>> so i just love to give credit where credit is due. if the commissioner jumped this

out and came to us after working for many years with coleman and all the families there to generate this. i must say, commissioner, we are so i'm grateful to you for asking us to partner with you and for being our partner on this. it is exciting between the school board and the board of supervisors. thank you. next we'll hear briefly, i know, because she didn't want to talk too much today about it. but from our beloved director of the department of children, faith, and youth, maria chiu. >> i am the director of children, youth, and their families. first before i started, i wanted to say thank you to supervisor ronan for your kind words. i appreciate your fierce and

unwavering commitment to our children, youth, and families. as demonstrated by your bold leadership in pushing things forward. i am here to provide my support and to express my appreciation for all the supervisors for their foresight and dedication to our children, particularly our public school children. although our public schools are responsible for providing effective and amazing teaching for all children in every single classroom every day, this ordinance establishing a working group is truly rooted in the belief that schools can't do this by themselves. they must have partners, that our entire community of government, philanthropic, public, private partners must come together, must demobilize

to remove barriers, to expand opportunities, and to assist our families. the lesson that we've learned in this pandemic has taught us that the value of strong collaboration and partnership can never be underestimated, that through strong partnerships and collaborations we were able to move mountains for our children and families. we see the essential role our public schools play for our children and families. therefore, now is the time for us to strengthen these relationships between schools, community partners, and our families that is centered around children and what they need. in short, this year has revealed the need and the value for community schools, as described by supervisor melgar.

when our public schools closed early in march, the city and our community faith-based organizations quickly responded. we pivoted to assist in distance learning, in food and educational material distribution, in supporting wellness checks, in other vital services for children and families. as we continue to tackle the long-term challenges that's left by covid, we need to come together and have a centered and focused effort to support all of our children and families. i am so excited to participate in this effort to explore the potential expansion of community schools and have us act as the administrative backbone for this effort. as the mayor stated many, many

months ago, it will take a village to support and mitigate the impacts of covid on all of our children and families. we need everyone to come to the table with the singular goal of supporting our children. this means we need to tap all federal, state, local, philanthropic, and private dollars to support our children, to give our families hope, and to make san francisco a great place to grow up. thank you so much for adding me into the ordinance and i am ready to serve and to support. thank you. >> next, and i just want to thank superintendent dr. vincent matthews for being a fan and someone wanting to partner with us from day one on this initiative and representing the district today.

we have the director of policy and planning. >> thank you, board of supervisor members. my name is viva mogi and i am the director of policy and planning. i want to speak on behalf of the superintendent. i will raise the things that we have spoken about to know how much it's going to take to go through reopening and recovery and that it will require a strong partnership like this. commitment from our communities and cities and the school district to support every child. we appreciate the city's continued support and we look forward to the next steps on this initiative. thank you so much for the time. >> chair: thank you, ms. mogi.

good to talk to you the other evening. any words before we go to public comment? >> i have one more set of important presenters and then we're ready for public comment. >> chair: i have a cheat sheet and checked off everyone, but please proceed. >> first of all, i just want to thank the next presenters, the first one big human rights commission director sheryl davis for her long-time work addressing equity in our schools. she's going to present a bit about that. we're going to hear from the office of racial equity who we have asked to take the data on education loss and turn it into something the average person can understand because it's very

confusing to read the sfusb report on learning loss. so both director davis and simli will present now. thank you so much. >> chair: absolutely. ms. davis. >> hello. thank you all so much. i am honored to be presenting before you and to share a few thoughts. i am really grateful for the inclusion of equity in terms of how we have this information and how we move this forward. i'm going to try my best to move really quickly because i think there are just a couple of things i want to say. we have been since the pandemic working with communities to have these conversations and work with folks. i want to say a couple of things off that. and i know that this legislation or this resolution is really

grounded. that is this issue is bigger than this moment in time, that we have to remember that we had tremendous gaps in disparities pre-pandemic and we can't only look at what is happening now, but we have to look at what was happening before and the community members who went into action, i want to thank you for listening to community because community was doing that work. so just a couple of things for the overall learning that family and community stakeholders are concerned about what distance learning is going to do to the already large gaps that we've already seen. in the conversations that we've had with communities since the pandemic, a couple of things have come up, address income inequality. that is part of what we have

seen now. even the people who are choosing to put their kids here are making that choice. income should not determine the quality of education that someone has. there is also the piece about investing in families and partnering with families and creating opportunities for success. so these are the things we heard very clearly from community in terms of what it's going to take for success. this is why rise is so important because it's more than just the school day or the classroom. it is a whole comprehensive approach and if we're not meeting basic needs, then we're not meeting the needs of young people and they won't be successful. areas of concern and this is why rise is so important. this is engagement with a few families and young people that we heard support for families,

homeless youth, internet access, racial disparities, and noticing what those discrepancies are. there were concerns about public safety and idle time and also around the investment in early childhood. these are the resources, again it goes beyond teachers in the school district, but what are the things we're doing as a community to meet those needs. i want to kind of say this is what we've been doing at the human rights commission since -- it's work that we've been doing all along and what we've seen and been able to see feedback. the google classrooms are also areas of concern. we looked to engage young people to see the interest. we had 315 participants, 37

schools represented. you can see here 55% of them came from sfusb high schools. there were seven sfusb middle schools. we've been working with 43 partners to distribute thousands of books and learning kits. there is a tremendous desire from community to do this work, but they want to do it in partnership with the school districts and we want to make sure we're addressing those gaps and we cannot do it in isolation. i would also share what we learned last summer. 1,447 high school students participated in the summer internship. what we've found is a lot of those students needed that money to help support their families. we're not really addressing this comprehensive piece around learning and getting a job or earning extra money or even the

ability to learn on the job. we're creating innovative ways to do this. we surveyed 200 young people and all of them said the remote learning or the internships online were difficult, that there was tremendous struggle, that they needed that human connection. we heard the same from employers from the police department to tech companies. even the tech companies were saying it was very difficult to work with the young people and train them up without being face-to-face and having the human connection. shakira can speak to the other pieces and why this is so important. that's what we've been doing and hearing and that's the struggle. >> thank you so much. >> thank you so much, chair and

supervisors. i wanted to ask respectfully if our clerk could please put up my slides. very briefly, i want to make sure in our work together when we're looking at the pathway for recovery for our youth and families, that that conversation is always grounded in equity, that that conversation is always grounded in data, and that conversation is always grounded and listening to the folks closest to the team right now, which is our family, our parents, our students, and our community members. so with that said, i'm going to quickly go through my sides and can make myself available for any additional questions that our folks may have. next slide, please. as we all know, our public schools have been closed since

last march. we're coming up on a year of quarantine and closure. the district serves 52,000 students, which means that we have 52,000 reasons to get this right on behalf of our kids. a lot of -- a lot of my analysis today is looking at the district's most latest reports on fall 2020 attendance and academic performance during the covid pandemic, which did indicate a number of alarming inequities but also misses the mark on a couple of things we should be thinking about when it comes to a more holistic view of how the pandemic has actually impacted our students. i'm going to make this as clean as possible. i just want to start with the learning and the development of all of our students has been

disrupted by school closures in the pandemic. and the pandemic has exacerbated those lower-income students and students of color at a disadvantage and at most risk. we have seen learning loss has increased. we've seen this gap widen for low-income students, english-language learners, special education, and the unhoused students. we're seeing a lot of these disparities exist in reading and math. there is some data that shows that our students are falling a little bit more behind in math and reading. and then we also saw instances of how even though apparently attendance has been pretty flat in the district over the course of three years, we've seen a

super sharp decline on behalf of our black and pacific islander and unhoused students in the past year. additionally we've seen an increase in chronic absenteeism, where the district counted 910 students that attended class less than 40% of the time. we're seeing these disparities with those students of color showing a loss of reading and there is alarmingly as well for the high school students who showed the greatest learning loss in math as well. i also want to say that we knew this already to an extent. we have already known who has been falling behind the entire time. it is a well-documented phenomenon. in reading this report and our

analysis. sometimes we have to say hard things and be clear about what we're measuring, but unfortunately we're not measuring the right things. we're not getting enough information about how our students and families have been actually harmed by the pandemic. i can explain that briefly. if we look at reports, there are a number of things that i raised concerns and had questions about. if we're measuring reading loss and math, it is used by educational institutions as a way to determine the achievement, but that's not only indicator to that.

