transportation committee meeting for 2021. i am not sure which of my fellow committee members are on there. clerk, is ms. major -- thanks for all of your work in 2020. do we have any announcements. >> city employees and the public -- we will be ar be participad remoting. committee members will attending the meeting through video

conference. public comment will be available on each item of this agenda. we are streaming the public comment number on the screen. each number will be allowed two minutes to speak.

you may submit public comment in either of the following ways. you may emay myself or the transportation clerk. if you submit public comment via e-mail it will be submitted to the supervisors and be entered as part of the public file. finally items acted upon today are expected to appear on the agenda for january 12th unless otherwise stated. >> if you will do us the

kindness and turn your camera off until you are called, that would be great. madam, clerk, will you please read the first item. >> item number one is granting to sz300 grant ll c to occupy raise crosswalk improvements. members of the public who wish to provide public comment on item number one shud should cal. if would you like to line up for this item please press star and three. mr. chair. >> thank you, madam clerk. why don't we get a brief

presentation from public works. >> hi. i don't have the option to present currently. >> we will give you those permissions momentarily. will you please give permission to present. >> absolutely. we are working on making the button available. >> can everyone see it? this is a project for major encroachment. demolish two existing buildings for a retail space. improving existing -- >> haven't those improvements been made already.

>> correct. the improvements have been constructed at risk. >> there we go. the improvements are located on grant avenue. under the major encroachment two paifers witpavers with sidewalk. on the north and side sidewalks. on here you can see the landscape plans show exactly where the areas of major

encroachment are included. you can see the raised crosswalk. green, you can see the ba -- s hard to see but the pavers and benches. for this planning found the application is in confirmity with the general plan. the project was also presented at the advisory safety committ committee. subsequently approved by the sfmta including a proposal to close harland place from 3:30 p.m.

under public works order 202063 to a come dai a come daid the d sidewalk. the permit was recommended for additional approval and submitted to the board of supervisors signed april 12th 2020. this project has been reviewed and approved by the state agencies. san francisco public utility commission, hid hydraulics divi. we have terry williams the owner of the project on line with us

as well. she would like to give some comments as well. >> absolutely. please make any statement on behalf of the ll c. >> i have to turn my camera on. >> we can hear you and see you. >> great. thank you. i'll be brief. good afternoon member of the committee. i represent the owners of the 300 grant project which is a brand new just completed sixty nine square foot in the union square district. this project has been a long time in the making. we've been working closely with city staff to bring it to fruition. i just wanted to say that the improvements are an important

part and converting these types of alleys and streets to open space and vibrant mini destinations. when we acquired the property it was in a heavily deteriorated position. a plan for closing off the street and opening up to the public seating, eating seven days a week at least four hours a day. benches, street lighting landscaping, trees decorative

pavement, a very cool dynamic art installation. intended to enhance the overall vibe of harlan place. we are eager to complete this final step so we can close the street and open it up to public access as soon as covid restrictions permit. thank you very much. >> thank you. congratulations on the last four years on your work. i've been not far away and watched it. this is clearly within the public interest and extent witht with the general plan. any questions?

seeing none -- why don't we open it up for public comment. any members would like to comment on this? >> i hav communication that thes no one in line for the queue. >> happy new year. based on what was reported. public comment is closed. i would like to submit this for hearing tomorrow morning. >> (roll call) you have three

ayes. >> next item, please. >> article ten of the planning code for one mon montgomery str. for public comment please dial the number on your screen. if you have not done so already, please press star three to line up to speak. the system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. >> colleagues, this building where i worked for many years across the street at 44 montgomery and for many years down the street on new montgomery is a city treasurerrer fotreasurerfor ban.

it is listed here today, i believe it warrants landmark designation under article ten of the planning code. this would be the initiation of said designation which would go to the historic preservation commission for consideration and would ultimately have to come back to the board of supervisors as designation for a landmark. when that report comes we would hear fl th from the planning

department. at this point it's just the initiation of the landmarking process. if there are no questions from colleagues, i would like to open this up for public comment. >> no caller ns in the queue. >> i would like to make a motion to send this item to the board with full recommendation. >> (roll call) you have three ayes. >> thank you, madam clerk, can you please read the next item. >> a resolution initiating a landmark designation for coffee company.

