tv SF Public Utilities Commission SFGTV September 8, 2020 7:15am-11:01am PDT
7:15 am
president buell as you alluded to about the summer camp, they have been absolutely wonderful. i want to provide an update on exciting developments at indian basin. the india basin project team -- and this is also a partially a covid response strategy, is working to have a semi-outdoor tech hub to provide high-speed connectivity and the access to devices as needed, user support and technology training. the tech hub will be set up in the parking lot at indian basin shoreline park. and public health protocols are put in place and improved as part of the hub's permit to operate. the plan is to have internet access starting in late august or early september, to prepare for the resumption of schools and to grow the program over time. the current plan is to operate wifi and to offer loaner devices at the tech hub from 11:00
7:16 am
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on monday-friday, with two or three on hand to help with usage. approximately 30 laptops and tablets have been secured. users with their own devices would also be able to access wifi from inside of their vehicles. we hope to grow this program as philanthropy and other resources permit. this ties into the philosophy behind the community learning hubs, but, actually, there was a decision to stand this up prior to the community hub development that grew out of our planning efforts with our equitable development plan leadership committee, facilitated by jackie, and apri, and several members of our team as an immediate need for this neighborhood. as we all know, and we are experiencing this very second, technology is simply critical to
7:17 am
move on with our lives, whether we're a student, or an adult looking for work or trying to stay connected to relatives. and this equitable development plan initiative is designed to strengthen the existing community in the bayview and the indan basin neighborhood, to ensure they will have the ability to -- you know, robustly function, notwithstanding the covid restraints that we all face. i want to provide a quick budget update. yesterday the appropriations committee heard for the second time the recreation and park department's proposed fiscal year 2020-2022021 budgets. it t totaled $626,000. in 2021, and $294,000 in
7:18 am
2021-2022. and theductions were temp salary reductions and additional supplies reductions and some reductions to our vehicle budget. in 2021-2022, they impact our temp salary and attrition targets and some additional savings in materials and supplies. we worked well with the board's analysts and we do not believe that this will adversely impact the department's ability to provide services to our parks -- and for our park users. the department's budget had has critical funding to provide staffing at these community learning hubs we just discussed. the emergency child -- the continuation of our emergency child and youth program, covid-19 adaptive strategies for park maintenance, enhanced cleaning and disinfection, and
7:19 am
the ranger social distancing and mask education and distribution program. and provide funding for our scholarship assistance for youth in public housing, shelters and foster care. the budget and appropriations committee will complete the deliberations on the budget on august 26th. a full board is expected to pass the budget on september 29th and the mayor is expected to sign the budget on october 1s october 1st. i want to thank our entire budget finance, h.r. and business team as well as our property management, public affairs and operation teams for their incredible work on this challenging budget cycle. related to community learning hubs, but broader, the san francisco department of public health issued a new directive last friday, august 14th, regarding allowable use activities. the new order categorizes these activities as outside of school time programs.
7:20 am
and they are intended for all children and youth in elementary school. the format of oesp programs are small cohorts of 20, similar to summer camp hubs. our fields and parks and some indoor spaces are available for this use. if the groups are interested in providing out-of-school programs in our spark spaces, visit our website at sfgovpark.org, to a link for an application. no outside lands this year but on august 28th and 29th there will be inside lands. outside lands is proud to present inside lands, a free virtual festival, featuring two days of music and never-before-seen footage to celebrate the past 12 years of the festival's history.
7:21 am
on august 28th and 29th, at 4:00 p.m., anyone can log on for iconic archival sets, exclusive live performances and interviews with artists, plus features with the festival curators and the small businesses and community that make outside lands truly one of a kind. followthetwitch.tv/outsidelands c followthetwitch.tv/outsidelandsc hannel, for everything inside lands. we will see you all inside. lastly, a special kudos and recap of the pga championship. the pga championship at harding park concluded in an historic way last weekend as one of the most broadcasted sporting events in history with more than one
7:22 am
billion -- with a b -- billion viewers. the eyes of the sports world were on san francisco, and on t.p.c. harding park and its pristine greens. that's a cal berkeley alum and used a bit of homefield advantage to dominate the final two rounds and to win his very first pga championship. >> you just grew alan's head, thank you so much for that. >> i want to thank all of our staff who made this tournament an incredible success. let's be honest, it wasn't the pga championship that we had hoped or planned for, but when you talk about resilience and making the best -- making lemonade from lemons, we did that. our team's work represented san francisco and our department to the entire world. a special thanks again to kevin
7:23 am
teehan, and the entire golf and turf team, dana ketcham and the property management team, and our urban forestry team, and the treetoppers and commissioner buell had noted, the canopy was outstanding. to our good friends who help us to host the t.c. harding park, tom smith, who actually had a dream come true and was able to play in two rounds as a marker, because there were an odd number of people that made the cut. and to our public affairs team, to commissioner buell for your leadership and excellent public relations and the days and the weeks and months leading up to the event. to commissioner mazzola for being out there and cheering on and rallying our hard-working crew. this was a big success. and it was just such a pleasure to have something to cheer for
7:24 am
for a change and something to be proud about our city. and that concludes the general manager's report. and i'm sorry -- and i'm sorry for the echo. i will figure that out. >> clerk: okay, if there's anyone on the line, and would like to comment on the general manager's report, please dial star, 3. it doesn't look like we have any takers. so the public comment is closed on the general manager's report. item 4 is general public comment. this is up to 15 minutes. at this time the members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and that do not appear on today's agenda.
7:25 am
with respect to agenda items you will have an opportunity to address the commission when that item is reached in the meeting. again, if you're on the line and you just have general public comments, please dial, star, and then 3. >> caller: hi there, this is adam loto. and i put my hand up in the comments for public comment. my apologies, this is my first time so i don't know if this is the perfect time for this. but i wanted to put a concept in front of the council. i'm a local resident in marina. i have lived in san francisco for 11 years. with the public hesitant to go indoors and to use gyms for fitness, i think that there's an opportunity for the parks and recreation team to expand the offering and to add value to the public for fitness and activities. and as an idea, i'd like to
7:26 am
propose what concept i'm tentatively calling chestnuts sports club, to explore using the musconi park in the marina and expanded fitness space and leveraging the area near the basketball and the tennis courts that are a little dilapidated right now, for a concept of, say, an upgraded turf workout area and updated golf facilities. to fund this could be a kind of private/public venture and a neighborhood partnership that would ask and advertise for residents to donate something feasible around $5 a month to become an "air quote," a member, which would be a badge of honor. plus cool merchandise in which i could help to develop. and all sales would go towards maintenance of the space. this could be a pinpointed test to something that could be rolled out more to parks, considering the impact of
7:27 am
fitness activities that covid has had at our indoor spaces. and acknowledging the challenge by updating underutilized space in parks. i'll take that comment off-line. >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next caller. >> president buell: hello? >> caller: hello, sfgov-tv. hi, i am cliff barter. and i'm calling in to thank you all for the continued street openings on the great highway on j.f.k. drive and at twin peaks. they're all really phenomenal outdoor spaces. and i've been lucky to continue to enjoy them through the shelter-in-place. i wanted to note in particular that golden gate park was
7:28 am
noticeably cooler this weekend than most of the city in this unprecedented heat wave. and i think that it was really useful to the people of san francisco to have that much more usable space in the park provided by j.f.k. being open. and i also just want to note that i was glad to see the changes made to accommodate the muni 44 bus route. i think that the smal smart strt markings there to redirect the bus is also a great change to keep more of this street open while letting traffic flow. >> president buell: thank you. >> clerk: seeing no other callers on the line, excuse me, public comment is closed and we're on item 5, the consent calendar. >> president buell: any questions or comments from staff? we can get public comment?
7:29 am
>> clerk: yeah. again, if anyone is in the public line and would like to comment on item 5, the consent calendar, please dial, star, and then 3. >> president buell: are you on mute, stacy? >> clerk: caught myself. yes. public comment is closed. >> president buell: thank you. chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar. >> so moved. >> president buell: is there a second? >> second. >> president buell: moved and seconded. all those in favor? thank you very much. >> clerk: all right, we're on
7:30 am
item 6, the san francisco zoo. >> stacy? >> clerk: yes? >> i wanted to let you know that i made it in. >> clerk: you're good. >> hello, this is tonya peterson, the director of the san francisco zoo. can you hear me, stacy? >> clerk: good morning, tonya. >> well, i'm pleased to report that the zoo is now open. it opened in a limited fashion on monday, july 13th. we did so while also running our child care and zoo camp programs, which have now concluded on friday august 14th. of course, our camp programs were run differently this summer, per the public health officer. we converted them from one week to three weeks. we did require the temperature checks of the participants and the family members and instructors, face coverings were also required unless an
7:31 am
exemption proven and we did employ twice as many staff to just make sure that we were complying with all of these requirements. unfortunately, due to the change mainly from one week to three weeks, we had about a 50% refund request from parents. many parents did not feel comfortable obliging for the three weeks, but those who did i think were very pleased and a lot of the participants who did come to the zoo this summer were children of essential workers. so we were pleased that we could host them. and now that the camps have finished, or we have begun working with the health officer to increase our attendance safely, we limited our attendance to about 1,500, to 2,000 people a day, while the camps were running, so that a third of the zoo could be saved for the children. and there was really no mixing of the public with the zoo camp programs.
7:32 am
but now we'll take advantage of opening up those spaces and those entries and exits for new visitors. on some good news, we have six penguin chicks, so if you do get a chance to come to the zoo we ask that you use the online system so you come in at a reserved time. we can limit congestion at the front gate. but i suggest that you go back right to the penguin chicks and see these six fluffy chicks. they just graduated from fish school. and because of the way their feathers are, they are right now larger and the parents and them are just adorable. so it's great to have some highlights during these difficult challenging times. and, lastly, i just want to thank all of the visitors and the members who have just an outpouring of love for the passing of our male giraffe, lloyd.
7:33 am
he, sadly, died on july 24th. he was our oldest and tallest giraffe. he was 18 years old and 16 feet tall. he was a reticulated giraffe that is at risk but not the highly endangered category. it is the giraffe most commonly bred at zoos. he produced 11 offspring and had 24 grandchildren and five great-grand kids. he was the first and the tallest giraffe that you'd see in our african program, and he is missed by all of us. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> clerk: we're on public comment for the san francisco zoo. and if you're on the phone line and you would like to comment please dial star, 3. no? seeing no one on the line,
7:34 am
public comment is closed. we are now on item 7, let'splaysf!. >> hello, commissioners. i'm lisa bransten. director of the partnerships for the recreation and parks department. and i'm here virtually with the deputy director of the capital division to provide an update on let'splaysf! initiative. and let me move some things on my screen. so very briefly, as you will recall, let'splaysf! has its origins in the 2012 clean and safe neighborhoods parks fund, which allocated $15.5 million to renovate playgrounds across the city. but didn't specify which ones. and then this commission convened a task force to select the site and when they prioritized 13 pra 13 playgrounn
7:35 am
low-income neighborhoods dense with children. that was more than twice the number that could be renovated with the $15.5 million, so the department partnered with the san francisco parks alliance to raise private funds so that all 13 could be renovated. we're pleased to report tremendous pg towards the goal of bringing new playgrounds to san francisco's children. but especially the 20,000 children who live a 10-minute walk of these sites. and next slide, please. i have noted by the checks on this map that we have completed seven playgrounds across the city. of course, they all remain closed with all san francisco's playgrounds because of the health emergency. you will hear more details from cara in a moment. but in addition to these seven completed playgrounds, we just finished construction on one site and about to go into
7:36 am
construction in another and we're in some phase of planning or design on all of the remaining four. and then just as a reminder, the heart of this initiative is balanced on three pillars of community, creativity and wellness. the detailed research that shows the beautiful public spaces designed with community engagement to inspire the community. the idea that play helps to nurture growing brains and the knowledge of getting kids outside and moving creates mental and physical well-being. through these pillars we honor the combined commitment of the parks alliance to 20,000 children, 13 playgrounds and equity. and while the benefits of great new playgrounds make a lot of common sense, we're backing these assumptions with data. at washington square playground, there was a 97% increase in
7:37 am
total use after the renovation. and a nearly 600-person increase of use by children. so we know that these renovations cause more people to use these sites. today we've only been able to do the comparison study at washington square because the play grounds remain closed. but we did have pre-renovation measurements at all seven completed playgrounds and we'll take counts when the sites reopen. and then a little bit about the covid impact. aside from just keeping the playgrounds closed, the health emergency has had other impacts on the initiative. in march, some of the construction projecthave to pause, but they were declared essential public work and work was able to resume with health and safety protocols. open sites remain closed now with play structures wrapped, but they do stand ready for san
7:38 am
francisco's children. and now i'm going to turn it over to cara who is going to take you on a bit of a virtual tour of some of these new sites. >> great, thank you, lisa, and good morning commissioners. i'm the program lead to let'splaysf! initiative and the department's capital division. as lisa mentioned we have made a lot of progress since we saw you last and we have a lot to share with you today. so i'll go ahead and dive right in and give you a tour of all of our work so far. first up, there's projects that were completed last fall and open to the public in november, we haven't had a chance to share photos with you until now. so what i'll do is start the slides and take you into a picture of what it looked like before the renovation. so here at panhandle playground is our before photo. a largely inaccessible playground with lead. and here's our after photo.
