declared a local state of emergency related to covid-19, and on may 29, 2020, the mayor's office authorized all commissions to reconvene remotely. this will be our 20 remote hearing. remote hearings require everyone's attention, and, most of all, your patience. if you are not speaking, please mute your microphone. sfgovtv is streaming and airing this event live. once the building inspection commission hearing concludes, sfgovtv will then begin broadcasting our hearing live. comments or opportunities to speak during the public comment period are available by calling 415-655-0001 and entering

access code 187-181-1395. when you hear the item that you want to comment on, press star, three to enter the queue. when your allotted time is reached, i will announce that your time is up and take the next person queued to speak. best practices are to call from a quiet location, speak slowly and clearly, and state your name. i'd like to take roll at this time. [roll call]

>> clerk: thank you, commissioners. first on your agenda is general public comment. at this time, members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes. members of the public, this is your opportunity to comment on items not on the agenda. seeing no members of the public wishing to offer public comment, public comment is closed. we are now on item 2, department matters.

>> thank you, commissioners. i'd like to remind you that the public conference is open. it's going to occur virtually again june 8 from june 10. this is a great way to get your training underway, basically, your preservation that we track through the office of his torque preservation. -- historic preservation. that's all i have, commission. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, commissioners. i do have a member of the public wishing to speak. i will ask if it's appropriate at this time. member of the public, you have been unmuted. which item did you wish to speak to? >> hi, there. i wanted to speak in general public comment, but i couldn't get in in time.

>> clerk: chair, should we open public comment up to let this comment back in? >> yes. >> thank you. my name is bridget maily. this is one of seven carnegie branch libraries in san francisco. the building has not been landmarked. i'm requesting today, during your commission comments and questions, you ask for a status update to this designation. the report was completed by me on a pro bono basis, was thorough and complete, and i've heard nothing contrary from department staff. the report followed the layout

of the six previous reports. one thing that i regret not including was the detail of the reading room. the six previous reports noted the spatial volume of the reading room was a [inaudible] this adjacent project will result in a permanent change to the interior aesthetics of the main reading room by blocking light to the south facing windows. i'm asking that when you finally receive the library designation report, that you update the language of the character defining features of the main reading room, not just for this library, but for all carnegie libraries, to read, the spatial reading room and

the natural light afforded by the generous windows at the room perimeters. let's amend the carnegie reports so that future projects will not have the same detrimental future impacts. let's not let the same thing happen to the other carnegie libraries. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. okay. members of the public, last call for general public comment. seeing no additional requests to speak, general public comment is closed, and we can resume our agenda. >> i had a question for rich about the agenda. >> clerk: sure. >> rich, i looked at the agenda for each day, and i noticed there are a lot of important cabinets on the first day. will anybody from the planning department be presented?

>> yeah. from what i understand, alison who is our lead from archaeo as well as ceqa is presenting on a mitigation webinar. we're actually just starting to get polled about what everyone else is doing since everyone else tends to do a little bit of their whole thing, but we'll gather up any of the issues that the staff are leading and follow along. >> yeah. i just wanted to know definitely if our staff would be participating. thank you. >> clerk: okay. if there are no further questions for department staff, we can move onto item 2, department matters or announcements. >> i have no matters or announcements at this time. >> clerk: item 3,

consideration of adoption of draft minutes for april 7, 2021. members of the public, this is your time to address minutes. we have no attendees, so public comment is closed. [inaudible] >> clerk: thank you, commissioners. i heard two motions and no seconds. >> second. >> clerk: thank you. on that motion to adopt the minutes -- [roll call]

>> clerk: thank you, commissioners. that motion passes unanimously 7-0, placing us on item 4, commissioner comments and questions. >> so i -- during public comment, we heard that somebody is interested in inquiring about the status of the golden gate valley branch library, so if we could have somebody from the staff provide us with a status report at our next commission meeting, that would be great. >> sure, we're happy to do that at the next meeting. >> thank you. >> clerk: commissioner pearlman is requesting to speak. >> yes, thank you. i was going to ask the same thing, so i was just going to ask that. thank you. >> clerk: very good. if there are no additional

comments from members of the commission, we can move onto your regular calendar for item 2021-002933-pca to simplify restrictions on small businesses. this is a planning code amendment. staff, are you prepared to make your presentation? >> yes. laurel [inaudible] from the mayor's office will do an introduction, and then, i will do the presentation. >> thank you, sheela, and thank you, commissioners, for having us here today. this is the mayor's building recovery act [inaudible] she asked planning staff and the office of economic and workforce development to come together to explore ways to further cut bureaucracy to cut

red tape and [inaudible] and to provide protections and opportunities for entertainment establishments in san francisco. this large piece of legislation aims to achieve all three goals and specifically for the part that catches your purview, it will explore ways that businesses and historic spaces can get open more expeditiously. i'll leave it to sheela to explain the details. >> thank you, laurel, and i'm going to share -- ta-da. did that work? >> clerk: we can see it, but you might want to make it full screen. >> i can do that. all right. is that look good? >> clerk: great. >> all right.

