>> the time is 5:03. and this is the remote meeting via video and tele conferencing. the below link and phone number will be read off momentarily. this meeting is being held by webex pursuant to the governor's order declaring a local emergency. during the coronavirus disease emergency, the fire commission's regular meeting room at city hall is closed, and meetings of the fire commission will convene remotely. you may watch this meeting live at sfgovtv.org. to participate by public comment by phone, call 415-655-0001, and use access code (146) 146-3360.

members of the public will have opportunities to give public comment. the public is asked to wait for the particular agenda item before making a comment on that i a tem. comments will be addressed in the order they are received. when the moderator announces that the commission is taking public comment, members of the public can raise their hand by pressing star 3 and you will be queued. caller wills hear silence when waiting for your turn to speak. operator will unmute you. when prompted, callers will have the standard 3 minutes to provide public comment. ensure that you are in a quiet location. speak clearly and turn off any tvs or radios around you. item one, roll call. president kathrin feinstein. >> present. >> vice president tony rodriguez. >> present. >> commissioner stephen nakajo. >> present. >> u a commissioner francee

covington. >> present. >> and commissioner ken cleveland. >> present. >> and chief of department yes neen nicholson. >> present. >> item 2, general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the commission's jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda. speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or department personnel. commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with a speaker. the lack of a response by the commissioners or department personnel does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. >> madam secretary, do we have any public comment? >> we do not have anybody on the public comment line. >> all right. then public comment will be closed. would you kindly call the next

agenda item? >> item three, approval of the minutes. discussion and possible action to approve the meeting minutes of the january 13, 2021 meeting. >> again, is there any public comment, madam secretary? >> there is nobody on the public comment line. >> all right. is there any commissioner that wishes to comment upon the minutes? >> i move to approve, madam president. >> an i would like to comment, madam president. >> of course. >> thank you. so during the conversation between, excuse me, between all of the commissioners of the subject of the chief's residence came up, and in that exchange in

the minutes i think the comments are reversed. we have commissioner cleaveland suggesting that the residence be sold, and then commissioner nakajo talking about having sold property in the past and how he doesn't recommend that. so i'm just asking that those items be switched. they are out of order. >> is there any comment by our other commissioners upon that? commissioner cleaveland? commissioner nakajo? >> i don't remember which order those conversations came, so i happy to have it changed in the minutes. it makes me no never mind. >> commissioner nakajo? >> i equally, again, whatever the reflection is accurate.

>> all right. madam secretary, can we make that change? >> yes, we can. >> all right. so what if i propose that that change be made, and based upon a vote of the commission accepting those changes, that we vote to approve. >> i second. i don't think you have a second. >> we don't have a second. >> i second. >> okay. i will do a roll call. president feinstein. how do you vote? >> aye. >> commissioner nakajo? >> aye. commission vice president rodriguez, how do you vote? >> aye. >> the motion is unanimous. >> item four. chief of department's report. report from chief of department

janine nicholson on report on current issues, activities, and events within the department since the fire commission meeting on january 13, 2021, including budget, academies, special events, communications and outreach to other government agencies and the public. and report from administration deputy chief jose velo on the administrative division, fleet and facility status and updates, finance, support services, and training within the department. >> chief nicholson please. >> good evening, president feinstein, vice president rodriguez, commissioners and staff, this is my report. first, i would like to introduce we have a new assistant deputy chief in the house tonight. tom o'connor is our new assistant deputy chief of the

puc liaison. you all know about the civil grand jury and the importance of us rolling out efws, and we worked with the p.u.c. to fund this position. tom, i know your coat is not updated with the right stripes, but say hello to the commission please. >> can't hear. >> there he goes. >> all right. good evening, commissioners. i am v very happy to be here. and jeanine pointed out that i am so new that i don't have my jacket properly adorned. i apologize for being underdressed for this occasion, but i am excited to work with the administration and move forward on the efws and all challenges that the administration is facing during these very uncertain times.

>> welcome and i'm sure chief dewit can help you with the jacket so there we go. >> thank you. >> she knows somebody. who knows somebody. all right. thank you. as you know, on february 8, we will have a firefighter class of 25 coming in. and we also have a few other classes going on at treasure island that i am sure chief velo will touch on. and e.m.t., e.m.s., paramedic and other stuff. but let me get right into sort of covid. all things covid. so for tier one which is what san francisco is still in, tier 1a, sorry, tier 1a, there are

approximately 200,000 people in that tier. the city has not received 200,000 vaccines yet. the latest numbers i have that others have vaccinated, i believe, approximately -- let me get this number right. we have their numbers that we're starting to compile, and we have ech's numbers and they are finally -- the city is finally sort of getting it to one -- what is the word i am looking for? anyway, 82,000. 82,000 from the private and so we will see how many more vaccines the city gets. we just don't have enough

vaccine. and all of those, i know that we vaccinated many more people once than we have people twice. so the impact from the state has not been good, and in terms of when we're getting vaccine and how much we're getting. there's just not enough vaccine to go around. i will be attending a policy meeting tomorrow morning where they should have further, hopefully further information from the state. one site, city college site is doing over 500 a day. ucsf is heavily involved and we have two paramedic captains managing the site on a daily basis, seven days a week, so stepping up for the city's efforts. masconi center is going to be

expanding what it has now. kaiser will be staffing that site. and then in the bayview, they're looking at the produce market indoor site. and it is unclear who will staff that. d.p.h. is also vaccinating at maxine hall in the west addition. in terms of our own members, we have had 1,418 members have responded yes. almost 1,000 of them have received their first dose, and almost 400 have received their second dose. many more have appointments this week. out of everyone, we have had 245 that have declined the vaccine. so we are following up with those that have not responded as well as those who haven't gone to get their vaccines yet by going down the chain of command with all the folks. and we're also going to be sending out a video message and

some other messaging. l.a., i don't know if it's l.a. city or l.a. county, chief velo told me, but whichever one it is, they vaccinated 75% of the members and their covid positive numbers have just dropped dramaticcally. i know ours have as well of late. and that's great. some of that is also because it's dropping within the city as well. so we're working on getting more of our members vaccinated. right now we have 25 people in quarantine. out of those, 24 are covid positive. we're waiting on the 25th one. we have had 93 people return to duty for a total of 118 of our members have tested positive with covid-19.

not all of them have been sick, clearly. very few have been hospitalized. in any case, we need to remain vigilant until we have the full vaccine rollout, so we will still be masking and cleaning and all that kind of stuff that we have been doing. and the covid positive and quarantine was much higher last week in the past couple of week. we're going in the right direction. i went yesterday and i know others went today to get training so we can actually give the vaccine because i would love to give the vaccine to the president of the union on camera, but we are all ready to step up and help. we look forward to participating as much as we possibly can. some really great news, city emt

which i have spoken about in here before, which we have been working on for the past year and a half. it's been a collaboration with the supervisor from district 10, with human rights commission, with the mayor's office, and with some of our own members really stepping up. it is a wrap around program for young people between 18 and 26 or so. a wrap around program which also enables them to get an emt license. so there are all sorts of services that they get with it including academic help. including trauma counseling. job/life coaching. and they take an emt class. so i went to the orientation today outside the union hall,

and supervisor walton showed up and the mayor showed up. and there were 15 young men and women there. looks like a great group. we are working that once they finish this training which will be sometime in may, once this cohort finishes, we are working on a way for those who would like to get experience in the fire department of bringing folks into the fire department on the ems side and going to get hours on an ambulance. you cannot be hired in the san francisco fire department on the ems side without a certain number of hours on an ambulance. and so we are working on providing that and it will not be -- it will be -- the position is a 99/10 which is what other departments use for this type of

program and what the sheriff has used as well. but it is trying to create a pathway from kids in the community into the fire department. this is the very first step. the mayor showed up and all the kids signed up and went through this rigamarole to do this and is pretty much a fulltime program through the end of may that is very rigorous. the mayor showed up today and said she was going to give each of them a $3,000 stipend per month, which is great. so i am really excited about it. and we'll see how the first one goes. and we are working on funding that through oewd and through hrc and the district 10 supervisor. funding that when they come in the department. i am really excited about that

program. and then one thing president feinstein loves to share about is shared spaces. can you just speak to the latest discussions and the challenges and what we are playing. >> i think i'm on now. >> you are. good evening, commissioners. fire marshal and the sheriff's space and there will be a re-opening and beginning tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. if i am correct. everything has been on hold the last few week. our plan is to basically start up and re-institute what our program was before the latest shutdown. and that is surveying all of the shared space sites, 900 plus of them are district inspectors.

identify any code concerns, fire department access concerns. documenting that and bringing that to the attention of the business owners and to d.p.w., and to take corrective action steps. prior to latest whole shutdown, i should say. we have about 130 location where is we had violations. the majority were associated with the use of l.p.g. and theaters. number of them also were associated with fire department access. the good news there is i believe the access issues are down below 10. at one time they were up to about 30. so that is moving the right direction. and again, everything is kind of put on hold because there was no activity the last few weeks. so i started today the district inspectors started up their survey again. we wanted to take a look at the structures and see what kind of damage, if any, associated with the latest storms. i have yet to see the feedback

on that, but i will know more tomorrow. and then the other thing that's kind of new on the horizon is the potential to transition some of this program into potentially a permanent program and we've begun discussions with other departments on that. my take on that is we look at it through a different lens. though a lot of our requirements and place for the share program will apply, it is not necessarily apples to apples. with temporary structures, you have more latitude and the fire code is more forgiving and gives you more latitude. we did use a lot of latitude. not to say they are unsafe, but as they convert to transition to a permanent status, there will be a more conservative approach knowing they will be there indefinitely potentially. and we're having those talks. those talks are going to include

what standards are we going to apply to them. who will be the lead agency. and what other departments will be brought on board. will d.p.i. be brought on board. once we come to an agreement on a program, standards that are going to apply and the work flow, i think we'll be off and running and on a good track. but again, those are preliminary conversations. this hasn't come -- this is not official at this time. it's just a point of discussion. >> thank you very much, fire marshall decasio. that concludes my report, president feinstein. happy to take any questions. >> president: if you have any questions for the chief, just raise your hand. all right. commissioner covington. >> thank you, madam president.

chief of the department, i am wonned erg about the people who are not -- i am wondering about the people who are not being vaccinated. i think you said that there are 245 members of the department who declined. so are there any different measures that are put into place for people who are unvaccinated? >> thank you for your question, commissioner covington. no, there are no further precautions put in place at this time. we are still -- everyone is acting as if we could get infected whether we've gotten the vaccine or not. but we cannot force them to get the vaccine. but everybody is acting the exact same way that we have been for the past almost year. and we will until we know

further. i'm not sure if and when we will get to quote, unquote, herd immunity or if there that's even possible with all the new strains of covid that are coming through, so right now we're just remaining very vigilant. >> okay. i was wondering if there is additional testing for those folks or if there was any change at all. >> no, not at this time. sorry, my camera keeps moving. not at this time. >> all right. thank you. and congratulations on the launch of the program. that sounds very exciting. i know you have worked very hard to bring this to fruition, and i'm sure that the young people, what did you say, age 18 to 26, are very, very pleased with this opportunity. i know that their families are

proud of them for having been selected and they have a very bright future, so thank you for that. nothing more. >> thank you. thank you, commissioner covington. and i can't remember who else had their hand up. commissioner rodriguez. vice president, please. i think you might be muted. >> i found it. thank you. this is for fire marshall decasio. maybe because i installed fire sprinklers for a living for so many years, i am kind of curious. you said this is in the talk, but if there become permanent fixtures, would they have to be fire sprinkled or because they were outside they wouldn't have to be? has that come up yet? >> yes, hello, commissioner.

that is an excellent question. and to my earlier appoint, how to identify the use of these bases and how to classify them and what standards will be applied, those questions have not been answered yet. i think that is the starting point so we're consistent in our message and application of the code. >> commissioner: okay. thank you. >> president: any further questions, vice president? >> commissioner: no, that was it for me. thank you. >> president: of course. any other commissioners have questions of the chief? commissioner nakajo. >> commissioner: thank you very much, madam president. first of all, i want to take a point in the remarks since it was in the agenda and correct me if i am wrong, chief nicholson, but is it deputy assistant chief

tom o'connor at this point? >> assistant deputy chief, yes. a.d.c. >> commissioner: all right. i wanted to get it right. assistant deputy chief tom o'connor. i wanted to congratulate you and welcome you and you will be a great addition with your vast knowledge. as you know and you have been around long enough to understand the importance of awfs. i want to welcome you. second to that, chief nicholson, i wanted to applaud you on the start up of the program. what is the official name of the program? >> commissioner nakajo, the official name of the program is city emc. it is being run by a nonprofit that we have been working with

since the beginning. it is city emt. >> again, congratulations. i have been working on the sidelines in terms of this endeavor as well, but to be able to have a focus group within the community and be able to have them be trained is something that we have been excited about far long time. i want to thank you for that as well. congratulate the department, and will be very much interested in how this progresses. thank you, madam president. >> thank you, commissioner nakajo. do any of the other commissioners have questions for the chief? well, i have one question, chief. understanding that this is politically difficult and having visited a couple of fire stations, i have some concern

about those members who choose not to be vaccinated. and they're living in close quarters or staying in close quarters with other members, and i don't have an understanding as much as i have tried to pay attention to the news and the bulletins and what have you, they're totally confusing to me as to what's going on. i guess what my question is really to you is, how do you manage the number of people that choose not to be vaccinated who are living side by side for three days or however many days with folks that have been

vaccinated or how do they deal also with the public that expects them to have been vaccinated because they were offered the opportunity to be so. >> thank you, president feinstein. yes, again, like i said, we can't force anyone to take this, and this is uncharted territory for everyone, for the department of public health, for the fire department, for everyone. and so what i said earlier was that we need to remain vigilant, and we will, for now while folks are still getting vaccinated. and perhaps even after we have 80% or however many, whatever percentage we're hoping to get of the folks vaccinated. there is no change in -- pardon me -- there is no change in any of our policies right now. we've all been living with one another for the past year.

everyone in the station has, without having vaccinations, and we have done pretty well for the most part. so we have had 118 people infected over the last year. so we will continue to be vigilant and we're not changing anything up right now. when we get more information, more facts, more data, more information about whether it's the new strain of the virus or herd immunity, we are taking a lot of the lead from the department of public health. so for right now we remain vigilant and i don't know if in the future there will be limitations on what people can do if they don't have -- if they haven't been vaccinated in terms of going out to public events or what. that is all still to be determined. for now we just stay the course.

>> president: all right. thank you. any follow-up questions anybody might have? all right then. >> there is nobody on the public comment line. >> all right. we shall move on to the next agenda item please, madam secretary. >> that will be the administration report with the chief velo and he has the ball. >> he knows how to use it. >> good afternoon, president, vice president, commissioners, command staff, chief of the department. deputy chief jose velo administration, and this is my report for the months of november and december of 2020. and i will share a presentation that i have prepared for you that summarizes some of the events and also includes some events that happened in this month of january as well. are you able to see my presentation?

