>> good morning, welcome to the december 14th, 2020 meeting of the rules committee. i'm chair of the committee with me on the video conference are rules' committee vice-chair supervisor catherine stefani and rules committee member supervisor mar. our clerk today is victor young and i'd like to thank sfgov for staffing this committee. >> due to covid-19 health emergency and protect members members to the employees and the public the legislative chamber room are closed however members will be participating in the meeting remotely and they will participate if they were

present. public comment will be available on each item on this agenda both channel 26 and sfgovtv are teaminstreaming the numbers acre screen. call (415)655-0001. and again that's (415)655-0001. the meeting i.d. 146 961 6060 and press pound and pound again. the item of center comes up, it will be added to the speaker line and best practices to call from a private location and speak slowly and turn down your television or radio. you may submit public comments via e-mail to myself, the rules committee clerk at

victor.young@sf.org. it will be forwarded and included in the file. that completes my public comment. >> thank you so much mr. clerk. can you please read item number one. >> clerk: yes. the california department of public-health to prioritize california public school educators for phase 1 covid-19 vaccine access and i believe there's a request on this item. >> thank you so much, mr. clerk. and this is an item i'm bringing forward. colleagues, this could not come at a more important moment and this resolution urges governor newsome to prioritize public educators for phase 1 vaccine

access. in the early stages of the pandemic, san francisco and other counties across the state required the closure of schools to slow the spread of coronavirus in the community. school districts and educators across this states stepped up and adapted to the changes of school close your by shifting towards online distance learning at a scale that had never been attempted before. even with innovative distance learning measures in place the covid-19 school disruptions have had an adverse effect on k-12 learning and especially among low income students and students of color. the on going school closures have substantially cut students' learning time, limited the ability of educators to provide their levels of support, and diminished opportunities for students to develop their social and emotional skills, and increased rates of anxiety, depression, obesity and other serious health conditions amongst students. the disproportionate health and

economic effects of covid-19 on black, latino and asian and native american families with higher rates of job loss and covid-19 infection have only exacerbated the educational challenges and learning gaps that students of color have had to endure during this crisis. while schools have been closed for nine months now, state officials have failed to prioritize enough resources to support schools safely reopening as part of the state's covid-19 recovery efforts and many school districts remain closed with no clear time lines or commitments to reopening in the near future. if we condition act now to resolve these dangerous disruptions to our public education system, the deep learning deficits caused by school closures could have and will have lasting impacts on our students in the form of behavioral and academic challenges, grade repetition and increases rates of school truancy, suspension, expel sun and drop outs overtime.

i have spoken to countless public school families in my district and -- they are literally seeing their children fall through the cracks right in front of their eyes and they are desperate to have their kids return to school. i have also spoken with many educators who are willing to return as long as there are health and safety protocols put in place at their school sites. california state health officials are developing a phased distribution plan in partnership with the u.s. interest for disease control that will determine which segments of the population and which classes of the essential workers will be prioritized for receiving the vaccine first. it is still unclear where educators will fall in this state's priority ranking which

will be decided over the coming weeks. providing vaccines to all school site personnel, including teachers, para educators, nurses, councilors, janitors, and other support staff will be critical to our abilities to safely reopen schools as soon as possible and get our students, families and our society back on track. this resolution urges the governor, the california of public-health and all other state health officials to prioritize the school system by providing teachers and school support staff with vaccines immediately so we can safely reopen schools and get students back into the classroom. it also calls on state officials to subsidize the cost of vaccines for educators and school support staff to ensure equitable and timely access to these vaccines. education is the corner stone of our democracy and at a time when our testimon democratic institue

under attack we will protect the integrity of public schools ensuring they're well resources and equipped to overcome the current and future challenges presented them by the on going public-health crisis. we owe it to our students. it's time for governor newsome to prioritize public education in a real substantial way for the first time during this public-health crisis. i want to thank a couple of individuals who have been instrumental in drafting and working with us to put forward this resolution. including susan solomon, and annabella from uesf, who have worked on this with us this morning and there was an article in the chronicle that shows california teachers association at the state level is pushing for a similar before i turn it

over to supervisor mar, say that i i will make a motion a few amendment to the resolution and on page one, line 22, and adding whereas, for decades, california public schools have struggled with systemic under-funding by the state and resulting in one of the lowest spending rates relative to thrates.page 3, lino cross out the word professionals or that's line 10 and replace it with para educators, librarians, councilors and nurses and then online 12, adding the language

where proper testing contact tracing and ppp and antation protocols is another important measure for preventing school-based outbreaks and protecting students, families and educators alike. there's a couple more on page 5. line 1, we wanted to add that we agree with the governor and initial and public school educators be next in line and add it would go additional clauses page 5 starting line 9 for the result the san francisco board of supervisors urges governor to increase state investments in public schools over the coming years and to support the recovery in resilience of california public education system and be further

resolved the san fan will support and resources to the san francisco unified school districts to ensure a layered covid-19 prevention plan own site testing, ventilation, filtration and indoor air quality and small and stable student cohorts to prevent the risk of outbreaks and well cordoned vaccination efforts that provide easy access to vaccines if they're available, such as school-based vaccination sites. with that, colleagues, i hope to have your support and next is supervisor mar. >> thank you. i want to thank you and united educators of san francisco and the parents that have been advocating so strongly and as a

parent, public school parent myself and someone who represents a district with a very large preportion of families with children, our public schools, i absolutely agree about the urgency of this resolution and for us in our city and state to safely reopen our schools since possible and i know stefani, heard continue to hear from parents in my district and families about the great challenges that this distance learning has presented for them and we certainly face that in our family and how it's also really exacerbated inequity in our education system so, i think this resolution and really urging the state to prioritize

teachers and other public schools employees for the vaccination is such an important step we can take to support savory openinsafereopening of o. i would be like to added as a co-sponsor. >> thank you so much to supervisor mar. i appreciate that. i really wanted give a special thanks to my legislative aide, paul monta. we have been spending our time and days investigating how the city and county can help the school district open up at a safe and faster rate. just watching the kids suffer and our district has been really, really challenging for all of us. so, paul, thank you for your tremendous nonstop work on this issue and i appreciate you. with that if we can open this

item up for public comment. >> clerk: members should call (415)655-0001 and the meet, i.d. is 146 961 6060 and press pound and pound again. if you haven't done so dial star 3 to lineup to speak and the you have been unmuted and you may begin your comment and do we have any members of the public who are public comment today? >> yes, we have three callers in the queue. >> hello. >> hi,.

>> please, proceed. >> my name isn't vet and eye public school parent and the distance and it's a parent collected that seeks and advocates for equitable solutions for san francisco public school and i'm commenting in support of the resolution. i want to read a statement for our members who cannot take the time off to all the in this morning. i'm a childcare providers in die view and they have a hard time with distance learning and they're displaying anger and losing interest and showing difficulty learning and sometimes they cannot tell what you they did in class because they've lost interest in learning and cannot focus anymore. they are bored and it could be an i remember stated and --

other childcare providers and mind self have been open since june and this is from me and commenting again on behalf of the parents in our district. we urge governor newsom to prioritize and bring students to the class where they learn and thank you. >> a act parent leader and i'm here this morning to share our parent support for the city's educators to be prioritized as essential workers for the covid-19 vaccine so they may feel safe and be safe as they return to the classroom for

in-person learning and some will chose distance learning many of our hard-working families in san francisco and across our state are desperate to return to school and they're losing income as they stay at home to assist with learning and they're struggling with their own insomnia and they suffer of isolation and our low income students are impacted. many of our english language learner are failing tests that determine their academic future. they feel unprepared because many don't have a quiet space or fluency with technology. equity in our state public school system cannot be optional it's essential and so our our teachers.

we must have a commitment to educate our children by prioritizing them for vaccinations so they can return to our schools. providing vaccines to all school-site personnel including teachers, parents, janitor and support staff will be key to reopening our schools safely and efficiently. thank you. >> caller: good morning, supervisors and thank you for allowing public comment. my name is seth and i'm a proud parent of a fourth grader in the san francisco unified school district at the amazing glen park school. i am also a member of decreasing the distance. most, although not all of san francisco schoolchildren are suffering through distance learning. despite principals and teachers and parents heroic efforts to try and provide emergency pandemic learning, away from classrooms and school buildings.

our kids need to be back in school. with numerous studies describing and documenting the short and long-term hair that prolonged distance learning is bee falling our children. teachers and staff and children and families the number of children that would be allowed to go back to classroom are too few and too long delayed. providing early access to vaccines to teachers and staff bo accelerate our professionals and being able to feel safe about returning to inperson teaching and could hasten the return of thousands of schoolchildren back to schools. where they can thrive again in the company of their teachers and peers. providing early access to vaccines to public schoolteachers and staff, is also simply the right thing to do. school is essential. teachers and principles and staff members and para professionals are essential workers. they deserve to be prioritized in a society that values

equitable access to education, and values the essential work of educating and taking care of our children. furthermore, providing vaccines to our essential school workers as early as possible in the vaccine distribution process. woods sent a powerful signal to children that they themselves are essential and that their needs are being centered and prioritized by our society and by our leaders. we can do no less. send a strong message to governor newsom and california stakeholders. >> do we have additional callers?

this is seth, i was just giving comment. >> your two minutes has expired. public comment is two minutes long. are there any other members of the public for public comment at this time? >> and i want to first acknowledge and really thank

supervisor ronen for her leadership on this issue censuring that all workers that work a -- toget the vaccine andn into consideration rather than just saying schools are made up of teachers and students and i really want to acknowledge that schools are made of an echo system and more than just teachers and students and it is so important to ensure that as we get the vaccines that this vaccines are offered to all workers at a school site. more importantly, i want to say yes we need to ensure educators are some of the first workers to get the vaccine for others who are essential to the function of our society and i want to make sure the vaccines is the first steps in keeping our environment school site safe and extra and i

want to acknowledge and hilary and acknowledge and essential of making sure and -- madam chair, that completes the queue.

thank you for doing our very best to get us back in our beloved school communities as soon as possible. i would like to make a motion to amend the resolution as i stated earlier and if we can have a roll call. >> clerk: on motion to amend -- >> supervisor stefani. >> aye. >> supervisor mar. >> aye. >> chair ronen. >> aye. >> if i could make a motion to send the amended motion forward with positive recommendations as a committee report. >> the motion to recommend the matter as amended as a committee

report, supervisor stefani. >> aye. >> mar. >> aye. >> and you can read item number 2. >> a pointing two members, terms ending november 19th, 2022 to the advisory committee and we have two seats two applicants. >> thank you so much. so, we have mark branch that you are and and to say and seat nine and are you here and would you like to present to the committee. >> fantastic, please. let us know your interest and experience relevant to this

committee. >> ok. well, i've been bicycle mechanic for, gosh, eight years. not working right now though. i used to race bicycles. i was on the national team for four years and late '70s, early '80s pre covid and i'm particularly interested these days in the -- i've been on the committee for a few years. i'm particularly interested in some of the things happening with the ai technology as it pertains to the things that will be happening on the roads because their algorithms being programmed they're going to process the trolley program.