good afternoon, commissioners. i am sheela nickolopoulos, planning department staff. as laurel said, there are three parts of this small business recovery act. one is to cut through bureaucracy by cutting through prop h and other elements by opening a neighborhood business. second, by implementing flexibility to support short-term recovery and the long-term viability of our neighborhood businesses. this will also support our shared spaces goals, and finally protections and opportunities for businesses our arts. performance and art spaces were some of the first businesses to close at the start of the pandemic and will likely be some of the last to reopen. so i just want to give you some context of some of the precovid challenges that businesses were

experiencing before the pandemic hit. so in the past year, with the option of on-line shopping, consumers want to buy locally what they can't buy on-line, and there were costs for retail establishments, including start-up costs and on going costs, particularly in an area with high cost of living, and we had several city reports that go into detail about these challenges, including the 2008 oewd state of the retail sector, and we had a 2009 study on m.c.s. to highlight some of the changes that we've seen in this past decade, one retail sector has grown much more than any other, and that's dining. this uses data from the north

american classification industry. the top four lines of the chart are blue is restaurants. the green is apparel, the dark green is groceries, and the other is personal care. restaurants were especially hit hard in the 2008 recession and again in this last year, during the pandemic. and then we -- i want to talk about some of our covid aspects that we've seen, as well.

in the dramatic way, it's affecting how we work, shop, and socialize, as well. downtown areas are relatively quiet right now. we are also seeing renewed interest in the 15-minute neighborhood. as workers stay home and transit is limited, it's underscoring the need of meeting daily needs more home. to go into more about the covid impacts for neighborhood patrons, neighborhoods vulnerable to the economic aspects of the pandemic are likely neighborhood based. neighborhoods where they've seen dramatic changes in their patron base are more hit by the impact. some neighborhoods have seen dramatic move out rates. per change of move out data from usps, there's been a 600%

increase of move-out rates from chinatown and nob hill. in san francisco overall, we've seen a rise in retail vacancy rates. on-line sales have increased as more people shop at home. there is an uncertainty about pent-up demand. some speculate that consumers are eager to return to old habits, while others are positive that new shopping factors will remain. there's more than a year's worth of opening and closing have been extremely difficult. their doors were shut from march to november, closed again in december, and still operating at limited capacity.

we've had more than 100 restaurants in san francisco close, and there's been a 45% decrease in small business openings per chamber of commerce, from the development department, san francisco and san mateo have lost 120,000 jobs, mostly in hospitality, but also in food service and

drinking. we've had fee deferrals for business season tax registration. the shared spaces has gone from less than 100 to more than 2,000 businesses operating these spaces. there's been an eviction moratorium, and there's been more than $11 million to support workers who have had covid and faced financial hardships. last summer, the -- following the shelter in place orders and anticipating severe economic impacts of the pandemic, the mayor created the pandemic tax ordinance to identify tangible steps towards financial recovery. one was to focus on redesigning the permit process, extending

and supporting the shared spaces program, rethinking the rules that reflect temporary arts, culture and hospitality and entertainment and catalyzing neighborhoods recovery through the arts. in the fall, voters -- 61% of voters approved prop h. i'm sure you're familiar with this, so just to highlight some of the key points, there's a 30-day permit for permitting commercial uses, and restaurants, limited restaurants, and other uses were principally permitted citywide, which really changed the landscape. now to give you some background, i will dive into the specifics. it's a dense piece of legislation, so i'll move through these one by one. this will expand the prop h guarantees. under prop h, the 30-day processing applied to all ground floor retail in

neighborhood commercial zoning, and this will expand the process into all districts, including mixed-use and downtown; including planning, d.b.i., p.u.c., and public works. this ordinance would expand the benefits to more businesses. the 30-day permitting for processing permits benefits the city by reducing the staff time on principally permitted uses. secondly, to make this 30 days possible, we are removing the 311 notification requirement for mixed use and commercial zoning. this is already in place for neighborhood commercial zoning, and would be expanded. this will help us implement the 30-day. lastly, we're going to make

bars, night time entertainment, medical cannabis dispensaries, nonretail service, and chain retail [inaudible] that 11 but they are still a local enterprise. so dealing with category of further cutting bureaucracy, one is the elimination of the abandonment clause. under the current regulation, if a bar with conditional authorization were to close and the space sits vacant for three years, an incoming bar will have to repeat that process.

