. >> welcome to the land use and transportation committee for san francisco on monday, october 26, 2020. i am the chair of the committee joined by the clerk. please proceed. >> clerk: thank you, mr. chair. due to the covid-19 health emergency and in order to protect the board of supervisors and the public, the chamber and committee rooms are closed. the members will be taking care in the meeting remotely. committee members will attend meetings through video conference and participating in

the meeting to the same extent as if they are present. public comment will be available on each item of the agenda. the number to call in is being streamed across the screen. opportunities to speak are available via phone by calling the number streaming on your screen, that's 415-655-0001, again that's 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 146 347 8588. again, that's 146 347 8588. then press pound and pound again again. when connected, you will hear the meeting discussion, but you will be in muted and listening mode only. when your item of interest comes up, please press star and three to the added to the speaker

line. it's best to speak from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turn down your television or radio. you may submit public comment via e-mail to me at erica.major@sfgov.org. items submitted today will appear on the agenda of november 3, unless otherwise stated. >> chair: i would like to acknowledge that the other members of the board are present. >> clerk: item one is an ordinance amending the building code to require new construction to utilize only electric power; amending environment code to provide public hearings on implementation of all-electric requirement; adopting findings

of local conditions under . members of the public wishing to comment should call the number streaming on the screen, that's 415-655-0001, and the meeting i.d. is 146 347 8588. press found and pound again. if you have not done so already, please press star three to speak. >> chair: thank you, madam clerk. i want to acknowledge the work that supervisor mandelman has done. this is the thirst time this had appeared at the transportation committee. supervisor mandelman has been at the forefront of a contentious issue working with the house labor and working with the restaurant community and the chinese chamber of commerce.

i think we are very close. there may be some non-substantive tweaks that could happen in committee today or at the full board of supervisors next week. with that, i'll turn it over to supervisor mandelman. >> thank you, chair peskin. thank you to all members of the meet for engaging with this legislation over a few of these meetings. as you will recall, a week ago the committee accepted several amendments to the legislation, but continued it to give the broader community additional time to review and understand some of the amendments. one of these was an amendment to include a waiver process for restaurants that require gas facilities for their unique cuisine or cooking style. again, these waivers would be appealable to the board of examiners as specified in the ordinance and also to the board

of appeals as well. i've had a chance to discuss this with the chinese chamber of commerce and the san francisco chamber of commerce as well. i want to be clear both groups would prefer a broader exemption for future restaurant spaces, but i believe this limited restaurant waiver strikes the proper balance allowing for continued use of gas in new buildings in the future, in the cases where appropriate and necessary, while at the same time taking the transition away from natural gas in san francisco. as you know and as chair peskin referenced, we've also been in conversations with local 38 pipe fitters about just transition. we are in the midst of what i hope will prove to be productive conversations about non-potable water reuse and i look forward to working with city staff, local 38, and other staff members over the coming months

to bring forward legislation that will advance our commitment to water reuse. folks, mr. mazola and i hoped the conversations would have progressed a bit further prior to voting this legislation out. we will continue these conversations next week and i will assure mr. mazola if we're not comfortable to where it is at prior to being voted on at the full board, i will myself request a continuance of that legislation for at least one week at the full board. i'm saying that now here publicly to make the commitment known to all. before concluding, colleagues, i just want to extend my thanks to the committee and all the staff who have worked on a proposal to get us to this point.

everyone who participated in the zero emissions building task force and my colleagues on the team and i want to extend a huge thank you to the climate emergency coalition and earth justice and the two dozens environmental organizations who championed this effort from the beginning and remind us every step of the way of the dire emergency of the climate crisis that continues to unfold around us. with that, colleagues, i am hopeful and would request that you would be able to forward this legislation to the full board with positive recommendations today. >> chair: thank you, supervisor

mandelman. can you character the sera club organizati organization. can you speak to that? >> i believe the sierra club are in support of just transition and would want to see this board of supervisors and city and count of san francisco make sure that the transition to a greener economy does not leave workers behind. i don't think they want to see this legislation delayed. >> chair: relative to the just transition, that what you're speaking about relative to local 38 and the building trades? >> yes, that is what i'm talking. the concern for the trade fitters is the potential additional work involved in electrification is not going to make up for the work that is

lost in transitioning away from natural gas. there are good union jobs that can be had through increased water reuse and recycling. san francisco has been a leader, at least in the united states around that. i think it was the hope of the plumbers and pipe fitters that we will break some new ground and move further. i'm happy to try and help make that happen. >> chair: break new ground as long as we don't break any pipes. relative to the work that you've been doing by -- by way of full disclosure i've been participating in as it relates to the restaurant world. and the solution that you came up with at our last meeting that

was a waiver process and the questions around how that waiver process would be applied and what the due process provisions would be applied. can you speak to that, mr. sponsor. >> yeah, so the waiver process is more fully developed in an administrative bulletin that will need to go through the p.b.i. process. all parties concerned will have an opportunity to make their voices married through that process. there will be an administrative bulletin. ultimately a decision to grant or not the waiver is with the director of the department and his designee.

any permit -- any building permit including the decision of whether or not to grant a natural gas exemption for a restaurant can also be appealed to the board of appeals. >> supervisor mandelman, as i spoke to you earlier, the notion of the board of examiners as somebody who's been on the board of supervisors for 13 of the last 20 years was unknown to me. can you tell me what this body is and how they're appointed? >> i will find that out. it is the body that under the building code is the appeal body. >> chair: yes, i brought this up in my staff meeting this morning and i haves the board of appeals i know, the administrative arm i understand, but this body is

unknown to me and how they're appointed and whether or not we would consider that to be a fair and impartial adjudicatory body, i would like to hear about that. >> the short answer is they're appointed by the b.i.c. and there are 13 members. i will find out if they have particular qualifications around their building knowledge. >> chair: how often do they meet and what other appeals come to them? i have to say i've never heard of this entity until you made those amendments. >> me either. >> chair: i don't know who that was. >> i just wanted to underscore, mr. chair, that i never heard of that either. >> chair: put your name on the

moster and then i'll call on you. the floor is yours when you're done eating. >> i'm not eating. thank you. i'll wait to make my comment and then i'll go ahead after public comment. >> chair: supervisor preston, any comments now? >> not now. >> chair: madam clerk, why don't we open this up for public comment. >> clerk: thank you, mr. chair. we're checking if we have any callers in the queue. if you have not done so, please press star three to enter the queue to speak. you only need to do this once. the system will indicate that you have been unmuted and you may begin your comments. >> chair: first speaker, please.

>> my name is dave fehee and i am with local 38 plumbers and pipe fitters union. i'm also a member of the mayor's zero emission task force and some of the commercial work groups. i've been involved from the first meeting up until today. let's start by recognizing the supervisors of the land use and transportation committee for their committed support and consideration. i would also like to applaud the ordinance sponsor supervisor mandelman and his staff and all the associated san francisco agencies that have continued to work their efforts for an equitable transition, including present-day participation just mentioned with the work sessions.

it is attributed to the workforce, the citizens, and the future. i would like to recognize the environmental groups that continue to work with us, it is greatly appreciated and all the callers who have supported the water reuse and conservation, through calgreen and other sustainable goals. we've been using the metaphor along the way as the electrification ordinance due to its complexity as a plane which we're trying to land. i would like to think of it the other way around that it's a plane on the runway and we're trying to land it safely for everyone on board for a smooth takeoff and where the plane or san francisco travels with this

ordinance will not just be climate change action, but all further resource protection. we remain optimistic and fully engaged with all involved for a smooth transition to a blue-green implemented program minimizing building impacts on the project -- >> thank you so much for your comments. next speaker, please. you will note that your line is unmuted. >> yes, i live in san francisco in district 11. good afternoon, committee members. i have spent some of my time during the period of isolation forced on us by covid reading up on climate change. i don't have to tell you that what is coming is genuinely frightening. this is why you're considering this ordinance.

it's an early step in reducing san francisco's projection of greenhouse glasses and limited climate change. this is the low-lying fruit, the easy first step. i'm a homeowner and my home uses gas for the air and water heaters and the stove. i'm interested what you do next to establish a path for people like me to get rid of gas. i just just lowered my thermometer and going to attempt to get through with hats and sweaters and space heaters. i realize how trivial the steps are, but i think there are a lot of san franciscans like me who are very concerned about climate change and want to do all they can to limit it. it's certainly why i'm here today. i appreciate the work this committee and the staff has

spent working on this. i ask you to act quickly and send the full ordinance to the board of supervises. >> clerk: thank you, speaker. next speaker, you'll have two minutes. you'll be told your line is unmuted. >> good afternoon. comments on behalf of the california [indiscernible] -- supervisor mandelman for continuing to have productive discussions with us. as we discussed last week [indiscernible] and appliances in new buildings. the electrification ordinance should be tied to additional requirements to expand the requirements for installing rainwater and recycled water systems in new construction.

this would provide workers impacted with new replacement work and also further benefit san francisco and provide a substantial energy and water savings. we're hoping to have language work quickly to improve the ordinance that will put the city in a path to transition the workers. we would ask the committee to delay this by a year so we have time to do this. given the timing that we have, we want to make sure the committee amends the ordinance to recognize the job impact and to include a decline for staff to come back with a proposed ordinance expanding the rainwater requirements. i'd like to thank [indiscernible] environmental defense fund for continuing to

work with us and for supporting us on this issue. i know they're ready and willing to help us go down. [indiscernible] provision that san francisco can take to protect its water, protect its environment, and provide a just transition to the workers that are otherwise going to be losing their cabs due to the electrification ordinance. thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> thank you, supervisor mandelman, again for all your hard work on this through all these months. time is running out for the warming planet, for people, and all other forms of life on earth. for this ordinance to be passed

on to the full board, electrifying new buildings is an important first step. please, no further delay. as a grandparent and an organic gardener, i care object a sustainable future. please vote this ordinance out of committee and let the full board vote on it. >> hello, supervisors. this is jennifer haggie, a member of 350 s.f. from district seven. i urge you to support this legislation with a minimum of exceptions and would like to reiterate three points. there are culinary schools now that teach cool on electric stoves and many cuisines that

prepare food on interest stoves. natural gas emissions leak during transit and in our homes and kitchens. it would be far more expensive to retrofit buildings after they've been constructed rather than during construction. i urge you to carry this legislation forward with a minimum of exceptions. thank you for your time. >> clerk: thank you for your comment. we have 26 listeners and 14 in the queue. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is paul vermer and i have, as many have spoken at prior sub-committee hearings on this matter. i want to return to the theme of public notice and a public

hearing when an exception is granted. they make a big deal to how i can appeal it to the board of examiners, who traditionally have focused on specific, technical issues related to building code only. unfortunately, we have no way of knowing when a permit has been issued. there is no provision to allow notice. so we cannot appeal in a timely manner in this set up that has been put forward. supervisor peskin, you have been well involved with things like the neighborhood commercial district. you may recall a similar provision in the code for the neighborhood commercial district and called for a review every two years. when i started paying attention to these issues in the commercial districts in san

francisco, that was 10 years after the legislation had been passed. it took until 2007, i believe, nearly 20 years before any hearing was held. mandated a hearing in the code and an update in the code does not necessarily make it happen, especially not if, for example, department heads really don't want to push it forward. so i'm concerned that you are casting your hope for public understanding in a very -- in a system that has not demonstrated to be robust. that said, i think it is essential to get this legislation before the board and passed unanimously -- >> your time has expired. >> clerk: next speaker. >> i am a resident of district

five. i want to really support this. as a renter, i live in a house that is more than 50 or 75 years old -- well, the house is 100 years old, but the electrical system is 50 years old. that is a challenge. for example, we want to install an electric dryer. anything that can be installed now will be in use for the next 50 years. i would very much love the plumbers to be able to install a gray water system for me and my neighbors who are in 50 or 75-year-old buildings that haven't been updated. so i think there's definitely