when a vehicle cannot avoid a collision, there's programs and it is there was a and the bicycles advisory was aware of this stuff. essentially what i'm interested is conversations about equity and so there's a permit that is

approved as i understand it for ai technology on the streets of san francisco so it's something i'm working with my supervisor office to understand better and to bring to the committee. so, essentially my interest in that is just to make sure that we address issues of equity. just in a nutshell, there's a article that was written and called the moral there are no good options and it turns out that this ai technology in a car can determine age, race and gender of individuals and in the course of this article it describes how there have been

conversations about who -- how do you distribute harm? i just want that to be done he can witt plea and it should be done -- whatever those algorisms are there should be ways for the public to speak to that. and so i'm vehicle itsed to get thagoing to get thatgoing. if anyone has appreciate being a part of this and thank you. >> thank you so much. it looks like you have your biggest proponent in your house right next to you.

i don't believe they were able to make it and she's been a fantastic member of the committee and she has been part of the pueblo program of the organization and she works for huckle berry youth and has just really broad and perspective. despite the fact she couldn't be here today that you will support her work and her continues and enthusiastic support and advocacy on behalf of youth and biking in san francisco. with that we can open up this

item for public comment. >> clerk: members of the public should call on this item. the meeting i.d. is 146 961 606 o and press pound and pound again. if you haven't done so, you can unmute and begin your comments. do you have any members of the public for public comment on this item? >> we did not hear that? could you repeat yourself, please? >> public comment is closed.

i will ford the seat to 3 and seat 9. bicycle advisory committee to the full board with recommendations. supervisor stefani. >> aye. >> supervisor mar. >> aye. >> chair ronen. >> aye. >> motion passes without objection. >> thank you. >> thank you, mark. appreciate you. thank you for your work. >> mr. clerk, can you please call item number 3. >> clerk: item number 3 is a hearing to consider appointing one member term ending august 1st, 2021 to the south of market community planning advisory committee. >> thank you. and we have one appointment, mary claire to seat 2 nominated

by supervisor haney. is mary here with us today? >> hi. >> hi, how are you? >> i'm good. good morning. >> good morning. is there any information that you would like to share with us about your work and why you are a playing for this position? >> i'll give a quick run down and who i am and why i want to serve on this -- >> i'm here today to ask for your support in appointing me to serve on the soma planning (inaudible). i was born and raised in the tenderloin and i moved back and fourth between here and soma. i'm in school for urban planning at san francisco state university because i want to be a education planner and i want to serve on the cac because i watched my district change, be gentrified and i walked down the

street and i see some of the wealthy 69twealthiest parts of n francisco next to the poor parts. i want to serve on the cac because i believe in centers racial and social equity where community voices are leading this process. when i was 18-years-old i was hired by the community network to be a pedestrian safety coordinator where i worked on the fulsome street scaping project for two years and that brings much needed biking infrastructure for the neighborhood and that was just recently passed by the city last year and that my last few years i was there transit organizer where we were worked on a campaign with the goal (inaudible). a campaign that was successfully one this year with the support of the board of supervisors to not include fares on working class people so for the last five years i've worked on (inaudible) and transit campaigns and district 6 and

this work continues in my current job where i work at the san francisco bicycle coalition as their downtown community organizationer where i get to work on more sf street scaping projects in the tenderloin and bringing programs like (inaudible) to the south market where there's been zero slows streets as of right now. it's a pointed to serve some of the safety and i promised the center city planning processs in equity and.

>> yes, we can hear you. please, proceed. >> thank you, good morning. my name is kathy di luca and i

called in and i saw mary claire on the agenda speaking up in favor of her appointment. i've worked with mary claire as an advocate for transportation in the city for years and she's a fantastic add ver advocate. she gives so much back to the community and i wanted to say you all would be crazy not to support her in this so thank you for considering and mary claire, i'm super excited about you. >> thank you. >> can we have the next caller, please. >> i'm calling to support mary

claire. i've worked with mary claire in a number of context for years and south of market and she's extremely came able and the definition of a true community members. she's a part of fabric of this city and she's been instrumental in the filipino community's response for grocery delivery during shelter in place and i know that she's an excellent advocate for many positive things in this city outside of her work in bicycle coalition and the south market community and the filipino community and this is a -- we've fully supported this as an organization and i support her appointment as well as an individual. thank you.

that completes the queue. >> thank you. public comment is closed. i was wondering if supervisor mar wanted to do the honors for this one. >> yeah. i'd love to. thank you so much, mary claire, for all of your incredible leadership and activism. on behalf of your community and transit and transportation issues. so i would like to move that

we -- actually, amend the resolution to delete the word reject and -- >> supervisor mar. this is starting off as a hearing so all you need to do is make the recommendation to appoint. >> i would move that we recommend the appointment of mary claire to the south of market community planning advisory committee. >> that would be for seat number 2. >> thank you. >> yes. >> yes. >> on that motion, supervisor stefani. >> aye. >> supervisor mar. >> aye. >> chair ronen. >> aye. >> motion passes without objection. >> thank you so much mary claire we're excited for your work. mr. clerk, can you please read

item number 4? >> clerk: yes. item number 4 is a hearing pointing one member term ending october 19th, 2021 to the earn neighborhood citizen advisory committee and one seat one applicant. thank you so much, kelly cobeck is being nominated by supervisor mandelman and.

>> she's a long time community activist and a mom and is exactly the kind of person we want to serve and we hope to have your support for her nominations. thank you. >> thank you so much. kelly, hu here and do you want to say anything? >> >> it you hear me ok. >> sure. i did prepare a little statement and i wanted to thank supervisor mandelman for the consideration to the post.

i'm happy for the opportunity to be of service to my community and the committee and city at large. i'm 47, a mother of three, co owner of burnal cutlery. we've been in business for 16 years. we were established in 2005 and and we founded the business and utility room at the back of an apartment of important avenue using $40 to buy an center stone and print flyers and selling knives and after years working from home workshops we opened our first brick and mortar shop and what used to be the 331 court land small business incubator collective in 2010. we've moved twice due to out growing our shelves and we're now at home on valencia street in a mission district.

i've been a resident of san francisco for 23 years and i'm happy to call it home and i'm proud to raise san franciscans and i'm thinking of ways that would be a service to such a position and perspectives and life experiences i hold to include a deep understanding of the difference between cultural competency and the contribution i offer is gaining economic independence by being a small business owner for over 16 years and a member of the recovery community, sober and clean for 18 years. and it's never lost on me each day when i go to work on valencia street that i won't

suffer as an addict, and alcoholic on the same street that i now own a small business. they give back to their community and as such maintain the fabric of our local communities. this is never lost on me and as an owner and i'm very happy to step up again here for the cac and to add the voice of small businesses. so keeping it brief, i'm happy to answer any questions you might have and i wear so many different hats in the community as a food justice activist and researcher and i'm happy to answer questions with that as well. thank you for having me. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, kelly. as you know, i'm a huge fan of you and your work in the community and your store. i wish i could not imagine a better appointment for supervisor mandelman to make. i just echo everything tom said

about you and your statement said it all. you're someone that i just deeply admire and look up to so thank you for everything you do and i know you will bring that same passion and deep experience and love for your community that to the eastern neighborhoods committee so thank you for your willingness to do this. it's really wonderful. since i see no other comments, i'm going to open this item up for public comment. members of the public should call -- press pound and pound again. if you have have not done so dial star 3 to lineup to speak and the system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand and please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. do we have any members of the

public for public comment? >> yes, we have one caller in the queue. >> hello everyone, i'm chair of the san francisco small business commission speaking on my own behalf as an individual. i want to echo tom's comments and chair ronen's comments, kelly is a wonderful member of the small business community. we're very lucky to have her. she's an excellent choice for the appointment to the cac and i support it wholeheartedly, 100% and kelly, i got your back. feel free to give me a call if you need anything, i'm here for you. thank you. >> thank you. do we have any other callers on the line for public comment?

>> hi, this is (inaudible). i'm calling from valencia street we've been there over 50 years and i'm calling manny's behalf and just to say that i think it's really important to have a small business owner and -- >> i don't think we're taking public comment on that item yet and is it it will be the next item. thank you. >> so sorry. my bad. >> no problem. >> are there any other callers for this item? >> 201338 regarding the appointment to the eastern neighborhoods for the advisory committee. >> that completes the queue. >> >> thank you so much. public comment is closed. and i would be quite honored to

make a motion to forward the appointment of kelly to seat 5 of the eastern neighborhoods citizens advisory committee to the full board with positive recommendations. >> on that motion, supervisor stefani. >> aye. >> supervisor mar. >> aye. >> chair ronen. >> aye. the motion passes without objection. >> thank you so much, kelly. >> see you soon, take care. >> thank you, tom for coming to committee. >> mr. clerk, can you please read items 5 and 6 together? >> yes, item number 5 is a motion the mayor's combination for the appointment of manual to the municipal transportation agency board of directors term ending march 1st, 2024 and item number 6 is a motion improving the nomination for appointment of fiona hennessey

term ending march 1st, 2024. >> thank you so much. so, first i will call up each of the nominees to speak and perhaps answer questions and from the supervisors and then we will call public comment together for the two appointments so, anybody who calls in can make comments about just one of the appointments or both as you chose. so, first, we will welcome manny, good morning, hi. >> >> good morning, can you hear me. >> yes. >> caller: awesome. thank you so much for bringing me on this morning. my name is manny and i'd like to thank london breed for this nomination. my name is manny, like i said, i'm the owner of a small business on the corner of 16th and valencia, i'm in my small business right now and a little bit about me, i'm originally

from los angeles, california, i first moved to san francisco about 10 years ago. i've worked on a couple different presidential campaigns and local campaigns. different advocacy organizations and i'm currentl current on thef the merchants association and on the board of the jewish community center of san francisco and i'm an appointment of the small business commission in san francisco. i came to san francisco over 10 years ago. my first time here i spent a summer working as a street canvasser. i lived at third and irving and i would take the palo station everyday and get my assignment from my clipboard and i would transit out to different corners of the city. i fell in love with san francisco in that summer and it was through transit i explored and understand this amazing city of ours, taking the n into powell station and all sorts of bus and money' trains so all different corners of the city to raise money for same-sex marriage reforms.