members of the public who wish to provide public comment should call the number on the screen. if you have not done so already, please press star three to line up to speak. >> thank you. colleagues, not dissimilar to the last item. constructed right after the great eart earthquake and fire. what is prefn present day finanl district. it's under threat of dho demoli. there will be on going conversations relative to

preserving in whole or part the edifice which not only is historic but survive dollared te redevelopment. it's remarkably handsome building and also listed in any numbers of surveys, including the 1968 architectural heritage. this would initiate the landmark zig anythings process . it would come back to the board of supervisors. it's a warehouse surviver but linked to the history of coffee in san francisco and i would like to start the landmarking process for said edifice and if there are no questions or

comments, i would like to open it up to public comment. >> thank you. there are no caller nz queue. >> okay. public comment is closed. colleagues if there's no objection i would like to make a motion to send this item to the full board. >> (roll call) you have three ayes. okay. everybody have a very safe happy new year. we are adjourned.

>> mayor breed: thank you. this is the beginning of a new year, after the end of a very long year. i am optimistic about what lies ahead for our city and our country, and i do believe there is hope on the horizon. that being said, we really -- wy challenging days in front of us. our daily average case rates of 237 cases per day remains alarming. and we've never had so many people in the hospital with covid at one time. right now, in this very precarious moment, we are seeing what the impacts of the holidays will be. dr. kofax will provide more insight of those numbers, but we won't know the full affect of the holidays for the next few

weeks. at this very point, san francisco and the bay area are under the stay-at-home order for the future. we have no control over lifting most restrictions, like those related to dining and personal services. what we do have control over is how we closely follow the health orders. we have control over our individual actions that can lead us to improve our numbers so we can keep people healthy, save lives, and get out of these state restrictions. i know this continues to be so hard for everyone, especially our small businesses, that remain closed or are very limited in the services they can provide. we're doing everything we can to help. and today, at the board of sup visorssupervisors, they will vote on legislation to waive fees. these are fees that are previously deferred and are scheduled to come due

in march. frankly, it is not enough. we need to eliminate them entirely. our small businesses need any and all of the help they can get. while we have provided a lot of direct support for small businesses over the month, including over $25 million in grants and loans, we know we need to do more. that includes finding ways to provide more immediate relief, and we are working on that right now. we're also helping our small businesses apply for new rounds of p.p.p. loans that are part of the new federal relief package. we know a lot of our small businesses are closed or are struggling to stay afloat, and we will keep working to find ways to support them in every way we can. we all have a long road ahead. december was a really hard month, and january is not going to be any easier. but, like i said, there is hope. the rollout of the vaccine is something like we've

never seen. hundreds of millions of doses will be distributed around the country. this is going to take all of us working together. today we're joined by dr. josh aldler, who is the chief clinical officer of health and vice dean of the school of medicine. the doctor will speak a little about how ucsf is participating in the rollout of the vaccine. it is important for everyone to remember that the distribution of the vaccine is different from how testing was set up in this country. with test, the federal government basically left it to the local and state governments to figure out, on our own, which is why we created our own city-run testing city, city test s.f., which puts san francisco at the forefront of providing testing in this country.

but in an expensive and complicated system that we built from scratch. with the vaccine, the federal government has purchased the vaccine and is distributing them through established networks of state and health care providers. so the vaccine rollout is a lot bigger than the city and the department of public health. but we do have a role to play, and one of those roles is to distribute the vaccine to our city-run facilities. that includes laguna honda hospital, where over 715 vulnerable residents currently live. the good news is that starting yesterday, working with walgreens, we started vaccinating the resident of laguna honda, and by tomorrow, all residents who want the vaccine will receive it. this is in addition to the over a thousand staff members who have already been vaccinated and more to come.

now, it's important, for a moment, to take a step back. often these press conferences, we talk about numbers, we talk in data. we talk in concept, like infection rates and i.c.u. capacity. we say things like, we're going to -- we're taking certain actions to keep the virus out of laguna honda, but la laguna honda is just a building. they attack our seniors. and people living with disabilities are the most vulnerable. protecting the residents of laguna honda is very personal to me. my grandmother lived there for years at the end of her own life. so i know what those residents are feeling. i know what their families are feeling because they are not able to visit. our fight to keep the virus out of laguna honda has been a fight to keep these people alive, until we could do what we started doing yesterday: protecting them with the vaccine. i want to show a few pictures from yesterday.