>> yes. >> yes. >> there we go. thank you. some of the highlights and the chief information from me, we have been assisting the city and we have four members assigned to assistant d.p.h. with the mass vaccination sites. we have members invited to the fairgrounds on the left side of the screen that went to see what santa clara fire did to pop up a vaccination site. in the center we have the pictures from today. i added this picture today about being trained and our assistant went to be trained and now we can assist when we have time to the city and love to do that z a well. on the right-hand side is

members of city college and we have two members running the operations for that. we are ready to help and have 120 members trained to be vaccinators. and the last email i got is we will help with that starting next week. we are happy to be a part of the solution for the pandemic. and hope you are able to virtually attend for 19 e.m.t.s for the department. very happy to have them. and especially in this time and happy to have any members coming into the department. we are currently in the process of a training module that talks about forcible entry. forcible entry is way we have to enter buildings that are on fire and need an emergency. we are training on different aspects of it. you can see the roll up doors from garages and some windows

that are going on right now at treasure island this month. and we have air flight training and the tram that travels through the airport and goes through the barking garage is imperative we have good knowledge and operations of how that happens in case there is an accident and how we can assist with that and airport division and chief johnson is working well with the agencies involved this. we have been able to reopen some of the drills that we shut down for company drills with procedures. we have a comprehensive safety protocols to do training that the chief put together to do safely these drills. we have published our 2021 daily drill schedule and our company-based module schedule that covers the whole year of training that we are doing. this is the year we have 600 members that are due for emt

recertification which includes cpr training. we have a large number of members that are on that schedule. we are going through that right now as well. november we did some k9 training with other teams in the bay area on treasure island. we have resumed also the reserve training at division and training and is critical to keep the skills sharp. we have to cancel for a while for the pandemic, but we have restarted them which is good. we continue to do more training with the units and the fire boat. this is something that we have spoken in the past is a collaboration between sfpd, captain hart, and lieutenant baxter to put together training for p.d. officers to respond to fire. what is their role? how can they help us instead of being an obstacle at the scene of the fires? what are the part of the vehicles and so forth? it is good to know what we know and what we need and they go to

the stations and do that. i am pleased with what lieutenant baxter has been doing with this. we continue to do training at the cliff house is something, as you know, we have multiple rescues all the time. the crews are keeping the skills sharp. and we have the help on davis street. and this month through funding we will finish this last week and hope to do a robust technician class. this is the skills that will use after the cliff house and so forth in the area over there. we have ways with the budget times to get some grants for training. and so we have this one coming up and another one coming up at the end of the month. it coffers ropes and other things funded through another program. we continue to be creative to get funding for these classes because it is paramount to keep

our skills sharp. we selected a new coordinator to replace -- hard to replace, or impossible, but brendan thomas was selected as the new acting coordinator after interviews and he is a very experienced training for the years and happy to have them there. our volunteers continue to do training virtually in this case, but continue to keep the skills sharp. as you know, i have reported many times they also continue to support the sites and testing sites that the city is providing sand a combination of that. very good to see. and the chief of health and safety and wellness continues to have meetings with the behavioral health unit, peer support team. we put together a covid-19 video and we have members who volunteer to talk about their stories of what they went through.

these are members that actually got sick to covid and had some issues. they wanted to share that to share the stories within the department. so they understand that covid is serious and that we need to be consistently taking the measures that chief nicholson eluded to about being safe. and we continue with the cancer foundation and the critical response team. and we have the numbers that chief nicholson talked about and we will follow up with the members who have said yes but did not schedule them and will do a follow up and we have 141 that haven't signed up. we will make phone calls and make sure they sign up as soon as possible for that. as i mention, the doctor's office and chief and work together to get preparation and safety protocoals for the upcoming classes. not just the firefighter class coming up on february 8 but the bump up class and the e.m.t. classes that we have to make sure all folks are safe.

we got approved other members to go into the new academy if they choose to do so and they were vaccinated before they arrived a the academy. that happened about two hours ago for approval of that. continue to do self-testing when we need it. and with the newsletters about vaccines and the health issues in sharing as much information as we can. and some of the other staff is a sharp decline in daily cases. you see that sharp decline and that peak in december. we have one day with 27 new cases for the department. but those numbers have declined significantly. just like the chief said, an example of when the increase of vaccinations and the rates have declined to pint point of 5% right now compared up to 18% before. this is the area in l.a. county with a significant, much higher

number of positive cases than we do here. the strict measures that we have put in place and keeping the mask on not only in the firehouse and also when we go outside and of course going into calls and the combination of the vaccine, we are seeing the effects of this on our members. it is good to see that. our investigative bureau continues to do random testing. and assisting the doctor's office and new class to come in to have to do the medicals, promotional, and alcohol and drug testing. those are all negative, which is good. and members are able to renew for the year 2021. because of the members we have

in quarantine and covid, we have to make an eye on them through the d.h.r. process around are monitoring when they are off. we have new hires and they assist with that. and able to accommodate that as well. support services, i went to sacramento to take possession of five new mini pumpers. ore they are actually oes, but they are all hazard vehicles. if we have an emergency in pedestrian, we can use them. and we are going out to train the members. they are four wheel drive and can go offroad and happy to have them in our position and

provided by san francisco fire. we also outfit vans and used with the vehicles and reports for that. and shut down operations for eight months. we will be able to get them into the unit and get that unit into the city very soon. it is an unfortunate delay, but that is what happened due to covid. we have six in order and seven trucks in progress. one truck that came here and we found issues and fixes needed to be done so it is back in louisiana for that.

and now we have assembled a pan toll review the bids. we have, i believe, two biders and go through the bids and start the process of building the units very soon. this friday we will start with the turnout wear trial. and as you may recall from previous conversations, we have manufacturers that gave us the latest and greatest products for the turnouts. so we have members now volunteering to wear the turn outs for a period of time and evaluate them and give us the feedback. and with that committee, we will select the next contract and turn out to be worn by members of the department. and the clothing depot is preparing for the recruit class and the gear they need and the paramedic class that start this is week. and facility wise, we do a good job with responding to the requests that the stations have. and 162 were completed. many were having problems but

other aspects that come and our staff and support services working with chief dewit and with all the vendors and jute side vendors to solve the issues at the stations are solved quickly. the process has improved quickly when we put in pictures into the system instead of wasting time to nl a analyze the issue, the response time is increased. we are working with d.p.w. to make sure we are able to keep those folks accountable for showing up and making sure the repairs are done in time. as you recall, the house tower removal project is 90% complete. and i will show you a couple of samples of those from station 11 and 38. basically pictures of what the towers used to look like at the station. the problem is the public and this is outside can see what it looks like.

the only one that we keep in the tower is because of the neighborhood request was station 15 that will be rebuilt. that is going to be in the next couple of months. station 15 will have the tower in their station, but it will be super reinforced or earthquake proof. station 49, we are hoping to move in the next mid february, so very excited about that. some of the latest pictures that we have with the station. moving right along. recently we also had the pathway between station 9 and station 49 repaved for the trucks to go there. some more pictures of the classrooms, the office space that are there. and moving along and the last report you will recall a movie i showed you of the barge or the boats moving in and now we have a walkway that unites the old station to the new station and the embarcadero. so they're working right along. we have a little bit of a delay

because of the issue that i talked to you about and the pg&e connection, but it looks very nice. and now some pictures of the interior. the middle is the dorm and the separation and some of the office space and some of the first, second floor stairwell. it is moving right along. and sometime in the spring, the pg&e issue will let us move into the new station. i always like to finish with some of the commissioners that are member -- the community services that our members do. in station 7 in november, they handed out 300 boxed meals to needy families. good to see them get involved in the community. and plug in commissioner nakajo here at the site, our members were there helping out and he was gracious enough to show up and support of the members there. that concludes my highlights of the report. i am happy to answer any questions you may have.

>> president: thank you, chief velo. is there any public comment on chief velo's report? >> there is nobody on the public comment line. >> all right. then public comment will be closed. and we will turn to our commissioners. any commissioners with questions or comments for chief velo? commissioner nakajo. and then commissioner rodriguez. >> thank you very much, president feinstein, as well as vice president rodriguez. chief velo, thank you very much for the comprehensive report. at some point and i think it's a great appointment if brandon qwan could attend a commission meeting and perhaps introduce himself to fellow commissioners

and talk a little bit about his career in the department which has been for a period of time and his involvement so that we can all see the new face who is working for the staff. and the other comment i have is that i think it's really, really good that the members who have covid are able to talk about it because that's what we're talking about in our community. our community is if you get tested, how do you get the vaccine? bottom line, did you get covid? and what degree of covid did you deal with? and still there are folk who is think that even if you got the shot, you don't have to wear the mask and you don't have to practice safe distance and the fact is that you still need to be, as i understand it, and it need to be reinforced and need

to be tested and still might be able to be us is peptable. these are very important things and covid being what covid is and the ramifications and the effects, and i use the term contemporary as heck because we are all living in this whole situation and life experience of the pandemic and covid. i think it's healthy for the members. i also wanted to let you know that as always, i always enjoy the photos. and now that we're still in shelter in place, i just can't wait for the day that we can walk to the new fire boat station and see the other stations. quite frankly, to embrace the membership and the officers. it's just been so long.

and that goes for my fellow commissioners as well. i am going to end with thank you for the picture of the community covid testing in japantown with the members of station 38. as you know, chief and chief nicholson, there is a great comfort zone when member of the community see members of the department, when they see them in their turn out coats and their hats and they're hanging as we call it in j-town. we went through a lot of emotional tests that people would line up to take the covid test. you kind of feel jittery a little bit. when the members of the department are there standing around smiling and talking and interacting, it is a great comfort. i appreciate chief nicholson and the coordination and members of station 38 because as you know station 38 is j-town station.

we have a lot of interaction with those members. so thank you very much nar as well. thank you, madam president. >> thank you. thank you, commissioner nakajo. and vice president rodriguez, i'm sorry. i apologize that i didn't see your hand first. if you would please. >> commissioner: it's quite all right. this question is for chief velo, but first i would like to -- i was a little remiss in not congratulating assistant deputy chief tom o'connor. i really look forward to having him be part of the meetings and interactions with him. and the question that i have for chief velo is, and i think i read this somewhere already, so all this maintenance, the plumbing, the boilers, the hvac, around the electrical stuff, the city -- i know the city and the

airport for that matter and they have the joc program and where i guess you have general contractors and contractors who get certified by on stand by and that is where you get your the pool of contractors as long as it's may not nabs work, is that correct? d.p.w. can do it and and we deal with d.p.w. and if not, we have contracts approved to go to them. chief dewit, anything else?

good evening, president feinstein, vice president rodriguez, commissioners, and dawn dewit, support services. commissioner rodriguez, so we pretty much use maintenance repairs and to touch on why plumbing is such annish shy right now, it is the coldest month and when it goes down the line with grease, and a lot of sewer backups and is a winter thing and we have a lot of heating issues right now. we have been working closely with d.p.w. over the last year of my tenure to be more responsive and they have started refusing some of the work and most of it is small enough we wouldn't want to get it done and

with small maintenance issues and we don't need the scope of a joc contract. or we don't need that large of scope. so we do have some bigger issues that don't require a lot of design and will be looking into using them for the bigger things. the other maintenance is beyond the joc and are limited to $1,000 and those jobs have to go to d.p.w., bureau of architecture because they have to be designed, planned, and there needs to be a construction manager, a project manager, and so that tend to be bigger than the maintenance? it's an improvement. and to replace the hvac and the air handlers and replacing the roof at the same time, so it's tricky. >> commissioner: part of the

reason i brought it up -- i don't know why it's echoing like that. anyway, can everybody hear me okay? >> yes. >> commissioner: one of the commissioners recently had brought up the fact that maybe the fire department, especially with the budget problems, they could partner up to do the work, but i think the problem there is that the unions don't pay the workers, right? the unions just supply the workers to the contractors. and really that would have to go to the contractors to partner up with the city to help in a time of need. i think if we did decide to try to follow up on that line of thinking, the people and the contact would be contractors. and just say, look, instead of having a 20% or 25% market up,

maybe you just do it the labor cost. and not really have it for profit. >> we're prohibited from working that way. what would be ideal would be for our department to hire its own electrician, plumber, and steamfitter. there are ways to do that without having them be supervised through d.p.w. so we are not -- we're just paying for that trades person, and could have a senior engineer supervise this person and qualified to supervise that labor would be a cost savings to the department and enable us to buy parts. d.p.w. cannot keep parts on hand. let's say we need a boiler pump or something replaced with d.p.w. they have to troubleshoot the problem and then because they don't have parts on hand, it takes a long time for them to get parts in stock. we go months and months without a heater whereas our department doesn't have the same restrictions and we could

probably have that steam fitter buy that part from the city approved vendor and install it in a timely fashion. i would love for this department to be able to expand the budget to hire a few laborers like other sister agencies have on our behalf. i think the libraries have a lot of their own laborers. and it would be a fantastic improvement to this department. it would really help us save money. >> commissioner: that is why -- [audio feedback] and on the airport and has 400 maintenance workers, plumber, electricians, and everything. the school also does that. >> i would love it. bring it on. >> commissioner: to save money for the fire department. maybe that is something that we can investigate. okay. thank you. >> madam president, may i

respond? >> president: of course, chief. >> so we just recently met with the head of public works to talk about this exact issue, and so see if we can do just that, get our own folks, carpenter, plumber, electrician, etc. [please stand by]

scheduling control over them and it would just be a lot more -- it would work a lot better financially for us and the district, so we're having those conversations, and i will get back to you as soon as i know more about it. >> i just have to say i think that's excellent because this is preposterous, and you know, some life somewhere is going to be lost because we're waiting for dpw, or whomever it is, to go through whatever the hoops are that they need to go through to provide the service, and you know, maybe we can figure out and command staff can figure out

what a good proposal would be for this commission to support to bring forward our own people. i mean, we're not talking about gobs of money. oh, mr. course is still there. it can't cost that much and it would be worth it to be able to repair these things in a timely fashion. something really bad could happen because we [indiscernible] and if -- it's not us sitting, but a request for repair has been sitting for who knows how long, so i really support that idea. >> thank you, i would really appreciate your support. it would also enable us to do a lot of deferred maintenance that, you know, like maintaining

some of our equipment that doesn't really get a lot of love, you know, changing filters, air conditioning systems, just going through -- maintaining our generators, doing services on a lot of that large equipment that we don't have a budget for. so right now there's a lot of run-till-broken, you know, instead of just maintaining it along the way, get our own staff to help us address some of those issues. we have a lot of facilities and very few people to maintain them. >> other commissioners? anybody? ah, hello, commissioner . . . >> madam president, and thank you, chief bellow, for your very comprehensive report. i do have several questions, and this issue of being able to do our own repairs, it's been an issue i've been banging the drum on for quite some time. and wishing that we could make a change or we'd be a little bit more independent and able to

really do the minor repairs, electrical and plumbing and whatnot at our various fire stations that are around the city ourselves. much more quickly, much more efficiently, much more cheaply, and i have a question that it was mentioned, if it's under 20,00 -- 25,000, are we able to do it without a requisition from the public works department currently? is there any sort of threshold under which we're able to do our own thing, basically, in terms of repairs? maybe assistant deputy chief dewitt could answer that, madam president. >> thank you, commissioner. dpw has the right of first refusal for everything. we are supposed to go to dpw building repair with all of our problems, and we do. only now have they just started refusing work because they just don't have the labor to support us. we had a list of i don't know how many outstanding items when

i first started here last year, and june -- my assistant, she's been able to really hone it down. we've gotten a lot of issues closed, but it's only because they have started refusing work and we haven't been giving them work. with private city-approved contractors, we are allowed to spend -- we are limited to $10,000, so our hands are kind of tied. we don't have a lot of options. once we've hit that threshold, if dpw can't do the work, a lot of it just sits. we try to prioritize things. plumbing has to get done, major electrical problems have to get done, but a kitchen sink is leaking a little bit, we won't fix that right away, or if a couple of ballasts are out, we'll just let those go. if it's in a room where there's no other source of light, then we'll fix those things, but there's no patching. like i said, there's not a lot of deferred maintenance. there's not a lot of changing of filters and things like that. we just don't have the resources or the labor availability to get

those kinds of things done. >> well, it would seem to me that we need to change, and i applaud chief nicholson working on it. i don't know if we need legislation. that would have to go to the board of supervisors to give the fire department more autonomy to take care of our own buildings, our own firehouses, but this is a quality of life issue for our firefighters and paramedics and it's not something we can just let languish, so i appreciate the conversations that are going on currently on giving our department a little more independence when it comes to fixing our own firehouses up and maintaining them as -- as possible for all the various repairs, plumbing, electrical, whatever, that happens. it just is common sense, quite frankly. it would help expedite repairs.