same-sex marriage equality. for the first five to six years of living in san francisco i relied on public transit to get around and i lived at the corner of 24th and castro and i took the 24th or 48 to castro station or the 24th street bart station to get downtown. chair ronen, supervisor, mar, and supervisor stefani, i'm honored to be considered to join the board of the san francisco municipal transportation agency and i ask for your support. i believe i would be a good addition to the board for three reasons. the first, is small business owners deserve a seat at table and i come from a small business families and my mother's family escaped in poll ant and the holocaust to move to brick lynn and opened up a store and a store that my mother grew up in and my father is holl cop and

small tablecloth and waking up sunday morning pack up family truck to sell at festivals on the weekends. i understand very much the hard work that goes into opening and running a small business as a small business owner myself and it's in my blood. and the relationship our transportation the streets, workers and small businesses have never been more important and we've lost 3,000 small businesses and unimaginable numbers since march in our city. and i've seen firsthand how decisions made by the sfmta in closing streets to cars and allowing the shared spaces program to on three presidential

campaigns and i would bring an organizers' perspective hearing all voices, bringing people together and advocating. i am a advocate and small business owner so that experience is useful on the board and my third my role at manny's and my small business as a connector of people to politics and it's allowed me to be the start of the funnel for a lot of folks who have no idea how our city government and politics in general works and i think the sfmta really needs more people, right now, to bring them into the process of government. especially considering the very dire economic straits we're in and the big decisions that will be needed made o'er the coming

months and some personal notes, my father was almost killed by a bus when he was a young man on his motorcycle in israel and he was in the hospital for a while and my grandfather was run over by a drunk driver coming own early morning from synagogue one sunday and he was told he was never going to walk again sevenly he was able to walk and so, these issues of pedestrians and car safety is important and personal to me and i've met with 12 union reps and democratic clubs and community groups in the richmond, chinatown and mission and more and merchant associations and anti displacement and gentrification groups, taxi advocates, the coalition to end poverty as well as all 11 supervisors. i'm staying this role seriously and i'll end by saying to me, mobility is freedom and it's my believe that a city like ours should create access to that freedom for everyone everywhere.

it's given the opportunity to serve, i promise, to be a fierce advocate on this board. it will bring my community to the board. thank you so much for the consideration. >> thank you so much. colleagues, do you have any questions? >> chair ronen: what is your most common way of transport? >> i took the 24 to castro station and i took the 48 to the 24 loss and i live in a couple blocks so i walk and because the

way bus routes work from where i live to where i have here it would be a lot quicker to just walk or take a moped and as i need to go downtown and home i take the underground muni from castro station. >> chair ronen: great. you will be the first small business owner to be on the mta board. can you talk a little bit more about how you see that new role and particular role and what concerns the small business you might want to highlight on mta board governance? >> for sure. i just want to, not to correct you too much but gwen is a small business owner and she represents the dgra for a while. the only distinction it's important that i own a physical

space on the street which because of -- i don't want to take credit away from chair borden. >> chair ronen: thank you for the correction. >> so, there's a couple things. one, hiss tryingly there's been a lot of tension between the small business community and the sfmta and part of it is a lot of big projects at the sfmta ha undertaken to accomplish its goals and have in many ways felt left out of the deliberate process. i want small business brought in the middle, not after a project is vetted infernally. to understand how a particular project might impact the small businesses on the ground. for instance, i'm on the 16th street bus improvement project

construction mitigation task force. it's a long name. as you i'm sure snow, chair ronen, sfmta is considering a lot of improvements to 16th street and it may involve a lot of construction and i wanted to get involved in that because i didn't want to have another long multi-year construction process that would potentially kill businesses on 16th street, many of whom are legacy businesses and they've been here for a while and are barely hanging on by their fingernails so and the pandemic has at the sfmta in ways we've never seen before because we are required to basically utilize the space outside of our businesses if we're going to stay alive and i'm looking to succeed and and

the sfmta still is one of the main ways that employees of small businesses, my employees included, get to their places of work and if we have unreliable muni trains, if we have buses that are not picking up there and if i can be a good board member and help the sfmta be strong, it will have effects on small businesses. >> got it. thank you. >> i wanted to let you know ex let my colleagues know i've been getting text from organized labor from the trades council and the san francisco labor council saying that they support your nomination so i wanted to let you know that and congratulate you for working with labor because i know

specifically the twu250a that dua andhow you could make deciss which lines to restore and how and with which priority and how we're going to get back -- get people back on to public transportation as we begin to recover from covid. it's something that as our mtvc representative i'm fretting on and i would love to hear your thoughts on that. >> two very big questions and questions that i've been thinking about a lot as i've prepared for this conversation i'll take the second one first.

right now, public transportation, what is filtered down to the average person like myself is that transportation should be taken for essential trips and if you are not taking for essential trips, you shouldn't take it and so, we have not officially end the shelter in place order and we're telling the san francisco public it's ok to use public transportation again first. i think vaccinations will help. getting people back to school will help and reopening our downtown, our convention centers, our events, all those things are going to meet to first happen in order to feel comfortable again taking public transportation. so i think the next three to six months will be very critical and there's been a cooling effect on not just people taking public transport but everything and of course we know this in our commercial corridors. you can get take out delivery and you can shop at retail but because of the news, not just in

our city but around the country, folks are trying to do their and many cases mean staying home. the way the sfmta handled which lines to cut, to me, seemed like the right framework to thinking about bringing them back. which is, if you live in an area, with a high concentration of people who rely on our public transportation system, exclusively, to get around and especially to get to work, those are the areas that should be prioritize and with existing services and quality of service and consistency of service and you know, you have seen that with the lines that have been

kept. a lot of these lines have been kept, including the 14 and 14 1r take worksers to their jobs and reopen and we should go backwards and what areas have who require our public transportation system for economic mobility and freedom and bring back service to them. the case of the 27 in the tenderloin. which had a critical purpose in bringing folks north/south within the tenderloin and served as specific senior community and it's going to be brought back on january 23rd so we also need to think, we can walk and chew gum and we can be surgical in some of the improvements that made in communities where people need them most. >> i just have one more question before i turn it over to my

colleagues. i know many -- i know because i've been contacted by many members of the latin x community that feel frustrated that despite being such a large rider o.p.p. ship oridership of muni t have latin x representation on the mta board and not to say that your playing the role of being the rap of the latin x community but given your connection to the mission, i'm just wondering, what specific outreach you've done to that particular community and how you feel like you are represent the latin x community on the board? >> well, representation matters as you know and i'm not latin x. so, i won't be able to represent the latin x community as a latin x person. as a mission, small business owner, before -- a year before i even opened manny's and i think

the meeting i had was with you chair ronen, i went through a year-long community engagement process. i believe i asked, we were at charlie's cafe in bernal heights and i said who in the community do i need to meet before i even start looking for a place. you give me a list of people and i met whom all of them. i say, when it was announced i was being nominated for this, one of the first conversations i had was with eric, peter to talk about the nomination how i can represent needs of their community. i've been serving with close proximity who wrote a letter of endorsement and i've gotten to know roberto hernandez through popping into meetings at the mission merchants and advocacy around carnival and i will say that my advocacy for small business has had a disproportionate impact on

essential workers in the mission, who are, like we know, disproportionately latin x. there's small business owners have kept their jobs until the this past weekend. i've had to go through the gauntlet as most people know, and ordered and begin earning the respect of the community around me. it's not something that i've asked for without walking the walk and that doesn't mean i'm not very much learning and asking questions and listening. i do think that the gauntlet of the first two years of trying to run at civic space in this community, has taught me much and in some cases have earned the respect of folks who need representation on this body. >> chair ronen: thank you. i appreciate that. >> thank you, chair ronen. first of all, thank you so much,

manny, for your willingness to serve an the mta board and step into this really incredibly important role in bringing all of your expertise and experience of activism around a wide range of issues, particularly small business issues in our city to the important work of the mta board that has going to be even more challenging at this moment of unprecedented budget deficit. i just, chair ronen asked a number of the questions that i had but i did have one other question and that is, as you know, sfmta has moved quickly during shelter in place to implement a lot of new innovative strategies for adapting our streets. the shared spaces program is important and the slow streets initiative and in my district the closure of the great highway

or really the opening to pedestrians and bikists have been incredibly important and during this pandemic. at some point, in 2021, the emergency authority for these measures will likely end and so i guess my question is, what are your thoughts about how sfmta would approach this transitional period, what's the right level of outreach and for keeping any of these long-term programs and. >> i know it's of supreme importance to you. >> i think a lot of the -- i think the pandemic provided us an opportunity to rethink how our streets serve our

communities. and i think in general, the opening up of our streets, pedestrians, cyclists and small businesses has allowed to us see each other again which in a moment of extreme anxiety and trauma and i don't think can you put a price on what it's like to just be able to experience community in a safe way and it's good for sustainability and safety so i think a lot of boxes have been checked by the slow streets shared space and some of the larger changing of art streets. there's been consternation for some in particular residents of neighborhoods and freeways that have even changes to the amount of cars street closure and the profession specifically and the

process should be happening right now and it is and what is the design process look like for them. the community, as a whole. want to keep them both the folks who utilize these closed streets i did with the outer avs, and they're not inconveniences too much and they could hold a lot of beauty for our town and to

inspire pride and accomplish the goals have been at the score of sfmta and i'm excited about them and proud of many of them and i have enjoyed page to keep them in the future. >> thank you. actually, i had one other question. it's a follow-up to supervisor ronen's question and your response around your given their lack of representation on the mta board and your deep decision connectioconnection to the miss. i did hear from organizations and leaders in the latinx community that they haven't had a chance to sit down would you to talk about transportation and transit priorities for the community. for example, the latino democratic club so i just wanted to i guess make sure that you

are committed to continuing to engage in the community with the latinx community immaculate. >> it was did two hours long and if there are specific organizations, other than the latino democratic club, i would be more than happy to sit down with them. >> great. thank you, manny. >> i don't have any other questions. >> chair ronen: thank you so

much. supervisor stefani. >> thank you, chair ronen. i do not have any questions, as we've had spoke about your nomination earlier and i've known you for -- it seems like a long time because you are one of those people you meet and you feel like you've then them for a long time because of the person that you are and what you bring to civic engagement in san francisco. i was absolutely thrilled to see that the mayor nominated you, manny, for this position. your experience is a small business owner in this city speaks volumes to your experience and what you've lived through. not only with transit but recently having your window smashed, i think that you know you absolutely know what it's like for small businesses to try to survive in this city. also, your outreach and the way you view neighborhood and community involvement, i think

it's extremely important as we discussed around things like bike share and how you went through that. you've experienced that and so i really can't think about someone better for this job in civic mind and i want to do more others who want for the city and i think you don't capitalized division and amazing quality and i can't thank you enough and in san francisco and i look forward to seeing what you are going to do on the mta board of directors. thank you for willing to serve. >> thank you so much, supervisor. i really appreciate that.