while we're thinking about how students perform differently, this is an interesting way of capturing all the racially disparities of covid. this is very wonky. it's not clear and it's very hard to understand. given the transparency about what's actually happening at school, this is becoming clear. if we're looking at projected growth versus actual outcomes, that doesn't always match ability. having two different students sitting down and they're taking the same reading test, this is not telling us how they're

doing. these specifics are used to infer growth, but it's relative. it compares students to each other, not actual successes. also when we're looking at the data on an academic performance and when it comes to learning loss, a lot of these predictions, baking in data from years prior can downplay systemic disparities. the district also knows this, vulnerable kids are probably missing from this dataset as well because they may not be at school or were not assessed. this is really concerning to me and i think requires a lot broader holistic analysis.

ultimately we don't have a great understanding of how achievement is happening across the groups and we're underestimating the impact of covid-19 on our students and our families. i just want to give a quick example. if you look at the reading inventory assessment for learning loss, the way this works is 0 is the average proficiency for the district. if we're looking at these numbers and these boxes and we're seeing plus and minus times, so 0 is the average proficiency. if it's negative, a group is behind and if it's positive, they're above. do we want to have a conversation about the middle schoolers and saying the learning loss of black students is not significant? this is not the type of

conversation that really shows what the disparity is. we have to look at social significance versus what is being put statistically and also what this does is measure negative and positive changes in a particular direction, but it doesn't show us the actual reading and math ability on behalf of our kids. also, we're not sure of what the baseline is. if a kid is at 0.10 for a latino student, if we don't know what the baseline is, how will these off years, like in 2020 and 2021, be included in future data. that's also a question -- >> so you're saying the data is grading on a curve rather than a

real objective baseline? >> it's not clear what the baseline is. i may not have access to this info, but if i can get to my next slide -- >> this is a lot to consume. >> it is. >> it is quite interesting and i do appreciate your delving into it. >> i'm about to make it a little less wonky. as supervisor ronan asked me to do is to make it plain. i want to make it plain of what we should be measuring. i want to come to you all with solutions instead of holding up the deficit. we can go to the next slide, please. as director davis mentioned in her presentation, we already have heard from families and students their issues in concerned areas. we love to focus on that. we can't rely on confusing data

that doesn't tell us the whole stories of our students and families. we already know what's happening. we need to listen to communities, and families, and students and not just the numbers. attendance in 2020 and 2021 means something completely differently given the pandemic. for example, why did attendance fall off a cliff for some of our kids, but technically our kids are in quarantine, our black and brown youth can't go anywhere. what's happening? all the support that you can expect at schools is shifted to home, if you have a home. school has meant a safe place to be during the day, it's meant having a hot meal, getting physical, having a place to play and receive emotional supports. it's not perfect, but it matters.

i want to make sure that we can list up some of these other issues that our parents have talked about from the remote learning impact on depression to overcrowding in households, food insecurity, the digital divide, these are things we could be looking at to get a more holistic picture of what's happening to our kids and we don't have that right now. without true data of the the impact of the pandemic right now, we can't actually determine what our kids will need to heal, and that's what our kids will need, to heal. i want to finish my presentation with the next slide, please. we've seen this quote before and i wanted to really end on this note. justice delayed is justice denied. that's the same thing for our kids. education delayed is education denied. i am not an educational professional. i'm the first to admit that.

i don't know how i would rate on the district's proficiency for reading, but i can read, i can analyze, and i can tell when our folks in the community are not getting the data and the information they asked for. we need to get real about what we need to do to help our kids and to reopen safely and quickly. we need to make sure that all of our families have a real shot at recovery in this school year and the years to come. and we need to work with our city and school leaders about what should be measured. i'm happy to host workshops at a later date. i want to make sure in this pandemic we're measuring the right things so that education delayed is not education denied, particularly for our low-income and our students of color. with that said, i will pass back

to the chair and i appreciate the opportunity to be included in this very important discussion. thank you. >> chair: thank you, ms. emily. and thank you, supervisors, for having such a comprehensive and inclusive -- at least at the government level process, which has been lacking heretofore. hats off to you. if you have no further comments, i would love to defer to public comment. >> i see one of the supervisors wanted to speak. >> chair: i should look at that little chat box. >> before i do that -- i don't know about you all, but i just got all kinds of feelings hearing from director smiley -- simli. why do i do that?

you make me smile. that was incredibly powerful and exactly what this is about. this is about -- and you'll see in the language of the creation of this work group that this is a data-driven enterprise. but what data we look at and what data we collect determines whether or not it's going to be impactful and make a difference or not. and you brought that point home better than i think i saw it brought home. i'm going to quote you for the rest of the year that we have 52,000 reasons to get this right. so i just had to respond to that because i haven't heard a presentation that's impacted me quite so much during this entire process, so thank you very, very much. >> chair: if we get it right 52,000 times, that number might get higher in the future.

>> i really want to thank the authors of this legislation for bringing it forward. i want to thank all those who presented today and i want to ask to be added as a co-sponsor. >> thank you. >> chair: all right. with that, are there any members of the public that would like to speak on this first item on today's rules committee calendar? clerk, could we open up to public comment? >> clerk: members of the comment who wish to give public comment should call 415-655-001. the meeting id is 187 606 3775 and present pound and pound again. a system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and begin your comments.

do we have any members of the public for public comment at this time? >> operator: yes, we have 23 members of the public. >> chair: first speaker, please. first speaker? >> hi, good morning. thank you, chair. my name is richard riya. i'm here to support this legislation. i'm the director of mission promise neighborhood at meta. as noted, we have a network of community schools in the mission

district. we use public schools as community centers to provide wrap-around supports for families. from 2012 we've seen increases in kindergarten readiness and graduation rate. when covid hit, we used our neighborhood infrastructure to quickly respond to the emergency needs of low-income families. our coaches at school helped thousands of families with covid income relief, eviction moratorium. all of this worked with equity-focused and city and school district priorities. this is a model that should be city-wide. thank you for your support for the rise legislation.