room for everybody to benefit from this. the only thing -- the people who will get hurt the most are people today and people in 50 years will have to deal with bad air quality, worse climate change, the many, many problems that we're seeing. if we continue to have fires like this and people have to be sealed into their homes due to the smoke which is going to be true for at least -- every year is going to be worse for climate change now. that means everybody who gets natural gas will have a worse air quality in their kitchen from now until we do eventually get rid of the natural gas. a change now means faster change to gray water. that's the cycle of construction

in san francisco. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comment. we have 21 listeners and 10 in the queue. next speaker, please. >> my name is stephanie. i'm a constituent in district eight. this is my third time calling in to the board of supervisors, but i've been following this issue through mothers out front and the climate emergency coalition. much like heidi was saying, this hit home when we were sealed in our apartment, couldn't open windows, and i had to cook on the gas stove, i notice the fumes. every time i walk by our gas stove i notice fumes whether or not it is on. i learned from a pregnancy and toddler health seminar that we

need to have windows open when cooking with gas, but now we can't have them open. what are we being subjected to and designing for new homes? i'm really excited and proud to be from rafael's district and i want to be proud of san francisco set be exampling for california and other parts of the united states, having a transition that ensures health and creates jobs like the union. people have said there's great opportunity here. i ask that you pass this as soon as possible with as few exceptions as possible, close those loopholes and the other gentleman's comment about notifying us when you are considering making an exception is really important as well, so

thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. you'll be notified that your line has been unmuted and you may begin your comments. >> hello, i'm debra lee stark, a resident of district nine. as a 73-year-old professional photographer, i'm dismayed that we don't do more to mitigate climate change. we need to be making superhuman efforts. prohibiting the expansion of natural gas in our buildings is important to me because it's a definite step we can take now and it's relatively easy. induction cooking has advantages over gas, it's better, there's no loss of energy to the air. this is a crucial moment for climate action in california and san francisco can be a leader. please pass the all interest new construction ordinance with no further carve outs so we can

start working on the next steps in climate emergency solutions. thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> i'm a constituent in district two speaking as the typical san franciscan. i'm so glad to see this moving ahead preventing the expansion of natural in our buildings. compared to the rest of the world, i am pretty privileged. let's not forget that it is the top 5% of the world emitting the emissions worldwide. that top 5% is us. i want to move ahead of the curve so we can do this with justice to the people in town who are less privileged than me because we have a huge income disparity. to do it with proper income

consideration, we need to move now. we can lead the bay area, california, and the nations and really literally lead the world. it is a crucial moment for climate action everywhere in california to see a change in what we're doing. so i urge you to move forward with no further carve outs. >> clerk: next speaker. >> i'm a resident of district eight. obviously, as you know, we obviously support this ordinance. we're excited that many of the concerns have been addressed.

thank you to supervisor mandelman and also the committee for the time you've put into this ordinance in the last month or so and all the demands on your time. i'm going to take the rest of my time to lay out the work. this is only the beginning. we're succeeding in no longer making the problem worse. we still have to require active construction for new restaurants and a swap with the buyer exception, build our local workforce and knowledge for building these buildings and then we have to retrofit all existing buildings. this is no small task. the tasks ahead are more

daunting and require more will. we cannot afford to address climate change with only the easy stuff. this is easy. the technology is there. we're in a climate emergency and it's time to act like it. please pass this ordinance so it can take effect in january 2021 as promised last year. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i would like to point out one major concern in a proposed solution. this is about the feasibility for the restaurants who need

natural gas to cook. a developer may not know what restaurant they would want to have in their new space, unless there is a higher-end restaurant sought after. you need to make sure that the smaller mom-and-pop restaurants have the ability to open in the new developments. we require that new developments can bring in gas lines so that any restaurants requiring a cooking method can change it. it would be in our minds a lot more small business friendly to have the waiver process for the turn on of gas rather than its installation, assuming that not all restaurants will need this option, but to have the option

in place could make-or-break some businesses. we want to make sure that the city of san francisco has the ability to open restaurants in all neighborhoods in san francisco. thank you all for your time again and have a great day. >> [indiscernible] i'm with the family emergency coalition and i live in district five. i've been working [indiscernible] hearing the concerns, [indiscernible] -- pass this legislation as fast as possible [indiscernible] further

prohibiting natural gas [indiscernible] -- as a previous caller has said the infrastructure can be used for up to 50 years. to what we do now will have long-term impacts [indiscernible]. this is a crucial moment for climate action in california. please pass an all-electric use construction ordinance [indiscernible]. thank you. >> clerk: thank you.

next speaker, please. you have two minutes. >> hello, supervisors. good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to comment. i work at an independent non-profit looking to shift to a low-carbon future. [indiscernible] -- i'm asking for you to approve the passage of the ordinance. moreover, r.m.i. is recommending to the full board an all-electric new construction ordinance without amendments to close the financial feasibility loopholes. feasibility should be determined without regard to financial area or amenity related losses. safeguard the community from the toxic side effects of natural gas by scoping the chinatown

cultural exemption as narrowly as possible. natural gas is a killer both indoors and out. leaks in our pipes cause health issues. even with properly functioning ventilation, there is a risk of health issues. [indiscernible] every single new building allowed to add gas infrastructure unnecessarily adds harms for new generations. electric new buildings are the first step in addressing the climate emergency. this ordinance has been over a year in the making.

it must be passed now. please pass this ordinance. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. we have 17 listeners and five in the queue. >> i'm [indiscernible] emergency climate coalition. [indiscernible] -- leading to at least 30 more annual hospital visits by children. we have more acute and concentrated [indiscernible] further burden low-income

communities. there is no excuse of a further delay [indiscernible] the climate change impacting generations through decades to come. i want you to look into every parents' eyes and tell them you did everything you could possible. this policy is just the first step towards protecting all of our health and it's taken far too long given what's at stake. [indiscernible] annually in health benefits to the greater san francisco area. commercial electrification will be roughly double that, contributing $2.5 billion.

[indiscernible] i want to see san francisco and those in power leading. please pass this ordinance with no further carve outs so we can get to the hard work in the next steps [indiscernible] health solutions. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> thank you all for your work on this ordinance. it has taken a lot of people, people in the community, myself included, who have worked on this for about a year and a half. i am in district nine. i will note only that when things are changing, we all experience a certain amount of fear and reluctance. the truth is we have to make this change. we cannot continue to allow the burning of natural gas in our

buildings. we could consider all the impacts, the fears, the worries, the financial stakes that people in this community have. and it would be in the committees for years. we have to make this change. certainly we need to consider people's jobs and the just transition and the impact this will have on vulnerable communities. but at a certain point, we have to go ahead with this and this is the point. i urge you to vote for this measure today to not add any more exclusions, and to send this off so we can end the process of using natural gas in our buildings. >> clerk: next speaker, please. you'll have two minutes. >> hi, this gabriel dawson. i'm a resident and a renter in district two. i want to speak in favor of this resolution. i want to echo many of the

profound comments already made that this is a critical thing to do for the health people now and the future of our city. i think we should move forward without any exemptions. the financial concerns or the concerns about small businesses don't change the science. if we start doing carve outs for the restaurants and other things, it's complete -- it's not any different than climate denial at this point because the time to act is now and we need to act as strongly as possible so we can move forward as fast as possible. any time there is a carve out, this dilutes the effectiveness of this action and hurts the health of our residents.

this contributes to the catastrophic destruction of our planet that urges many members to move forward as quickly as possible on the legislation without any more exemptions or amendments. this should be thought of as the first step in many intense and drastic actions we need to take as a city to combat climate change and also to deal with things in climate change that we're facing this year and will face more into the future. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hi [indiscernible] i'm calling so that y'all know we support the immediate adoption of this ordinance and also

acknowledge the concerns raised by local 28. we're appreciative of the work that supervisor mandelman has tak taken. we commit to supporting supervisor mandelman and local 38 to find a path forward. this is a critical moment for san francisco and california [indiscernible] san francisco can and will make a huge impact on the state. we really hope to work with multiple cities in san francisco and for the governor to encourage a state-wide ordinance. there is still a lot of work to be done to pass this. >> clerk: thank you for your comments.

next speaker, please. >> i'm a constituent in district three. we all know the science. we have less than 10 years to take climate action and this will be a major first step [indiscernible] prohibiting the natural gas in our buildings is important to me because i'm concerned about climate change. we need to do something about it right now. this is a crucial moment for climate change [indiscernible] climate solutions. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, i'm a resident of district three. i wanted to say thanks to supervisors mandelman and dean preston for all their hard work on this. despite the loopholes

[indiscernible] ready requirements is a loophole for small development approximates. i want us to continue the path this ordinance will put us on. we've been waiting years for climate change action. frankly, the experience of this process does not bode well for the challenge ahead of us. i applaud supervisor mandelman for doing so much of the heavy lifting and i hope other supervisors will step up. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hello, i'm a constituent in district two.

we all know the science and that the window is quickly closing for being able to do anything significant about climate change and global warming. we have [indiscernible] i own an old victorian home. [indiscernible] i even have some fixtures where there is a leak going up and used to be part of a gaslight. at the same time, an electrical fixture, where you can screw in a light bulb. we are at a [indiscernible]

urgent than was the case 140 years ago. so i hope that the board will move on this without any carve outs and to move expeditiously. we have to begin to figure out ways of preserving the future for future generations before we all burn up. so i do want san francisco to lead in this regard and task the all-electric reconstruction ordinance and get working on climate solutions right away. thank you very much. qulnchts thank you for your time. next speaker, please. you'll>> clerk: thank you for y time. next speaker, please. you'll have two minutes. >> i want to commend san francisco for passing this ordinance and the process of

doing that. i think it's important you understand the three safety issues of not going ahead with this. the first would be the effect of the carbon dioxide in the sphere. the natural gas is equal to the combustion of natural gas. by not doing this, we're putting burning coal into the atmosphere. the second thing is the nitrogen dioxide from cooking is harmful to young asthma patients and we need to move away from that. the third is there's been explosions, one of which on your door shep [indiscernible] killed eight people. for safety's sake, please go ahead with this as soon as possible. we [indiscernible] thank you>>

clerk: i believe that was our last caller. can you confirm if there are any more callers? >> operator: that was the last caller. >> clerk: mr. chair. >> chair: madam clerk. >> clerk: that was our last caller. >> chair: i understand that. i believe that supervisor safai had a comment. >> thank you, mr. chair. again, i just want to thank supervisor mandelman and his team for keeping us informed and the department of environment for staying on top of this in terms of getting information to us and answering all of our

questions. the office of economic and workforce development for working with us. i'm happy to say that the majority of the questions i had last week we have an answer or a path forward on. with regard to the development agreement, office of economic workforce and development is going to continue to work with the d.b.i. on their administrative bulletin. i think supervisor mandelman might have referenced that, but in terms of the impairment language and the process of implementation, i think we narrowed it down to essentially treasure island that had some of the most reservations. i think with the impairment language and working with d.b.i. and the impairment bulletins, we're going to get there. i think the good news is a lot of the horizontal development has done, but there is still

room for changes to the vertical development. so all the folks that called, i think that is one we can check off. i think we're good. i'm not asking for any amendments or adjustments. the second thing is the building trade adjustments. i know supervisor mandelman cares about that. i want to reiterate my support for there to be further conversations, working with the building trades and local 38 in particular. if there's way i'm happy to do. the one issue that is perplexing to me and it is on the conversation around transformers, i just know from practice over the years that i worked with the planning and the building department and those proposing developments, that they can have standoff and de y

delay. [indiscernible] -- i want to continue to work on the issue. i'm going to ask the committee to duplicate the file so we can work on that. i think that will be a continued, positive step because if we continue to work that out, it will capture more buildings and allow for buildings to be all electric in cases they might not be. the way i understand the issue is we can't just make a blanket statement which will allow for all buildings to transform in the public right of way. there has to be a review of the process. we intend for that to be the case.