currently, a restaurant, limited restaurant, or retail applying for a conditional use authorization is required to provide a calculation for other businesses within 300 feet of their area. the difference between a limited restaurant and a restaurant per planning code definitions might not be clear to an applicant who's collecting the data. so the linear feet calculations don't always represent how one may experience the streetscape, so it may not be a meaningful measurement. an important note to this is that under prop h, restaurants and limited restaurants are principlely permitted in almost all n.c.s for at least the next

three years, so this will be in the 23 zoning districts that require n.c.s for bars and all of the n.c.s where formula retail requires a c.u. and then, the last piece on here is that the small business recovery act will reduce the time -- well, actually, so this one -- i want to move forward. so this one, i'd like to kick over to rich to talk through this proposed -- there's actually a proposed modification, and we had included a recommendation in the memo, and upon further review by staff, we'd like to alter that modification. and rich, do you want to talk through the specifics of what this means and why? >> sorry. sorry. i'm having trouble with my video [inaudible]. yeah, i'm happy to chat about what this means.

so when we were first chatting with the mayor's office, we wanted to reduce the minor permit to alter from 20 days to 10 days. in reviewing the timeline for these uses, we recognize that even having some noticing on a 30-day policy is challenging. that is an admin certificate of appropriateness or minor permit to alter. still has to follow all of the rules that are in article 10 or 11. it just means the staff are conducting an administrative review of the project basically, so right now, we're currently working under a delegation that was adopted in 2019 for basically identifying the scopes of work that qualify for admin review versus full review by the historic preservation commission. since we've had the admin and

minor process, and since 2012, we've had a little over 1,000 admin and minor permits to alter. of those 1,000, we've only received three requests for hearing, which is basically when a member of the public asks and challenges a staff definition of the staff review and requests the full h.p.c. to decide if a full certificate of appropriateness is required or not. >> thank you, and we can certainly circle back to questions about that following the rest of the presentation. so continuing on in our category of enhancing flexibility. so first, prop h permitted outdoor areas in n.c.t.s with specific limitations, they had to be on the ground floor, waiting between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., operating not in

association with a bar use and where associated with i arestaurant or limited restaurant, the outdoor activity area had to include seating, not standing areas for patrons. this ordinance would principally permit rooftop uses with those same provisions where they're applicable. any rooftop operations during this would be subject to all health, safety, and egress requirements. secondly, this will allow restaurants, not just limited restaurants, to host catering businesses. this will give businesses and entrepreneurs more opportunity to share space and operating costs. this change will offer another path towards recovery. submitting a.d.u.s in the rear of commercial space as allowed for regular dwelling units. so the -- this ordinance will allow a.d.u.s constructed in

the rear commercial space a minimum 25 feet depth is maintained facing the commercial street front. it allows an a.d.u. to take space on the ground floor. in most cases, where the commercial space is flush with the sidewalk, this means that residential space can take over any amount of ground floor except the front 25 feet which has to be occupied with an active use. as a.d.u.s must be an accessory to residential, it would apply only to commercial and not

residential. we will also delete the unique definitions -- so this simplification reduces the overall number of separate retail definitions and is intended to decrease the need for change of use permits, particularly for permits that are so similar, like instructal gyms and services. on the ground floor, this change will not trigger any changes to the permitting of cad boarding gym or instructional service, but it will make trade shop more specific in 1 and c. lastly, we get to our category of supporting arts and culture. so the first one is the -- this actually would permit temporary entertainment resources in outdoor areas, including

temporary structures for a maximum of two years. this would provide artists and performers for recovery opportunities. this will create a new planning code section to add a j.a.m. permit to continue with added flexibility. this was implemented under the emergency declaration, and this program will allow it to continue. there's a proposal for a new c.u. to remove night time entertainment uses for two years. the c.u. for removal provides a stopgap measure during recovery and is supported by the venue coalition. the small business recovery act will also remain planning code requirements to impose certain predetermined conditions in order to impose a c.u. for each

project. the planning commission and entertainment commissions would still have the ability to impose any requirement they see fit. in addition, there's a few police code amendments that are also built into this that i'll just highlight quickly. [inaudible] without an entertainment permit. the second is to remove a restriction on one-time permits where they're currently limited to 12 days in a 12-month period, we're going to remove that restriction and move a limited live performance from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. to give asummary to the equity impact, it's to reduce the need for capital and open impacts.