>> clerk: thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> supervisors, i think we need to make a decision how best to involve the san francisco unified school district with what has been happening with this pandemic. so now we have two supervisors, and they mean well, and we know how many thousands of students we have who are suffering. now, i'm involved with a pandemic. i'm involved with some of the operations linked to the vaccines.

i think our supervisors are not aware that recently over three million young children have been affected by the corona pandemic. and do you think or do you not think that there should have been somebody from d.p.h. to give some input about how we're going to help our children? now, this help is on various levels, as has been stated by one of the presenters, the families. i work very closely with polynesians, so i know what is happening. and i work very closely with the blacks and i know what is happening. let me tell you, pre-pandemic they got no help. pre-pandemic, they got no help.

with all the things that are happening in our city, we now have two supervisors who want to take this gigantic task. that's all i'm going to say for now. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. can we hear from the next caller, please? >> hello. i'm calling in, in support of establishing the students and families rise working group. i'm ana sanchez and i'm from a community school. i was previously a classroom teacher. as a classroom teacher, i witnessed firsthand the impact a community school model can have on a child's success. the community model provides wrap-around services that takes care of a child's needs so they can focus on academics.

through the covid-19 pandemic, the work of a community school becomes all the more critical. i would like to present a powerful example of how all the areas of this model come together to support students. what comes to mind is a former student. she is a shy fifth grader and she has struggled academically throughout her time at our school. both of her parents are undocumented and the pandemic has severely impacted their ability to find work and they've been struggling to pay the rent and they're facing potential eviction. on top of this, the family contracted covid a few months ago. despite all these challenges, the child attends her daily online classes. why is this possible? because of the community model. her family has been assigned a school social worker who has

been working closely with the family for almost a year since last march and that social worker has directed the family to community and medical services during this time. our director of community schools organized a gofundme for families like this so they can receive gift cards and have access to cash. we have our program director who has worked to -- >> clerk: your time has elapsed. thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> thank you, chair. i am the san francisco political organizer for local 1021. we represent more than 1,000 school workers in the san francisco unified school district. we strongly support this rise

working group program. the covid-19 school closures have undeniably impacted our city's children. this working group will be crucial in beginning to address these impacts. we look forward to working together with the rest of the working group measures to achieve the vision and the goals set out the number ordinance. once again, thank you for supporting this legislation and for supporting san francisco's children. >> clerk: thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> good morning, commissioners and chair peskin. i am the education manager with mission neighborhood. i'm calling in support of the rise working group and the legislation. i commend commissioners for putting this forth.

this is such a wonderful way to convene the community for best practices and strategies. i want to highlight how the communities are doing in relation to the covid response. i am inspired by many who have come together with community organizations to respond to the critical needs that the pandemic has created or exacerbated for many of our families. i would highlight the community model and how they have responded in a very creative and responded to the needs of many of our immigrant families. thank you for putting this forth. i fully support the legislation and i look forward to the report that will be produced as a result. >> clerk: thank you. could we have the next caller,

please. >> thank you, chair, supervisors, and committee members. also special thanks to the executive director and the team at sfusb. i am the deputy director of the good samaritan family resource center and a co-chair of the children and youth funds working group. i'm calling today to show my support for the rise working group. it is timely, forward-thinking, and needs to happen. as was stated earlier, we can look at the work already happening at our community schools, especially the successes coming out of this initiative and the san francisco beacon to know this is the right direction to go in. what i can share from our experiences at the community programs at mission and bayview

over the last decade, including our work creating hubs in partnership with the community and the local church, is that when schools are prioritized as the focus of community life with youth and families at the center, our schools will thrive and san francisco will thrive. the data is there, good and bad, for the need for rise. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> i serve at an elementary school, but i am not speaking on behalf of the school council. i do support a lot of the things in the resolution, but i wanted to speak to you all. our school is one of 20 or so that does not have a nurse and

we are not slated to have a nurse until potentially the spring. these are folks that have supported you as supervisors and i commend the work they do. if we're not even vaccinating teachers yet and we're not going things like funding -- we have so many dozens and probably hundreds and hundreds of kids in sfusb who don't have services, i'm wondering why the services haven't provided funded, when our class sizes are too big. [please stand by]

bells and whistles, and what makes schools fun, learning environments that

nurture the whole body and the whole mind, would be present at the school site, and that it would be a combination of s.f. u.s.d. and civil service workers, as well as community workers. and that all of the components that could make up a strong school environment, where every kid can thrive, that those will all be available as possibilities in creating this overall plan, and that the environment at every single school, which are in very different neighborhoods, often serving different populations, might not be a cookie-cutter. what a community looks like in one school might be completely different from the components that will make the community school strong at another school. so just to clarify because, of course, you can't get everything in a piece of legislation that is creating a work group,

who are going to be discussing and creating the model that we're then going to expand to all schools in s.f. u.s.d., but i wanted to make sure that the caller and the public knows that the sky is the limit here, and that we're going to take what's worked in the community schools that exist in san francisco and offer up those strategies to all schools. but also look at what has worked around the country and the world. and that every school is going to have that panoply of options and put together what makes most sense for that school and that community. so i just wanted to close with that clarification. and with that, chair peskin, if you wouldn't mind making the motion to adopt the amendments and move this forward as a committee report. i'd be so happy. and thanks, everyone, for your co-sponsorship. >> chairman: thank you.

and with that, i so move the aforementioned in described amendments. roll call, please. >> yes. on the amendments, supervisor mandelman? >> aye. >> supervisor chan? >> aye. >> chair peskin? >> chairman: aye. >> the motion passes without objection. >> and i would like to make a motion to send the item as amended, as a committee report for hearing tomorrow, the 23rdday of february 2021. on that motion, a rollout, please. >> clerk: yes. supervisor mandelman? >> aye. >> clerk: supervisor chan? >> aye. >> cher peskin? >> aye. >> the motion passes without objection. >> chairman: next item, please. >> the hearing to consider appointing one member,

term ending march 19, 2024, to the planning and advisory council. one seat, one applicant. >> chairman: thank you. colleagues, as i said now a number of times since i became chair of the rules committee at some point after we finish working this out with the clerk of the board of supervisors, the president of the board of supervisors, and the city attorney, these types of appointments, where one individual is appointed, in this case by this supervisor, pursuant to an ordinance -- this process is going to change. likely to be done on the adoption without community reference calendar with the full board of supervisors. but there are other options. having said that, i want to thank jerry yang, who i know and hold in high esteem, for his service on the child care planning and advisory council,

where he currently serves as vice chair. we will hear from him briefly in a moment. a residency waiver is required. mr. yang, if you are present, you are welcome to say a few words. and, again, thank you for your service. >> thank you, chair peskin and committee members. my name is jerry yang. i thank you for the opportunity to present myself to the rules committee on the c-pac members. education is the foundation of the entire education system. our city's education system has been evolving for a model system for the nation. many educators with the city have been working tirelessly for decades. and we have made good progress. there were many system

changes, such as the establishment of offices for care and education, that they be part in 2018 and in 2020. however, we still have a lot to be accomplished as a whole. we still have gaps between (indiscernable). we still have a lot of issues to be addressed through collective efforts. c-pac has been playing a very important role in making those important progresses. myself, i have been devoted to the travel education for 25 years, with a wide range of experiences. i was a pre-school teacher, a college assistant professor, and now the executive director for the most vulnerable families of our city. by the way

(indiscernable). my organization in district 3, we have five centers serving over 200 children from low-income families. this is a very cultured region and diverse district. myself, as a new immigrant from taiwan. from an equity perspective, i understand not only the needs but also the strength of the immigrants. i have been attending the meetings for a very long time. i believe my qualification can make good contribution to the early childhood education system for our city, as a district 3 rep for c-pac. thank you for your consideration and for your time. >> chairman: thank you, jerry. and thank you for your work on the child care planning and advisory council. are there any members of the public who would like to speak on this item number two?