i would like to work with those. the last issue is a very, very small subset of what chair peskin said, in instances with restaurants and new construction. i understand the language that was put in that says someone can go through the process of appealing and asking for a waiver. it's just a process of how that plays out in real life. if you are intending to put in a waiver, it is financially infeasible and possibly technically infeasible after the fact if the lines are not there. that's along thing we're going to look at in our duplicated file so we can finalize those last ones. one will be the climate action

club and wanting to see more buildings have more electric. that will be a positive step in dealing with the transformers. and the restaurant issue, i think because we created a process for a waiver, it has to be an actual and usable process for a waiver. i think there's more work to be done there. i would make a motion to duplicate the file. i don't know if i need a second for that. >> no, you don't. you can do that as a matter of right, as a member of this committee, supervisor. >> correct. and in the convening week, i will work on both issues, but certainly the restaurant issue because i think that is something that can be worked on more quickly. we have made progress since this was introduced in june.

i know it's been awkward about since last year, but it was definitely introduced in june. you're beating my timeline in terms of when supervisor peskin worked on the inclusionary housing and how much time it took from the beginning of the spring all the way to thanksgiving. this has gone at a very accelerated pace. i believe and agree that our environmental crisis demands that we do that. it's just these last two issus.s

>> chair: thank you, supervisor. >> let me just start by thanking you for all the work that has gone into this clearly. everyone mentioned, particularly the environmental advocates who have held all of our collective feet to the fire, appropriately so, in trying to push things forwa forward, particularly what we've heard about from the chinese chamber and building trades. there is a collective hearing from colleagues and shared by our other colleagues on the board to seriously engage around the just transition issues

around this legislation moves forward. supervisor mandelman, through the chair, thank you for your work on this over what i think has been about a year balancing the interests. there is an urgent impact in terms of the overall emissions, household and family health and safety.

i would like to be added as a co-sponsor and i would like to move this item to the full board with recommendation. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor. ms. rafael from the department of the environment, i would like you to speak to the legislation in general and the amendments that you have heard this afternoon. the floor is yours. >> chair: where are you? >> i see myself but not on the screen.

>> that's a background in san pablo bay. >> chair: i thought your office was getting better. >> i didn't realize that was my background. i'm not speaking from there, but my home office. i'm very grateful. the issues raised are important and fair. we cannot -- supervisor peskin, you brought this up in the very first hearing that is critical for our society. i feel like the department of building inspection and all the other city agency agencies willn this. i am committed to working with

everyone and excited to get going. thank you for this opportunity. >> chair: thank you, ms. rafael. do you do that in conjunction with the office of economic and workforce development or do you have that function within your department? >> we work very closely with joaquin tores and the office of development. we will be working with them to get developers ready to comply with this ordinance and to understand the legalities of their compliance, what those issues are. and of course we work very closely with them on labor and workforce development as well. one of the benefits of this ordinance is the opportunity for green jobs and to support retraining of folks and new

training of folks to benefit from the green economy. >> chair: ms. rafael earlier the chief sponsor supervisor mandelman spoke to that exact concept as it relates to recycled water that has proven very successful in other communities. it may or may not be a good fit for san francisco given how old it is. any comments on that? >> that would be speaking out of my expertise range. my colleagues in the p.u.c. are much more knowledgeable than that. clearly the concept of recycled water and using as much water resources outside of our groundwater is attractive and important. the feasibility of it is. i don't have the expertise to

comment on it. >> chair: thank you, ms. rafael. supervisor safai, would you like to make a motion to continue the duplicated file to the call of the chair as you work on the mentioned amendments that you are working on? >> i would, mr. chair, but can we make it continued to next week because i believe i'll have it continued to then. >> chair: absolutely. if you make a motion to duplicate the file to november the 2nd. >> so moved. >> chair: madam clerk, on that motion, a roll call. [ roll call ]

>> chair: then i believe that supervisor preston made a motion to move this file that was amended, which amendments were substantive a week ago, and i will add there may be some amendments at the full board that would not be substantive that sponsor mandelman and co-sponsor preston are working on. on that motion made by supervisor preston, send this item as previously amended with recommendation and the understanding that there could be more substantive changes at the full board. on that motion, a roll call. >> can we clarify this

amendment? >> there is no amendment. the item was amended a week ago. there were no amendments made or offered today. i was merely saying for the record to all that are listening -- and i could drill down into this a little bit. supervisor mandelman and i have significant conversations today about the board of examiners, which appellate body has met two times in the next three years. we may only go to the board appeals. those things could happen at the full board next week. they are non-substantive in nature. i was saying to the public that there may be some amendments that are forthcoming. but your motion to move this to

the full board with recommendation is before us on that motion. madam clerk, a roll call. [ roll call ]]. >> chair: next item, please>> clerk: item 2 is an ordinance amending the administrative code to require sellers of multifamily residential buildings to provide a new right of first offer and right of first refusal to qualified nonprofit organizations if a multifamily residential building is not under contract or remains unsold after one year and after each year thereafter; require sellers to provide additional disclosures to qualified nonprofit organizations; provide information to current tenants, and assist qualified nonprofits with due diligence; and allow multifamily residential buildings acquired by qualified nonprofit organizations under

the community opportunity to purchase act . members of the public should call the number streaming on the screen, 415-655-0001, and use access code 146 347 8588. press pound and pound again. mr. chair. >> chair: supervisor fewer, the floor is yours. we continued this as amended to today's meeting. if you have any comments, the floor is yours. >> thank you. supervisor fewer is not able to be here today. i am the legislative aide to supervisor fewer. good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for having me. as you just mentioned, chair peskin, at last week's hearing supervisor fewer spoke about the purpose of this legislation and thanked all of our community partners and co-sponsors for all

of their support on this. as you all know, the community opportunity to purchase act has helped our qualified non-profits purchase apartment buildings that are at risk of losing their affordability and preserve them as permanent affordable housing. this prevents the displacement of vulnerable tenants. i want to reiterate what this legislation before you today does to enhance copa. this is really based on the experience from our non-profits on the ground over the past year. this legislation will make it easier for qualified non-profits to decide whether to make an offer on a building by requiring the seller to provide them with more complete disclosures, provide more engagement with tenants by requiring sellers to

provide an information sheet about copa. add clarifying language to further prevent off-market sales, will prevent megalandlords from dumping dozens of buildings on the market at the same time and overwhelming qualified non-profits as a result. this will require sellers to renotify qualified non-profits and provide them a new opportunity to purchase the building if it remains on the market after one year. also it's going to allow qualified non-profits the option to convert rental buildings to co-ops that comply with the restrictions. and thanks for the amendments accepted last week. i will also exempt land dedications made to the city as part of a development agreement for the purpose of building new

affordable housing. thank you so much for your support of this amendment last week. i would also like to thank the other supervisors for co-sponsoring this piece of legislation. supervisor fewer and i would respectfully ask for this committee's positive recommendation to a full board of the committee report. thank you so much, chair peskin. >> chair: thank you. i would like to be added as a co-spons co-sponsor. are there any members of the committee who would like to comment on this item? seeing none, is there any public comment on this item number two? >> clerk: we are checking to see

if we have any callers in the queue. can you let us know if there are any callers ready to speak. if you have not done so, press star three to be added to the queue and we will unmute your line. >> operator: there are zero callers in the queue. >> chair: public comment is now closed and i would like to make a motion to send this item as a committee report with recommendation. on that, a roll call, please. [ roll call ] >> clerk: you have three ayes. >> chair: madam clerk, is there any further business before this committee? >> clerk: no further business. >> chair: we are adjourned. >> thank you. snl flsh

>> we continue our celebration, our community celebration here for bubble upper yard. i would like to introduce our executive director from mission housing, and he's joining us via video. thank you so much. >> hello, everyone, i want to say thank you for letting us to share this fantastic day with the community. my name is sam moss, from mission housing development corporation. one of the developers for the balboa park upper yard. we're standing on the future site of 130 low-income family

units for the community and throughout san francisco. i really want to thank supervisor safai, the board directors of mission housing, the bart board of directors as well. we're also standing on land that will eventually be a brand-new community center and new bart station and plaza. and it's things like these, collaborations like these, that are the most important work that we do in the affordable housing community. it's important to take advantage of sites like this. they don't come up very often. with the construction that is as expensive as it is and the uncertain times right now, i'm honored to personally to be able to say thank you for allowing to us help to deliver this vital community center. most importantly, cuhj and the community for sticking together and working together throughout the last five years to make this a reality. without the tireless work that cuhj has put forth since 2008, i don't believe that we'd be here. it's important for everyone that is watching to realize that the standard for affordable housing development and community

organization has been set at the balboa park upper yard. this will be the new norm, engaging everyone that will benefit from the property, and not just those that live at the property, it's at the heart of mission housing's mission and i'm honored to stand here today and to say how awesome it's going to be. and, finally, i want to thank the mission housing deputy executive director. i know it looks like i run the company but without marcia, mission housing would not be where we are today. thank you, marcia. and i'm honored to welcome mayor london breed. >> thank you so much, sam. i'm mayor london breed. i'm so excited to be here with all of you today for the balboa park upper yard groundbreaking. now this is really a groundbreaking project for the lake view o.m.i. community. it's one of the second 100% affordable housing projects in the lake view community. and that has no small part to do

with the people of this community who have fought for years and years for their fair share of not just housing, but 100% affordable housing. 131 units. right here at balboa park. and let me just talk a little bit about how amazing this project is. not only will there be an on-site child care, there will also be wrap around services for families. and what's so amazing about this project is that we will be using neighborhood preference. so the people of this community get the right for the units built in their community. it's time to change how we provide affordable housing in communities. it can't just be that we build this housing and then no one who grew up and was born and raise in regard this community has access. we have so many incredible leaders who are going to be working with us to make sure that the people of this community apply for the affordable housing and that they

get in. it's going to be up to you. but let me also tell you about some of the great amenities of this project because this is how housing should be built. very close to transit corridors. and we're lucky to have a bart -- a partner in the sfmta, so i want to thank sfmta and i want to thank bart and thank all of our transit agencies for the work they have not only done to work so we could use this property for 100% affordable housing, but the work that's going to be provided around reimagining what this plaza looks like. there will be additional bart trains. there will be traditional resources. $30 million from the state invested in this project. which is just one of the many things that we know that we need to do as a city to make sure that we are building more housing along transit corridors. it's not only efficient for the people who rely on public transportation every single day

but it's good for the environment also. and let me just take an opportunity to really thank mission housing and sam moss for the work they've done on this project. i want to thank bill white and related for what they have done and our sfmta department for working with us to transition this property for affordable housing. and i want to thank bart for their partnership. i want to thank our mayor's office of housing and the work that they have done. it really does take a village. these projects are so expensive. because it's not just about building housing, it's about building the infrastructure to maintain this housing for generations to come. it's about redoing the plazas and making it work. it's about the fact that there will be families moving into this particular development and we want to make sure that children have a safe place to play. so so many incredible things. such an amazing project. and let me also just give credit

to where credit is due -- where credit is due. the leader of this community, supervisor safai, when he first stepped on the board of supervisors, he said that it is really unfortunate that no affordable housing has even been built in this community. and he wanted to change that. we are breaking ground on the second affordable housing development in district 11 since he's been in office and that's an absolute amazing accomplishment. we are so grateful for his leadership, his partnership, and the work that he has done, not only to provide affordable housing but the job center, the library, and the parks, everything that matters to people and families who actually live here. because of this supervisor, the lakeview community is no longer the forgotten community of san francisco. so, ladies and gentlemen, i would like to introduce supervisor safai.