we recognize that simply removing these barriers does not lead to -- does not directly lead to equitable out comes, so we see all of this supported by all of the other support programs to support those who need it, whether it be individual businesses or neighborhoods and communities. for a.d.u.s, we hope this might be able to produce more affordable housing time that is embedded within neighborhood amenities, and i just want to note there's no prohibition against modifying anything against future desires so we can continue to be responsive to neighborhoods' needs. i do want to note we received letters of support from the san francisco chamber of kmergs, the yerba buena community benefit district, the hayes

c.b.d., the castro c.b.d., and the mission c.b.d. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, sheela. that concludes staff presentation. we should open this up for public comment. members of the public that would like -- if you would like to speak to this matter, please press star then three to be added to the queue. okay. we have one member of the public in the attendee list, but i guess they don't want to speak to this matter, so public comment is closed, and the matter is now before you. and so this is a planning code amendment for your recommendation to the planning commission. we'll then approve and move it to the board of supervisors if it continues that path. >> commissioner pearlman, did

you -- >> yes, thank you. am i correct in understanding there is only one item in this entire package that relates to the historic preservation commission? is that correct? >> that is correct. so we gave you the whole show so you could get the full picture. >> well, thank you. i do appreciate that. i do have a question about that one item. i wonder, did you entertain eliminating [inaudible] for the administrative of the acoa and the mpta. it says we're at a level of less than .3 of 1%. if it's administrative, why do you need any appeal period?

i assume that's probably a ceqa thing. it just seems like eliminating that entirely would not be a huge change in the status quo. >> fully removing the requirement is probably not feasible. we are able to modify it, and i think the current code currently outlines the process for administrative review toest to just ensure that property owners are taking the review of their landmarks according to, you know, the rules that the

city has basically developed. so we still will kind of conduct the review of those proposals and sign off on them. we will just avoid the notice process in terms of processing the applications now. >> maybe i didn't understand. i was talking about the appeal. not that we should eliminate them, but the appeal -- if i'm understanding properly, there's still a ten-day appeal period for an issued acoa or mpcj. this to rich? >> yeah, that's correct. so with any appeal process, there's still a ten-day appeal period. so because it's a discretionary action from the department, basically, it's something that is appealable unless, you know, instituted by statute. so i might defer to the city attorney for additional

questions on this, but that's my understanding. >> i'll just chime in. this is liz watty, director of planning. should somebody want to appeal the admin for the minor, it's the same appeal body as the permit itself, so the idea is any member of the public can appeal any building permit, so if someone would want to appeal that individual or the minor, it would likely run concurrently with the appeals period with the building permit itself, so we're hoping, again, to pinch out any redundancy or notification time that we don't feel is bringing any value to the end product. >> thank you. >> i had a question -- actually, two questions. so let's -- let's say just, for example, there is that legacy business that -- there's a

legacy business -- sorry. i'm in my office with the dogs -- and they needed to take a break for a year or two years. are you saying through this new -- or through this revised amendment, they would be able to open again without going through any of the processes this that they would have to do previously? >> regardless of if it's a legacy or any type of business, if they had shut their doors but they remained in a building, they wouldn't have to go through any sort of process. >> my next question is having access to this information for people who are not native english speakers. will this be available in various languages?

>> yes. >> if a person who is maybe not comfortable speaking english has questions to go through this new process, are there humans available for that person to have a consultation with? >> yes.

>> thank you. >> are there any further questions? yes, commissioner nagaswaran. >> hi. i've read through some of these parts of this program. are some of them a two-year period and other parts permanent? can you please explain? >> what parts are permanent versus what would be temporary? so all -- everything will be permanent except for a few

things. in addition, the other one, the two-year one is the limited live performance piece, and that would be limited to two years, as well. >> thank you. also, how do people find out about these programs? do they go to the city website or how do they find out what it provides? >> the prop h, like, the 30-day program. the city has done quite a bit to advertise that and reach out to associations, for sure, and then, oewd targets specific communities and populations,