>> yes. sorry. members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call 415-655-0001, i.d. 1876063775. then press pound and pound again. if you haven't already done so, please dial *3. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you may begin your comments. mr. barretto, do we have any members of the public for this item? >> we have two callers. >> the first speaker, please. >> caller: oh, hi. i'm sorry. i think we might have moved on. you're not talking about the rise legislation anymore, are you? >> chairman: no, sir. >> i tried to make a public comment, and i hit *3 five or six times and i

was never let in. >> chairman: my apologies. this whole covid thing has been quite challenging. are there any speakers for item number two? >> caller: hi. [audio is breaking up] >> chairman: i'm sorry -- i'm sorry, go ahead, please. >> caller: okay. [audio breaking up] >> chairman: are you speaking into a telephone, over a computer -- >> caller: yes. >> chairman: we can hear you now. >> caller: i can hear you very well, actually. >> chairman: okay. now we can hear you. so if you would like to give your public testimony on item 2, please go ahead. >> caller: okay.

great. i serve on the executive board and on the black women's caucus. i'm calling in today to support my friend -- >> chairman: i'm sorry, ma'am, that is item number 6. this is item number 2. are there any other members of the public for this item, item number 2? >> caller: hello? >> chairman: please proceed. >> caller: hi. my name is derrick. i am a resident in san francisco. i had a question for jerry. >> chairman: sorry, sir, you can testify, but we don't do questions. that's not how it works, pursuant to the brown act of the state of california. >> caller: okay. gotcha. thank you. >> chairman: are there any other speakers for item number 2who would

like to make public testimony on the appointment of jerry yang to the c-pac? seeing none, public comment is closed. i'd like to make a motion to send this, with recommendation, to the full board. on that item, mr. clerk, a rollout, please. >> clerk: yes. would you like to do that with a residency waiver? >> chairman: as aforementioned, thank you. >> clerk: on that motion, supervisor mandelman? >> aye. >> clerk: supervisor chan? >> aye. >> clerk: chair peskin? >> chairman: aye. >> clerk: the motion passes to recommend jerry yang to seat three with a residency waiver. >> chairman: next item, please. >> clerk: next on the agenda, item number,

consider appointing to members to the parks reccation and open space advisory committee. two seats, two applicants. >> chairman: i understand that supervisor mar may want to make some comments as to the appointment of karen bank to seat four. i do not see supervisor mar on the list of presenters, so until he shows up, if he shows up, why don't we go to the applicants, aaron bank and rafael portnic. >> i'm here. i can hold my remarks until after the applicants. >> chairman: just go ahead, supervisor. >> okay. sure. thank you so much, chair peskin and committee members mandelman and

chan. i just want to suppress my deep appreciation to erin banks for ritualing the sunset and parkside districts. you bring such strong experiences and professional capabilities through your leadership role at the ucsf cancer center. and i also really appreciate your commitment to civic engagement through your work with the league of women voters, and also as a poll worker. and thank you, erin, for staffing my polling place. i remember chatting with you when i cast my ballot last fall. the issues are extremely important to our city, and especially to district 4 residents. as we slowly and surely move forward into recovery in this pandemic, we're confronted with many new challenges and opportunities related to park, recreation, and open

space. some very positive initiatives during covid have repurposed streets in stre, including the great highway and mercantile on 37th avenue, and in and around district 4, city agencies are doing the district formability study. and i look forward to working with you, erin, along with susan, on all of these important issues and efforts to create a more livable and sustainable and equity neighborhood and city. thank you, and, colleagues, i appreciate your appointment of erin to the prosac.

>> chairman: with that, erin, ms. banks, the floor is yours. >> i believe that -- >> no -- i am actually here. thank you. i know that i had mentioned a potential conflict. thank you, supervisor mar. it has been great to get to know you. as you mentioned, in my capacity as a journalist at the sunset beacon. i lived in the richmond before that. i have enjoyed s.f. open spaces for a long time, specifically mostly as a runner and as a dog owner. i don't own a car, so i occupy the spaces as a pedestrian, a bicycle rider, and on my motorscooter. during the pandemic, as supervisor mar has alluded to, there have been a lot

of changes and the sunset district. i have been especially interested in the evolution of these city spaces and with other city entities. for example, in creating closed streets, closing the great highway to cars, and paving the sunset farmers' market and mercantile. i'm very excited to be involved in my community and represent the sunset on the prosac committee. >> chairman: one of those things is under the jurisdiction of rec and park, which would be the roads in the golden gate park, and the others are under the jurisdiction of s.f. m.t.a. gets go to mr. portnic. please proceed. >>

>> thank you for your time and for my appointment to seat 20. i'll keep my statements brief, but i'm happy to answer any questions that you have. i personally benefit from our parks on a daily basis. and i want that benefit to be available to everyone. so i want to serve on this committee to ensure park facilities are meeting our community needs. in business, i manage financial planning and analysis, and i believe i can provide helpful comments to the commission and the department on the strategic capital and operational plans. and i want to make sure our public resources are being used responsibly. i also review all materials through the lenses of environmental sustainability and equity. one of the responsibilities for seat 20 is to engage district 5 residents. i want to hear from

neighbors who use our parks, rec facilities, and open spaces differently than i do. i'm on the board of the neighbors' association, and i helping the league of women voters with an outreach project. if appointed, i want to build on those connections and develop others to represent the entire district's interest, and keep residents informed of what is happening with our parks. i've also been trying to get more engaged in civic life, and i really hope this is an opportunity to do that, to give back, and to learn from other community members and other people in the department. so i hope to have your support for the appointment and have the opportunity to serve on the committee. thanks again for your time and consideration. >> chairman: thank you, mr. portnic. are there any members of the public who would like

to testify on this item? >> members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call 415-655-0001, i.d. 1876063775. and then press pound and pound again. if you haven't already done so, please dial *3 to line up to speak. a system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted, and you can begin your comment. mr. barretto, do we have any members of the public for public comment at this time. >> we have one caller. >> chairman: first speaker, please. >> caller: hello, this is jordan davis, and i'd like to speak in favor of rafael. i know him from another thing he works on, which is the d.a. homeless group. he is someone with a good

equity lens, and i think he can apply a lot of that to parks and recreation. that's it. i yield my time. >> chairman: thank you. are there any other members of the public for this item? >> no more callers. >> chairman: public comment is closed. are there any comments from committee members or from supervisor mar? >> thanks, chair peskin. i did want to correct one minor, but i think important, point that you made. besides golden gate park, the great highway is under the primary jurisdiction of rec and park, and that is something that we've clarified in all of the work we've been doing, particularly with m.t.a., over the great highway. so i just wanted to clarify that. >> chairman: wow, thanks for that edcation. edification. i thought it was under the jurisdiction of the m.t.a. thank you for edifying me

on that. it is under the jurisdiction of the california state coastal commission and probably needs to go before that body or get a permit from san francisco, pursuant to its local coastal plan, which i know coastal commissioner mandelman is aware of. so thank you for edifying me on that. with that, i would like to make a motion to send erin bank and rafael portnic to the full board of supervisors for appointments to prosac with recommendation. a rollout, please tricks. >> erin banks for seat 4, and rafael portnic for seat 20. supervisor mandelman? >> aye. >> clerk: supervisor chan? >> aye.