it would be cheaper, so i applaud those conversations, and i don't know whether the chief wants to comment on the need for legislation or if this can be done through administrative act of a new city administrator or just how this -- how this, you know, bit of independence from public works that the fire department desperately needs, how that would become -- how can that be effectuated. chief nicholson, perhaps you could respond to that? >> thank you, commissioner cleveland. as i said, we are -- i am hopeful that what we are -- that what we are doing right now will lead to something. we are working closely with alex from public works, but i believe it is part of the charter of the city, and so we can't just change the charter. that is a big deal. i'm not sure exactly how we change it, but it's a big deal

to change it. >> hmm. >> anybody else, don or mark, know how to go about that? >> well, it's definitely in the charter. it has to do with fairness and competition and making sure that the work that's being done is actually being performed up to code and be, you know -- it has to be vetted just like all of our contracts are vetted. the solution would be to have our own employees, our own tradespeople, and that is possible, but it always comes down to funding and whether or not we will be granted that kind of funding for that kind of staffing. i mean, that's really what it comes down to, is getting us the funding to employ those people. i think. i mean, correct me if i'm wrong, chief. >> may i ask a question just as a follow-up to that, chief dewitt or chief nicholson? or director corso may know.

how can it be more expensive to have our own people doing it than it is to go through dpw and every other city agency, and i read these reports with some care, and it goes through this agency and that agency and another agency. how -- i don't understand, and i think -- i'm not sure which commissioner brought it up. the library gets to hire their own people to do whatever repairs are necessary in the library, and i guess i just don't understand why that is because this may be something that we as a commission should try to take some action on. >> director corso, can you speak

to that? >> sure, chief. good evening, everyone. mark corso, finance and planning. i believe some of it is policy. i think some of it is, like, in administrative code and charter as far as setting up rules. i think for -- it's looked at kind of on a city-wide basis, so where there may be some savings for -- in one department as a result of some changes, there are, because everything is connected via work order, there are potential revenue impacts on the back side for other departments too. it's not as simple as just adding another position when you're talking about reallocation of existing resources. i do think -- definitely from our perspective the efficiency gains, so it wasn't necessarily just be a cost savings where we still may use up the entire budget, but it would allow us to be more efficient with and perform more work too. so it's not necessarily saving us money. it's more realistically we're

going to do more work with what we have. so in that way it is cost savings, but when you factor in kind of overhead costs and kind of the way programatically -- and this is true not just for facilities but for a lot of the work orders between departments. when overhead is incorporated, there are kind of cost modelling that is involved, and it's -- it can be tricky because there are, you know, expenses in one department that end up affecting revenues on another department. so there are a lot of issues that kind of touch a number of departments across the city. >> president, i think it would be maybe a good idea if our commission, through you, could request an opinion from the city attorney on just what it would take for the fire department to be able to employ its own artisans to take care of our plumbing and electrical and

other minor needs of the department on a regular basis, so we need a little independence here from being shackled, quite frankly, to public works. and i think an opinion from the city attorney on just where we are right now and what it would take to give ourselves a little more power over our own domain would be appropriate. so i would request that through you to the commission. >> i know, chief nicholson, do you want to respond to that? i know commissioner [indiscernible] has a comment. >> yes, thank you, madam president. so i just want to also remind everyone, we will have a new city administrator soon, hopefully carmen chiu, and we have a somewhat new department head in alorek at public works, and we are working with or through both of them on this,

and so what we can do is since i'm waiting to hear back from alorek, we can report back to you next commission meeting with possibly more information before we, you know, move ahead with anything to see if we can actually get somewhere before we hit the nuclear button, if you will. we just had a meeting a week ago, so more to follow. >> i appreciate that, chief. i do think that carmen chiu is going to be a fantastic city administrator. i've worked with her for years and have the highest regard for her, and if anyone's practical, she is practical. and if it's more practical for us as a fire department to handle our own repairs at our fire stations, then i think she will find some way to make that happen. so i'm delighted that that's going to happen.

chief, bellow, i had a couple of other questions, and i noticed you had a report on the fire auxiliary reserve, and i want to ask you, are any of our auxiliary reservists in the next class for the academy? have any of them been selected? >> yes, commissioner, two of them are coming to the next class. >> that is great. that is great. they've put in so many hours of volunteer time, month after month, and i just applaud that. i think it's -- those are people that really, really want to be firefighters, as you know, and so they are out there day and night, rain or shine, helping us in a variety of occasions, and so i think it's great, and they should be -- they should be really looked at very hard for potential placements. >> i agree. >> i applaud that. i also wanted to congratulate tom o'connor.

i've worked with him over the years and can't think of a more confident person in the department, and i think -- i lack forward to his doing a real once-over on this whole auxiliary water supply issue, which is always kind of hanging over our heads, and get that on a track that we can go to the public with and we can say these are the plans to fix that issue, and so you can be -- you can rest more quietly. i went over the report so i have quite a number of questions if you don't mind. bear with me while i go through my paperwork here.

the random drug testing program, who is it conducted by and who drugs are you testing for? >> so the program is run by a third party that selects the members that are due every day for testing. our captain of investigative services bureau, captain salvea, is the one that conducts those tests on a weekly basis. i need to go back and tell you exactly the names of the drugs that we're testing. we do six drug tests for that, and also alcohol as well too. >> okay. now that marijuana is legal, is that considered a drug by the department? >> it is still considered a drug by the department. you cannot be on marijuana when you're on duty. there's discussions -- >> [indiscernible]. >> and there's discussion about whether -- but because we have further grants, we're required to keep testing for that, so

that's still, until things change, still a drug that we test for. >> you said a third party does the selection of who gets tested? >> mm-hm. >> who is that third party? is it a company? >> it's a company, yes. it's a company that administers and manages the program, and by taking their selection from -- the bias is taken away from it. it's just a random process they are selected from. >> they are independent and they don't tell you where they're going to be testing. they just do it and then give you the report, right? >> no, what they do is they give us the names of the members that need to be tested. we receive those names and every day he goes to the stations where they are working and tests those individuals. the report goes back to the company. the company is the one that sends the reports on the results of the tests. >> okay, that's good. i just wondered how it was being selected and i'm glad to hear it's an independent company, if you will, that's making those

selections so that's taking away bias or whatnot that could potentially have worked into the system. looking at the -- at adc dawn dewitt's report, i had a number of questions. i think we sort of all of us have voiced our frustration with the slowness in the response from public works. some of our issues and the slowness in terms of building departments getting through with permits and whatnot, and why it takes so long to do everything. i was looking at the electrical where station four is good, has electrical issues to remove the grease. members can't use the exhaust fan or hoodlight. there's a -- stationary engineer. has that been fixed? do we have an estimate on it being fixed? has it been fixed, chief dewitt?

>> i believe it has been addressed. part of that issue is, again, dpw declined the work, and it's a complicated system because the kitchenhood flue passes through the public safety building. it was an access issue for a long time. we weren't sure if it was drafting strong enough. it was a complex issue. it wasn't really straightforward. that really does not a dpw complaint, and i do want to say that dpw's plumbing, i want to give them a shout-out, their plumbing is really responsive and they do have the labor to support our plumbing. i don't want to be criticizing dpw all the time. that issue, that had to go through a couple of stationary engineers, ours and station four and then we had to find an independent person who could actually come out and clean that flue, so there were multiple issues involved with that. it did take a long time, but

we're on it now. >> [indiscernible]. >> i don't have that information for you right now. it's being addressed. we're dealing with it right now or have been recently. >> i notice that fire station 14 they are using portable heaters right now because the heat doesn't work. >> that's right. >> has that been fixed? >> i don't think we'll be able to fix that one. that is one of those issues where a lot of the venting system is -- it's a very large complex issue. it's up to capital improvement. it's not something that bbr can repair. >> well i know using those portable heaters is an extra danger factor, particularly if you're rushing around. so that is concerning. >> they are safe. we don't use the old style electric plug-ins ones.

they look like radiators and they have cut-offs. they are oil-filled. they are pretty safe. they are meant to be left on for long periods of time. >> good to know. what exactly happened with the vandalism and what fire stations, what happened? what was -- >> you dropped out. >> what happened with the vandalism on fire station one? >> when they returned from the service, they found that windows were broken. >> did they break in and steal stuff? >> no, they just threw something on the window. the window broke. this particular window was the new building that it was really hard to replace. i don't know, chief, dewitt, we finished that or completed that yets, but that took a while to complete. >> they ordered the wrong window, so the first window that

came wasn't the right window, so there's a second window on its way, but it's an expensive commercial window. it took a while to get the window. >> chief dewitt i want to thank you for making the weekly status report, getting that from dpw. that's important. that sort of keeps them on their toes, if you will, that we are watching them. i mean, and agreeing, when they do the job quickly and well, we should congratulate them. when they -- when it gets messed up or delayed or done wrong, or whatever, we need to point that out as well. now, it was amazing to find out that at, what, station six, the trash cans are being stolen on a regular basis. >> yes. >> really? where is station six? >> in the castro, near the

castro. it's on -- [indiscernible] by market. we got them a dumpster. yeah, we had to replace with a dumpster finally. they were being stolen every single week. >> why? >> i don't know. i don't mean to laugh, but i don't -- >> chief nicholson, chime in on why? >> yes, sorry, chief dewitt, division three is trying to call you for an urgent issue with the loading fire boats. >> you owe. >> and the storm. >> so. >> okay, i will hang up and get back to you. >> you can handle that and get back to us, i appreciate it. >> sorry to cut those questions off, but it's an important project. >> it's an important project. i -- commissioner, did you have for questions? >> i had a few more questions,

madam president, and i see that assistant deputy chief dewitt has to leave. perhaps we can table these. perhaps chief velow can answer some of them. i noticed under the focus scope program that you had a total of, what, $21 million approved back in 2017, but how much of that money has been spent of that 21 million? maybe that's a question for mr. corso. i'm not sure. >> yeah, i'll have to look into that. there's many packages and programs, like generators and stations and bay doors. i will look into that to know how much we've -- mr. corso, do you know the numbers? >> unfortunately i don't have that off the top of my head, but i can get in the detail. >> mm-hm. >> okay. i was a little bit concerned

with fire station 44. it looked like public works submitted a building permit to dbi in december of 2019 for their sidewalk encroachment permit, and it here is 2021 and apparently you still don't have it. what's happening? why the holdup for over two years? >> one of the things, commissioner, is as you can see the report sometimes this project is on hold due to fundings, funding issues. so sometimes when projects -- you know, we have to borrow from one project to pay another project that is a higher priority, sometimes the funds are put on hold to assist on the one that has the higher priority. when we have only [indiscernible] funding mechanisms through the bonds or the 900,000 or more or less a year that we get on our mains budget, it's very difficult to maintain 50 -- you know, almost 50 buildings. so some of the projects we put

on hold until more funding comes along and we can allocate some of the funding, and when some of the projects do have excess funding, then we can move it back to fix some of the projects. a lot of them in the report says due to funding the project is on hold, and that's exactly the reason why. additionally last year when there were cuts in the budget, some of the funds were taken from us of the budget cuts that we had to do, and we couldn't cut anyone else. that's some of the funds that came from that, to be able to balance the budget, if you may, for the city. >> what was the actual issue? what's the encroachment issue at station 44? >> commissioner, i'll have to talk to chief dewitt about that. i don't know exactly the details on that, but i'll look into that and get back to you. >> anything else, commissioner quinlan? >> i'm going through my report. i did it with a fine-toothed comb, and yes i have some

additional questions. i notice that we have one station engineer, and i know that it would be great to get two. what would it take for us to have that second engineer? second station engineer? i'm sure our chief would love to have two station engineers working for the department. maybe that's part of our discussion when we are talking about giving ourselves a little more independence to make our own repairs. chief? >> thank you, commissioner. yes, i would love to have another stationary engineer. i would love to have our own mechanics, our own -- just sort of a lot of different divisions. however, we have been asked to cut 7.5% this year and another 2.5% possibly this year as well,

and i know mr. corso is going to go over that today, but you know, this city is in dire financial straits right now. so as much as i would love to ask for everything, you have to be strategic and see what we can ask for and make the argument for it. >> well, it's something to keep on the back burner, if you will. it's nice to have in the future. it would certainly be helpful to i think every member of the fire department to have a second backup person to run interference, if you will, and allow these repairs that we need to maintain, that we need to do on a regular basis. the other questions i have are, you know, kind of educational for me. under human resources, you list a vice after every one of these

positions, and what does that mean? so for example deputy chief brian griffinson is now the deputy chief, but vice victor -- what does that mean? >> that means the person that vacated that position retired. so chief retired and that was able to fill the other position. so you're always going to have -- because our staffing doesn't grow, you know, we have to replace one with another. so that's the way we've been forever that i've been in the department how we put it into the reports as far as replacing personnel. >> okay. thank you. and in the human resources area, leave of absence with pay: what exactly is a leave of absence with pay? is it not vacation? is it not sick leave? it is something else? what is leave with pay or leave of absence with pay? >> that could be several things. one of them is our fmla. you know, on the fmla, the

employees have the right to request leave for medical reasons for themselves, for taking care of their families and so forth, and they can use any kind of pay, vacation, sick or whatever they need to do that for that purpose or that time coming. those are the ones that are the most commonly used by our members. when it's a long-term medical leave issue that is not work-related, they can also use that as well too, but we get all kinds of requests for that, and that's how it's done. >> so this is in the fmla. is this additional days over and above what their vacation is allowed to be and what their sick leave would be? >> yes, according to the federal law we are required to provide that for them, absolutely, yes. >> how many days is the given in the fmla in addition to the sick leave and the medical leave? i mean, how many days of absence with pay can a person get? >> i'll have to ask if there's a maximum. i know we're required -- >> but it's in the fmla, i

should ask? >> i need to ask if there's a maximum allowed. i know there are some guidelines for that, further guidelines for that, and i'm not sure how much there are, if there's a maximum allowed. i know we have members that take longer than others. it depends on the issues. if it's a family issue, taking care of relatives and so forth, if they have the right documentation, we're required to do it too. >> not negativing the need for it, but i'm just questioning how many days are given or how many days can a firefighter request leave of absence with pay? >> i will follow up with that question soz if there's any maximum of days. normally when they request it, any leave with pay, so obviously operational issues and concerns and so forth, but i'll have to check with hr for that. chief? >> if i may, yes, thank you. just to be clear, so we're all sort of on the same page here,

this is not days off in addition to the days that they have earned that they have in their bank. this is whatever is in their bank they have earned for vacation or sick pay. so we are not adding to that. we are just allowing them to use it at a rate that is higher than normal. for example, one person is, you know, a firefighter is given two weeks off per year, so they would use that out of their bank, and then they need, you know, three months to take care of their mother. they are going to use their own time. we are not giving them more time. we are just allowing them to use it. if that makes sense. >> all right, well, that's very helpful, chief. thank you. and i didn't understand what intermittent leaves with pay meant. what is an intermittent leave? >> so when a member requests, the same situation, but it's not a continuous leave. so i'm not off for a month in a row. i need days to take care of my ailing mother because she has to

go to medical appointments on this day and this day, the member can request specific dates but not -- i mean, not consecutive in their work schedule. >> okay. all right. that's all my questions, chief velo. thank you very much for your indulgence and thank you, madam president. >> thank you, commissioner cleveland. i believe commissioner covington has been patiently waiting. >> yes, i have been, but i didn't mind at all. well, this is the first time i have heard, and we have been talking about in this -- you know, dcw conundrum for a while, but this is the very first time i've heard that that is per the charter. that makes it much more difficult to change. the charter is our local, you know, constitution, and to

change it you'd need a lot of money, and it ultimately would go to the citizens of san francisco for a vote. so i think that our energies would probably be better spent elsewhere in trying to figure out some ways to accommodate these things. because it is -- it is a challenge, and dpw takes its cut, but i understand why, you know, when i heard "the charter," i was like, oh, that makes sense because, you know, we have to remind ourselves that historically large public institutions have had a problem with corruption, so this is why these safeguards are in place, to make sure that no side deals are made.