and they have strong ties with the neighborhood planning groups that can help disseminate changes, as well. >> [inaudible] are saying oh, hey, you're eligible for this. go provide through this way so you can access the 30-daytime line. so i think d.b.i., d.p.h., they're helping us get the word out to their constituents, as well. >> are there any other comments or questions from the commission? >> president matsuda, i'd like to [inaudible]. >> me, too. >> [inaudible]. >> hi, thanks. the commissioner in me wants to comment on this, a whole lot of things are positive. something that i was happy to

hear about was since the prop h location processing [inaudible] that was implemented in january, 75% [inaudible] and 42% are women-owned businesses, and that is -- especially in the retail sector, these changes support our racial and social equity goals, and so i hope that our social equity team will recommend further updates to further these goals next year. further, i want to acknowledge that a lot of this falls on staff, both the mayor's staff and the planning staff to develop those code changes, and i know how hard it can be. but i just want to say that we as commissioners get it in that as planning staff have had to adopt to covid related changes, including working from home,

and i was so impressed and kind of blown away by the volume and breadth of work changes you brought to us at the last hearing. i thank you for your flexibility and hard workup to now and also in the future because these were all really important goals for us as a city to recover. >> thank you very much. >> commissioner foley? >> you know, for someone who actually operates multiple businesses and works with a bull of small businesses and nonprofits, i think all of this work that you're doing is super great. i think trying to cleanup these things and trying to get these businesses open up in a reasonable time i think kind of helps the fabric of our neighborhoods and our community but also allows the planning staff to do work that's more interesting. i just want to say thank you

for all this hard work, and i really appreciate it. >> thank you. any other commissioners that would like to make comments or questions? commissioner so, please use the chat if you would like to make some comments? >> hi. thank you, president matsuda. i'd just like to say a few words about the [inaudible] between the planning staff and oewd. i'm all for streamlining these processes and cutting down the red tape that we can possibly do to make sure that our small businesses and community minority women-owned businesses can get their feet back on track. it is very important, and i'm really happy that we are progressing to this point where we have a really untilable robust staff to review projects, and we have track

records in the past ten years that we prove we can do it, and we are now ready to make things happen faster, and we can allocate to other sources to more needed projects and with the limited resources that we have. so i would like to motion to approve this recommendation -- is it motion to approve, right, or is it discussion only? >> clerk: the recommendation is motion for approval. >> i so want to motion that. >> second. >> second. >> i think -- do we need, since the modification that was outlined in the resolution is slightly different from what we have brought to you today, so i just want to make sure that we're approving that -- the modification that we had discussed to --

>> i'm sorry, commissioner foley. did you have additional comments that you wanted to make? >> no, i'm done. >> clerk: okay. very good. if there's nothing further, there's been a motion that's been seconded to approve the modification made by board members and staff. on that motion -- [roll call]

>> clerk: so moved, commissioners. that motion passes unanimously, 7-0, and concludes your ever-so-brief agenda today. thank you for joining us, and apologies for interrupting your afternoon. >> thank you so much for joining us.

hi everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and it has been a very, very challenging year for all of us in san francisco, but i've got to tell you, we're coming alive again. we're starting to open the city again. i see you urban alkamine. thank you for all the work you

do to keep us safe out here. we are here today because we are taking an additional step further to get the city re-opened. i'm joined by a number of our city department heads including our city administrator car men chiu and our librarian michael lambert. and, let me tell you, michael has not only been running this library, he and so many of our librarians and the people who work for the library here in san francisco, they more than almost any other department have been working as disaster service workers to help address this pandemic. they've been down at covid command at mascone center showing up every day doing whatever it takes. organization. going out to our hotels where we are helping to support our homeless residents. going out to the community hubs

to help support our kids. preparing virtual lesson plans and reading time. i did a reading time for kids during this pandemic as well virtually, of course. doing so many incredible things to help get our city going during a very challenging time. i know many of us, we wish we didn't have to go through this this past year, but what we should look at is the sacrifices we made and where we are now today. san francisco has vaccinated about 60% of the residents here in the city, more than the state and national average. and, over 85% of of those who are over the age of 65 have been vaccinated. we are on the road to recovery. yes, covid is still here whether we want it to be or not. yes, we still have to do our

parts and distance and wear a mask and not get too comfortable because the last thing we need is another surge and the need to shut this city down again, but the fact is san franciscans, we are on the road to recovery. we are on the road to building a stronger san francisco. and, that gives me hope for the future and, today is not just talking about our recovery. it's also looking at re-opening our city. re-opening our libraries. of course, we're going to start with the main library and then we're going to head over to chinatown, mission, and a number of the community libraries and i don't know if you know this, but i grew up in