>> now we're going to hear from ms. fiona hines. >> can you hear me ok? >> we can hear you perfectly. >> good morning supervisors and clerk young. good to see you all. thank you for having me this morning. as chair row men mansioned and i'm i'll give you some recent information on me. i'll be brief and i'll also try to incorporate some responses to the questions that you asked manny. i want to thank the mayor for her nomination and tyra for believing in me and shep shepheg us through the process and for those who don't know me or haven't met me, my name is fiona

and i currently serve as the director assistant at independent loving resource center which is a disability rights and advocacy organization. i oversee all of our policy work, including our transit work. i am a native san franciscan who lives in the outer richmond. my main form of transportation is transit. touching on some of the experiences that i have in the transit world, as i mentioned, i oversee our policy portfolios. that includes active work with the vision zero coalition and the senior disability work

groups, who has created in the past a accessibility guidelines tools kits for protective bike lanes which is used by the mt a and our next project will be hopefully a guideline for best practices with regards to open spaces like the great highway and so, i also serve on those. i have experience in advocating for programs such as the essential trip card and also holding our transit and making sure that system runs as smoothie ansmoothly and efficies

possible. paratransit and taxis are also a key part of the tranc transit sm that seniors and people with disabilities rely on. most recently in terms that i've been active in the different tenderloin work and so again, the restoration of the importance of really holding down some community outreach in cards to that and i will i believe that when it comes to covid recovery, and restoration everything at the mta should be viewed and with the equity and

restoration of service we should be looking specifically at restoring lives that serve our communities of concern and ask not just that serve our that are well served and by transit so looking at that and also communities are concerned at making sure everything related to the mta is equitable. manny mentioned in his remarks the shared spaces and closed streets programs and those have undoubtedly saved some small businesses that there are there are concerns in the visibility

community with how, as we get into more creative ways of using our right-of-way, right, with the slow streets and open space and shared streets programs, how do we make sure that the right-of-way remains accessible and the pass of travel for also accusing all kinds of mobility devices whether they're even a new mobility like it's scooter or a how do we all share the right-of-way and so looking creative creative solutions, and also getting into there's been transition to looking at new

ways of mobility and how do we make sure that and it's possible and i also want to adjust that i think that equity is key in all areas of the sfmta and i strongly support there's a position added in the office of that equity hopefully here shortly and communication to you as the word of supervisors and to the public is i think they do a good job on the whole but it always could be done better and

so making sure that the mta is held accountable and knowing as transparent to the public as things can possibly be as it relates to both the large capital projects such as the central subway or i know that there's been a lot of controversy around that and also the restoration of the communication that could be better to the public so making sure that that happens and that as mta does good out, good outreach to under serve communities would be a priority of mine and i think another priority of mine would be we know that recently, a couple of

large capital projects have been in the news for not running on time and all the sources various running overdue to and such, i think particularly in an era of budget short falls, i think that looking hard and dealing with our capital projects, and making sure we are deliver on those and really making sure that we go into accountable and not just the rubber stamp for the mta and really asking the questions and that would be a priority of mine as well and also i have

relationships with a lot of advocates in the disability community and other communities as a whole so i would be good at doing the on the ground outreach that machine' talked about in his remarks. i think i will close my remarks since i'm unable to make public comment and with my support for milmy fellow nominee and who wod be an excellent member of the mta board and also i think in the era of the chair safes streets program i think.

>> to manny head of time. you are very organized and honest. with that, i see that supervisor mar has a question. >> yes. >> thank you. even more so now with the challenges we're facing with our transportation and the safe streets work. i appreciated the opportunity to

meet with you recently and i was so 'em criesed and your deep commitment to not just advocating the needs and for all vulnerable communities and populations in our cities and yeah, and i thank mayor breed for pullin putting forward your nomination and you are such an incredible important leader and activist and voice in our city and so, yeah, i don't real fifth have any questions and i think your remarks really touched on some of the questions i have. thank you for what you do and the willingness to step into this important role. >> thank you, supervisor. >> agree. i have one question for you.

which is about -- how am i blanking on the name of this. vision zero. it's not working. we're having a disturbing amount of death and serious injuries as a result of collisions. do you have any thoughts how we can improve vision zero. >> with the, let me say the vision zero clock is ticking and i appreciate the board of supervisors has really tried to double down its commitment to the bureau and i think a community engagement process and safety education is key to

vision zero so any pedestrian safety education efforts we can do, it's also been shown that any guy and feed enforcement and and he also created street skipped design and using scape design and using it on our streets but i think it's really education both in (inaudible) and really excited to see the

great work you do on the mta board. supervisor stefani. >> i want to echo your concerns

around vision zero. we had an excellent discussion about this, about enforcement and speeding and especially with regards to my concerns along the geary corridor and i value that and i know it's something we're not doing well on and she said the clock is ticking on this so, i appreciate your attention to this. we discussed paratransit. i worked on that a lot when i worked for supervisor peer and the a mention it needs to be geting and i value your experience and your advocacy on that and your ideas so, i just am thrilled with this appointment as well and i think mayor breed definitely has given us two nominations two appoint's that will girlfriend this city

well. >> we will now open this item up for public comment. every member will have two minutes to speak on either or both candidates. >> yes, members of the public who wish to apply public comment on item, should call (415)655-0001 and and and if you haven't already done so and a system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. wait until the the system indicates you have been unmute and you have your comment. can we have the first caller, please. >> good morning, i've opened a retail hardware store for 39 years. during those year i've been involved with the merchants, and

the legislative representative and i represent myself and the council and the folk street merchants. we're an unrepresented community. we've always sought and the mta and before the mta and and he used to have the community person of the month awards and we were advocated of that and we gave ut one of the awards this is a great opportunity to have manny appointed to be a local merchant representing us. he doesn't just represent his own little area, he represents a lot of people and i've seen it in many meetings in different

things and he is active and engaged. i really highly encourage all of you to confirm manny to the mta board. we would be very, very happy and appreciative. thank you. >> can we have the next caller, please. >> caller: good morning, supervisors and chair ronen. this is amelia linde. calling for the sfmta board. she is well-known for reaching out, listening and building consensus across our community, not just in the community around him but with groups all over san francisco. she is creative and problem

solver and will bring a. >> zahra: and represent the needs of san francisco small businesses and residents alike. they have resounding impacts on the communities they service and the experience is a user and a resident and understanding how the decisions from sfmta. manny will ask the right questions and stakeholders and he will build bridges to help the sfmta board better serve all san franciscans. so thank you for your time and we urge to you support manny's nomination. >> thank you. can we hear from the next call caller? >> sorry. >> hi, this is jessica layman

with senior sim debate honored . she's all over the city and all kinds and does a great job of translating that experience and connecting it with what other people are dealing with and figuring out what does that mean for policy and practice and she's good at listening to people and listen to people, two communities that are critical when it comes to transportation and pedestrian safety and she will also listen to every other community and and she will work

effectively with the members of the board to be able to make really positive change for the city. especially at this time and we're dealing with the pandemic and thinking about what recovery may look like and i think fee known a and to have on the bored to address that. thank you. -- board. >> can i have the next caller, please. >> i am a small business owner in the outer sunset. board member of the i'm supporting manny's nomination. we know him as the owner of his civic engagement space and a friend, client and most recently as a fellow steering committee member for prop h. i think all of us know that he

is hosted hundreds of events and they have enriched our city in ways. and a as a board member he spearheaded that have streets and giving businesses a fighting chance. it's taken a huge hit on the small business community and employs half of our city and hanging by a thread and this is a really pivot at moment for us to increase and from our representation perspective she's a queer, small business owner of color but also someone who has served with distinction and built policy expertise on the challenges faced by small buses as a small business commissioner. given the reduction of muni

service and these impacts on our future of transit operations, we will certainly see shifts on commutes to downtown job centers and also shifts in operations of our businesses to park let's and outdoor services and curbside pick ups and and i can't think of a nominate better position to revitalize our commercial corridors and our transit system many of i ask that you recommend manny for the sfmta board of directors.

i'm at the community benefit district and serve as chair of the traffic and safety task force and a long-term residents with the tenderloin. it's the center of san francisco spike or more equitable and the residents and the reliability affordable transit to live their lives and it can turn live in one home into tragedy and they need leaders to improvement in commitment to this work to assure we achieve a brighter future. it will be one of these leaders. she's an active member of the tenderloin task force showing up and volunteering to make better

policy and help us all advance crucial change. the traffic safety task force will like the boards are strong support for fiona's nomination for the sfmta board and i would like to say this is a growing trend and she will do wonders to serve on the board as well and is i want to say give support to manny as well. i think as many people have said, his small business experience and his community organizing experience play a

crucial hope in helping the mta.

>> caller: thank you, supervisors. my name is lori thomas and i'm a small business owner and i own two restaurants in san francisco and i'm also executive district offer golden gate restaurant association this year. i'm in strong support of manny and for this position. i believe that manny would be an excellent and a much needed addition to the sfmta board. he said he is the first brick and mortar business owner to be on the board. he is passionate and knowledgeable and he cares so deeply for our city. his experience as a small business commissioner shows he

understands the process to be valuable contribute or to a board of sfmta to run the online forums and the chats with mazing industry leaders and political laiders across the u.s. shows that et cetera respecte he is rc lit. it's key to have business leaders work with our city government and i think he would be an excellent addition because again, many of our workers really rely on muni and we're so worried in the restaurants that we have that available if and when we can come back again so thank you for interesting him and i really would advocate for him to be chosen. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. can i have the next caller, please. >> good morning, chair ronen. my name is brian and i'm walk san francisco vision zero

organizer and i'm here to share walk san francisco's support for the confirmation of fiona to the board of directors. we worked with fiona for years through efforts and the tenderloin traffic task force and each are places we've seen work effectively across groups to find solutions improving transit access and pedestrian safety. what is a parent every time that her knowledge of transportation issues and her focus for considering how decisions actually impact those most vulnerable and who use our streets, especially seniors and people with disabilities and particularly as a member of the senior disability workgroup of the vision zero coalition, her expertise and solutions focused approach have been really important and ink mental in a work on disability street safety issues. her participation and feedback and insights into into the working groups publication get into the curb to protect bike lanes that were for pedestrians

has improved our city's ability to deliver bike infrastructure for people walking and biking particularly seniors and people with disabilities and and thoughtful candidate for that board and we urge you and thank you. >> thank you. >> can we have the next caller, please. >> >> hello chair ronen and supervisors. this is chair of the san francisco small business commission but i'm speaking today on my own behalf and i am strong support of both candidates fiona is an incredible and inspiring person advocating for transportation and will be a wonderful addition but in particular i want to talk about manny, who i've had the distinct honor of serving on the

small business commission with for the past year throughout the pandemic and i want to echo and validate everything that everybody has said and about him being thoughtful and considerate and and a really great bridge builder and advocate for the city as a whole but what i am going to mention is he is really funny. [laughter] he is just hilarious. and i can't tell you how much of a joy it is to work with someone like that when you are working your way through a pandemic and everything is very dire and dark and he brings joy and light and humor and it's an honor to have worked with him and it's an honed tore call him a friend and i'm grateful for his contribution to the city and i think you should forward the recommendation as i know you

will. thank you, so much. >> thank you. >> next caller, please. >> caller: thank you for your leadership, supervisors during this difficult time. my name is martin. i am an avid transit users, board member of a co-chair of the (inaudible). co-chair of -- and voice chair and chair of pedestrian and community safer better streets for walkers and i deal daily and i think manny gets things done thoughtfully in both the lgbtq community and jewish community and i support his appointment of directors because of his ridership in the community and the favor which is essential in any representative of the board. similarly i want to echo previous callers and disability