7:39 am
the playground renovation was so popular that people were visiting from all over san francisco. this happens to also be my neighborhood playground so i have visited many, many times with my two young children before the health order closed it. it's been an incredible space and a true hub for the neighborhood families. and the next playground on the tour is sergeant john mccauley park in the tenderloin. this project was completed earlier this summer and here is our before photo. and here's our after shot. its main feature is this red bridge and boat play structure. it's designed to be reminiscent of a james jump boat. it has a natural play slope and multiple artworks with murals by the artists finch and mosaics, and a gateway arch by artist mark metz. and the planting includes beautiful flowering and pollinating shrubs, and hence
7:40 am
the butterfly theme on the mosaic. and next we're going to move down to the southwest corner of the city where we have mercet heights playground. here's our before shot of a lot of c.c.a. lead. and our after shot today -- the playground was completely transformed. and now it features a surprisingly tall tower structure with amazing views of the ocean. the department wases able to combine with improvements to the athletic courts and the site entries and the clubhouse. the lower level of the park is also in the planning phases for an upcoming renovation as well. we are thrilled that our playground project takes in the transformation at this park. not too far away is allis-chalmers playground in the southwest of the city. this park was the lowest rated
7:41 am
park in the entire city in 2016 and a transformation here is also incredibly wonderful. we had the circumstance of multiple funding sources converging at the same time to provide what is a full property renovation. the various projects included the playground and fencing renewals and athletic field renewals and a tent and a project within the clubhouse itself. and next off in the southern edge of the city is mcclaren park. i think this is the saddest before photo of the entire initiative. the playground here was completely removed from years ago because of its unsafe status. and here it is today. this project build off the program from the 2012 bond and the playground renovation has recreated a hub in this amazing
7:42 am
park. also renovating the adjacent picnic areas and the pathways and the large field next to the playground. the playground was relocated to take advantage of the hillside between the two picnic areas, opening up the field below it and capturing the city views from this new spot. the project was planned simultaneously to the new restroom located here which is part of the 2012 bond program. and that project is just finishing up with utility connections now. and the signage at this park was changed for the community's desire to refer to this entire geographic zone of mcclaren park as a redwood grove area rather than a group picnic area. next up is westportal playground, the first ever of the projects to complete. here's our before shot. and we were able to jumpstart on this project thanks to a significant community opportunity fund grant from the
7:43 am
2012 fund program and the community doing an engagement process and concept planning before the initiative began. here it is today. this was a complicated site located above a significant command center for the sfmta. and the project included all new waterproofing over their controls room. and they repaired multiple leaks from years gone by. and the project also involved the nature exploration area along the edge of the imrases field, an element highly desired by the community members and it was funded by a state grant eventually. and you will notice a picture here of the sun dial. it included to remove and relocating the old granite sun dial base. coincidentally, the local historical group was trying to track down a sun dial and it turns out that the sheet metal shop has redone the sun dial. and in addition as a monument,
7:44 am
it's a nice scenic element at this site. and finally we have started construction at jerry commons. the work began about one month ago now. as part of the demolition phase we have hav another area with t. and this initiative schedule is shared with you multiple times now and that red bar is where we are today. we are about to start construction on our next playground, golden gate heights. and to proceed with the contractor and the public notices are being printed now to let the neighbors know that construction will begin soon. after those we have a former playgrounds that are being worked on right now. one is in the design phase, developed simultaneously with the entire surrounding block
7:45 am
that it sits in. and the fitz playground is expected to be soon for approval of the concept plan. and richmond playground had a final meeting last week, and the site plan presented to the neighbors and we look forward to presenting that to you very soon. and finally another playground started in late 2019. we gathered a lot of background documents and have internal planning needs at that time. and the community engagement was slated to begin in the spring but we've had to delay its start due to covid. we hope to begin in earnest very soon and utilizing our new outreach strategies. and with that, i will pass it back to lisa for a few more items. >> sorry, i had to hit unmute. thank you, cara, i loved that tour. and then just to close with the
7:46 am
financial update. you will see in the next slide that the biggest change to let'splaysf! is the happy news that we have lowered the overall budget by about $1.5 million to $35.7 million because several of the completed sites did end up coming in under budget. so given those savings, we've also reduced the private fundraising targets to $13.3 million from $14.5 million. and despite the reduction, we still believe that this number is pretty conservative because we have kept some financial cushion in and we do have a healthy reserve to handle unexpected issues for the remaining construction projects. and any unused money at the end of the initiative would go to playground maintenance. so we have lowered the campaign goal to $13.3 million, which
7:47 am
leaves us with just $2 million left to go in the fundraising campaign and we're in a final push to complete that fundraising in the next several months. and, of course, one of the tools that we user the donor recognition blocks which have now started to be installed in all of the playgrounds. they're the blocks that the commission approved as we launched the initiative. and they're really lovely celebrations of the donors and they also tell the story of how let'splaysf! came to be a partnership project with between the builders and the generous donors who have come together to build all of these playgrounds for parents and children. with that we'll close our presentation and say thank you very much for your interest and we're happy to take any questions. >> president buell: thank you very much. >> clerk: we are now on public
7:48 am
comment for item 7, let'splaysf!. if there's anyone on the line that would like to comment on this item, please dial star, 3. hello, caller, please state your name. >> caller: hi. i apologize. i wanted to call in support of the bayview park renovation. is this the right time? >> clerk: no. but stay on the line and listen for item 12 and you can give comment then under general public comment, okay? >> caller: thank you very much. >> clerk: you're welcome. hello, caller, please state your name. >> caller: edna james of san francisco mersie mercier heights playground. i wondered the completion of the bathrooms making them a.d.a.
7:49 am
accessible. hello? >> clerk: we'll have someone answer in just a moment. hold on for just a moment. anything else to comment on? >> caller: no, i will wait until you get to item 10. >> clerk: okay. thank you. >> stacy, dan here, if i could respond if appropriate. >> clerk: we can wait until we get to item 10, dan. >> perfect. >> clerk: all right. seeing no other callers on the line, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> chair -- >> clerk: i'm sorry. if you have any comments, you can make them now. this is a discussion only so there's no -- >> i thought that it was a very good presentation. i think that the whole program of let'splaysf! has come a long way. and the public/private partnership has been terrific. and it's really encouraging to
7:50 am
see from the beginning toward -- i think that we're getting toward the end -- to see the continuity and the cooperation and my compliments to all of the staff. >> i would like to comment as well if i can. >> president buell: go ahead, commissioner. >> thank you very much. and having been on the task force, i'm so excited to see as commissioner buell noted the continuing progress that lisa and cara and the team have been amazing, both on the property management side and also in partnership with the parks alliance. and just a footnote, i note that i remember the conversation around the mcclaren park project in particular because the picture of the before state was so bad that i wasn't interested in investing in it. we were going to move on because it was just that bad. so i'm excited to see that we did identify it as a site. and the after picture is just
7:51 am
fantastic. so, again, thanks to the team for all of your great leadership on this project. >> president buell: thank you, commissioner. anyone else? >> clerk: no one else has raised their hand. >> president buell: seeing no other comments, that was discussion only. let's move on. >> clerk: item 8, the geneva car barn and powerhouse phase 1 project. melinda, you're muted. >> good morning, commissioners, melinda sullivan, rec and park department project manager. pardon the headphones, i have been hiding from the 1-year-old since march in our second bedroom. the item before you today is the discussion and the possible action to amend the construction contract with roebuck construction incorporated for the geneva car barn and
7:52 am
powerhouse phase one 1, to bring the total to $9,179,030, which is greater than 10% over the original approved contract amount of $8,267,300. the goals of this are to inspire play and to inspire investment. this project, the powerhouse phase 1, is an old muni railway barn. it's an historic site both locally and nationally. a group of community members came together to save the building and this group became the friends of the car barn and powerhouse. rec and park acquired the building in 2004 at which point a stabilization project for the building was completed. in 2010 it was listed on the national register. and also in 2010, an architecture firm called adman darling design was chosen to be the architect to design a
7:53 am
thoughtful adaptive re-use for the building. since that time, 10 years ago, rec and park has been working with adlan darling design, and the preservation office and the community to have a plan for the revitalized structure. so what will be happening in this space? arts programming will be provided by our sub-tenant performing arts workshop, a non-profit program and provider. they've been working with underserved youth in san francisco for over 40 years. they'll also provide performing arts programming for toddlers and adults and seniors and families and partner with other neighborhood-based organizations to provide visual arts programming. the rec and park department is also partnering with the community art stabilization trust, otherwise known as cast, to provide capital funding to the project and to enable the utilization of the new market and historic preservation tax credits. this space will serve as a community meeting place and it
7:54 am
can be rented for short-term events such as rehearsals and performances and weddings and other special events. the phase 1 includes a renovation of the powerhouse portion of the building, as well as its surrounding site improvements. phase 2, for which funding is still to be identified, will include the renovation of the large adjacent office building as well as some additional improvements to the powerhouse. project was advertised for construction in october 2017. and it began construction apri april 2018. the project reached the potential completion in mid-april 2020. and i'm happy to report that we are very close to final completion. the project is fully funded and this is not a request for additional funds. the request seeks the authorization to spend these funds only in exceedance of 10%, and i want to point out that there were three fairly
7:55 am
significant change orders early on in the construction. installation of a modular restroom and added sidewalk on san jose avenue, and the addition of a tenant improvement office space. the modular restroom was done as a change order as opposed to base award because the project manager at the time believed that this restroom could be acquired outside of the construction contract but then had to add it to the construction contract. and the office space is added because at the time that it was finalized we did not have our tenant finalized and so we realized that it would be a value to have a dedicated office space, as well as a space that was enclosed to serve as a green room or dressing room for events and such. so in addition to these three large change orders there's been many other -- much smaller change orders negotiated back and forth between the contractor, the project manager and the construction manager. and we almost made it except we
7:56 am
-- we realized that we -- it would be very difficult for our structural maintenance yard to replace, repair, patch, some of the gutter work, not on the powerhouse, but on the adjacent office building. i have been in touch with our yard superintendent and our operations staff to confirm that, in fact, they did not have the resources to complete this work at this time. the contractor was willing and able to engage with the sub-contractor and to put up scaffolding to complete this work which will prevent water from leaking down on to the san jose frontage and over the bike rack. and it will also help to minimize any wind disturbance to guttering flying about. and as i mentioned we are nearing final completion. we've already worked on our legal agreements to allow the tenant to start moving in, and they're doing so. and the cla collaboration has bn working valley smoothly, and
7:57 am
we're in touch every week. i also want to mention that we are -- we are in touch with supervisor safai's office and the general public and we still hope to do some kind of event once we have the updated information from the public health officer. this concludes my report. i'm happy to answer any questions. >> president buell: thank you very much. any questions from commissioners? yes, commissioner mazzola. >> commissioner mazzola: yeah, so on the modular bathroom, melinda, did -- is that in already? or is that -- what is the status of that? >> that is, commissioner mazzola. yes, sorry, i should have mentioned. that was one of the earliest change orders that was done a long time ago, early in the project. i just mentioned that because that consumed some portion of that 10% change order allowance. >> commissioner mazzola: okay. so, you know, i may have made this speech before when this came up, but i'll do it again.