lathis is a photo of bernadette yee. she is someone who has been living for months and months in the type of facility that has seen outbreaks across this country. she, like so many others, have lived with the fear each and every day, and now she has the vaccine. now she and other residents of laguna honda are waking up today with an end in sight. this next photo is jasper harris. while many of us had to sacrifice by staying home and limiting interactions, his sacrifice was to be in the facility where no one from the outside has been able to visit. he has had to deal with isolation and separation. thanks to the hard work of the staff at laguna honda, and all of the policies, our department of public health has put in place, he is alive and well, so that he can get the

vaccine, so that he can keep on living his life. these are the lives we have been fighting for day after day to save. after months of uncertainty, they will now be protected. they are alive because of public health orders we put in place, because of the staff of the facility who have done their very best to care for them. because of the center of disease control who helped create a plan to protect this specific hospital. and because of everyone at the department of public health, who has done the workday after day to keep our city safe. like i said, this is a moment, but it's a real moment of hope for our city. and we should be so proud. i know it is hard right now, but remember that each one of these people in laguna honda being vaccinated is someone who will continue to have birthdays with families

and visits with friends. they will have more time. they will have months and years ahead that so many across this country, sadly, have lost to this virus. i know it is hard to see, but there is hope. the people of this city have rallied together, even though these truly difficult recent months -- through these difficult recent months, and soon we will push this city forward. i know that health orders can be hard to follow and confusing. i know that people feel like the rules are shifting and changing and contradictory to one other. and even those who are doing their best aren't quite clear on what is okay and what is not okay. all we are asking is for you to do your very best, to use common sense, and to limit your interactions with others as much as possible, to help get us through this. we know it hasn't been easy. it has been tough on every one of us. and i would also ask that you have some understanding, some

patience, and really some grace. we are all going through this together. it has been extremely challenging. so let's just remember the vaccine is here. these are difficult times, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. and i can't wait until we're able to get back together again and able to celebrate without a mask on. that day is coming. so let's get through this together. thank you, everyone, for all that you've done and what you've continued to do. and now i'd like to introduce dr. adler to talk a little bit about what ucsf's role is in helping to distribute the vaccine. >> doctor: thank you very much, mayor breed. good morning to all of you. let me just start with a couple of comments about the public health orders. ucsf has been a partner in supporting the health orders from the beginning. we know they've been affective in helping to slow the spread of

covid-19. we've seen this in our own data for our hospitals and our clinics, but, in particular, as we've examined the situations in other health systems throughout california or the united states, it is imminently clear that the san francisco health orders have helped to keep our case orders, and especially the numbers of hospitalized patients in san francisco, lower than most other urban areas. and the importance of this is that it has allowed our hospitals to continue to function in a somewhat normal fashion, without becoming overwhelmed, as has happened elsewhere, both in our state and in the country. and that's enabled us to continue to serve all of the patients who need hospital care throughout the pandemic. so we are committed to continuing to work with the city and the county to support the residents through this pandemic. and i encourage you all to do the very best you can to ensure that you continue to comply with these health orders, as

they are so important. let me turn to vaccines for a moment. so with the approval of two vaccines in the u.s., ucsf is now very focused on vaccination as supplies become available. i will say that the size and scale of this effort is unlike any we've ever seen. so let me describe briefly how ucsf as one health system is part of the chain to provide vaccines to the people of san francisco. so ucsf is part of what is called a multi-county system. along with other facilities throughout california. as such, the vaccine is allocated to ucsf directly by the california department of public health. and then the deliveries come to ucsf from the vaccine manufacturers directly, based on the allocation of the california department of

public health. it is clear that this is a major and complex initiative, and all of us are learning as we go. what is also clear is that we need to increase the rate at which we're able to deliver vaccine to people. and i believe that from the beginning of the time we started vaccinating two and a half weeks ago, that this is already happening. for example, at ucsf, we're now able to vaccinate up to 1100 people per day, and are working to increase this number even further. at the moment, we are continuing to focus our efforts on vaccinating health care workers primarily, and hope to move on to additional groups in the next few weeks. and i can say that so far the supply of vaccine from the manufacturers and from the state has been able to keep up with the rate at which we are actually vaccinating people, and we hope that this will continue, particular as we increase the number of people we can vaccinate

per day. thank you all. i'll turn it back to you, mayor breed. >> mayor breed: thank you so much. and now i want to turn it over to dr. grant colfax to provide an update on where we are in the city with our numbers. and thank you so much for joining us today, dr. colfax. >> doctor: good morning. and thank you, mayor breed. and thank you, dr. adler. we've always -- the health department has always had a special relationship with ucsf, and we really appreciate the support during this unprecedented time. i also want to express our support for the people in communities and central and southern california, where the covid pandemic is particularly severe, and the situation is dire. and my gratitude to the thousands of people on the frontlines in san francisco fighting the virus every day. including in our

hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, community testing sites, and now vaccination clinics. and, of course, to all of you who live and work in san francisco, who have sacrificed so much for nearly a year. a tough year. but i have great hopes for 2021, and i'm sure you do as well. and nearly 12 months into the pandemic, and with a holiday, i know this has taken a toll on us, including on our mental health and well-being. so i want you to know that if you or someone needs help, it is available. you can call our behavioral health line 855-845-7415, to talk with someone who knows what it is like to struggle with behavioral health issues, or please reach out to your primary care provider

or counselor. we need to care for ourselves and each other during this time. i hope we can all commit to that. another hope, of course, is that we will continue to join together to save lives and fight the current surge of covid-19, to vaccinate our residents and workers against it, and to finally overcome this pandemic that has dominated our lives. the great news is that the vaccine is here. and it is being administered every day. but it will not have much of an impact on our current surge or any post-december holiday surge we may experience in the coming weeks. we remain in a serious and critical position, but our collective actions are making a difference. our cases of covid-19, and unfortunately our deaths

due to covid-19 in san francisco, continue to increase, but the rate of increase seems to be slowing. however, at this time we do not know the full impacts of the december holiday. and it is plausible that we could see a sharp increase in cases, followed by hospitalizations, in the next few weeks. let's see where we currently are. can we have the slide, please. as this slide shows, our number of cases have been on the uptake. this slide shows we are currently at 27 new covid positive cases per 100,000 people here in san francisco. and right now we are averaging about -- could we go to the slide before this, please? this is the slide. this slide shows that we're averaging about 27 cases per 100,000 people in san francisco. and we are averaging about 237 new cases of covid-19

every day. we have seen an increase, as you can see, since december 24th. but the 237 new cases per day is still a drop from about 290 new cases we were seeing in mid-december. but given the infectiousness of this virus, 237 is still far too many for us to let our guard down. when we stay home, avoid gatherings, stay physically distant, and wear masks over both our noses and our mouths, we will drive this number down. we will keep our fellow san franciscans and ourselves from getting sick, help prevent hospitalizations, and make sure that we are all here for the vaccine. next slide, please. now, this shows the

hospitalizations of people with covid-19 since the pandemic began. as you can see, the number of covid-19 -- people with covid-19 who need hospital care continues to climb, as we would expect when the number of cases climb. but thanks to your efforts with regards to precautions, hospitalizations appear to be climbing more slowly now. but, as with cases overall, we will not know until mid-january how many people got covid-19 over the christmas and new year's holiday, and became seriously ill, requiring hospitalization. that's just based on how long it takes for people to show symptoms and become severely ill with covid-19. it usually takes up to a week, and even two. currently, and unlike many parts of this state, hospitals in san francisco have enough room to care

for covid-19 and other patients. locally, we have roughly 35% of i.c.u. beds available. however, across the region, just 5.9% of beds are available. and because our regional i.c.u. bed availability remains well-below the state's threshold of 15%, we here in san francisco will remain under the state regional stay-at-home order. and, as you know, the situation is much worse in central valley and in southern california. and while we have those i.c.u. beds now in san francisco, it is plausible, with our regional or statewide surge, that those numbers of i.c.u. capacity will drop sharply, perhaps due to a worsening of our local situation, or because of needs in the region and the state.

staying home, as hard as it is, is keeping our already strained health system from being overwhelmed. it is saving lives. now i want to talk a little bit about vaccines. we are working with our health care partners, including ucsf, throughout the city, to get as much vaccine into as many arms as possible. unlike testing, we do not have local control of when vaccine is sent to san francisco. or how much is received. the federal and state government have developed a distribution plan for the vaccine, and the state has defined the prioritization plan, which we must follow locally. that distribution plan shiftships the vaccine directly to health care providers, such as kaiser, ucsf, and

d.p.h., which is a health care provider in the city, primarily for people who have medicaid or who are uninsured. with the exception of the vaccine, d.p.h., the health department, gets from the state, we currently have no ability to track the amount of vaccine that is being sent to providers. i can tell you this, that the department of public health, as a health care provider, has vaccinated more than 6,000 people. most frontline acute care staff at zuckerberg san francisco hospital and laguna honda have been vaccinated, and nearly all paramedics and e.m.t.s have been offered the vaccine. and after today, over 90% of the residents at laguna honda will have received the first dose of the pfizer vaccine. that is great news. given the