seniors and is a very active personal and tenderloin traffic safety force underserved neighborhoods and i advocate for her appointment as well and they're both great picks. >> thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> hi, everyone, thank you for taking the time and providing an opportunity for us to speak. i am a commuting student and devout community member and organizer and i reside in nor' valley and i'm speaking on my own behalf calling in sort of manny and to request to his qualification and i've worked alongside manny for the last two years as part of his team for

his small business in the mission district called manny's. and he is a great community member capable of listening and caring for other communities members and a great source of innovative thinking of what san francisco should look like and trans identity is and manny is a great employer, skaterring to the needs of others and creating an environment that is open and comforting and empowering. he has created a blue plinth how to think out of the box and understanding and cooperation and to transform the city of san francisco he is not a trade to ask questions and he is passionate about making it a

beacon of hope and a refuge for many and preserve the spirit of such a progressive city. he is qualified and diligent with his responsibilities when it involves the community and helping to he has experience and having worked for the obama and clinton administration and locally for mark leno and chief-of-staff and on contributing to the bicker picture and what is good for all and not just some. he is the dedicated small business owner and waiverring. >> next caller, please. >> good afternoon or it's just about afternoon, chair, ronen, commissioner stefani and march,

and i'm helping seniors and adults with disabilities get access to free and low cost transportation services. i had the great pleasure of working with fiona for six years on transportation advocacy in san francisco. and when i learned that she was nominated i just thought, what the heck, what an amazing appointment and how did this not happen sooner she's fantastic and she's smart, really hard-working and easy to work with and not only she's that rare person that understands the experience of users, of our transportation system, but the policies, political structures and the agencies that create and regulate the systems and that is rare in an advocate and a board member and incoming board members for sure and she has

such a deep understanding of the disability community faces and in terms of our transportation system and she's seen firsthand how changes that the mta makes nor groups or modes impact folks with disabilities, for instance, the city's protected bike lanes and they have been a great boone for a lot of bike riders but have really caused some challenges for people walking and fiona has been involved in making sure that those designs, of the bike lanes, work for everybody. just really adding a lens that the sfmta doesn't really have now and during this pandemic we're seeing a burden of people getting around. these photographic at risk aren't as comfortable using muni right now and fiona understands this. i encourage you, i urge you, to

approve fiona's nomination will make the city's transportation system better for everyone who gets around in our city. thank you for your time. >> thank you. just for members of the public, if you have not already done so, please dial star 3 to be added to the queue to speak. for those on hold, please continue to wait until the the system indicates you have been unmuted. can we have the next caller, please. >> hello, chair ronen and supervisors mar and stefani. pretty well echoing what everybody else about manny to be appointed to the sfmta. i'm a past president of the council of district perch ants h ants and i've been working for bricks and mar to be to be on this committee and we do care

about transportation and small business, it's a partnerships we have to work with and he really cares and he is amazing. i haven't seen anybody who has got as much energy as manny does. and he does care about all of us and not just the small business and transportation but the community at large. he is tireless, passionate, dedicated for small businesses so i urge you to please appoint him to recommend his appointment to sfmta board of directors. he is a great guy and i admire him and i hope he is appointed. thank you, very much, this is hendrik, bye-bye. >> thank you. can we have next caller, please. >> hi, my name is tracy and i'm in the mission. i've been serving on the board

of the mission merchants association for eight years and a delegate with the council of district merchants association serving on the legislative committee and i'm calling to publicly lend support for manny's appointment to the sfmta board and the small business community would be thrilled to have someone that understands the needs of small business and participating in decision-making and community outreach. as a personal note, i want to say that i've worked with manny in the neighborhood for outreach and personally reached out to him for support in areas that i was looking for more additional information on and i have to say as busy as he is, he is always taken the time to pick up the phone to call and to be a real community leaders and i would like to support manny in the position of a board member of the san francisco mta. thank you. >> thank you. >> next call,er please.

>> i am born and raised in san francisco. i'm committed to san francisco. and our ka lino and i'm a hammy owner and points we have sur viced this panned through many changes and it's been a big part of it and i really strongly feel it's important to have small business owners representing us on the board and i want to say that in all the years we've been there it's very rare to have someone is snow by and get to know us and ask us how we're doing and ask us our needs and it's been great. i want to commend manny and support his nomination and he has gotten to know us and he

stays in touch with us and he is test us and e-mailed us and calls us and asks us how we're doing and what we need and he thinks about it and thinks about all the things we need and he is gone far beyond and sometimes because of gentrification and valencia street and all the things that have happened there, it's great to hear him say to me many times do you want me to sit down with you and him so he is a definitely unity bringer to thank you for the shared space and everything you've done. you brought out block together and get us all talking and helping each other to make it

through these tough times. there you go. thank you for your time. >> can we have the next caller, please. >> hi, everyone. this is den and i am the founder of the san francisco bar owner alliance and the president of the entertainment commission and i'm speaking on my own opinion today not theirs. i'm speaking in support of manny as commissioner of the mta and no matter how bad we think things are for small business right now in san francisco, i guarantee you they are worse and they're going to get worse even. part of the rebuilding process is going to be drastically involve or very crucially involve decisions that will be made by the mta both on shared spaces, use of outdoor space and helping on businesses recover from this unprecedented disaster

and i don't think there could possibly be a better person to fill the position and help us than manny. everybody -- [please stand by]

>> -- in fact, when it was originally senior action network, and i have to say that because rarely have i seen two candidates i feel very qualified for this position. not only qualified but actually willing to do the work. fiona, i've worked for her for

at least five or six years, she was part of our transit coalition group. she's been a very thoughtful, very creative with ideas about how to solve issues. manny, i've only known him a few weeks, but i'm impressed with all the work that he's put in and his knowledge. i'm very impressed. he's really serious about that, and that's impressing me quite a bit, so i really hope that both members get forwarded to this committee, and i'm really

grateful that we have such qualified members put forward to the board. thank you. >> operator: thank you very much. can we hear from the next caller, please. >> hello. i'm rick lobshire, and i'm the chairman of the board of the union square foundation as well as the chair of the better market street c.a.c. i'm a native who grew up in my family's small business on market street. i'm here to give my personal support for both nominees, manny and fiona here. manny will bring more of the forward thinking needed as we move more into an uncertain future. fiona brings deep experience and knowledge to both general

and mobility issues that are more important now than ever. i'm proud to add my support to all the others you have heard from today. thanks. >> operator: thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> good afternoon, chair ronen, supervisors mar and stefani. my name is paul valdez, and i'm going to add a different perspective to all the other comments. i'm a pedestrian, transit rider, and a person who has biked for over a decade in our city. i'm an active member for the san francisco bike coalition, and a participant in the simon biking event, in celebration of those we lost in biking

accidents. in addition, i was one of the initial volunteers in working with manny in jump starting the valencia street shared space program. as you can see, from the safety on our streets, it's paramount, and with the exception of fiona's statement, i didn't hear too much about street safety. i want candidates who are well rounded and who can see transportation strives and joy -- strifes and joys, and i want candidates who can see all perspectives when we put them forward for a vote. thank you. >> operator: thank you. can we have the next caller, please? >> can you hear me now? >> operator: we can hear you.

please proceed. >> great. good afternoon. david pilpell. i support both of these appointments. i don't know many well, but i met him once at an event. i think he would be a good board member. you heard from him and others in support. i do know fiona well. we served together on the sunshine ordinance task force. i found her to be thoughtful and not a rubber stamp for staff and, you know, in both cases of manny and fiona, i think they would not be a rubber stamp, would listen to the public, ask questions, and provide oversight. m.t.a. has serious fiscal and planning operations issues, and the public needs to be heard there. and as someone who's followed them forever, the public does not always feel heard or is

heard there. back to manny for a second. we may not agree on everything. we disagreed on prop h, but you know what? that's okay. we did so respectfully, and i don't want to agree with everybody all the time, and i think healthy debate and discussion in the city is important, and when we lose that, we lose more of the city. by the way, it was nice to see the obamas stopping by behind manny. please send them regards, and happy hanukkah. since these are not listed at committee reports, i presume they'll be before the full board of supervisors in january, nevertheless, i hope the nominees will follow full board meets until they're confirmed, which i expect, and i think they'll do a fine job, and i think they're both outstanding nominations. happy to support. thanks very much. >> operator: thank you. can we have the next caller,

please. [speaking spanish language] >> clerk: hi. we can hear you. please proceed. >> my name is doris campos. [speaking spanish language]

>> chair ronen: this is doris campos, and she's calling to support manny yekutiel. she she works across the street from manny's, and she's known him for two years. and in these two years that i've known him, he's demonstrated to me what an incredible human being he is. he has a character that makes him the best candidate to occupy this position.

[inaudible] >> chair ronen: he is a young man who negotiates with hope. i think he's an incredible leader that many people don't yet even know exist, and manny inspires the best of people with his actions and his words.

ever since manny came to 16 street, the street has glowed. he came to the street -- i've been there for 40 years, and he went business to business to lend his hand and to support us, and since he came, the street has been glowing.

that's why i'm calling in. i'm calling in because i want to support this incredible human being who is going to do such a wonderful job in the position that he's been appointed to. and i just want to thank you all for your time and for listening to me and for the translation. >> operator: thank you. can we hear from the next caller, please. [end

[end of translation]. >> operator: madam chair, that completes the queue. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. i just want to thank all of the callers who -- gosh, i think it was exclusive support. it was one person after another supporting these incredible human beings, and i just want to thank the mayor for makes these wonderful appointments. i want to thanks miss hinze and mr. yekutiel and the effort that you give to serve in this capacity. stepping up during this time is a heroic act because you're not stepping into an organization when it's thriving, you're stepping into an organization when it's in crisis, and that willingness to take on this role is just incredibly admirable, and i really

appreciate you both for that. and with that, i was wondering if supervisor stefani would like to make the motion on these items? >> supervisor stefani: absolutely. i strike the word rejecting, and approve the appointment of emanuel yekutiel and fiona hinze to the municipal transportation board. >> clerk: on that motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection.

>> chair ronen: thank you so much. mr. clerk, can you please read item 7. >> clerk: item 7 is an ordinance amending the campaign and governmental conduct code to update the conflict of interest code's form 700 filing requirements by adding, deleting, and changing titles of designated officials and employees to reflect organizations and staffing changes, and by refining disclosure requirements fore designated officials and employees. and this is an action item. >> chair ronen: thank you. and we have city attorney shen to present on this, and we have representatives from d.h.r. as well as representatives from the airport and p.u.c.

mr. shen, would you like to present this item? >> yes. good afternoon, chair ronen, supervisor mar, supervisor stefani. thank you so much for making the time on this agenda. i realize it is the very last committee agenda of the year, so thank you for making this something we could get to this calendar year. this is a routine update of the city's list of form 700 filers. under state law, we are required to do this process every two years, and we actually started several months ago with extensive help from the clerk's office, as well, that i should mention. i don't believe there will be anyone from the clerk's office today present at this meeting, but i want to specifically thank angela calvillo and eileen hugh from the clerk's office for their help in

serving. we also have, as supervisor ronen has mentioned, representatives from d.h.r., who met extensively on the meet-and-confer process, as well as representatives from the airport who have been added to the city's list of form 700 filers. we have some very minor amendments that we would like to present now. if you'd like me to do that now, i can go ahead and do that now, or i can do that after everyone else speaks. >> chair ronen: go ahead and do that now. >> thank you. the first is we missed one requested change from the [inaudible] this position is currently vacant, and it was something we just missed when we were going through the

legislative process. the second is after the meet-and-confer, the p.u.c. had a chance to take an even closer look at their changes and made some tweaks to their requested positions or requested changes, actually removing some positions and changing categories for some 700 positions. we also made an amendment that will actually take effect in the beginning of 2022 that will facilitate the ethics commission's electronic filing of form 700 submissions. it will make the process move along a little bit more smoothly, so thank you to the committee for their consideration. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. and did anyone else from the representatives wish to present? okay. just here to answer any questions. supervisor stefani or

supervisor mar, did you have any questions? no no? okay. let's open up this item for public comment. >> clerk: yes. members of the public who wish to provide public comment should call 415-655-0001. the meeting access code is 146-961-6060. press pound, and pound press, then star, three to be entered into the queue for public comment. mr. tue, do we have any public comment? >> can you hear me now? >> clerk: we can hear you. please proceed. >> great. david pilpell again.

so this [inaudible] categories. for example, page 18 of the packet, let me go there, page 17, legislation still has clerks and secretaries at d.b.i. listed, notwithstanding in their alleged digest that the code should not include employees who carry out clerical or ministerial tasks. i assume they're carrying out clerical or ministerial tasks,

and if not, they should get reclassified. and then, at h.s.a., it listed managers by title, and at p.u.c., it lists managers by general service crafts. whichever way we're doing it, i think it should be consistent across the various departments. there are also some deputy directors at various departments who aren't listed, and i think they should also be category one. finally, two last points. the new commissions and departments approved by the voters in november need to be reflected, and i guess we'll pick that up in the future. but if they're picked up before

the next two years revision, i would ask that they be named to cover the streets and sanitation and the sheriff's oversight board. and i still support the ordinance that makes the necessary changes, and i hope for more consistency in the future. thanks very much. >> clerk: thank you. can we have the next speaker. >> operator: madam chair, that completes the queue. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. public comment is closed. deputy city attorney shen, i just wanted to ask if you believe that any changes should be made based on the comments of mr. pilpell in public comment? >> not at this time. as you can imagine, the deputy director in another department may have different responsibilities than the deputy director in another

department. there will be some changes that will be made by recently enacted measures. thank you so much chair ronen. >> chair ronen: okay. thank you so much. well, with that, i would be happy to make a motion to amend the ordinance as described by deputy city attorney andrew chen. >> clerk: yes. on that motion to amend -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion to amend has been approved without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you. and now, i'll make a motion to forward the amended item to the full board with a positive recommendation. >> clerk: yes. on that motion -- [roll call]

>> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, and thanks, everyone, for being here with us and sticking it out for the long meeting to answer questions. appreciate you all. and mr. clerk, do we have any other items on the agenda? >> clerk: that completes the agenda for today. >> chair ronen: then the meeting is adjourned. have a good day, everyone.

lesb ri >> by the time the last show came, i was like whoa, whoa, whoa. i came in kicking and screaming and left out dancing. [♪] >> hello, friends. i'm the deputy superintendent of instruction at san francisco unified school district, but you can call me miss vickie. what you see over the next hour has been created and planned by our san francisco teachers for our students. >> our premise came about for san francisco families that

didn't have access to technology, and that's primarily children preschool to second grade. >> when we started doing this distance learning, everything was geared for third grade and up, and we work with the little once, and it's like how were they still processing the information? how were they supposed to keep learning? >> i thought about reaching the student who didn't have internet, who didn't have computers, and i wanted them to be able to see me on the t.v. and at least get some connection with my kids that way. >> thank you, friends. see you next time. >> hi, friend. >> today's tuesday, april 28, 2020. it's me, teacher sharon, and i'm back again. >> i got an e-mail saying that

i had an opportunity to be on a show. i'm, like, what? >> i actually got an e-mail from the early education department, saying they were saying of doing a t.v. show, and i was selected to be one of the people on it, if i was interested. i was scared, nervous. i don't like public speaking and all the above. but it worked out. >> talk into a camera, waiting for a response, pretending that oh, yeah, i hear you, it's so very weird. i'm used to having a classroom with 17 students sitting in front of me, where they're all moving around and having to have them, like, oh, sit down,

oh, can you hear them? let's listen. >> hi guys. >> i kind of have stage flight when i'm on t.v. because i'm normally quiet? >> she's never quiet. >> no, i'm not quiet. >> my sister was, like, i saw you on t.v. my teacher was, i saw you on youtube. it was exciting, how the community started watching. >> it was a lot of fun. it also pushed me outside of my comfort zone, having to make my own visuals and lesson plans so quickly that ended up being a lot of fun. >> i want to end today with a thank you. thank you for spending time with us. it was a great pleasure, and see you all in the fall. >> i'm so happy to see you

today. today is the last day of the school year, yea! >> it really helped me in my teaching. i'm excited to go back teaching my kids, yeah. >> we received a lot of amazing feedback from kiddos, who have seen their own personal teacher on television. >> when we would watch as a family, my younger son, kai, especially during the filipino episodes, like, wow, like, i'm proud to be a filipino. >> being able to connect with someone they know on television has been really, really powerful for them. and as a mom, i can tell you that's so important. the social confidence development of our early learners. [♪]

>> clerk: good morning. the meeting will come to order. welcome to the government audit and oversight meeting. i'm joined by commissioner peskin and haney. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: in order to protect our public, board members and city employees during the covid-19 health emergency, the board of supervisors and committee room are closed. this precaution is taken

pursuant to all orders and directives. committee members attend and participate in the meeting virtually. both san francisco cable 26 and sfgovtv.org have the public comment meeting phone number at this time. you can call 415-665-0001. once connected and prompted enter the id for the meeting which is 146 582 4744 followed by the pound symbol twice. once connected, you will hear the meeting discussions but will be muted. line will be in listening mode only. when you want to be added to the system line dial 3 and pound. please wait until you have been unmuted and then start your

comments. call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turn down your television, radio or streaming device. please be mindful of potential time delays that we may encounter between live coverage and streaming. you may submit public comments in e-mail, i'm john carroll, the clerk of the government audit and oversight committee. if you choose to submit public comment by e-mail, i will include them as part of the legislative file or send them to our office by u.s. postal service. the clerk's office. >> supervisor mar: thank you mr.

clerk. can you please call item number one? >> clerk: agenda one is re-enactment of emergency ordinance 59-20 to require employers with 500 or more employees to provide public health related leave during covid-19. members of the public who want to comment on this item, please call 415-665-0001, enter the meeting id of 146 582 4744. press the pound symbol twice and then press the star key and followed by number 3 to speak. finally, i received a memo from your desk that this be considered as a contract report to be considered by the board of supervisors during the december 15th regular meeting later today. >> supervisor mar: thank you. colleagues, this policy has been before us many times before.

so i'll be very brief. this re-enactment again extends public health emergency leave for a further 60 days. it provides two extra weeks of fully paid leave for workers impacted by covid-19 and is more important now than ever as we face the worse surge in transmissions of the entire pandemic. economic security and public health are deeply intertwined and it helps to protect all of us. i'm proud of our original ordinance serving as a model of state wide legislation. i urge support for the re-enactment today. i'll go to public comment. mr. clerk -- >> clerk: i understand there is no one listening now but i'll go over the script one more time to give callers an opportunity. for those who have connected via phone, press star followed by 3

to speak. for those on hold in the que, wait until you hear prompts to inform that your line is unmuted. for those watching on cable channel 26 or online, if you wish to speak on the item, now is your opportunity. call in by following the instructions on your screen. dial 415-665-0001. enter the meeting id of today's meeting, which is 146 582 4744. press the pound symbol twice and then press star followed by 3 to enter the que to speak. i'm checking now to see if we have callers. there are no callers, mr. chair. >> supervisor mar: great, thank you mr. clerk. public comment is now closed. colleagues, i would like to move that we recommend this to the full board as a committee report. mr. clerk, can you please call

roll? >> clerk: the motion is to be recommended for report. (roll call) mr. chair, there are three ayes. >> supervisor mar: thank you. can you please call item 2 mr. clerk. >> clerk: agenda two, a resolution for a historical contract between pacific stables property llc and authorizing the planning director to record the historical property contract. members of public should call the public comment number which is still 415-665-0001. enter the meeting id for today's meeting, which is 146 582 4744. press the pound symbol twice to connect to the meeting and then the star key and followed by number 3 to enter the que to

speak. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you can start your comments and finally like the previous item, mr. chair, this item has been recognized as a committee report. >> supervisor mar: i would like to welcome michelle taylor from the planning department and hrer to speak on the item. miss taylor, the floor is yours. >> thank you for hearing this item today supervisor mar. i'm michelle taylor from the planning department. i would like to share my screen. good morning supervisors. the item before you today, the proposed mills act historical

property contract for 450 pacific avenue. it allows to enter into 10 year contracts. basically it provides property tax reductions for owners of the historic property who can allocate the savings toward appropriate restoration plan. the item is to correct the records for rehabilitation work for the 450 pacific avenue. on november 19th staff inaccurately presented to the committee that the estimated cost of rehabilitation work for the property was over a 10 year period but it didn't include the cost of rehabilitation of the ground floor store front. the correct number is $1.238 million over 10 years.

450 pacific avenue is a contributing building to the district. it is older brick office building, 1887 as the stable and rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and fire. the plan includes rehabilitation of the non original store front with the more appropriate design. replacement and repairing window and treating all exterior steel and repatching of brick work. rehabilitation work is estimated over 10 years. the proposed maintenance plans includes annual inspection of roofing, metal corrosion and biological growth. 60% of more of the windows on

other pacific avenue buildings are deteriorated beyond repair. they will be replaced with new double-hung windows. maintenance work is estimated to cost $14,725 annually. the property owner will receive a tax savings of $99,276 in costs. this concludes my presentation. my staff is here to answer any questions. the property owner is also present to speak on behalf of their application or answer questions you may have. and the recorder's office is here to speak on the property tax evaluation. this concludes my presentation. thank you. >> supervisor mar: thank you miss taylor. i wanted to see if the property

owner might want to share any remarks before we go to the board questions and discussion? >> sure. may i speak? >> supervisor mar: please. >> so i'd like to thank planning staff and the supervisors as well for taking the time to hear our project today. and for the effort put in thus far. in the original hearing, our project was not fully represented, i will say that planning staff has worked significantly along with our supervisor for the project, supervisor peskin's office to correct it on the record. the work here on this is fairly significant. it's not work that we would undertake without the guidance of planning staff in the process. we're excited to do so and really i would say that we're here to answer any questions you

may have or about the project, how we got to what we're planning for for the project more specifically. >> supervisor mar: thank you mr. feldman. supervisor peskin. >> supervisor peskin: first of all, i want to thank you for scheduling this special meeting and having this as a committee report and i want to thank mr. feldman and his team for his patience since the last meeting and planning staff for being forthright about the half million dollars difference. what i would like to ask is when the investment of this approximately $1.3 million would be forth coming during the mills act period? >> so the investment is broken down overtime, there are a few different elements to it. specifically on the report, we have eight years to complete the

renovation of the front of the building and the specific purpose of that timing is to align it with essentially when we -- we bought the building from the current tenant and they planned to move to another space. due to the covid-19 pandemic, we offered them a discounted rent to stay in the space so we would be able to continue to afford it. they plan to be in the space for three years but economic circumstances might change. we might extend them an additional two years. they might leave more quickly. at the point that they leave the space is when we would make the investment in the space. we built it out to give ourselves to be complete, the timing will be dictated as to when it is no longer tenanted. we wanted to give ourselves additional time if we needed to extend the rent due to economic circumstances. >> supervisor peskin: understood. so mr. chairman and supervisor

haney, i think that brings a question to -- i want to appreciate him for his discussions with my staff helping to walk us through the mills act calculations, which is presumably when those improvements are made, it will add value to the building and at that point, the calculation would change for the balance of the period or for as long as it rolls. is that correct, depending on which approach to value you use? >> yes, good morning supervisors. i provided an updated revision to the planning department. reviewed all of the maintenance and we have documents. we only would probably consider the upgrading store front as an

accessible item that would add value to the property. that would not occur until approximately i'm thinking in the year 2029. that -- at that point we would probably add value to the building to the base and probably affect the tax savings and market value property at that point. >> supervisor peskin: and in the assumption that you provided that i was reviewing earlier this morning, in year one you show an estimated property tax savings that starts at about $107,000 rounded which is not a huge discrepancy and that grows overtime from 170,000 to approximately a high of about

127,000 in the 10th year. i don't know if miss taylor or you can explain the difference. >> i think it had to do with the base value submitted, it may have been the 2020 value and most recent sheet is updated 2021 factor base value, the first year the contract would start in the mills act -- the mills act contract would start in 2021. >> supervisor peskin: and can you -- i'll take that at face value. can you explain to this ignorant supervisor the second part of the assumption one spreadsheet, the non renewal status and how that starts at the same savings in the first year at 107,000

approximately and then scales down -- does that assume that the contract is terminated immediately, so it only goes for one 10-year period? is that the assumption there? >> no, the spreadsheet actually shows 20 years. the top part of the spreadsheet year 1-10 would be a normal contract, if non renewal were given in the 10th year, starting in the 11th year, the assessor would have to do an additional step to calculate the non renewal value. so you'll see in step 11 which i believe the estimated property tax savings comes down to like 46,000. that's the initial step required by the assessor under the non

renewal contract. 10 years of a normal contract and 10 years under non renewal. and as you can see, i apologize, it's a little confusing. the bottom table here 11-20 -- >> supervisor peskin: got it. so in other words if we were to grant this today and then at some point in the not too distant future as we have done on i think four cases in the past, we were to terminate, it would terminate ultimately -- let me say this differently. if we were to terminate at the end of our first 10 year term, it went for an additional 10 years for a total of 20 years, the value of the savings would be that 1.168 million and the 296,000. is that correct? >> that's correct. but there are assumptions because the market changes so i can't predict it exactly.

in round numbers. >> supervisor peskin: that's very helpful. thank you. i did not understand that was years 11-20. got it. >> you're welcome. >> supervisor peskin: i'm old and i'm slow. i've been accused of being old lately. >> supervisor mar: do you have any other questions or comments? >> supervisor peskin: no, sir but subject to public comment i would be more than happy to recommend this to the full board as a committee report. i do want to reiterate that they have done a lovely job of rehabilitating buildings in the city's first historic district.

>> supervisor mar: thank you for that. why don't we go to public comment. are there any callers on the line mr. clerk? >> clerk: there are no callers on the line right now but i'm going to go through the script to give people a chance. for those watching on cable channel 26 or via streaming link, if you wish to speak, please call in now by following the directions on your screen. dial 415-665-0001. enter today's meeting id which is 146 582 4744. press the pound symbol twice and star followed by 3 to enter the que to speak. mr. chair if you hang on just a moment, we'll check to see if anyone is connected.

mr. chair, we have no callers. >> supervisor mar: thank you. public comment is closed. mr. feldman, i see your hand up. do you have additional comments? >> if you don't mind, yes. just before you take the vote, here, i was -- supervisor peskin mentioned the square and we really are dedicated to the district and we love it and i guess, while elements of the highest level of the federal government continue to show a significant roles they represent, it is pretty heartening to see one of the greatest cities representing a commitment to see through every project despite a pandemic that has impact on the functioning of our city in every department being massively impacted and challenged by the circumstances. i just want to say that getting to an additional hearing right

before the holidays to discuss our project, it's a testament to the hard work and intellect of our city and i want to thank the planning department for their tireless effort here and supervisor peskin as well and his staff and the rest of the supervisors on the committee, too. we work with the planning department and the rest of the city to create outcomes that preserve and it makes our city so special and this is a process, it's a lot of work and i want to thank the individuals that collaborate with us to get it done. >> supervisor mar: thank you mr. feldman for that and all your contributions to this important district. supervisor peskin has made a motion to recommend this to the full board as a committee report. mr. clerk, can you please call roll. >> clerk: (roll call)

mr. chair, there are three ayes. >> supervisor peskin: see you all in an hour. >> supervisor mar: further business? >> clerk: nothing further. >> supervisor mar: we are adjourned. ♪

>> good morning. thank you for joining us today. we know this year has been hard on our kids and families. the fact the public schools haven't opened is really challenging. we are seeing the impact every day as kids fall further and further behind. as city we don't control the schools. we have been providing a much-needed support, as much as we can to help get them open. right now, we are working with the district to set up the testing system. we shared funding and staff to help facilities get ready we will do whatever we can to get our classrooms open. i know it is not easy. it is for the good of our entire community, and for our kids and families. nothing matters more. back in summer when it was clear schools weren't going to open this fall, we knew we had to do something for the kids struggling with distance

learning, including my niece and nephew. that is where we launched this community hub initiative. as the first semester of the initiative comes to a close, we have an opportunity to look back on all that we have accomplished with this incredible program. as i said when we first started the program, it takes a village to get the children the resourceses they need to thursday five. that is especially true during the pandemic. we have an incredible village in san francisco. in a matter of weeks we got the program up and running with the help of community organizations, city departments and private partners. i especially want to thank the department of youth and families and phil ginsburg from recreation and parks who stepped up and drove this program from

the beginning. thanks to the hard work of every one involved over the past three months of operation we served 2000 students at 78 locations throughout the city. that is 2000 students who have been able to get help with distance learning, receive healthy food and snacks, and most importantly have a place to go where they could be around other kids their own age. that is thousands of san francisco parents who can focus on working during the day, knowing their children are being looked after. these hubs have made a difference in people's lives. they have been safe, even during this challenging time. from day one, keeping our young people in the hub, staff safe and healthy is the top bright. the community hub follow strict health and safety protocols. so far there hasn't been one

single covid-19 outbreak at any of our hubs. that is thanks to the hard work of the staff and department of f public health who worked on the hub set and safety plan. the lessons we learn can inform the hard work we are doing right now to reopen public schools. while some people are questioning whether that is safe to bring our public school students back to the classroom, keep in mind we haven't had any outbreaks at these hubs or the private schools that have already opened for in-person learning. yes, we know it is hard. it will take a lot of work. i believe we can and we must open in-person learning in a safe way as soon as possible. along with health and safety, we have emphasized the importance of equity throughout our

response to covid. that applies to the hubs as well. the community hubs initiative was created specifically to serve the highest need students from san francisco. we want to reach kids and families who needed extra help and support and most vulnerable. our children are already struggling and falling behind. focused enrollment at the hub we reached many students who otherwise would have a hard time with distance learning. over 400 students ars are resids of public housing, 150 homeless. 64 in sros with crowded conditions, 18 foster and 287 require language support provided by the hub. we have been successfully enrolling students from historically underserved communities. 96% of the students are children of color.

as we realize that covid-19 wasn't going to make distance learning the new normal for students, -- we realized it was the new normal. we worked with department of technology to stock devices and make sure they were connected to the internet. digital equity made sure they had what we need for kids to log on and participate in distance learning. comcast is an incredible partner and worked with more than 30 community organizations to connect the hub sites with high-speed internet. when a hub sight was going to be without internet due to issue with another internet service providers, comcast technicians showed up and got the job done so kids could participate in distance learning. in addition to connecting sites

with internet, they have contributed to support digital literacy and we are grateful for partnership. today comcast committed to 800 brand-new computers to our students that come from these under served communities. we are grateful. you will hear from them in a moment. thanks to the village students have a place to go where they know they have reliable internet, access a computer that works and healthy meal to it. along with colleagues and the library sheep has been instrumental in creating the hub and keeping the program running. maria. >> good morning. thank you, madam mayor for the lovely introduction. i struggled to believe it is 40

weeks since you issued the shelter-in-place order in march. thanks to your steadfast leadership and vision, the city and county of san francisco has been a model for the nation on how we keep our residents safe, healthy and resilient. as you shared, san francisco will recover from the covid-19 pandemic, but that recovery will depend on all of us, all of our behaviors and actions. it will take all of us to support each other, stand up for each other and do what is right for each other. i am so produce to partner with -- to partner with the department of children youth and families, recreation and parks,

san francisco public library and other city departments. our school district, community partners and private sector partners to join forces and to do our part to ensure the safety and well-being of our city's most vulnerable children and youth. we answered your call to action, madam mayor, and stood up to the community hub initiative for youth. a lot of support from the department of public health. our highest need children are receiving the very necessary in person support with their distance learning curriculum and getting the much needed enrichment activities and social well-being support. we understood about the distance learning efforts this past

spring has increased historic disparities in our communities. many students who already face large achievement gaps, family support, assistive device and access to the internet were barriers to engagement. with equity and digital access at the forefront we moved quickly. the covid avalanche that we knew was hitting our children. i am so happy to share today we celebrate the community health initiative completion of this school year's first semester. for the past 14 weeks our 78 hubs provided an extended circle of educational, social emotional and family support of children and youth surrounded by kind

caring adults to provide a safe and nurturing environment for learning, play and a lot of fun. the initiative success is maintaining health and safety protocols across all 78 hubs by meaningful data for the department of public health and the city's covid command as we support our schools to reopen safely. while 2020 has not been an ordinary year, it has brought out the extraordinary. especially when it comes to our collaborative partners in our communities day in and out. throughout the pandemic our community partners consistent have been on the front lines responding to the needs of our communities by providing essential support. they are our san francisco youth development first responders.