>> clerk: chair peskin? aye. >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chairman: all right. congratulations. next item, please. >> clerk: next item is item 4, motion af proving or rejecting the mayor's nomination of mary yee for a term ending april 30, 2024. >> chairman: before we start, i want to do a little piece of house cleaning. but i do want to really appreciate the fact that larry yee is -- has been nominated by the mayor. he has served the city and county for many, many years in any number of capacities.

he has been deeply, deeply involved in chinatown, is an elder in the community, and who i personally am going to support for this nomination. but let me get to the house-cleaning matter. i have discussed this with council and the mayor's office, and that is set forth in our packet that is before us. section 4.109 of the charter, which was a charter amendment authored by ten supervisor, i believe he was board president at the time, tom amiano, is the charter amendment that governs the nominations to the very important police commission. and four of those members are nominated by the mayor. three of them by the rules committee. and all seven of them subject to approval by majority of the board of supervisors.

their terms are staggered. all of this is set forth in the piece of paper that is in our packet. and six of those members don't have any particular qualifications, other than they have to be san francisco residents. but one of the mayor's four very clearly says that that individual has to be a retired judge or an attorney with trial experience. if you go further into the packet, you will see this document that says that the vacancy, seat number 4, formally held by tippy, or thomas mazuko, the letter dated january 25th from mayor breed to the board of supervisors, to fill that

obligation. you will see on what mr. young provided us here, it very clearly says that the vacancy must be nominated by the mayor, with confirmation by the board, with the specific qualification of being a retired judge or attorney with trial experience. and when i saw that, i thought, uh-oh, mr. yee, who i am supporting, is not a retired judge nor an attorney nor an attorney with trial experience, and therefore cannot be spotted into seat 4. however, seat 6, which was occupied by molly taylor, was not an attorney, and that seat is now vacant. i thought the easy thing to do would be to put mr. yee into seat number 6, and the next

appointment by the mayor would have to be a retired judge or attorney with trial experience that could go into seat number 4. i have subsequently, this morning, been advised by the city attorney that we could put mr. yee into seat number 4, and the mayor could move that designation to seat number 6. i am not inclined to do that, not because of the city attorney's advice, but because every member of the public got to read the exact same things that we read. while it is pursuant to the city attorney's advice that there are no bylaws adopted by the police commission that set forth the seat requirements, nonetheless, it is clearly stated in this document. so i think the right and easiest thing to do, should this committee see fit, would be to appoint

mr. yee to seat number 6 and have the mayor come forward with a retired judge or attorney with trial experience that we can consider upon nomination to seat number 4. i just wanted to do that little piece of house cleaning. and mr. yee, i'm sorry for taking that time, but with that, i will turn it over to you. and thank you for being willing to be considered by the mayor and this committee, and hopefully by the full board of supervisors. with that, larry yee, the floor is yours, sir. [please stand by]

i am prepared for the police commission and i will help

implement urgent reform needed. time and time again we have fought for our racial, social, economic justice alongside our black and brown brothers and sisters. last year with the rest of the world, i was deeply moved by the black lives matter movement. it demanded reform to policing and to end police brutality. i want to support these demands to invest in public safety programs that can rebuild trust with our communities. as this committee knows, the police commission is one of the most important community-driven departments of the city. they conduct disciplinary hearings of police officers. the most important function is as the voice of committee values that reality to the policies set forth in the police department. the commission has done important work on police reform,

de-escalation policy, and redirection of financial resources towards more community many of based answers for public safety. last week we have seen a rise in anti-asian attacks. today these attacks have intensified. chinatown continues to hurt and police have a unique role to play in stopping the surge of hate crimes. there is a call for community unity. this will require us to invest in a collaborative initiative that gets to the heart of the police department as we transition to the 21st century policing. right now there is not a single chinese on the police commission, despite the chinese being one of the largest minority groups in san francisco. i come to you today, a

long-standing leader in the chinese and labor community who represents an important part of our city. together i know we can achieve racial equity and equal -- >> [indiscernible] -- >> thank you for your consideration. i'm looking forward to our support going forward. i will be happy to answer any questions that you have. >> chair: thank you so much. i want to call you larry. >> you can. >> chair: hopefully at some point commissioner yee. with that, let me turn it over to committee members. are there members of the member who would like to ask mr. yee any questions or make any comments? supervisor chan. >> thank you, chair, through you to mr. yee. thank you so much for being

willing to step up and for your service, not just hopefully when you are confirmed for your appointment, but really for all the years. you have been a great advocate for the chinese-american community and during this pandemic we see that hate crimes against asian-americans has been on the rise. we desperately need a representative and an advocate for our community on the law enforcement related issues and to have you as a representative on that police commission will be greatly needed -- it's greatly needed and really will help our community. but i think you are more than just an advocate for our chinese american community for all these years. you have been a strong advocate for unions and to really

understand the relationship between unions, workers, and their employer. i think that you will be able to bring that perspective in conversation around our police departments and in our role as police commissioner. last but not least, i want to say this on a personal note and the reason i not only have great respect for you but to understand your ties to our community and your commitment really is one day supervisor peskin long ago gave me a call and said i must see this play. it was the king of the yees. he said, you're going to be so touched and that i will understand so much about it. i went and i we want during the play. it's written by your daughter and directed by your daughter

locally. it was a great play. but in that play, they really articulated your family and your commitment and our community's need for all these years, the need of advocacy and representation in the city government. so it will be a privilege of mine today to support your appointment. thank you. >> thank you very much supervisor chan. >> chair: supervisor mandelman. >> thank you, chair. congratulations, mr. yee. i am happy to support your appointment since this is my last time talking with you before you join this body. i want to underscore a few concerns that i have that i hope you will take with you as you go on to that body.

of course i know you share the commitment of pursuing the criminal justice reform to ensuring that we have a police department that is a partner for all communities and that all communities feel is there to help and keep folks safe. i will say and i think you have heard this as well that there is increasing anxiety i think in the city about crime and safety. it takes different aspects and different parts of the city. certainly the violent attacks that we've seen particularly on elderly asian-american folks has been concerning for everyone. rising property crime hitting folks closer to home is a concern. one of the things that is most distressing for me is to hear from my constituents that they have called on the police, the police have come out -- or that

they've come out and been unwilling to take a report and told the reporting folks that nothing will be done because of some various reason, the d.a. doesn't prosecute or whatever. i think the thing that i would like to ask you to -- one of the many things i would like to ask you to pursue on that commission is whatever the -- whatever is going on in different aspects of our criminal justice system, we need excellent police officers doing their job. i know you believe that. we need a police force that is diverse and represents all of san francisco and we never need to hear from a police officer that they cannot do their job because of some other aspect of the system being broken. i don't think most police officers do that, but no one should. i want to pass that on and wish you well and offer to be a partner with you. you got your work cut out for

you. thank you for stepping forward to take on this challenge. >> thank you, vice-chair mandelman. >> chair: supervisor mar. >> thank you, chair peskin. i also wanted to express my support for mr. yee's appointment to the police commission. i wanted to thank mayor breed for the great recommendation. larry, you really bring very unique and important qualifications for this really important role. and in my conversations with you recently i think you really understand how challenging and often contentious the issues that the police commission really has to grapple with are. so i appreciate your commitment

stepping into this important role, bringing your decades and lifelong commitment as a leader in the chinese community in chinatown, but also on the west side as well and our work with the labor movement, you've really demonstrated your commitment to building bridges and to racial justice and economic justice for all. so thank you, larry. i really look forward to continuing to work with you actively on these issues. in my role, i have taken the baton from vice-chair mandelman. thanks, larry, and i support your appointment and working with you. >> thank you very much. i'm looking forward to working with you on the public safety side as well. thank you.