[applause] >> thank you, madam mayor. this is an historic day and we're really excited to be here. i want to start off by saying that rather than keeping this site and just as an empty parking lot or used as parking, we went -- she doesn't like when i say this -- but we marched into the mayor's office but we marched slowly and we said what can we do creatively on this site while we're waiting for affordable housing to be built. and we came up with a plan for safe parking. there are individuals in this city that are unhoused and that are living in their vehicles and she did not even hesitate. she supported us, myself and the supervisor brown at the time and we were able to create something that has never been done in san francisco. and that's safe parking for

those that are unhoused, living in their vehicles. we're coming up on about a one-year anniversary of that work and it has been extremely successful. so i want to thank the mayor for supporting us and believing us and allowing us to do something positive with this site while we waited for the housing to get built. another thing that the mayor did when she was on the board of supervisors that i don't want to -- i want to underscore, is neighborhood preference. neighborhood preference says that if you live within proximity, if you live within the radius of this site, you will have first crack at getting into these apartments. that is something that had never been done in san francisco before, and that is extremely important to the lakeview community. about 20, 30 years ago this community was over 50% african

american. today it's down to less than 20%. but the children and the families of those families that have grown here and been raised here and prospered here are still connected to this community. they will have the ability if they live in these homes and their families and other neighbors will have the ability to apply for these. and i want to give a special recognition to miss gwen brown who runs our job opportunity center, she's also going to be working on our employment opportunities for this site. she'll be someone that we work with at mission housing and the mayor's office works with to ensure that we do the outreach in this community so people apply. that's a very important thing. another thing again to thank the mayor, this project would have not been at the top of the pile. we came in and we made the argument that this district has never seen any family affordable housing built on any scale. mayor breed put us at the top. she listened to us and she heard

the community and she heard our voices and filled that gap, an additional $20 million to $30 million, first out of the eraf funds and now out of the prop-a affordable housing bond fund. that is what closed the gap for this project and we're here celebrating today, a major grant, a transportation grant, that was awarded to this site. another $20 million. this site is special. this site is important for this community. and we would not have been able to be celebrating this without mayor breed and her leadership and support. so thank you, mayor breed. [applause] mission housing related have been wonderful partners. i don't know how many times i had to pick up the phone and call bill witty and work through problems to make sure that this project is going to stay on track, that it's going to be built, that it will be family. and then let me make one last point before i end. another thing that the mayor and i worked on together when she was board president and along

with supervisor jane kim, along with supervisor aaron peskin, we updated the conversation about what is affordable. and affordable for whom. so many times in this city people are talking about housing and affordable housing just for extremely low-income families. and you know what, we do a pretty good job of that in san francisco. and we need to do more. but what we haven't done, and what this community has always been has been a community of working people, a community of working families. i'm talking about non-profit workers and i'm talking about teachers and i'm talking about muni drivers and educators and i'm talking about people that get up and to make this city run every day. and because of the work that we did, we have been able to expand the definition of affordable. we have been able to ensure that working families will also be included in this conversation. so that when a janitor applies or when a non-profit worker

applies, they will also be able to qualify for this housing. now that's not at the exclusion of low-income families, because what we did -- we expanded the pie. instead of having 80 to 100 units we went up to 130, and we did that with a community process. so i'm very proud of the results here today. i'm very happy to be here. i want to thank again related mission housing, mayor breed, the mayor's office of housing and marion harris from the district 11 council, thank you for being here. phylicia thibedeau from one of the institutions in lakeview o.m.i. and i see the folks from community, united for health and justice. i want to recognize all of the community work that went into making this possible. this is years in the making. this is something that will be special and lasting and thank you very much, everyone. [applause]

>> oh, sorry, and, yes, our other partner that is very important because we're sitting on their land is bart. bartd has been a partner -- bart has been a partner in helping us to solve the pusonl the puzzle n reimagining this plaza here. and sfmta was also a part of that, but i would like to bring up miss alicia trouse from bart. thank you. >> hello, welcome. i'm alicia trouse, i'm the bart communications officer, and welcome to our bart station. i love this station. i love how easy you can jump off a train and get on a muni bus. it's a great partnership. and our business is moving people, right, but it's also gaining lifetime riders. you do that by building housing right across the street from your station. i want to briefly talk about

something that we're very concerned about at bart. it's the mobility divide. you've heard of the digital divide, right? well, there's a mobility divide. and it's perpetuating inequality and the way that you tackle is to build 100% affordable housing right next to transit, right next to bart and right next to muni and you make it easy to go to your job and health care appointment and school by doing that. and this partnership is going to tackle that divide. and next i toss it to our bart board of director bevin duffy, who represents district 9, so let's roll the tape. >> i'm proud to join you this morning virtually on behalf of the bart board of directors and my colleagues simon and director jantzidirectjanice lee. we are proud to be here to recognize the community leaders that i have known for so many years here in san francisco who had a vision for what could be

done and that we could take this site and develop homes for families that need them and to create a vibrant meeting place that brings the community together and also to recognize the importance of transit oriented development. what we're trying to do at bart around the bay area, which is to build complete communities that have housing and retail and sometimes commercial and great bike and pedestrian access and public meeting and gathering places. and so i really want to congratulate the mayor's office of housing and community development and also mission housing development corporation. and related companies. and sfmta and our transit partner. and so many great things will come as a result of this that we'll have better seamless transit access and that individuals, including bart at balboa park, you will find a great community space where we

may have farmers' markets and other things that really bring our community together. i really want to say that we are extremely grateful to the community and i also want to add to mayor london breed, supervisor safai, supervisor avalos, and the previous supervisor for this district, and really just to say that -- that the city has really come together to create an amazing t.o.d. project. thithis is an important milestoe and we're gratified to be part of it and to show the bay area that we can develop much-needed housing and help to have a more complete community. >> thanks. now i'd like to introduce bill witty, the chairman and c.e.o. of related california, one of the largest developers of affordable housing based here in this great city of san francisco. everyone, please welcome bill

witty. [applause] >> thank you, alicia. you know, as the mayor and supervisor safai said, i have been working both in government and in the private sector in san francisco since the early 1980s. this is the first time -- the first year that i can remember a big push for affordable housing in this neighborhood, which has long been needed. and i think that what's really made this happen -- you have already heard is that we've gotten to work along with mission housing with two of the most effective advocates for affordable housing, not only in this city but in california. with mayor breed, if you mention affordable housing and are about to ask for something, she will typically say yes. now the answer is yes. now what's the question? you can't do any better than that. and supervisor safai who has

become a friend and colleague over these years, working on this project, and every month i know that i'm going to get a call from him saying, what's going on. what can we do? oh, we have this technical problem. let's figure out a way to solve it. oh, we have to lobby the state to get funding, what can i do to help. he's really helped, along with our partners at mission housing, in bringing the community into this so that this is not just about bricks and mortar. this is about holistic housing, you know, and you've heard all of the components of that in working with the community. i would also like to thank our staff and silver berg and nick wilder here today for all of the technical work needed to work with our partners at bart to make this technically feasible. this is a very challenging site. we have to deal with bart's legitimate questions. we have to deal with issues of inaggress and egress to have the

services and the site work and the child care, all on a very complicated site. we have a great architect in methune partners and a great partner in cayhill contractors and it's all come together to make it happen. and i would like also to acknowledge the mayor's office of housing who on behalf of the city has worked with us throughout to make sure that all of the funding works together and that as supervisor safai said to close the gap to make the financing feasible. so i look forward to the day when we open this development. in a few years from now we will welcome the residents of lakeview and others for whom this housing was intended. so thank you very much. and now i will bring back marcia

contrares of mission housing. >> thank you, mr. witty, thank you for joining us and thank you for your kind words. i would like now to introduce jesse fernandez, the program manager with communities united for health and justice. jesse? >> buenos dias, good morning. i'm jesse fernandez, i'm with communities united for health and justice, we're a multi-reliant program across the district. we are celebrating affordable housing, community serving here at balboa park upper yard station. this project represents the very best in collaboration between the community and the decisionmakers. and i want to invoke all of the community planners who for 10 years have rolled up their sleeves and time and again made the case to make this project

possible and have done so guided by a heartfelt community-led process. our success at the balboa park upper yard should set an example for people-focused planning for our ever changing city, to always keep people at the forefront of decision-making. i would like to acknowledge the hard work of our former supervisor john avalos for working with the community and advocating for necessary resources that are long overdue across our district. thank you very much. >> thank you, jesse. well, we are at the end of our community celebrations. thank you to all of the partners that joined us today and to everybody that joined us virtually. thank you to cuhj, for [speaking spanish] the ymca of san francisco, mayor london breed and supervisor

safai, and all of the representatives from bart and their team for their support while coordinating this event. and, of course, our development partner, mr. bill witty from related company for their understanding and being able to work with us and identify the needs of this community and the families of district 11. we also want to thank our team at mission housing for reaching this milestone and a special thanks to our board of directors for always supporting us. last but not least i would like to send a special thank you to our senior communications manager for working on all of the logistics and to make sure that this event was a successful and safe one for everyone who participated. thank you again for joining us and until the next one. (♪)

>> after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and i signed up for the below-market rate program. i got my certificate and started applying and won the housing lottery. [♪] >> the current lottery program began in 2016. but there have been lot rows that have happened for affordable housing in the city for much longer than that. it was -- there was no standard practice. for non-profit organizations that were providing affordable housing with low in the city, they all did their lotteries on their own. private developers that include

in their buildings affordable units, those are the city we've been monitoring for some time since 1992. we did it with something like this. where people were given circus tickets. we game into 291st century in 2016 and started doing electronic lotteries. at the same time, we started electronic applications systems. called dalia. the lottery is completely free. you can apply two ways. you can submit a paper application, which you can download from the listing itself. if you a plo apply online, it wl take five minutes. you can make it easier creating an account. to get to dalia, you log on to housing.sfgov.org. >> i have lived in san francisco

for almost 42 years. i was born here in the hayes valley. >> i applied for the san francisco affordable housing lottery three times. >> since 2016, we've had about 265 electronic lotteries and almost 2,000 people have got their home through the lottery system. if you go into the listing, you can actually just press lottery results and you put in your lottery number and it will tell you exactly how you ranked. >> for some people, signing up for it was going to be a challenge. there is a digital divide here and especially when you are trying to help low and very low income people. so we began providing digital assistance for folks to go in and get help. >> along with the income and the

residency requirements, we also required someone who is trying to buy the home to be a first time home buyer and there's also an educational component that consists of an orientation that they need to attend, a first-time home buyer workshop and a one-on-one counseling session with the housing councilor. >> sometimes we have to go through 10 applicants before they shouldn't be discouraged if they have a low lottery number. they still might get a value for an available, affordable housing unit. >> we have a variety of lottery programs. the four that you will most often see are what we call c.o.p., the certificate of preference program, the dthp which is the displaced penance housing preference program. the neighborhood resident housing program and the live

worth preference. >> i moved in my new home february 25th and 2019. the neighborhood preference program really helped me achieve that goal and that dream was with eventually wind up staying in san francisco. >> the next steps, after finding out how well you did in the lottery and especially if you ranked really well you will be contacted by the leasing agent. you have to submit those document and income and asset qualify and you have to pass the credit and rental screening and the background and when you qualify for the unit, you can chose the unit and hopefully sign that lease. all city sponsored affordable housing comes through the system and has an electronic lottery. every week there's a listing on dalia. something that people can apply for. >> it's a bit hard to predict

how long it will take for someone to be able to move into a unit. let's say the lottery has happened. several factors go into that and mainly how many units are in the project, right. and how well you ranked and what preference bucket you were in. >> this particular building was brand new and really this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. in my mind, i was like how am i going to win this? i did and when you get that notice that you won, it's like at first, it's surreal and you don't believe it and it sinks in, yeah, it happened. >> some of our buildings are pretty spectacular. they have key less entry now. they have a court yard where they play movies during the weekends, they have another master kitchen and space where people can throw parties. >> mayor breed has a plan for

over 10,000 new units between now and 2025. we will start construction on about 2,000 new units just in 2020. >> we also have a very big portfolio like over 25,000 units across the city. and life happens to people. people move. so we have a very large number of rerentals and resales of units every year. >> best thing about working for the affordable housing program is that we know that we're making a difference and we actually see that difference on a day-to-day basis. >> being back in the neighborhood i grew up in, it's a wonderful experience. >> it's a long process to get through. well worth it when you get to the other side. i could not be happier. [♪]

>> 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.