i want to join the mayor in thanking comcast and our other partners as we are so grateful for your support and proud to welcome you into the mayor's village. together we make san francisco a great place to grow up, even during the pandemic. thank you, mayor. >> mayor breed: thank you, maria. community partners have been essential in taking care of our kids at these sites day after day. i would like to introduce betty field ashbury for the tom embarcadero ymca providing staffing. thank you and welcome, betty. >> thank you, madam mayor,

maria, it is such an honor to be here speaking about our work at the treasure island community hub. i first and foremost want to thank the families and caregivers that entrust us with the chair of their young people. it is the most awesome and humbling responsibility, particularly during this time while we are figuring out how to get through the pandemic that none of us were ever anticipating or prepared for. we on the island, our community is going through an enormous amount of physical transformation and with that comes feelings of separation and isolation from the city. that is compounded during this pandemic. for us at the community ymca

remaining stable was imperative and call to action for all of us, and my team on the island working seven days each week as we led to the launch of the hub. it has been an overwhelming lift and beautiful cingular investment from all of the community partners to be ther tr interest and investment in caring for the most vulnerable kids. that has been evidenced in the way they have helped through the planning process. san francisco beacon initiative has supported us all in the vision. we have had the city departments led by may or london breed drive this initiative, and at the

center of it as maria was saying, our youth development workers and professionals are reimagining and innovating creative ways to keep young people safe, healthy and engaged during this time in a space and context where they can't necessarily touch or be close or play in the ways that they are used to. they have done an incredible job. we are managing multiple children's schedules, getting them engage with the school day and learning skills about safety, community responsibility and care and compassion. it is so beautiful and meaningful to see this happen. i think that this work can't be done on behalf of one individual entity, but as i said it has been a cingular kind of focus

around the safety and care for young people that are vulnerable. it has been so rewarding and refreshing. i feel so proud and humble by the fact that our staff has been safe, our young people have been safe, we haven't experienced any covid outbreaks. we haven't experienced covid exposure based on hub participation. we are excited to keep partnering, and we are so supported by all of the partners and the work that has come our way. comcast has made sure the internet could support the 36 young people in the hub and getting technology homes to families. we have worked with island partners to distribute food and deliver packages and provide virtual opportunities for families that aren't in our

physical space. while this time has been scary and unprecedented, it has also been triumphant in how we can come together and what we can do for our young people when we are facing this kind of challenge. i want to say thank you. i want to appreciate the caregivers and the families that entrust us with their children and the youth workers and activists and organizers who are in the center of all of this may being it happen. >> thank you so much, betty. next we want to highlight the people most impacted by the hubs. families, which day in and day out are struggling with distance learning. it is one thing to hear from me, it is another thing to hear from our parents. this is shanna who enrolled her daughter in the community hub

program in september. welcome. >> thank you, mayor breed. i am the mother of brooklyn, fourth grader. she has been attending the first hub since they opened. i want to say that because my baby was able to attend, life has been a little easier. it is very, very stressful. i recently quit my job in an effort so brooklyn would be attending, i applied at another job. it all worked out for me. i feel like not only is she doing well in school, i feel safe, i feel like she is safe,

and they are very caring. they are more like family than school. or the after school program or how ever you want to call them, it is a family thing and i am leaving her with her family for the day. with the covid thing. they may being sure everything is clean and safe. they wash before and after everything they do. i just appreciate whoever opened up these hubs. i appreciate you all. it was a struggle before, single parent. once it opened everything got a little easier for me, very easier. thank you for having me. >> mayor breed: thank you. how old is brooklyn? >> 9 years old in fourth grade and she loves her staff.

>> mayor breed: thank you so much. glad she is doing so well. next up we have -- we really want to highlight the work that comcast has been doing through this pamdemic. we relied on support to help with community initiatives. i would like to introduce the vice president of external affairs in california. >> thank you, madam mayor. so great to be here. i think the word that many of us would use about this year is unprecedented. we have seen unprecedented challenges requiring creative solutions. in response to the challenges this year, i am extremely proud of everything comcast has done to support employees, customers and communities. last week comcast announced we

will provide free internet service for 60 days for new international essentials customers and free access to the more than 1.5 public wi-fi hotspots through june of 2021. this continues our commitment that we first made in mid-march at the beginning of shelter-in-place. comcast is committed to closing the digital divide and creating digital equity for more than a decade. we have made great strides. we have connected to the internet more than 8 million low income individuals nationally. 1 million of whom from the great state of california. we did this through our internet essentials program which provi provides high-speed internet access at home to eligible low income individuals and supports non-profit partners for digital

literacy skills. there is still more we can and will do. during this decade long journey, we are learned it takes partnership to be successful. madam mayor, i thought your quote about the village is so appro pro. we are grateful to be part of that village. we want to thank you, mayor breed, for your vision and leadership to launch the community hubs, not only for connection but for vital wrap around services to children and families. of the thousands of partners we work with nationwide, i could not be more proud to be here today with each of you. i am extreme lee proud that comcast is a key partner enabling the tremendous success of the community hubs in san francisco. the 30 plus locations we are supporting in the city is part of a larger commitment whereby

comcast will launch 1,000 lift scopes nationally. wait. there is more. we have exciting news to share about continuing commitment to san francisco. in addition to powering the community hub locations throughout comcast lift zone program, comcast will donate $140,000 to give to sf. to support digital literacy training, food insecurity efforts during the pandemic and holiday season along with other services offered at the community hubs. comcast, as the mayor mentioned, will provide 800 youth with laptop computers which are theirs to keep and free internet at home for a year through

internet essentials program. by providing free wi-fi access at community hubs and combining with free laptops and free internet access at home, comcast will help ensure the youth actively participate in class work and complete assignments wherever they are. as a result, the children can receive the best possible education and be set up for a more equitable prosperous future. the partnership with mayor breed, the director and dcyf team, all of the other city departments, community-based organizations like ymca, comcast has been successful because of the commitments we all have to ensuring we educate and empower the san francisco students and families. we so look forward to continued partnership. thank you so much. back to you, madam mayor.

>> mayor breed: thank you, breath. i hope brooklyn will get the laptop and internet so she has all she needs to thrive in the city. comcast support has been strumental to make sure the killeds have access to internet at the hub and this new contribution of 800 laptops is great news in addition to the contribution to staff and the work they will continue to do. we appreciate you joining us today. thank you all again. you can tell we are all excited about the community hubs initiative and what it means for families and students in san francisco. it has been a team effort. it has shown what this city can do when we come together to focus on what is most important. i am looking forward to continuing to work with everyone involved to ensure it remains a success in the new year and can help inform the school district's ongoing work to get students back in the classroom.

at this time i will turn it over to nubia for question and answer from the press. >> thank you for speaking about such an important program. i am with the san francisco command center. i will help facilitate questions from the press. we have a question for maria. we have a question for the examiner. how will the hubs expand outreach to ensure eligible families know about it? >> thank you for the question. we are currently working with our school district to identify additional young people who would benefit from a spot in the hub. we have planned to serve 3,000 children in total. we have more spots available in

the hub. we are hoping to identify those young people and enroll them. we have already worked with the school district for two learning hubs where we were able to identify a number of young people and have already registered them. we are also working with our community-based organizations on a daily basis. we are identifying families who continue to need this additional support. we will continue to expand as resources are available. our commitment is to ensure up to 3,000 children will have this opportunity by the end of the program. >> we are done with questions. thank you all so much for joining us.

i know shauna is looking forward to making sure brooklyn gets her new laptop and internet service and so many kids so deserving. thank you for joining us. have a wonderful holiday season. take care.

>> when i look at an old neon sign that's working or not working, i feel the family business that was in there. >> since 2009, citywide, sf shines, has supported businesses and sites like the ones that receive new neon signs. >> you know, sf shines is doing an amazing job to bring back the lighting and the neon glow of san francisco. >> sf shines is such an amazing program, and i can't think of another program in another city that gives matching gunned funds to store owners, mom and

pop owners, and if they've got a neon sign, they've really got a great way to advertise their business. >> this is a continuation of the sf shines program. >> focusing other neon signs is relatively new to us. of the seven neon signs, we've invested about $145,000. >> a good quality sign costs more, but it lasts infinitily longer. as opposed to lasting five years, a good neon sign will last 15 to 20 years. >> in san francisco, the majority of neon signs are for mom-and-pop businesses. in order to be able to restore these signs, i think it gives back to your community. >> part of the project has to

do with prioritizing certain signs in the neighborhood based on their aesthetics, based on their current signs, and base on the history. in the time that we've been here, we've seen a number of signs restored just on eddy street. >> there are a number of signs in the tenderloin and many more that are waiting or wanting to be restored. i have worked with randall and al, and we've mapped out every single one of them and rated them as to how much work they would need to get restored. that information is passed onto sf shines, and they are going to rank it. so if they have x budget for a year, they can say all right, we're going to pick these five, and they're putting together clusters, so they build on top of what's already there. >> a cluster of neon signs is sort of, i guess, like a cluster of grapes.

when you see them on a corner or on a block, it lights up the neighborhood and creates an ambient glow. if you havy got two of three of them, you've created an atmosphere that's almost like a movie set. >> some of the hotel, we've already invested in to get those neon signs for people to enjoy at night include the elk hotel, jefferson hotel, the verona, not to mention some we've done in chinatown, as well as the city's portal neighborhood. >> we got the fund to restore it. it took five months, and the biggest challenge was it was completely infested with pigeons. once we got it clean, it came out beautiful. >> neon signs are often equated with film noir, and the noir genre as seen through the

hollywood lens basically depicted despair and concentration. >> you would go downtown and see the most recent humphrey bogart film filled with neon in the background. and you'd see that on market street, and as market street got seedier and seedier and fewer people continued to go down, that was what happened to all the neon strips of light. >> the film nori might start with the light filled with neon signs, and end with a scene with a single neon sign blinking and missing a few letters. >> one of my favorite scenes,

orson welles is chasing ririt rita hayworth with neon signs in the background. >> i think what the office of economic and workforce development is very excited with is that we'll be able to see more neon signs in a concentrated way lit up at night for visitors and most especially residents. the first coin laundry, the elm hotel, the western hotel are ones that we want to focus on in the year ahead. >> neon signs are so iconic to certain neighborhoods like the hara, like the nightcap. we want to save as many historic and legacy neon signs in san francisco, and so do they. we bring the expertise, and they bring the means to

actually get the job done. >> people in tenderloin get really excited as they see the signs relit. as you're driving through the tenderloin or the city, it pretty much tells you something exciting is happening here. >> knee an was created to make the night more friendly and advertise businesses. it's a great way of supporting and helping local businesses. >> there's so many ways to improve public safety. the standard way is having more eyes on the street, but there's other culturally significant ways to do that, and one those ways is lighting up the streets. but what better way and special way to do that is by having old, historic neon signs lighting up our streets at night and casting away our shadows. >> when i see things coming back to life, it's like remembering how things were. it's remembering the hotel or the market that went to work seven days a week to raise their money or to provide a

service, and it just -- it just -- it just

>> good afternoon and welcome to the land use and transportation committee for the san francisco board of supervisors for today. december 14, 2020 i'm the chair of the committee supervisor aaron