san francisco, and, at that time, there wasn't all this computer internet stuff that we had today. we had to actually go to the library because we would get a look report assignment and the western edition library was my library of choice. i went to ben franklin middle school. and we had to go through a card catalog to find the book, it was in alphabetical order and that's how we did things. now it's all computerized, it's easy. and, in fact, i still have a library card and now i download my audio books and other things for free. so all those books i forgot to bring back, they just disappear after they expire on my phone. a lot different than it used to be. no excuse for those of us who want to take advantage of reading, of using the computers and other things in the library, we're finally opening and i just, i can't be more

grateful to this department and what they have done. all of its employees. all of the people of san francisco, we did this together. we made this happen together. yes, we have our challenges like any other major city. we still have so much work to do to unaddress the inequities that continue to exist in our society. but we're in a good place right now and we should be proud. we can take a moment. we can take a moment to enjoy this time and to recognize the fact that we are here, that we have an incredible opportunity, and we have a future to look forward to. that's what today is about. it starts with our libraries. the giants and the warriors are now able to play with fans.

i saw folks out there soccer leagues, a bunch of kids playing in soccer leagues. i went to the tennis center in golden gate park, packed with people. of course, being responsible, i saw folks walking their dogs and doing all kinds of fun stuff in our amazing parks system. so we are on the road to recovery and i am looking forward to the day when we can finally throw these masks in the area and wave them like we just don't care because i don't even know what any of you look like anymore. so, with that, thank you so much. today is about opening our libraries as a first step in our road to recovery along with other many of our incredible city assets for the public to enjoy and, with that, to talk more specifically about our library and the work that we're going to be doing to move our city forward is our city librarian michael lambert.

>> thank you so much. it feels so good to be here. thank you, madam mayor. thank you, so much for your leadership for guiding us all through this past year and welcome everyone. today is a special day. i'm so honored to be here with mayor breed and announce the books are back and your san francisco public library is re-opening. as our mayor mentioned, she is a power user of the library's collections and we appreciate all her support for our institution and our library staff. i also want to acknowledge the president of the san francisco public library commission, dr. mary wardell garduzi and library commissioners connie

wolf, dr. aronia lopez and commissioner john lee and the executive director marie zapella. thank you all so much for your advocacy and leadership on behalf of our library system. also here, is carol eisen. i have to say carol has been a tremendous partner this past year working with our staff who have been activated as disaster service workers and more recently helping us to recall staff so we can re-open the library. thank you, carol, for your partnership. it's so excitingtor here at this moment and i am beyond thankful that we're finally able to re-open our libraries for in-person services. it's been a long, hard 13 months, but now we're in a position to safely re-open our libraries for brows and bounce.

patrons will be able to experience browsing our stacks again something i know they have dearly missed. we'll also have our public access computers available for printers and high-speed internet access. and, it's really fitting

we'll still be offering spl to go and next week we're going to open the patrero branch and the west portal branch tuesday. we should have all of our branches re-opened by the fall before the start of school. and i really want to thank the community for all your patience and support. you've hung in there and i just really appreciate all your patience as we phase this re-opening and the coming weeks

and months ahead. at this time, i'd like to introduce our city administrator carmen chiu. in 2019, city administrator chiu partnered with the challenge initiative to compile a woman's book list to inspire the next generation of women leaders. we're so fortunate to have her support in getting our libraries re-open. city administrator chiu. >> when i was a little girl, i can remember going to the library. i maxed out every single book i could possibly get with my library card. it was always some kind of a cartoon, garfield or whatever it might have been at the time. and, i have to say how important it was for me to be able to access the library. my parents didn't have a whole lot of money. it wasn't as if we could go to a store and pick out a book or the latest edition we've been

hearing about or reading about in school. for me, and many people like me in my community, being able to go to the public library was the one place you got to go where you had the opportunity to get the books you saw in school. you were able to borrow and bring it home. take to your bed or read it on the couch. it was a place that created opportunities. the opportunity to dream and the opportunity to learn. and i think for so many san franciscans, being able to see the libraries re-open, our public libraries re-open is a blessing. i think san francisco has among the best library system in the entire country and i want to thank michael lambert, our city librarian and all of our commissioners, our friends of the library, our mayor for your support of our library system. today, when we think about this announcement, why i'm so excited, you know, covid-19 has not been kind to people. it's a disease that has

required that we went against every single nature of our being staying away from our friends, our families, being disconnected from one another, being isolated and, in particular, for people who are seniors, for our kids. and, so, when we think about bringing back our libraries, it's more than just being able to access books free and wonderful library services and education, it's about coming back together as a community. and, when i think about how exciting it is that not only the main is opening but that chinatown branch is opening and mission branch is opening, it makes me proud because we're also thinking about the communities that are underserved and not only that, but the community that is live in the most community residential neighborhoods. so i want to thank the library for not only being a place where we can learn but being a safe place for our community to come back together. i want to thank the mayor for all of 0er leadership.

i can't imagine a single meeting with the mayor that she hasn't thought about what are we going to do about bringing people back together. what are we going to do about mental health and i want to thank her because she has been constantly pushing not only for us to re-open, but to do it in a safe way, to remember that at the end of the day, we have to make sure we keep our community safe and to do this together. so i want to thank her for her leadership. and, finally, my last thanks really goes to the workers, the staff of the public library. at its peak, there were 600 san francisco public library workers who were deployed as disaster service workers. the folks helping to pass out food at the pantries. the folks coming to the command center coming to help with all the things we needed. now, we still have 150 who are still deployed. they have been a critical part of our whole response and i just want to thank them for not only the work they continue to do in our emergency response,

but for all the work that they are going to be going as we re-open our branches. today is a great day. the sun is shining on us and we are so thrilled. congratulations to the library system. >> thank you. speaking of the san francisco public library staff, we want to thank shauna sherman for joining us today. she runs the african american center here at the main, but she worked as a contact tracer and we really appreciate people like you and others for the work that you continue to do to uplift the community. and so, i know that and, again, carol, thank you for getting all of the staff back to the library because, let me tell you, i know it was hard work but because many of the library staff felt so dedicated to the work of helping to support the city, yes, they wanted to come back to work, but they also wanted to finish the work they were doing to address this pandemic.

so, again, we want to say thank you so much for your hard work and all that you did to help this city throughout this pandemic. and, unlike carmen chiu who probably returned her books to the library when she was a kid, thank goodness i waived all those fines and fees of the past because i'd be in real trouble right now. forgive me, library. forgive me. [ laughter ] but, with that, thank you all again to the commissioners, the friends of the public library. so many incredible people who care deeply about making sure that people in this city have access to books, that they have access to educational materials to computers and all the things that can help nurture and grow your mind, but also a really good for your soul. so, with that, i want to open it up to questions. do we have any questions? no questions.

easy. easy day today. all right. thank you all so much. take care. i've got time i've with 25 jobs so for young people one of my favorite days in san francisco thank you, thank you to the companies that are hiring. >> (clapping.) >> the city of san francisco and united way are calling an employers to have jobs for youth in 2012 president obama issued a challenge and the challenge was get disconnected young people connected to jobs and so mayor ed lee said we should lead this

challenge that the city will have 25 hundred jobs that first summer 6200 jobs and been building. >> i'll high are ups we like to pledge 50 jobs so for youth this summer. >> excellent. thank you. >> a large part of the jobs it did manual resource center started off a a youth program and our first year 35 percent of the young people working full-time we know there the pressors looking for committed young people the resource fair attracts over 6 hundred people if all over the city and the greater bay area. >> we have public and private partnership the employers came from hertz rent a car and many private sector jobs sea have the

city staff so the airport is here, starbuck's is here we've been retail we have restaurants, we have offices and so the young people will get an opportunity to partner search warrant with so many of the great champions for jobs. >> for the past 5 years we've hired over 3 willed youth to work as business traces they have been promoted to supervisors. >> if you're doing a job at starbuck's the opportunity for them allows them to understand math if tire working at anothers architectural firm understanding debris or a media to understand reading and writing differently those are opportunities that the mayor is clear he wanted to provide we're going to be do mock interviews helping young people that the resumes a it pulls them

to the career opportunities and building inspection commission make sure they're prepared for those opportunity educational and in terms of their preparation skills by the time many of them leave they'll leave with jobs and new relationships building their network of the opportunity to thrive and i think i could focus and i check around the booths to see had is available i'm hoping to get a job but have employers you know employers give practice. >> i feel this will be a great way to look for jobs we can do this like you get paid. >> when our young people walk we capture their information so we can do follows up and we have a room that has a our computer lab an opportunity for them to

do cover letters and talk about updating their profile and i think how you do things on the internet we help quam and they can update tare resume and can look in interviews and on the spot job officers we hire about one hundred young people today lee alone it is exciting out of that it is if they come through with one hundred walk out with a job. >> we'll rock and roll i guess in the job interviews it went great. >> as a youth we get to go through experiences 3 builds a great foundation gymnasium a positive outlook and more importantly confidence. >> we really want to do at the end of the day exist a young person with the possibility of what we can be and do we have them go home i want to get there

let me connection with those folks and ultimately got on the path. >> good morning good morning caitlin i'm caitlin lopez 23 years old i moved out to california and san francisco, california had i was about 8 years old and actually put in foster care at the age of 9 or 10 had a baby at the 16 years old so i've kind of had this crazy like youth experience. >> despite the challenges she faced caitlin finished high school and take advantage of program. >> i heard will mayor ed lee's program through my social worker and i interviewed with entrepreneurs after i was matched walking sweet spots

office i thought imitated not been in that type of office ones i got into the office with my supervisor we boptd and i got a call from h.r. i got the position and i'm in. >> i have. >> we hired merry for 8 weeks and saw how she did she was only going to work 8 weeks but at the end question offered her a position part time. >> i have those traits it has been great working here my term of 5 weeks was pretty much like family supporting each other i feel like the mayors job program helped me to get in job without the jobs plus program i - i probably would have not even had

a job. >> in her case she's a mother of two now going to school full-time and making it happen so if she can do it differently anyone that has a willingness to try at least try to make it can do it. >> those programs are amazing they're so important for young adults to really go out there and make a better future for themselves and despite not having a traditional - you can go out there based on the programs that's what they're for they want to help you succeed. >> we'll be committing to 25 jobs in the tech. >> the san francisco rec and park is hiring 3 and 50 youth that summer . >> (clapping.) >> and only child born in the

office development allocation to r so for me is a network of the community that made the difference no way i'll be with united way this network was here for me this was personal and professional so important we create the opportunities who know the next ceo or champion of the community is coming today to find their path. >> that's the roll in san francisco we really by helping each other out >> (clapping.) >> the goal for 2017 to create 5 thousand jobs for youth if you want more information invite them at sf youth.org

>> we have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the

world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history. in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their

gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a fund-raiser. since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here.

i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love

gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website

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

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

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

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

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

[♪♪♪]

my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of san francisco. i perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. i have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. i was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldn't see people every day. i would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasn't been the case. this building is very nice. we have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with.

we have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in san francisco. we work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. that brings us closer together also. >> i am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in san francisco. as an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. i go to the field interview police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. i maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular

death. i am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. i work with the family to help them through the grieving process. >> i am ricky moore, a clerk at the san francisco medical examiner's office. i assist the pathology and toxicology and investigative team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. >> i started at the old facility. the building was old, vintage. we had issues with plumbing and things like that. i had a tiny desk. i feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. >> i am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor.

we test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. i oversee all of the lab operations. the forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the human performance and the case in the city of san francisco. we collect evidence at the scene. a woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. that was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. it is nice to get the feedback. we do a lot of work and you don't hear the result. once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. you can bring justice to what happened. we are able to take what we due to the next level. many of our counterparts in

other states, cities or countries don't have the resources and don't have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. >> sometimes we go to court. whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. we do whatever we can to get our job done. >> when we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. unexpected findings are fun. >> i have a prior background in law enforcement. i was a police officer for 8 years. i handled homicides and suicides. i had been around death investigation type scenes. as a police officer we only handled minimal components then

it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. i am intrigued with those types of calls. i wondered why someone died. i have an extremely supportive family. older children say, mom, how was your day. i can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. >> being i am a native of san francisco and grew up in the community. i come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. there are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. if from is a child involved or things like that.

i try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. when i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. what do you do? the autopsy? i deal with the enough and -- with the administrative and the families. >> most of the time work here is very enjoyable. >> after i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. i thought there was somebody dead? my bed. i rolled over and poked the body. sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. this job does have lingering effects. in terms of why did you want to go into this? i loved science growing up but i didn't want to be a doctor and

didn't want to be a pharmacist. the more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between applied science and criminal justice. if you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. >> being a woman we just need to go for it and don't let anyone fail you, you can't be. >> with regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. let's face it, we aren't hollywood, we are real world. yes we collect evidence. we want to preserve that. we are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a hollywood television show. >> families say thank you for

what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. somebody has to do my job. if i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for the city of san francisco.

>> good morning.rancisco. welcome to the rules committee of the san francisco board of supervisors for today, monday, april 19th, '21. i'm joined by