so then you have a system of checks and balances, just as you do with the federal government. but there are ways that we can ameliorate some of these things, and i agree, i think that chiu is going to be a fabulous, fabulous person to work with. so she will -- if there's a way, she'll find the way. so that really is good news for us. oh, and i just wanted to follow up on commissioner cleveland's comments and questions regarding being off with pay. is it not always the tradition in the department that if i am a firefighter and i don't need all of my vacation days that i can give days to someone who does

need vacation days for family matters? >> so there's limited ability to do that, and that's when you have members that are on what we call catastrophic leave, that we can donate time to them. and sometimes it's only sp time, sick time. sometimes it includes vacation too. so it all depends. it's limited circumstances. again, like chief said, this is their own time that they are using. they are exhausting all the time that they have available for any purpose that the law allows them to use. >> okay, so are any of those people included in your numbers? the numbers that are paid leave days? >> so if a member is on leave with pay, regardless where that pay came from, so if someone's

donated, let's say for catastrophic leave, sick time or vacation time, so forth, that member now owns that pay and is using that, so members are able to donate that when members are in trouble or they need some time, so yes, that would be included in those numbers as well too. >> okay, i just wanted to mention that for commissioner cleveland, that you know, it's just a way of helping people out but there is no additional money that's being expended because people are donating -- it's almost their time to you. not you personally but . . . you understand. all right, well chief velo, i enjoyed your report. i thought it was very good, and i'm going to put the glossary at the top of the heap of papers for next time. i just had a few questions -- i have so much paper here, just

lake commissioner cleveland, so this may be a bit out of order. one of the things that i have here is -- okay. is base challenges of 96, you know, with the training, so the police department is now using that facility? so is that why we're in a time crunch and a space crunch? i'm on page -- >> which commissioner? >> it's the november. >> november, okay. >> mm-hm, november, page six. in the middle of the page.

it says virtual locations are to do cooling testing. >> correct, so -- >> and dpw might want to let the new commissioners know what cone testing is. >> yes, i'll start with that. cone testing is when we test our new members, members testing on their driving skills, we use cones to simulate the street or the width. we have a specific dmv cone test set up that we have to pass up every member that's a new member that's able to drive our apparatus with -- it's dictated by dmv to be able to drive our apparatus too. so i'm going to ask chief about the contents that i believe pd has new contact with the board and they are taking their share of the space at pier 96 for their training, therefore we're not allowed to. we've been working with -- to be able to train there too, and any other site that we can get our

hands on. because as you know, our apparatus are quite large and require a lot of space, so we've been working really well. chief, anything you want to add to this? >> good evening, president, mr. vice-president, chief department, yeah, the police have the use of pier 96, and they are -- the way they operate, they leave their cones up 24/7. so if we go out and borrow the site, we have to remove their cones, put ours up. when we're done, take ours down and put theirs back. it becomes a huge logistical challenge, and scheduling with them is quite different because they do the cruisers and the motorcycles. so we need to be able to plan out in advance pretty far ahead in order to be able to use that area. so far we've been lucky with the -- in using theirs because they haven't had very many events due to covid, but even there we are getting squeezed a little bit as they are bringing

things back. >> well, thank you for that, chief. while you're at that, can you talk a little bit more about the pier 80 and that being used? that's also page 6. >> i don't know who has access to pier 80, but we have not been able to use that. >> all right, because there's a mention that tesla is now using that pier, and i hope that the city is charging tesla quite a bit for that. do you have any information, chief velo? it's in your report, again, on -- >> yeah. again, we're looking for any option that we can. that's one of the options we're looking at. the port is, like you said, charging tesla for sure for this. it is can one of the major areas that they use for storage. so we're looking at any possible venue that we can use to practice our apparatus, because we don't want to practice in

regular streets, obviously. >> yes, certainly. okay, let's see. i'm now on page 13, and the health, safety and wellness. this is [indiscernible]. there's mention again of the covid-19 story video. can you provide a link to that video for the commissioners? i for one would like to see it, and i think the other commissioners would like to as well. >> i can certainly do so. i will send that to send to you. >> thank you for that. and i see that women firefighters a study meeting, and what is the topic of conversation in those meetings? >> so chief parks has been very involved in getting all kinds of studies done for our members.

this has to do with cancer and the effect that cancer in our women firefighters, our female firefighters are. if you recall a few years ago, there was a study done that was higher than any other department and why is that. so it's a continuation. it's a continuation of following up with some of the folks, and we continue to engage any agency that wants to help us study health relations in the fire department. we are coming up with another program that we are really looking forward to with -- it's called enforce national fire reporting system that we will hopefully be invited to participate where we can track exposures for our firefighters, not just in the fire side, cancer related to the future, but also expanding to covid. chief has been very aggressive in looking out for my programs that we can get to make sure that we can help understand the issues that affect the firefighters and how it affects

them in the future. as you know, we don't know what covid's going to do to our firefighters, so having a way to track firefighter exposure to covid can show it's job-related will help a lot. >> okay, thank you for that information. and i see on page 17 that there's another mention of a video lecture on covid-19 and safety. >> i believe that's the same one because the doctor was actually on that video, so they are both -- they worked together on that video. let me see. we have -- >> he said i got one with personal stories and that this one was a little different. i wasn't clear on that. >> -- videos out. we've been sharing webinars from all over the country to our members to share some of the information we get. we had one sha we shared a

nationwide webinar about the covid effects and how to track and so forth and look for. so i have to look on which one she's talking about. if i do find there's a different one, i'll share with you. we do share all the time, but sometimes playing the video might be difficult if you're outside our network, so i'll make sure that you can get access for you. >> okay, thank you. that would be great. still on page 17 of the city is conducting its own self-testing of the department of public health. can you talk a little bit about that? >> yes, so as you may recall, we have access to the city test site at -- as city employees and essential workers. however we've been getting some abilities to test ourselves, and it's basically a self-test swab, and the chief and i were trained today on how to do that. basically you give the swab to

the employee. the employee puts it in his nose and puts it in a vial and then we send it to dpa health op which in reasonable time will get the results from us. now the patients we had at the beginning of the program we started in november is the turnaround time was too long. we have decreased that number of time that it takes to get a result back, so now we are working on that. so some of the recruits in the academies were doing weekly testing. we used that method, so our rescue captains and some of ems staff and now some of the folks that are groing to be vaccinated will also be trained on that as well too, so that's how we can do it. it's a self-test that we can send to the dph health lab. >> very good. well, thank you. there was a [indiscernible] that went through the report that i

enjoyed very much, and that was reduce, re-use and recycle. i think that the collection of the cooking oil in the department is a very, very good idea, and of course the utilization of online forms now, this is page 27, this is research and planning, the assignment office is now using online forms as opposed to having to send out all the paper forms. and then there was also mention of, let's see, on page 33, to also mitigate the edition of the new floating fire stations, can you talk about that? because that sounds very

interesting. >> so in this case -- >> the dilapidated pier. >> yeah, so the bay conservation development commission, the bcdc requires that because we're creating a footprint and basically using that, they require us to remove specific amount of fill from the bay. so what they did is they took pier 70, which is a wharf, and -- that was the requirement that if we put some structure in the bay, we have to remove something else. we -- what's not allowed is to keep building on the bay, even if it's a floating structure, so that's what the agreement was with the city and the port, and that's how we were able to accomplish the goal of keeping the structures on the bay the way they are and not grow. >> very good, thank you. and let's see, i think i had

just a couple of other questions, but you know, chief velo, i will just call you with those questions, all right. and congratulations, tom o'connor. we spoke about his promotion, but i did not congratulate you publicly, so i do so with a big hug. all right. i think that's all i have for now, madam president. >> thank you very much, commissioner covington. any other questions from commissioners? seeing none, i have a few for you, chief velo. i want to first of all thank you very much for the glossary of

acronyms, and there will be a consequence for putting it at the back because i made my whole list of acronyms and then filled them in as i went through the report until i got to the end and then saw that many of them were there. so you know, it's -- but i appreciate it. it's very helpful because you all speak a different language than some of us speak, so thank you. i just had a couple of questions. more concerning to me, i saw that there was an issue with the ferara fire apparatus and that the inspection trip was canceled because of covid, which makes sense. i did not know what tda, tom

david adam, meant. and i'm just trying to get a sense, are we okay with these new apparati? what's going on there? >> so i'm going to -- but ferara factory is in luciana, and we know the prevalence of covid there too. also our members of the equipment who are the ones that inspect the apparatus didn't feel safe traveling to that too. now the compromise they reached was they brought the vehicle here, the truck, so you have it driven from the back, the tail. the compromises was to bring one, look at it, make a run through the city and they just went back. chief dewitt, anything else you want to add? >> i can just add that we tried to do a video walk-through, a

teams meeting inspection of the apparatus, and it wasn't really good enough. you need to get on the apparatus and climb around and see if you can get in, out, the handholds are in the right place to walk up and down the ladders, if the compartmentation is correct. you need to be there with the apparatus to do the inspection. now that our members have been vaccinated, they have arranged to bring the apparatus down to riverside, california where we'll be able to do the final inspection of the engine. the ladder truck had several issues that need to be corrected and addressed, so that apparatus was driven back to louisiana by the ferara member. i think we're moving forward now. the last visual walk-through inspection we had with the engine did go well. >> good, thank you. second question is am i correct to think that the number -- the fact that the bids for the host

tenders having been cut down was a financial decision? >> [indiscernible] actual number of bidders. >> i'm sorry, i was -- your voice was wobbly there, which isn't like you, chief velo. i think it was webx. >> so the fe i have for you is the number of host tenders or the bids you're speaking about? >> the way i read it, it was the number of post-tenders that being requested was decreased, and i was wondering is that because we need fewer host tenders or is that because of money? >> unfortunately because of money and large -- the city, they ask us to eliminate two of them from the budget. we were allotted five, one funded by the state and four funded from the city, and the city took two away from us.

>> okay. all right. got it. the other question i have, and i know we want to finish with this, but when i read the november and december, we seem to have a number of failing generators at our stations, and i'm just -- it appeared to me that either repairs or -- i don't know if you replace. i don't know, but that they are [indiscernible] has been put on hold because of money. that was clear in your report, or funding, i should say, rather than money. does this pose any safety concern? i saw the alert that went out

yesterday about emergency generators given what the weather was supposed to be, et cetera, and yeah, it just made me concerned, and i didn't really understand. >> so a couple of things that chief dewitt i think already mentioned there is a lifespan for those generators. the housings corrodes, the mechanisms fail with time, and because we don't have a constantly a person that can look at the pieces, the parts, the belt and so forth, that eventually pays out at the end when we have failures. now we have the ability to rent generators in order to make the firehouses function, so we're not going to have a firehouse that's not going to function. however, we do have a number of generators that are due for replacement that some of the -- project addressed that too, but the more money has been taken away from that, less money has been given to us. that is compounding on the years. so we are trying to address it,

and when some of them are failed, we have some long-term rentals. ivory coast station 39 had a long-term rental for one of them. we're not going to keep the station shut down, but we want to keep those key pieces of equipment functioning at all times. >> that seems to be the sort of trend of things at this point. okay. i appreciate that. thank you. and my last question is i don't know why i think it's because i read -- i'm reading the big book that you gave me, which you'll regret having ever given me. we have a lot of fire hydrants that appear to me, the untrained eye, to be in really nasty condition. you know, rusted, just not in very good condition, and my question is, i know that's not the fire department anymore.

i know it's dpw, and how do we put pressure on dpw to make sure these -- i don't know if they work all rusted or not. i know they get tested regularly, i believe, but if you could address that for me because, you know, i take a picture almost of every fire hydrant i walk by now because i have concern over how many of them appear, at least. >> so a couple of things. it's actually puc. >> i'm sorry, apologies. >> we are the user end of the product, in this case the hydrants, for our apparatus at fires. you'll be surprised that even though they look rusty, they still work, but we have a program, and it's also depending on funding as well on -- now you will see some are replaced in the last three years and they have a new look, and you can see

the new ones. we were blessed to have so many in a section that we have, but that's it. it requires a lot of maintenance over the years, and some of them, they could be replaced. >> okay, i appreciate that. i think i will hold my other questions for a future meeting, and i thank you for that. any other questions for chief velo or chief dewitt? i assume the new fire station is okay? >> yes, fortunately for us it wasn't affecting our fire house. the construction equipment was blowing away and some of the dinghies that the marine unit had brought to work on the barge have unmoored and floated away, so they are out there now dealing with it. >> well, they will find them.

they'll rescue them, actually. all right. any further questions? okay. madam secretary? >> item five, fire department operating budget, fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. presentations from mark corso, deputy director of financial planning on the fire department's operating budget for commission reviews and discussion. >> and director corso could just say there's no money, right? >> yeah, just one slide. no. good evening, madam president, mr. vice-president, commissioners, chief, command staff, marine, mark corso, finance and planning to present on the next item which a lot of the topics have been discussed in previous items, but it's just to give a little brief presentation and overview on our budget and more of a discussion on priorities, challenges, et cetera. not an action item, just an item

for discussion, so i just want to give a brief overview and then happy to get into any of the detail that's been provided in your packet, given that level that you desire, but i'll just start with a brief presentation. let me just load that real quick. all right, can you see that? >> yes. >> here is an overview just reminding on last meeting, overview of, a very high level overview of our base budget, what's been approved already. nothing in here is what's being proposed. it's been approved. it's last year and we're just kind of refining that as we move forward with our submittal, and then just to kind of highlight some of our -- the mayor's priorities, departmental priorities and then we touched

on a number of them, but a number of budget challenges that we have going forward, and then just open it up for questions and discussions that you would like. so just a kind of brief overview of -- i went over this last meeting, but just an overview of the budget instructions, so the city is looking at over 650 million projected deficit over the next couple of years and all departments have been requested to reduce their general fund amount by 7.5%, and then also propose a 2.5% contingency in both years. so the request has been ongoing cuts in the first year and then additional cuts in the second year. so for us, the 7.5% equates to almost $6 million. so you're looking at approximately $8 million of proposed reductions that have been requested. departments have been requested to prioritize core services, and obviously the public safety department our core services impacts the city and a number of other departments as well. and then we talked a little more

about priorities, but emphases on racial equity, just equity in general in all departmental proposals. so here's an overview of the timeline, kind of budget discussion here at the commission. we have another meeting on february 10. it will be more of our formal proposal for review and potential approval. we have to submit a budget to the mayor's office on february 22. june 1 is when the mayor's budget is due to be balanced and submitted to the board of supervisors, and then throughout june, as in previous years, we have departmental budget hearings at the budget and finance committee, and that budget is then referred to the full board for consideration and eventual approval. again, this is the tepttive schedule. this is the more normal schedule. last year was a little off-kilter because of the covid pandemic, obviously, so depending on how things go, this could be subject to change, but right now we're anticipated to resume our more normal schedule.

so the next few slides correspond to the more detail in your packet. this is a high-level summary of that kind of budget document in your packet. i'm happy to walk through that to my degree you would like, but i thought i would just highlight the main key points and then kind of talk through a couple of graphs too. so this is our base budget. our base budget is what was approved last year for both this year and next year. it's not what the department is proposing but is what was already approved last year, and so there are certain issues we're working with the mayor's office on and benefits that we feel need to be adjusted in our base, so we will continue to work with them. last year's process, once covid happened, it kind of got expedited. we didn't have a chance to have full conversations with the mayor's budget office to address some of these questions, so we will be doing that over the next few months as we continue. so this is just kind of a high level type of expenditure that we're looking at. so obviously you can see, and

i'll touch on it in another couple slides, salary and benefits are the primary cost driver for our output of expenditures. we have a number of, you know, other areas, materials and supplies. you see as we talked about, we have about a million dollars, 940,000 for capital, facility maintenance, which is intended to cover, as chief nicholson had mentioned, all of our facilities. so that's obviously driving a number of issues that we've had in the past. we have a number of work orders with other departments, so salary and benefits, and when you include, like, worker's comp, other things that are directed reported to supporting that, it equates to about 92% of our overall budget, so that is pretty significant. this is a similar kind of look at how we spend our budget, but more so by the area or division rather than the type of expenditure, so you can see here clearly looking at the operations as well as the airport, that's predominantly where our funding goes as far as

the type of division, that same type of use. so front-line operations is quite key, and that's really what our budget supports. we have infrastructure, we have a lot of deferred maintenance on equipment and vehicles, and facilities, so our -- we have very limited kind of infrastructure funding. a lot of it is just dedicated front-line operations. and you can see here in the next slide that this kind of a visual impact to kind of show exactly that issue. it's kind of a visual representation of the lack of flexibility we have in our budget, so when we have on one side the vast majority of our budget going to salary and benefits and the vast majority of it going to operations, that shows that the vast majority of our budget is going to supporting front-line operations, and that leaves a very limited budget for all the other items that support directly and indirectly those front-line operations. so that comes into the challenges that we face when we talk about our budget. we'll get into that in a little

bit too. so that's an overview of kind of where our money goes, and then sometimes the question is where does our money come from, and we are predominantly a general funds department. it's about two thirds of our budget. it's supported by the general fund. in addition to that we have some state sales tax revenue, funding from the airport to support operations there, funding from work orders from other departments, like the port, et cetera, to fund operations there. we get -- we collect revenues for fire prevention and ems, and those all support our budget in some capacity, but for the vast majority of it, we are funded by the general fund. so as i mentioned before, what the document before you represents our base budget is, and that's the budget that was approved and that we are working off of for this budget process. it includes anything known and some assumptions about salaries and benefits, so any implications, health and dental benefits, requirements, assumptions, as well as any

changes that have occurred since the budget was approved in october, and there are big areas of uncertainty hanging over the budget, both in the current year we're working through now and then the two-year budget process, mainly related to covid, city revenues, federal relief, those kinds of issues. there are still a number of things as we work ourselves out of the covid pandemic that have huge budget implications for sure. so as far as in general, usually have a few more initiatives that were funded in the previous year. unfortunately last year it was majority of our changes have come from budget reductions. we were funded for, as weave talked about in the past, the response team. so that was funded in our budget. that will be shifting to prop c funding. i say bond funding on here, but technically it's kind of a special revenue fund. there were questions about that funding being freed up, but that has been approved, so we are

working with dph to transition the costs for that program over to that funding. but for the majority of the changes in our budget, they were reductions, and whether they were equipment and capital, one-time reductions or reductions of the funding we had set aside for new hires, which we were fortunately able to restore via grant, those were the main changes for the department, and on top of that we are monitoring departmental revenues, so obviously like every other city department that takes revenue, we did see revenue impacts as a result of covid from -- mainly from fire presentation, for reduction in work, reduction in events where we would staff. there's no public assemblies, obviously, with covid, so as we see those revenues hopefully start to recover, and then in addition on the e.m.s. side, we saw at least initially a significant drop in call volume at the outset of the covid pandemic, and that has fully ramped up itself, so we will be monitoring the impacts of that over the next year and over the

next few months for budget impact as well. so speaking briefly to budget priorities from the mayor's office obviously prioritized core services of departments. become more efficient, do more with less, i guess. also as i mentioned the prioritization of equity, racial equity, but equity overall. mental health and homeless initiatives. these are kind of things that are every year a mayor's office priority, but they continue to be, especially during covid times. also the city's continued response to covid as we are a big part of, both in the emergency responses we've been since the on-set of the pandemic, but as the chiefs had mentioned before, our participation in the distribution of vaccines and our involvement in the recovery for the city, that is a big piece of it, along with the chief had mentioned a lot of the work we were doing with small businesses

and permitting and plan review to help the economic recovery piece as well. so i think in general, and this is through not just in this year, but in general a lot of the department's operations, both e.m.s. and fire suppression, as well as outreach, fire prevention, they are all closely aligned with the mayor's budget priorities. we do provide a crucial emergency service. we're the front line of support for a number of residents and visitors to the city, so our operations very closely align with mayoral priorities. as far as our specific priorities, we have a number of needs, obviously, throughout the department. these are kind of our main priorities, so kind of the continuation of front line, e.m.s. and fire suppression services. as i mentioned, we're a crucial safety net for the residents and visitors of san francisco. we have been extremely busy during covid times, and just expanded the scope of work with our participation in a number of the city's covid initiatives. just being resources for the city and the city's response to

and eventual recovery from the pandemic. so that's something we want to focus our resources on and continue. we have a number of priorities related to internal and external equity. we still have -- i think there were a couple of meetings ago there was a presentation on the racial equity action plan, that document you see on the right. so we are working closely with that committee and aligning kind of analysis of departmental initiatives to ensure equity both internally and externally moving forward as we do our budget process planning. and in addition, supporting our employees. i think that's a key during these very stressful times, both resources for mental, physical and emotional health for employees. we started a number of initiatives, but there's always more we can do. there's been need to recognize for additional resources to support the hard-working employees of the department. and then in addition, all of our

[indiscernible] have been budget conversations. they are all outlined and they are all a number of the goals of the department's strategic plan. so we are currently in the midst of a refresh of the strategic plan, but we're looking at the progress we made as well as what the next two years will look like, and then all of our budget asks -- our eventual budget asks and conversations surrounding the budget will be aligned with what we have outlined in the strategic plan. so challenges, obviously there's a number of challenges. the biggest one would be the size of the reduction request and the overall deficit facing the city. we on one side are trying to balance the difficulty of budget reductions requested of all departments to kind of let our staffing requirements are and the scope of services that we've been providing, and as that scope has expanded over previous years, just kind of balancing that in light of budget reductions. so we have a very limited

flexibility with staffing and minimum staffing requirements on a daily basis, so we don't have the ability to move folks around to -- for new projects or something like that because if we take folks out of the field and assign them to a new project, as great as that project may be, we still have to backfill them in the field in order to maintain staffing requirements, so we do not have a lot of flexibility, and so we try to communicate that obviously with the mayor's office and any new initiatives that may come up. we have, as been discussed, we had a good discussion on capital, but equipment is just all over the department. we do have an existing level of need in areas all over the department that we are trying to prioritize. we don't have funding for everything, obviously. chief nicholson has mentioned prioritizing, like, the -- how it would be nice to have additional personnel to assist with trades and a variety of things. we do have to look at all of our level of needs and prioritize them, unfortunately, because

there isn't -- funding is definitely an issue and it's not something that is easily funded to make sure that we can meet our needs. we definitely are lacking in certain areas. so our covid response obviously is a big piece of it, both internally and externally. it has how we are dealing with that from a staffing perspective, as well as with the city's response. there are obviously health implications, but there's also fiscal implications too. you had heard some of the data on the current number of people with covid and on quarantine, so obviously with the rollout of the vaccine we're hoping that improves it, but that does have an economic impact as well to the department, so we'll be monitoring that as we move forward with the budget year. i touched on a little bit on the economic uncertainty part, not just for us but in the city as a whole, and that kind of depends on how the city recovers from the pandemic, and then just kind of what's been touched on in

spresk terms with regards to capital and facilities is just kind of the long-term impacts of infrastructure budget reductions, and so for equipment and facilities, those are mainly looked at when there's budget reductions they are mainly looked at the first kind of easy reductions, but added up over time you end up with the issue that we are talking about now, and with regards to the state of our facility and deferred maintenance, those things aren't really prioritized during budget reduction time, and even in good times as well. but that infrastructure or lack of attention or fiscal attention to those infrastructure needs do cause long-term problems, and obviously we have a number of them with our facilities as well as a number of different areas in our budget as well. so with that, i wanted to open up for any questions for discussions. happy to review the other documentation that was provided, but happy to answer any questions.

>> thank you, director corso. i see the first hand is vice-president rodriguez. >> thank you for your report. i don't like budget reports. i was talking to chief nicholson earlier. i just think how do you continue to do what you need to do when they are asking you to cut money? i got a question on -- it's just a clarity thing. i don't understand what it was. the san francisco fire department for years based on the operating budget, and on page 6 i see something that said city college, $300,000, and i'm just kind of curious what that refers to. >> absolutely. so there's a couple projects we

have in our budget. for example there's a mutual aid disaster project. those projects are specifically the city college one is we have an inspector service agreement with city college and we work with them and the chief and his staff for new recruits and probationary firefighters. so we essentially enrol those folks into a class, a course at city college that covers our training academy, and so they get credit, and some enrol in city college, so we pay for their registration, they earn credits and they have all the resources available to them, but we do get revenues on the back end of that too. so we split some revenues with them that they get from the state, and so we allow those revenues to come back into our budget and we then use them to fund training initiatives and other initiatives in the department. >> okay, thank you. and then the last question i

have, not to beat -- it's not a dead horse, but you talked about maintenance and, you know, i don't know who -- i guess that's the way chief nicholson's report because the negotiations that are going on with the city, but real quick, the state fire marshal passed a law that anybody working on fire sprinklers had to be -- had to have the same certification, so because of that, that's why -- my union. because of that universities, the airport, different agencies contacted us and said we need to hire some of your fire sprinkler s because they are accredited. that's the law in the state of california. so i don't think it's as complicated as a charter and all that, because there would have been city employees is what they are, and then they get assigned

to -- as i said, you got 50 buildings, there's no reason that nobody can understand that you don't need plumbers and electricians and painters to have on staff. and you know, we all know that when you let something go -- just like your car. when you let it go, it's going to cost you more in the end, so i would hope that, you know, you could, over the years, show the cost of maintenance and how different it would have been if you would have had the maintenance that was really required, instead of letting something go because you didn't have a choice and then you have to pay for something new. so anyway . . . like i said, maybe -- i guess it's better to wait until chief nicholson comes back and lets us know what the results were of the negotiations that they are doing right now.

thank you. >> thank you. do other commissioners have any comments they wish to make? i'm going to go to commissioner covington this time. >> thank you, madam president. i do have a couple quick questions. mr. corso, on page 8, the total [indiscernible] of funds, are these [indiscernible] municipal funds? because i know that we did get some grant money for [indiscernible]. i don't see that requested anywhere in your chart or your list of . . . >> yes, this is recurring sources of funds. this is from what was approved last year, so at that time we did not have those funds incorporated formally into the budget, so that will be in the

process this year, but this is generally the recurring funds that are on an annual basis. >> okay. and are there any other possibilities that you can think of that we can add to this list of sources for funds? something we haven't tried and we need to try? >> we are looking at that. we do a comprehensive review of all revenues that we have. i know there's obviously a reluctance for new fees or new costs for the public, but we are looking -- anything we have that would need to be as far as a fee revenue increase would be -- or a new fee, i should say, would need to be formally approved by the boortd. we are having those discussions, but at this time i think we're just looking at the fees that we have currently. >> that's good to know that

those discussions are taking place, because i think it was the $400 million deficit the board will fully understand why some fees need to be raised. and the board of course they have all sorts of competing needs on the part of all the [indiscernible] so i'm glad to know that's being looked at, a slight increase in fees. is there any other opportunity that might be on the horizon? >> we are looking at a number of -- as i mentioned, we're looking at shifting some of the costs for the pre-crisis response team on to the prop c funding, so that would free up

some savings in our budget. as far as new programatic things, we are limited in the scope of, like, things we can charge for. we're exploring in addition to just re-evaluating current fees, we're exploring a number of supplemental ambulance reimbursements. there's a number of kind of legislative pieces that are going through the state in various phases, so we're closely monitoring that in the sense that it would allow us to collect more on already existing calls that we have. >> very good. the state is in a similar situation, so it's slim pickings out there. all right, thank you. i think that's all of the clarification that i needed at this time. >> okay, thank you, commissioner covington. somebody else -- ah, commissioner cleveland. >> madam president, first i'd like to 100% support the

vice-president rodriguez's comments, and i think any way we can make our repairs of our facilities, our 50 buildings, if you will, more efficient, more timely, it will save us money in the long run and certainly be better quality of life for our firefighters and all those firehouses. i had a question of director corso regarding the prop c bond funding that's going to be transitioned to the department. approximately how much of that -- how much money are we requesting from dph? >> so we are currently working on that. to fund the current level of staffing that was approved during the board phase last year, there was a kind of some seed money put in our budget, but during the budget negotiations that -- the scope of the program expanded. it's about $3.5 million per year to support those personnel. any expansion of that at this time is still under discussion, but that kind of supports our

current level or what will be when the full program is rolled out i believe later in april, that will maintain that level of resources for the entire year. >> so to maintain what we're doing basically will cost us $3.5 million. hopefully we'll get that back from dph, correct? >> correct. >> okay. who monitors prop f compliance? >> who monitors it? i think -- [indiscernible] on a daily basis, but as far as budgetary impacts to it? >> i'm just thinking in this time of covid crisis, i mean, i guess wouldn't -- couldn't it be temporarily set aside if we needed to do so? you know, the response team and other things. i wondered if there was any latitude in the prop f for the

chief to make some reassignments of personnel. >> i think in the technical language of the legislation there's mechanisms for modifications to it, but i think the chiefs and throughout these years the mayor's office have been fully supportive of maintaining staffing levels established by prop f, and so i don't think there's been anything proposed to that regard. >> okay, my final question, on page 8 you talked about the general funds support. we are asking at this present time from the board of supervisors $275 million of general fund support. is that correct or is that . . . $6 million reduction or without? >> without is what our current

levels are established for currently. >> okay. that's all my questions. thanks very much. >> thank you. thank you, commissioner cleveland. any -- ah, commissioner nakaja. >> thank you, madam president. thank you very much, director corso, for your comprehensive very real presentation in terms of the numbers. in terms of the timeline, on february 10 it says that you need the department to [indiscernible] final budget and commission approval. at this point am i to assume that by february 10 that we will reflect a 7.5% reduction, $6 million? by february 10? >> at this time we are exploring

all options related to that, but i would anticipate that in [indiscernible] we would confirmation with a budget [indiscernible] impact on front-line services, which is something we're obviously trying to avoid and is a priority for both the department and the mayor's office. so without that and with the limited flexibility we have, i would anticipate we are not getting close to -- [indiscernible]. >> okay. in terms of that february 10, the terminology, and please correct me if i'm wrong, director corso, it doesn't seem feasible for us to assume the 7.5%, $6 million cuts with the [indiscernible] to provide direct services to our city.

and so wherefore [indiscernible] come with a budget that takes into consideration that equation between [indiscernible]. >> absolutely. [indiscernible]. >> is that additional 2 million going to be reflected in the february 10 presentation to the commission? >> we will note it. i think as far as [indiscernible] 7.5% cut is a significant reduction [indiscernible] so we would anticipate it would be treating that as a [indiscernible] and having [indiscernible]. >> okay, you cut out a little

bit on me, director corso. the last part was how are you going to regard that 2.5 additional, what was that you said? >> we would regard it much in the same way as the 7.5%. there are probably some areas where we're looking at as far as meeting a portion of the budget reductions. we're still discussing those items, but in light of the impacts to service, as well as the needs that we have, i anticipate that would be treated similar to the 7.5% whereas a reduction in that size would have a significant impact to front-line services given the structure and the flexibility currently in our budget. >> in terms of our mandate on the city and the mayor's office, and i understand your narration in terms of what you can offer up [indiscernible] budget despite the order that we need to go through a cut of $6

million and additional 2.5, am i to assume that we might approach this on a priority in terms of dealing with the 6 million, 7.5 first and then secondary to that the 2.5, or are you going to look at it as a cumulative total difficult of 8 million going into february? >> i believe we're kind of looking at it as cumulative because the justification across both the reduction requests, just given the size of them and their impacts to the department, we are treating them as being consistent in how we're treating them for sure. >> you use the terminology, what was it, was it -- what was the term you used? >> yeah, consistent.

we are treating them consistent because of the justification or the impacts would be the same in both regards. >> okay. and to our fellow commissioners, we have a mandate of [indiscernible] deal with as well. isn't that correct, mr. corso? >> i'm sorry, i didn't hear that. can you repeat that? >> i said that in lieu of this instruction that was budget deficit 7.5, 2.5 and it's going to affect direct services, that's a term that -- [indiscernible] we also [indiscernible] the mandate of [indiscernible] which one was it again? >> proposition f. >> right. we have to keep that mandate of proposition f to staff the numbers of our members on a daily basis. is that part of the formula, director corso? >> absolutely. >> all right. thank you very much for your comprehensive report. thank you very much, madam

president, chiefs of the department. >> thank you. thank you, commissioner nakajo. any further questions from the commission? all right. mr. corso, as usual, clear, thorough and just go find some money and it will all be fine. thank you, though. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> there's nobody on the public call-in line. >> okay. then shall we -- i believe there's been a request for our next item, which is the annual statement of purpose, and if there's no objection, i would ask that we continue that to the next meeting. is there any objection from any of the commissioners? hearing none, that's what we'll do, and that will be put on our agenda for the next meeting.

>> okay. item 7, commission report. report on commission activities since last meeting on january 13, 2021. >> all right. anybody have -- ah, commissioner covington. >> thank you, president feinstein. well, i did zoom into the graduation ceremony and thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was fun to see the chief of the department so delighted with the new members to the department, so it was a lot of fun. i couldn't see some people's faces because the camera was a little low, but it was a good way for the family and friends, families and friends to be able to see the graduation.

so thank you for that. >> that's lovely. anybody else? anything to report? all right. hearing nothing else, madam secretary? >> and there's nobody on the public comment line. so we will go to item 8, agenda for next and future fire commission meetings, discussion regarding agenda for next and future fire commission meetings. >> i have to say i think we need to put the annual statement of purpose on that agenda, please. >> okay, and we also have the fire service [indiscernible] to present. >> good. anything else from anybody? what a quiet bunch as ut gets later. >> and there's nobody on the public comment line.

>> they're quiet too. okay. >> mr. corso has his hand up. >> mr. corso? okay. >> apologies. just to add the -- >> of course. >> -- review and approval or potential approval of the budget. >> that makes sense. let's get that on the agenda, hopefully, yes. and i believe, commissioner rodriguez, did you have your hand up? and i apologize that i saw mr. corso first. >> he did have his hand up first. anyway, i got a question. chief nicholson, you said that right now you're in negotiations or at least discussions, which i guess city administration regarding the thought of having, you know, plumbers and et cetera added on, would you be able to report on that by next month?

or there's something that's going to happen between now and then? >> thank you, madam president. i will either include it in my report next time if i have anything further. i know i also have some meetings with each of you in-between meetings, so if i have anything by then i will certainly bring that back to you. >> okay, thank you. >> anybody else? any agenda items? oh, you're quiet, command staff, okay. nobody? ah, commissioner covington. >> thanks again, madam president. i would like to get an update on the new station, was it 35, at the pier?

yeah. just an update on how things are going and what's happening, what's not. as well as the new station 39. so we haven't had reports on those two in a while. >> all right. i think that makes some sense. any problems providing that at the next meeting? i'm going to suspect that there's no problems, so we will add that to the agenda, thank you. >> will that be through one of the chiefs' reports? >> i think the chief of the department, you know, it can be part of her department and she can call on people as needed. >> are you okay with that, chief nicholson? >> unless the chief wants -- chief of the department wants to handle it is fine. >> yes, i can handle.

>> all right. and we'll get a report on chief dewitt's floating dinghies maybe? yes? >> it's all good. everything's under control. >> so fast to respond, okay. very good, congratulations, good. all right, i think we might be wrapping this up. >> item nine is adjournment. >> do i have a motion? >> i move that we adjourn. >> i second. >> all right. >> is everybody in favor? >> yes. >> yes. >> aye. >> we are adjourned. >> all right, thank you, everybody, very much. thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> good morning, welcome. i'm michael lambert, your city librarian. on behalf of the library commission, we're so delighted that you could join us today for this important announcement. i would like to acknowledge our library commissioners that are present, teresa, tanya, pete, john, and dr. lopez. thank you all for being here. madam mayor, welcome. we are so honored that you could

participate in this event. we appreciate your leadership of our city and we are super excited about your announcement today. with that, i will invite you to get us started. maybe i was premature on that. oh, there she is. [laughter] >> did we start already? [laughter] >> i was just welcoming you and thanking you for honoring us with your presence and your leadership. we're super excited about your announcement today. with that, i invite you to get us started. >> all right thank you michael. i appreciate that. good morning everyone. i'm really excited to share some incredible news. as you may know, before i was

mayor and even before i was on the board of supervisors, i served as the executive director in the western edition. i saw how deeply important arts are and in creating a vibrant and diverse community. believe it or not, i used to sing in a choir, dance, and perform, but i was not the best at it. however, the arts connects us to one another. it bridges the gap in our culture by helping us understand each other. they are how we express ourselves during our brightest and happiest moments, and sometimes some of our darkest ones. for people of all ages, arts and culture can help us navigate a world that can be confusing and strange. they can also provide opportunity not only for jobs and income, but for people who are in under served communities to find their voices and to make sure they are heard. that includes the role of our city's poet laureate.

since lauren was made our first poet laureate in 1998, this prestigious honor has showcased san francisco's finest poets from many diverse backgrounds. their work has reminded us how it means to be a san franciscan, it reminus -- reminds us of our diversity and calls attention to our most pressing issues and inspires us to create a more equitable and just society. it inspires young people to search for their voice in a way that may not have -- that they may not have thought was possible before. it opens doors of opportunities for them to pursue their dreams. that is why i'm so excited today to announce our eighth poet laureate. before we get to the big

announcement, i would like to thank and recognize our outgoing poet laureate kim shuck for her imcredible service for our city. she represented our city beautifully through her work and has given her time over the past few years to serve our community. whether teaching at the local colleges, universiies and public schools or helping the library launch their first ever american indian initiative, kim on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, thank you for your service and we would be honored if you close out your tenure with one last reading as poet laureate. >> thank you mayor breed. there we are. i do have a poem. it's called san francisco has a new poet laureate.

pick any bench, stoop, any fourth star in this city or over it. sit quietly, you'll hear the water of time. keys rattling, heart and innovation, war and colonization that only grows on the south side of that mountain right there. you'll hear the poetry of place, popsicle sticks scratching on the curb, jump rope songs, chess moves and love curses. every night in some back room, the future and past in autopsied words, gorilla words shouted at unsuspecting somewhere in north beach. the skyline mutters poems that have been and poems to come. if you stand at the cafe's door too long, you will hear what they choose to call in this moment a poem. old wives tales along valencia,

you can hear the purring of fog as they pass through, the paintings comment quietly on every new show and if your hearing is very good, ambrose's dictionary runs on a certain bar on a certain bar stool and the faint laughter from one of sam's jokes will still grind breath. victims in more languages that you can see, and the unbound seat 3. there are songs of varying and unbaring to found all over the richmond, every bench, every head stone under the sand. paula talks stories at state, at tables and cafes that turned to bars. john's words rattled justice and the voices of those taken in captain jack's war has made them into their own songs too. there is an eighth poet laureat

of san francisco and with the title comes more wealth and words than all the great libraries that have ever been. i would like to add that you will hear a lot about honor and responsibility. there are a couple of tricky things. one of them is that people will steal your pens. i had some pens printed up. i'm not going to say what they say and i don't think they will prevent your pens from being stolen, but they will raise the value of their resale on ebay. i'm going to share with you just very briefly what dr. jose said to me a couple of days after i was named the seventh poet laureate. he said that everything you have done up until this point got you here and none of that will matter. what matters now is what comes next. have a great time and you do know where my kitchen table is when you want to hide. take care.

>> thank you so much kim for that amazing poem. thank you for representing san francisco so well over the past few years. we look forward to seeing what comes next for you. now, it is my great honor to announce our eighth poet laureat. i had the privilege of knowing this individual for many years as he worked and volunteered at the african american art and culture complex. he has mentored men young men and women that came through our doors and taught them how to find their own vote and make themselves heard. his poems are just one of the many ways he fights for racial justice, equity, and human rights. he has shown our community what it means to be a successful poet, as a black man from san francisco. we are incredibly proud of the work he has done so far, especially his commitment to inspiring black men and boys and providing support for young

people in our community. he will continue the work that our ancestors did as they fought for their own voices to be heard. i am beyond excited to see what he accomplishes as the san francisco's eighth poet laureate. i am happy to present tongo martin, the eighth poet laureate. >> thank you madam mayor for this incredible, incredible honor. i prepared some words that i hope i make it through. i'm already filled with tears. >> i'm going to let you have the floor, it's so great to have you. thank you for all the magic you created over the years. as i said earlier, when we work

together at the complex, there were a lot of challenges, especially with our boys and we had unfortunately a lot of violence in the community and just seeing you as this literary figure and inspiring these young people to look at other ways besides, you know, being out in the streets and doing stuff that was happening then, focusing on how poetry, how music is poetry, and how they can really shift their voices to tell their own stories. you brought that to their lives and i know they continue to carry it with them today. so, you have been an inspiration for so many years, directed at so many generations of people. i'm so grateful that you accepted this honor so now i want to turn the floor over to you so that people can know who you are.

if they don't know, now they know. we're looking forward to the work that we know you're going to do to make san francisco proud. so the floor is yours tongo. >> thank you. thank you very much. incredibly humbled and honored. also, deep appreciation to the selection committee. i want to send love to my mother and brother as i am only an extension of their love, imagination, and revolutionary commitment, love to my two powerful sisters and the whirlwind that has nothing on us, love to my family above mud and lava, love to my father and the rest of the village that is not here in the physical form.

i would also like to thank kim shuck for being a leader of poets and beautiful force of the people. a poet of any station is secondary to the people. a poet of any use, that belongs to the energy and consciousness of the people, one of arts most important incarnation is that expression of mass resistance but really what art teaches us with its dominantable energy, the indominantable energy of an idea is evident that it is oppressors themselves who are in the position of resistance. it's bigger than any

imperialistic, cognitively reflected in any generation. the power is ours and it is oppressors who are resisting us, resisting humanity, resisting us pretty well. it's resisting our right to determine our reality, resisting a coming epoch of liberation. mass participation in art is what is always created in san francisco, futurism. san francisco has legend too fearless for me to count myself as one of them. i am from this legendary collection of thousands and thousands of participants, revolutionary history and culture. i'm proud to be one of the anonymous thousands in san francisco who have road these

buses all night, who has been raised in marcus's bookstore, who wants justice for mario woods and alex, who wants freedom. what the people taught me is that unity is the only thing and taught me that individualism, as it is practiced and codified, romanticized in this society is not really about your adventure through life but at its core, unfortunately, individualism is about practicing the selective humanization. other people are only human beings when it suits individual interest. civilism of sorts, that is deeply connected to slavery, both from what the society evolved from and process that addicts you to and power

struggle that alienates ourselves, and at no point do we find the dehumanization of other people, the deanimation of people acceptable, are let alone necessary for an individual journey. so as much as i would love to assign the rest of my days to an individual invention, that time is over. history is heightening, showing us more and more everyday that we're part of people, a people beyond systemic description, and we need the entire pallet of protecting human rights and nurture human curiosity. the madness we see today shouldn't be surprising. these apartheid nativity scenes come home to roast and a

capitalism in crisis, what is mixed in with the parole papers and the environmental racism and program deliverables and passivism. we're in a time of epochal shift where this is opening its arms if we don't open the historical process more critically. where do we go from here? what is our revolutionary practice or more conveniently, it begins with cultural work. it transforms the way that we relate to each other, transforms the way we relate to the earth, to a way that is conducive to liberation. a poet belongs to the energy and consciousness of the people, respecting their spirit.

my only aim as poet laureate is to join with that energy, join with that consciousness in order to create vehicles of unity. events, workshops, readings, publications, these are all just vehicles of unity. i will never tire in building as many as the city can handle. so, meet me at the library. [laughter] >> if you can't make it, i will for sure meet you wherever you are. let me now say rest in power to cure junior and diane, and i will conclude with this poem titled faithless. a tour guide, through the

robbery, he also is. cigarette stand, look at what i did. ransom water and box spring gold, this decade is only for accent grooming, i guess. ransom water and box spring gold to corner store, war gangs, all these rummage junk. you know, the start of mass destruction begins and ends in restaurant bathrooms as some people use and other people clean. are you telling me there is a rag in the sky waiting for you? yes. we should have fit in. warehouse jobs are for communists and now the whistling is less playful and if it is not a city, it is a prison. it has a prison. it's a prison, not a city. when a courtyard talks on behalf of the military issue, all walk

takes place outside the body. a medieval painting to your right, none of this makes an impression. you have five minutes to learn. when a man goes sideways barb wire becomes the roof. did you know they killed the world for the sake of giving everyone the same back story? watching indiana, fight yourself into the sky, oh penny for when. it goes up and over your headache, marking all aspirations, the first newspaper i ever read and the storefront, they left us down where the holy spirit favors the bathroom. for those in the situation offer 100 ways to remain a loser. watching those clock, what are we talking about again? the narrater at the graveyard, 10 minute flat. the funeral only took 10 minutes. you're going to pin the 90s on me, all 30 years of them? why should i know the difference

between sleeping and the pyramid of corner stores on our head. we die right away. that building wants to jump off other buildings, those are down tone decisions. what evaporated on earth that we can be sent back down? thank you all again, much love. i want to give the whole roll call right now but that's too many. much love to all my family and thank you again madam mayor. thank you. san francisco for better for worse, which you are raised, you know? >> thank you so much tongo. just so you know, the chat is blowing up. there is so much love and excitement for what you will bring to san francisco and i just want to thank you so much.

thank you for the incredible poem and your inspiration and just everything that you continue to do. i look forward to what you will accomplish as our city's poet laureate. i can't wait. it's going to be exciting, especially when we open up. when you talk about meet me at the library, it's like that's your slogan now. [laughter] >> so we're going to take it to another level. that's your slogan, meet me at the library. hitting all the libraries all over san francisco. >> that's right. >> just inviting the people in and really bringing it back to some of the basics. you know, with the way technology is nowadays, sometimes we get away from just picking up a book or picking out a book or looking through an index card. i guess we don't look through index cards to find books anymore. sitting there and having discussions, i'm looking forward

to what you're going to bring and really excited about that. i really want to thank the people that nominated you. you know, there was a really compelling, you know, letter of support that you know, went into all the details about your work. you have a lot of fans out there. i want to thank the selection committee, the people who served and had to go through all of those applications because i got to tell you, it was a hard decision and i was so excited that so many people in san francisco, you know, really embraced and support poets in such an incredible way. there are so many wonderful nominees. i'm looking forward to you connecting with all of them as well and really the outgoing poet laureate kim shuck, thank you for that poem and your commitment to san francisco and the role you have played over the years. thank you to san francisco public library and the commissioners who are joining us here today and our librarian, michael lambert.

so many amazing people and i think that based on your comments today, meet me at the library, that's going to be a new part of the campaign to really bring people together, to inspire and to really you know, set things off on a whole other level. thank you tongo for your work and commitment. we're so honored that you will be san francisco's eighth poet laureate and if there is anything left to say, you're welcome to have the floor. if not, we can turn it back over to michael lambert. >> i just want to say much love and appreciation. >> great. >> thank you so much madam mayor. my heart is full, #meetmeatthelibrary. congratulations tongoo. i want to thank all of you for joining us this morning. our public affairs office is happy to help facilitate any

interviews with our new poet lawyer -- laureate, thank you all and have a great day. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> mayor london breed: good afternoon, i'm san francisco mayor london breed. and thank you so much for joining us here today to provide

some good news for a change as it relates to just the rough year that we've been having as a result of this global pandemic. as of today in san francisco, our case rate is at 261 cases per day, and that's down from a high of 372 cases per day. our hospitalizations are at 194, and, sadly, 293 people in our city have lost their lives due to covid. our infection rate is below 1. we're at .95, and our i.c.u. capacity is stable at about 26%. the good news is that we are in a better place than we've been in a long time. and today we got some even better news from our governor who announced the lifting of the

stay-at-home order in the bay area. and in the state of california -- but more importantly in the bay area, because that pertains to us -- we anticipate that tomorrow we will be told that we will be in the purple tier, which provides us an opportunity to do so much more than we have been doing. the fact is that we got here because after the thanksgiving day holiday, we saw the numbers begin to creep up aggressively. and we shut down early because we were very concerned as to what this would do to our i.c.u. capacity in the city. if we had continued along the pace that we were going and did absolutely nothing, at this time the end of january we would be out of i.c.u. beds. and because we acted quickly, and because i followed the health care orders that were provided by the department of public health, we did so early, even before the state required us to do so.

because we did that in san francisco, we are in a better place. but we're still in the midst of this pandemic. we still have a responsibility. yes, this is good news that we are finally seeing a difference with our numbers. but there's still work to be done. it still means that we have to wear masks and we have to socially distance ourselves from one another. you have to just use common sense and continue to just accept that we are going to be living with this for some time, even as we see the numbers decline, even as we reopen, and even as we start to administer even more of the vaccine than we already have. so what does this mean? what does this mean in terms of our reopening? well, as i said, it's good news. so outdoor dining can resume. personal services can resume as long as you can wear a mask. so you can get your hair done,

you can get your nails done. a number of things with personal services, as long as you're able to wear a mask. this will start on thursday. outdoor museums and zoos -- outdoor entertainment, like skate parks and mini-golf, indoor fitness limited to one-on-one. indoor funerals for up to 12 people. so these are things that were not happening before, and they will be in effect as of this thursday again, thanks to all of the hard work that we have all been doing to stay safe. we'll also see capacity increases in our grocery stores and in retail. and in outdoor fitness and outdoor religious and political events. outdoor recreation and some low contact youth sports can continue as well. and golf and tennis with people outside of your household, and small gatherings of up to three

people, no more than three households per group, and what we're saying, again, because we remember not this past weekend but the weekend before, we saw so many people at the delores park and at alamo square park and at parks across san francisco. and we saw them gathered with large groups. there were, of course, a lot of people who were just following the rules and keeping their distance. but we did have some real challenges. today is a beautiful day. yes, it's cold outside, but the sun is out. just keep in mind that this is just not an open door for us to all of a sudden to let our hair down and to do whatever we want to do. let's keep doing what we're doing. let's keep being smart about wearing our masks and who we interact with. let's limit the number of people that we interact with so that we can make sure that we don't see another surge and see this virus continue to get out of control. today is, of course, a day of celebration but it's also a day to just remind ourselves of the

importance of how much more work we have to do to get to a better place. now i want to talk a little bit about the vaccine. we in the city have developed a capacity to ramp up to up to 10,000 doses a day. now, of course, we want to do more than 10,000 doses a day if we have the vaccine. this past friday, i was at city college, where they first started to administer the doses there and they've been able to administer over 1,600 doses so far and that site alone has the capacity to deliver up to 3,000 doses per day. we also have a site that we're opening up at musconi and in community where there's large sites in partnership with our private health care providers so that we can get to people sooner rather than later. our goal is to also to make sure that we're doing pop-up sites in neighborhoods and communities that have been most impacted by

the virus. we want to meet people where they are. we want them to feel comfortable when they get the vaccine. so as soon as we get the number of doses that we need to start to administer, we will do just that. i will say that there's been a lot of misinformation, there's been a lot of criticism that has surfaced over the course of the rollout of delivering the vaccine to people. and i just want to take a moment to talk a little bit about what we've been doing here in san francisco. in fact, when we first found out about what we would need to administer the vaccine, including the freezers and all of the other technical stuff, we learned that information back in august. and we instantly prepared for that because we knew that in a place like san francisco, with the number of people that we have both living and working here, that we would need to make sure that we had the capacity so that when the vaccine was

delivered to us that we had the refrigeration necessary to basically to keep those vaccines ready to go for people before they were distributed. the work that went into the infrastructure, working with our private health care providers, and just understanding what needed to be done in terms of traffic coordination, in terms of distribution, in terms of checking information, it is a process. in fact, when i was at the site at city college this past friday, one of the conversations that i had with a doctor is that these vaccines, they have to stay refrigerated at least until the hour before they're actually used. so just imagine the coordination that goes into that alone. this is a complicated process. and i want to be clear -- that had we waited to start more recently, like some people had said that we did, we wouldn't be where we are now -- opening up large sites.

opening up and setting up pop-up sites and distributing the vaccine at some of our community clinics where many of our elderly live and are able to walk to. we wouldn't be in this position had we waited to start. we started last year in the summer as information came, and we adjusted. and we stepped up to the challenge to meet the need. in fact, the department of public health specifically based on the number of vaccines that we have received, we've already have distributed over two-thirds of those vaccines to individuals and the remaining batch that we have are mostly for people for their second dose and are scheduled to be given to others for their first. those vaccines are coming in the door and they're going out the door as quickly as we can make that possible. so i want to be clear that it is complicated, it is challenging. but this same department of public health is the department

of public health that had advised me as the mayor in the beginning of this pandemic that we had to shut this city down so that we could save lives. it's the same department of public health that led the efforts during the aids crisis where san francisco was left on its own. it's the same department of public health that i am working with to roll out the vaccine distribution. because not only do they know and understand the importance of what this means to save lives in san francisco, i understand the importance of what this means to save the lives in san francisco, to get our city reopened, and to get our economy going again. nothing is more important. i trust and support and work closely with the department of public health to make the hard decisions to get this vaccine out to the public as quickly as possible. so i want you to understand that we are in a better place, we are

not where i want us to be, because we don't have sufficient supply of vaccines to distribute to the public. but i will guarantee you that as soon as we get them, they will be out on the streets in someone's arm so that we can get things rolling again. and i appreciate the patience and the understanding of so many san franciscans as we go through this process. keep in mind san francisco has done an amazing job through this pandemic. i know that we're tired of being indoors. i know that we're tired of the schools being closed and not being able to connect with our friends and family. i'm tired of this too. i understand how important it is to get back to our lives. i understand that more than anyone, because i feel the responsibility, the weight of this entire city, and every single resident. i feel that on my shoulders every single day. but i'm asking for more patience

and understanding and trust that we will continue to do everything that we can to get these vaccines out the door. in fact, tomorrow i'll be having a conversation at 1:15 online with dr. susan philip and dr. naveena baba, who are two incredible women who have helped to lead this effort from the beginning so that we can ask questions about some of the concerns that i've been seeing from people who are wondering, well, why is this happening and that's not happening. why is this going on and that not going on. well, tomorrow your questions about the vaccine will be answered. and i hope that it will instill just really an understanding and also a clear guide for what we are doing here in san francisco and what we need to continue to do to get the vaccines out as

quickly as possible. and i am excited today. i'm excited today because the vaccine rollout -- i'm excited today because many of our small businesses will begin to open. i'm excited because i know that people in san francisco, although this is a great day, they realize the importance of still following safety guidelines around covid and understanding that the virus is still out there and that we still have more work to do. but today still is a day of celebration. and i'm, again, grateful for all of you for everything that you've done to get us to this point. now, the last thing they want to touch upon is we have a new president. i love saying that -- we have a new president, we have a new vice president. and one of the first announcements that the president made last week is the fact that our shelter-in-place hotels that have been provided to many of

our homeless people who are a part of this vulnerable population, that they would not only just reimburse the 75% that they agreed to reimburse at the beginning of this pandemic, but this president has committed fema to reimbursing us at 100%. what that does for our budget is incredible. we're still facing a significant deficit, we still have a lot of financial challenges, but what this means is that we have a level of certainty. no, this is not going to be forever, but it will be long enough that as we start to transition some of the people that we have in hotels in san francisco into permanent housing situations we can now backfill those hotel rooms with people who fit the guidelines under the fema requirements for reimbursement. that is really great news. and i'm excited to continue to work towards trying to get our

most vulnerable off the streets. but i want to be clear about something. if you were not on our list to receive support and care in our homeless system as of april last year, and you basically came to san francisco thinking that there's an opportunity for you to get help in some capacity, unfortunately, we will not be able to help you. and the people that we'll be able to serve are people who were part of our system of care before april of 2020. they're already on the list, they're already waiting. they're sleeping outside. they're sleeping in tents. and we are not going to jump the line for someone who just decided to come to san francisco yesterday. there are people who are waiting and they will be prioritized and they are the only people that we can help at this time. so i want to make that clear that that is what is going to happen moving forward, with the

good news of receiving reimbursement 100% from fema. so i want to thank each and every one of you again. today is a good day. today is not a day to go outside and to throw up your mask in the air and to celebrate in that way. you can go out and celebrate and throw your hands in the air and just keep your mask on. make sure that you're continuing to comply with this health order and doing everything that you can. when you go to restaurants, just be mindful. when you visit friends or family, just follow the health orders. we're not out of this partner p, but we're better today than we have been in a very long time. it gives me hope that we are finally getting to a better place -- the place that we continue to talk about. the place where we say that we're the light at the end of the tunnel. well, we're seeing a crack of that light come through bright. and that's because of your work and your efforts and everything that you've done. so, thank you.

and the better our numbers get, the more we will be able to open, the more that we will be able to get back to a place where we can see one another in person again. thank you again. and now i'm happy to open it up to questions. >> thank you, mayor breed, for your remarks. before we begin, the question and the answer portion, we're going to take a moment to allow reporters to submit any final questions they may have on webex. thank you, mayor breed. at this time we'll start with dr. colfax. >> mayor london breed: okay. thank you again.

dr. colfax, i'll let you do the white gown. >> good afternoon. >> thank you for your patience. dr. colfax, your first question comes from various media outlets. why are people from out of the

county getting vaccinated at city college? >> thank you so much for the question. i think that city college has been a great partnership with ucsff, and if we had enough vaccine we could get you 3,000 vaccines there a day easily right now. but i think that key issues to understand right now is that for the vaccine, the focus has been eligibility for vaccine has been for health care providers and for people 65 and over. many health care providers work in san francisco, but outside of san francisco. so many of the health care providers will be vaccinated here because it's a place of work. similarly, people who are 65 and over who are eligible for the vaccine, they may live in oakland but they may have their health care provider here in san francisco. so they would be getting vaccinated here. vice versa, if you live in san francisco but you have a health care provider in oakland, you could go to oakland to get vaccinated. the issue is that the bay area

is porous and we're all interconnected and we need to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible. >> thank you, dr. colfax. your next question comes from various media outlets. why are we reopening with new virus variants circulating? how will the city deal with new variants and avoid shutdowns? >> so we are opening at a high level of case diagnosis. we're at about 30 per 100,000 right now, which as the mayor mentioned, is substantially lower than we were just a few weeks ago. so this is very good news. we know that the rate of the virus spread in the city is slowing right now, which is also good news. we will continue to monitor the rate of spread and hopefully that will continue to go down. with regard to the variants, we are concerned about that. but there's no reason to panic. we know that wearing masks, social distancing, and using the

good hygiene practices, we believe that it's also effective with regard to reducing the variant's spread. so right now, even with this relatively high rate of cases, because things are moving in the right direction, because our hospital capacity -- even through this third surge -- remained relatively good in san francisco, compared to other jurisdictions, and the fact that san franciscans had now beaten back three surges -- look, we have been in this for nearly a year right now. it's time for to us take this approach of gradually reopening and we're reopening, and let's see where we are and do the right thing so that we could even get to that next step and open up more. >> thank you, dr. colfax. your next question comes from heather knight, san francisco "chronicle." how many vaccine doses has san francisco received and how many has it given to people?

>> so right now, heather, we have received as a city 127,000 vaccines. that's across the whole city. that's across the health care systems, across the city. and we've administered as a city, we estimate just over 59,000 vaccines have been administered. at the health department, we've received 34,500 vaccines to date. and we've vaccinated more than 23,000 people. now in those numbers i want to stress a couple of things -- we are ready to go with mass vaccine sites right now. we need to get to 10,000 vaccines a day. the numbers that i gave you alst with regard to the vaccine that is remaining that those vaccines have been scheduled for second doses or appointments that have been made for first doses for most part. and with the d.p.h. supply, even

with the 10,000, our total that we'll get this week, we will be scheduled to basically to exhaust our vaccine supply by as early as wednesday or thursday. we need more vaccine right now so that we can get those shots into arms. >> thank you, dr. colfax. the next set of questions come from alex fererria, san francisco business times. in what ways will the restrictions in place in san francisco be on thursday differ from what the state is allowing in the purple tier counties? or, is the county reopening to the full extent of the purple tier? >> so just to be clear right nod that the counties are coming out as the shelter-in-place order, we will be told what tier we're in tomorrow. we'll look at that very carefully. and with regard to the orders, those will be -- be released

accordingly. and that those will be released on thursday at this time. >> thank you, dr. colfax. your next question comes from holly striker of kqed. what amount is the expected next shipment of vaccine in san francisco? >> so, remember, we have visibility only to the vaccine that the health department will be getting because the other health care systems in the county, the kaiser and the sutter and the dignity, they get pulled from their regional counterparts what vaccine they'll be getting. what i can tell you right now because this is what we have insay the into -- is that the health department is scheduled to get 10,575 doses this week. that number could change. and we will know that number when they tell us that that number has actually been shipped to us. but, again, that's ready to go out the door right now.

we need more vaccine. >> thank you, dr. colfax. the next question comes from eve batty theatre s.f. can we hear more about the thinking behind the decision to leave the 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. stay-at-home order in place? >> so, what we're doing right now is working to gradually to reopen the city. we're taking the initial steps in a situation where the rate of the virus is still relatively high. we want to see that number continue to go down before we release that 10:00 to 5:00 order. so let's just give us a little more time and see how those numbers do to ensure that we don't have to reverse again. nobody wants to go backwards again, so let's take the first step. we have beaten back three surges. let's prevent a fourth surge as much as possible. >> thank you.

the next question comes from christian kaftan, channel 2 news. how will this work county-by-county, when the entire bay area was covered under the state's previous order? could there be surges in other counties that could impact san francisco? >> well, i think that has been really great about the local county collaboration -- actually, a year now -- is that the bay area health officers have been coordinating and working together. and for the most part the region has been well coordinated. so, again, we will see what tier the counties are assigned to by the state tomorrow. and i expect that in general that the county orders will be aligned for the most part. >> thank you, dr. colfax. your next set of questions come from dan curman.

who is getting vaccinated at city college? those in the san francisco health network? those in the ucsff health network? or anyone over 65? >> so people who are eligible for vaccine right now are health care workers and people over the age of 65. right now that site -- those patients -- are ucsff patients who by the most case meet the 65 and over criteria, and, again, once we get more vaccine we're ready to go and give up to 3,000 vaccines at that site alone. >> and a poll question, do you feel as if the feds are sending less vaccine to the bay area region compared to southern california due to the massive outbreak there? >> i'm not going to speculate on what the feds may or may not be doing. i think that the bottom line is that across the state regionally

and locally we need more vaccine as soon as possible. san francisco is ready for the vaccine. our goal is to be able to inoculate at least 10,000 people a day. as you just heard, the health department is getting just over 10,000 doses this week. so we need to get that vaccine here so that we can get it into arms as quickly as possible. >> thank you, dr. colfax. and we will now continue questions with mayor breed. >> mayor london breed: all right.

>> mayor breed, your first set of question comes from nbc bay area. what do you say to landlords who feel that they're being taken advantage of by tenants who continue to pay zero dollars in rent and intend to continue living rent-free during the eviction moratorium? >> mayor london breed: well, i appreciate the question. and, you know, san francisco since the beginning of this pandemic, through not only the rental subsidies that we had through the city and county of san francisco, that try to provide some additional rental assistance to make sure that when this is over that people are still responsible for that rent and will need to pay it. we just found out from the federal government that san francisco will be given $26 million in stimulus money to help with rental assistance. this will be significant. we know that it's not just the people who are struggling to pay their rent, but some of the

small property owners and others who might be struggling because they're not receiving that additional income. there is hope with this new $26 million and i'm excited to see what that does to help to address some of the challenges that exist. because what we don't want to happen is that we don't want -- after this pandemic is over, we don't want to see a lot of people getting evicted and we also don't want to see a situation where so many small property owners who rely on this income to help to cover the expenses of maybe their in-home support services work, or the repairs on their home, we don't want to see them in a bad situation either. so right now, great announcement, $26 million in rental subsidies. that's a start. we know that there's more to do. but i think that we're going to continue to work towards the goal of trying to make people as whole as we possibly can. >> thank you. and a follow-up question, should the future stimulus checks include a requirement that a portion of those funds go

towards a person's rent? how can smaller landlords afford to keep allowing renters to live for free? >> mayor london breed: i think that something of that nature might be somewhat difficult to manage. i know that, for example, we have the ability through the resources that we provide for rent subsidy to make direct payments which ensures that these resource goes directly to cover the rent. on a federal level, i have no control over that, but i do think that it's important for us to do everything that we can to make sure that we get direct payments into the hands of landlords, to make sure that we avoid the evictions that could occur if these rents are not paid. >> thank you, mayor breed. your next question comes from ron lynn of the "los angeles times." some restaurant owners have been very upset at the outdoor dining ban and have opposed the government orders to shut them down. do you think that san francisco's latest success

vindicates your efforts to impose an outdoor dining ban and to implement stay-at-home orders, even ahead of the state's timeline? >> mayor london breed: well, i truly believe -- yes. if -- you've gotta understand that to close down a major city like san francisco, and then also when you see the numbers surging and to have to go backwards, those are some of the hardest decisions i've ever had to make, because i know what it means -- not just for the people who are supporting these restaurants -- i know what it means for the workers and the food and all of the things that these restaurants have to do to be open in the first place. but the fact is that we had to prioritize saving lives in every decision that we made. and what we're seeing are the impacts of those decisions because our case rates, the deaths that have -- are the lowest death rates in the country of any major city in san francisco, the i.c.u. rates, i think that all of the numbers

that we're seeing in san francisco demonstrate that we made the right decision and now that we are reopening outdoor dining, we want to continue to make sure that we are being very careful. because we don't want to go backwards. >> thank you, mayor breed. your final question comes from kathleen novak of kcbs. with the extra funding from the federal government, will san francisco be able to open up more hotel rooms to people who might not qualify for fema reimbursement and cover the costs out of the city's budget? >> mayor london breed: well, we are not certain that that's going to be possible because our goal is to provide permanent housing, not temporary housing. and what these hotels and these safe sleeps sites that we opened up during this pandemic have done is provided temporary shelter for the people who, unfortunately, are homeless. and we're being reimbursed for that purpose. but our resources, the money

that we have in available to assist with our homeless population need to be used for permanent housing options. and that's where our priority will be. >> thank you, mayor breed. there are no additional questions. >> mayor london breed: thank you. >> this concludes today's press conference. thank you, mayor breed and dr. colfax for your time. (♪♪♪) >> good morning, welcome. i'm michael lambert, your city

librarian. on behalf of the library commission, we're so delighted that you could join us today for this important announcement. i would like to acknowledge our library commissioners that are present, teresa, tanya, pete, john, and dr. lopez. thank you all for being here. madam mayor, welcome. we are so honored that you could participate in this event. we appreciate your leadership of our city and we are super excited about your announcement today. with that, i will invite you to get us started. maybe i was premature on that. oh, there she is.

[laughter] >> did we start already? [laughter] >> i was just welcoming you and thanking you for honoring us with your presence and your leadership. we're super excited about your announcement today. with that, i invite you to get us started. >> all right thank you michael. i appreciate that. good morning everyone. i'm really excited to share some incredible news. as you may know, before i was mayor and even before i was on the board of supervisors, i served as the executive director in the western edition. i saw how deeply important arts are and in creating a vibrant and diverse community. believe it or not, i used to sing in a choir, dance, and perform, but i was not the best at it. however, the arts connects us to one another. it bridges the gap in our culture by helping us understand each other.

they are how we express ourselves during our brightest and happiest moments, and sometimes some of our darkest ones. for people of all ages, arts and culture can help us navigate a world that can be confusing and strange. they can also provide opportunity not only for jobs and income, but for people who are in under served communities to find their voices and to make sure they are heard. that includes the role of our city's poet laureate. since lauren was made our first poet laureate in 1998, this prestigious honor has showcased san francisco's finest poets from many diverse backgrounds. their work has reminded us how it means to be a san franciscan, it reminus -- reminds us of our diversity and calls attention to

our most pressing issues and inspires us to create a more equitable and just society. it inspires young people to search for their voice in a way that may not have -- that they may not have thought was possible before. it opens doors of opportunities for them to pursue their dreams. that is why i'm so excited today to announce our eighth poet laureate. before we get to the big announcement, i would like to thank and recognize our outgoing poet laureate kim shuck for her imcredible service for our city. she represented our city beautifully through her work and has given her time over the past few years to serve our community. whether teaching at the local colleges, universiies and public schools or helping the library launch their first ever american indian initiative, kim on behalf of the city and county

of san francisco, thank you for your service and we would be honored if you close out your tenure with one last reading as poet laureate. >> thank you mayor breed. there we are. i do have a poem. it's called san francisco has a new poet laureate. pick any bench, stoop, any fourth star in this city or over it. sit quietly, you'll hear the water of time. keys rattling, heart and innovation, war and colonization that only grows on the south side of that mountain right there. you'll hear the poetry of place, popsicle sticks scratching on the curb, jump rope songs, chess moves and love curses.

every night in some back room, the future and past in autopsied words, gorilla words shouted at unsuspecting somewhere in north beach. the skyline mutters poems that have been and poems to come. if you stand at the cafe's door too long, you will hear what they choose to call in this moment a poem. old wives tales along valencia, you can hear the purring of fog as they pass through, the paintings comment quietly on every new show and if your hearing is very good, ambrose's dictionary runs on a certain bar on a certain bar stool and the faint laughter from one of sam's jokes will still grind breath. victims in more languages that you can see, and the unbound seat 3. there are songs of varying and

unbaring to found all over the richmond, every bench, every head stone under the sand. paula talks stories at state, at tables and cafes that turned to bars. john's words rattled justice and the voices of those taken in captain jack's war has made them into their own songs too. there is an eighth poet laureat of san francisco and with the title comes more wealth and words than all the great libraries that have ever been. i would like to add that you will hear a lot about honor and responsibility. there are a couple of tricky things. one of them is that people will steal your pens. i had some pens printed up. i'm not going to say what they say and i don't think they will prevent your pens from being stolen, but they will raise the value of their resale on ebay.

i'm going to share with you just very briefly what dr. jose said to me a couple of days after i was named the seventh poet laureate. he said that everything you have done up until this point got you here and none of that will matter. what matters now is what comes next. have a great time and you do know where my kitchen table is when you want to hide. take care. >> thank you so much kim for that amazing poem. thank you for representing san francisco so well over the past few years. we look forward to seeing what comes next for you. now, it is my great honor to announce our eighth poet laureat. i had the privilege of knowing this individual for many years as he worked and volunteered at the african american art and culture complex. he has mentored men young men

and women that came through our doors and taught them how to find their own vote and make themselves heard. his poems are just one of the many ways he fights for racial justice, equity, and human rights. he has shown our community what it means to be a successful poet, as a black man from san francisco. we are incredibly proud of the work he has done so far, especially his commitment to inspiring black men and boys and providing support for young people in our community. he will continue the work that our ancestors did as they fought for their own voices to be heard. i am beyond excited to see what he accomplishes as the san francisco's eighth poet laureate. i am happy to present tongo martin, the eighth poet

laureate. >> thank you madam mayor for this incredible, incredible honor. i prepared some words that i hope i make it through. i'm already filled with tears. >> i'm going to let you have the floor, it's so great to have you. thank you for all the magic you created over the years. as i said earlier, when we work together at the complex, there were a lot of challenges, especially with our boys and we had unfortunately a lot of violence in the community and just seeing you as this literary figure and inspiring these young people to look at other ways besides, you know, being out in the streets and doing stuff that was happening then, focusing on

how poetry, how music is poetry, and how they can really shift their voices to tell their own stories. you brought that to their lives and i know they continue to carry it with them today. so, you have been an inspiration for so many years, directed at so many generations of people. i'm so grateful that you accepted this honor so now i want to turn the floor over to you so that people can know who you are. if they don't know, now they know. we're looking forward to the work that we know you're going to do to make san francisco proud. so the floor is yours tongo. >> thank you. thank you very much. incredibly humbled and honored. also, deep appreciation to the selection committee. i want to send love to my mother and brother as i am only an

extension of their love, imagination, and revolutionary commitment, love to my two powerful sisters and the whirlwind that has nothing on us, love to my family above mud and lava, love to my father and the rest of the village that is not here in the physical form. i would also like to thank kim shuck for being a leader of poets and beautiful force of the people. a poet of any station is secondary to the people. a poet of any use, that belongs to the energy and consciousness of the people, one of arts most

important incarnation is that expression of mass resistance but really what art teaches us with its dominantable energy, the indominantable energy of an idea is evident that it is oppressors themselves who are in the position of resistance. it's bigger than any imperialistic, cognitively reflected in any generation. the power is ours and it is oppressors who are resisting us, resisting humanity, resisting us pretty well. it's resisting our right to determine our reality, resisting a coming epoch of liberation. mass participation in art is what is always created in san

francisco, futurism. san francisco has legend too fearless for me to count myself as one of them. i am from this legendary collection of thousands and thousands of participants, revolutionary history and culture. i'm proud to be one of the anonymous thousands in san francisco who have road these buses all night, who has been raised in marcus's bookstore, who wants justice for mario woods and alex, who wants freedom. what the people taught me is that unity is the only thing and taught me that individualism, as it is practiced and codified, romanticized in this society is not really about your adventure

through life but at its core, unfortunately, individualism is about practicing the selective humanization. other people are only human beings when it suits individual interest. civilism of sorts, that is deeply connected to slavery, both from what the society evolved from and process that addicts you to and power struggle that alienates ourselves, and at no point do we find the dehumanization of other people, the deanimation of people acceptable, are let alone necessary for an individual journey. so as much as i would love to assign the rest of my days to an individual invention, that time is over. history is heightening, showing us more and more everyday that we're part of people, a people

beyond systemic description, and we need the entire pallet of protecting human rights and nurture human curiosity. the madness we see today shouldn't be surprising. these apartheid nativity scenes come home to roast and a capitalism in crisis, what is mixed in with the parole papers and the environmental racism and program deliverables and passivism. we're in a time of epochal shift where this is opening its arms if we don't open the historical process more critically. where do we go from here? what is our revolutionary

practice or more conveniently, it begins with cultural work. it transforms the way that we relate to each other, transforms the way we relate to the earth, to a way that is conducive to liberation. a poet belongs to the energy and consciousness of the people, respecting their spirit. my only aim as poet laureate is to join with that energy, join with that consciousness in order to create vehicles of unity. events, workshops, readings, publications, these are all just vehicles of unity. i will never tire in building as many as the city can handle. so, meet me at the library.

[laughter] >> if you can't make it, i will for sure meet you wherever you are. let me now say rest in power to cure junior and diane, and i will conclude with this poem titled faithless. a tour guide, through the robbery, he also is. cigarette stand, look at what i did. ransom water and box spring gold, this decade is only for accent grooming, i guess. ransom water and box spring gold to corner store, war gangs, all these rummage junk. you know, the start of mass destruction begins and ends in restaurant bathrooms as some people use and other people clean. are you telling me there is a

rag in the sky waiting for you? yes. we should have fit in. warehouse jobs are for communists and now the whistling is less playful and if it is not a city, it is a prison. it has a prison. it's a prison, not a city. when a courtyard talks on behalf of the military issue, all walk takes place outside the body. a medieval painting to your right, none of this makes an impression. you have five minutes to learn. when a man goes sideways barb wire becomes the roof. did you know they killed the world for the sake of giving everyone the same back story? watching indiana, fight yourself into the sky, oh penny for when. it goes up and over your headache, marking all

aspirations, the first newspaper i ever read and the storefront, they left us down where the holy spirit favors the bathroom. for those in the situation offer 100 ways to remain a loser. watching those clock, what are we talking about again? the narrater at the graveyard, 10 minute flat. the funeral only took 10 minutes. you're going to pin the 90s on me, all 30 years of them? why should i know the difference between sleeping and the pyramid of corner stores on our head. we die right away. that building wants to jump off other buildings, those are down tone decisions. what evaporated on earth that we can be sent back down? thank you all again, much love. i want to give the whole roll call right now but that's too many. much love to all my family and

thank you again madam mayor. thank you. san francisco for better for worse, which you are raised, you know? >> thank you so much tongo. just so you know, the chat is blowing up. there is so much love and excitement for what you will bring to san francisco and i just want to thank you so much. thank you for the incredible poem and your inspiration and just everything that you continue to do. i look forward to what you will accomplish as our city's poet laureate. i can't wait. it's going to be exciting, especially when we open up. when you talk about meet me at the library, it's like that's your slogan now. [laughter] >> so we're going to take it to another level. that's your slogan, meet me at the library.

hitting all the libraries all over san francisco. >> that's right. >> just inviting the people in and really bringing it back to some of the basics. you know, with the way technology is nowadays, sometimes we get away from just picking up a book or picking out a book or looking through an index card. i guess we don't look through index cards to find books anymore. sitting there and having discussions, i'm looking forward to what you're going to bring and really excited about that. i really want to thank the people that nominated you. you know, there was a really compelling, you know, letter of support that you know, went into all the details about your work. you have a lot of fans out there. i want to thank the selection committee, the people who served and had to go through all of those applications because i got to tell you, it was a hard decision and i was so excited that so many people in san francisco, you know, really

embraced and support poets in such an incredible way. there are so many wonderful nominees. i'm looking forward to you connecting with all of them as well and really the outgoing poet laureate kim shuck, thank you for that poem and your commitment to san francisco and the role you have played over the years. thank you to san francisco public library and the commissioners who are joining us here today and our librarian, michael lambert. so many amazing people and i think that based on your comments today, meet me at the library, that's going to be a new part of the campaign to really bring people together, to inspire and to really you know, set things off on a whole other level. thank you tongo for your work and commitment. we're so honored that you will be san francisco's eighth poet laureate and if there is anything left to say, you're

welcome to have the floor. if not, we can turn it back over to michael lambert. >> i just want to say much love and appreciation. >> great. >> thank you so much madam mayor. my heart is full, #meetmeatthelibrary. congratulations tongoo. i want to thank all of you for joining us this morning. our public affairs office is happy to help facilitate any interviews with our new poet lawyer -- laureate, thank you all and have a great day. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪]

>> good morning. the meeting will come to order. welcome to the thursday, january 28th meeting of the public safety and neighborhood servies committee. i'm supervisor mar, the chair. and i'm joined by vice chair stefani. thank you to the committee's clerk john caroll. i'd like to thank sfgov tv. >> in order to