>> chair: why don't we open this up to public comment. are there members of the public who would like to testify on this item number 4? >> clerk: members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call 415-655-0001, the meeting id is 187 606 3775, and push pound and pound again. if you haven't done so, push star 3 to speak. a system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. wait until the system says you are unmuted and begin your comments. operator, do we have any members of the public for public comment? >> operator: we have eight callers in the queue. >> chair: first speaker, please.

go ahead, first speaker. mr. young? >> yes, operator, do we have the first speaker ready? >> operator: the speaker is unmuted. >> chair: go ahead, speaker. okay. why don't you press star 3 again and get back in the queue. >> clerk: operator, could we have the next speaker. >> my name is hazel lee. i'm the s.f. shanghai association. i support larry yee because he knows and understands the chinese community and he served in this company for a long time and he worked as a secretary. everybody knows fifth company is one of the largest associations

in san francisco. and you know larry can speak bilingual and so far there is no chinese commissioner. i really support larry yee. thank you. >> chair: larry, you don't need to thank everyone. next speaker, please. >> [speaking chinese] -- >> good morning, supervisors. chair peskin, i [indiscernible]

family association headquarter resident. >> [speaking chinese] -- >> [interpretation] i have known larry yee for over 25 years. i have worked with him in many meetings in the association. he has always got the job done. we trust him to do the right thing for the chinese community. >> [speaking chinese] -- >> [interpretation] the chinese community [indiscernible] on the

police commission to represent us to bring back peace and tranquility. >> [speaking chinese]. >> [interpretation] we all support and stand behind him because we know larry holds the highest ethical standard of conduct. we urge you to support the appointment of larry yee to police commission. thank you. >> [speaking chinese]. >> [interpretation] we wish everyone a healthy, safe, and prosperous new year. >> chair: [speaking chinese] -- next speaker, please. >> hello. thank you for taking my call, supervisor peskin and mandelman. i am on the chinese chamber of

commerce. i want to support the approval of the establishment of larry yee to the police commission. it is critical that san francisco police department understands the needs of each neighborhood in our city. larry has been involved with many community groups [indiscernible] -- help with communication with police officers. larry will be a voice for a

largely silent majority. >> chair: thank you. it was good sharing channel 7 with you on the eve of the chinese new year parade, albeit a virtual one. next speaker, please. >> i am the western president of the [indiscernible] family association. i am calling in today to support mayor breed's nomination of larry yee to the san francisco police commission [indiscernible] -- and that's why i think larry is the perfect appointment right now for the san francisco police commission. he is a passionate, committed person, and he thinks of many people in diverse communities

for many years especially the communities of color. because of larry's deep-rooted and established relationship and has the ability to be a bridge builder and he can truly help as a member of the san francisco police commission to help navigate through these necessary changes and reforms that are upcoming for san francisco. his understanding of process and communication skills are evident and backed by his long history with proven track record as a leader in the community, as you've heard. he is a known and trusted person and has the pulse of the community and will get things done. larry's ability to speak and communicate in chinese will be a tremendous asset for the san francisco police commission. with all the hate crimes that have taken place in the chinese communities recently, it highlights the need for the chinese communities to have more

representation. not only will larry be able to speak for and represent the issues and the needs of the community, i truly believe larry yee will be an asset in establishing a relationship with the san francisco police department in moving things along and getting things done. >> chair: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning. i am a san francisco native living in district 3. i am calling today to voice my support for larry yee. given the recent rise in hate crimes committed against asian-americans in the bay area and around the country, it is more important than ever to have an asian-american voice on the police commission. there is a large portion of the population that are immigrants who don't have the resources to advocate for themselves and this inequality is exacerbated by the

covid-19 pandemic, the quick recession, and the escalations of racially motivated hate crimes. san francisco needs someone like larry yee to bring forward the public safety policy that can help everyone in san francisco. as many of you noted, larry yee has been a long-time activist and community organizer who has championed the causes. larry yee's work as [indiscernible] exemplifies his commitment to the community. his background will be an asset to the police commission and the conversations he will have around public safety and racial equality. larry yee is a man of honor and integrity, two attributes needed

now more than ever. for anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting or working with larry know of his unique ability to bring people together. i strongly urge you to support larry yee in the confirmation process. >> chair: thank you. next speaker, please. >> [speaking chinese] --

>> chair: i heard your support. are you finished? would anybody like to translate? i can translate at a very high level. the individual is calling in support of mr. yee as a member of the police commission, but that's as good as my cantonese is. larry, if you would like to translate, you can do so. >> the person's name is ronald yee. he was raised in the north beach. he now lives in the sunset. he has i guess trusts me and that i would do a good job and he thanks you and hopes you support me for my position. >> chair: this is proof positive that you are linguistically competent.

thank you for that translation. thank you, mr. yee, for your testimony. next speaker, please. >> supervisors, i was listening to the virtual meeting of the police commission not long ago and i attend those meetings to see how quality of life is addressed. it is a shame that some cowards attack seniors and those who attack seniors discover they should be ashamed of themselves and i say it again because nobody should be attacking anybody from behind, pushing

them down, and they do it everywhere. very few instances are recorded because the victims do not want to go to the hospital because of the ambulance charges. the police take too long to come. i've been involved in some of these cases. supervisors, let's not talk in a rosy manner. we need to have patrolling on the main corridors where we have the chinese businesses. people come from outside and we

can do something about it. we need representation, that's true, and i'm going to back you up, larry, but more than that you must watch the police commission. they talk about things that are trivial. we pay the taxes to the police who got a raise in the middle of the pandemic, we need to do their duty. and we need them to do their due diligence. >> chair: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm reading this on behalf of malcolm young, executive director of [indiscernible]. malcolm, unfortunately, has competing duties with another commission and he apologizes for his absence. we strongly urge you to support larry yee for the police commission. he understands the need of

police support of the community. with over 30% of the population being a.p.i. and nearly 30% chinese, larry's perspective will be more important than ever. he knows that his role is not all about the cop and the community, but that it needs to be about the cop and the community. thank you. >> chair: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning, chair, supervisors. my name is robert wong incoming executive secretary to the chinese consolidated netherlands association here in san francisco chinatown. thank you all for the opportunity for me to say a few words in support of mr. larry

yee for san francisco police commission. we need more police presence here in chinatown because of all the violence against the asian-american people in the san francisco bay area. please approve his appointment to the san francisco police commission. thank you all supervisors for your consideration. >> chair: thank you, mr. wong. congratulations on being the new secretary. i guess [indiscernible] -- next speaker, please. are there any additional speakers? mr. young.