7:58 am
any modular housing construction is a job killer and it's a job loser in san francisco. and shipping away jobs should be against the city's values and park and rec's values. and doing business with entities that exploit workers that are building this modular housing and not paying area standard wages should also be against the city's values. so, you know, the more we ship out, the less local residents work on these projects and the less opportunities for residents to get in the union apprenticeship programs diminishes. so i'm against the whole modular housing thing and i know that it's in already but because there's modular housing included in this, i will vote no today. and i wanted everyone to know that. (please stand by)
7:59 am
8:00 am
to because space is extremely constrained and there is otoan a.d.a. accessible restroom in the powerhouse and this was an environment for the entire project. when funds are raised and there is a development plan for the car barn which is the larger of the two spaces, it will, of course, include full restroom access that will be constructed. >> thank you. any other commissioners comments? let's open it up for public comment. >> actually, we do have comments from supervisor safai's office is on the line and she would like to comment. >> please do. >> a thank you. thank you, stacy, general manager, and commissioner. we definitely hear your concern and this is only a temporary solution until we get the full building renovate and completed which the community is very excited about.
8:01 am
we were able to tour the space a couple of months ago and it is beautiful. it is such an asset to the community and a real testament about the worth and is excited to welcome to the powerhouse -- it's been a cornerstone in our community for a long time and to preserve this building and to make it functional for residents and for our families in district 11. as stated before, that melinda is a, this will be the primary art hub for the 11th families and we have a wonderful partner who will be activating that space and moving in shortly. and they are engaging in, pending restrictions being lifted, and it has the largest population of public school
8:02 am
children in our city. we are near the finish line and this additional fund willing help us realize this important community asset. we encourage you all to help support the minor budget increase to cross the finish line and allow for project completion. we thank you, all, for your support and i am also here for any other questions if needed. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, monica. we are now in public comment. this is item 8 the geneva car barn and powerhouse. if there is anyone on the line who would like to comment, please dial star 3. seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. >> a president, commissioner, any questions? >> a seeing none, the chair could entertain a motion. >> so moved. >> an it's been moved and thank
8:03 am
you, gloria. moved and seconded. all those in favor? so moved. thank you very much. so noted. thank you, larry and thank you, melinda. >> okay. we are now on item 9, golden gate park tennis center. >> good morning, commissioners. i am trying to pull things up on all my screens. we are here to talk about an agenda item which is a discussion and possible action to modify certain provisions, including with respect to rent, operating hours, and summer schedule, of the proposed agreement with lifetime tennis for the operation of the golden gate park tennis center due to the impact of covid-19. i do have a power point i am going to try and share if
8:04 am
possible. it takes up the entire screen when i share it, but hopefully this will work. does everybody see a power point? >> an i do. >> okay. perfect. so let me get started. we are proposing to modify a couple of provisions due to covid-19 which i am going to describe. these modifications do not change our goals with respect to the tennis center which is to have a manager in charge of the daily operations and to have accessible and affordable tennis for children, youth, and adults and to have a welcoming atmosphere. a reminder and background in november of 2019, the commission authorized the department to enter into an operating
8:05 am
agreement with lifetime tennis for eight years. one of the reasons lifetime was selected as the operator was its great experience as i will show you on the next slide. they operated in a number of sites and that great experience is wonderful looking forward but it's had a very -- there are other operations that have been adversely affected by covid. since march of 2020, lifetime has had to suspend operations for 65 days at five facilities due to the various county health alert. while they have been able to start virtually in most places they are limited to single tennis and group play and camps that are big revenue generators are very limited. since late may they have been operating at 35% and late may is when they reopened and revenue
8:06 am
levelled. and lifetime is an organization that has employees and takes great pride in taking care of the employees and in order to continue and cover light expenses, lifetime was required to spend a considerable amount of the working capital that was planned to cover the startup costs at golden gate tennis center. they knew operations would take a while to gear up and lose money initially and also had significant investments to get up and going. in addition to the impact on the operations, we are continuing to see impact here in san francisco. tennis is still limited to only two people and in much of the same house hold and no other tenements or group play. the restrictions -- we expect tennis to open in the late fall and will severely limit lifetime's revenue sources. lifetime came to us a couple of months ago and said they no longer had the fund available to
8:07 am
fund the startup costs due to the impact of covid-19. we have worked with them over the last few months to come to you with changes to the agreement which they will allow them to move forward as the operator which i am about to drien. -- which i am about to describe. the first change is the hour of operations. originally 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. sunday through saturday. they were always concerned about that early of a start in terms of actual demand and then with covid even more so. the proposed no hours are 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. and allows them to staff more efficiently, too, monday through friday at 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on saturday and sunday for year one of operations. also, reminder they will be starting operations in the winter. if there is, demand, of course, we'll look to open it up more.
8:08 am
year two will go back to the original hours subject to adjustment after the review of the usage which was part of the original agreement. the biggest one is rent. originally they were going to be paying each year the higher percentage rent or 5% of gross receipts. and 5% of gross receipts or a base rent. the base rent for the first year was 45,000. we never expected it or the 5% to hit it, and the second year was $50,000. what we are agreeing is to waive all rent for the first year. and that way that $45,000 was due before they even started so we're waiving that up front cost. and to z year two we are waiving the base rent. they will bay a base present unless the operations are limited to covid-19 restrictions and the general manager will have the right to waive that percentage rent for year two. obviously we prefer not to do this.
8:09 am
this money was going into the maintenance fund to maintain the courts long term but we have to make compromises for the latest financial situation and we believe this is the appropriate operation to take. another change with originally a shared summer schedule where the departments own summer camp will run certain weeks and lifetimes will run after the departments. we are proposing for 2021 and 2022 that they would have the entire summer to programs to help them financially. we will offer our summer programs at other sites like we did this year in summer 2023. but i want to emphasize this does not impact at all the tlc
8:10 am
programs serving understood serving and middle school kids. they will have the same access they would have during the summer and the school year. the security system they were required to install with the tennis coalition is picking up the cost of the installation. dana gills has worked really close with us to come up with a plan and his team and staff continue to be part of the operation. we have been working in the bay area since 1993. that is my update. thank you. >> thank you. >> if you would like to comment,
8:11 am
dial star and then 3. >> hello, caller. please state your name. >> calle >> calle >> caller: lois -- >> go ahead. >> please go ahead with your comments. >> caller: i'm sorry? thank you. sorry. the transmission is delayed and confusing. thank you. good morning, commissioners. good morning, general managers. i am a tennis player, not a golfer and want to offer my congratulations to the splendid pga championship and so much national attention to the outstanding sports facility and we as a tennis coalition
8:12 am
recognize that harding did not earn that overnight and we fully expect in the coming years that the lisa and douglas goldman tennis center will become yet another jewel in san francisco's crown of public sport. it is coming alive at a stuningly rapid rate if you have been to the site, but as the magnificent facility emerges, it is equally important that every day is run well and on all cylinders. as you heard from dana, several we collaborated to find outstanding probational operator and were fortunate to have lifetime tennis succeed and that for months tennis has been shut down throughout the bay area and now that it is back, it is back at a limited capacity. very few events and delayed high school seasons. and lifetime was hit hard and
8:13 am
has been greatly restricted in the capacity. given the circumstances, it would have been quite understandable and is not the time there to express the appreciation and praise to dana and r.p.d. and starting up there to be viable. and that is with the short term and lock-term success. and this tennis senter will become one of the finest urban tennis centers in the country thank you. >> thank you so much. all all he low, caller. state your name.
8:14 am
>> this is dana gill, c.e.o. of lifetime activities. >> go ahead. >> thank you. good morning. and general manager ginsburg and director kechum. like so many other businesses the past five months has been a challenging time for our organization. however, we're extremely proud with the tenure and the strength of character and to as allowed and this also includes a tennis director and the general manager. currently employed at the
8:15 am
manager and to the opening of golden gate park with the heartfelt thanks and the members of the general public. and individually and me and my team and during the months that is usually business as usual. and in dealing with the day-to-day operations and while new to this community that is no surprise the reputation and the beacon of hope this tennis center has become. if you motivated us ourselves
8:16 am
and with the grand opening and greatly appreciate your consideration today. >> caller, please state your name and a reminder you have two minutes. >> caller: good morning, everybody. this is julie and i am the executive director of the tennis coalition. thank you, all, for having us today. we appreciate the opportunity to support the changes in the lease agreement. and to piggyback on what lois was saying this, project has been hit hard in many aspects with building delays and glass manufacturers shutting down for months in the midwest to subcontractors suffering through major losses. like any great tennis team, we
8:17 am
have been able to quickly implement a new time and find the way to cover the building in plywood and plastic so work could continue indoors and the project manager and got pg&e out weeks earlier than expected and we will be delayed yet but are very excited to open this year. with so much unknown about the opening of the facility, we feel it is best position to have office furniture, computers, can security system and teaching and court maintenance tools. and to lighten the load for the lifetime in the first phase is a
8:18 am
critical component of that success. and we would love to see longer operating hours and lifetime would, too, and we will have to wait and see how covid plays out. our crystal ball forecast says we will have within several months opening as the incredible pentup demand. i am a double player and haven't been on the court in months. let's hope so. >> it will be a bit of a lockky road ahead and what we look forward with some uncertainty and one thing has remained constant with the right people, anything is possible. so thank you, all, for being part of the team and we really appreciate the time today. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, julie. >> seeing no other callers on the line, public comment is closed. >> a commissioners -- >> commissioner lo hah his hand up. >> the first question is what are the thoughts behind waiving
8:19 am
the percentage? >> it was a negotiating point but the issue is when you look at the numbers to lose money during the entire operation and giving percentage rent on top of it makes him lose more which is why we pushed hard to make the percentage rent to stay in place starting year two. year one is expected to go extremely slowly. >> second question is probably a broader question. this is the first lease modification coming before the commission. i imagine or expect there's going to be many more rent relief requests coming before us. why is this one coming first? and are we going to see more in the pipeline? >> so what there was a directive that came out from the city administrator that we followed
8:20 am
and we have been waiving rent for any entity that's been shut down. we have for entities that are open we have been waiving mag and just collecting percentage rent. we are waiting for some action coming out through the board of supervisors as well with the longer term leases that has been in place. and we were expecting to come out and for many of the leases we have the ability to waive these provisions because of the nature of the agreement. here we were about to sign a new agreement. and so we felt we had to come to you before we signed the new agreement with the changes in it. and because it differed from the term sheet. and we were waiving mag during percentage rates at the time they would be open. >> and the commissioner to chime in on top of that, the simple answer is because they haven't opened yet.
8:21 am
and the covid and rent relief stuff is from existing -- our existing operators and this is a new operator that we are adjusting the terms permanently going forward. >> do you expect many more rent relief requests to be coming down the pipeline? >> yes. they are ongoing while operations and rent has been deferred for operations that are shut down. for instance, if you look at quioxte tower, there is no rent being collected because they are not operating. they are not like a business -- they are a small business and they don't have anything else. they don't have anything else to be able to do. as we look to reopen, we are working with the city attorney on exactly what approvals we need to make those things finalized. we are trying to clear our head above just the day in and day
8:22 am
out issues of maintaining the buildings and facilities and we'll be coming to the commission with a complete update on what we need to do and where we need to approve it and the emergency order and for this period of time. and sorry. go ahead. commissioner, is that obviously we're not the only city agency with this tenant, and so during the course of covid, there has been languagety discussions and and go to the board. and the city administrator and and is well aware there are some departments we have commissioned such as the port and rec and park and real estate and with
8:23 am
leases and the policy is being i think a long-term policy issues and the processes and to have sort of a longer term path here. >> and we are wrapped up to be way more complicated than we are in terms of how -- >> the airport is another one. and to have 40-year leases. and what we have. >> it would be interesting to also see when the presentation is ready to see what the long-term effect will be and
8:24 am
it's major. >> it's major already. >> and the commission goes forward that in order to keep moving forward with the project that we have in our basket that we will have to make some concessions. and i am gratified that these concessions that the crews at lifetime activitys is willing to continue to go forward and even though they are going to understood go some losses and they are just not dropping the
8:25 am
project because too often that's happening with the different programs throughout the city. and i just wanted to say that i am -- i think the concessions are reasonable. they are reasonable given all that is happening and i am fully in support of the concession. >> thank you. do i hear a motion? >> so moved. >> an it's been moved and seconded. all those in favor? thank you. that is approved.
8:26 am
is the audio working? >> we are ready for item 10 for the merced heights and with the let's play sf program presentation and my particular item is specific to the merced heights playground project. as kara mentioned in the presentation, this project is nearing completion and we are about two to three weeks away from being able to open the facility back up to the public. the flar item before you here is a contract modification and for the record i'm just going to read the wording here to be concise. we are looking to amend that treaty construction and with the increase contract amount by up to 351,000 and bringing the revised not to exceed contract
8:27 am
amount to $2,493,010 and is greater that the 10% of the approved contract amount. a lot of numbers there essentially. the thrust of this is under the city admin code we are required to come back to the commission and you folks to get approval to exceed the 10% contingency amount and that is what we are asking for today and essentially what we are looking for is an increase above the 10% of 137,310 dollars to address four primary construction contingency workout elements that we have implemented. essentially what those include are additional irrigation and planting improvements along the bixby street frontage and in front of the clubhouse. those particular improvements weren't part of the original construction contract but with the scope to create that work now which makes sense to have a
8:28 am
fresh new face from the exterior. the other element a we had to install a wood fascia board along a lot of the new fencing panels that went in and around the athletic courts at the playground. we had a structural detail deviation that was required to mount this fence on existing retaining walls. and the attachment point created a safety concern for the public. and so in order to mitigate that we put a wood fascia cap on the face of that element for safety protection. and the next one and the third item referenced here is painting of all the retaining walls that are on the site. as karen mentioned, we were able to redo the playground and three tiered park with robust portions of retaining walls. with new courts and new
8:29 am
surfacing on the fencing and court, it made sense to paint the retaining walls. we added that to the scope of the project. there was an a.d.a. requirement from the mayor's office of disability when they reviewed the site during construction to add a new accessible point of industry off the e-street frontage into the athletic courts and in doing so require that we had to augment the existing sidewalk grade at that entry point. we are proposing to move forward with that. so those four particular items in the increase of 137,000 above the contract amount and looking forward with this element to complete this project. as i mentioned, project is anticipated in the next two to three weeks and the funding request isn't going into new buckets of funding and the current budget project can absorb this cost increase.
8:30 am
with that i will conclude the presentation and conditions questions. >> thank you, dan. >> with public comment if there is anyone on the line, yell star three. >> hello, caller. please state your name. >> go right ahead, edna. >> caller: first, i want to thank lisa for the idea that we had talked about two of the bricks and wanted more information regarding there. that was one item that i was
8:31 am
interested in. i wanted to talk a little bit about the retaining wall. i wasn't quite clear which entrance he was talking about regarding that remaining wall and then there was an opening there. so was the opening he is talking about -- it was on -- in front of the court. >> is that it? >> yes. okay. >> the park as you go down the
8:32 am
street slope is in three separate tiers and what we are doing is regrade the steep sidewalk so we are providing the level landing at the gate that enters into the park. there will be aer landing and the concrete sidewalk will feter to meet existing street grade. if you don't mind me jumping in, from public works is to have the
8:33 am
8:34 am
and that is an it coo, cute dog. we are tackling the level piece of this and the other incremental smaller changes to make at the bottom and the top to make it easier for seniors and those who are accessibility. >> and i will engage with you on that as we move forward here. there was a question earlier on in the project and i wanted to conclude this one. there was a question about restrooms. this particular project did include the renovation of the rhett rooms to make it a.d.a. compliant. one will be an all gender restroom and they are all gender restroom to meet current codes and environments and are a.d.a. accessible.
8:35 am
8:36 am
8:37 am
to introduce the trip hazards and the project cope consists of a few elements an these are outlined in more detail on the attachments and includes replacement and reinforcement of an area of pavement to the east side of civic center plaza. this is a sizable, high traffic space that is important to supporting year round events. it also will include pavement maintenance at northeast corner of the plaza and trip hazard remediation and pavement maintenance as several areas near grove, polk and mcalester. this was bid through fran public works and on june 17 we were happy to receive three bid proposals of a range of values. the original engineer estimate was $730,000 with the low bid slightly over that with the
8:38 am
plaza payment maintenance and to begin construction with a with the negatively effecting any events, art installations or market activitieses in the plaza and is supported by the mayor's office on disability and the department of read. at this point that concludes my report. i will be happy to answer any questions you have and thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. >> any public comment?
8:39 am
we are checking the line now. >> just muted myself. are there any callers on the line to comment on item number 11, civic center plaza, please dial star 3. >> seeing none, the chair will entertain a motion. >> so moved. >> second. >> been moved and seconded. >> all those in favor. thank you very much. we are on item 12, general public comment continued from item 4. if there is any member of the
8:40 am
public on the line that would like to that is not on the agenda but is under the subject agenda, dial star 3 and as a reminder, you will have two minutes for comment. hello, caller. please state your name. >> northerning. >> go ahead. may i proceed? >> please do. off i see today you had a bift of moneys to paint the gazebos today and i wasn't present for that item, but i hope it was
8:41 am
passed. way back when i was a proponent for that park and we tried to make the mark more water friendly during a drought. i noted that the gardeners explain they traded raises to keep full employment. that is a great idea and i think everybody should in these times be ready to do the things that are necessary to keep people employ and to make sure that the parks are still able to be serviced and enjoyed. and i would hope going forward that the rent relief i heard would be negotiated with other vendors on city land. and so that aum can use the
8:42 am
parks and to supplement the ordinance. >> hello, caller. please state your name. >> awe i am trying to get an issue on drinking fountain water in the park. i haven't been able to be in touch to carry over to the next person and as the supervisor. so i wanted to give an update on a few other issues. we made it to water. the water issue from flint, michigan, and got on the a $600 million liability loss so in san francisco i am looking at our water should be for drinking
8:43 am
fountain water for those who live in the county. and with this water fountain is blended and sewer water and join the ground water and cor nated and washed dechlorinated or in that sequence, i don't really think that's good water to drink at the parks. but i haven't been able to get very much done and city hall is closed. my hunch is it will probably have to carry over until after the elections. thank you. >> thank you very much, richard.
8:44 am
and with the events to go out to more and social distance and with the most important place. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. to see no other callers, item 12 is closed. we are on item 13, the closed session. i would ask at this time that any staff that does not need to be present go ahead and leave the meeting.
8:45 am
8:46 am
there he goes. you're muted. >> we can read your lips. better stop cursing. >> back in the dead. we are on commissioner's matters right now. is there that you want to discuss? >> oh, absolutely nothing. >> check to see if we have any member of the public on the line. >> if there is anybody that can hear me and would like to comment on commissioners' matters, please press star 3. all right. so public comment is closed. we are now on item 15, new business agenda setting. any new items? >> none. >> is there anyone on the public
8:47 am
line, please star 3. >> i think a bunch of us just got kicked off the system. anybody there left? seeing no one on the line, public comment is closed for item 15. we are on item 16, communications. awe nun. anyone in the public that would like to make comment? >> on communications? >> last one. anything? all right. seeing no one, we are on item 17 and adjournment. >> move to adjourn. >> before we adjourn, i want to thank you very much for -- we are learning this process as we go, but i think you've got it almost down completely. you can be an inspiration to the entire city. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. we will entertain a motion to
8:48 am
adjourn. >> second, third and fourthed. all those in favor? aye. thank you very much. we are adjourned. bye. [gavel]. >> chair peskin: good morning and welcome to the san francisco county transportation authority meeting for today, august 25, 2020. we have a new clerk today, miss brittany milton, who comes to
8:49 am
8:50 am
>> chair peskin: thank you, ms. milton. do you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes. public comment will be available for any item on this agenda by call 888-204-5987, and entering access code on the screen. once told, you will be invited to join the meeting as a participant. when prompted, dial star, three to speak. you will be prompted by the system when it is your turn to speak. please anow for audio alf delays and a 30-second lag time during the course of this meeting. that completes my announcement. >> chair peskin: thank you, ms.
8:51 am
milton, and colleagues, supervisor mandelman is going to be about 30 minutes late fore this meeting. colleagues, is there a motion? >> supervisor walton: second. >> chair peskin: ms. meltocan that without roll or how do i handle that? >> because there is no quorum for this meeting, you don't need to have -- because there is no quorum for this meeting, you don't have to call roll for that item. >> chair peskin: thank you. i want to thank supervisor walton and supervisor yee for
8:52 am
convening two weeks ago during our one-week recess to consider and ultimately approve the one-cent sales tax for our caltrain. this will provide much needed reforms and a path for long needed funding for this train that will connect san francisco, san mateo, and santa clara counties. we want to thank supervisor walton serving on the ad hoc govern johnson committee, particularly supervisor send -- cindy chavez and david cruz, as
8:53 am
well as our entire elected official delegation, including our mayor, mayor breed, senator wiener, and representatives chiu and tang. now we need to educate about the measure and as a measure, it will need two thirds ballot approval to pass. the other thing was the m.t.c. to include the downtown extension or d.t.x. as we call it, strengthening the project's call on near term federal and state funds. this is just the draft reprint stage, but i want to acknowledge and appreciate the milestone and successful joint advocacy by tilly chang and our transportation authority staff, as well as the transbay joint powers authority with the
8:54 am
support of our m.t.c., commissioner ronen, and our other m.t.c. reps on that body. i also want to thank work for the securing outcome, and you'll hear a little bit more about that on our executive director's report. on a related note, i'm pleased to report that the executive steering committee, which, colleagues, you'll remember our deliberations about reform in that agency, held its inaugural meeting in july and adopted our nominee, tilly chang, as its chair. good luck for more work, and we look forward to the team for more great outcomes. unfortunately, and we can schedule at our next meeting a hearing on this, but i am
8:55 am
extremely disappointed and saddened that after five months of closure of our subway under market street, that we still have problems with splices and got off to a terrible start yesterday. it is extremely disappointing, and i would like to schedule a hearing on that. i know that the director of transportation director tumlin wanted to speak on that, but insofar as it's not on the agenda, i was advised by counsel that we cannot discuss it in this meeting. finally, congratulations are in order for cynthia fong, deputy director of finance and her administration, for achieving a certificate of excellence in financial recording by the governor finance officers association. for the third year in a row,
8:56 am
ms. fong, and to your team, congratulations for this outstanding award and for your stewardship of our taxpayers' dollars, and with that, colleagues, i conclude my remarks. is there any public comment on the chair's report? >> clerk: chair, let me check. >> chair peskin: thank you, ms. milton. >> operator: you have no public comment. >> chair peskin: public comment is closed madam executive director, your report, please. >> good morning, and thank you, chair peskin, good morning, commissioners. in addition to chair peskin's congratulations, i'd ask for this meeting to be added to your calendar so we can discuss particularly the budget and work program. so thank you to each of you and
8:57 am
your staff. i'll lead off with an update on the state level. state legislation is moving along, and the statutory deadline for bills to be approved is august 31. we've been tracking these bills, and we don't have an update for your agenda today, but we will in the next meeting. only a few of the top priorities are advancing. of the bills the t.a. has taken a position, only a few are still active. senate bill 288 from senator wiener, from which we currently have a watch position, which has to do with ceqa reform, passed out of legislation next
8:58 am
week. there would also be -- they've added certain requirements for public meetings before and during construction and established a sunset date of january 2023. so those are some updates on that bill. we are also following a budget trailer bill, sb 815, which would allow for gas tax funds that are currently direct via formula to transit agencies to be used for transit operations. these are normally used for state of good repair maintenance capital projects, but the state is allowing through this bill to allow for transit operations to use them to avoid cuts in service. so it's the regulation that allows federal funds to be used that we talked about last month. so we will provide an update on those of these as well as other bills on the september 15
8:59 am
meeting as well as a federal update that includes updates on representative ayanna pressley's freedom to move acts. acts are due for bicycle and pedestrians projects, including a $220 million statewide program, and a $37 million regional program administered by d.t.c. so we will be submitting a package for the yerba buena design pathway. we talked about this at the timma committee last month, and other projects are the fulton howard streetscape project, which will include best of my
9:00 am
knowledge and long-term improvements on those streets. also, m.t.c.s application with the alameda county transportation commissioner is also of interest because it included design of improvements connecting the west bay path to oakland. the water authority transit agency and the downtown transit project have created the ferry project, an upgrade to the ferry gates and a beautiful new plaza, including some overhead weather protection, as well as improving emergency response capabilities. the project will include future services, including service to treasure island and some east bay cities that are included to 2030, and we did contribute about $2.7 million to that
9:01 am
project. we're happy to support that project through design and construction. as you recall, we've been tracking these after the board approved funding for the l.r.b. funding, the expansion vehicles that came in and were used recently, but also the 151 existing -- replacement of existing 151 l.r.v.s. i think first vehicle is expected last month. on the downtown rail extension, thank you, chair peskin, for mentioning that. i'll just mention that deputy director from m.t.c. was elected -- [no audio] >> as well as early phasing studies, so that will be a monthly meeting, as well as our e.f.c. meetings, and you can
9:02 am
find information on the tjpas website. on a related note, the executive directors of the water transit authority and municipal transportation agency have announced their retirement, so i want to congratulate them. we also appreciate, of course, director mark zabaneh's service at the transboy joint powers authority, managing through some tough times but always with transparency and ultimately being able to celebrate with full confidence this beautiful new facility for the region, as well as his
9:03 am
shepherding of the d.t.x. project through the approval stage at the federal level. so best wishes to them in their retirement and their future endeavors. the lifeline transportation program at the state level, we have some applications underway. these were reviewed at the t.a. board, transportation authority board last month. for sfmta, these will be utilizing these funds for the lifeline transportation program and the folks using that, and the b.a.r.t. transportation and redundancy project that we mentioned last month. hopefully, your offices have seen some messages from our agency our news regarding an on-line game as well as other
9:04 am
measures to folks to let them know about the study's progress. there's an on-line game called unclog fog city to help understand the different tradeoffs in deciding the level of sea level in our city. we are sponsoring a telephone town hall and virtual town hall on august 26, tomorrow, in fact, and a workshop with s.p.u.r. and the bicycle coalition on november 1. we are also working with many, many organizations through small group meetings as well as
9:05 am
distributing fliers through food bampnks and other ways of getting the word out to folks in the community. i also want to thank and congratulate the sfmta for its outstanding work on the bayview community transportation plan as well as supervisor walton's office, d-10 office. they've just received the california planning association award for excellence in opportunity and empowerment, so congratulations to that team. that was a fantastic project that brought together the community, including participatory budgeting, and d.t.c. brought funds to support that, and we at sfmta have brought forward investments to that plan.
9:06 am
finally, i just want to add my congratulations to deputy director cynthia fong and controller carmen hui and the rest of the finance decision staff on the decision of the finance government's award. >> chair peskin: thank you for that. are there any comments from members? seeing none, is there any public comment on the executive director's report? >> clerk: okay. we're checking. >> operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> chair peskin: okay. public comment is closed. madam clerk, could you please read the next item? >> clerk: item 4, approve the minutes of the july 28, 2020 meeting. this is an action item. >> chair peskin: is there any public comment on the minutes
9:07 am
of our july 28 meeting? madam clerk? >> operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> clerk: there is none. >> chair peskin: public comment is closed. and is is there a motion to approve said minutes? made by -- >> supervisor walton: so moved. >> chair peskin: moved by commissioner walton and seconded by commissioner yee, beat commissioner fewer on that. roll call please, miss melton. >> clerk: on the item approval of minutes -- [roll call]
9:08 am
9:09 am
want to text joe to unmute. >> sorry. production, can you unmute joe's mic, please? >> chair peskin: why don't we go to item 6, is that okay? >> clerk: sure. >> chair peskin: and we can circle back to item 5. madam clerk, why don't you read item 6. >> clerk: item 6, preliminary fiscal year 2020-21 budget and pork progr work program. this is an information item. >> let me take a moment to pull up my slide.
9:10 am
>> chair peskin: yes, we are. >> so this is your first look at the fiscal year 2020-21 budget. before i begin diving into the numbers, i'd just like to take a moment to review the t.a.s agency structure. we have 47 approved positions here across six different divisions. the t.a. administers the prop a sales tax program, the $10 double vehicle prop d registration fee, the transbay prop mitigation tax, and we act as the local manager for the transportation fund for clean air. we have six different mandated
9:11 am
responsibilities, and we have 47 staff approved by this board to carry all those functions out. i'd also like to take a moment to recap on the sales tax revenue industry and also a moment how we did for sales tax revenues for fiscal year 19-20. here, we have a past look of fiscal year sales tax revenue. you can see here in 2012, we were collecting about $81 million of revenue each year. this was also the same time the federal department of transportation moved into a new communication system. and then, covid-19 impacted all of us.
9:12 am
we had collected revenue of $86 million, and we had originally anticipated we would collect 110. i'm happy to tell you that we have collected overall $99 million. now going forward in fiscal year 20-21, we are anticipating collecting $91 million. we are expecting to continue to shelter in place, and we'll continue to report back how we're doing. >> excuse me, cynthia. do you see the presenting box that keeps flickering on on my? i don't know if anyone else
9:13 am
sees it, as well. >> no, i don't. >> okay. >> chair peskin: and do you want to say how you came up with that? you didn't create a crystal box, you consulted with experts based on modelling, and i think it's important to state that. >> sure. let's take a moment to state that. there is no crystal ball behind the curtain here. we are working with consultants in economics in addition to working closely with the controller's office, as well. they have a separate economist, so it's great to compare two different third-party sources. in addition, joe's presentation would have taken a look at how we arrived at some of these numbers, along with some tourist and hotel occupancy rates, we are looking at other considerations such as
9:14 am
percentage of workforce in san francisco that's able to work from home. also, restaurants opening -- sales that impact sales tax in san francisco. and wayfair collections -- we started receiving that tax in december, while that was assessed back on april 1 of 2019. there are a lot of different factors that go into these revenue estimates. we try to remain conservative, trying to monitor what's happening in san francisco, including mayor breed's current orders for san francisco. all right. is that good enough? >> chair peskin: that's great. >> okay. i'll go on.
9:15 am
we are looking at 20% more revenues as compared to last fiscal year. as you can see on the chart, the gray chart represent the 20-21 budget, while the blue represents the projected budget. there is [inaudible] and bridge structure project. mainly, the south gate realignment project. as you may remember, we had begun construction on that project in june of this year. in addition, vehicle registration fee represents 3%. we city a small -- see a small
9:16 am
decrease due to covid-19 impacts. our transportation mitigation tax represented 5%. this is a new tax for the t.a. we began collections on january 1, 2020. we had anticipated collecting, for the first six months, $7.5 million revenue. we had budgeted 3.2 and actual collect ended up to 2.5. so we were estimating with the controller's office and sfmta, $7.4 million for a full 12 months for the are traffic congestion mitigation tax. now interest and other revenues represent less than 1%. majority of the cash that the t.a. holds fits with the -- fits with the treasury pool office -- city's treasury pool. let me move onto expenditures now. just to highlight first, our main source of expenditures are
9:17 am
proposition k. this is seeking the largest reimbursement request for the current year. the majority of expenditures, approximately $45 million. will be going to sfmta's light rail vehicle procurements. sfmta is the sponsor that receives the most funds from the t.a.s prop k program. in addition, we'll have large reimbursement from several places, including the san francisco public works geary resurfacing project. executive director tan will go more into detail in her presentation of the agency's work plan. >> great. thank you, cynthia. >> i have one more slide, tilly. so expenditures, this is the last slide. expenditures, we are looking at an increase of 15.5%. as you can see, the capital project costs thus far are the
9:18 am
ones that represent 85.6% of expenditures. in addition to the expenditures i just indicated on the last slide, we anticipate lower than usual prop k expenditures being carried forward. our operating cost, this represents about 5% of the t.a.'s budget. we are anticipating an increase in personnel costs of approximately 10%. these are related to positions that we had removed from last year's budget and now anticipate hiring these positions. they are the real program manager, a senior transportation planner, and a transportation planner. in terms of operating costs, we have barely a change here. we have less operating costs than last year, and then, we have debt service costs. this represents 10% of the
9:19 am
t.a.s budget. now, this is for fees, principles, and interest for the sales tax revenue bond and in addition to maintaining our $140 million revolving credit loan agreement. this is a line of credit that the agency has had for the last three years. our debt program has allowed us to be more flexible in delivery of prop k projects. y in order to be able to fund our expenditures, we'll need to drawdown on that revolving credit agreement this year in order to pay for our expenditures. as some of you may remember, a few years ago, we had drew down from our resolving credit agreement. we will be coming to the board for approval before each drawdown is made, and we'll be
9:20 am
able to indicate what the drawdown and what the purpose of the drawdown will be for the upcoming expenditures. with that, i am happy to take any questions for this before transitioning to director chan. >> chair peskin: thank you for that, as well as the personal briefing that you gave me earlier. are there any questions from members? let me look in the chat box. i do not see any. with that, why don't we go to our executive director? >> thank you, chair peskin -- >> supervisor safai: chair peskin, this is -- >> chair peskin: go ahead, supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: so saying we're going to be drawing down on our credit. how much of that will be remaining, and how much impact does that have to our overall stability? >> chair peskin: ms. fong? >> let me break this question
9:21 am
up into pieces. what is the impact? well, the impact, since we're able to pull down on this line of credit that the board has approved, we'll be able to fund upcoming expenditures for delivery of projects in san francisco. now, what does this to our credit -- >> supervisor safai: and how much of our credit will be remaining? >> well, we would be anticipating up to $100 million being drawn down for this fiscal year. that would leave us $40 million left to drawdown, and if -- and then, we would have a number of years based on the life of the asset that we're funding to payback these funds. what we've done in the past to payback the resolving credit agreement were to use future tax revenues to pay the balance down in addition to erbing debt
9:22 am
to pay -- to issuing debt to payback the revolving credit agreement. >> supervisor safai: so we're taking debt to drawdown our credit at what interest rate? >> the interest rate would be the interest rate currently at the market for short-term debt. >> supervisor safai: so we're taking down interest, going into debt, and then, we're going to pay it with future debt? >> sales tax revenue. >> supervisor safai: sales tax revenue or debt. >> sales tax revenue or debt, which would be in the course of a bond. >> and is this the usual course of the t.a.? i know we're in an unusual fiscal situation, but do we normally drawdown credit and go into debt in this matter? >> with yyes. this is the second time we've
9:23 am
done this to pay our share shareholders in expenditures. >> and on the cityside, through deputy director fong to commissioner safai, it is not uncommon that we take out short-term resolving debt with longer term structural debt, like bond. so this is not an uncommon action. >> supervisor safai: okay. i just wanted to know if it was something that was done in the past because obviously, it costs us a lot more to cray down doctor and pay it with future -- drawdown credit and pay it with future debt and sales tax. >> chair peskin: thank you for those questions, supervisor safai. madam executive director? >> thank you. and one more question to clarify from cynthia's report, our operationing expends are
9:24 am
slightly -- operating expenses are slightly lower because weet off on two hires, and we have since decided to go forward and fill a couple of those position, so you'll see a slight rise in the actual operating expenses, but it's very small, and it's for several positions that we have secured funding for, including prop k funding. okay, so here's the work plan. i just wanted to mention some highlights of our coming work plan. many of these will be familiar through the course of this year, and many of them are rolling over. our congestion management work is primarily relating to supporting immediate needs at sfmta and the working group that chair peskin coleads with director tumlin as well as tools such as what you'll be seeing from joe in the next
9:25 am
ite item. our downtown congestion pricing study continues, as well, but it's a big year for finishing the planned bay work for the region and also identifying our own transportation plan, which is san francisco transportation plan 2050, we call it s.t.p. right now, we're heading into briefings, and next year, we'll inform the public on some modal studies and how that will track with the update next fall. planning, environmental work is on pause, however, we are continuing to provide planning and policy support to the region, to our partners on the 101 corridor, and we are tracking, again, caltrans efforts, as well, as they turn back on some of those lanes based on how congested they're
9:26 am
becoming. next slight, now neighborhood transportation improvement program is very active. we are leading, i believe, three or four of these studies in districts 4, 5, and 9, and we are leading the efforts in other districts. we also received a school access planning grant from caltrans that commissioner mar has requested, so we continue to provide support to a number of studies across the city in the district levels. next? forecasting and data, these are the tools that we'll be discussing in just a moment, but these are the types of things that you would see the tools development, the rulemaking, anything that involves big data and model enhancements. this has become such a valuable
9:27 am
tool and really a model across the nation for things such as this. we have roles that we play, and making sure that we're leveraging. these are all the things that we've been mentioning in my director's report, and you're seeing grants, applications, and rewards, inner city capital, congested corridors, and the like. that's especially important as we head into potentially again federal reauthorization. our strategic plan update is being led by ana la fort and is looking at putting that forward and sponsor's needs. that will inform our debt strategy. so speaking to supervisor
9:28 am
safai, this is something that we do quite often. we do go to our bond programs supported by line of credit revolver-type facility, and that's very typical of agencies with infrastructure delivery. reauthorization is something that chair peskin has asked us to take a look at to go to voters for the prop k expenditure plan. we have already at this point, about 15 years into our program, delivered many of the program that were in our program in 2003. so it is a perfect time, as we're updating our county wide plan in getting with all of our partners to envision what those next projects should be. new revenue measures also include a potential regional transportation measure as well as the ones that we've been discussing this year. in terms of legislative
9:29 am
advocacy, we remain active at all levels, particularly the state but also the federal level and ensuring that we are ready for any stimulus or further federal opportunities on the funding side, and particularly for a major project such as downtown extension. prop k customer support and service and efficiency improvements include the tools and particularly for our project sponsors and sister agencies to make their work more efficient, as well. next? in terms of capital projects, you've seen and you'll continue to see us come before you, particularly this fall, to obtain your approvals to initiate the major construction efforts on y.b.i., south gate road, as we mentioned, kicked off earlier this year, in the summer, and now, we have the main bridges to replace a set of roads from bay bridge down
9:30 am
to treasure island, and that is being coordinated with the bicycle and pedestrians task on those islands as well as treasure island mobility management program, which we will provide updates to you as the timma committees consider those next week. and then, in terms of the ocean avenue southbound on and off ramps and realignments, we're working on these in conjunction with supervisor yee and safai's office and working wi-- supporting things in that area, needs in that very, very critical area. you have the b.a.r.t. station and the two major freeways -- or the freeway and the mattjor arterials in that area. next? transbay transit center is now in operation mode and now we're
9:31 am
focused, of course, on d.t.x., and that includes the pennsylvania avenue extension as well as locations for the 22nd caltrain station. this is an important study let by planning department, and many agencies are working together on what that should look like as far as serving the southeast part of the city with caltrain and also supporting caltrain through its electrification program and beyond with high speed rail, central subway, overseeing that, geary, and market street, and better market street, we should add, as well. transparency, you're seeing that with the really nice recognition from dsoa, we also have active programs to support sponsors and ensure that we have efficient grants management and contracting. we're proud of our d.b.e. and
9:32 am
l.b.e. policies and appreciate this board's guidances in that, particularly this year, and also support all of our work with sound and thorough communications with bidders, with contractors, and with overall community stakeholders. so with that, i believe we are, yep, down to our last slide, which would be about our process. this is our first round with presenting this information item to you all, we'll be back after we present to our citizen's advisory committee next week, and we'll be back with your input for the final budget in september, and that way, we'll stay consistent with the city as we adopt the budget by october 1. that concludes my presentation. >> chair peskin: thank you for that presentation. are there any members who have
9:33 am
any questions or comments for director chang or miss fong? seeing none, why don't we open this up to public comment. >> operator: you have one question remaining. >> clerk: welcome, caller. your two minutes begins now. >> thank you, chair peskin and sfcta members. alita dupree. for the record, my pronouns are she and her. you made a mention of 22nd street and caltrain. i ask that you, in this study, you ensure that you have funding to make sure that this particular station is a.d.a. accessible because at this time, it is not. i happen to believe that all railroad stations should be fully accessible snanationwideo
9:34 am
we don't want to forget about that. i did hear about your discussion about borrowing, and we have to be very careful. i have a bit of heartburn about short-term borrowing and possibly replacing that with longer term debt. it brings about an issue called interest rate risk, so we have to be mindful of that. i don't like to be overleveraged here. and just -- we need to do a deep dive on spending and taxable items. i think i'm spending about the same on items i get from the groceries, like toothpaste and toilet paper. let's make sure that this plan keeps equity and accessibility in mind. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. are there any other members of
9:35 am
the public for this item? >> operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> chair peskin: okay. public comment is closed. [gavel]. >> chair peskin: and this was an information item. why don't we circle back to item number 5 that has already been called. joe -- >> yes. can you hear me now? >> chair peskin: we can hear you. >> great. thank you so much. good morning, commissioners. good morning, chair peskin. let me just pull up my slide show, and are you able to see this now? >> chair peskin: yes, and if you could -- perfect. >> good morning, again. i'm the deputy director for technology data and analysis at the san francisco county transportation authority, and i'm here to talk to you today about the covid era congestion
9:36 am
tracker staff have developed. as we know, the shelter in place orders really quite rapidly changed traffic patterns and congestion in san francisco, and, of course, as we now, transportation patterns and ridership continue to change as we see changes in the public health decision making and economy. in order to help decision makers and planners understand and respond to these changes, transportation authority staff have developed this covid era congestion tracker, which is an interactive map which we update weekly. it shows information on the average speeds in the a.m. and p.m. peaks. this is the same as we report every other year as part of our congestion management program, and in fact, what this tool does is take a process that we used to go through every other year and do it every single week. provides information at a city
9:37 am
level as well as changes and speeds over time, and this can be used for all sorts of different applications, including being able to help identify emerging hot spots where appropriate electric management strat -- traffic management strategies might be needed. you can see the web link at the bottom. this is where you can interact with the tool. you can see some of the images on the right-hand side of your screen. on the top, you see the average a.m. speeds, and on the bottom, you see the average p.m.
9:38 am
speeds. i've circled in green the amount speeds increases. average speed increases from 22 miles per hour before the shelter in place to over 60 miles per hour, and you can see these illustrated in these maps. these are screen shots of the interactive tools, so if you go to the website that i just showed the link for, you'll be able to see that. on the left is the typical congestion map during the shelter in place. the red lines indicate that speeds are actually quite low. we use the traffic engineering level of service standard to indicate those, and these are e.r. average, not good. but just two weeks later, after the shelter in place order had been in place, you can see that that whole segment of the city had now turned to a much cooler
9:39 am
shades of green and yellow, and this indicates that those speeds had rapidly increased during just that two-week period. however, we expect that more activity will return, and we are ready to see that. you will see immediately after the shelter in place was instituted relatively cooler colors. and then a screen shot on the right from just a couple of weeks ago. we can see that the bridge has gone from a free flowing green to an orange color, indicating that speeds have dropped significantly, and the main segment through the soma district of 80 is also returning to red, indicating levels of higher congestion. the tools, in addition to being
9:40 am
able to, with those nice colors, be able to show you where speeds are faster or slower, it also includes a capability or a feature to allow you to compare speeds so what they were prior to the imposition of the shelter in place orders. so here, on the left-hand side, you can see this is during or immediately after the shelter in place, and the pale yellow color indicates that speeds were 30% higher, and that represents much of what you see here at the core. the orange indicates that speeds have begun to return to their preshelter in place congestion or even gotten worse than their preshelter in place congestion, and you can see that in many locations populating the market and south
9:41 am
of market district. >> chair peskin: and is that an a.m. or p.m. mark peak market right? >> i should have noted that. i believe this was a p.m. peak when i took those screen shots. >> chair peskin: maybe we should drill down a little bit into the data source? but as tilly knows, i live and walk and traverse the columbus avenue of the northeast corner of the city daily, often at the a.m. and almost every day at the a.m. peak and often at the p.m. peak, and i have just never encountered anything that would look like a level of service that he reflected in either one of these maps. and i understand it's based on cell phone data, but i just -- it's -- i mean, if you go out there with boots on the ground,
9:42 am
it just doesn't look like this. >> well, so maybe i'll respond in a couple ways. one, i would love to dig into that and be able to provide you a more complete answer, and so i'll do that after this presentation. but perhaps some information on the source of the data and how we process the data and how we visualize the data might address some of the questions that you may have. so the data, this data source is not just cell phone data. cell phone data is part of the data source that flows into this, but also, they pull in a whole bunch of other data, particularly from large fleets -- you know, the fedex, the u.p.s., the large fleets and other vehicles that are driving around, as well, and inra estimates that 25% of all the vehicles that are driving in the country are feeding data
9:43 am
in there. so that's what it is. it's a number of sources. one thing that i'll demonstrate on the next slide, and perhaps if we have time, we can dig into this specifically, we can represent the data. so the colors here are a relative change to what they were prepandemic, but if i slide back to look at these colors, these colors are assigned by the institute of the transportation association of engineers standards. so those standards are based on the type of road way and its -- you know, its location in the kind of urban context, and it's really not perhaps as reflective of some of the san francisco conditions as we might like. it does represent a direct representation of speed, and in fact, if i can just advance a little bit more, is that that's also information that the tool provides you. so for example, for any of those colored segments, we can
9:44 am
go in and select an individual segment and see what the actual seeds are. and i think this would be the best test of validation, or perhaps not, of what you're seeing on the street because we can go in and look at the segments that you're most familiar with and see if the average speeds shown here are representative of what your own experience is. at the end of this presentation, i can pull up the congestion tracker tool, and we can look at it on screen, if you'd like to do that. >> chair peskin: no, i've pulled up the tool and played with it myself, but no, we can take that question later and just proceed analysis colleagues, you have any other questions?
9:45 am
go ahead, joe. >> okay. hearing no questions, the purpose of this slide is to illustrate for any individual segment, folks can go in and look at the actual data. what you see here, then, in the charts on the right is the presentation not of the citywide average speeds but the average speeds for this individual segment. at the top is the a.m. speeds and at the bottom is the p.m. speeds. so what we can see here, for this segment, is the speeds that are experienced on octavia northbound are slightly worse than they were in the first weekend of march. all of this information that i've just presented to you, and the tool, is really retrospective. we update it weekly, but it tells us what happened. it's important that we pivot and look forward, and this is really critical, especially
9:46 am
given all of the uncertainty around the nature of the recovery, and again, that is obviously the intersection of many different factors, including, but not limited to how the economy and how the epidemiological facts are playing out. to do this, we use the sf-champ model, and it allows us to develop estimates of transportation system performance, including congestion, ridership, and this is really based on changes in key assumptions about the economy, including unemployment levels and workforce participation, all of which we track by an industrial sector level. it's influenced by what
9:47 am
transportation segments are available, the frequency of routes, capacities, the fares and fare collection policies as well as things like bus lanes, bike lanes, and bridge toll collections. there's a lot of uncertainty about this, as well, but it's influenced by people's traveling behaviors. to what degree are they able to do remote working based on what the nature of their job is, and how many folks are doing that? to what agree are people willing to jump back into transit due to concerns about the public health and safety? to what degree are people traveling for nonmandatory purposes such as work and school? you know, the amount of nonessential travel. these are all things that we can test out in our scenario testing tool, and they can give us indications about what we can expect to see and when we can expect to see and under what conditions we can expect
9:48 am
to see congestion return and ridersh ridership return, as well. we've structured these tests with some principles and guidance derived from both the state and the city. you can see there's quite a bit of coherance from the maps supplied by the state of california as well as the maps issued by the city. each one of these stages will be represented by the scenario tasks. currently, we're at stage two or phase two, and that's the set of scenario tests we're working on right now, and as we complete that, we'll certainly be reporting back to this body about some of our findings and also developing some capabilities to allow folks to take that information and interact with it so they can explore the outcomes in different scenarios. and with that, i'm happy to take any questions.
9:49 am
>> chair peskin: thank you so much, joe. are there any questions from members? and i encourage everybody to go to covid-congestion.sfcta.org and play with this very helpful tool, and i look forward to future presentations. seeing no questions from members, why don't we open this up for public comment? >> operator: you have one question remaining. >> chair peskin: first speaker, please. >> chair peskin and members, alita dupree, she and her. there's a feeling when you're sitting on a muni bus in traffic, and there's nothing that the driver can do about it because we're surrounded by cars that have stopped. and i've driven, not in san francisco, but in manhattan, in new york city.
9:50 am
things get very interesting and difficult. i don't want to go there again. and so i think in our analysis of data, i think we need to look at it in a broader regional perspective of seeing where are all of these cars coming from? how far do they come from? i would conjecture that many of them are single occupancy vehicles, so the real elephant in the room here, and it's been this way for decades, is the preponderance of single occupancy cars and the new normal, except that people are choosing not to purchase cars when in the past, people would not have elected to do that, so
9:51 am
let's look at this more deeply and broadly. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you, miss dupree. are there any other members of the public for public comment? >> operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> chair peskin: seeing none, public comment is closed, and this was an information item. colleagues, is there any introduction of new items? seeing no names on the roster, is there any general public comment? >> operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> chair peskin: general public comment is closed. ms. milton, congratulations on surviving and doing very well at your first meeting at clerk of the sfcta, and with that, colleagues, we are adjourned. [gavel]
10:00 am
10:02 am
>> clerk: mr. president, all members are present. >> president yee: thank you. please place your right hand over your heart and join with me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. ["pledge of allegiance"] >> president yee: thank you. on behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge the staff at sfgtv, who record each of our meetings and make them available on-line. madam clerk, are there any
10:03 am
communications? >> clerk: yes. the record will reflect that during this covid-19 emergency, members of the board of supervisors will participate to the same extent as if they were present in their legislative chamber. the board recognizes the pandemic has made the need for communication more acute and that those communities, with and without the internet, have the opportunity to participate, written and unwritten, in this meeting. we will accept your testimony via mail or public comment. you're welcome to send us an e-mail at bos@sfgov.org.
10:04 am
if using your computer, you can livestream the meeting by going to www.sfgtv.org. if you're using the cablecast on your television, go to cable channel 26. please note if you're going to provide testimony, turn down your television. note that there is a public delay, and you may miss the prompt for public comment. your phone can be used to both listen to the proceedings and provide public comment. the number is crawling across the television screen and your computer. 415-655-0001. when you hear the prompt, enter the meeting i.d. 146-350-8583. press pound twice, and you'll have joined the proceeding as a
10:05 am
10:09 am
10:10 am
to begin consecutively at 3:00 p.m. items 4 through 7 is the items of mitigated declaration for 3516 and 3526 folsom street. if you're looking to provide general public comment, that item is 15. when that item is called, you'll be able to speak on the general minutes, on the items not specifically before the board, and items 12 and 13 on the agenda. if you're having any problems,
10:11 am
call 415-554-5416, and we have someone standing by ready to assist you with problems you are having. and finally, pursuant to the a.d.a., we have a member of the public ready to make public comment, thanks to the efforts of mr. wilson ng, we have something ready to make public comment. >> president yee: just a reminder if you're not speaking to mute your microphone. and madam clerk, we have a member of the public who wishes to provide public comment. we will open public comment at this time for that individual. madam clerk, is the person ready to make the comments?
10:12 am
>> clerk: yes, i believe so. mr. qu, please unmute the caller. thank you. >> hi. my name is zach karnazes. i want to thank angela calvillo for the work that she's been doing for me to be able to access these meetings. mr. wilson ng has repeatedly ignored e-mails and requests and things that i have mentioned for accessibility that i have tried to access for this meeting, including now a 15-minute precall-in time.
10:13 am
the mayor's office for disability nor this board has not required such a time to call in for a disability accommodation. mr. ng tries to continue to make this as soon as possible. in the past, he requires multiple e-mails confirmations to allow this accommodation to be made. he continues to refuse to allow this approval on a rolling basis. mr. wilson ng is a very problematic a.d.a. coordinator, and i want his name reflected in the meeting minutes. please list his name to accurately reflect his name so that i can state the problem. he is not making this easy, he is not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. there are a.d.a. laws to allow
10:14 am
equal efforts to allow people like me able to make public comment. please consider a call-in catch system on your website so that other disabled people will know how to attend. thank you. >> president yee: okay. thank you, caller. and madam clerk, thanks for arranging this accommodation. before we get started, i wanted to mention something about the adoption without committee reference. i've been remindied that this section was for noncontroversial items and things of that nature, and i
10:15 am
think over the last six months or five months, things have happened where we needed to use any time we were given to address emergency issues and so forth, and that continued for a little while, where we needed to act quickly. and we probably settled into a pace of some sort, but then, many of us were involved with other things, whether it's getting things on the ballot measure, and more focused on that, and we were also focused on the budget process, where a
10:16 am
lot of us were focused on managing things that we didn't want to manage. i think since we're in the middle of covid-19, we should go back to what this part of the meeting for, and that i'm asking all of us to think about what you need to pass moving forwa forward; instead of waiting last minute, to think these things out. we will not have a meeting next week, so all of us should be able to do a better job in this. and moving forward, now that we've settled in the space, i would go back to my decisions and if there's a movement to put these on the items without
10:17 am
committee reference, it's up to you to manage these and so forth. so i'll just leave it at that. i think it's time to move forward, and hopefully, we don't have to go through another streak of where we have to make last-minute decisions, knowing what we're facing for probably another six months to a year. okay? colleagues, today, we are approving the minutes of the july 8 and the july 28, 2020 minutes of the meetings of the san francisco board of supervisors. any additions or corrections? can i have a motion? >> supervisor peskin: so moved. >> president yee: moved by
10:18 am
10:19 am
>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. then without objection, the minutes will be approved after the public comments as presented. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to our consent agenda. please call items 1 and 2 together. >> clerk: items 1 and 2 are on consent. these items are considered routine. if a member objects, an item may be removed and considered separately. >> president yee: okay. colleagues, would anyone like to sever any of these items from the consent agenda? seeing none, then, madam clerk, please call the roll on items 1 and 2. >> clerk: on items 1 and 2 -- [roll call]
10:21 am
supervisor peskin is in his office, and my staff are already deployed to assist him to return. okay. they are making contact with him now. >> supervisor peskin: i have managed to rejoin. >> clerk: okay. and supervisor peskin on items 1 and 2? >> supervisor peskin: aye. >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> clerk: okay. the items are passed unanimously. madam clerk, let's go to new business. please call the next item. >> clerk: item 3 is an emergency ordinance to temporarily protect workers from adverse action or discrimination as a result of having symptoms or exposure to
10:22 am
covid-19, whether from currently or previously testing positive or are in isolation or in quarantine. pursuant to charter section 2.107, this matter requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the board with only one reading. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, please go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 3 -- [roll call]
10:23 am
>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the ordinance is finally passed unanimously. madam clerk, let's go to committee reports. >> clerk: committee reports. items 12 and 13 were considered by the land use and transportation committee at a regular meeting on monday, august 31. item 12 was recommended as -- i believe it was recommended -- it was a reenactment of emergency ordinance number 84-20 in response to the covid-19 emergency to establish protection for occupants of residential hotels to establish
10:24 am
city policy making it city policy to place in solitary hotel rooms s.r.o. residents who might the criteria for isolation or quarantine established by the county health officer, and requiring the department of public health to develop a protocol to assist health care providers to identify s.r.o. residence dets may require protection against or treatment for covid-19. >> president yee: supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: yes. i would like to thank former supervisor katy tang and the department of public health. there are a couple of nonsubstantive amendments that the department of public health recommended to the supervisor earlier today that we are working on, and with your indulgence, mr. president, i'd like to continue this item until later in today's meeting. >> president yee: supervisor haney?
10:25 am
>> supervisor haney: i was just going to ask to be added as a cosponsor. >> president yee: okay. would you like to second the motion, supervisor haney? >> supervisor haney: second. >> president yee: okay. roll call -- oh, wait. do we need to take a -- >> clerk: no, mr. president, unless there was an objection. >> president yee: okay. then we will continue this item later on the agenda. which is going to come soon. supervisor -- not supervisor, but madam clerk, item number 13. >> clerk: item 13 was not forwarded to the board as a committee report and is not before the board today. >> president yee: okay. let's go to roll call. >> clerk: okay. supervisor mar, you are first up to introduce new business. >> supervisor mar: submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor mar. supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: my
10:26 am
apologies. i am off of mute. i will keep my roll call focus to one item and to [inaudible] and i don't think there are any members of this board around 15 years ago when a long-running lawsuit was resolved actually by the california state supreme court which led my vote of the san francisco tenant and housing alliance to adopt a chapter of the code, 49-a, which is known as the residential tenant communications act, which codified the right of tenants to distribute literature relating to common interest of tenants. in other words, a tenant organization could go and put a leaflet under the door or in
10:27 am
the mailboxes -- in the united states postal service mailboxes, but that was before donald trump [inaudible] i've come to learn that it's [inaudible] fundamentally, the tenants had already organized. this is about the right and admonition and encouragement for tenants. i'm not saying this relative to acts with organizations like the tenants union, but at the pointants of particular ideologies to organize nice -- but tenants of particular ideologies to organize. i'd like to take that a step further, giving these tenants
10:28 am
of ideologies to have a seat at the table not only to disseminating literature but the right to cause and concern. the right to organize largely emanates not only from my work but my community's work and organization's work, namely, the veritas organization. the organization has about $3 billion, with a b, dollars in assets. as speaker pelosi reminded us all, received a 3.5 -- actually $3.6 million small business loan from the federal government, and the tenants
10:29 am
furnished a list of demands not only to help those small businesses but to stabilize the tenants who are in so much pressure, and the partnership between these tenants and small business groups, including the council of district merchants has been, i think, tremendously important. at the core of that [inaudible] demand. tenants have asked to meet directly with veritas investments, to have a mediate discussion, which albeit, i'll admit that i am biased in favor of the tenants, but i think i could have been a fair mediator had i been offered to mediate. today, i am asking the city attorney to start drafting changes to chapter 49-a to
10:30 am
expand communication to the fundamental right to organize in those building typologies, and i hope not to draft something controversial between tenants and landlords, but hopefully not only earns the support of all of my colleagues on the board of supervisors but from the tenant and landlord communities. sadly, i would like to, madam clerk, adjourn this board meeting in the memory of two individuals. first, and i think we all heard about this muni operators, tony cahini, who was with the sfmta just a little bit shy of 20 years, 19 years. antonio was born and raised in the richmond, and as a youth,
10:31 am
he delivered newspapers for the chronicle back when we had papers in print. he served for four years in the army before becoming a pastry chef at marriott hotel near san francisco international airport, and ultimately became a muni operator and had a medical emergency and died at the wheels of his bus last week. our condolences to his family and to his brothers and sisters at t.w.u. local 258. and i note that his brother-in-law, ray, who i knew as a cable car operator, tragically lost his life when he stepped off a cable car and was run over by a motorcycle, so we have lost two muni
10:32 am
operators from the same family. it is a stressful job that is remarkably dangerous. so to that family, extended family, on behalf of the board of supervisors, my condolences. and lastly, and i think only clerk calvillo will remember mary burns, who truly lived a life of service. maybe president yee remembers mary burns. [inaudible]. >> supervisor peskin: exactly. thank you, mr. president. after graduating from the institution that my father taught at for 40 years, san francisco state, mary began volunteering in political campaigns for notables. one of them extant, milton marks, and, in 1967, got a
10:33 am
position in the california state assembly with later on mayor willie louis brown, jr. when he was a member of the assembly. she followed in that role with george moscone, and ultimately continued to serve under dianne feinstein. and as a teenager, mary had a fundamental san francisco experience. she served as a lifeguard and playground director at the recreation and parks department, where she ultimately became, i believe, the first woman to run that department before she got into a little fandango with her former employer, willie brown, who may or may not have let her go. but she continued that serve
10:34 am
f for -- service for a number of other bear institutions. but an incredible loss. she played a huge part in fact golden gate master plan, and so many other things we take for granted. she is predeceased by her mother and father, her uncle, aunt, grandparents [inaudible] and she is survived by her sister of oakdale, california. our condolences to the family of miss burns, and the rest, i will submit, madam clerk. >> president yee: before we move onto the other colleagues, i would like to suggest that the in memoriams of both
10:35 am
persons be from the entire board. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, mr. president. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor peculiar kin. supervisor preston? presley thank you, madam cle - >> supervisor preston: thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, i know that housing issuing are very important to you, and that's why i'm moving to have the week of september 15 through 22 declared national housing week in san francisco. our city is a national leader in the housing movement with nearly five decades of committed work by city and county government leaders. and san francisco continues to innovate and push the boundaries in advancing affordable housing to address the tremendous needs of low-income folks and people who are unhoused and insufficiently
10:36 am
housed and also to address the ever-widening ranks of every day san franciscans shut out of the private housing market as we struggle to survive in our prohibitively expensive city. there's a lot more to do, but i appreciate the members for their advocacy on this board in their efforts to do more to make san francisco a more inclusive and equitable city. and every year, we take a brief moment to pause and take stock and be inspired and push forward. this year, as with many aspects of our lives, things are a bit different. affordable housing week was originally scheduled in may. it was supposed to be in early may and has been moved to september.
10:37 am
it's also going to be scaled back a bit this year. there were originally going to be ten events planned this year. it's going to be shifted to a virtual setting with fewer offerings. that said, i think we need to keep this at the forefront as there is no chance for pause in the conversation about housing in san francisco. we've got on tuesday, september 15, a state senate housing forum that will be from 5:00 to 6:30 in the evening. on wednesday, september 16, there's a panel discussion of housing in the time of covid -- affordable housing in the time of covid-19. that's from 11:00 to 12:30 and then, on wednesday, september 22, there's a program on the h.o.p.e. program, and that's
10:38 am
from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. lots more on the community organizati coalition for housing organization. last week, myself and president yee called on a hearing for efforts to maximize affordable housing on public housing sites. that has been scheduled to coincide with public housing week, and that will be presented in the rules committee on september 21. lastly, i'd like to thank fernando and peter for organizing this event. peter and fernando do tremendous work to advance affordable housing in this city and beyond, and they are in many ways the unsung heros of the affordable housing movement. so i know i speak for my
10:39 am
colleagues in conveying our sincere gratitude to the community housing coalition and those who work so hard for affordable housing opportunities in our city. the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you. thank you, supervisor. supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: submit. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: submit. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor stefani? submit? thank you. supervisor walton? >> supervisor walton: thank you so much, madam clerk. colleagues, today, i am introducing four resolutions around equity and justice reform. the first one is a resolution in support of implementing black studies as a part of sfusd k through 12 curriculum. a version of this resolution was introduced last week by
10:40 am
commissioner stevon cook at the board of education meeting. we need a black studies curriculum that honors black lives and fully represents the contributions of black people in the global society. sfusd has introduced initiatives for the past 40 years aimed at closing the achievement gap between black students and their peers, and despite our best efforts, the gap has not closed. we learn about history from a white per spspective, and it h painted a picture of black people as being enslaved, poor, or in poor health. black history is often limited
10:41 am
to dr. martin luther king or rosa parks shared in a one-time celebration in blam history month. but there are much lessons to be learned, such as the role of a black man in the san francisco unified school district, to the great migration of southern blacks to the bay area, to support the world war ii effort, to the racist lending and hiring authorities of the federal, state, and local governments, to have urban organizations remove black residents from their home. learning a fuller history of
10:42 am
black people has increased engagement of students and their education. learning about one's culture and history has proven to decrease the risk of students dropping out of high school and increase the desire to go to college. i would like to thank my colleagues, supervisor ronen, fewer, and preston for your support of this resolution. the second and third resolutions i'm introducing go hand ain hand in our efforts i redefining our justice system in support of sb 731, police decertification, and sb 776, release of records of police who commit misconduct. both of these bills will provide more public accountability of law enforcement in cases of misconduct, and both of these bills were recently passed in the state legislature this past week and is currently awaiting
10:43 am
governor newsom to sign into law. i would like to thank my colleagues, supervisor fewer, yee, and preston, for signing onto support both of these resolutions. we know that there is a long-standing history of criminal bias and racial history nationwide when it comes to black people. law enforcement across the united states have a history of using excessive force on people of color, especially black and brown men. there has been a national crisis over repeated instances of police brutality and killings of black people and persons of color. to date, there have been 765 people killed by police in 2020, and 28% of those killed by police are black people, despite being only 13% of the
10:44 am
united states population. last tuesday, august 26, the numbered were at 751, which is an increase of 14 people killed by law enforcement in the span of one week in the united states. there were only 27 days in 2019 where police did not kill anyone. here in san francisco, there have been over 70 officer involved shootings in the past decade. george floyd, breonna taylor, mario woods, oscar grant, eric garner, michael brown, and countless black people and people of color who have been killed at the hands of the police. in san francisco, alex nieto, mario woods, jessica williams,
10:45 am
perez lopez, and shawn michael rosa are just a few people who have died at the hands of law enforcement more recently. most recently, jacob blake was shot in the back seven times while going to his car in front of his three children in ken owe shaken -- kenosha, wisconsin. this violence against black and brown communities, condoned by law enforcement and our national leaders needs to end. sb 731, police decertification, also known as the kenneth ross, jr. police decertification act of 2020, introduced by state senator steven bradford of los angeles
quote
quote
10:46 am
will create a statewide process to automatically revoke the certification of a peace officer following a conviction of misconduct such as excessive force, sexual misconduct, and dishonesty. it will also correct the misinterpretation of an impediment to the tom bains civil rights act intended to perform civil immunity. it makes it nearly impossible for families to successfully sue police officers for civil damages in police abuse cases in federal court for police officers in california. sb 776, introduced by senator nancy skinner of the east bay, would disclose records of peace officers involved in any
10:47 am
incidents of excessive use of force, unlawful arrest, and searches and [inaudible] of a protected class beginning on july 1, 2021. this bill is currently being heard in the assembly. sb 776 will require the retention of all complaints currently in the possession of a department or agency for a period of at least 30 years if they are related to a sustained finding of specified misconduct and will require that records relating to an incident in which an officer resigns before an investigation is completed to also be subject to release. oftentimes, officers quit when they have received several complaints for excessive force in a particular city and move into another city.
10:48 am
there also is no accountability to the public. currently, there is no access of records to the public unless there is a very specific charge related to discharge of a firearm, sexual misconduct or percentage. this board unanimously passed resolution 29-20 to urge the civil service commission to institute a policy wherein san francisco we will never hire an individual to serve in the san francisco police department or sheriff's department that has a history of excess tiive force another municipality. yesterday, district attorney chesa boudin and i presented a
10:49 am
resolution to ensure that those kinds of individuals would not be hired by the san francisco police department or sheriff's department. it is imperative that we not allow any of those individuals to become part of our city of san francisco. we cannot allow these individuals to serve and mistreat san francisco residents. san francisco is committed to comprehensive and systematic justice reform, and sb 771 and 776 are one of the many tools that we are utilizing to make sure that san franciscans are protected. finally, i am introducing a resolution in support of
10:50 am
assembly bill 1185, sheriff's oversight at the state level. this was introduced by assembly member kevin mccarthy of sacramento, which will allow counties to create shared oversight boards either through the board of supervisors or vote by county residents. i want to thank supervisors fewer, peskin, yee, and preston for signing on. in 2015, the late public defender, jeff adachi, began investigations on incarcerated individuals who were forced in gladiator-type fights between each other. and [inaudible] because he did not agree on a policy from the
10:51 am
board of supervisors, and there was no public accountability against him. in 2018, sacramento county sheriff scott jones locked the county inspector, rick ruzzilo, out of his department, and effectively bringing all independent investigations to a halt because he did not agree with the criticism of the sheriff's department from the inspector general regarding use of force cases. sheriff's oversight has been long overdue in the state of california and in san francisco. last year, february 2019, i called for a hearing on why san francisco did not have an oversight board for the sheriff's department following public notification of
10:52 am
gladiator fights, lawsuits, people dying in san francisco custody and other misconduct in the sheriff's department. on july 21, 2020, our board submitted a charter amendment to let san francisco voters decide on establishing a sheriff's department oversight board and inspector general in the november 3, 2020 general elections. the state is following suit because sheriff's departments have been able to operate rogue across the state of california for decades. ab 1185 was introduced last year in the late assembly and finally passed last week at the state senate. it is currently awaiting the signature of governor gavin newsom to sign into law. on january 12, 2016, the los angeles county board of supervisors voted to implement a sheriff's oversight
10:53 am
commission and inspector general, one of the first in the state, with the mission to improve public transparency and accountability over that sheriff's department. ab 1185 has already been passed. we hope that the governor will sign into law t. the rest -- and thank you so much for your patience, colleagues -- i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor walton. supervisor yee? >> president yee: thank you. i'm not submitting anything. i just wanted to remind the joint select committee, i guess, that i had submitted a hearing request before the
10:54 am
covid-19, and -- had postponed really wanting to hear it because of everything that we're dealing with, and i would like to have that hearing soon, maybe in a few weeks, to discuss, really, the mental health issues of our secondary school school -- in particular, middle schools and high schools. you might think why now, versus why not wait until they go back to class? and i'm realizing right now it was already a strain issue for many students why they were going back to class. and now, they basically have isolation, and whether we help them deal with some of the mental health issues now or when they come back, there will probably be an increased need for their services.
10:55 am
i've talked to a number of mental health workers and individual practitioners, and they're saying there's been a huge uptick just for adult mental health services, so if that's any indication that children are not that different from adults who are going through a lot of stress. we're all dealing with this emergency, so if possible, i would like to have that hearing scheduled for this -- this month. the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, mr. president. supervisor fewer? >> supervisor fewer: submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor. supervisor haney? >> supervisor haney: thank you, madam clerk. and just on the issue that you brought up, president yee, we'll definitely get that scheduled. i have one resolution today that i'm introducing, calling for emergency money to provide critical relief to american
10:56 am
families during covid-19 and calling on congress to support direct cash payments. i'm also, as part of this resolution, urging that we as the board of supervisors in san francisco explore ways to implement and expand various guaranteed income programs in our city. as we all know, the c.a.r.e.s. act one-time check of stimulus funding was not enough for those who needed it the most. we're hearing again and again that the programs established through the c.a.r.e.s. act are inadequate, and most families feel ignored and unaffected during the pandemic, while billionaires nationwide have
10:57 am
enjoyed tremendous growth. the business impact felt nationwide are felt most by the poor and working poor of our city. and before the pandemic, most americans could not afford a single $400 emergency, which is heartbreaking. this is urging the federal government to support cash payments during the pandemic and beyond. and also, as i mentioned, it is putting san francisco on record in support of guaranteed income that focuses on racial equity and financial empowerment. this is not a new idea. cash payments through a guaranteed income has worked, and research shows that people use it overwhelmingly on their basic needs, housing, or unexpected medical costs. there are 20 cities that have signed on and are committed to exploring a guaranteed income
10:58 am
model. that includes los angeles, long beach, chicago, atlanta, and san francisco should not be just a part of that conversation but a leader in it. we don't know how long this crisis will last, but we do know that millions of americans need cash on hand to survive. it's shameful that someone working two or three jobs can still be below the poverty line. direct cash payments or also known as universal basic income or guaranteed income, is a solution that our federal government should be providing for, and that we should be pursuing actively here in san francisco whether through a provide philanthropist foundation or something else. this is a priority that has introduced itself as a
10:59 am
priority, and cities all over the country are taking leadership, and i hope we do, as well. the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor haney. supervisor mandelman? >> supervisor mandelman: i will submit my legislation. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. mr. president, seeing no new names on the roster, that concludes the introduction of new business. >> president yee: okay. thank you very much. if i talk really slowly, it'll be 3:00, so what i'd like to do is jump back into our agenda for our special order --
11:00 am
203 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
SFGTV: San Francisco Government TelevisionUploaded by TV Archive on
![](http://athena.archive.org/0.gif?kind=track_js&track_js_case=control&cache_bust=1419669648)