(♪) (♪) (♪) (♪) (♪) >> good morning, everyone. thank you for joining us. my name is frank o'finn and i'm excited to be your m.c. for the 16th annual filipino-american history month celebration. while we cannot join here in city hall with lots of great food and good company like we normally do, we're excited to have you to join us virtually to celebrate our community's incredible history and key milestones from the past year. tonight as you tune in we encourage you to order takeout or delivery from one of the many incredible local filipino restaurants in san francisco and the bay area.

mmm. up now you can find a full list of online via our facebook event and we also hope that you will join us by engaging on social media, post photos of yourself and your family watching tonight's event or post photos of your own filipino-american history. as a matter of fact i'm going to do it right here. there we go. and make sure to tag us on social media. now to kick off tonight's celebration, it is my honor to introduce our national anthem performers, performing the philippine national anthem, my good friend, fatimah yusuf david and the united states national anthem, "the star spangled banner," the area one zone one voice. (♪) [speaking in spanish]

(♪) (♪) [speaking in spanish] (♪) (♪)

[speaking in spanish] (♪) thank >> thank you. >> it's been a joy growing up in the diversity of the bay area. >> join us with mayor london breed to help us celebrate filipino american history month. ♪ [ music ]

>> that was wonderful, thank you so much. filipino american history month is celebrated in the united states every october and first established in 1992 by the historical society. by october it was chosen to commemorate the arrival of the first filipinos in the u.s. this was on october 15, 1687. the theme is the lived history in the making celebrating our past, present, and future. tonight we honor not only the contribution and acleavements of filipino americans in our countries history but how the community has risen to the challenge of covid-19 and take

care of others and keep each other safe. we have the honor of being joined by the 45th mayor of the city and county and host this evening mayor london breed. hey, mayor. >> hey, franko. good evening, i wish we could be at city hall right now to celebrate together in the rotunda as we have in the past 15 years. even during these difficult times we can have an event that celebrates and honors our community. the community with a rich history that approximate's making history today. let's make sure we can continue the important tradition. thank you everyone else for joining this amazing virtual celebration. san francisco has been a lead you are during covid-19 that's

because of our front line workers. many of the staff at clinics, hospitals, and nurses identify at filipino. at the hospital my grandmother was cared for 40 % of the staff was filipino americans. the work we have been doing is critical to keep covid-19 cases and hospitalization rates down. the great plate delivery system in partnership with the state and many filipino restaurants provided food for those in need. we are excited to continue our work with the community. i'm a big fan of community based organizes that celebrate our filipino community year-round including united players. the west bay service center,

and so many others. to get the word out about resources, food, housing, and testing and all we need to do. the work that has so many leaders in the filipino community is inspiring. this year it might look different but i'm glad we recognize the history and contributions of the community. the history and the deep roots the community has in san francisco will be what helps us recover from the pandemic and emerge together stronger than ever before. without farther adieu i'm proud to present this years proximation, virtually, of course, declaring october 20, 2020 as filipino american history month in san francisco. thank you to the host committee for your work to

assure this event can happen. i know it's difficult out there right now but one thing we know for certain we can find hope within the community by coming together. they have endured so much. we recognized the hardships in our community tonight. tonight we recognize those hardships have only made us stronger and more resilient. that will give me hope. i see it everyday and how neighbors help one another and becoming so many optical. we have overcome challenges in the path and emerge from this pandemic stronger than before. thank you you all all for being here tonight and happy

filipino history month in san francisco. ♪ [ music ] >> thank you so much, mayor. our next speaker is no other than general henry bensurto. welcome council general. >> the mayor of the city and county celebration lead by mayor breed and our friends from the philippine american community. i'm bensurto junior. i work under the jurisdiction with 1.3 million under my care. i'm the consulate of san

francisco. montana, washington, wisconsin, idaho, utah, and alaska. on behalf of my wife and my son matthew and the philippine consulate general in san francisco. i wish you a meaningful filipino history month and i hope you are well during these challenging times. this year hasn't been like any other year. we can't celebrate together in person or shared history, culture of the san francisco city hall. we should have had a grand

celebration in person, however, the pandemic has changed many things and today we are in our so-called new normal. we are suddenly confined to our shelters in smaller circumstancers circles of our families. these are is for a good reason to stop the spread of the fatal virus and protect larger communities. however challenging our new normalpry sents opportunities. with smaller circles comes the opportunity to share with our loved ones and families and friends the more imtortant things in life. with meaningful conversation.

there is an opportunity throughout the younger generations about the history of our fathers and the fruits of they labor. especially as we celebrate filipino membership history month. we remember the contributions for filipino americans to thrive in the united states. during these difficult times we continue to rise and we reap the fruits of our history and culture. we continue to use the good of our families and of others and

neighbors. we want to do good to our neighbors and bring about the sense of belonging. the jus tit of the supreme court ruth bader ginsburg supported filipinos and made a huge difference in the lives of their neighbors. let us all carry and continue to be the best that we can be as human beings. as filipino americans we have quiet the channels. let us try to connect with our

communities through physical avenues and work for the empowerment. not only of ourselves in our small circles and wherever they might be. in the philippines or abroad and members of our own community in the united states. let me end with our cry under powerful men. >> thank you so much council general. as i said earlier the filipino

community has severed as nurses and doctors in the community. we our first preform anticipates is by florante agular. ♪ [ music ]

>> a very special thank you once more to all of the members of our filipino community. we pay tribute to a leader that dedicated her life to what is right and jus just. the late justice ginsburg. to pay tribute to justice ginsburg we have chief justice connie. this was the first filipino-american justice in the state of california.

>> i'm tina-cantil-sakauye. i would like to thank you the mayor for celebrating filipino american month. in 1927 my grandfather stepped off a boat and into the streets of san francisco. he came with nothing and barely spoke english and no education. not much money and a wife with children in toe. two more children to come totaling 11. all would be in farm work and all would live a healthy and happy life. my grandfather would go onto work as a dishwasher in a restaurant. in a restaurant in sacramento that he could not afford and probably would not likely sever him. as a dishwasher he worked day

and night. as we come full of hope and faith and with very little he just wanted opportunity. he didn't want a handout or a hand up. all he wanted was a fair shake. an opportunity comes only with a fair shake. he didn't live to see one of his grandchildren to become a lawyer or judge but instilled the values of diversity and equality and equal justice in all of husband including this grandchild of his. in my view as a tribute to ruth bader ginsburg what she provided wholly apart for a filipino man and what she stood for was equal opportunity and equal access to justice. we made it possible for people

to be able to achieve their highest goals until she as a trailblazer, mentor, and icon and role model should certainly be celebrated because her work, legacyg views, and values are an inspiration to us all. many my grandfather could know or hear of a woman like that he would know he made the right step coming to america. thank you for the celebration mayor breed. thank you ruth badder ginsburg, and rest in peace grandpa. ♪ [ music ] >> thanks to everyone tuning in tonight. yes, indeed, especially virtually. don't forget to post your photos on social media and tag us. the next future honors

individuals that will forever be known as it godmother of filipino empowerment. filipino americans were represented in their statement she dedicated her career for fighting for our most vulnerable communities. >> i'm assembly member phil ting. i have the largest community of filipino americans in the country. i was excited to hear about the work the mayor did for the community and country. they came to me to recognize her legacy.

165 names a stretch of california route 35 known as skyline boulevard after allen. it's now known as it memorial highway. 165 was passed by both houses as we mark the four year anniversary of her passing on october 21st 21st 21st, 2016. her legacy will be named forever in the naming of thal will you say . of the alice bulas bridge. >> be i was proud to be her daughter. she did so much in the community and she was busy helping us she worked so hard

even though she was on the wheelchair. that's what i'm really proud of her even in a while chair. >> i called her as mommy alice. i know some called her pita alice but i called her mommy alice. she did over 40 years of work in the community from immigrant rights, health rights. supporting the elderly and getting the youth involved. she wanted to bridge the generation gap and everyone could be involved no matter your age. that's some of the important takeaways i received and really be involved in the community. i remember the stories growing up. i was opening the door at her

house for what i didn't know at the time elected officials and community members working with her. i thought it was random people. she would mentor high school youth and she would encourage people to get involved. there are a lot of injustices we face everyday. if we don't continue to work and legacy how much change can we expect if we are not involved in someway. >> when she immigrated here it's because of marshall law and thought it would be a good opportunity be for them to come here. they told her and my grandfather, there are no jobs for people like you here. her reaction was resilience and she started reaching out to different community members. not just filipino but others in the community. she tried to figure out how to talk to people and get the

filipino voice heard. she would say, don't forget you are filipino. you are not just american. we need to know your culture. that's why i work at the filipino center. this is one of the biling gal programs. i would like her legacy to keep going and make sure filipino americans are embraced and proud of our cultures and we continue to work together to make sure we keep these things going and sustained. our families deserve it. thank you. >> we were very close. she was my mentor. she was my conif a talk about the and biggest critic.

she took me under were wing in trying to teach me how to be a better person i used to drive her around and pick her up and i was her driver. we would go to all of these events together. during the drive to these events i got to know her. it was her and i in a car and we would just talk. we would talk about everything from politics to life and family to social issues and government. so, that's where i thought a lot of the wisdom i gained from her during these talks. they called me up and said, let's go, can you drive me.

i didn't ask her where we were going. i picked her up and the next thing i knew we were at a hotel. next thing i know i was shaking bill clinton's hand and that's the reach of alice bulas. it's from local to national level. paying it forward was one of alice's big points to make when she touched peoples lives. i want to make sure you not only did your job but took other people with you. that's the legacy that alice bulas left. ♪ [ music ] our next performance is one of our favorite traditions. their possession is their

mission is to keep filipino folk art alive. they have been preforming since 1992. i'd like you to welcome the folk dance group. ♪ [ music ]

♪ [ music ]

[ applause ] our next speaker honored the key milestone from this past year. the anniversary of the bar association of northern california. fbank was formed to provide

filipino lawyers with professional development and educational assistance. they are dedicated to honoring our community's history and helping current and future generations of attorneys. please welcome us celebrating their 40th anniversary with a special video future. >> we would like a place where we -- today we wear masks. i have one here. in our roles we have to be a chameleon and change the way we appear this is so we could be accepted by people and we get tired of that after a while. forming the organize was a way to allow us to takeoff masks

and be our authenticselfs authentic as you will our selves. >> i'm so proud to be the 40th president following the leadership of the presidents that came before me and continuing our legacy of commitment and service of the community and diversifying legal profession. thank you for recognizing our four decade long commitment to the community. established in 1980 f bank is an organize of judges, lawyers, law students, and para professionals i was dead amazed by those who support me. as it first person in my family to go to law school as an immigrant the mentorship was invaluable.

