done. today was an initial package and we'll see if there are gaps to supplement in the days ahead. >> perhaps we're being kicked out. is that something you could pass legislation into? >> look, first of all, we would just call on landlords voluntarily to show the kind of flexibility that banks have on mortgage payments. i think that's the first step rather than government footing in. when it comes to landlords, you'll have everybody from a retired senior who has a small

boarding house to large corporations. so the capacity to forgive rent will probably vary a great deal but we'll look at that. >> dan? >> the referral programme, how does that work? is that something albertans are to apply for and with the 90 days when that's up, there's no extension on that, do albertans have to pay that back in a lump sum or is that distributed? >> so the utility companies will go directly with their customers. we went through the alberta utility's commission to provide a payment flexibility. the bottom line, we have asked and they agreed that they will not cut off service if people do not pay their utility bills over the next 90 days and i believe the utility companies will be communicating directly with their customers on that. we'll review where we're at after 90 days and i'll leave it to the municipalities to comment on whether they match some of th exactly who's eligible? >> quite frankly, it's an estimate, a bit of a shot in the dark and we don't know how many

test test test test test.

>> thanks for the introduction. good morning. >> i wanted to say a few quick things. why i love bicycles. bicycles represent many things to many people. it is inexpensive, freedom to travel on your own schedule, great way to get exercise outside. especially today it provides transportation with social distancing allowing people who are not comfortable on public transit to good where they need to go and opening up space for

those that rely on it for their needs. i am excited for the opportunity to provide safe enjoyable way to ride bicycles. i look to support more shared spaces, more open streets and safe enforcement for bicycle advocacy in the city. thanks. >> thank you so much. if there is no questions from colleagues, i will open this up for public comment. >> yes. members of the public.

>> do we have any public comments for this item. >> there are no callers in the queue. >> public comment is closed. supervisor stefani. >> thank you, sarah for willsness to serve. i with like to move with a positive recommendation so sarah may it is on the advisory committee in seat two. >> on that motion. supervisor stefani. >> aye. >> supervisor mar. >> aye. >> chair ronen. >> aye. >> the motion passes without objection. >> congratulations. thank you for your willingness to serve. >> item 4.

resolution authorization san francisco care and roll to enter into use with big fish to develop and produce documentary series about sfatc animal rescue calls and animal control officers and grantingness trademark rights and exclusive rights for one year to digital networks. >> thank you so much. i will just say i am very excited about this item and this documentary. i rescued my again m -- guiney . it is great to have you with us today to share any information. >> thank you. this is our first time for the

shared screen. if it doesn't look right, please let us know. i am the executive director of san francisco animal care and control. today i am asking for positive recommendation on the resolution authorizing animal care and control to enter into a film agreement with big fish entertainment. to be featured they do live rescue. animal care and control is the city's taxpayer funded shelter. we enforce state and local animal control and welfare laws. in existence since 1989. provide housing, care and medical treatment to wild, exotic, domestic, stray, lost and injured animals.

from addition to enforcing state laws we are first responders for animals in natural disasters and other emergencies. big fish entertainment are a production company. they have the live rescue show which we would participate in with your approval, animal er live, top dog. it is run on major cable networks like discovery, a and e, national geographic. the live rescue series follows firefighters and paramedics. some of the work our animal control officers were doing they saw and asked if we could participate in the series.

health and safety are a top priority during row individual. we are working closely to make sure that the proper rules are in place regarding that. is there any questions? >> this is captain corso. they were the two officers had captured the mountain lion in june. >> sorry to interrupt. we are not seeing your presentation at this time. it is a bacit is a black screen. >> we got the first half. the last minute we had a black

screen for your presentation. >> okay. let me see if i can fix that.

>> this is an interesting resolution and exciting to think about our animal care and control being featured or on a documentary series, animal rescue. or live rescue. i was wondering if you could speak a little bit to how you think this furthers the mission and the work of animal care and control to be able to have this visibility.

>> frankly, this is always a position difficult to recruit for, so if i can get any kids on tv or high school students watching animal control and say, hey, that's what i want to do when i grow up, that would be phenomenal. but i think, also, it just encourages the public to understand wildlife issues. people are informed about dogs and cats, but in terms of wildlife, that's an important message for us.

>> the officers are so jazzed. in the mountain lion rescue, i think one of the best moments was after they had scooped up the mountain lion and had him in a container. all the police officers rushed up and said, oh, my gosh, that was the greatest thing we've ever seen in our life. really, how often do you see two women wrestle an 80-pound mountain lion? [ laughter ] >> thank you, thank you so much for all of your work and we will now open this item up for public comment. >> yes, members who wish to provide public comment should call (415)655-0001 and the meeting i.d. is (146)670-2563 and then press pound and pound again. if you haven't done so, please dial star three to line up to

speak. a system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. wait until you're un-muted and you may begin public comment. are there any speakers on the line? >> no callers in the queue. >> chair: i am very excited and very happy to make a motion to submit this resolution forward with positive recommendations. can we have a role call vote on that. >> on the motion -- (role call). >> the motion passes without objection. >> chair: thank you and we'll see you soon. mr. clerk, can you please read item number five. >> item number five is a hearing on the department of elections reports submitted to the board of supervisors on june 30th,

2020, pursuant to ordinance 88-20 on plans for implementation of municipal election code 1102, expansion of vote-by-mail by san francisco's november 3rd, 2020, consol consolidated election and elections to report. >> thank you so much and i am appreciative of the director of elections for being here today. in early june, the board passed legislation requiring to submit by june 30th. it's required to vote by mail to all registered voters and safe-in person voting, ballot drops and robust plan for education and outreach, including coordination to engage in historically low turn-out communities. director arntz, i believe the plan you and your team have

prepared is both impressive and ambitious and a lot of work to be sure people are educated and informed and supported to adjust to the new way of voting. i wanted to hold this hearing to be sure that the public has a chance to learn about the plan and to weigh in. the november election may be the most important of our lifetimes. during the state of m.p. and during this state of emergency and more important that we keep us safe and secure. welcome, director arntz and thank you for being here. i just wanted to mention to my colleagues and the public that shikars miley, the director of the office of racial equity and director gerald davis from the human right's commission with her chief of staff are also here

and available for questions. and with that, director arntz, i don't know if you have a presentation or just want to describe what your plans are. >> thank you, supervisor ronen. good morning. i do have a presentation, but even though i joined the meeting, i can't open it up to present to the meeting right now. there we go, ok. >> can you see the presentation? >> yes. >> today i'll give a pregnant, an overview and this isn't everything we're doing for this election. this is an overview of our efforts in relation to the ordinance the board passed earlier this year regarding election planning for the november election in relation to covid-19 responses.

and so the topics that i'll cover in the presentation also relate back to the ordinance and the topics are voter outreach and education, universal vote-by-mail, in-person voting services at the outdoor voting centre outside of the bill graham auditorium, polling places and compliance with health guidelines, health and safety protocols and service to voters in hospitals or homebound and so on the voter outreach piece. so the department's objective for the november 3rd election to inform city residents about expanded vote-by-mail voting, safe in-person services and key dates and to provide focused outreach for vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. and to reach these two objectives, they applied no contact strategies, increased use of official election's mail

and direct and indirect digital and print and election materials. the department also intends to engage in-person outreach for in election as long the groups are small in number and meet all of the health and safety protocols that the dph has put forward. and then regarding election mail, this summer, the department began sending city residents a series of outreach print and email notices, highlighting information about the november 3rd election. first in june, we sent 7,000 email notices regarding language preference. they registered to vote or are registered to vote and nod indicated a language preference and were born in chinese, spanish, fill pe philippino and

japanese-speaking countries. we told them how to request these details. with new people registered to vote in san francisco, we noticed that they're born in these countries and speak these languages listed, they will reach out and indicate that there are materials available in those languages regarding the election. and the vote options noticed in august, the department mail the qadralibera alinual and people e to become voters three ways to access voting in the upcoming election and to check the registration.

we reminded voters they have an opportunity to return ballots back to us by email or fax. now, the return of ballots by email and fax is only available to people who are living overseas or are in the military. so i want to put this don't wanl emaiit's for all. during the stay-at-home period, it continued to update and monitor the voter registration information that we have and many people now register to vote online and so we're able to

process that and do our work, our maintenance offsite but then on a regular basis, we had people coming into the office to scan the hard copy registration forms and also any notices or information that voters sent to us. and so we've never stopped the processing of information regarding the voter registration database. and then for future outreach notices, going forward, we'll distribute additionadistribute l college students whose residents might be impacted by covid-19 and so, people whose addresses are on college campuses, we're assuming they're college students and if we have email addresses for these voters, then we're sending them information about updating the mail address so they can get their ballot, mail it in and receive it and cast it in time to be counted for this election. we're also sending emails to

voters experiencing homelessness, informing them that they could benefit from providing us with a mailing address where we can actually mail a ballot to them for the election and some people provide cross streets as their residential addresses and so we cannot mail so just a cross street and if we have a mail-drop address, we can send these folks ballots. if we don't receive a mail-in, they are assigned to polling places, just like any voter in the city. they can go to the assigned polling place or to the voting centre outside of the bill graham auditorium. and about half of our voters, 250,000 voters provided us with the email addresses and we'll be sending them notices going forward in an email regarding online self-help tools on our website. the voter information pamphlet,

really, the book, it's rather large and one of our main ways of providing outreach and information to the voters before the reelection, the november 3 edition will discuss voting of courses and draw voter's attention to key dates and resources. we create four versions of the voter information pamphlet, and if people indicate a language preference, then we also produce and send the information pamphlets out in those languages and then we have an accessible version of our voter information pamphlet on our website in hthl, xml and we work to provide formats that people can use so listen to the pamphlet, as well. other outreach media, if addition to direct mail and

email, the department produced digital is print voter materials and so for this election and all elections, we distribute the print and email materials to city residents with those in low income or vulnerable communities. the department is collaborating including community-based communications, local businesses, local government agencies and departments such as the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs and how the office of racial equity. and educational videos, the department created two education equal videos for this election, both of which are available in chinese, pil philippino and spa. the second video covers ranked-choice voting and how to mark ranked-choice contest. both have been place on the other hand our website for a few weeks now and we've provided

this to our community partners and we'll push this out more as we go forward in the election cycle. so the department is currently developing a public service announcement, 15 and 30-second spots, the psa will be translated to spanish and chinese and the chinese spots will be translated to both mandarin and cantonese and we'll air these starting in september and then, through election day, essentially. and the print materials, we included fliers, posters and door hangers highlighting key dates regarding the election. and just distributing the material, for the last few months, we've been working with the covid command center, distributing materials to

residents in several neighborhoods that have tended to have a turn-out lower than the city-wide average and one of the items are the door hangers. so that's been ongoing for the past few months. one thing that's new for this election -- i'm ahead of myself. we also have a lot of information about the election and one key tool that we have is the voter portal. the voter portal allows voters to access information that's specific to their record. and we also have an election, my election navigator which can take someone from the point of regular straightening to develop to sidin deciding how the persos to vote, how to get the ballot back to the department so it's

counted in time. and so, the budget that the board just approved allowed us to expand $250,000 on grants to community organizations, to get information out to vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. the department has issued the rfp, completed the contracts with these organizations and we've conducted the training with the groups and supplied them with multi-lingual, multi-format materials. they are using our materials and they will continue through election day. and also, one component that was in the ordinance and also later in the governor's executive order and legislation passed in august is universal vote-by-mail and for this election, every voter in san francisco, every registered voter in san francisco will receive a ballot in the mail about one month before election day, which is around the first week of

october. so voters should see the vote-by-mail arrive on october 5th. if people have not received their ballot by october 9th, we ask they contact the department. if people need a replacement ballot sent, that's through october 30th. anyone receiving a ballot early in the cycle, misplace the ballot or need a replacement plot, whatever the reason, they have until october 30th to contact us and request we send them that second ballot. to prepare for universal vote-by-mail, we've been a part of our budget was that we got additional equipment to procure, the extraction machines and we have relocated much of our ballot processing activities over bill graham specific

auditorium. and we've been in contact with the usps through the summer. the information has come out about potential problems with ballots being made to voters and mailed back to the departments of election. and also just with the impact of covid-19 on mail stream, not just in this country but world-wide, we've been in contact with the usps. we've provided the usps with the artwork for our voter guides and they know what will be coming their way and to approve the artwork so there's no confusion with emailing it out to users. we've provided the usps for the envelopes, with the vote-by-mail ballots. both envelopes go to the voters and return envelopes back to the department and we provided that over to the post office so that they have a chance to review and

verify and also to indicate now that the artwork is fine and there won't be any issues within the mail stream. and we've provided samples to the post office. so we provided packets of vote-by-mail for the outto the voters for testing by the post office and we've provided packets of the return ballots that voters will send back to the department. so the post office has been able to run these samples through their equipment, to determine that the ballot packets will run through the equipment without issues so there's no delay with the mail getting to the voters or back to the department.

we're trying to reduce a lot of in-voting person and one person has been the i voted sticker. they go to the polling place and cast their ballot and people can wear it proudly throughout the day on election day. and so now, for this election, we've included an i voted sticker in the inserts and everyone who cast the plot, they can save it until election day or put it on even earlier to encourage early voting because that's something we want everyone to actually think about is getting to us earlier so we're not having a lot of ballots to process right around election day. and then, also, the insert describes the three steps regarding mail-in ballots and

signing the return envelope and getting the ballot back to us on time. there's also faq's regarding how to place a ballot and ranked choice voting or people who are sick or ill or hospitalized.

once you register, you'll get a

test email that it's been registered. also on our website, our voter portal, we have a ballot tracking mechanism that we've had more many elections and in our ballot tracking, it's more robust than what the state provides. our tool doesn't provide the text alerts and the email messages regarding ballots being mailed to voters or received by the department. but our tool indicates the entire ballot cycle that voter's ballot will undergo from the time it's printed, put into an envelope and it's mailed, we receive it and then, just as important when we start to process the ballot for counting. if there's an issue with a ballot we cannot process, the voter portal will indicate the issue and the remedy to cure that issue. so, one example when people

forget to sign the envelope when they send it back to us and the information on the portal will indicate there's a signature missing and the site will provide the form that people need to fill out and get back to us as a pdf to resolve in the instance of no signature, resolve the issue. but also, when it comes to issues with ballots, if we can't process them, we do contact all voters via hard copy mail. if we have known numbers and emails, we'll also contact them using their email addresses and phone numbers to alert voters that they need to take action with any potential issues with their ballot. as i mentioned, the budget for this year, allowed us to purchase extractors to pull the cards from the envelopes when they come back to us.

this is important because now we can spread our process out in greater space and we don't have pinch points in the processing of ballots. this allows us to spread out the processing and our personnel can practise safe distancing -- safe social distancing throughout the timeline.

once a signature verification is complete, then we can transport the ballots over to bill graham auditorium. the way we transport the ballots will be safe and secure and, also, it will be monitored by sheriff's deputies and we'll

note which ballots are leaving the hall and put the ballots on a box truck, we'll drive them and they won't be over to bill graham and we won't have the ballots exposed in open containers going across the street to the bill graham auditorium and once we get over to bill graham, we'll account for the ballots we'l. every electiowe're allowed to cs

later in the election cycle and we could not process ballots until ten business days before election day but with the volume coming back, the state has passed legislation and allowing us to start processing ballots as receiving ballots in the mail, 29 days before election day which is the sandra hart ofe voting ballot. again, we can move the ballots of our processes without having people gathering in small businesses or having people together for longer periods of time than is necessary so that we can operate with being mindful of covid-19. and then we also have more time to count ballots to come back to us in the election cycle. and so, past elections, we had until the friday after that

arrived to us that had ballot postmarks on or before election day and now we have until 17 days after to process vote vote-by-mail. this is a message we'll be putting forward a lot in this election forward, what's key is the envelopes -- the return vote-by-mail must be on or before election day. even though we have more time to count for this election cycle, if they're not postmarked on or before election day, we won't be able to count those ballots. and if people have concerns about the post office, moving ballots through its system on time, they should be very aware of what the pick-up times are on the blue boxes that we have throughout the city. but it's also not just a blue box. it's apartment buildings. a lot of apartment buildings have mail services and so residents need to be aware of

how fast, how quickly the apartment building's service will have that mail picked up and postmarked by the post office. or if they use a mail-drop location. it's postmarked on or before election day and if we get it by the 17th day after the election. the outdoor voting center and to protect the department of health, they're relocate the voting center to the outdoor area in the bill graham's auditorium on grouff street. to back up, so the idea behind the voting center which has been in city hall before decades, long before i showed up, there was a voting hall for every election.

we don't want people to be exposed to covid, an. the mayor's office and city administrate's office has been driving this with us to set up the tents and voting stations at bill graham and we'll have 60 stations and 200 voting booths and proper lighting and security

services and organize three closures so that we have safe areas for people to go vote and to cast their ballots and, also, logistic. even though we'll have 60 stations at bill graham, it's less than what we had at city hall for the march election. we had 85 stations for the march election, and so, even though we'll have a safer set-up outside in front of ib bill gra, there will be voters with ballots. we're putting in plans to have people line up in ways to maintain social distancing and how we can move people through lines and they maintain social distancing and also, all of the personal protection equipment available the voters. so the bill graham voting center will have the same days of operation and same hours if we would have had the voting center in city hall.

so the bill graham voting center will open on october 5th at 8:00 a.m. and be open daily except for the weekends, the first two weekends -- first three weekends, from 8:00 to 5:00 and opening from 10:00 to four before the election. now, the entire time the center is open, it will have ballot drop-off service and so, if people have voted their ballot and just want to drop it off and get it to us, we'll set us stations at bill graham so people don't have to get in line or congregate in number to drop off their ballot. and so, in compliance with public health guidance, they will adopt protocols at the voting center. the department will set up ballot issuing stations and voting boths to facilitate social distancing and sanitize voting supplies, equipment and high-touch surfaces.

voters will be offered face coverings, hand sanitizer and gloves and are offering this service provided in multi-lingual notices at the voting center. and as i noted, to minimize congestion, there will, two ballot controversy-of drop-off . starting october 31st, the department willing open additionadepartments will open l sites. one site in hand for november is chase center. and so we will have a ballot drop off location at the chase center working with the lawyers to get that organized and so that will be in place and then we'll also have ballot drop-off in district ten and another in district 11. the reason for placing these ballot drop-off locations in

districts ten and 11, there's neighborhoods that tend to turn out lower than the city-wide average for an election and we're not trying to draw people to one location. that's what we don't want to do with this election due to covid, having the drop-off locations in those areas. it will draw more attention to the election and make people think about casting a ballot in this election. and polling places, so, to settlemensupplement the voting , there will be 500 polling places from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. for all and having 58 588 polling places, w.

this way people won't be putting themselves at risk to get sick with covid while trying to exercise their right to vote. so by having 588 locations throughout the city, we're reducing the need for people to move through the city and take public transportation and gather in large numbers and also, with our polling places, we try to have out sites around six, eight blocks away from any resident within a precinct. and so, every polling place we have is assigned to a specific precincts and every precinct is one thousand registered voters, except for the 1,000 voters, we try to have the polling place located within six to eight blocks.

we identified about a hundred sites to replace and in addition, another 30 sites that canceled on us.

and that work has been ongoing for a couple of months. we have about 23 more sites to locate, but i will say, too, that we are still looking for sites and so, if people think they have a site that might be eligible to be a polling place to let us know and don't ask us if we have a site for a precinct and don't make a decision that your site is not sufficient for a polling place. just contact us and we can ask questions. we can make an assessment on the phone regarding this election as a polling place. but also, we need standby polling places in case we can cancellations. for example, if there's a surge of covid infections closer to

election day, there's a possibility we could lose polling places as they cancel on us. if we have standby sites that we can put into use, it won' it woe helpful. noand then regarding polling places, there's no one area of the city we need polling places more than other. there are a few more sites around the tenderloin, the part of district three and the eastern part of district five and there's a few more there than in other districts. every district has a few precincts for which we need sites.

so in keeping with current health public guidelines, the department introduced significant changes to both the format of the poll worker training and made changes to polling place procedures to have protocols in place at all polling places. the training will be online and so all past elections, probably since the beginning, with the first election was in-person. for the past many elections, we've had training in city hall and all workers would come to city hall, receive their training and some materials and they would go back home and wait for election day. now, the training is online and for anyone that doesn't have access to online access or the equipment, to do online training, we've set up kind of quasi, in-person training

seconds inside the bill graham auditorium and we're adhering to health and safety guidelines. so for people who want to be poll workers who don't have access, internet access tor equipment to watch an online training session, they could come to the bill graham auditorium and set them up and have training session but do so in-person but under safe conditions adhering to safety protocols. the department will adopt protocols at all polling places and will post multilingual signage and maintain social distance. poll workers will complete and post a polling place health and safety checklist and placed outside of every polling site and serve notice to voters at the polling places in compliance

with current public health guidance. every site has a protection plan on the characteristics and available space at each site and so, what this means that every polling place in the city, by taking measurements and creating diagrams, thinking how we can have the election process occur within that specific space. so we're considering ho consideo place the table, the accessible voting equipment at the polling place and how to locate the voting booths that voters can vote their ballots using safe social distancing. also, the ingress and egress from polling places and all of this thinking about the health and safety practises in the diagrams, they're specific to each polling place.

poll workers will be accessible to ppe's, including face shields, gloves and hand sanitizer and also, the poll worker training and all of the materials will remind them to remain six feet apart while performing their tasks and we've revised poll worker duties for this election specific to covid so that the poll workers can perform duties while maintaining social distancing. all poll workers will share responsibility to clean and sanitize their polling places, including common voting supplies and equipment and high-touch surfaces. poll workers will have specific cleaning tasks to perform throughout the day and they'll

be responsible for recording these tasks have occurred. one, just to provide notice to the voters that the polling places are safe for in-person voting and remind them to keep cleaning throughout the day. also, the department is organizing poll workers to be greeters at these polling places and they will be stationed at the entrance of each polling place. and so greeters will assist voters dropping off vote-by-mail ballots. the greeters will offer face masks, hand sanitizer and the greeters will answer voter questions and, also, the greeters will be mindful of my lines that occur at the polling places and mindful that the voters maintain social distancing from one another.

then, also, the ordinance reference are providing health and safety protocols and have them practise by our vendors and other city agencies. so the vendors that are working with the department for this elections, like our voting system vendor, they also have following a self-certification process with all of their employees and before any vendor personnel come to city hall or

to the warehouse, they are self-certifying that they are able to work on site and, also, the vendor that will do the delivery of polling equipment, voting equipment and voting place supplies, their personnel will be self-screening and they'll be practicing good habits, like facial coverings, handsanitizing and wearing gloves. and so every impact of getting materials and equipment information to polling places, everyone involved in the department, the vendors and other city agencies will be practicing these health and safety protocols throughout the election cycle. and then, everything that we're doing on the health and safety protocol front is moving along with the program of public health review and input and so

there's nothing that we're doing for this election regarding health and safety that we're not putting forward to the department of public health and, also, we're getting information from dhr, from the notices they're putting out and following the center for disease control, as well. and so, for the 588 polling places, we need about poll workers and we need 3,000 and right now we have 1800 people signed up to be poll workers. this sounds like we're close, but we'll have a lot of cancellations as we move towards the election cycle and we're still involved in recruiting for election day. what we're seeing are a lot of people who served as poll workers in march and many have decided not to serve for the

november election and a lot of the workers we have are new to the process. and people were hearing the call to serve the community and to be involved in the election's process for november and so, we have a lot of new people who are saying, count me in, i want to be a part of this process and join this election and i want to be a poll worker. so far, that's really saving us and we're hoping that continues. my concern for having a sufficient number of pope poll workers, i intend to seek a waiver in the city charter that this allows city workers to support the department in conducting elections in san francisco. those who don't know, the city past, voters adopted a charter in 2002 that this allows city employees to support the department in conducting elections, unless they obtain a waiver and that waiver is approved next by the board of

supervisors. i'll be allowing for employees to serve as poll workers for this election. the ordinance requires considering service to voters who are in hospitals or homebound. and so, the department will offer additional voting oxe for those experiences quarantine and generally due to covid-19, who would otherwise be able to participate in the election either by mail or in-person voting.

this is allowing voters to mark a screen readable ballot from the internet connected device and the vote-by-mail ballot is compatible with shift devices. in previous elections, only voters with disabilities and in the military or overseas by state law were allowed to use this system. and now state law permits all to use this system, but this would be potentially a greater service to people who can vote if vote by mail is sent to them or participate in-person voting. and also curbside. we're enhancing procedures for curbside service to voters who

choose to go to a polling place, but not actually summe enter. if you want to participate with in-perin-person but not go in, e establishing procedures for this to occur. with the covid and health and safety protocols in mind. every election, there's been curbside but what's new is trying to provide this service to voters so both voters and poll workers can interact in a way that's within health and safety protocols. and so we created new training materials for poll workers and, again, this is done with the guidance of the department of public health. and so the poll workers will make sure they sanitize any materials they bring out to curbside voting and make sure they maintain a distance, you

know, offer any ppes to the voters who are doing curbside voting and this will all go into new procedures and materials. this can require a lot of resources at the busiest time, but for this election, due to covid, we'll increase our resources, and we'll also increase the knowledge that people have of this program. if they need the department to organize a pick-up during the last week of the voting period, then we'll make that happen. we're just preparing for this to happen in greater numbers and previous election and one, because of covid and two, also we're going to put out the notice thoroughly throughout the city that this is a possibility. we prefer voters send ballots back to us or do in-person voting since this is a rather resource intennive service we

have. so this is the emergency ballot delivery program, we have not finalized this with the department of public health. this is trickier because you're going to places that are healthcare facilities or people who have symptoms of covid or have tested positive and so we want to make sure our personnel involved are safe and there's protocols in place to maintain their health. in summary, there's a few slides. the department's plan for the november 3rd election demonstrate the ongoing commitment to providing a full array of oa outreach allowing te department to maintain election services to members of vulnerable and hard-to-reach and

seniors with disabilities and members with the groups and residents of neighborhoods to turn out below the city average. now, that said, we're still recruiting poll workers and i want to put that information in this presentation. inspectors can receive a stipend of about $240 and then clerks, who provide assistance and several tasks at the polling places can receive a stipend of $180. people who are interested in serving as poll workers for this election can contact the department, sfelections.org/pwa. and, also, as i mentioned, we're still looking for polling places and we're not looking just to get a polling place for each precinct but also looking for standby polling places if that's a possibility and, again, we're not asking for people to decide

for us if their site can't be a polling place. if people think they have a location to contact us and we can do a survey, even over the phone, to determine if we need to go forward using that as a polling place. even though we're changing the locations of where we do activities, and identifying how we get ballots to people and we're modifying how we count those ballots and even though the department is making a lot of change, voters for the most part are going to experience very few and miner changes when i comewhenit comes to voting.

most are vote-by-mail, about 71% receiving ballots before each election and now there will be an additional 29% of voters receiving ballots in the election. but even with the extra 29%, we'll provide noticing, a phone bank to respond to voters' calls. but for the most part, voters won't experience much change at all. when they go to the polling place, they won't be able to potentially put their bot in thn the tabulators. if they get a ballot from the polling place, they'll actually place that in another envelope which comes back to us for review, but still, the polls places are available and voters can still receive ballots and go to the local place to do

in-person voting. and that's what really they've been driving at the city, when the board was discussing the ordinance back in april. the board was very cognizant that we didn't want a lot of change for the voters. the board did want to support the idea of getting the vote-by-mail out to the voters so they could vote without going to polling places or without coming to city hall but in the ordinance and in our conversation regarding the ordinance, the board wanted to have in-person voting and they wanted in-person voting so people didn't have to gather together in large numbers, like having voting centers in various parts of the city to maintain and retain the poling places we had so that voters can still go do in-person voting but in smaller numbers in a safer manner. so all of the thinking that has gone into this election on the board's part, the mayor's part,

the city administrator's part, it's to provide election to voters for the november election. every voter in san francisco will have an opportunity to vote in a safe deny using a safe voting option. and so, that's the end of slide show. >> there were a couple who had to leave and if we could open this up to public comment and then we will have a chance to

ask questions, that would be great. >> yes, members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item call (415)655-0001 and the meeting i.d. is (146)670-2564 and press pound and pound again. if you have not done so, dial star three to line up to speak. please wait until the system indicates you have been un-muted and you can begin your comments. are there any speakers at this time? >> there are currently two callers in the queue and i will un-mute the first caller. >> speaker: i'i want to congratulate the director on this very detailed and thought-out plan. it's one of the strongest plans

for the administration.

>> thank you, next caller, please. >> speaker: i would like to raise some concerns regarding how coworkers fit into this. so a number of the people who have traditionally worked as coworkers are older and more subject to -- more likely to be compromised and more prone to covid-19 infections. and the hours that the department of elections asked of poll workers is quite long because you're expected to get there, i don't know, 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning and stay until, basically, whenever the

sheriff comes and picks up -- basically sometime until late at night until 9:00 or 10:00. i know $240 sounds like quite a bit of money, but when you factor in there's training and a full day, it's a lot less than minimum wage. and the department of elections is requiring on bilingual coworkers who are exposing themselves to a wide variety of people who you don't know what their infection stats are and there's more duties involved, they don't have to sanitize things and so, yeah, i'm just

concerned, like, are poll workers, is if safe for poll workers? are they adequately compensated? and yeah, i just have concerns about whether or not enough is being done. >> thank you, speaker time has elapsed. can we have the next speaker, please. >> speaker: i would like to comment on thcompliment for thef directors being proactive. because so many voters might be voting absentee when they hadn't previously, the important of having clear instructions what's necessary for an an absentee bat tballot.

so just lots of clear and thorough instructions and this is crucial to making sure that everyone's vote is counted. >> thank you, next caller, please. >> madam chair, that completes the queue. i believe your muted at this time. >> sorry about that. i wanted to give my colleagues an opportunity to ask questions to mr. arntz unless director smiley has any comments that she would like to make prior. >> thank you, chair ronen. i do have several comments, if it's ok for me to talk about

them. so good morning. i'm the director for the office of racial equity through the san francisco human right's commission and i am excited that we're talking about this and thank you, supervisor ronen, for your proactive nature on this very important issue. i want to commend director arntz for your consistency and hard work in making sure that this year's election is inclusive, adaptive anadaptive. we need to do as much to promote an excessive ballot. i've been a san francisco voter over 12 years and we've been consistent in having one of the best systems in the country. in the words of obama, we would have to vote early and often and

racial equity is not an after-thought. it must act as an artery for this work and the office of racial equity is ready and willing to be a partner. we foe that our electoral is increasingly brown and young and bili to ngu arc l and folks ari.