>> clerk: do we have any additional speakers at this time? >> operator: there is one speaker who is unmuted right now. >> chair: please proceed. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is roland anderson, i'm vice president of the communication workers of america local 9410 in san francisco. larry yee went to college together in the labor movement over the past 12 or 15 years. i've known mr. yee for a considerable -- two decades now. i can honestly tell you that he and i have worked on social justice issues throughout various different campaigns. i recommend him unequivocally for the police commission. he operates with the highest level of integrity and i know that he will be a great asset to this city and our community. i say that as a 35-year resident

of san francisco. thank you for your time. >> chair: thank you. let's make sure that there are no other members of the public who would like to testify on this item number 4 to -- well, we haven't done that yet, but on larry yee for the police commission of san francisco. any other speakers? >> clerk: operator, do we have any additional speakers for this item? >> operator: yes, there are two more speakers in queue. >> chair: please proceed. >> i am the past president of the chinese american democratic club. i just want to -- i'd like to keep this short. i want to express my support for larry yee for the police commission. he's fought for civil rights and social justice, an advocate for economic justice. i believe he has the commitment of the -- he has the credibility

within the community and he has the stature to be able to reach out to leaders and other communities in san francisco to build those bridges and to resolve the issues that need to be fixed. i also want to say that i understand supervisor mandelman's concerns in regards to the police not reporting. it's been an issue in the asian-american community for quite a while. they like to say that it's underreporting from the community and for the longest time i think it's a disregard for the police. i believe larry will address these issues. i would like to -- i hope that this committee will advance his

candidacy. thank you. >> chair: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i am a native san franciscan, third generation, and i am the current president for the asian-pacific american alliance, the san francisco chapter. i'm here to support larry yee and believe that he would do a fabulous job for our community. when i say "community," it's not just the asian community. he is a person that will stand up, and if you see his tall stature, he will stand out and he will be there to be a listener to all communities. he's someone who i've worked with very closely where he's somebody who has the foresight and someone who will think

clearly at the facts and then move on and speak out. so i see larry yee being a person of character that -- let's put it this way, he would be an asset to all san franciscans. thank you very much. >> chair: does that conclude public comment? mr. clerk. >> clerk: do we have any additional public comment? >> operator: no more callers in the queue. >> chair: public comment on item 4 is closed. is sophia kipler on behalf of mayor breed present? >> yes, i am here. >> chair: i just want to confirm pursuant to the earlier words

that i uttered that the administration has no objections if we swap mr. yee into seat number six as opposed to seat four? >> that's okay. >> chair: i would like to amend the motion with replacing seat four with seat six and at line 15 indicate that the expiration of the term would be april 30, 2022. i would like to make that motion. mr. clerk, would you please call -- ms. pearson? >> yes, the deputy city attorney anne pearson. >> chair: i can barely hear you. >> i'm sorry. if you would be willing to hold off taking this vote for a little bit.

i'm looking into a few procedural things about appointing him to a new seat. i'm looking into whether this can be done by amendment. the mayor has given her willingness, but she posted him to a certain seat. >> chair: this is commonplace at this committee and we've received advice in the past. anne, i do believe that the charter does not actually set forth any seats, nor do the bylaws of the commission say the seats. i'm happy to remove the number entirely to say larry yee is appointed to the police commission for a term of a timeline. >> i'm not so concerned with the

seat numbers, because as you point out, they are not designated seat numbers with eligibility criteria. there is a different term. where the committee has done this otherwise, it's typically because multiple seats are noticed on the agenda and the committee is moving people within those seats. this would be to appoint him to a seat that has not yet been noticed. i'm not concerned whether it's seat number four or two, it's a seat that has a slightly earlier expiration of its term. >> chair: is seat number six vacant? >> clerk: yes, seat number six is currently vacant. >> chair: okay. i'm not, as you can tell, pleased by this delay. i'm willing to hear the next item. i'm intending to recuse myself

for the last item. we have one of two options if you can get us the advice prior to the conclusion of the next item, which is that we can continue the item or not. all right. we've got a few minutes. i think the easiest way -- so what you're saying, ms. pearson, is this is not an issue relative to the nominator, but an issue relative to the clerk? >> well, it could be either. i don't know if this would require the mayor to submit new appointment materials if the appointment can be made to a seat with a different term than the seat that has been noticed here. >> chair: this advice is if the term of the seat is shorter it is not substantive and in this particular case the term would

be shorter? >> i appreciate that and i'm asking just for a couple of minutes to confirm and that is all. >> chair: granted. okay, mr. clerk, we will come back to this item. could you please read item 5. >> clerk: motion approving/rejecting the mayor's nomination for appointment of efrem bycer to the successor agency commission (commonly known as the commission on community investment and infrastructure), term expiring november 3, 2022 >> chair: mr. bycer, the floor is yours. >> good afternoon chair and supervisors. it is a great honor to be speaking with you today to be the nominee to fill the open seat on the commission. from my home in mission bay and as a member of the mission bay school working group and a regular attendee of the meetings, i've seen these impact

the affordable housing units coming online [indiscernible] -- this is critical work not just in mission bay, but in all of the project areas. with a mix of professional and civic experience, economic development, community engagement, and human-centered public service delivery, i'm confident i can make a meaningful and positive impact as we do important work to come. should my nomination for this position be approved by the board, i would like to lay out a few sets of values i will bring as a commissioner. the first is equity and justice. everything i would look at,

program design, strategy development, election of a permanent executive director and other policy changes, i'll examine how we should more equitably exercise our powers. second is transparency and engagement. i will contribute to o.c.i. being a trusted agency with officials in the government. my expertise with experience must be married with the expertise of other commissioners, city staff on the board of supervisors and community members the impacted by o.c.i.'s decisions. i'll end by saying i'm here not just as a professional, but a dedicated resident.

i'm the father of two young children. i'm committed to doing my part to make san francisco a city and government they will be proud of. i'm here to answer any questions on my nomination. thank you for your time and consideration today. >> chair: thank you. are there questions from committee members for this nominee to the successor agency, that if they do their job well will actually put themselves out of a job at some point? nobody from the committee. are there members of the public who would like to testify on this item number 5? >> clerk: members of the public who want to comment should call 415-655-0001 the meeting i.d. is 187 606 3775, and press pound and pound again. you need to press star 3 to

speak. you need to wait until you are unmuted and then begin your comments. do we have any members of the public for public comment? >> operator: we have one caller in the queue. one caller in the queue. >> clerk: please proceed and unmute the caller. thank you. hello, caller, if you are unmuted, please proceed with your public comment. operator, can you confirm this person is unmuted and whether or

not -- >> operator: the caller is unmuted and not speaking. >> clerk: hello, caller, please proceed with your public comment at this time. chair peskin, we do not seem to be getting a response from our one caller. >> chair: that seems like the case. so if there are no other callers for mr. bycer's appointment, we will close public comment. colleagues, if there is no objection, i would like to make a motion to send this item to the full board with positive recommendations. mr. clerk, on that motion, a roll call, please. [ roll call ] -- >> clerk: i would like to suggest an amendment to delete rejecting. >> chair: yes, let us go with approve and get rid of reject.

everywhere it says that, which is in the long title at line 3, remove the word rejecting and at line number 12, remove the word "rejects" so that in all cases it is approving and approves. i will make that motion. on that motion, thank you, mr. clerk. a roll call, please. [ roll call ]. >> clerk: the motion passes without objection as amended. >> chair: then on the -- we just amended it and now we have to take a roll call on sending the amendment to the full board with the recommendation. mr. clerk, a roll call.