beyond mentorship fbanc gave me an voice in the community. we help filipino interest in various forms. from standing up from the mark of dictatorship and providing free legal services for immigrants and standing up against the bill of 2020. fbanc has been committed to providing a voice and standing up to the community. >> fbanc was established to address the need of filipino representation. the important mission is to promote diversity including the judiciary. make sure we have a judicial system that's fair and equal for all. filipinos are the second largest asian group but the

judiciary doesn't reflect that community. for two decades the honorable ronald was the only judge of filipino consent to sever as a judge. it wasn't until 2017 when the honorable ben rayes became the first philippine no judge in san francisco. it's clear, there is so much work to be done. >> filipino americans are under represented within the legal community. one of fbanc goal is to connect lawyers with students to help guide the students in the legal field. today fbanc offers mentorship programs and pairing, webinars, and panels to support our legal community. our charitable organize, the

fbanc foundation raised over $40,000 this year which we gave away in the form of scholarships scholarships. >> we provide services to the community. within weeks of san francisco shelter in place order fbanc launched a two month free legal unemployment assistance clinic in response to the surge of job loss due to covid-19. it was imperative for us to provide language access to our community. offered in several filipino dialects we assisted over 500 callers and had 140 clients apply for unemployment insurance, disability, and unemployment benefits. >> fbanc is this community.

it's a community of action. it's a community days after the shelter in place orders took effect we provided resources to workers, tenants, and victims of domestic violence. this community raised over $10,000 for law school students impacted by covid-19. this is a community that provides free legal seminars for our first responders and healthcare workers that sacrificed so much in this time. this week we relaunched our unemployment assistance clinic with the asian law caucus and aids legal referral panel. it's open and free for all monday through friday 5 to 8:00 p.m. saturday 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. if you would like more information check out our website at fbanc.org and don't forget to vote.

now, we all know this year has been so difficult for so many, but especially for our local filipino american small businesses. in our community including our small businesses we are resilient and strong. we would like to honor the legacy of filipino american small businesses in san francisco. we would like to see how they pivoted to address covid-19 and planning for the future. >> our filipino small businesses give san francisco more than just good food but preserve the history of the community. introduce filipino culture to

others. >> filipino communities want to make sure our community is looked after and cared for. >> for this years filipino american history celebration we caught up with some of our businesses and leaders to see how they are resilient in the face of this challenging year. >> just like most businesses we closed in mid march. at that time i furloughed my staff. i just felt like i wanted to do it sooner because i wanted to make sure they could get unemployment. >> things progressed so fast so quickly. we are geared up for our greatest year. the rudy incident happened and everything locked down. >> it was tough to adjust to the pandemic. as soon as the shelter in

place order was issued we seized all operations and owe furniture was uncertain and still is uncertain. >> when in a crisis people tend to flight or fight. our community fought and calm together and collaborated. >> the word of the year is pivot. we are always thinking of the next thing and trying to find ways to have deficiencies. >> retail is one of the lucky businesses that could have kept going through the pandemic because of online sales. there was the opportunity for us. this really takes everything step by step and maximize what we can do and do it safely. >> the governor put out the call called great place to live program. it's the sever the at risk seniors throughout california. we needed to get a revenue stream. we didn't know what we were

doing as far as feeding seniors. over the last six months we severed 120 seniors six days a week, three meals per day. >> first of all, the fact that we are able to keep selling things and buy from the artist that rely on us for part of their income because we buy from them and sell it and keep their business going. we have worked with so many people in san francisco. >> our project is called copper gardens. it was given to us and funded by the california arts council. there is a 9,000 square foot parking lot and we will turn it into a garden. it's a place for art, wellness, economic recovery. >> for us, as a philippine filipino owned business others can survive during the

pandemic. we would like to influence others and give what you can to help survive and keep our culture fluent. >> small businesses is a foundational part of every community, you know. we look at our community in a ho holistic way. >> our business' future is uncertain but i'm certain we have an amazing network in our neighborhood helping each other get through this. >> for me to encourage everybody to support small businesses in the neighborhood. so many people are fighting for their lives and many people are in financially not great space. your support by buying and eating there means so much.

it's good for our heart and business. we hope it feels good to you too. okay, our final performance tonight is the one, the only. a little bit of. . . a little bit of jocelyn enriquez. she made our community proud. many of us grew up listening to her on the radioand listen to her greatest hits today. join me in welcoming bay area's own jocelyn enriquez.

>> hi, i'm jocelyn enriquez. i'm here with my son and welcome to our home. it's my concert to celebrate filipino month with mayor breed and san francisco. being raised in the bay area has been a joy because of the diversity in our community as well as the trailblazers that have impacted many lives such as myself. happy filipino american history month. ♪ [ music ]

♪ [ music ]

>> the next song i'd like to do for you is dedicated to the

front liners of the pandemic along with the california firefighters. thank you for your heroism and love of people. i hope that this song will give you inspiration, straight, and support. most of all prayers from our home. this song is called healer. ♪ [ music ]

wow, that was wonderful. that was amazing. thank you so much jocelyn. before we go tonight's celebration wouldn't have been possible without our host committee members that put the program together including sf.

gov tv. thank you to our community partners that made tonight possible as well. thank you to our host, of course the honorable san francisco mayor london breed. thank you, everybody. good night. thank you for celebrating filipino american history month.

skbl. >> hello. i'm shawnna loghorn with the league of women voters.

along with the league and sfgovtv, i'm here to discuss proposition b, a proposition that will be on the ballot and before the voters on november 3. the city has three departments tasked with cleaning tasks. the city administrator oversees the department of public works and appoints the director with the mayor's director. proposition b is a charter amendment that would create a department of sanitation and streets which would take over some of the duties of the department of public works. this new department of sanitation and streets would be responsible for sweeping streets and cleaning sidewalks, providing and maintaining sidewalk trash cans, removing graffiti and illegally dumped waste and maintaining city buildings, public rest rooms, and street trees. the department of public works would continue to provide all other services required by law.

proposition b would create a five-member sanitation and streets commission to oversee the department of sanitation and streets as well as a five-member public works commission to oversee the department of public works. the mayor would select the directors of both departments. if you vote yes, you want to create a department of sanitation and streets with oversight from a sanitation and streets commission, and you want to establish a public works commission to oversee the department of public works. if you vote no, you do not want to make these changes. . >> i'm here with honey mahogany, a legislative aide with supervisor haney's office. we're also joined by lari m -- larry marso, an opponent of the

measure. we're going to start with some opening statements, and we'll begin with honey. >> thank you so much for having us today. i think that as a native san franciscan, someone who grew up here, and a small business owner, it's become very clear to me that san francisco has really failed at keep our city clean the clean. there is trash all over the streets, some streets are covered with feces, and sometimes you can't find a bathroom when you need one. we've been working on how the city can better address this issu

issue. what we found is the system that we have in place is broken. no matter how hard the workers at d.p.w. work, they're unable to get the streets clean because the system is ineffective. d.p.w. is too big, there isn't enough focus on the streets, and especially during the time of covid-19, sanitation's now more important than ever, so we are putting forward a new department of sanitation to effectively keep our streets clean, wash our sidewalks in our most busy corridors and also to establish commissions overboth d.p.w. and the department to ensure that both departments are accountable to the public. the commission will also set baseline standards for cleaning, something that really doesn't exist now under the current system. >> thank you, honey. now, larry? >> hi. please vote no on proposition b, which takes a $400 million

san francisco agency and needlessly cuts it in half and politicizes what remains. it's the case chaos and paralysis that will worsen the squalor on our streets. san francisco has the political will to clean the streets. the board of supervisors does not. proposition b creates two new bureaucracies and injects politics into the department of public works. this is a failed model of oversight. we have over 100 boards and commissions in san francisco already. proposition b sets no clean streets standards. there's nothing in here that says we are going to deal with the needles, the syringes, the feces on the streets.

it's not there. matt haney writes in his argument that they're in proposition b. there's nothing in proposition b that sets baseline standards. we need -- we need -- we need to address the fraud and waste in the department of public works. >> thank you, larry. that's 1.5 minutes, so we're going to go into questions now, and the first question will go to you, larry, and then honey, you'll have a chance to answer it. the question is the amendment would create a new department of sanitation and streets to perform duties that's currently performed by the department of public works. if that's the proposition,

what's the argument for creating a new department? >> the city controller says it's going to cost upwards of $6 million a year. that's over 50 million in ten years. that's a lot of money. but if you look at the paid arguments for proposition b, you see a long list of public sector labor unions. the seiu and the san francisco labor locals representing the trades that engage in cleaning our streets and maintaining some of our parks. they're talking about we need more resources, we need more resources. they believe that this new structure, which is going to put the board of supervisors in the position of straiting political appointee -- placing political appointees into governing these agencies, they

believe it will mean significantly higher spending. and nowhere do the proponents of proposition b stay straight to the san francisco people that this is a major spending increase. will it address any of the core issues of cleaning san francisco streets? not if it atdss drug addiction, homeless, and mental illness on our streets, the root of so much of our problem. >> thank you. the same question to you, honey. why create a new department? >> well, i would like to first address some factual inaccuracies in some of those statements. one, the measure does require the department to set public standards for cleaning. we want to hold community outreach to set those standards.

there is a metric to address that. also, i do want to correct that the controller report says -- the updated controller report says this will be closer to $2.6 milli 2.6 million in costs to create this new department. the reason we have to create this new department is the current department is broken. there is not enough oversight over cleaning and sanitation in the current system. it is less than a quarter of what d.p.w. does. d.p.w. is a department with 1600 employees, and like you said, a $400 million budget. less than a quarter is dedicated to cleaning. we feel like a metro city in san francisco where tourism is its number one industry, we need to have a focus on cleaning with metrics that are created in a very transparent manner, a method for us to have feedback, and for the public to have feedback, and again,

really providing some very close oversight and accountability for a department that, up until now, really hasn't had any. >> thank you, honey. our second question, and it'll start with you, honey, is again, about the cost. the office of the controller states that this amendment, in the report that i read, ranged from 2$2.5 to $6 million annually. honey corrected that it will be just over $2 million. do we think this is the right way to spend the extra money on sanitation or is there another way that is perhaps more beneficial? >> you know, $2.6 million is a very small -- it's less than a percent -- or a fraction of a percent of the city's current budget. it's a small amount of revenue that the city would generate

through improvement to its business districts. it has been very public how we've been criticized by -- all over the world, really, for our filthy streets. the travel industry has been impacted, our hotel industry has been impacted, so those are our biggest industries for our city. so for the city to spend $2 million on an issue that we haven't been able to fix in decades is nothing. i will note that the legislation actually also reduces duplication in terms of staffing by putting some of the staffing as shared with d.p.w. for the back end, which larry referred to earlier, and it also required city administrator to also provide that support. so the additional hiring is really minimal. there is some costs for the

commissions, but again, the controller actually -- the f.b.i. and the scandal recommended that supervision be placed over d.p.w., so it is good governance. it'll put a commission over d.p.w., and it'll also put a commission over the department of sanitation and streets to oversee them. >> okay. larry, same question to you. >> since 2014, the portion of department of public works spending on cleaning our streets has doubled. if you look around you, do you see that our streets are cleaner? spending money is not the solution to cleaning our streets when we have significant significant endemic root causes of drug abuse and mental illness on our streets. the department of public works,

if it's split in half, it's going to generate more costs than simply what the controller has documented. there are duplications of band-end services -- back-end services. okay. but why are the biggest unions in san francisco pouring money into this measure? they're doing so because they're looking for higher pay and more hiring. >> sorry. i have to cut you off there as time is up for questions, but we're going to move into closing statements, and we will start with honey. >> thank you so much. it's funny because i think larry and i agree that we've been pumping money into d.p.w., and things haven't gotten any better. in fact, things have gotten worse, and that is why we're

establishing the department of sanitation and streets because the current system is broken. we're going to be providing accountability, setting baseline standards. i have to say the reason why so many labor unions are behind this is we figured out a solution that would work for everybody. it's not about raising salaries for anything like that. these are hard working san franciscans, people who really care about their city and want to be proud of their city and the work they do, and they know best how to address this problem because they're dealing with it every day. so we're proud to have worked with them, to provide this measure of accountability to provide safer, cleaner streets, trash cans that will work, access to more rest rooms. more green infrastructure which has been sorely lacking. and, again, public

accountability and a real focus on street cleaning. so i'm very proud of the measure, and i implore san franciscans, if you want to see our travel industry be reinvigorated, our children and familied supported by the picking up of needles and keeping our streets clean, then please vote yes on proposition b. >> thank you, honey. closing statements from larry, please. >> proposition b will politicize the department of public works. that's why i and a number of centrist politicians and organizations are opposed to proposition b, on the board of supervisors, supervisor sandra fewer voted no, raff vel mandelman voted now, more man yee, voted no, catherine steph he knee voted no. the ed lee democratic club says

no. the sfgop says no. you have people across the political spectrum who recognize that this is going to increase costs significantly while at the same time inducing chaos in public services, paralysis in the cleaning of our streets. uncertainty at a time that san francisco needs to be smart and focused in how it spends its money, how it raises its money, and to address the real causes of what we see going on in our streets. matt haney does not represent a common sense approach on homelessness, drug abuse, or mental illness. i have tried to bring these solutions myself to a citizen ballot measure on the regulation of navigation centers. the entire ballot you're seeing

was put together by the board of supervisors. no one could even collect signatures under shelter in place to propose alternative measures, as i tried to do. >> thank you, larry. thank you very much both for your comments and for your time. we hope that this discussion has been informative. for more information, please visit the san francisco elections website at sfelections.org. this year, every person in california will be mailed a ballot starting on october 5. you may drop off your vote by mail ballot in person starting on october 5 in the city hall voting center located outside of bill graham city auditorium 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.

you may drop off your ballot at your voting center for the two weekends before voting day, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. thank you.

. >> president yee: of the 26 neighborhoods we have in west portal, it's probably the most unique in terms of a small little town. you can walk around here, and it feels different from the rest of san francisco. people know each other. they shop here, they drink wine here. what makes it different is not only the people that live here, but the businesses, and without all these establishments, you wouldn't know one neighborhood from the other. el toreador is a unique restaurant. it's my favorite restaurant in san francisco, but when you look around, there's nowhere else that you'll see decorations like this, and it makes you feel like you're in a different world, which is very

symbolic of west portal itself. >> well, the restaurant has been here since 1957, so we're going on 63 years in the neighborhood. my family came into it in 1987, with me coming in in 1988. >> my husband was a designer, and he knew a lot about art, and he loved color, so that's what inspired him to do the decorati decorations. the few times we went to mexico, we tried to get as many things as we can, and we'd bring it in. even though we don't have no space, we try to make more space for everything else. >> president yee: juan of the reasons we came up with the legacy business concept, man eel businesses were closing down for a variety of reasons.

it was a reaction to trying to keep our older businesses continuing in the city, and i think we've had some success, and i think this restaurant itself is probably proof that it works. >> having the legacy business experience has helped us a lot, too because it makes it good for us because we have been in business so long and stayed here so long. >> we get to know people by name, and they bring their children, so we get to know them, also. it's a great experience to get to know them. supervisor yee comes to eat at the restaurant, so he's a wonderful customer, and he's very loyal to us. >> president yee: my favorite dish is the chile rellenos.

i almost never from the same things. my owner's son comes out, you want the same thing again? >> well, we are known for our mole, and we do three different types of mole. in the beginning, i wasn't too familiar with the whole legacy program, but san francisco, being committed to preserve a lot of the old-time businesses, it's important to preserve a lot of the old time flavor of these neighborhoods, and in that capacity, it was great to be recognized by the city and county of san francisco. >> i've been here 40 years, and i hope it will be another 40 year >> after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red

cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and i signed up for the below-market rate program. i got my certificate and started applying and won the housing lottery. [♪] >> the current lottery program began in 2016. but there have been lot rows that have happened for affordable housing in the city for much longer than that. it was -- there was no standard practice. for non-profit organizations that were providing affordable housing with low in the city, they all did their lotteries on their own. private developers that include in their buildings affordable units, those are the city we've been monitoring for some time

since 1992. we did it with something like this. where people were given circus tickets. we game into 291st century in 2016 and started doing electronic lotteries. at the same time, we started electronic applications systems. called dalia. the lottery is completely free. you can apply two ways. you can submit a paper application, which you can download from the listing itself. if you a plo apply online, it wl take five minutes. you can make it easier creating an account. to get to dalia, you log on to housing.sfgov.org. >> i have lived in san francisco for almost 42 years. i was born here in the hayes valley. >> i applied for the san

francisco affordable housing lottery three times. >> since 2016, we've had about 265 electronic lotteries and almost 2,000 people have got their home through the lottery system. if you go into the listing, you can actually just press lottery results and you put in your lottery number and it will tell you exactly how you ranked. >> for some people, signing up for it was going to be a challenge. there is a digital divide here and especially when you are trying to help low and very low income people. so we began providing digital assistance for folks to go in and get help. >> along with the income and the residency requirements, we also required someone who is trying to buy the home to be a first time home buyer and there's also

an educational component that consists of an orientation that they need to attend, a first-time home buyer workshop and a one-on-one counseling session with the housing councilor. >> sometimes we have to go through 10 applicants before they shouldn't be discouraged if they have a low lottery number. they still might get a value for an available, affordable housing unit. >> we have a variety of lottery programs. the four that you will most often see are what we call c.o.p., the certificate of preference program, the dthp which is the displaced penance housing preference program. the neighborhood resident housing program and the live worth preference. >> i moved in my new home february 25th and 2019. the neighborhood preference

program really helped me achieve that goal and that dream was with eventually wind up staying in san francisco. >> the next steps, after finding out how well you did in the lottery and especially if you ranked really well you will be contacted by the leasing agent. you have to submit those document and income and asset qualify and you have to pass the credit and rental screening and the background and when you qualify for the unit, you can chose the unit and hopefully sign that lease. all city sponsored affordable housing comes through the system and has an electronic lottery. every week there's a listing on dalia. something that people can apply for. >> it's a bit hard to predict how long it will take for someone to be able to move into a unit. let's say the lottery has happened. several factors go into that and

mainly how many units are in the project, right. and how well you ranked and what preference bucket you were in. >> this particular building was brand new and really this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. in my mind, i was like how am i going to win this? i did and when you get that notice that you won, it's like at first, it's surreal and you don't believe it and it sinks in, yeah, it happened. >> some of our buildings are pretty spectacular. they have key less entry now. they have a court yard where they play movies during the weekends, they have another master kitchen and space where people can throw parties. >> mayor breed has a plan for over 10,000 new units between now and 2025.

we will start construction on about 2,000 new units just in 2020. >> we also have a very big portfolio like over 25,000 units across the city. and life happens to people. people move. so we have a very large number of rerentals and resales of units every year. >> best thing about working for the affordable housing program is that we know that we're making a difference and we actually see that difference on a day-to-day basis. >> being back in the neighborhood i grew up in, it's a wonderful experience. >> it's a long process to get through. well worth it when you get to the other side. i could not be happier. [♪]

>> hello. i'm shawnna longhorn with the league of women voters. along with the league and sfgovtv, i'm here to discuss proposition f, a ballot that will be before the voters on tuesday, november 3. the city collects taxes from san francisco businesses, including the payroll expense tax, the gross receipts tax, the administrative office tax, the annual business registration fee, the child care tax, and the homelessness tax. the child care and homelessness taxes have been challenged in court, and the money collected through these taxes has not been spent by the city. state law limits the amount of revenue, including tax revenue, the city can spend each year. state law authorizes san francisco voters to approve

increases to this limit to last for four years. proposition f would change certain taxes the city collects from san francisco businesses, including eliminate the payroll expense tax, increase the gross receipts tax rate in phases, expand the small business exemption, and eliminate the credit for businesses that pay a similar tax elsewhere. increase the administrative office tax rate in phases, and change the business registration fee. proposition f would further increase the city's business taxes if the city loses either of the child care tax or homelessness tax lawsuits, but it would exclude money collected from these increases when determining baseline spending. it would also increase the city's spending for the next four years.

if you vote yes, you want to overhaul the business tax structure. if you vote no, you do not want these changes. >> i'm here with jennifer brooks, a proponent of the measure. we're also joined by starchild, a libertarian, and an opponent of the measure. we're going to begin with some opening statements, and we will begin with star child. >> yes. this is starchild, the libertarian party of san francisco. we believe that tax adding on right now is just absolutely the wrong time. there's so many businesses suffering under the lockdowns. i live in the castro, and it just seems that every other business is closed and boarded up. the measure, furthermore, is so confusing. it's, like, 125 pages long, and reading through it, i couldn't even tell on my own what it was

going to do. so i'm substantially relying on the controller's statement which says it's going to be nearly a $100 million tax increase. i think it's egregious whenever they pass measures that are so complicated that the average person reading them, everyone someone who's somewhat familiar with reading these kinds of measures can't really tell what's going on, and i'd be happy to hear the proponents spell out exactly what the different aspects of these measures are and how they affect everybody. but from what we can tell, it's a huge tax increase and it comes at a time when businesses are already super struggling in the city. getting rid of the payroll tax would be terrific, but there is a net tax increase. i don't think this is something that anyone was clamoring for,

and i think people should vote no. >> thank you, starchild. we'll move to jennifer. >> thank you. mission neighborhood center has been a community anchor in the mission district for more than 60 years, and it's really from that vantage point that i've seen the impact that the pandemic has had on san francisco families, and that is why i feel very strongly that we must pass proposition f. at this time, san francisco is facing three distinct crises that have come out of the pandemic. the first is job loss. more than 5,000 businesses across the city have shut their doors since the pandemic began. the second is child care sector. it's operating at half its capacity because of the need for social distancing, and third, our city government is

facing potentially a $1.5 billion shortfall over the next three years. this proposition will help all of these factors. it will help businesses like hotels and recreation. it will unlock $400 million of voter approved child care funding that is currently tied up because of litigation, and third, it will contribute $156 million towards balancing our city budget, and finally, it will create more than 2,000 jobs over the next two years. at the same time proposition f addresses our immediate needs, it solves some long-term needs that have become apparent during the pandemic.

sfesk o specifically, our outdated taxes -- >> sorry to cut you off, but we're going to go to questions. the first question, jennifer, will go to you. san francisco is facing a budget shortfall of $1.5 billion due to the covid-19 pandemic. this amendment is part of an attempt to address this deficit. why do you believe it's the right way to do so? >> so, there are a couple of reasons. first, because it helps small businesses, and they are the ones facing the critical and are in need of tax relief right now. what this measure does is it rebalances who's paying the business taxes. it is not a new tax. it is overall the same net amount of taxes, it just ensures that small businesses get relief, and bigger sector, particularly the information sector, pays its fair share.

>> starchild, same question to you, except why do you believe this is not the right way to address the potential deficit? >> well, it's not revenue neutral. you don't help small businesses by taxing them more. the people running city government, they always seem to portray these things as a choice between, you know, well, we have a budget shortfall, so we either have to cut services that you want or raise your taxes, but they never look at the third option, which is to cut their own budget. there's thousands of people in city departments who are making six-figure salaries. you think they could tighten their belts, quite frankly. it's not too much to ask when so many other businesses, people have lost their jobs or businesses have entirely had to close. i don't see anything that's going to create 2,000 jobs is

pie in the sky speculation. taxing the information sector? that's what's been driving the san francisco economy years and years, the tech economy. there's real risk of losing -- losing the goose that laid the golden egg, tech being driven out of town if they continue unfriendly policies. >> thank you. thank you. we're going to go to the next question, and we'll start with star child. the question is san francisco's child care and homelessness taxes has been challenged in court, and the money that's ae been collected through these taxes has not been spent by the city. if this prop is passed, that will free up these funds for the city. what's your position on that? >> well, we don't believe those

propositions should have been passed in the first place. i think there's academic questions about the ledger being written illegally skprks that should skprks -- and that should be allowed to finish winding its way through the courts. the government should not be rewarded for doing things illegally. there's a number of places where they did not follow the law in the language in terms of how measures are presented in the ballot handbook, and in some cas cases, they're presen them in a biased manner. they shouldn't sweep that under the rug and allow them to take this money and keep imposing the tax going forward. you know, it's -- it's good to have child care, but if people don't even have jobs to go to, they're not going to need child care, and they're going to kill

jobs by raising taxes. there's no reason why this shouldn't have been written revenue neutral. there's no reason why taxes should be going up. >> sorry to interrupt you. we need to move to jennifer. >> first, a rebuttal. this would replace the payroll tax with a gross receipts tax and increase the number of small businesses that are exempt, and it would also reduce business registration fees. now onto why child care. early care and education chaz high quality is demonstrated to be more effective antipoverty strategies than any other on children, on parent, and even their grandparents. we need to increase and continue our investment in this essential service. we need to be able to shore up the programs that are at the brink of collapse at this critical moment, and we need to invest in proposition f. >> thank you, jennifer. so at this point, we're going

to move into the closing comments, and we'll start with star child. >> yeah. again, the bottom line is that this is a major, almost $100 million year estimated tax increase per the controller, and the measure is 125 pages long, very confusing about exactly what the effects are going to be, and, again, confusing legislation tends to have a disproportionately bad impact on small businesses because they don't have armys of lawyers working for them to figure this stuff out. it's, again, going after the wrong target. it's going after businesses in the voluntary sector rather than the coercive sector to cut their budgets. of course, the supervisors making six figure salaries can be return today what it was not that many years ago, you know, under $100,000 a year.

$99,000 i think, is enough to be made in city government. they don't need to be paid at citizens' expense. if it they want more funding for child care, again, reducing the payroll tax would be great, but there's no need to impose greater taxes that are going to unfavorably affect the business climate at a time when businesses are already struggling. i have not heard a good reason why this particular measure is -- is the way, why they could not have made another measure that doesn't raise taxes overall. >> thank you. closing statement from jennifer. >> thank you. so san francisco was also facing a crisis in child care and education and unbalanced taxes for small businesses even before the pandemic, and the pandemic has always exacerbated

each of these challenges. i've done my homework. proposition f will address our immediate needs while addressing long-standing programs that have become more apparent during the pandemic. struggling businesses need tax relief, parents need child care, and children need early learning and our economy needs a stimulus to restart and recover. proposition f will enable us to help small businesses who are struggling, unlock voter approved child care funding, balance our local budget, and create jobs, and that i why i think we must say yes on f. >> thank you both fof for your comments and your time. we hope that this discussion has been informative. for more information on this and other measures in this year's election, please visit

sfelections.org. this year, all voters in california will be mailed a vote by mail ballot starting on october 5. if you plan to raurn your ballot by mail, your ballot must be post marked by election day, tuesday, november 3. alternatively, you may drop off your ballot in person starting on october 5. you can always drop off your ballot at the city hall voting center starting two weeks before election day, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and if you don't mail in voting, vote in person at one of the 500 locations across the city and at city hall on tuesday, november 3. >> hi. my name is matt alexander, and

i'm a teacher, and a community organizer. our public schools are stretched to the breaking point. to address this crisis, we need school board members who value the voices of the people who do the work in schools and classrooms. i started teaching at balboa high school in 1996 and spent 20 years as a teacher and principle since then in the san francisco public schools. in this moment, we often need board members who understand how to create change in a complex system. i helped lead a grassroots community organizing effort that resulted in the founding of a new public school, june jordan school for equity, one of the most innovative high schools in this city. four years ago, i supported immigrant students to rewrite

sfusd's policy for immigrant students. i spent ten years as a principal of june jordan high school, where we spent a strong track record of positive outcomes of black and latinx students and students with special needs. i've led campaigns to get people released from i.c.e. detention and help families facing eviction. if we work together, this crisis actually gives us the opportunity to strengthen our public schools and make them the center piece of a san francisco that truly reflects the progressive values this city stands for. i would be honored if you would join me in that effort. >> hello. i'm honored to speak to you to tell you a little bit about myself and the future of san francisco schools and to ask for your endorsement for the san francisco school board. my name is andrew allston.

i am a public schoolteacher in east oakland. i love being a teacher and fighting every day to make sure my students progress toward their goals. my perspective as a teacher is important because it allows me to understand how to balance the needs of students, teachers, and family. this is something that i believe the school board needs more of. historically, our school district has struggled to be the best version of itself. we continue to see achievement gaps between rich and poor, and between our white students and students of color. the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated these gaps and made solutions more crucial. tax laws are important, but they won't address the issues that our struggling families are facing in real-time right now. our most vulnerable families need things like equitable access to the internet, meals,

and our teachers need innovative solutions and training making schools work. this is a pivotal moment that offers a unique opportunity to not just put band-aids on issues that have plagued our district for decades. thing like de facto school segregation and the lack of public bussing. we can make the necessary decisions that change our students' lives for the better. this will be my focus when i'm elected to the school board. i'd be honored to have your endorsement, and i'd like to have your note in november. i plan on being your partner as we fight to make our schools the best in fact nation. >> hello. my name is michelle parker, and i i i'm running for a seat on the san francisco school board. i want our students to feel value, to have a high quality education and leave our schools

with confidence. our school district is in a massive crisis. we face a budget shortfall and we are trying to educate students in the middle of a pandemic, and our systems at every level haven't been set up to support families. the reality is that even before the pandemic, our schools haven't worked for the record lots much our students. we need to elect leaders who can lead through this crisis and address these issues. i will lead with urgency and compassion, with integrity and commitment. i have revenue ideas that are innovative and will ensure that we are spending our money on items that have the most impact on students. i will work with the city to address the foundational causes of the opportunity gap for many of our students. housing and food insecurity, unemployment, and public health, so we can close that gap faster while also expanding the practices that are closing the gap in some schools by

double digits each year. i was president of the san francisco p.t.a., serving and supporting more than 60 schools. i guided us through an organizational merger and a complicated process with the city as we became tenants of the geneva power house in the sunset district. i have oversight experience. i was coshare of the school district aways parcel tax oversight committee for two years, ensuring $32 million was spent to improve teaching in our district. please vote for me on november 3, and check out my website at michelleparker.org.

>> good morning, the meeting will come to order. welcome to the october 26, 2020, meeting of the rules committee. i am supervisor hillary ronen, the chair of the committee. with me on video conference is the rules vice-chair, stefani and member jordan mar and our clerk today is victor young. and i would also like to thank sfgov-tv for staffing this meeting. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes. due to the covid-19 health

emergency, and to protect the board members, city employees and the public, the board of supervisors administrative chamber and committee room are closed. the members will be participating in the meeting remotely. the committee members will attend the meeting through video conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present. public comment will be available at each item on this agenda. and both on channel 26 and sfgov-tv.org, and they are streaming the numbers across the screen. comments are opportunities to speak during the public comment period and are available via phone by calling 1-(415)-655-0001. and, again, that is 1-(415)-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 1464986060. again, that is 1464986060. then press pound and pound again. when connected you will hear the meeting discussions but muted

and in listening mode only. when your item of interest comes up dial star, 3, to be added to the speaker line. the best practices are to call from a quiet location and speak clearly and slowly and to turn down your television or radio. alternatively you may submit public comment to myself at the rules committee clerk at victor.young@sfgov-tv.org. and if you submit by email it's forwarded to the supervisors and will be included as part of the official file. that concludes my comments. >> chair ronen: thank you. can you please read item number one. >> clerk: item one is a hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending march 1, 2021, one member, term ending march 1, 2022, and two members terms ending march 1, 2023. to the in-home supportive services public authority. >> chair ronen: thank you so much.

and if alexander madrid is us today? alex madrid? >> yes, i am. >> chair ronen: good morning. thank you so much for being with us. i was wondering if you have any comments for us about your interest in participating in this body? >> no, i just want to say to the committee that i thank you for considering me as a member of the board members. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. we really appreciate your willingness to serve. thank you. is there any other questions for mr. madrid? nope. okay, thank you so much. and next i want to see if sascha

bittner is here? miss bittner here? i see s.b., which i'm wondering if that is her. >> clerk: she is logged in, however, we're just waiting for her to turn on her microphone. >> chair ronen: okay. we'll wait a sec. >> clerk: miss bittner, if you can hear us, we are calling on you at this time. >> chair ronen: and i do want to say that daisy mcarthur who is an incumbent is unable to be here today. so we're not going to hear from her but she is an incumbent and has been a wonderful member of the board. and i'll just say that. and if miss bittner -- maybe

she's having some technical difficulties. so don't we see if robin wilson-beattle is here. >> hi. i am robin wilson-beattle. i'm here. i don't see my name, but -- >> chair ronen: we hear you. >> okay. >> chair ronen: thank you for being here. do you have any statement or comments for us? >> i am just really excited. i have been on both sides of the -- i have been a consumer of the services but i have also worked in disability advocacy, you know, about these services. and worked as a personal care attendant. so i get both sides of what's going on.

[laughter] i'm excited. >> chair ronen: that's fantastic. thank you so much. and thank you for your willingness to apply and to serve in this really important capacity. we appreciate it very much. i want to make sure that none of my colleagues have any questions. thank you. that -- that is it for now. and i wanted to just see if miss bittner was able to join us? >> clerk: she is logged on with us but she is not responding at this point and it may be technical in nature. >> chair ronen: okay, okay, no worries. i'll just sta state for a momenn miss bittner's behalf, i don't know if she remembers me, but i remember her. she's worked a lot with the domestic worker coalition and with hand-in-hand, which is an

organization that -- of employers that helps to advocate on behalf of domestic workers, including in-homecare support services and has just been such a leader in that movement. so i'm very excited about her application to this body. but if she is unable to join us, we'll give her a chance after public comment. but why don't we open this item up for public comment while we are waiting. >> clerk: excuse me. [clearing throat] yes, the members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call 1-(415)-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 1464986060. then press pound, and pound again.

if you haven't already done so, please dial star, 3, to line up to speak. a system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. please wait until the system indicates that you have been unmuted and you may begin your comments. do we have any members of the public to speak today? >> madam chair, there are no callers in the queue. >> chair ronen: okay. thank you so much. i just wanted to give one last chance to miss bittner to speak if she has any comments. >> hello. this is (indiscernible). i do want to speak... but i

think that actually chair ronen covered it. however i feel -- in short i feel that i bring as someone that has worked with ihss and have worked with clients to the public authority governing board and you have my recommendation and i hope to be considered for this. thank you so much. >> clerk: ronen, i believe that

you are muted at this time. >> chair ronen: so sorry. thank you so much, miss bittner. and i just want to thank you for all your years of advocacy and work in this arena. and i'm a big fan. so thank you for applying to this seat. and with that do any of my colleagues have any comments? >> yeah, i do, thank you, chair ronen. i just wanted to thank all of the applicants for your commitments to serve our city and the ihss public authority. and just for all that you do to ensure that seniors and people with disabilities are able to continue to live with dignity and thrive in our city. you know, we know thatt