we'll be happy to put forth strategies and i want to say with equity considerations that goes beyond community outreach, there are so many considerations on every piece. so i want to make sure that conversation actually happens. and so again, again, want to be available and we need to make sure we do a little bit of extra, right, and we can't assume everyone has equal access to information and to voting. and a couple of key areas, if it's ok, chair ronen, just to bring up, and number one, making sure we're thinking ge thinking,

thinking about shuttles in which we can be connecting folks to polling places and making sure we're leveraging all city resources. you mentioned needing additional facilities. that would be great to talk about the geographical diversity. there are places where people are continually marginalized. and how can we target those to facilities that are equitable and accessible. we want to make sure -- one college did bring up to the diversity of poll workers, i do support the idea of the waiver for city workers. because of the racial diversity of city workers, also the ability diversity of city workers and the language ability of city workers and i think that can be an important intervention

when it comes to supporting our elections this november. and i did have a question about the health and safety protocols of our sites and will they have equal access to ppe to do that work for polling sites that are community-based. i did also want to bring up the fact that -- i'm going very fast, excuse me, but this is fascinating and i love the topic and care about this and i want to make sure as many folks as possible have access to do this. i th wanted to bring up the fact there's some key populations and i did read the outreach plan and i am appreciative of your presentation. but there are key populations that we need to pay extra attention to and i wanted to hear from you, director, arntz, through the chair, what are we doing for formally justice-involved individuals so they can exercise their right to

vote. we know the criminal justice system impacts our black and brown communities and as their voting rights are restored, how do they know they, too, can participate in our democracy? it's important to have trusted messengers. how do we have sensitive community conversations, particularly for noncitizens who are allowed to vote in school elections? we need an update and also, what kind of voter education can we tdo with mixed status? that's an important intervention, as well. i did look at your contract that went to your community partners and thank you for sharing that information and i did have a concern that most of the contracts that went to api-lead community-based organizations, which is fantastic for those specific communities and neighborhoods and when we're -- we're not talking about equality but equity and we're reaching out to our black, our latino, american indian, specifi specifc

islander and reach the sunnydale, tenderloin, treasure island and, also, thinking about some of the key populations, like our queer tlgb, young people. and then lastly, you know, i'm happy to talk more about strategies. i want to make sure we go where community is. there's a lot of fantastic learning from the outreach programs that director davis has lead that we can learn due to covid on how we can pair this important voter education with, you know, outreach or reaching out to pantries or talking to our school district in distance learning or talking to parents or how do we learn to help us

connect to individuals and families. and there's a lot of learning and things that are happening that are robust that i feel like can be tapped into to strengthen the outreach efforts. it just takes connecting with us, like i said, early and often to make sure we're doing it just a little bit more for our marginalized communities. and so those are my comments and i'm happy to take comments, as well. thank you for the opportunity to present today. >> thank you so much. those were useful comments and i had some similar questions. i am excited that your office will do based on equity analysis and i'm happy to bring that back to committee when it's complete so that we can have the opportunity for the public to weigh in and hear it, so i

appreciate that offer and i'm glad to hear the two of you will be working together off-line to make that happen. so please, just let us know when and if you would like us to hold a hearing on that equity plan and i'm certainly very, very interested in it. so thank you with that. and colleagues, did you have ano respond? >> no, thank you. but thank you, chair. >> chair: supervisor stephanie, any questions for either director arntzosimli. >> yes. i just want to say one of the reasons i love being in public service is because i get to work with incredible people like this.

thank you for calling this work on the topic. it's so important and thank you, again, dr. arntz for joining us and thank you everywhere at the department oi want to thank you. i'm been cochairing the opening group and we've been making sure we can provide our government services to the public and, of course, this is the one that was on everyone's mind and so, i am really grateful we have a robust vote-by-mail program. thank you for your presentation, director and so many other factors to consider this year. between the pandemic's impacts on our capacity to really facilitate in-person voting and, of course, the trump

administration's attacks on the postal service and voting by mail and the fact that this could very well turn out to be probably one of the highest turn-out elections in our lifetime. and i know that the anxiety we feel is that we can't afford any missteps, oversteps or errors so the questions raised by director simle around access is reassuring. i do have just a few questions in terms of the presentation and how we can help to facilitate everything. there's a lot of neighborhood organizes in my district, in district two and i know there are throughout the city and so i'm wondering if you plan to do any outreach to the neighborhood associations in terms of everything you mentioned. i know the planning department has a list of associations and i don't know if that was on your radar in terms of who to give

the information to. >> supervisor stephanie, before reelection, we create outreach packets that we send to organizations and so all of the fliers and hand-outs and information on our website, contact information for the department, we send that out to all of the organizations. we also send it to the supervisor's offices. so every supervisor should receive a packet, as well. and the only reason why we wouldn't send a packet of outreach to a group is because we don't know about that. and so, if we have contact information for a group that we're sending out information, trying to get a continuing identified contact. and then, we really tried to also recommend to organizations that they use our digital content when they create an issue with their newsletters or

notices. we're happy to work with anyone, providing a content for digital information which is probably eager to get out than the hard copy at the moment. >> thank you so much. and on page ten, in the report, you discuss how the department has been collaborating with the united states' postal service to plan and organize a timely delivery of an increased volume of packets, as well. given the alarming changes from the postmaster dejoy, i'm wondering whether this has changed or whether there's anything the supervisors can do to facilitate. wvery alarming we asked questios whether or not he's going to reverse any of the changes and he just out and out said no.

i'm woman dering i wondering ifr relationship wi with the post office has change and if you can give us an update. >> the relationship with the local usps and the department has been on good standing for many years and everything going into this election, our relationship remains in good standing. the post office representatives are very aware of the environment in which they're working and very aware of the concerns that people have, especially around election mail-in ballots. and they also take it personally that they achieve the responsibility to fulfill the obligation to give ballots to and from voters to this election can happen. the postal representatives in san francisco for the last many years and showing itself again to the cycle, they're very

responsive to any requests this department makes and any question that we have. if we ask for potentially some work outside of the normal practises, they're willing to do so within reason, of course. the post office, at least in san francisco is very much focused on getting the ballots into the mail stream. so no, i have not seen a difference in the viewpoints or action and i really think with all of the attention on this, there's always attention on the post office and election. every election, this is not new. but being presidential and extra factors, they are feeling more of a squeeze. but they want to succeed, do well, they don't want to be in the news. they want the election to do well. they communicated that and acting that way. if there are issues that come to

the department, i have direct contacts with the people, higher up in the administration with the post office that i call to get information, to have them look into issues and activate people and response to any issues. i think that will continue for this election. i'm sure the post office isn't perfect and there will be issues, but i don't think it will be large, programmatic hazards to and from the voters. if there's any language you can give us to include in our newsletters to constituents, that would be good, making sure we get the right language and we

can email our constituents. so i had a question around that, but handled it and i wanted to add that little bit. >> absolutely. >> in terms of the polling locations, again, too, have you -- when do you start notifying voters that the polling location might have changed and is that something we can help with in our districts? >> well, voters will know when the polling changes when the letters land in their mailboxes and the letter o address on ther will be different than the one they received in march. just around the start of early voting or so regarding a change in polling places from march to november and then, also, election day, outside of the

polling places and if someone goes to the polling location, they know to go to the new location. i would love to send information to the supervisors to communicate with their constituents that a polling place has changed in a district. that would be wonderful. and a couple of other things i've thought of, i'm looking for additional polling places and, you know, where we're at in terms of the pandemic and there's so many empty spaces, whether it's the school district, gyms or parking lots, i don't know if those have been considered. i heard something about the giant's parking lot, maybe that will be a place where people will do voting. i don't know if that was offered up. but i have this idea of drive-through voting -- wasn't my idea, i saw senator harris talking about it. but after i did the covid testing at pier 30 twice, it was so easy. i was so impressed. the drive-through and everything

i had to do to check that out. wouldn't it be great to have a location where we could drive-through vote. not just drop off ballots but get the ballots and i don't know if that's considered at all. i think that's something in the future we have to look to and it seems like we were able to pull it off for the pandemic and hopefully we can pull that off for voting. anyway, i want to thank you so much for everything you're doing. i feel like we're in good hands. yesterday i was calling voters in north carolina for -- i know there's no electioneering. but i was calling voters in north carolina and telling them that they had to be very careful when they registered to vote because they have to have a witness, 18 years or older, sign it for them. and it made me so grateful that we don't have to do that here in san francisco and that we hold

our elections is dear. and we'll do everything we can to turn out the vote. we have people like director simli at the office of equity to make sure we hit every neighborhood and person and that we really do everything we can. and so however we can help as soup storesupervisors, thank yor calling this hearing. it is so important. with that, i think i'll turn it over to my colleagues for their question. thank you to you both for those presentations. >> thank you. >> supervisor mar, any questions? >> yes, thank you, chair. actually, thank you just for your leadership on these issues, for calling for this hearing and sponsoring the resolution ensuring that we're as pro active as possible in planning for the election and, also, thank you to supervisor stephanie for all of your comments and questions. i appreciate all of that. i touched on a number of my

points and questions i was thinking about raising. and thanks, director arntz for your presentation and the great work that you and the department staff have been doing to prepare for this incredibly important election, unprecedented election. i appreciate all of the thought you put into the targeted outreach, hard-to-reach and vulnerable and vulnerable, particularly nonlimited english-speaking voters and also glad to hear that director simle and the office of racial equity will be following up and really working with you to ensure that we have a strong equity frame and strategy in our elections. and you know, just thank you for all of the thought planning that you have done, you know, to prepare for the election. i just had a question around the voters who have still continued

to vote in-person. in recent elections, we'v most e by mai.there are about 145,000 s and probably more in this election since it will be such a high turn-out. and so do we have sort of an analysis of who those voters are that have still preferred to vote in-person, like the old-school way and in terms of the demographic group, characteristics and the geographically, the voters that voted in person, geographically and demographically, where they are, is that reflected in our planning? those are the ones that would have to make the biggest change

in this election. >> so, the answer is yes and regarding demographics and when people register to vote, dem demographic information is optional. but when it comes to knowing where the high turn-out parts of the city are, we know that each election because we provide by default, extra support for those locations every year, every election cycle. and so, we still expect people to go to polling places and we still expect them to want to capacity a ballot, but i think covid is going to also reduce the number of people that go to polling places. and i think the ballot lanking g in people's mailboxes are reducing the people in polling places.

but having i voted sicker on the insert will reduce the number of people going to polling places. that's one of the largest statements is that they want their i voted sticker. that's why they go and drop off ballots. now they can get the sticker and mail it back to us. >> i know a lot of voters, my family included, tend to drop off or ballot on election day and there's a growing number of voters that do that because maybe they waited until the last

minute. >> so every election we get at least a 25% of the vote is cast by people dropping off their ballot at polling places and for this election, we expect that number to potentially double. it will be between 20% and 50% of the vote and depending on the location of the polling place. and i forgot this and i wanted

to focus on this and i didn't do it. there's been a lot of discussion in the media, especially, social media, about drop-off locates, . i know the warriors want one at their site and other people are contacting us. but the drop-off site draw people in larger numbers and so, the idea going into this election cycle is also thinking with us having the same number of polling places for november we had for march. every polling place is a ballot drop-off location. in san francisco, on election day, we'll have 588 ballot location sites. if there's any message that we can put out there, that there's 588 ballot voting locations on election day and then there will be another program on our website, an app, we include for this election, so that if people

want to know the closest polling place they are -- i work in the civic center and this app for the november election will inform voters we're at one -- (indiscernible). >> what's the closest polling place. so, yes, we expect a higher turn-off with people dropping off ballots and every polling place is a ballot drop-off location. >> thank you again, dr. arntz is simle for your work and presentation today. >> thank you. yes, i just wanted to echo my colleagues and just say that, you know, the anxiety that we're all feeling, i think, as we watch this president dismantle our most cherished institutions and traditions, it's so anxiety

producing. and i feel the same feeling of relief just listening to your presentation about how well prepared we are in san francisco to make sure that every individual who wants to exercise their right to vote, has that ability without any hindrance. so thank you, thank you for that. of course, being san francisco and having the office of racial equity, we go even further in that we proactively target communities that have for for fs of different complicated reasons, that we proactively engage with those communities to try to get over those historic barriers and do right by those

communities so that they exercise their voice and their vote. so director, gosh, i've always been excited about your office and your role, but putting it in this context, it makes so much sense. and so, just really glad that you're going that, just a couple questions, because i know this has been a long hearing. since everyone will get a -- who is registered to vote will receive a mailed ballot, regardless whether they've registered or vote by mail, what is the deadline to register to vote in order to receive that ballot? >> october 19th. >> october 19th, ok. because if you're voting in-person, you can register the same day didn't vote in-person, but if you want to receive that mailed ballot, you have to register by the 19th.

>> correct. >> and then, i'm just wondering if -- you talked to us about the education strategy and i very much appreciate it. but there's still continues to be a lot of misunderstanding of what the vote-by-mail deadline is. many people think the office of elections needs to receive the ballot by election day as opposed to it being postmarked by election day. i'm just wondering if there's any additional outreach that is being done to correct that misunderstanding by vote-by mail, above and beyond what you're planning, especially for the communities that have been shown in studies to have that belief.

>> yeah, that is one of the basis of our outreach going forward, especially as we move through the election cycle. and a lot of our messages will be around postmarks. and we're glad to give any information that the supervisor's offices content regarding to get that message out to communities and get it out to san francisco, but it's going to be a mainstay of our messagings going forward an. there's a lot of mentioned messages, but as long it's post marked on or before election day, we can count it and that's the main message to hear. i don't want them to know 17 days after election day. just get it post marked and get that ballot back to us. >> and then, my last question and it was eluded to, first of

all, can you explain the scope of work done by the community-based organization that has been selected to do sort of voter engagement and outreach? and then, i too, was disappointed to see there was only one organization focused on serving the african-american community and i did not see any organization specifically providing outreach and service to the l latino community? can you response to that? >> the groups that responded are the ones that we were able to select and we sent out notices to all of our contact list informing everyone that we had the grant funds and outreach programs in place and so, essentially, those who applied or the ones that applied received the grants. and so a lot of the work now for the outreach will be digital

because of the covid but they'll be doing in-person, as much as possible because one of the important aspects of reaching people who don't -- were infrequent voters is the in-person outreach. these aren't the voters usually motivated by the mailings or seoul. isocial media. it seems like the direct one-on-one to make them think they need to get out and vote. as much as these groups can with the covid safety and health protocols in place, we want them to be out doing their personal outreach in the communities. and if they can't do interpersonal, making phone calls to people trying to contact people that way. and so, yeah, really, the idea

going into selection, the same we had for march, was that these groups would augment and be the next step into the community that we can't reach because we don't have the resources, we don't have the contacts, they have more of the interpersonal >> is there any additional money left to add additional organizations? >> not under that grant situation. if more money can be put in, i'm not against it, but i don't know the process. certainly, whoever is the contact for that, we can talk to. >> how many organizations received the contract? >> it was eight. >> and am i correct there's to organization that has a history of working in that next community? >> i can't remember the groups off my head. i thought there was.

and we'll have someone check right now, actually, too. >> i don't know, director simle, if you had any response or comments to those questions? qu? >> i didn't. i do not recalling seeing an organization that directly supports the latino community. and you're correct, only one organization that particularly serves the african-american community and parts of the southeast of the city, which we >> i want to uplift working together early and often. they are some so dedicated like

community care hav caravans. pair operato(indiscernible). >> i'm not sure what the funding will look like but that was something a concern beginner the eight contracts that were provided. hoping we can close the equity gaps in regard to the black and to the latino community. >> so coleman advocates will be doing outreach under this grant and one of the organizations that received funding through this grant process. >> coleman advocates is fantastic and serve a multiracial base. but in terms of an organization that really focuses on the latin community and the dozens and

dozens, it is worrisome to me that none of those have been chosen. i see, director davis, did you have anything to add on this point, director davis? >> i did, thank you so much, supervisor ronen. i just think, too, director simle's point, we have been engaging with quite a few partners and folks on the ground and one of the challenges we've seen just with outreach and engagement, especially in the latino community is a disconnect and we have to be intentional about outreach and engagement, where those trusted messengers are and where folks feel like they can trust the information they're getting is not a set-up for something. we have to be really intentional and we have some of those relationships. we have the ability to leverage that, and so, i wanted to drop that point in there, because we have seen so many challenges where some folks are skeptical

and cynical about why someone is sharing information with them and so they need to be connected with folks that they trust and believe and understand that the process is not going to be used against them. >> so i'm wondering if we can do some follow-up. i know that director arntz and simle will do follow-up. but i would be happy to be involved in the conversation and see how we can maybe get a few more organizations that have the trust and the relationships with the latin x and african-american communities in san francisco because for different reasons, those are the two communities that are underrepresented in their voting and to not have at least a number of organizations

focused on those hardest-to-reach communities, i think, is a problem. and so, maybe we can figure this out and this can be some of our follow-up. that would be great. well, thank you so much and if there's no other questions, or comments, thank you again for the excellent work and presentations. i look forward to this one point of follow-up and the more extensive follow-up that director simle will do to do race is equity analysis of the plan and looking forward to voting in the extremely important election of our lifetime. with that, i am happy to make a motion to file this hearing. i think if we have a new hearing on this issue, it will be focused on that, race and equity. i make a motion to file this hearing and we can have a role

call vote. >> on that motion to file the matter -- (role call). >> the motion passes without objection. >> thanks again, everyone. >> any other item? >> that completes the agenda for today. >> the meeting is adjourned and have a good day, everyone. employee

my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of san francisco. i perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. i have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. i was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldn't see people every day. i would miss my personal

interactions with the other employees, but that hasn't been the case. this building is very nice. we have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. we have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in san francisco. we work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. that brings us closer together also. >> i am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in san francisco. as an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. i go to the field interview police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. additionally i take any property

with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. i maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. i am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. i work with the family to help them through the grieving process. >> i am ricky moore, a clerk at the san francisco medical examiner's office. i assist the pathology and toxicology and investigative team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. >> i started at the old facility. the building was old, vintage. we had issues with plumbing and things like that. i had a tiny desk.

i feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. >> i am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. we test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. i oversee all of the lab operations. the forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the human performance and the case in the city of san francisco. we collect evidence at the scene. a woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. that was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. it is nice to get the feedback. we do a lot of work and you

don't hear the result. once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. you can bring justice to what happened. we are able to take what we due to the next level. many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries don't have the resources and don't have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. >> sometimes we go to court. whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. we do whatever we can to get our job done. >> when we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. unexpected findings are fun. >> i have a prior background in

law enforcement. i was a police officer for 8 years. i handled homicides and suicides. i had been around death investigation type scenes. as a police officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. i am intrigued with those types of calls. i wondered why someone died. i have an extremely supportive family. older children say, mom, how was your day. i can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. >> being i am a native of san francisco and grew up in the community. i come across that a lot where i

may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. there are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. if from is a child involved or things like that. i try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. when i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. whawhat do you do? the autopsy? i deal with the a with the enou- with the administrative and the families. >> most of the time work here is very enjoyable. >> after i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. i thought there was somebody dead? my bed. i rolled over and poked the body. sure enough, it was my husband

who grumbled and went back to sleep. this job does have lingering effects. in terms of why did you want to go into this? i loved science growing up but i didn't want to be a doctor and didn't want to be a pharmacist. the more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between applied science and criminal justice. if you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. >> being a woman we just need to go for it and don't let anyone fail you, you can't be. >> with regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations.

let's face it, we aren't hollywood, we are real world. yes we collect evidence. we want to preserve that. we are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a hollywood television show. >> families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. somebody has to do my job. if i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for i am doing the right thing for >> i am vivian coe. carman chu co-founded the challenge along in 2018, along with the department on the status of women, as well as the league of women voters in san francisco. our mission is to raise women's voices and their voting power.

you can learn more about our initiative on our website wchallenge.org. before we start, i would like to thank our w challenge partners and supports and occur co-hosts -- and our co-hosts listed in the shared screen before. for organizing today's event, as well as kicking off a social media campaign as this year's challenge. we want to encourage more women to vote, especially for this upcoming election. we'll share more details later on in the program. you can learn more about the initiative on wchallenge.org 100 women. today's event will stream live on sfgovtv.org youtube channel, as well as the city's facebook and twitter accounts. i want to thank our colleagues

here from sfgov tv for working in the backgrounds and making this event as successful as possible for everyone. you can feel free to share the links and host a watch party if you want on your preferred social media platforms, because we will be having them on facebook and twitter. this session will be recorded for future references. so let's get started. happy women's equality day. may i kindly ask the president of the commission on the status of women to join us, bree anna swat, to officially kickstart the celebration of today's event. thank you. >> thank you so much, vivian, for the kind introduction. and really thank you to all staff for making this happen. i know we would normally be on the steps of stahl. but i appreciate everyone's creativity and flexibility of making this a virtual event as well. my name is brianna and i'm privileged to serve as the president of the nation's

strongest commission and department on the status of women, right here in san francisco. it was on this day 100 years ago that the 19th amendment was added to the constitution of the united states. in the process of extending the right to vote to women across the country. and on november 2nd, 1920, more than 8 million women voted for the first time in the presidential election. the moment was a culmination of a movement made with tears, pain, sweat, a long strug that will included activism and leadership of black, indigenous, and women of color, too many who who were later written out of history books. these women, who fought, marched, organized and protested for decades to gain the right to vote. we are right to celebrate this day as a milestone and recognize that equal votes rights were not achieved for all women through the 19th amendment. the voting rights act, passed 55 years ago, brought us closer to equal voting rights. however, the struggle continues. and the need for vigilance goes

on. as we were reminded in '21, when the supreme court gutted, these attacks on the democracy continue through this very hour, the tactics evolve. but honestly the intent remains the same. it was once literacy test, and outright violent intimidation. today we see the closing of polling places in communities of color be and attacks on voting by mail. in short, the fight continues on for the right to vote. today is more than a day of celebration, but to continue in the struggle and the moment to look ahead to the next 100 yea years. and 9 moment to ensure our democracy is truly representative. over the last century, women have also fought to gain access in classrooms, board room, and elected it office, -- elected office. we have seen the power of

women's leadership with each advance. we see that diverse voices and perspectives, equity and inclusion bring new ideas, new insights to the halls of power. we've seen that right here from our vantage point in san francisco, with our own representative nancy pelosi, the first and only woman to serve as speaker of the house, our two female senators and now vice presidential candidate kamala harris. as i said earlier, i wish we could all be gathered in person together. this is not how anyone could have imagined 2020 would look. but it also reminds us how important it is to have strong and capable leaders. and how connected we are together. in honor of our ancestors, our foremothers, our sisters and the struggle, i am so proud to kick off this event and to bring together our two city female elected officials, women who not only forged the path, but always bring others along with them.

carmen chu as served as the elected assessor since 2013. her efforts in the in performing the office and successfully reversing decades of old backlog, earned her office the prestigious 2020 good government award, an hon father recognizing the excellence in public sector management and stewardship. assessor chu has also recently taken on a new leadership role to co-chair the economic recovery task force, using her fiscal expertise to help san francisco through an unprecedented economic impact from covid-19 pandemic. on top of all of this, she is vice president of the california assessors' association, served on the employees retirement system board, overseeing the investments of $26 billion in public pension system and a little provides direction on the executive board of spur, a non-profit focused on developing

regional solutions to cross-county challenges like housing affordability and climate resilience. in addition to all of these wonderful things, and all of these new roles, she has a new role as a mother. and is forever a public servant with her values rooted in her experience growing up as a daughter of immigrants. thank you for your leadership, assessor chu, thank you for being here. and finally it's my honor to welcome our mayor, london breed. in 2018, mayor breed was elected to be the first african-american woman and the second woman in san francisco's history to serve as mayor. she was re-elected for her first full term in november 2019. she led san francisco's emergency response to covid-19 with grit and grace. and is currently guiding the city's phased reopening and economic recovery. recently mayor breed announced

-- since becoming mayor, her priorities have included helping the city's homeless population and to care and shelter and adding more housing for residents of all income levels. helping those suffering from mental health and substance-use disorders, and ensuring that all san franciscans have access to a thriving economy. furthering san francisco's leadership and combating climate change and honestly the list goes on and on. so thank you all again for being here. i'm excited to get this conversation started. >> thank you, breanna, for such a nice introduction. we will now ask our assessor carmen chu, the co-founder of the w challenge, to give some introduction remarks, as we are awaiting for the mayor to join us shortly.

>> thank you. first off, i want to just thank everybody, all of our partner organizations, breanna, for your wonderful and warm introduction. thank you all for joining us in this virtual way. i think that this is a special day, a day that i think as breanna mentioned, women were able to win the right to vote. it did take decades, though, for indigenous women and women of color to also be able to participate. so i think as we take the moment to celebrate this milestone in our history, it's also important to recognize that the struggles for participation, the struggle for representation still continues even as we speak. it is highlighted not only from what we're seeing from the federal attacks, in terms of women's rights and the place of women, but also when we're thinking about even how we are all seeing the response to covid-19. i think it's not lost on so many of us that covid-19, though it is a disease that impacts everyone, it has not been impacting our communities in an

equal way. we've seen a disproportionate impact on our lateef hasani grat latinx communities. women bear the brown in the industries most impacted negatively by covid-19, health care sectors, education, childcare. and not only that, but we are also seeing that women also are playing a role of double duty, even triple duty when it comes to not only balancing their jobs, employment, careers and also childcare and elder care. this is something that is intimately experienced by so many of us. for myself, as a young mother, with a 15-month-old daughter and having my elderly parents now sheltering in place with us, i feel that impact. and yet i find myself really understanding how fortunate i am, even to be in a place that i am now and to be able to still have a child. so many of the people that we're

talking about have lost their jobs, are on the verge of losing their businesses and their homes. it really does highlight the importance of recognizing the impacts of covid and the opportunity to really step up. and so today we have a unique opportunity to be able to talk about women leadership, especially at this time. i think as breanna had mentioned earlier, there's a cross section of home things happening, in addition to the challenges that we have with covid-19, we're seeing wildland fires across the state of california, that's brought about by climate change. we're not only seeing that, but continued challenges at the federal level when it comes to our immigrant communities and people of color. and so again we're really, really excited to have the mayor today to be able to speak more about women's leadership and the importance of that going forward. and so i see that our mayor has joined us. and so i want to welcome london to the program. i think today's going to be a

very -- it's going to be a unique opportunity. we rarely have the chance to be able to interview each other and have a candid conversation. so it will be a lot of fun to be able to do that today. but just a moment right before you came on, mayor breed, breanna was able to share some really great information about your bio. today people are really looking forward to get to know more about you and your leadership style as we go forward. i think as you know we started the w challenge a few years ago and you've been a strong supporter from the beginning. i think one of participated every single year that we have come together to talk about the sponsor of voting and women's participation. this year our challenge is to really make sure we're highlighting the 100-year history of at least 100 great, amazing women leaders. so we really want to tell the story of women's leadership through the years. and how we all build upon those histories, in order to be where we are today. so again i'm super excited to

bring mayor breed on to the show today. i'm going to ask you the first question. but actually before we do that, why don't i ask you to introduce or say a few words if you'd like to, to commemorate the 100 year-anniversary. >> well, thank you so much, carmen. it's, of course, always great being with you and talking about important issues in our city, pour importantly celebrating 100 years of women receiving the right to vote. we all know sadly, with the history of this country, that did not include women of color. and we know that, you know, when i think about from a perspective of where we are now in this country, and how there is finally a reckoning that is occurring around race and around inequality and what's happening to people, as a result of that spark that sadly involves the

death of george floyd, i think this is the perfect time to start to have these honest conversations about this. because from my perspective, you know, our differences are what makes us a better city. it's what makes us a better country. i hope my phone is not too loud. i don't know how to turn it off. but it makes us a better -- it makes us a better city. it makes us a better country. and i think that it starts with the next generation and it also needs to be embedded in our young people at an early age, that in a way that could effectively allow for change. because the sad reality is we know a lot of this is taught in the home. it's taught, you know, early on. and it develops into who you are as a person naturally. we have to get to the point of all of that. we have to be prepared to have the honest conversations about

our differences, you know, how we all fit into this world. and how working together we can make things better. and i've got to be honest. no one does that better than women. [laughter] but we are, you know, multi-taskers and it's naturally who we are. so as we celebrate, you know, the right to vote for him, we have to also keep in mind there was a time that women couldn't vote in this country. there was a time that black people couldn't vote in this country. there was a time that folks were discriminated against and hung just because they wanted to exercise their right. we dishonor their memory and sacrifice when we don't show up to make our voices heard. that's the celebration should remind us about those people and what they sacrificed and how we have appear obligation to not only exercise our right to vote

ourselves, but to make sure that we are lifting up others to do the same. and that we are also making it clear to the next generation how significant it is for them to do so as well. >> yes. >> glad to be here. absolutely. i think the points you make really do resonate, because i think that the fight continues, right. even now i mean we're continuing to see the inequities continue to be part of our daily lives. we need to really speak honestly about it. it is really hard. it is hard to talk about race, because it's uncomfortable. unless we start to get to a place where we can do that, i don't know how we start to dismantle what's there, right. and even within the last covid response, we've been seeing a lot of rise in anti-asian sentiments, people blaming the asian community for what's happening. i think even then we need allies, we need people to say that's not right, that's not okay, that's not the reason why we are in the place that we are.

and so i think there's a lot of -- there is a lot of hurt and there's a lot of healing that we need to be responsible for. >> yep. and also, carmen, you know, think about -- i don't believe there's one person on this earth who hasn't been disrespected in some way. >> absolutely. >> and they now that hurts. and it doesn't feel good. i'm sure you've been called racial names. i've been called names. and when you think about that, why would you want somebody else to feel that way. >> that's right. >> and i think that we have to start to get to, you know, the root causes of how those things developed. and we have to have honest conversations. and just, you know, for example, i still have people in my family who make certain comments and use certain, you know, racial slurs that i have to correct.

and they're basically like, well, we always said that. and i don't do it because i'm mayor. i want to be clear. but i do it because it's offensive to the people that claim we respect, right. it's like when you use those terms and you don't understand it's not appropriate. why would you continue to do that. so don't tell me you have a friend who is gay or you have a friend who is chinese and you have a friend who is this and they don't have a problem with it. i don't care. i have a problem with it. >> yeah. >> because i would be offended if someone used certain comments and words against me. but we have to also educate our family members, especially our older family members about terminologies that are just not appropriate to say about other people. >> yeah.

and i think that it's absolutely true. i think the more that we can personalize and share with our family what our expectations are and what it means for people, i think the better -- i think we all grow up with certain experiences and we all have preconceived notions about people and we all have ways to shortcut what we think. but ting what is important that we recognize that they exist, right, that we might have biases that exist. and make sure that they don't drive how we make decisions or they don't drive how it is that we interact with people. i think that's what's really important. it's not to say that any of us are perfect or we don't have biases. but it's to recognize that we do. >> yeah. >> to make sure we don't let that motivate us, right. i think as you mentioned, when we have an opportunity to give a different perspective when a family member or anyone is making a generalization about a particular community, it's to say why do you say that. i don't think that's true. that generalization actually is

wrong. what would you think if they said this about our community, right. it's to make sure we kind of do that we continue to grow and evolve. we're in the middle of a global pandemic. no one thought we would be having to deal with something like this. not only that. we're say it's where we have conversations and we're having a reckoning when it comes to institutional racism, police brutality. so i want to know what does it feel like to be mayor of a city like san francisco during this time. do you thinking about a woman mayor makes a difference? >> oh, my god. carmen -- >> it's a big question. i mean, no one can prepare for this kind of thing, you know. >> well, i'll just say that, you know, i'm very spiritual. and when i became mayor, even to

this very day, based on my circumstances, i still can't believe that someone like me could actually be mayor of san francisco. it still -- it's almost unreal. i wake up in the morning, it's like, yep, you're still mayor. and it's still blowing me away. and then when i think about what i have come into and my personal background and my experiences. talking about creative in times such as this. and that was kind of the message. and because i will say -- i was in my head wondering what's going on here. you know, is this the end of the world. like global pandemic. the fires, the unrest, all of the protests, all of this stuff. i was just like, wow.

and then our president, right like this is like almost as if i'm watching a movie. and it's not real. but it's real. and it's our life. and what i realizeif i were not mayor, how would i want to feel. and how would i want my leaders to waive in a way that help -- to behave in a way that helps reassure me that things will be okay. >> yeah. >> and so that's how i've made the decisions that i have made. and by being completely honest with the public every step of the way. and also letting the public know we don't know what the future holds, which you typically as a politician should not maybe say or people think you should not say. but i think that, you know, we as women, we're kind of

realists. and we feel strongly about -- like, for example, your mother, you know, you know how it is where you want to do everything for your kids, but you also have to say, no. we can't. >> oh, my gosh. i told you. i don't say no. >> i'm going to get you, ca car. you have to man up. [laughter] but you've got it like -- but part of saying to our children is to protect them. >> yeah. it's part of what is important in our natural -- this is naturally how we are. we're nurturing people as women in most cases. and we care about doing what's right for folks. and i think that has been a guiding principle for me, because it's not easy, of course. and, you know, like, for example, you think that it doesn't hurt my heart to see people sleeping on the ground or -- it's not that i don't like seeing it, it just hurts.

it's a human being that's sleeping on the ground. and in my mind i can't help but -- when we go past and, you know, honestly i pray for them and i also ask god to help give me the strength to be able to do this job and to make things better for people. it's not about the complaints. it's about the need to try and get people to help and the support that they need. so i think, you know, in terms of governing, it's just -- i am doing the best that i can. i am listening to various advisers, but also members of the public with their emails and their comments and their suggestions and trying to make good decisions. because a lot of people are counting on me. they're counting on me. it's not london, it's the mayor as a symbol of, you know, the leader of the city. and they're counting on me to make good decisions, to keep

them safe. and so that's how i see my job. and it's important to make sure that we're doing what we're doing. and that's really why when -- i mean, we can't just do one thing, we have to do a lot of things. and that's why i was like, carmen is one of those people that i respect, as it relates to money management. [laughter] and fiscal responsibility. she's like bringing in the bread. but also the accountability and everything. she's the perfect person to help with the economic recovery and what that entails. plus, on top of that you're very thoughtful in how you think about things. you're not just thinking about a business, you're thinking about the people because of your family, right. and your experiences growing up and your mom and dad. you're thinking about those experiences and how they had to struggle. >> yeah. >> and you know what people are going through. and so i guess i'll go into my next question -- my question, my

first question to you is, it's like as a daughter of immigrants, and a small business owners, how did your personal experience shape you as a person and as a leader for a time such as this? >> yeah. i mean, i think just going to a point thaw made earlier, when you were talking about, you know, -- what is it like being kind of a woman leader, too. i don't know -- i think that when i've seen with you has just been this real collaborate approach. i'm not sure that any other elected mayor would have asked another elected person to help do the work that you asked me to do on the economic recovery task force. and i think that says a lot about how you approach things, which is let's bring in people to help be problem solving together. and i really appreciate that, because i'm not sure that anybody would just do that, right. i think that says volumes. you know, in terms of being, you

know, how it is that we approach leadership, especially as you grow up, i think especially for me i saw my parents really struggle, right. i was a young girl, i never saw my parents. i was a latchkey kid. my mom and dad were working every single day. they would go to work, i'd be at school already, they wouldn't come home until after i went to sleep. i really rarely saw my parents. and i think seeing how hard they worked, it's -- it's a symbol of sort of how hard it is for a lot of small businesses to make it and to survive. and i think seeing how they struggled, seeing how they were discriminated against because they had an accent or how people didn't street them the right way when they went in to ask for help, because they couldn't say it right or had an accent, that really hurt me. when i think about public service and the things i hope to do, it's to really try to create opportunities for people and make sure that everybody knows that they're worthy. it doesn't matter where they come from or how much they have

or how they can speak. they're worthy as individuals. and then i think now especially as a young mother, too, i love my daughter so much. she's really changed i think my perspective and, you know, my patience. and i realize that, you know, when i see the love that i have for her, hurts me to think that there are other kids who don't have the same support, who potentially are going hungry, who don't have the same opportunities to succeed. and that hurts me. because i just turn that around and say, what would i feel if that was for my daughter. what would i feel if she didn't have the chance to be loved, to be fed, to feel safe, to feel like she could be whatever she wanted to be. that kind of feeling helps me today. keep on making sure that you create opportunities, that you help people have a job, that you can support families the best that you can. you know, we're not going to be perfect. and i like when she said earlier

about being honest with people about where our problems are. we should tell folks, let's be honest, here's where we have problems. here's what i need help with doing. here's what the city needs to do to pull things together. and we're not perfect. but this is what i'm going to do about it, right. i think it's important to tell people that, because, you know, in terms of leadership, it's really important to be transparent with people, because you lose the integrity, you lose the only thing that you have going for you, which is, you know, what you represent and what you say. are you going to say the things you say you're going to do. are you going to do the things that you say, right. if you lose that, you lose integrity, you lose people's trust. i think that's really embedded from the lessons that my parents have taught me. but i think also again i think just being someone who, you know, feels, who is a mother, who kind of sees the struggle that my parents went through, i don't want to see that for other people. i want to do everything i can to

change that. so i think being on the economic recovery task force, i think about that every single day. i think what can we do as a city to help to save that one more business, save that job, so that people have the chance to be stable, you know. and have opportunities. what do we need to do to make sure that actually kids are not going to fall behind. like you know the distance learning is what we're doing right now, it's a travesty to not provide education to our young kids, who will fall further behind if we don't get it right, if we just don't figure out a way. i think those are the things that really just drive me as a leader, to say what are those struggles that people feel, that i know from my own background that can really help to change things. i think you and i have the same experience. it really drives us. >> yeah. >> i think it kind of goes back to i think about the conversations you and i have had, where, you know, we are

kind of commiserating over something really terrible happening, like something that was just like ridiculous that was happening in politics. you know, politics is tough because despite the best intentions sometimes, things get said a different way, it's represented in a way that's different. sometimes things are just really hard. so i'm curious to hear from you about what is, you know, what is it about your life or your experiences that helped to motivate you, when things are hard? you know, because being mayor you get a lot of criticism for things that you can control and things that you can't control, right. and, you know, how do you deal with that? and what kind of keeps you centered? >> well, just think about it, carmen, can you imagine the fact that you and i both came up under some of the most challenging of circumstances that we'd ever be in positions like this. >> yeah. >> it starts with that, number one.

number two, as hard as things are now, things were worse when i was a kid in terms of my life experience. so when i tell people like i grew up in public housing, i didn't just grow up there, i had every single experience directly in my household family situation, where when you talk about domestic violence, when you talk about drugs, prostitution, grandma raising me, criminal justice system, mentally ill. all of these things -- welfare, food stamps, you know, clothing with holes in them and everything else and criticism and fights and drama and lack of access to things. anything that anyone probably talks about, that they care about in terms of helping people in, you know, the most

challenging of circumstances, i probably experienced it directly in my household. and the reason why in some circumstances i don't into depth about some of those really tragic stories is because out of respect too my family members. -- respect for my family members. out of respect for not putting all of their business out there, because i'm the one in the limelight. and i don't want to expose them to, you know, challenges. i'm able to talk about my sister, who died from a drug overdose, because of how it impacted me personally, you know. i talk about my brother, because my brother was okay that i talk about his unfortunate situations. you know, but, you know, like just experiences that i had, when i think about, you know, like being a kid in the midst of those challenges and not being able to escape that world, you

know, i just -- you know, that is really what drives me. because i know that my experience is not unique. what is unique that i'm in a position like this, coming out of those circumstances. and this is why this work is so important to me, because i know that there are other young, talented people out there that just need a chance. they need a chance. they need a support system. so as challenging as a time that we're having right now, and as much criticism and i may receive it pales in comparison to what i experienced growing up. that's why i feel confident about my strength and my ability to take on a role like this.

because i feel like i was prepared to be in a situation like this. it's so interesting because yes, it's hard, yes, sometimes it's frustrating. and there are setbacks and disappointments and struggles associated with this work, but i feel optimistic about our ability to really make a difference. a mayor would ask another elected official to, you know, it's not just that i asked you, it's just i also have to listen to what you're advice is, even if i disagree with it. part of that is really how i work, because it's not just about me. i feel like it's important, as a leader, that you bring other

people along and you're prepared to listen, it doesn't just have to be your way or the highway. and so i think my experience of growing up and seeing how infective that kind of approach has been and how it had a negative impact on people that grew up like me is why i do this. because i want to change things genuinely. the only way you're able to do that is by making sure you're making good decisions and you're always keeping in mind the people that we're here to serve. so i want to go back -- i know, you know, we're talking about our various experiences. but i just want to jump in, because when you first became a member of the board of supervisors, you were the only asian woman to serve at that time. >> yeah. >> and i just want to know how did it feel to be on the board?

because the board of supervisors right now is a hot mess. and there's always a lot of drama, you know, i served on the board, too. but there were other women. you left me. [laughter] i was like, no, carmen, don't leave me. >> i went downstairs. >> but tell me when you first started, because you weren't trying to run for office. you weren't trying to be in politics. you were just dealing with the money and the finances and trying to do your job. tell me what that was like for you. >> yeah, i think for me, you know, i'm -- by nature i'm probably more of an introvert than anything, you know. i think people kind of like you are? how can you be a politician. by nature that's what i was. my parents were always like, you're so shy, are you ever going to make it in this world. are you going to hide behind me all the time, right, when i was younger. we all kind of learn and we grow. you know, i had been in the mayor's budget office for gavin

newsom at this time. i enjoyed the policy work behind the scenes and getting down to the nuts and bolts of things. at the end of the day, when we talk about policy, ultimately when you want to look attack priorities of a city and the values of the city, you see where the money is spent. because that matters, right. where you put your resources matters and it speaks about the values that we have as a city. and so that was really kind of where i started. and then i think overnight mayor newsom, at the time, appointed me to be a member of the board. and it was -- it was under a cloud of challenges in the asian communities, right it was. it was then when the supervisor of district 4 was under investigation. i remembering about the only asian supervisor at that time. it's a heavy kind of burden in a way, because you feel like you have to represent all of the chinese community, all of the asian community, right. and what does that mean? because our community is so diverse, right. i can't possibly represent the

perspective of every single person. but it felt very heavy. and i asked myself why am i the only asian-american in the city, where we have such a large population, right. the other thing weighing heavy on me at the time, and played out during the election, a lot of people were basically saying that i didn't have sort of the right to be the representative, because i wasn't born in san francisco, right. and there was nothing that more kind of offended me than that, to think that if i wasn't born here, so if i was an immigrant or if i was someone who had moved here, but cared a lot about the city, that i didn't have an equal right or i shouldn't have a voice, offended me to the soul. because it kind of just said, what does that mean about my parents who emigrated here and worked so hard. are you saying they don't have a right to participate or have a voice also, right. i remember when i was running, it was under this cloud of, well, are all asian politicians

corrupt, you know, because it wasn't just -- there were a few other issues that had happened. i think it was just this feeling of needing to make sure that i comported myself that was above and beyond, to make sure i left no doubt that that's not the all asian-machineries behaved, -- all asian-americans behaved. make sure that you are representing in a way that you leave room for people to come behind you, right. i didn't want to be an example of yet another asian-american politician who was disappointing the community, right. and so i think it was just -- it was a big challenge because there's so much kind of going on at the same time. but i'm happy that we have since that time have had many more folks rise and be elected. and i think we need to continue to support that. so i think the work that we can do to continue to mentor young

people and especially young women i think is really, really important. because i think sometimes people just need to see that it's possible. you know, i said that to you before, right, too. you know when someone sees that -- as someone who went through all of the hardship that you went through, who grew up facing all of the challenges that you did, were able to -- was able to become the mayor, that's inspiring, right. just that example and just seeing that is inspiring. for someone to say i'm looking at carmen and i'm that shy kid who no one really paid maybe that much attention to. but she can become an elected person and do good things, too. that's inspiring, too. those are the examples we need to show is that not all leadership styles are the same. but we can all succeed as leaders, right. and so i think that's something that has been imprinted in me, i've kind of realizing this. >> yes. i'm sorry.

>> go ahead. >> a really good point about where, you know, different styles of leaders, right. and i like that. but we both have very, you know, unique backgrounds that have, you know, involved struggle in some capacity. i think it also developed -- it also helps us to develop a appreciation and respect for one another as well, which i think is also important in the world of politics. how we treat each other, even in the midst of our disagreementses, it's so important, because that's one of thing biggest challenges that we face. and when we have disagreements and we start to do the personal attacks and some of the other lies and other things, it just doesn't set a good example i think for young generations. we're just as bad what we see happening in the white house with we go that route.

>> that's right. i want to ask you a personal question, but a fun one, which is what is something that no one knows about you? a fun fact. >> okay. a fun fact. one of my absolute favorite shows that i watch all the time, people would not believe it, it's "fraser." [laughter] i love "fraser" because, listen, this is a tough job. you know how like at night, i try not to watch the news or nothing too serious before i go to bed. and most of the time and i just kind of to laugh and smile or do something more happy, i watch "fraser." >> so i have to admit, my guilty pleasure is watching korean

dramas. those romantic dramas. love them. >> oh, my goodness. yeah. i just -- and i love out loud a lot of times when i'm watching "fraser." all my by myself normally. [laughter] that would probably surprise a lot of people. >> so kind of getting back to a bunch of encouraging, this idea about encouraging women to participate. you know, i want to know what do you think about -- what would you say to someone on the fence about participating? and if someone is thinking about running for office or wanting to do something where they get on a commission or something like that, how -- what do you think people need to do to prepare for that experience. what would you say to those women? >> well, what i would say is when you feel something, when you want to do something, then you should go for it. part of what you want to make sure is you do your homework to prepare. that you know exactly what whatr

roles and responsibilities are and the position that you're going for, whether it's a request to me to be a member of a board or a commission, that i have the ability to make appointments for. or if you decide to run for public office. you know, when i decided to run for supervisor, i wanted to be a good supervisor for the people of the district i represent, where i grew up in. and so that entailed making sure i knew how to do policy and legislation and i understand how the process worked and the city worked. and the good news i'd been on commissions and other places. so i understood it. but i actually went back to school late in life, before i ran, to get my master's in public administration. and i ended up graduating from u.s.f. with honors, because i was committed to making sure that i was the best policymaker for the people that i

represented. and i'm not suggesting that you do that. it's just that whatever role you want to play, you set your sights on that role and you make sure that you're prepared to take it on and all that it entails. and unfortunately in the world of politics, and in the world of public service, it also comes with its fair share of criticism. and i think it's going to -- it's really important that you have thick skin. and it's important that you have -- i'll tell you i made some mistakes along the way. because, you know, i want to be honest. i'm a girl from the projects. don't come for me unless you want me to come for you. so i have made some mistakes early on where i have cursed some people out and did some things. and what i had to realize is if i want to represent people, it can't be about me any more. so i can't do what i typically would do if it's just me, when i'm entering the world of politics. so i had to grow a lot in the position.

part of it is just really making sure that you make yourself into the best person you can be. you just the best job you can be and you remember you're there representing other people. don't let yourself get in the way of that. >> i agree. and i think, you know, i second that point that you make about sort of making sure that you're prepared and know what is required of you. and i think it's also about being prepared to make hard choices. >> yes. >> because it's easy to kind of just fall with the rhetoric, where the wind is blowing. it's really hart not to go -- hard not to go in that direction. people ask us to be leaders to say based on what you know and where you want to do for community, is this the right choice or is it not. sometimes may not be convenient, right. it may just be the thing that is not the most popular thing that people want you to do. but you think it's the right call. i think it's important. i think two other things that you mentioned earlier, i think

is really important. optimism. if you're not somewhat optimistic about being able to make change, politics and public office isn't for you. because you've got to be tenacious, you have to believe that you can do something. it's easy to get discouraged if you don't. a story of tenacity. i don't know if you remember, london, you and i were on a trip to israel, right before the mayor made an appointment to the district 5 seat. do you remember this? >> yes, yes. >> and i remember -- so, you know, ultimately the mayor ended up appointing someone else, right. and london still ran, right. she's like well, i'm still going to run. i still want to do this. she ended up winning, right. i remember on that trip -- i remember seeing you. you were like what's going to happen. she was thinking about it the whole time. even though we were looking at different things, learn being, you know, the diaspora.

she was tenacious and wanted to do the job. because it came across, right. those a few other things. you have to be optimistic that you can make change and be reallying to work hard. the changes that are really worthwhile, are hard to get to. >> yeah. it just want to add. i know we have to wrap it up, i see your communications person. i just want to add that you also -- i think it is important that you are really prepared to make the hard decisions. and at the end of the day, when you make that, is the right decision, not for your political career, is it the right decision for the people you represented. never lose sight of that. >> yeah. >> there were a lot of things that i supported that no other candidates supported when i ran for mayor. and people were trying to tell me to change my position. i said but that's not fair to the public. they need to know who i am as a person and the kinds of decisions that i'm going to

make. and that's what's so critical. don't change who you are to fit into it. that's where sometimes people go wrong because of what they see in the political climate. >> yeah. totally agree. because ultimately something has to ground you, right. the things that we talked about, about the things that motivate us to do good, if you keep on changing what that is, i'm not sure you industrial a direction any more, right. >> totally. >> i really enjoyed our conversation. >> thank you. >> it's been a lot of fun chatting with you. and really just kind of -- i think it offered people a really unique look into how you think about things and, you know, i think it's a great opportunity to just highlight, you know, an amazing job you're doing. thank you for all of your leadership, especially during a hard time and for joining us. and with that i'm going to turn it over to vivian so that she can help us wrap up. >> thank you, madam mayor. thank you, madam assessor, for such a great conversation. i really hate to interrupt and come in and end it.

it was such a great conversation for all of your stories and sharing your thoughts and the passion behind running for offices. those are really great lessons for us to learn. so at this point i also want to just quickly go into our t-our w challenge 2020. as you may all know, that ever since the w challenge has launched, we have been creating a new challenge every year to uplift women. also trying to encourage more women to vote, especially for this upcoming election, it's so important for all of us. we're going to be running a ten-week social media campaign starting from today and all the way up to the election day. we have 100 women from the past century that we have selected. they are local, they are great. they've been part of all of the suffrage movement, as well as other social justice movements as well. so we encourage everyone to go on our website. i'm going to be quickly going

into it, sharing it on our screen right here. if you go to that home page, all you need to do is to click on the 100 years of women leaders here. then you can read about the details of our campaign. but basically you just need to select two to three women each week and feature on your preferred social media platforms, #wchallenge and encourage more women to do that. so we're hoping that by uplifting these stories, we are able to encourage more women to vote and take leadership. just in honor of all of these women that were before us and all that they have done to grant the right that we have today. so thank you so much for everyone who is joining us. we are inviting our partners as well, alison go, president of the league of women voters san francisco here to give us the final remarks to end today's celebration. thank you. alison, the stage is yours. >> thanks.

thank you for having me today. i am so touched and really energized to hear the stories and experiences of madam assessor and mayor breed. you know, both as a young woman and an immigrant, really thank you for really your leadership in sharing these moments with us. thank you for everybody who helped plan this amazing event today. i know normally we would be on the steps of city hall. this is pretty great to hear everyone's stories. i can feel the energy throughout san francisco and a huge thank you to our volunteers kathy bar, who really helped to put this together, on behalf of the league as well. my name is alison go. i'm the president of the league of women voters of san francisco. we're a nonpartisan, volunteer-run organization focused on non-partisan voter education and advocacy efforts here in san francisco. you know, this election is unlike any election before and unprecedented challenges. every single time we hear this

is the most important election yet. actually it's true this time. and with covid-19, the state of california has naile -- mailed y single voter a battle. this is really, really great. many of our fellow san franciscans may not be used to the voting process and there's a lot of misinformation out there on how to get the ballot, how to transmit the ballot and election security. first step, making sure you're registered to vote. if you're already registered, you'll automatically receive your ballot during the first two weeks of october. and if you're not registered or if you've moved recently or maybe changed your name, you need to re-register. remember that the voter registration deadline is octobe. you can register to vote or re-register on our website at. wehavelinkstoallofthesethings. and then again if if you're not

sure of the voter status and you want to double check sometimes, you can double check the voter registration online, same site. you can check what address they have on file to make sure you get your ballot on time. if all of this seems like a lot to remember, go to lwvsf.org and help make your plan to vote, whether it's mailing your ballot in, dropping it off downtown at the auditorium or even dropping it off at your local polling location, just make sure that your vote is counted this november. the league also puts out a lot of non-partisan voting material. for example, our proand cons guide offers an eas easy to read ballot measure. the guide is budge -- put togetn many languages to reflect the community in san francisco. next month we're hosting candidate forums for

several of the board of supervisors races. specifically district 1, 7, and 11. these are free, they're going to be open for the public. we will broadcast these over zoom and we'll post them afterwards on our youtube page and they'll be broadcast over at sfgovtv.org. thanks to our partnership with them. and guess what, these with always be found on our website on the vote page. the page will be updated throughout the fall, as more of our materials come out. there will be a really great one-stop portal for all of this information. so thank you for having me. these next nine weeks, let's get our friends, family, neighbors, colleagues to commit to vote. and make sure that they have a plan to vote, whether it's in-person or with the mail-in ballot. please go to wchallenge.org, especially the women here today. thank you for having me and please stay up to date on everything the league is doing.

you can follow us on facebook or on twitter. or whic by visiting us on the website. >> i just saw in chat we have a series of events coming up also. 5:00 today i believe the league is having a partnership with the mechanics library and also talking about the suffrage movement and tomorrow in partnership with the public library, the neighborhood history project is also having a presentation about the first suffrage march that is happening and was led by a san franciscan from glen park. so stay tuned. you can also visit wchallenge.org under events to check out those activities that are ongoing. so thank you again for everyone. this concludes our virtual celebration of women's equality day 2020 today. thank you very much.

>> 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