[ roll call ]]. >> clerk: the motion is recommended as amended. >> chair: let's go back to item number 4. madam deputy pearson, the chair is yours. >> i am still in discussion with the clerk of the board on the other line. if you can give us time through item 6, we can resolve this. >> chair: mr. clerk, why don't you call item 6. for the record, it's not like i didn't give the city attorney a heads-up on this or the mayor's office. >> clerk: item 6 is

hearing to consider appointing two members, terms ending june 6, 2021, and five member, term ending june 6, 2021, to the immigrant rights commission. the seats are properly listed in the description, so i do not think that would be an issue. >> chair: thank you, mr. clerk. colleagues, i, as i indicated earlier, am going to recuse myself from this item because one of my staff has applied to be on this body, which is not a compensated body so it does not actually present a legal conflict, but i want to avoid even the perception of conflict. i would like to thank all of the applicants who applied. with that i'm going to recuse myself and virtually hand the gavel over to vice-chair mandelman who just accepted it.

unlike when he became chair of the t.a. not run down the hallway and hand him the actual real physical gavel. with that, i -- do we need a vote on my recusal, mr. young? >> clerk: yes, there should be a vote to recuse chair peskin from this matter. >> i will vote to recuse chair peskin on this matter. [ roll call ]. >> clerk: chair peskin is excused from this vote. that motion passes without objection with chair peskin being excused. >> chair: i am going to leave this meeting and insofar as item 4 has not yet been finally resolved, one of you is going to need to text me to tell me to get back on when you are done

with this item. >> clerk: yes, we will inform you once we are ready to get back to item 4. >> chair: i will be sitting here. buy. bye. >> acting chair: we have an abundance of extraordinary candidates -- i think we have an overabundance. so i think, supervisor chan, you can indicate now or later how you feel about this. i think it would make sense given that we just received the names and application materials for these candidates on thursday, i believe. it is my expectation that we will want to appoint more people than we can and i would benefit from having an additional week

to consider these candidates and actually talk with the folks assuming they want to talk to me. so after we hear from the applicants and after we take public comment, if you are so inclined, i will probably make a motion to continue this for one week until the next meeting. supervisor chan. >> thank you, vice-chair mandelman. i think for today i agree that we have plenty of candidates that are qualified for this and it's always so difficult [indiscernible] chair peskin mentioned earlier that these seats are not compensated at all. i appreciate the community

stepping up. however, i do want to point out today and state publicly that it has been brought to my attention that one of the incumbent commissioners also has served as a contractor to the office of civic engagement and municipal affairs. i would like to understand a little bit more about the relationship. it may not be the most -- given the fact that we have a bunch of candidates to the commission, we may want to provide an opportunity for those who may not have that relationship with the office of [indiscernible] -- before the vote.

>> acting chair: we indicated a possible direction we will be inclined to go in. we should hear from the director of the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs to share remarks and hear from the candidates who were able to make themselves available and now take public comment. let's start with director pom. >> thank you, vice-chair mandelman and supervisor chan. we staff the 15-member immigrant rights commission, which is one of only a few in this nation. i want to thank you for your leadership and your support of our immigrant community and for passing inclusive policies which gives more opportunities to members of the community to participate. one in every three san franciscans is an immigrant and some are long-time residents.

many are newcomers who are vulnerable and need to navigate a multitude of systems, rules, and laws, in addition to accessing information on city programs and services, eligibility and other requirements. the immigrant rights commission has worked very hard with no compensation to protect and serve our immigrants. over the past four years in partnership with my office, we have had to deal with over 220 executive orders and policy changes from the trump administration. many of these are harmful policies that target our nation's immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. we're hoping that the biden administration will focus on helping all americans thrive and succeed, even though we are more hopeful today, our work is never

going to be done was immigrants are targets of discrimination, abuse, violence, and left out of equity. we hope the immigration system will be reformed and a permanent pathway to citizenship will be created for all immigrants, particularly our vulnerable young daca and undocumented immigrants. i am suggesting ruiz for seat 1 and also the rest on the list. these have made a positive difference for the community by supporting racial, immigrant, and language learning. two of our commissioners, jessy

ruiz and ryan khojasteh are not able to attend. for seat 10, i would love to have ruslan gurvits join the commission. she is such an inspirational leader and her voice is sorely needed on this commission for seat 11, candidate pack and tanaka have withdrawn their request. i will be happy to answer any questions if you have any. >> acting chair: thank you. we will go on to start hearing from the applicants.

let's give them up to two minutes each and of course we'll have some questions if we have additional questions. so let us start with vinay ramesh for seats 1, 2, 3, and 5. >> my name is vinay ramesh and i thank you for allowing me to speak this afternoon. it is truly a privilege to be considered for a role on the immigrant rights commission. i'm a product of the public school system. i graduated in with a degree in political science and during my time at berkeley, i worked on increasing street lighting in high crime areas. my passion for immigrant lights was lit when i started volunteering for the california

refugees clinic. i work with my clients and their lawyers to make sure that their struggles and stories are conveyed with absolute clarity as they navigate the precarious path to asylum. this has changed my life and helped me understand their struggles on a micro and macro level. immigration is at the heart of the american dream, but we live in a country that demonizes and criminalizes these individuals. i'm a second generation immigrant from india. i know how difficult it was for my parents to assimilate into this community. many live unaware of the important work that has been achieved. i believe symbolism is beautiful and necessary, but through serving on this commission, i

would like to work on this commission being more metric and data-driven towards the goals we want to achieve year over year. these positions should be advertised and touted so more folks are aware of the work done. i believe we can galvanize people to get involved in these public service initiatives. i want everyone to have access to the resources i have. the american dream should exist for everyone, not just a select few. whether you're the next c.e.o. of a fortune 500 company or someone just providing for their families, you should feel safe and welcome in your home. thank you so much for your time, supervisors. >> acting chair: i apologize, i have a feeling i will butcher a number of names this afternoon and i'm going to do my best.

for seat number 2 we have haregu gaime. >> yes, and i'm on the phone. can you hear me? >> acting chair: yes. >> perfect. so i am at my office so i have to appear over the phone. thank you. thank you, chair, supervisors mandelman and chan. first and foremost, i would like to thank you for your time. second, i would like to use this time to thank the director and his staff for ensuring that the immigrant rights commission is a commission we can all be proud to serve on. i'm haregu gaime. i am continuing my roles as a commissioner on the immigrant rights commission. the immigrant rights commission is an important commission that

gives voice to the immigrant community. it serves to communicate the needs of the immigrants to the board. this is accomplished through the hard work of the immigrants themselves. in my capacity, i hope to serve as a conduit to let my community know that city hall is approachable, that they're there to utilize, and the city of san francisco is not out of reach. furthermore, the commission serves to recognize that as the city is made hole by every person who serves and works in the community. i am an immigrant. i also view myself as part of the larger african immigrant community and i am working to alleviate the hardship to many of our community members endure. i'm a bilingual immigration attorney. i recognize the hurdles the

immigrant community must go through are to access any resource, be it medical, driver's license, general items that the average american -- to whom the average american might seem normal, but these are hurdles to my community members. through my work with the commission, i would like to ensure we have advocacy for persons who may not be able to access any of these. through the immigrant rights commission, i can advocate for access, interpretation, or translation of documents. i can assist the community in overcoming these hurdles. i understand the needs of the community and i also feel like i'm just beginning in my advocacy. thank you for your time. >> acting chair: