>> remote meeting of the san francisco board of appeals. president louisiana has will preside and she is joined by vice president commissioner swig and tanner and santacana. deputy city attorney is here for legal advice this evening. at the controls is if legal clerk and legal assistant. i am the executive director. we will be joined by representative the city departments presenting before the board this evening. scott sanchez administrator with

the planning department and acting chief building inspector for the san francisco department of building inspection. the board's meeting guidelines are as following. turnoff or silence all phones or electronic devices to not disturb proceedings. apple laboratories and department respondents are given seven minutes for the case and three minutes for rebuttal. people affiliated must include the comments within these periods. members of the public have three minutes to address the board each. you will get a verbal warning 30 seconds before your time is up. if you have questions about requesting a re-hearing please e-mail the staff at board of appeals at sf governor.org. regarding participation they are of important tan every effort is

made to replicate the in person patient. sfgovtv is streaming this hearing live and we will have ability to receive public comment. to watch on tv go to sfgovtv cable 78. it will be rebroadcast on friday. go to sfgovtv. public comment can be provided by joining the meeting by computer. go to the website and click on the zoom link or call in by telephone. 16699006833 and enter the i id89427762015. sfgovtv is broadcasting and streaming the phone number and access instructions across the bottom of the screen. to block the phone number when

calling dial star 67 and the phone number. listen to the item to be called and dial star nine that is equivalent of raising your hand. you will be brought into the hearing at your turn. you will be provided a verbal warning. there is a delay between live streaming and internet. therefore it is very important people calling in reduce or turnoff volume on tv or computer. if any of the participants on zoom need disability accommodation or technical assistance make a text or send e-mail to board of appeals at sfgovtv. it can fought be used for public comment or opinions. we will swear in or affirm all of those who intend to testify. any member may speak without taking an oath pursuant to rights. if you intend to testify at

proceedings, raise your right hand and say i do after you are sworn? or affirmed. do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth? anybody testifying tonight? i don't hear. >> no. >> okay. thank you. if you are not speaking please put your zoom speaker on mute. 1. general public comment. an opportunity for anyone to speak within the board's jurisdiction not on the calendar tonight. let me an there anyone here for general public comment? if so, please raise your hand. okay. i am not seeing any hands raised. we will move on to item 2. commissioner comments and questions.

i am going to lead off, if i may. we are on the cusp of losing one of our valued commissioners. she, i understand, is going to be before the board of supervisors next week for confirmation. if i were a betting person i would put my money on that happening. there is a chance she will join us next wednesday, we don't want to lose the opportunity to thank her for her service to this board. your questions and comments are always so incisive, your black ground meshes with the role we as board members have. it is a pleasure working with you and i am somewhat dismayed you are leaving us. i know the planning department is lucky to have somebody of your background joining them. you were an obvious selection. sorry you were with us so short.

we suspect we will be hearing about your activities and actions at the planning commission. we wish you all the best. we want you to know we will miss you. >> thank you, rachel, for keeping me awake during the proceedings. no. i echo commissioner lazarus, your expertise has benefited all of us. you are a loss that will provide a void which we hope to find a good replacement for you, but that will be very hard to do. you know, you have been the best person i have sat next to on a commission since i sat next to london breed. she went on to pretty good

things. thank you very much. >> thank you, vice president and commissioners. it is a pleasure to be on the board of appeals. i have learned from you and watched the ways you take matters seriously that are before us, you know, we feel the disputes and take it seriously to administer the laws and try to get people to work together. we are all going to be living in the city. hopefully, harmoniously. i want to thank you all for the example you have set and i hope you have another commissioner who is better than myself. yo.hopefully soon. thank you all and i hope to still be in touch with you all. thank you very much. >> thank you.

is from any public comment on this item? if so please raise your hand. okay. i don't see any public comment. we will move to item 3. adoption of minutes. commissioners before you are the minutes of the september 30th, 2020 meeting. >> it is sad to see rachel leave. we are out of order. >> was that a motion to approve. >> my motion to approve. >> is there any public commission on commissioner swig's motion to approve minutes from september 30th. please raise your hand. okay.

i don't see any hands. on commissioner wag's motion. commissioner santacana. >> aye. >> president lazarus. >> aye. >> vice president honda. >> aye. >> commissioner tanner. >> aye. >> that carry the 5-0. the minutes are adopted. >> we are moving on to item for. appeal 20-050. 98 broderick streetvorces zoning administrator. 704 broderick. appealing issuance on july 22, 2020 of notice of violation and penalty. violation of planning code due to noncompliance of planning code 317 for unauthorized dwelling section and 132f for unauthorized parking in front set back. it isnored for two family

dwellings one on second and one on third and fourth floor. ground floor was garage for packing. illegally converted to third dwelling unit. pre-existing driveway were not removed despite removal of off-street parking. curb cut was provided off-street parking. this is 2015-001328. we will hear from the appellant first. we have mr. patterson representing the apple the appe. >> i am ready. >> good afternoon. >> do you want to get sworn in? >> i did swear in with my camera and microphone off. i will ask if my clients are on as well. i believe they are. i can see them there.

confirm they swore in as well. >> i can just ask everyone to raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give is the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> mr. patterson, you have seven minutes. >> okay. thank you, commissioners, president lazarus. i am ryan patterson representing the owners of the property. the key question is whether an unauthorized dwelling unit exists. the termination under appeal the va found first floor is a unauthorized dwelling unit. with all due respect theyered in this. the first floor space did not satisfy the criteria to be a udu. the first relates to fiscal characteristics of the space and asks if there is independent

access to the street and importantly lack of open visual connection to another unit of the property. here there is a connection between the first and second floors via open stairwell. second, even if the space satisfies physical requirements for udu it must have been used as separate and district living space. the first floor udu was in existence but removed pursuant to permit in 2007. subsequent occupants on first and second floors together. that is the first floor was not used as separate unit separate from the second floor. i will hand it over to the owners of the property for further information. >> good afternoon. i am peter lin peter lynch.

and this is my wife. managers of 98 broderick llc. 50% owner of 704 broderick. one of the owners and one of the co-owners is also here with us. thank you very much for hearing our appeal. i will basically read my statement, but not to put any commissioners to sleep while i am reading it. as mr. patterson just said, the heart of the issue in this case is that one of the three requirements for identifying the unit as unauthorized dwelling unit is not present in this case. there is no -- well, in order to

be unauthorized dwelling unit it must meet the standard that there is no open visual connection to a residential unit on the property. in the space in question, there is an open visual connection to a residential unit. my friend and co-owner will put up a picture of the stairway which appears to have been there for 100 years. there is no question that there is an open visual connection between these two floors of occupancy. i think this fact alone, as mr. patterson explained to me, this is the necessary condition. not like you can get two out of three. it is a udu. all three conditions must be met in order for a unit to be an unauthorized dwelling unit. secondly, we think this two

story unit is not a udu. there is no privacy for a bedroom on the upper floor of the unit. i am aware of a photo in the marketing materials prior to when we bought the building in 2016 that shows some staging in the space, including a bed in a room next to the kitchen with by fold doors. this is a room with two large openings, including a wide opening to the kitchen with no door. providing no privacy for a bedroom. it is silly that this wases staged as a bedroom when you have your head on the kitchen floor. there is a double parlor in this upper floor of occupancy of the unit. it including some parlor doors,

pocket doors that are quite beautiful. pictures of the doors are in our appeals package. the original use of the building as single family home. the function in any rational way this main living floor of occupancy needs the ad joining ground level for the sleeping area. we have always treated the lower two floors of this building as one unit with one kitchen. there is an attorney in town who is working on a contingency basis representing clients on a separate matter pertaining to this property, and he is spreading false information through anyone who will listen about this property.

however, despite the assertions of the attorney, two of the three young students who have been living at this property, natalie and candice, have submitted e-mails to the appeals board confirming that they have access to both floors of occupancy in the unit. i am sure the commissioners understand why this is a crucial point in the determination of whether this an unauthorized dwelling unit or not. those are my comments. thank you very much. my friend and co-owner has a few comments to make unless there are other instructions for us. >> thank you, peter. hello, i am one of the owners of

704 broderick street. last week i delivered 30 letters to my neighbors apologizing for the code violation. jim, bill, jean and the three daughters for support and warm welcome to the broderick family. i have been a repter and resident of the san francisco for 16 years. i am a gala tino immigrant establishing a residency. this is the highlight of my life. thank you for your time and appeal consideration to work together and bring my new home up to code. >> time is up. >> thank you. >> would you like me to submit my picture? >> thank you. you will have time on rebuttal. thank you. we will hear from the planning

department. >> thank you. briefly before i begin thank commissioner tanner for the work at boards of appeals. as you know what is involved with the planning commission and you choose to do it. thank you for doing that. you will be missed and a welcome addition to the planning commission. on to the matter here. what is before you is appeal of violation of 704 broderick street. rh3 zoning and based upon the records two dwelling units. other items there shouldn't be dispute. there have been or at least were three kitchens on the property. it is a four story building, and it originally had been used for the lower two stories one unit and upper two-stories for the

second unit. it does appear based on information there is an dwelling unit established on the ground floor. 134 o some of the information pointing to the facts when advertised on realtor.com it did list as three dwelling units. photos from those materials can show there is no connection. nothing that we could define as open visual connection to the floor below between floors one and two. i can quickly show on that on my screen here. this is material that was included in the -- i hope you can see this. you are seeing now the image. >> yes, the kitchen. >> this is the kitchen on the second floor.

[please stand by]

>> these are just some of the facts. additionally, you know, the building was bought in 2016 t but -- by the l.l.c. in 2018, after the enforcement process had started, there was a coowner agreement, and the ownership changed such that the l.l.c. retained 50%, and then, the two owners, mr. campbell and berechea, were 25% owners.

and in that, there were two units, including inlaw area. so the materials that they prepared, they are recognizing that there is a separate unit in that ground floor. there is -- the fact is there's certainly two legal units, but given the material that is provided, there doesn't seem to be three units, the third illegal unit being removed. they are required to pay a conditional use authorization to remove the unit. that's one path, or they can legalize the unit.

that's the second path. and in communications leading up to this hearing, the parties, they were willing to pursue that. i think they were going to file it under protests in my conversations with mr. patterson, but they were going to file authorization to remove the third unit from the subject property, and i understand they own multiple properties in the city and in the bay area, as well, so there's probably other places where they could add units. you know, that's certainly something that they can pursue and, you know, we would encourage them to come up with some path for compliance. they've wanted to continue this item further, but we don't see the benefit of that. we think that everyone deserves some resolution as to the enforcement matter here, and that's what we're seeking from the board today and respectfully request that the board of appeals uphold the notice of violation and penalty. i understand, you know, part of

their process, they're very much looking to remove the unit from the building. part of it does speak to as soon as is practicable, you can bypass the city's regular condo rules, and then, you have two years of owner occupancy, and you can condo the building, and then, it can be sold off. so some of the materials that are provided i think make it more clear than in other cases that we've seen. the appellant has argued that there's no connection between the floors, which is factually incorrect. there's a door, and there's cabinetry in front of those doors, and that door is sufficient enough to meet the physical requirements for the

code. there's tenant evidence of occupancy on the ground floor, so that's it. thank you for your time, i'm happy to answer any questions. >> clerk: thank you. we have a question from president lazarus. >> president lazarus: mr. sanchez, there was questions about illegal parking. was that something that's a continuing concern to you? >> yes, absolutely. and i think that is a violation of -- and i don't think the appellant necessarily disagrees with that. there is a parking in the front set back which is allowed in the planning code. they would need to seek to legalize that, and i think as

part of the conversation had with their legalization option, that was part of what they were posing, as i understood it. that was still very much part of this enforcement case. thank you for reminding me of that. >> president lazarus: thank you. >> clerk: vice president honda? >> vice president honda: so i don't know if i missed this in the brief. so how did this case of enforcement come about? >> good question, commissioner honda. it was my understanding it originated as a neighborhood complaint because of parking conflicts in the front set back, and then, through that process, the issue of the unauthorized dwelling unit came to light. >> and the picture you show of the cabinet blocking the door, you mentioned that it was material from when it was sold, do you have a photo of what that current situation looks

like? >> yes, because staff did an on-site, so let me pull up that area. it is quite comparable in terms of physical location. >> vice president honda: milo is helping on your cases? >> i need all the help that i can get these days, so let me -- if he could just run screen share for me, that would be amazing. this should -- yeah. this is the photo from the staff side. there's still the door that exists. it's open, but there is a door, and i think as we have in other cases, simply the presence of the door is enough to -- for it to be a separate physical separation.

and so consistent with how we recognized the authorized dwelling unit -- it is different because the cabinetry is gone. >> vice president honda: they remodelled that. >> yeah, there is remodelling permits for the second and third floor, but i don't think i saw any permits for the ground floor and the cabinetry, but that's something more maybe for d.b.i. >> vice president honda: thank you very much, mr. sanchez. >> thank you. >> clerk: thank you. so commissioner tanner has a question. >> just building on the question about the remodelling and the site visit, are you aware, right now, if that's what it gets now is a -- you know, that first floor, the floor that you were just showing with the kitchen and remodel, does it now have its own private bedroom as part of the argument? previously, there were no private bedrooms, that

everything was open. did staff report back on the remodel? >> i believe that was remodels now as to have the bedrooms on the main floor, but in emergency roterms of the unauthorized dwelling unit, it doesn't need to have its own bedroom. you can call it a parlor or whatever you like. it was a room that was obviously able to be slept in because they had materials that showed that. >> commissioner tanner: okay. and then, i think the [inaudible] had requested the names to review them. do you recall the name of the former tenants, that they are not living there, is my understanding, that they had rent of the entire, i guess, ground, and that floor above. were you able to find any documentation expressly stating that?

>> the lease that we received going back to, i think, august of 2016 described it as unit a, ground floor. >> commissioner tanner: okay. so that would not be above ground floor. and then exterior connection, i assume the unit had an exterior connection coming and going from that area. >> that's correct. >> commissioner tanner: and then, all three portions of a u.d.u. must be met. how do you interpret that? >> unauthorized unit shall mean one or more rooms within a building that have been used without the benefit of a building permit as a separate and distinct living or sleep space independent from residential units on the same property. independent shall mean that the space has independent access that does not require entering a residential unit on the property, which is correct, and there's no open visual connection to a residential unit on the property, and we believe that also to be the case here because there is that

door at the top of the stairs. that is not an open visual connection as we would define in the planning department or planning code. >> commissioner tanner: and then, just the last question. you know, when the current owners, maybe let's say 2016, 2017, that currently own this, they could have sought to legalize that unit or could have sought a c.u.a. to get rid of that unit. >> yeah, that would have been available to them, either to legalize the unit or get rid of the unit. certainly, that complicates any

condo conversion if that is the purpose of this ownership. >> commissioner tanner: and it doesn't have to be an accessory dwelling unit, it just has to be a dwelling unit that's on the property. >> yeah, if it meets density, which are all the requirements of the code. >> commissioner tanner: okay. thank you. >> clerk: okay. vice president honda? >> vice president honda: yeah -- >> clerk: we can't hear you. >> vice president honda: how about now? >> clerk: we can hear you. >> vice president honda: sorry to have another question. how would the ability of the a.d.u. affect the condo convert? is it one to two units or two to four units? >> i'm not as expert as they are in the department of public works in the process, but it's my understanding in order to qualify for what's called a t-unified pass that it has to

be two qualified units to qualify for that condo bypass. certainly, there are condos that people will add a.d.u.s in later, but i think if you go into it as an a.d.u., that that would complicate their ability to do the bypass. but that would be something for the department of public works to go on. >> vice president honda: thank you. >> clerk: thank you. we will now hear from the department of building inspection. >> and i don't know that joe has anything specific to add. i just asked him to watch the hearing in case there were building code questions. that's all. >> clerk: mr. duffy, did you have anything to add at this point? >> i would defer if the commissioners have any questions for at this point on the d.b.i.-related issues, i'm happy to answer them. it was building related permits and some complaint investigations, and just on these types of cases, they are

very difficult for staff to investigate because, you know, there's a lot of -- sometimes in my experience [inaudible] i'm not saying that happened here. [inaudible] a lot of this stuff was very moveable, and, you know, it is -- they are tricky cases to investigate, but the other thing i wanted to add was that mr. sanchez, and there was some discussion if this building went from two three units, that may be in -- two to three units, that may -- the building goes from two units to three units, that it goes from an r-3 occupancy to an r ---r-2

occupancy to an r-3 occupancy.

>> -- entered into in june 2016. she rented with her two roommates ground floor prior to the sale of the property, and she never had access to the second floor from 2016, when the property was sold, to the l.l.c. controlled by mr. lynch and don and noah through 2018, when the stove was removed because of the city inspection, as mr. sanchez indicated. and the -- so the lease, there's many factual -- unfortunately factual assertions that are not

accurate where -- [inaudible] >> and so from 2016 to 2018, no part of the second floor was used or shared by miss shahane. what miss noah did was try to force the tenants to sign new leases with her daughter so it gave the impression her daughter was living at the property because of their intent to convert to condominiums. other than that, the kitchen, you know, was removed at some point. my only -- i just want to be

really clear, mr. lynch has said i've made factual inaccurate statement. my goal, as i asked mr. lynch at his deposition was, if he had any objection to me making truthful statements to the city. my participation is not as an advocate, it's merely to provide documentation to assist the city in their determination. however the determination that's made is the determination of the city, so the until miss noah removed it -- >> clerk: time. time. >> if there's any questions,

i'm available. >> clerk: okay. there is questions from commissioner tanner and commissioner honda. commissioner tanner? >> commissioner tanner: can i ask if your client -- if the stove was removed, your client had access to the upper unit? >> for a brief period of time. the lock was removed because there needed to be something for her to cook on. the second floor was in disarray. remain my client had to call the police when one of the contractors tried to access her unit at 1:00 a.m., and that's when my client and family members demanded that the other lock be put on the door.

>> commissioner tanner: and then, was your line [inaudible] or if that was a different unit. >> that's correct. so it didn't -- so sue cheta, was told to leave the property. there was an owner eviction by mr. berechea, so i'm assuming prior to their plan to condo convert, they had mr. berechea titled at 25%. it should be noted that eshe is engaged -- so mr. berenechea said he wants to be a homeowner at some point. he and miss noah were living at

their $1.5 million condo at -- >> commissioner tanner: okay. thank you very much. >> clerk: we have a question from vice president honda. >> vice president honda: actually, commissioner tanner always answers my questions. >> clerk: okay. i see a caller with the 808 care code, did you want to speak in public comment? i see miss bolard. do you want to speak in public comment? okay. we have no public comment, so we'll move onto rebuttal. mr. patterson, you have three

minutes. >> i do think it's fairly clear that we have an outside attorney that's been -- there's more going on behind the scenes here. i do want to correct one statement from our earlier submissions. we did find a photo from the staging, showing folding doors on the second floor near the pocket doors. it looks like they may have been there for staging purposes, but i can ask the owners to speak to that in a moment. my assumption is this photo was

taken -- my understanding is the former owner had passed away, and he had installed a kitchen set up for himself on the first floor as he was getting older and having trouble climbing the stairs, but that the second floor was never separately occupied. and once he passed away, and his heirs leased the lower unit to these three women, the understanding was construction was happening on the second floor. they were going to use the first floor with that kitchen until the construction was done because, you know, as they complained and wanted a lock on the door, the construction workers were down stairs.

the information about this being called units a, b, and c, i think is easily understand by the fact that there was an illegal unit in the property that was removed in 2007. happy for the owners to address

any of these issues if you have any questions. >> that's time. >> clerk: we do have a question from vice president honda, commissioner swig, and commissioner tanner. vice president honda? >> vice president honda: thank you to you, counselor. we haven't seen you in a while. i have several questions. one is the door between the two unit's still there. does it look like in the picture there's a door that's still there? >> it is not there, and we have a picture. >> okay. and so who lives at the property right at this moment.

>> i do. >> vice president honda: okay. and what else? >> my son, brian campbell. >> okay. so they live at the property right now? >> yes. >> vice president honda: and when you took ownership of the property, did you have tenants at the property? >> yes. >> vice president honda: and did you have tenants move out? >> there was a tenant move in at that time. >> vice president honda: okay. so it was an o.m.i. question to mr. sanchez,

actually. so mr. sanchez, doesn't an o.m.i. disqualify you from fast tracking a unit condo? >> i can't speak to that. that would be department of public works. >> vice president honda: okay. thank you. that answers my questions. thank you. >> clerk: okay. commissioner swig? >> just unmuting myself. thank you. >> commissioner swig: so there is evidence of unit a, b, and c, it was stated that there is signage that says it's a, b, and c. it says in the offering memorandums of the past, a, b, and c, and generally, if it quacks like a duck, it is a duck, but anybody other the -- in this hearing tonight, mr.

patterson, i'd like to ask you again, does anybody have any knowledge or knowledge or evidence from history of whoever lived in unit b of the second floor in question? >> no, it was the history of unit b, the lower two floors of occupancy. but ryan, go ahead.

[please stand by]

. >> commissioner swig: when can somebody establish that yes, there might have been an illegal situation, even though it's representative of a, b, and c? tied into that, what seems to be the ambiguity in this case is the gentleman who lived the final years of his life on the first floor, and the conjecture that, in fact, he was occupying the first and second floor but really couldn't occupy the first and second floor as one unit because he was physically incapable of doing that, and therefore, that second floor of the unit went to blight. that seems to me what's buzzing around here, but you can address those thoughts when your time comes, please. thank you. >> clerk: okay. commissioner tanner has a

question. thank you. >> commissioner tanner: when you purchased the property, did you have in mind that it was three units, a, b, and c, that that's how it was represented in your marking materials? is that your understanding, that it was a three-unit property? >> that was absolutely not our understanding. we did have a little bit of a laugh about it [inaudible] it's a two-unit building, and we were -- it was funny that they

tried to stage it. >> commissioner tanner: and then with the lease with the three roommates who were occupying it -- to the three young students who lives there, one of whom is mr. cuciman's client. we said look, the right way for

you to be in compliance is for you to be roommates, and we're going to have another tenant on the top floor, and you will share the unit as roommates, and they said fine. >> commissioner tanner: but when you say the other unit, that's unit c. >> no, a tenant who would share -- >> commissioner tanner: there were three roommates, plus a fourth roommate, is that correct? is that my understanding? >> after we bought the building -- >> commissioner tanner: no, there's two units. there's upper most unit, and then, there's three students. is there a fourth person in that unit, and they're occupying as a bedroom that middle floor or, i guess, first floor.

is that what i'm understanding? >> there were three students living there. they said yeah, fine, we'll be on roommate agreements, and then two of those students left. and three of them were paying $3,000, and one man said hey, can i pay $1,000 until i find something else. we said yeah, pay 1,0$1,000. we can't do that on a regular basis. >> clerk: president lazarus? >> president lazarus: yes,

question for mr. patterson. you haven't addressed the illegal parking situation, which would seem to address whether there was a u.d.u. or not? >> sure. i think it's an issue in that needs to be addressed in the other process. >> i can make a comment if there's an open visual connection to a residential unit on the property. >> clerk: okay. right now, president lazarus had a question about the parking, not about the open and visible. president lazarus, do you have anything further? >> president lazarus: no, not on that topic. >> clerk: now we're moving

onto the rebuttal permission for the planning department? >> i'm not allowed to make a comment? >> clerk: no, sir, your time is up. thank you. >> thank you. scott sanchez, planning department. the board of supervisors and the mayor adopted the legislation to protect housing, and specifically in general for rent controlled housing and tardable rent controlled housing. it is not the easiest code provision to implement. whenever you have something that's looking at unlawful conditions -- if it's on the building, we can do aerial or street views. it can be a challenge to implement this provision, and we do our best to do it. that said, i haven't really seen a case that had quite as much evidence as this one does. it's been interesting for me, and i'm just handling it for the appeal process, but seeing that the appellant's arguments

are built on shifting sand. we have the violation coming about. then, you have before d.b.i. was going to do a site visit, a stove being removed. and then, you have one the appellants, i believe it was donna, in her statements, she had submitted an affidavit in part of the enforcement process saying the tenants on the first and second floor, they always have use of the first and second floor. the tenant on the first floor can always go to the second floor. the client, when we were there, we got contradicting information, and then, donna had revised the affidavit to say well, a little bit more information, that actually, they were remodelling, you know? so during the remodelling, they could only use the ground floor, but when the remodelling was done, they could only use

the ground floor. that had to have been a self-contained unit back in 2016 when the lease was signed. additionally, we have, you know, text messages through this process between carl, who i believe is the tenant in unit c on the top floor and donna, that when kathrcatherine, in t middle unit, moves in, she wants exclusive use of the [inaudible]. i think this has been a little bit of a frustrating process. we respectfully request that the board uphold this. we think that there's sufficient information to justify the decision and respectfully request that the board uphold that.

if a unit reappears, whether or not there has been an illegal unit removed is somewhat irrelevant. we're looking at the facts here, and the fact is that there was three dwelling units. >> commissioner swig: so your biggest issue, mr. sanchez, if i could dovetail on my question, since you brought it up, is the shifting sands. conveniently what happened here is the owner shifted the sand

and opposes to any fix situation. and your point of view, and please confirm this or not -- it's abandoned due to the previous -- the previous owner, then just maybe their argument might have stood up. >> if anything, i think what they're doing, and this is based upon my review of the history here and seeing how the arguments and the facts have -- have cancelled over the course of, you know, the years-long enforcement process. and i think it would have been an even more clear-cut case of the authorized dwelling unit back when the case was first brought to their attention. but they've taken steps to

muddy the waters, to make it more confusing. unfortunately, that appears to be the case, and i can understand. we shouldn't have to resort to independent attorneys to give us fact -- >> i was giving you the truth. >> clerk: excuse me. you can't speak out. please -- please stop. are you finished, mr. sanchez? we do have a question from vice president honda.

>> vice president honda: i've been on this body since 2012, and in 2012, nonpermitted or nonwarranted work could be removed, no matter what the tenancy was. i believe in october 2014, i believe it was david chiu that introduced legislation that then as a supervisor to legalize rooms down, to make a path towards legalization, correct? >> yeah. that's when the first legalization provisions came into effect, and subsequent to that, the board of supervisors felt like they wanted to ensure that people weren't removing units. they wanted them to legalize the units. >> vice president honda: that's my next question. i know the legalization was roughly in october 2014. when did the mandatory a.d.u. or unauthorized -- u.d.u. or unauthorized dwelling unit take

place? >> i don't no exactly. it was either in 2014 or 2015, about two years after the legalization process was unveiled. >> vice president honda: to me, it's pretty simple. the permit holders mentioned a 3-r report from the city and county, and that's usually presented during a transaction. for clarification, the residential report of records is often different from the actual makeup of the property that's sold and generally represented as unwarranted or nonpermitted work. i don't believe anyone would have bought this as a true three-unit without doing their due diligence, but at the same time, they were aware that the unit was being used as a did he go unit, and if it is, it cannot be taken off of -- dwelling unit, and if it is, it cannot be taken off of housing

stoc stock. >> the mayor approved the unauthorized dwelling unit in 2016. >> vice president honda: if you look at it chronologically, legislation indicates that you cann cannot -- [inaudible]. >> they indicated that they would be willing to -- they'll

have their day before the planning commission to make their arguments. >> okay. i think there was a violation from the building department that, i believe, was removed because that work was completed. that your understanding of the timeline? am i understanding that correctly? >> i looked at some of the materials from that time frame; but it doesn't seem to be

relevant to what's happening here today. >> yeah. there does appear to be an illegal unit that was removed. the gentleman who owned it over the next decade maybe then, you know, put in some upgrades and upon his death, his heirs subsequently leased it, and we have the information that we have. for it to not be its own unit, it would seem if it was just truly bedrooms there with no kitchen, would that be not considered an independent unit

if there were no kitchen or washing facilities? >> yeah. if it were just bedrooms on a ground floor, and there was a connection to the other floor, it would have everything that you would need for an apartment. >> rest room facilities and bathrooms and everything also that are a part of it. okay. i think that's all the questions. thank you. >> clerk: okay. commissioner swig, you're on mute right now.

connecting into a kitchen, and that would be a horrible living situation. i'm having a hard time with it -- should i have a hard time with that argument based other what you and i, mr. sanchez, have seen come into our hearings where we've seen some pretty wacky configured apartments, illegal or not, where, you know, certain people live certain ways and accept that and pay rent. so should that actually be a factor that there isn't a formal bedroom on the second floor? >>. materials -- it was listed for sai sale.

it showed a bedroom in the front, with things blocking going down to the ground floor. that wasn't during construction, that was photos of the building for sale in 2016 listed as a three-unit building. >> commissioner swig: and what should we be doing with the parking space? it seems like mr. patterson is saying that shouldn't be a violation just so we can go on the record, and since it's your suit, give us a point of view on that, please? >> yeah. so the board of appeals will also be upholding that portion of the violation. i believe that they will go through the process and go through the appropriate legalization process to deal with the parking and the front set back as well as the removal of the dwelling unit, and we will work with them on that, however they want to pursue it.

if they want to legalize the unit or demolish the unit, we'll work with them on that. >> clerk: commissioner tanner? >> commissioner tanner: i wanted to go back to mr. bernecea, i hope i'm saying your name right. i wanted to hear from you. are you currently living at this unit right now? >> that's correct. >> commissioner tanner: okay. and when you took up residency there, did that begin when the owners were there or had they already left? >> they had already left. >> commissioner tanner: okay. there was no time overlapping with them?

>> unfortunately, i wouldn't know anything about down stairs since my unit is [inaudible]. >> commissioner tanner: okay. so you're on the upper floor, not on the one that's connected to the ground floor or the first or second floor. okay. great. and is there anyone currently living on those lower floors, then? >> currently, brian's sister, kathrin, catherine, is living on the first and second floor [inaudible]. >> commissioner tanner: okay. thank you. >> clerk: so i'm just confirming, mr. duffy, do you have anything in rebuttal? >> no, i don't have anything. thank you.

>> clerk: okay. so this matter is submitted. and i just want to remind, the standard is err or abuse of discretion? >> commissioner swig: i'll start. so as i summarized it, it's very reasonable discussion thatha that, at some point, that there was someone else living there, and i couldn't get -- and he couldn't get up the stairs, and that argument would seem to fly if things were simple. but what bugs me here is, to use mr. sanchez' point of view, the shifting sands, as it

seems, that there was a conscious effort to remove a stove from a first-floor unit from an inspection which would have identified the space as an illegal unit, etc., etc. if there was, again, using my words, if it quacks like a duck, it might be a duck, you know, if there was signage a, b, and c units, if there was, in the marketing materials, advertised to the current owner, that there were three units in the building, didn't identify if they were legal or illegal, then there were three units. so i -- i don't think there are errors and omissions in the planning department, and i

think that the notice of violation is a valid one, and it can be cleaned up, including the parking. >> commissioner tanner: i agree with commissioner swig's comments and, yeah, i don't see any error or abuse of discretion in finding this violation and finding that -- there to be -- essentially, i think you said it well, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it would seem to perform as an independent unit, and it would seem to be an independent unit. >> vice president honda: i would also agree. i think the law of the day says that whether the unit was warranted or nonwarranted that it has to seek the path of legalization, and only if that path of legalization cannot be completed, then it would be referred back to the two-unit.

unfortunately, during when they purchased -- and hopefully, this is going to affect the condo conversion from t.i.c., but the law of the day stood, whether that unit was conforming or nonconforming, warranted or unwarranted, it was automatically considered rent controlled housing, and that cannot be removed. and unfortunately, that is up to the board of supervisors to decide whether they want to -- want to agree on that or not. >> president lazarus: do we have a motion? >> commissioner swig: commissioner tanner should make the motion, given her transition opportunity. >> commissioner tanner: thank you, commissioner swig. i would move we deny the peappl and uphold the n.o.v. on the basis that the owner did not

abuse his discretion. >> clerk: so on that motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: so that motion carries, 5-0, and the appeal is denied. so that concludes the hearing. we have no further items. see you next week.

>> we think over 50 thousand permanent residents in san francisco eligible for citizenship by lack information and resources so really the

project is not about citizenship but really academy our immigrant community. >> making sure they're a part of what we do in san francisco the san francisco pathway to citizenship initiative a unique part of just between the city and then our 5 local foundations and community safe organizations and it really is an effort to get as many of the legal permanent residents in the san francisco since 2013 we started reaching the san francisco bay area residents and 10 thousand people into through 22 working groups and actually completed 5 thousand applications for citizenship our cause the real low income to moderate income resident in san

francisco and the bayview sometimes the workshops are said attend by poem if san mateo and from sacking. >> we think over restraining order thousand legal permanent residents in san francisco that are eligible for citizenship but totally lack information and they don't have trained professionals culturally appropriate with an audience you're working with one time of providing services with pro bono lawyers and trained professionals to find out whether your eligible the first station and go through a purview list of questions to see if they have met the 56 year residents arrangement or they're a u.s. citizenship they once they get through the screening they go to

legal communication to see lawyers to check am i eligible to be a citizen we send them to station 3 that's when they sit down with experienced advertising to fill out the 4 hundred naturalization form and then to final review and at the end he helps them with the check out station and send them a packet to fill and wait a month to 6 weeks to be invited in for an oral examine and if they pass two or three a months maximum get sworn in and become a citizen every single working groups we have a learning how to vote i mean there are tons of community

resources we go for citizenship prep classes and have agencies it stays on site and this is filing out forms for people that are eligible so not just about your 22 page form but other community services and benefits there's an economic and safety public benefit if we nationalize all people to be a citizen with the network no objection over $3 million in income for those but more importantly the city saves money $86 million by reducing the benefit costs.

>> thank you. >> i've been here a loventh i already feel like an american citizen not felt it motorbike that needs to happen for good. >> one day - i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, for liberty and justice for all. >> you're welcome. >> (singing). >> (clapping.) >> introduce the san francisco field officer director ribbon

that will mirror the oath raise your hand and repeat the oath i hereby declare on oath repeating. >> citizens cry when they become citizenship to study this difficult examine and after two trials they come back i'm an american now we're proud of that purpose of evasion so help me god please help me welcome seven hundred and 50 americans. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> she wants to be part of the country and vote

so much puppy. >> you know excited and as i said it is a long process i think that needs to be finally recognized to be integrated that is basically, the type of that i see myself being part of. >> out of everybody on tv and the news he felt that is necessary to be part of community in that way i can do so many things but my voice wouldn't count as it counts now. >> it's everybody i hoped for a bunch of opportunities

demographics and as you can see yourself there's a good life for everyone. >> that's why. >> you have people from all the walks that life and they're standing in water 8 hours to be an american citizen and contribute to the city and that's really what makes this

worthwhile. >> ♪ ♪ [♪] >> i am the supervisor of district one. i am sandra lee fewer. [♪] >> i moved to the richmond district in 1950 mine. i was two years old. i moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here.

[♪] >> when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. it seems so far away. for a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. the stress was storage of the birthplace of that. my father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. it just started to grow very organically. it is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the richmond district. as russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. so parts of the richmond is very concentrated with the russian community and immigrant russian community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [♪] >> i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. they are beautiful barriers.

the presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the pacific ocean. we also also have a national park service. we boarded the golden gate national recreation area so there is a lot of activity to do in the summer time you see people with bonfires. but really families enjoying the beach and the pacific ocean during the rest of the time of year. [♪] >> and golden gate park where we have so many of our treasures here. we have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. this is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. the theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. it has been around for a very long time.

is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. i moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. we would always go here. i love these neighborhood theatres. it is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the richmond district, but also in san francisco. small theatres showing one or two films. a unique -- they are unique also to the neighborhood and san francisco. >> where we are today is the heart of the richmond district. with what is unique is that it is also small businesses. there is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. and providing for the neighborhood. this is what we love about the streets. the cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you

will see small businesses even towards 32nd. at the core of it is right here between here and 20 -- tenth avenue. when we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the -- any other part of san francisco. there is traditional irish music which you don't get hardly anywhere in san francisco. some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to have a sunday afternoon ice cream. and then also, we see grocery stores. and also these restaurants that are just new here, but also thriving. [♪] >> we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. that is a really great thing to see.

i don't know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. i like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. the market is the place i like to come to once a year. once i like about the market as it is very affordable. it has fresh produce and fresh meat. also, seafood. but they also offer a large selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. a variety of rice that they have is tremendous. i don't thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. >> hi. i am kevin wong. i am the manager. in 1989 we move from chinatown to richmond district. we have opened for a bit, over 29 years. we carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india.

we try to keep everything fresh daily. so a customer can get the best out a bit. >> normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. because they have really just really fresh crab. this is something my family really likes for me to make. also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup. they cut it to the size they really want. i am probably here once a week. i'm very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier -- cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets, which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. we don't speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. i do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are

looking for specific items. the staff here is very helpful. i speak very little chinese here myself. thinks that i'm not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need? is this what i should be making? and they actually really helped me. they will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. they are very knowledgeable. very friendly. i think they are here to serve not only the asian community but to serve all communities in the richmond district and in san francisco. [♪] >> what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered. [♪]

>> hi, everybody. welcome. good evening and welcome to the forum for the 2020 district one san francisco board of supervisors election. i'm the president of the league of women voters of san francisco. and i'm also a resident of district 1. i'm very excited to be here with my neighbor to hear from more candidates as a voter. the league of women voters of san francisco is a nonpartisan, non-profit that encourages informed and active participation in government. the league never supports or opposes candidates, however, we do take stands on issues. this year's election presents new and unprecedented challenges

for voters and we're committed to providing the resources that voters need to exercise the most fundamental rights of our democracy and be assured that the votes will be counted. please remember that you must be registered to vote by october 19. all registered voters will be mailed a ballot in early october. options for in-person voting will be available both early and on november 3rd. please visit our website at lwvsf.org/vote where you'll find all of the voter resources we offer. the league of women voters is a non-profit organization. if you'd like to support our work and free events like this one, become a member or donate at our website. i'm now pleased to introduce lia edwards, our moderator for tonight. lia currently serves a treasurer of the league of women voters of the united states.

she previously served as president of the league of women voters of san francisco and has served on the board for almost six years. she believes that participation in government is critical to the success of the nation and is excited in creating a more perfect democracy. professionally, lia works in the investment management industry in san francisco. welcome, lia. >> thank you, alison. welcome to the candidates for san francisco district one board of supervisors. the candidates will have a chance to present their views on issues affecting san francisco. first, i'd like to remind you of our ground rules. responses to questions should be on the issues and policy-related. candidates are expected to be respectful of other candidates and asked not to make personal attacks on other individuals. here are the procedures.

the candidates will have the opportunity to make one-minute opening and closing statements. opening statements will be in alphabet cal order by first name. closing will be in reverse alphabetical order. each candidate has one minute to answer the questions. any rebuttal can be included in the closing statement which is one minute. the first question will be directed to three candidates. the second question to the remaining three candidates. this process will be repeated with rotation of the response order. each candidate will have the opportunity to answer the same number of questions. there will be a lightning round where all candidates will be asked the same question with the responses being yes, no, or no response. the final question will be directed to all candidates. a countdown timer will be displayed with visual indication of the remaining time of the response. every aspect of the forum will

be equally fair to all candidates. thank you to the attendees tonight. you're in listen-only mode. the chat features are not active. please do not use the raised hand option. this will be made available on the website, our youtube chan and sfgovtv cable channels. you have many important decisions to make on december 3rd. tonight's forum will give you an opportunity to learn before you vote. let's begin. we will start off with one-minute opening statements in alphabetical order. welcome, candidates, and thank you for participating in the forum. please introduce yourself, tell us which neighborhood you live in, why you're running and what would be the top three priorities for your first year. we'll start with andrew. >> i'd like to thank the league of women voters of san francisco for holding this forum. and inviting all of us to speak to you this evening. i think it's a most critical time for our city and obviously

the country with the covid-19 pandemic. i'm running for district 1. i've lived in the city for 15 years in the richmond district. i met my now fiance here in richmond district. so this neighborhood means a lot to me. over the last 15 years i've seen the city of san francisco, but particularly our drk district here, deal with the issues when it comes to trash in the streets. we've seen increase in unhoused individuals and that is of particular concern to me as a member of the community and obviously for my fellow neighbors, particularly with the covid-19 it's a public health and public safety issue that we need to address. i'm running to make sure we can restore some type of order in terms of cleaning up our streets, making sure we adequately fund our police, because we do have an increase of property crime in our

neighborhoods. and ultimately, you know, helping our elderly, our low-income families and working families to be able to have a prosperous living environment. so that's why i'm running for district one. again, i appreciate you hosting this and i look forward to hearing questions from your committee. >> thank you, andrew. next, connie. connie, i think you're on mute. >> hi, good evening. i'm connie chan. i'm running for district 1 supervisor. i'm a first generation immigrant. i came here when i was 13 years old. now i'm 42. you're welcome to do the math. and my mom still live in the same rent controlled apartment i grew up in chinatown. today with my partner who is firefighter in the city, we're raising our second grader.

a 7-year-old at lafayette. the last 15 years i've spent my career in public service in city government, aide to board of supervisors, district attorney's office when district attorney was kamala harris and city college of san francisco and rec department. i want to use my experience to fight the gap in the city so everyone can sit here in a house safe and healthy. >> thank you. >> next, david. >> i'm david lee. i live in the richmond district. i'm a san francisco native. i lived most my life in the richmond. went to high school in the neighborhood. and i guess in the mid 90 fz i was on the board of league of

women voters and did these debates. so this is a great job you're doing, lia, and the team here, and alison, in getting everybody engaged. i am an educator. i teach at san francisco state. i also work in the community colleges supporting english second language program. and i've worked to register voters through a civil rights organization for many years. i'm running to, one, bring bart to the richmond district. two, to support small business. and three, to help address the homeless crisis in our district. >> thank you very much, david. >> hi, good evening. i was born here in the richmond. i grew up on the peninsula. 14 years ago my husband and i moved back to the richmond. made a conscious decision to buy our home in the outer richmond where we have three kids and live with my mother-in-law. i run a small business here in

the neighborhood, but i have 30 years experience in government at the federal, state and local level. i've also run a strategic communications firm here in san francisco. you know, this pandemic wasn't anything any of us expected. i think running a campaign in a pandemic is not anything any of us planned for. i think the backdrop of the pandemic has highlighted where we could do better as a city. i'm very concerned about homelessness. about housing. about supporting our local economy, meaning small business and the very delicate ecosystem between our small and larger businesses and keeping our streets safe and clean. thank you. >> great, thank you. next sherman. >> good evening. i live in the richmond district in san francisco. and i also work at a store in the richmond district. and i'm running because the basic things that we all see every day just are not getting

taken care of in our neighborhood. that means making sure that the streets are clean. making sure that the trash cans are emptied. make sure that our medians are maintained. all these basic functions that government is supposed to take care of are put on the back burner in favor of other issues that elected officials believe are more important. i think there is nothing more important than making sure that the basic functions of government are taken care of. i'm running for supervisors because i want to make sure the streets are clean. make sure that traffic lights are installed on the missing blocks in the neighborhood. and that we have accessibility from the supervisor to its residents. thank you. >> great, thank you, sherman. next, we have veronica. >> good evening. i'm a longtime resident of the richmond district. i went to the public school.

and i'm a graduate of -- you know, i'm a single working mom to a 10-year-old and a 21-year-old who attended city college of san francisco who benefitted from free city where he played baseball and football. i live in the home with my parents and understand the issues that seniors are having. i own a family restaurant in san francisco, but i have two decades of state and local government experience. i want to san francisco that works for all, not just the selected and privileged few. our priorities, economic recovery, public safety and housing. those are the three issues we hear about and we need to start taking it. >> the first question is, what approaches do you support that encourage the building of new housing in district one?

how would you balance housing density with keeping the character of the neighborhood? and the first person is veronica? >> thank you for the question. as far as you know, i'm a huge supporter of senator wiener's bill to build housing in unused land, but also huge support of the bill that brings in funding for affordable housing. i think we need to hold our elected officials at the state level and the city level to bring in funds to be able to build housing here in san francisco. we need the state and federal level to come in. statement at the same time, we need to look at what affordable housing means to the average san franciscan. our teachers and first responders do not qualify. we need to -- what below market rate housing is. i'm a supporter of all income

levels of housing in san francisco. we need income level of housing in san francisco in order to build 100% affordable housing. so that's where i stand right now with housing. >> next we have david. same question. what approaches do you support that encourage the building of new housing in district one and how would you balance housing density in keeping with the character of the neighborhood? >> i strongly believe in investing in public transit. i think bringing bart to the richmond will help us create transit hubs that can increase 100% affordable housing provided that local community and local control is maintained. i think that is very important that the community and the neighborhood are at the table and consent to density. however, i do believe that

transit is really critical and we have to do transit along with building affordable housing. that's why i support bringing bart to the richmond. we passed a $3.5 billion bart bond in 2016. there is $10 million for a study to bring bart to the richmond. it's time to start talking about it. as supervisors, that will be one of my top priorities. >> thank you, david. next up, marchand. same question. >> so i don't think creating homes for families and working people and maintaining the amazing character of our neighborhood are mutually exclusive things. i think that we can plan together, which is part of having a supervisor that is engaged and in the neighborhood, and having these conversations even in years that aren't election years. i do believe that we absolutely need 100% subsidized affordable housing. where that subsidy will come from, i think, i'm a realist

about that, we don't have the money from the federal or state government. given the kicking the can down the road mentality on housing, not just in the richmond, but all over san francisco, we need to ensure that the housing is being built in an environmentally mindful way in transit corridors, in the merchant corridors, while creating housing for working families that don't qualify for 100% affordable housing. i think that's a conversation and action plan that a supervisor is very well suited to lead. >> thank you. next we'll have the second question. that goes to the remaining three candidates. what will you do to provide more affordable housing in district one? do you support programs that encourage the building of more accessory dwelling units, known as granny flats and inlaw units? andrew? >> that's a really good question.

so building out more in-laws, again that is something that you're going to have discuss with the property owner and i do support that, but again, you have to have buy-in from the property owners in order to do that. and whether that is something they want to have built into their properties. again, that's something that needs to be discussed also at the local level with the other board of supervisors and you have to come to some kind of consensus in how we want to approach that. but we definitely need obviously more affordable housing in district one and the richmond district. one of the things as an aside, there are availability in terms of affordable housing in our district, but some of those available property spaces are being used as airbnbs, so that's one of the things we probably need to look at and change. thank you. >> thank you, andrew. next we'll have sherman. same question. >> so i think for housing, i

think one of the things we can do is make it easier for the people who want to build in the city to build, is very expensive, and it adds to the cost of building in the city, reducing some of the red tape would, you know, will encourage builders to build in the city. i do think adus are helpful. anything that adds to the housing stock is helpful. the other two aspects that i think that need to be addressed is short-term like airbnb. those should not be allowed. also, our colleges and universities, i think if they are going to bring in people from outside the area, we should require them to build appropriate units to house the people that they're bringing into the community. thank you. >> thank you, sherman.

finally, connie. >> thank you. i definitely support the development of affordable housing. when i talk about affordable housing and 100% affordable, it is between 0% all the way up to 120%, and that is below poverty rate up to $160,000 annual income for a household of four. and i think that is a solid middle income housing. that can actually house our workforce. and it's also the reason why i supported prop a in 2019, which is $600 million affordable housing bond and prop e, affordable housing for educators and workforce. that allows us to rezone and up-zone for any public land and private land. i find they build 100% affordable. the gap is how the incentive for

property owners to build them, so we need to continue to push forward. >> thank you, connie. >> we'll move on to the third question. how will you address the issues a in the richmond of homelessness and crime both short-term and long-term? will you prioritize homeless services? and if so, which services? if not, why not? this will be answered first by david. >> i do not support building a navigation center in the richmond district, however, i do support extending a homeless services, particularly a mental health crisis counselors, reallocating funding from the police department to provide and hire more crisis counselors to address the mental health crisis that we find on our streets today. i believe that we should provide more services rather than police as a response to addressing

homelessness. i also believe that we should be moving the homeless population into hotel rooms. they should be sheltered. this is a public health crisis. we have hotel rooms that are already paid for. and we should be moving the homeless population from the richmond into hotel rooms where they can be sheltered and services provided. thank you. >> thank you, david. next question is answered by connie. >> i think that we at this point that homelessness is obviously a symptom of a problem and that problem is lack of equity for generations of working people. the lack of equity to health care, education and food security and housing security. let's address those issues first because the best way to stop homelessness is to prevent it. however, for the existing homeless problem, we should make

sure our city has coordinated services to provide individualized approach. let's not just do the count of who the homeless population, but also to know who they are so we understand their needs and help them to get their feet back -- back on their feet. i think that also, that you know, with -- recently there is a report about the gap, about providing permanent supportive housing for homeless and we need to do a better job with that. >> great, thank you. next veronica. >> i absolutely agree that we need homeless services here in the richmond district, but i am in support of a mobile navigation center here in the richmond district. we have navigation centers here in the city. they're expensive to build and maintain. so the reality is we need the services, but how do we get them to the homeless population? the reality is this is an urgent

manner now. it is a public health issue. we need to treat them with compassion. one person at a time. my focus has been on the foster youth. we start with our foster youth who are at higher percentage rates of being unhoused when they turn 21. to give them an opportunity to finish college degree. with regard to the homelessness services now, hotel, we have to look at mental health services and housing these individuals. thank you. >> thank you. next we move to the next question for the remaining three candidates. what would you do to address substance abuse and mental health issues with residents? >> so many of our people who are on the street do have mental and

substance abuse issues, for that reason i supported that the first thing we have to do before we do anything else, we have to get people off the street. we have to have a safe place for them to go so that we can tell them you can't be out on the street anymore. my suggestion is to use the city garages that we already have that are owned by the city, so they don't cost us more, and put up temporary housing -- temporary type of housing in there that everybody has their own unit. and while they're there, we can treat everybody who needs help. find out what their situation is, what do they need and have all of the resources in one place. i believe that is the best use of the resources. but we cannot get a handle on how to help people when we don't have them in place where we can interact with them and help them. thank you. >> thank you, sherman. next.

>> so, when we talk about an issue like homelessness, i think we need to recognize the different needs of the unhoused populations because there isn't one single solution. i think we've heard a lot of that in different candidates's responses. yes, the housing shortage must be addressed. we need to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. enforcing the laws on the books about sleeping on the streets, but also being able to offer our unhoused residents a place to stay. we need to increase government accountability and transparency so we're enforcing metrics to eliminate duplicate programs. with regard to mental illness and drug use, i got to tell you, we cannot talk about homelessness without talking about the opioid crisis and the fentanyl that has been on the streets for the past two years. you have to look at what is happening in the tenderloin and what is starting to happen in the richmond.

we have to prosecute the drug dealers so they can stop killing people and it's affecting our homeless population. >> finally, andrew. >> yeah, that's a great question. so it is a two-part problem. we have the issue of homelessness that continues to rise in the richmond district and it's been a problem in the city of san francisco for several years now. we spent upwards of $300 million on this crisis and we still don't get anywhere. our approach needs to change. specifically, when you look at homeless, the answer is not building navigation centers in richmond district, because, one, they cost up to $70,000 per person to house a person in navigation center and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build. one of the things we have to do is we do have to -- we do have to get tough and realistic and

we need to first and foremost get the unhoused individuals and again we can't treat them as a monolith, because we have homeless veterans, we have young people within the lgbtq community that are, unfortunately, unhoused. and so we have to treat everything on a case-by-case basis. >> thank you, andrew. sorry, time is up. >> okay, sorry. >> thank you for your response. we'll move on to the next question. which is according to san francisco police statistics, crimes against persons have decreased, burglaries have increased. what actions do you propose the city, the police and administration do to handle the property crime? we'll start with connie. >> from my experience working at both -- starting as a community organizer for the san francisco

and the district attorney's office, i think property crime is in terms of the crime pyramid, it really does impact a lot of people. and from my experience, is that there are ways in technology and that is not invasive. and without involving law enforcement directly, that our residents can use to either prevent it -- to prevent the property crime or deter it from happening again. i think that another part of it we can make it more efficient is about crime reporting. that is a lot more convenient for the victims of property crime so that also that data can be provided to our law enforcement in realtime when they can track it and hopefully come up with a strategy to either prevent it or be able to reduce in certain area. [please stand by] [please stand by]

>> i believe nonny vase i have surveillance and technology say great ally in our efforts to curb the increase in property

crime. we're seeing that automobiles are having monitoring, in their parked vehicles. i think that we need police resources are scarce. i served on the richmond community police advisory board for a number of years. we only have so many police and a very large geographical area for them to patrol so, it's going to be incumbent on all of us to work together to bring down property crime. the reporting is another very important piece. we should report property crimes' year and consistent so that information data can be used and shared. i think also that we could be doing a lot more as a neighborhood. >> thank you, david. next question for the remaining three candidates. many residents are concerned about the impact of crime and homelessness on the quality of life in this city.

what will you do to ensure that all residents feel safe in their neighborhoods while also addressing racial justice and law enforcement concerns? we'll start with you. >> i always say that public safety and police accountability are both core responsibilities of local government. not only can't you play one off the other but you shouldn't. you can do both. that's why i support investing in our black community and ensuring the way we look at law enforcement and we look atri store tive justice, there's equity. three hours ago someone was stabbed five blocks away from my house. this morning, a neighbor, who has a public bench and a ferry garden on the corner, it was completely vandalized and that's heartbreaking for our neighborhood. i think that police need to

solve crimes and we shouldn't layoff police officers. at the same time, we can invest and. >> they seemed to have moved from gary. we can't just move our population from corner to corner and district to district. it affects quality of life. the realities our kids shouldn't have to walk to ocean beach and see someone urinating on the corner. it's unacceptable. statement, we have to see that we have to treat this this issue with compassion and we have to

invest in mental health services. i do agree. we need more data so we get appropriate funding. we have to reinvest in our communities and shift away from leaving policing. but there's a role for police to play in our community. property crime is people are saying home and for there's a role for everyone to play in our community. >> thank you veronica. >> we'll have sherman. >> the short answer to your question is we have to enforce the laws. the reason we have laws on the books in san francisco, is to keep everybody who lives here safe. i want those laws enforced. not necessarily to punish people but we need to enforce the laws so we get people maybe we can do diverse. does it mean putting people in jail? it might be some other form of

compensation. that being said, police department has problems. i understand that. but the solution is not to reduce their budget or to defund them deters crime in the first place and that's what we want. we want the crime to be deterred before it happens. thank you. >> thank you. now we're going to move on to a quick lightening round. so, please answer these questions with only yes, no or no response. the questions will go to all candidates. so for the first question, the lightening round, do you support the san francisco school board decision to remove the murals of george washington high school from public view? connie? >> yes. >> sherman. >> no.

>> andrew. >> i'm going to say no. >> marshan. >> no. >> david? >> yes. >> veronica. >> as alumni, i won't answer. >> next question. still the lightening round. so yes, no, or no response answers. it's a current legislatio legisd short term rentals acceptable or should more restrictions be in place? >> sherman. >> no, more restrictions. >> andrew? >> no and there needs to be more restrictions. >> marjan? >> i think -- there could be more restrictions. it's strict. i guess that is whatever that

answer is. >> david. >> there could be more restrictions. >> investor on veronica. >> no. >> connie. >> more restrictions. >> do you support the expansion of bart or muni to the outer richmond? andrew? >> no, because the last thing was a disaster on van ness. >> just yes or no. >> sorry. >> sure, if there's money. >> yes, no, no response. david. >> yes. >> veronica. >> yes. >> connie. >> yes. >> and sherman. >> no. we don't have the money. >> next question. for the lightening round. do you support prop b split off all public work sidewalk

maintenance and sanitation duties into a new agency while the current department handles engineering, design, project management and other work tied to san francisco public infrastructure. marshan? >> could you repeat that? >> absolutely. >> so this is still lightening round no response. do you support prop b which would split off other street cleaning and sanitation duties into a new agency while the current department continues to handle engineering, design, project management and other works tied to san francisco's public infrastructure. >> yes. >> >> andrew? >> yes. >> ok. next question in the lightening round. will you commit to providing your district one constituents with rapid, easy and responsive methods of communicating with

you? >> david. >> yes. >> ver tonic a. >> yes. >> connie. >> yes. >> sherman. >> absolutely. >> andrew. >> 100% yes. >> marshan. >> yes. sixth question and final question in the light eping rounlighteninground. are you willing to increase taxes on tech companies in order to support infrastructure, environmental and or job training projects? >> veronica. >> yes. >> connie. >> sure. but it's really about the billion dollars or million dollars and what tax category they are. >> yes, no, no response please. >> sherman. >> no. >> andrew. >> no. >> marshan. >> no. >> david. >> no.

>> great. thank you, everyone. we'll do three candidates at a time. what will you do to support district 1 businesses, especially minority-owned businesses, as they struggle with the challenges of covid-19 both now and in the future? veronica? >> this issue is very personal to me as a small business owner. if we want to get through this economic pandemic that we're going through, we have to invest in small business and making sure they survive this pandemic or it will change the dynamics of our community. the reality is small businesses are the number one employers for women and undocumented, for students, and if we lose that we're going to have a lot of more unemployment individuals here in san francisco so it's crucial to our economic recovery that we invest in supporting small businesses, making sure we

provide grants, if not low interest loans so that they can survive this pandemic. we're seeing this issue, if you can't tell right now, ter ants are looking like they're going to get evict and it will change the culture of san francisco. we want to maintain our small business and diversity and we have to reinvest in our small businesses, especially those businesses of color. >> thank you, veronica. next we'll have david. >> we need to make it easier for small businesses to get permits, streamline the process. we need to make language accessibility a priority to make sure that all businesses have opportunities including those owned by immigrants or immigrant owners of small businesses that are not aware of the opportunities there are to apply for grants and loans and assistance. we also need to help small businesses support them by providing more grants and loans

so that they can recover from the crisis. i also believe that the small businesses need help with understanding the government regulations and the health codes. it changes every few weeks with the covid-19 announcements and as to what is open and what can't open. and that requires out reach from the city, which isn't happening in multi langs. i would make that a priority. >> thank you, david. next we'll have marshand. >> it's too hard to started and operate a business in san francisco. we're losing 10% of our businesses a month and thousands bay area wide. i think that we need to support measures like proposition h, which is on the ballot this november, that will streamline the permitting process so you don't have minority-owned businesses paying rent on a space for four years to open an

indoor dining establishment, which is happening here in richmond. i think we need to make it more flexible for businesses to kind of reinvent the services they offer so that as they weather this pandemic and move into a new reality where they can't have more people in the business, we can't penalize them for that. i think for the next several years, we're going to have to alleviate the fees that we're charging our businesses so it's not so confusing and not such a gun burden and we need to work with black-led organizations to recruit business owners of color to come to our neighborhood. >> thank you. next question. which are the three candidates. how will you address the looming economic situation that may result when the current eviction moratorium expires. we'll start with andrew. >> so, regarding the eviction moratorium, i believe at the federal level that that is

already passed. and people are going to be starting to get eviction notices from their landlords in the beginning of november. the city needs to step in and provide protections for renters and folks and folks that are leasing homes for their families. again, that's something that is going to take a collective effort from the board of supervisors getting together and figuring out a economic plan where we can protect these people and at the same time we have to consider the fact they have mortgages to pay and it has to be a equitable relationship. >> it's a very unfortunate situation we're all in right now. unfortunately, i don't know what the supervisor or city

government can do to stop that situation and if the business snow squalls not doing they can't afford the rent and unfortunately, the landlord has a mortgage can pay. what can they do? it's a very catch-22. the on thing i can think of would be that if the city chips in and they say, ok, we will allow the occupant to pay half the rent and the property owner will get a tax credit for the other portion of the rent on their property taxes, it's the only thing i can see city government can do to help private businesses in the situation.

>> the question doesn't specify and you can answer either way. >> definitely. for the crime existing at eviction moratorium that was authored by dean preston and approved by the board of supervisors, came in just in time for the san francisco so i definitely support and we can push forward for that and i also think that it's good that we continue funds and free legal representation and free legal council for tenants so that in the case in the coming months that they would have to deal with hand lords and they have legal assistance and we export the expansion of commercial eviction moratorium which expired on september 14th. we need to push forward with that and i think that we need to consider how toen deal with that similarly what we do with residential eviction moratorium.

>> we'll move on to the next question, which is the richmond district helping a population of rats following the closure of geary boulevard restaurants and staff productions at golden gate park. how would you deal with this environmental issue and increased trash at ocean beach? starting with david. >> supervisor, we have to hold dpw accountable. and i would make sure our health department is held accountable to alleviate pests and garbage pick up, especially. it is a travesty that our department head dpw has been implicated in a scandal. i think that the board has not been doing it's job by holding the department accountable and that's why scandals have been allow to persist. i think it's really time for

supervisors to come in and ask questions about the department and what is being done for the richmond district. the richmond district has been ignored next we'll have connie. >> i have learned this during my time as the staff and san francisco recreation and park department and that is about integrated pest management and that is really finding ways to do rodent control without poison and there are messages that we can implement and we need to continue town vest and that is an environmental friendly way to do pest control and pest management and that we need to continue extending that program

not just for city departments and also for our everyday residents and for our small businesses we just have that and it's one of my personal favorite activities to do with my son is beach clean up. those are the everyday residents can participate and that's what we can do. then again, it is really about how do we, as legislature, to find policies solutions to do so. >> thank you, connie. and finally for those question, we'll have veronica. >> again, these are one of the things small businesses and family-owned businesses did until thin thecity. they actually paid for the rooting control and it helped our city stay rodent free. we have to support these small businesses and get through this pandemic. the reality is the richmond district, they took a lot of our trash cans with the campaign of

what you bring in you take back home. we need more gosh age cans so people have a place to throw their garbage and we need to hold dpw accountable and make sure they pick up the city-owned trash. we need better relationship with recology so they educate the public of how to use the free services of picking up this we need the city cleaned and we need to hold d.p.w. accountable for that. >> full ton street turns into a rice track, what will you do to protect pedestrians and make cycling safer in our district? starting with sherman?

>> we need timed traffic lights on those streets. that's how we take care of that problem. if we do that, it makes it safer for pedestrians and we can add a bike lane on full ton. the first thing that needs to be done is we have to have traffic lights at all of the intersections on fullton in the district and gary and california also. thank you. >> thank you, sherman. >> so, i live eight houses down from fullton so i know what you are talking about and that is

our -- how we get to golden gate park. who goes to the park, right? kids, seniors, families, people walking their dogs and it's intimidating to cross full ton and when you try to teach kids traffic safety you can't really do that on fulton. not even people running the stop signs. we need to time traffic lights and especially the entrance on 43rd and fulton to the park. you can't tell if it's sidewalks, street or dirt. that's a death trap. we saw a toddler get hit there many years ago. we're seeing it now during the pandemic when the streets are more clear. a lot of speeding, dangerous speeding and i think that time traffic lights are the way to go. >> finally for this question, we have andrew.

>> >> so, obviously all the major corridors in the richmond district, we need to have more traffic lights. we probably, if we're able to do that then we can reduce the amount of pedestrians and bikists in danger of being hit by cars. just on sixth and balboa, i remember talking to a small business owner there and the traffic stop sign is not even visible and it's covered by trees. we have to increase the visibility of our stop signs and we have to have time traffic lights in the area on all the major corridors. that's the answer that we're having in our district. >> thank you, andrew. moving on to the next question, considering there may be a large budget shortfall, what will you do to make the san francisco budget process more transparent? starting with connie. >> just last year, that supervisor sandra lee fewer and

norman yee had a legislation mandating there are public and community events and gatherings and meetings before the budget goes to -- before the mayor's announce or mayor, any mayor announced their budget. i think that that is the critical piece of it that we actually need to continue to make sure that we have where they think and how we should spend our budget and i think that it is about having the eight i had of city department and how they're spending their money before they decide on the budget. while we do at board of supervisors do the hearings except they're always jammed in one month of june and it's very challenging so we need to do it year around. >> next we'll have, andrew.

>> >> can you repeat the question. my feed got kind of chopped up there. i didn't catch the question. >> >> considering mr. may be a large budget shortfall, what will you do to make the budget process more transparent? >> >> the first thing thing is just, yeah, the idea of transparency is that if i'm on the bos for district 1, i want to have an understanding from each of the different departments what we're spending and why wore spending it and bring that informatio informatio the community so they can understand where their money is going. we can come to an agreement in terms of how we should move forward and on that particular budget because we are facing a $2.1 billion deficit going into 2021. next we'll have david.

>> look, i talked to hundreds of voters in the last week who have all told me that they don't trust what city hall is saying about our budget and the budget deficit has ballooned. at the same time, the board of supervisor has increased salaries for city workers. at the same time, the board of supervisors have increased their own salaries by 12%. yet, they want to increase taxes on our voters. there's taxes that they're asking voters to pass in order to close the budget deficit and they have not shown -- city hall has not shown it can be fiscally responsible itself and the leaders at the board of supervisors have not done so so we do need more transparency and i oppose the tax increases i support accountability and i support transparency and i think

a supervisor i would call for hearings. >> thank you david. moving on to the next question. san francisco has a significant deficit in the upcoming budget, which due to covid-19, will likely persist in the future. what specific policies will you champion to address the likely and current and future issues related to budget decisions. starting with marchand. >> so, that question also folds into the last question you asked. i think that we do need more transparency and community engagement in how we determine the budget. it's very important to acknowledge there are many folks in our neighborhood who don't have time to go to city hall and to be part of these budget decisions. it's not because they don't want to and they don't love the richmond but they're working and trying raise families or running a business and we really need to look at how we communicate, right, and how we become more

relevant as government leaders to our constituency and as i always say, if we're not relevant to the constituents we serve then that's not a failure on their part and that's a failure on our part and 100% applies to the budget and how we're reaching neighbors and we need to meet them where they are and be transparent and open about the process and genuine about getting their input and it doesn't mean community meetings during working hours. >> next, veronica, same question. >> we need a genuine conversation with our constituency. the fact is, a lot of -- for those who take the time go to city hall and test the fire regarding the budget or any issue, they do so knowing this decision has been made. that should not happen in a democracy and it's happening now. we needed this office here in

richmond and of course we need transparency and accountability and we have to hold every elect official and department head and department accountable for what is happening at city hall and each department. we have to re-evaluate government spending and budget cuts and it has to be done without hurting those who are already hurting. our low wage easterners eastern. to start with, we needed to really make tough decisions an and -- >> thank you, very much. next we have sherman. >> so, having transparency in budgets or anything in city hall without a way to disseminate that information in our local area doesn't do any good. we need a district office for the supervisors so that

residents can come and we can have on going discussions about what cost there are in the city and what our expenses are in the city. more importantly, what past legislation. i know this is not an easy t.s.x. for a lot of peopltopicbe have passed in the past, legislatively, either through the board of supervisors or us as voters add a lot of cost to government. as supervisors it's my responsibility to look at those issues and bring it back to the neighborhood and say, this is costing us ex amount of money, is this what we want to do with the limited resources we have and as supervisors that's the way we would have approached this. >> thank you, sherman. we will go into our final question. this is going to be answered by all candidates. so, the final question is, if

elected, you will serve for four years. in 2024, what do you want to be able to say was your single most significant accomplishment? starting with connie. >> that we have kept our tenants and homeowners on fixed income house. that our small businesses are able to stay home and some new ones were able to open too. in that the fact that our 38 geary, hopeful like at some point, brt but probably in 2024 at least run better and more reliable and safer and that golden gate park is able to make it safer for everyone, including the possibility of keeping jfk car free and bringing accessible to everybody all across the city. i think those will be great and

they will be really some of my priorities in the coming years when elected as supervisor. >> thank you, very much. next we'll have sherman. >> in four years i want to see that the neighborhood is cleaner and safer. i want all the traffic lights and all those corridors in and i want to see the streets clean. when we walk out the door, we don't see trash on the street. a lot of the questions that we have discussed today get back down to the basic thing, you know, are the streets clean. are the responsibilities that the city hall is supposed to do, are they being done? i would tell you they are not being done. if you go out your dor tomorrow, and you see gash an on the streets and government has failed you and i want to change that in the next four years, thank you.

>> next we'll have andrew. >> in the next four years if i'm fortunate to be elected as the board of supervisors for district 1, my biggest priority will be making sure that everybody in our community here in the richmond district is safe in terms of hopefully we have a vaccine by then where we can vaccinate all of the people in the neighborhoods starting with our elderly and those with immuno compromised systems. secondly, it's to make sure that all of our unhoused individuals have a place to stay and we're addressing the mental health crisis and the opioid crisis that is a continuing, growing concern in the richmond district. lastly is obvious low to make sure we have affordable housing for all of our residents here in the richmond district. next we'll have marchand. >> so over all, if i'm elected,

i would like to see and i would like our neighbors to see and feel an improvement in their lives in the marries most important to them. it does mean safe, clean streets and with regard to our unhoused residents that we've moved many into treatment and it does mean we've created an environment where opportunities an option for folks to be walking into wall groans and clearing the shelves, which is not safe for anybody. i would like to see more neighborhood engagement and regular input. this is how i can tell because people are talking about these issues. well i don't think there's a campaign season? i think we should talk about these issues all the time with neighbors and coming together like we just did in my neighborhood summit last weekend to tackle these problems tonight. we won't change them overnight but in four years i'd like to

see a marked improvement in those issues. >> thank you. next we'll have david. >> >> first off, the tax increases on a november ballot that hurt our middle-class and small business this is richmond, second, gary brt built and we should be well into our way and we're completed as supervisor of shepherd that project and makes sure it happens and hague the groundwork which 10 million-dollar has been allocated for planning and we be fully engage and supportive of that process and build a fort able transit where part is successful such as coliseum connect which has built 114 units of affordable housing.

that's what i would focus on as supervisor. >> and for this question we'll have veronica. >> thank you. i'm fortunate enough to be elected, first that no one here in the richmond feels like they were excluded from government process. their supervisor was held accountable to them and only to them in that special center or corporate america. to make sure that we held every city department accountable to do their jobs which means making sure our streets are clean and making sure our unhoused population has become an issue during these four years and only during the campaign season and making sure streets are safer and slower for our children. making sure, first of all, making sure our kids' mental health that they're going through right now through this pandemic, is in the long-term respect as they go back to school. i think what we want to see is more ethnic businesses here in

richmond, safer streets, cleaner streets and you know kids happy and playing in the cities again. in four years, that's what you can see if i'm elected. >> thank you very much. now we are going to move into candidate closing statements. we are going to do reversal tibet careverse alphabetical ordinary. order. >> thank you to the women voters for in inviting all of us this evening and inviting us to your living rooms today. my name, again is veronica and i'm a candidate for district 1. this race is personal. i live in a multi generational home with my senior parents and i understand the issues our seniors are having with cuts in their healthcare and issues of public safety and i also have a son who has a preexisting condition and has not left home since the pandemic, maybe left four times and understand the

struggles of working families and working and paying the rent and educating their kids. i will bring a new voice to city hall for small business owners as someone who is dealing with the crisis of small business and how we make the tough decisions if i'm going to close or stay home but i also have 20 years of experience in local and state government. i'm a can dat and won't be held accountable to any special center but the voters of san francisco and the residents of the richmond district so please visit my website. >> thank you. next we'll have sherman. >> thank you for sharing your evening with us and trying to learn about where we stand on these issues. you know, the most important thing any elected official can do is give you faith that government is working in your interest. so, i'm going to focus on those things we see everyday when we go out our door. are the streets clean?

is it safe to cross the street? do we have those traffic lights in all those intersections. are the garbage cans empty? is this trash piling up on the corner. these things should not occur. they're a failure of government when they occur. if i'm elected as supervisor, i will focus on those things. there's a lot of big things, a lot of big issues that come up every four years that supervisors have to deal with. we need to deal with these first. we need to give our neighbors' faith that government is looking out for their supervisors an ini hope to do that as your next supervisor. >> next marchand. >> thank you for having me tonight. every four years we have these conversations and you know we're running political campaigns and things turn political. i think when it comes to this seat, we forget that san francisco is a city and county. we're running for supervisor and

we're city council members and they need to focus on the needs of our neighborhoods and delivering those service that are services that are relevant and we talked a lot tonight around homelessness and san francisco and ensuring that neighbors feel safe and are safe if their neighborhoods and that's really going to require a supervisor who is going to roll up their sleeves and work 24/7 to deliver for all neighbors and not just those who supported him or there in this campaign. i'm committed and we will work hard everyday not just in this campaign and beyond to come together as neighbors and ensure that we get through this pandemic as healthy as possible and really rebuild and business and ensure that we're keeping families and working people in san francisco. >> next we'll have david. >> we have a rare opportunity in district one in the richmond district to elect a new supervisor. there isn't an incumbent running

this year. and we're seeing the divisions within our city has led to gridlock either the mayor's camp and the progressive camp and they seemed to be fighting and with richmond losing and he has a chance to elect and who has a people and powered campaign and it has kept pace with the front runners through the donations of small donors, small san francisco donors and through the public finance program i am an independent voice for the richmond. >> next we'll have connie. >> thank you. thank you so much for having us tonight. from my years of experience in city hall, i have learned a lot.

i have learned from shutting down the marine power plant and okin organizing theorganizing as and grants and fund in our park system and advocating for free city college and i hope to bring my experience and skills to the table to really help us to close the income gap that we are experiencing and it is threatening our tenants and homeowners to be evicted and our small businesses being displaced and it's they're my priority. i will want to work to make sure that they will be housed and stay in their homes and our small business stays open and workers can return work in a safer work environment and we have a more bike able and walkable richmond and people can still drive safely. >> thank you, connie. and finally we have andrew. >> yeah, i want to start by

thanking the league of women voters of san francisco for hosting this forum and allowing to us give our ideas on important topics effecting our district. if i'm elected for bos, for district 1, i'm going to be focusing on a couple of things. first and foremost, is making sure that we make it out of this pandemic in a stronger position to be successful. that means making sure that all of our residents have access to a potential vaccine. when that happens, so that people can return to some sense of normalcy. our elderly community, our working moms and dads, our low income families and secondly, i want to make sure obviously that we keep our streets clean and we continue to strive to help our unhoused populations find housing, find mental health, lastly it would be to make sure

that we're protecting our small business owners and helping to keep them in business as they continue to recover from the loss during this covid-19 pandemic in the closures. >> thank you, andrew. so thank you. on behalf of myself and the league of women voters in san francisco, our thanks to the candidates for participating this evening and we'd like to also thank all of the attend's for taking the time to inform yourself about your choices on november 3rd. please, remember to register to vote if you have not already registered and to urge others to register. registered. if you changed your name or moved you need to reregister to vote. if you will be voting by mail, please be sure your vote will count by ensuring your ballot is mailed or dropped off at a voting place early. thank you all for being here this evening.

>> look at that beautiful jellyfish. the way to speak to students and motivate them to take action, to save the planet, they do, they care and my job is to speak to them in a way that they can understand that touches their heart and makes them feel powerful with simple actions to take every day. ♪ ♪ >> i was born and raised in the desert of palm springs, california. my dad was the rabbi in the community there. what i got from watching my father on stage talking to the community was learning how to be in the public.

and learning how to do public speaking and i remember the first time i got up to give my first school assembly, i felt my dad over my shoulder saying pause for drama, deliver your words. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a teacher. and then when i got into high school, i decided i wanted to get into advertising and do graphic art and taglines and stuff like that. by the time i was in college, i decided i wanted to be a decorator. but as i did more work, i realized working my way up meant a lot of physical labor. i only had so much energy to work with for the rest of my life and i could use that energy towards making a lot of money, helping someone else make a lot of money or doing something meaningful. i found the nonprofit working to save the rainforest was looking

for volunteers. i went, volunteered and my life changed. suddenly everything i was doing had meaning. stuffing envelopes had meaning, faxing out requests had meaning. i eventually moved up to san francisco to work out of the office here, given a lot of assembly through los angeles county and then came up here and doing assemblies to kids about rainforest. one of my jobs was to teach about recycle, teaching students to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, i'm teaching them they have the power, and that motivates them. it was satisfying for me to work with for the department of environment to create a message that gets to the heart of the issue. the san francisco department of environment is the only agency that has a full time educational team, we go into the schools to

help teach children how to protect nature and the environment. we realized we needed animal mascot to spark excitement with the students. the city during the gold rush days, the phoenix became part of the city feel and i love the symbolism of the phoenix, about transformation and the message that the theme of the phoenix provides, we all have the power to transform our world for the better. we have to provide teachers with curriculum online, our curriculum is in two different languages and whether it's lesson plans or student fact sheets, teachers can use them and we've had great feedback. we have helped public and private schools in san francisco increase their waste use and students are working hard to

sort waste at the end of the lunch and understand the power of reusing, reducing, recycling and composting. >> great job. >> i've been with the department for 15 years and an environmental educator for more than 23 years and i'm grateful for the work that i get to do, especially on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. i try to use my voice as intentionally as possible to suppo support, i think of my grandmother who had a positive attitude and looked at things positively. try to do that as well in my work and with my words to be an uplifting force for myself and others. think of entering the job force as a treasure hunt. you can only go to your next clue and more will be revealed.

follow your instincts, listen to your gut, follow your heart, do what makes you happy and pragmatic and see where it takes you and get to the next place. trust if you want to do good in this world, that

>> all right, welcome, everyone. [applause] today is the day, dr. colfax. today is the day. it's the day that our kids get back to the serious business of play, and so i'm thrilled to be here with our mayor, supervisor safai and our director of public health, and many community leaders and wonderful people to celebrate the re-opening of playgrounds all across the city starting right now. we are here at mersed heights, so we're not just opening up the gates to playgrounds but we're also cutting ribbons on five amazing playgrounds that have just been waiting for children that have been renovated through the let's play s.f. initiative, which is is an incredible partnership between the recreation and the park department and the parks alliance, san francisco voters who support park bonds, and through let's play s.f. we're

actually transforming 13 playgrounds that have been loved to death across our city and to creative places that spark imagination, connection, and healthy bodies and minds. so without further adieu it is my great pleasure to introduce our parks champion-in-chief who has been a great nudge to make this happen. thank you, mayor. >> thank you. and thank you, phil, and thank you to all of the families in san francisco for your understanding and your patience as we deal with a very, very challenging time, one that none of us could have ever predicted. and i'm so excited to be here at mersed heights because i know how hard this community worked to get this park to be a priority. for so many years -- i see mary harris over there shaking her head hard. for so many years, and a lot of

the people in this community, they have been fighting to make sure that this part of town receives the support and the attention that it deserves. there are families here and there are generations of kids growing up in this neighborhood and in this community. and they deserved the opportunity to make sure that we rebuild the library, which your supervisor is pushing for. that we rebuild the parks and all of the other amenities that make life so great in san francisco. and here we are, because i'll tell you, supervisor, not too long ago i know that we came here, and we cut the ribbon -- or we broke the ground -- and this happened really fast. this is pretty amazing. and, you know, to make a park like this to happen, and it is absolutely beautiful! it is so amazing. and i am so happy that today

finally kids will be able to play in playgrounds all over san francisco. this is amazing. and i'll tell you that the reason why i'm so happy, because it is hard for children right now. you know, our private schools have opened and our public schools haven't. kids are not in school and they're in front of a screen on a regular basis. and that is not good for them. we know that it's not good for them. it's why i have been putting, of course, as much pressure as i can on the public to do our part to wear our masks and to wash our hands and to socially distance ourselves, and as much as we want to be around each other we have to make sacrifices for our children. so that they can go back to school, so they can play in playgrounds, so they can have a well-rounded life, because just imagine -- this is hard on us as

adults. just imagine how much harder it is on kids. how tough it is, and how we are seeing even now -- even though we're providing devices and internet and other resources to kids, the achievement gap is still growing wide. so we have a lot of work to do. and that's why today is so amazing. and it's so exciting. because it's not just that we're opening up all of these playgrounds, we have renovated a number of playgrounds in san francisco, and so kids are going to have an opportunity to just enjoy something new and exciting in the city. i am excited and i'm grateful to you, phil, and i'm grateful to the parks alliance and the let's play initiative and all of the friends of mersed heights, you will hear from some community members here today, because this work happened because of this

community. this work happened because you had an incredible leader in supervisor safai. so with strong leadership, with strong community support, with collaboration and with years -- wait -- decades of advocacy, you have made something incredible happen for the kids of this community, for the kids who are part of this learning hub, who are hoping that this press conference is over as quick as possible so they can come and play in this playground. in fact, it won't bother me if they play on the playground during this conference, just let them have a good time. because that's where we are now. and what this also does is that it gives us hope. it gives us hope that the time that we've spent in isolation, the time that we have spent, you know, doing what we needed to do during this pandemic, we know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. we know that good things can happen if we all do our part.

and so i really, really, really want to thank all of you so much for being here, so much for continuing to support our parks and the bonds that the voters have always voted to support because that's how this happens. and it is amazing, and it's a beautiful day, and, supervisor, you should be so proud of what you have been able to accomplish for this community, unlike never before, and we are so grateful for your strong advocacy and leadership. and, ladies and gentlemen, i want to introduce the district 11 supervisor, supervisor safai. [applause] >> thank you, madam mayor. this day is super special. i'll just say that. when i first started working in this community, the mantra was, why are we always treated like the forgotten part of san francisco? why are we not getting our fair share? why are the working people --

why are the hard-working people that get up and make this city run every day treated like this? and if you saw this playground, if you saw this fence, right, phil, it looked like a prison yard fence. it looked like something that you would never want to bring your family to. the same at mersed -- excuse me, allis-chalmers that is open today. and they used to ride by that to say look at how awful this park is, will you please give us money, because down the street was daily city and it was shining. but i can say with full confidence that this community fought hard, this community advocated and never gave up. i want to give a special shoutout to renard menro, working here tirelessly on a little island by himself, using every little resource he has, going into his own pockets

often, to make sure that this community had something. i want to thank miss wilma gardner, she couldn't join us today and she lives right across the street there and said i want to see this park rebuilt before i die. that's what she told me when i met her years ago. and i'm sorry that she couldn't be here today. there's a lot of people that couldn't actually physically be here, but all of their blood, sweat and tears went into this. i want to thank phil ginsburg and his staff. they have made a commitment to ensuring that the neighborhoods that have the most children, like ours, under the age of 18 get their fair share. and all of their hard-working staff. and i want to especially thank miss mayor, madam, london breed, because every single thing -- now don't get jealous of the supervisors -- every single thing that i have brought to her to talk about this community she has said, yes. when we asked her for a new library, she said, yes. when we asked her for a new job

center, she funded that and we opened that up a year ago to this day. when we said three years ago -- not recently -- but three years ago when we said that the african american community is hurting she said, asha, you don't need to tell me, i know. and i said we're investing in this, and she said, yes. so this is one big step forward and i want to thank all of the people that have been involved in this, and all of the people that have dedicated themselves to this, and to all of the children and families that will enjoy this for many, many years to come. this is a new day in district 11, thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor safai. the mayor and the supervisor, you know, eloquently articulated the importance of this moment. playgrounds are happy, they're joyous, but for children and their development and their social and emotional development and their ability to problem solve and the ability to take

risks and the ability to share and to collaborate, this is really serious stuff to get kids back on our playgrounds again. i think that the mayor said it, that kids have taken it on the chin a little bit during this pandemic, let's be honest. and i'm grateful to the mayor and to supervisor safai and the community for screaming out on behalf of our children. we have to now do the right thing. playgrounds are open. we need to keep our kids safe and our families safe. so, please -- yes, there are rules and there are capacity limits. there are -- we are supposed to continue to social distance and continue to wear a mask, right? do not eat and drink in these spaces. let's all do the right things so that our children and san francisco families can be healthy. so the last point they want to make before bringing up our next speaker -- yes, thank you, mayor. okay, do not -- if you are a parent, when you bring your kid

to a playground, do not do this -- pay attention. no cellphone. pay attention to where your kids are and how they're engaging on these spaces. again, the goal here is only to allow our kids to have the freedom to play and to do it in a healthy way. one last point which is that this should be a reminder as both the mayor and supervisor safai mentioned about the importance of investing in our parks. san francisco has the best park system in the united states of america. it is 150 years old. but we have to continue to invest in it, continue to nurture in it so we no longer have fences that look like jails and playgrounds that aren't deserving of the children who use them. so i want to thank all san francisco voters for supporting the 2012 clean and safe neighborhoods park fund, without which we would not be here today. our most important partner in all of this are our friends at the department of public health who have as a tough a job as

anybody right now in trying to figure out how to allow us to safely resume some sense of normalcy. and i am incredibly grateful to dr. colfax and dr. aragon and their team for working with us and truly understanding the importance and the urgency of opening up playgrounds. so dr. colfax, the mic is yours. >> well, thank you, director ginsburg, and really to acknowledge our gratitude to mayor breed, supervisors safai, director su, and mr. robert ellis for their leadership in this work. you know that there's been so many challenging days during this pandemic. and so many sad days. and this is such a day of gratitude and beauty. look out it here, and look at the kids playing. this is a pivotal moment as we

work together to slow the spread of covid and realize that our children must go back to doing the things that we know that are important for their health and their family's health and the communities' health. the reopening of the playgrounds is an opportunity to get our kids back something that we haven't done since march, march. incredible. we at the health department are so happy to be here as we have worked to get san francisco to this place. to back to where kids can get in an environment where they can thrive, starting with school programs, community hubs, and elementary schools, step-by-step, and now playgrounds. we have made tremendous progress as a city. and we know that the sacrifice and the dedications of our families and our communities have made the contributions that have succeeded in slowing the

spread of covid-19 virus. and i thank you. we thank you. and we want all of our children -- all of our children -- to continue to enjoy the reopening of activities. and so parents, we need your help in ensuring that we open playgrounds as safely as possible. when visiting playgrounds, please be sure that your family follows the health and safety rules for playground visitors. prepare your family for less children and for socially distanced fun. and i wouldn't be doing my job, you know what comes next, if i wouldn't remind people to, please, wear a face covering. they are required for all playground visitors, aged 2 and over. please limit your stay to 30 minutes when other households are present, so that other people can also enjoy the playground. and, please, practice that good hygiene. and although playgrounds are

outdoors, we still want to be cautious. we need everyone's help in sustaining our gain and the progress that we have made. so let's have fun today. let's take advantage of these beautiful seasonal days that we have in san francisco, and, again, thank you mayor breed, supervisor safai and director ginsburg for your partnership and work. and everyone, let's continue to play it safe. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, dr. colfax. so we're now going to hear from two important community members that have fought for children and for families in this neighborhood. our first speaker, renard monroe, the executive director of youth first. you've been amazing. thank you for your partnership in our community hub program. i want to acknowledge executive director, dr. mariea su, my partner in crime and all things kids and families. but, ménard, you are running a

model program and you're doing it for kids who really need the support. and we're so grateful to you for your help in keeping these spaces safe and clean. please come up and say a few words. [applause] >> good afternoon. this is a bittersweet moment for us as a community, because there are some people before ménard who really put in some hard work to make sure that we have this space for the children and our community. and i need to acknowledge a few people who didn't make it to see this day. our neighbor, she lived right there, her name was karen mccoy. [applause] she fought and she fought and she had phil's number on speed dial trying to get this place renovated. she didn't make it to see it,

she passed away and i'm thankful for her and her daughter, they both passed away. they fought for this park and i'm appreciative of that. and delores, who is also a resident fought for this park. and mary harris and al harris, okay, a lot of people put in -- wilma gardner, a lot of people have been fighting to make sure that this community gets what it needs. i'm just happy to be part of the process and i'm thankful for today and i'm thankful for our mayor to allocate the funds and phil ginsburg, he's been awesome. it's been awesome. and i appreciate you. he comes out the first day they put this together and went down the slide with the kids and impressed the kids. it's just one of those things where san francisco is supposed to be about community. and these type of events are so important, especially in a times that we're living in and the covid-19. i definitely want to thank our supervisor safai.

[applause] for all of his hard work and pushing for our district to make sure that we can have spaces like this. also i want to thank our community as a whole, first and foremost. our residents right here, up and down the street. using this park every day, and we're so happy to have it back open, to have our kids back playing safely and in an environment, and something to be proud of. i'm proud of our district. i'm proud of where we're going. okay, we have organizations and c.b.o.s who are really making a push for this district to get the resources allocated here. and all of the things that we are doing just to make sure that the community gets what it needs and to make sure that children have a future. so, thank you. [applause] >> thank you, renard. so another community leader that had my phone number on speed dial, my phone number, my email and my twitter and my telegraph

handle was edna james. and edna couldn't be here today, but she has asked one of her closest community partners to come up and to say a few words. robert ellis. robert is the vice president of the o.m.i. community action organization and a member of the friends of mersed heights playground, and to say a few words about the power of community when it comes to getting things done. robert, the microphone is yours. >> hi, i wish i had been first. all of these accolades have been handed out and it's well deserved. and i want to thank our mayor breed for all of her dedication, all of her dedication to the city. and not only she is smart, but she's pretty. so that's a good thing.

like i say, i want to thank phil definitely -- if you stand here and you look around you can see the transformation of this park and the future is still bright. i have been on di dixie street r the last 50 years and i have seen the park deteriorate and now it's like a phoenix rising from the sun. so you see that it's bringing a whole new atmosphere to the community. not only for the children, but also for the adults and for everybody in the community and the city. and i'm certainly glad to be a part of it and i want to apologize -- not apologize, but i want to give my regrets to miss james, the well documented partner was unable to be here today. so i want to thank everyone that

invited me and phil and just say, phil, you're doing a wonderful job. keep up the good work. and god bless you. thank you. >> just a few quick acknowledgements and then we're going to wrap up and if there are any questions you have a few people here who might be able to answer them. just a couple of questions. but i i want to recognize through the san francisco park alliance that without the san francisco park alliance, make no mistake that we would not be renovating or ribbon cutting five new playgrounds. their partnership is invaluable and they lead with their heart and they care about the parks. thank you, san francisco park alliance. [applause] and then last to my own team, lisa brampton, lisa, thank you for all that you have done to bring private resources to help to supplement what the voters have done to allow us to

renovate these playgrounds. to our park supervisor, brandon young bright and early here, mayor, making sure that this place looked super clean. so, thank you, brandon, for being here. and to dan mauer, our project manager for this particular project, and to all of the rec and park staff who really had to hustle to make sure that you can see these markings on the ground and you can see all of the signs in the last 36 hours we have put out maybe 750 signs and have marked playgrounds and, yeah, my staff always rises to the occasion. so a big shout out to the rec and park staff. let's let them play. thanks, everyone.

>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be. >> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality

products and something that's very, very good. ♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by san francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪ >> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration. >> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big.

so everything is kind of quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell, a fourth generation baker here with my family. ♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough. loaves. >> my mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and we've been over

100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪ >> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint.

people mostly recognize tommy's joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building. tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean. you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is

important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. you'll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important. ♪ >> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors

does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953. ♪ and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we

make reflect the diversity of san francisco. we were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition. so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. >> we got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in.

but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so many people. ♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco. people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. ♪

>> growing up in san francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and it's still that bubble that it's okay to be whatever you want to. you can let your free flag fry he -- fly here. as an adult with autism, i'm here to challenge people's idea of what autism is. my journey is not everyone's journey because every autistic child is different, but there's hope. my background has heavy roots in the bay area.

i was born in san diego and adopted out to san francisco when i was about 17 years old. i bounced around a little bit here in high school, but i've always been here in the bay. we are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. we don't turn anyone away. we take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. the most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you don't seem like you have autism. you seem so normal. yeah. that's 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. i was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. they split up when i was about four. one of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. very queer family.

growing up in the 90's with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. i was bullied relatively infrequently. but i never really felt isolated or alone. i have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. the school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. one of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what it's about, but my parents wanted my life to be safe. when i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. i was a weird kid. i had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. when we look at autism, we

characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when i'm looking away from the camera, it's for my own comfort. faces are confusing. it's a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. at its core, autism is a social disorder, it's a neurological disorder that people are born with, and it's a big, big spectrum. it wasn't until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it. i was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. i didn't like to talk to people

really, and then, when i did, i overshared. i was very difficult to be around. but the friends that i have are very close. i click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. in experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. i remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldn't cope. i grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal -- developmental psychology from all sides. i recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybody's in a position to have a family that's as supportive, but there's also a community that's incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of

need. it was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what? i'm just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. i have a two-year-old. the person who i'm now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasn't sure, so i we went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so there's no way you can be pregnant. i found out i was pregnant at 6.5 months. my whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. i think i've finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. i think the access to

irrelevant care for parents is intentionally confusing. when i did the procespective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. we have a place where children can be children, but it's very confusing. i always out myself as an adult with autism. i think it's helpful when you know where can your child go. how i'm choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy. how do -- speech therapy. how do you explain that to the rest of their class? i want that to be a normal experience. i was working on a certificate and kind of getting think early

childhood credits brefore i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in san francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i don't really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight person's perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and i'm like absolutely. so i'm now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. i love growing up here. i love what san francisco represents. the idea of leaving has never occurred to me. but it's a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. what i've done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that we're still having, hoping to expand

into a little bit more of a resource center, and this resource center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. i would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. so many things that i would love to do that are all about changing people's minds about certain chunts, like the transgender community or the autistic community. i would like my daughter to know there's no wrong way to go through life. everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary. >> self-planning works to preserve and enhance the city what kind hispanic the environment in a variety of ways

overhead plans to fwied other departments to open space and land use an urban design and a variety of other matters related to the physical urban environment planning projects include implementing code change or designing plaza or parks projects can be broad as proipd on overhead neighborhood planning effort typically include public involvement depending on the subject a new lot or effect or be active in the final process lots of people are troubled by they're moving loss of they're of what we preserve to be they're moving mid block or rear yard open space. >> one way to be involved attend a meeting to go it gives

us and the neighbors to learn and participate dribble in future improvements meetings often take the form of open houses or focus groups or other stinks that allows you or your neighbors to provide feedback and ask questions the best way to insure you'll be alerted the community meetings sign up for the notification on the website by signing up using you'll receive the notifications of existing request the specific neighborhood or project type if you're language is a disability accomodation please call us 72 hours before the event over the events staff will receive the input and publish the results on the website the notifications bans feedback from the public

for example, the feedback you provide may change how a street corridors looks at or the web policy the get started in planning for our neighborhood or learner more mr. the upcoming visit the plans and programs package of our we are talking about with our feedback and participation that is important to us not everyone takes this so be proud of taking ann >> welcome to the san francisco remote hearing for october 22nd, 2020. on february 25th, there was a state of emergency related to covid-19 on april 3rd, 2020 the planning commission received authorization from the mayor's office to reconvene remotely through the end of the shelter in place and this will be our 27th remote