consistent with the month before, and thank you. >> clerk: okay. thank you, joe. is there any public comment on the director's report items, 11-a through d? >> operator: there does not appear to be so. >> clerk: okay. thank you. our next item is item 12, review and approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of march 17, 2021. >> motion to approve the minutes of march 17. >> clerk: is there a second? >> second. >> clerk: okay. are all commissioners in favor? any opposed? okay. thank you. the minutes are approved, and my next item is item 13, adjournment. is there a motion to adjourn?

>> motion to adjourn. >> clerk: is there a second? >> second. >> clerk: okay. all commissioners in favor? okay. we are adjourned at 1:39 p.m.

. >> clerk: this is the regular meeting of the abatement appeals board. i would like to remind everybody to mute yourself if you're not speaking. the first item on the agenda is roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: we have a quorum. the next item is the oath.

will all parties giving testimony today please raise your right hand. i can't see everyone, but if you can do that, raise your right hand that you're giving testimony. if you're giving testimony, do you answer that the testimony that you're giving is to the best of your knowledge? on the state of the appeals, the appellant will present their case, then -- the department will state their case, then the appellant. next, there will be rebuttal for the department and then the appellant. then, there's public comment, and members will have two minutes each to speak. all right. so our next item on our agenda

is item c, order of abatement. case number 6880 at 1200 indiana street. owners of record and appellant, cesar andre vitari, 1200 indiana street, san francisco, california, 96107. action requested by appellant. appellant peals from a january 29, 2021 order of abatement based on violations for unpermitted plumbing work. appellant requests that the board hold the order in abeyance to allow time to obtain approval for permits to correct the violations and waive fees. >> i believe that one of our commissioners has a disclosure. >> i think that item is for the next meeting, not this one, for the disclosure. sorry. i mixed up the agenda item.

>> okay. thank you. >> okay. then chief hernandez, would you like to present your case? >> thank you. thank you, sonya. good morning, commissioners. my name is mauricio hernandez, and i am the chief inspector for the building commission. the case summary is as follows. on january 23, 2017, inspection of premises by plumbing department of [inaudible] with a shower, a kitchen, a bar, and a pool and ground floor. up stairs had bedroom, bathroom, and water heater. on january 24, [inaudible] started doing physical inspections, a notice of violations was issued, and on

[inaudible] met to discuss the permit process to clear the complaint. case was put on hold for 30 days. on may 8, 2017 [inaudible] found that a plumbing [inaudible] was secured and 30-day extension. [inaudible] in which the hearing officer renders a decision in which an order of abatement to be issues with the owner to obtain all permits needed to correct all plumbing violations. owner was present at the hearing. on july 1, 2021, a notice of violation has not corrected. instead, the owner has removed some of the plumbing fixtures without benefit of the permit.

all other violations remain outstanding. at this time, d.b.i. staff still impose the order of abatement and impose all the assessment of costs. >> okay. thank you. that concludes your report? >> yes. >> okay. thank you. okay. i have to see if the person on is for the appeal.

>> i think you're on mute, sonya. >> i want. hello, mr. vitari? >> yes, good morning. >> yes, you'll be appellant for the case. >> great. >> okay. just one moment. okay. i've made you a panelist, mr. vitari. is there -- do you know, is there someone else assisting you? >> my wife was here over the phone. i don't know if you see her. >> okay. just one moment. hello, good morning. are you part of the case this morning? >> yeah. >> okay. just a minute. okay.

so i will allow you time to speak when you'd like. i can't make you a panelist since you're calling in on the phone, so i'll just temporarily mute you, okay? >> okay. >> okay. so mr. vitari, you'll have seven minutes to present your case. it's at your discretion if you'd like to turn your video on or not. it's up to you. >> yes. i'm having technical difficulties for my video limiting [inaudible] my workaround. >> okay. you don't have to -- okay. there you are. >> did you hear the oath at the beginning of the meeting? >> i did, yes. >> okay. so i'll start your seven minutes, and you can begin. >> okay. permit. so i sent the e-mail yesterday with whatever information i could provide. we purchased this property in 2014 with the existing buildout

and work that was performed i guess directly from the bank. i was never aware of any violations in 2017 when we had the inspections from every department. i basically purchased -- i mean, i purchased the property, and i was the purchase of [inaudible] which was quite confusing for myself, never having experience of any violations with the city or what that entails. therefore, i had a consultant working on the case until 2020, when she dropped out during covid. and i was taking the matter into my own hands, along with my wife, who is present on the call, to resolve this as soon as possible. i did send pictures yesterday to provide the advances that we have, and we're currently working with planning to resolve, like, the future of the building.

however, we did pull any plumbing permit, and the contractor is working this week and the following weeks to resolve the foundations that we're meeting today. all i ask is that, i guess, give me the 69 days to complete this and possibly mitigate the [inaudible] because this is work that i didn't perform, and i would love to get some feedback and understanding on that. >> okay. thank you, mr. vitari. is your wife going to be speaking as part of your seven minutes' time or would you like her to speak? >> yeah, i would like her to [inaudible]. >> okay. >> okay. thank you. >> hello, miss vitari. you're unmuted if you'd like to speak. you guys have five minutes. >> okay. thank you. yeah, just to reiterate, the

entire process has been very confusing and hasn't been very easy to understand what steps you're supposed to take once you receive the violation. my husband and i have continued to do everything we can as soon as we become aware. the meeting with the inspector had just come a few days ago or -- well, it must have been last week. a few days before, we had hired a constructor to pull the permits and start the work. the biggest issue is no one seems to know what to do, if we were to submit 100% of all of the correspondence from e-mail and phone call, voice messages, we've consistently been following up with every person that we've been aware of within the city as soon as we become aware. some of the department people

take up to a month to respond despite how many follow ups we spent between the two of us by phone or by e-mail, and so the time that has -- it has taken is not necessarily because we're not doing anything, it's either because the communication cycle has been quite slow with the person from the city or, as we have mentioned, we had a city liaison consultant who unfortunately was not able to direct us in the correct manner to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. >> okay. thank you. does that conclude your testimony? >> yes. >> okay. thank you. >> clerk: okay. we will now take public

comment. is there any public comment on this matter? there don't appear to be any members of the public in attendance, so we will go to rebuttal time, to the department, chief hernandez, you have three minutes for rebuttal. >> thank you, sonya. so at this time, the main violation for the building for the change of use is actually on hold because we understand, like the owner had stated, they are going through the process for a change of use issue. i do see the plumbing permit, and they have had a couple of inspections since july 14, so in regards to the code enforcement process, if you can see by the document, the case was actually put on hold since 2017, and just originally got set out for a hearing, so he was -- the department did actually provide ample time for

the owner to actually obtain a plumbing permit to start to correct some of the violations. that's my rebuttal. thank you. >> clerk: okay. thank you, chief hernandez. mr. vitari, you have three minutes for rebuttal, as well. >> okay. yes, as i explained and my wife, as well, our city consultant was definitely not very communicative on how we were supposed to proceed at this time, and it was not until 2020 that she told us that she was not able to help us anymore, and we were basically always in the cloud or in the gray zone where we had no idea what we were supposed to be performing in the meantime, and hence, we were always by ourselves. i guess that's all i can attest to. >> clerk: okay.

thank you. miss vitari, did you have anything to add? >> yeah, just something, yes. >> clerk: okay. you can go ahead. >> oh, sorry. wasn't sure if i was connected. just to add on top of the communication, we do recognize as a whole, from the city's perspective or the department, we've been given more than enough time despite the coronavirus. i think for us the main issue was we've been stalled in the planning department with one of the employees at planning, and we kept asking her what we need to resolve the issues on the building. she may not be aware, either, but we had no idea we had to pull a plumbing permit. it wasn't clear how to resolve the issue with every person we had asked. and yeah, we have nothing to

say other than we want to resolve this as soon as possible. we just found out from the plumbing inspection last week that we found out what we have to do. the inspector said you have to pull permits, but before that, no one said, you need to pull a permit to resolve the issue, therefore, we had no idea. >> clerk: okay. thank you very much. okay. vice president tam, you raised your hand? >> yes. thank you so much, and thank you for your comments there. i'm going to open it up to my fellow commissioners if you have any comments or questions for the inspector. >> through the chair, vice chair tam, chief hernandez, if you're available, please, just a few quick questions.

>> yes. >> good morning. i dropped my internet here when you were starting your presentation, so forgive me if i'm asking questions that you already answered. so if i'm to understand this correctly, the -- the appellant is in planning right now with a conditional use process to be started with the zoning, correct? >> yeah. >> do we know any detail oz that zoning with regard -- details on that zoning with regard to the appellant from the planning department. >> no. at this point, i don't know anything about that. >> okay. fair enough. then with regard to the permit, you went out to [inaudible] a complaint against this? >> yeah. i think the whole process was started by the department with a referral, and then, we

actually went out there as a joint inspection task force to the building? >> so when you went out there, you came up with your violations, which would you remind me and go over them one more time because i missed that at the start of your presentation? >> so the violations are restaurants, kitchen, a bar, a pool on the ground floor, a up stairs with a full bathroom with a hot tub and a wet bar, and a new commercial water heater. >> so all allowable permits in this building, right, leaving the planning outside? in other words, you would be allowed to apply for them and be able to get them approved by the d.b.i., correct? >> correct, and the idea was the plumbing permit would just

cap all the plumbing fixtures, everything, and then that way, the owner would have the ability to go through the planning process and realize if this is a leave work area or has to go back to a warehouse which was the legal use of this space. >> so what's interesting is it's a permit application and it's kind of given what you guys need to to inspect this, but as you look at it, all the work has been done? >> yeah. >> and it looks like it's been done for quite a while. >> yes. >> yeah, because the appellant said they bought in 2017, and if they bought from the bank, they usually don't have the greatest disclosure packages. it's a very quick type of deal, and sometimes, these things do not get called out in the disclosure packages. i've had the same thing in the

past where permits were not pulled in disclosure packages, and you didn't find out -- so is there anybody occupying the building right now? is people living there? >> that's probably a question for the appellant. i did see the space set up as a liveable space but [inaudible] space. >> okay. mr. hernandez, what are the actual fees for this space? what are we looking at dollar wise? >> dollar wise for plumbing? i don't think they actually assess a fine, but for the violation, i think it's actually a $1500. >> so to correct the violations, i think it's $1500, correct? >> yeah, but one of the confusions i think the appellant has is that he's

trying to waive the penalty fee under the violations, which it's under the permit, so we still haven't gotten to that stage yet. and when the time comes when he gets his main building permit, we can do that fee, but the one i can actually abate or remove is the code enforcement or assessment fees, which is the ones that we're dealing with. >> which is the ones to the dollar amount. >> the $1500. >> you can waive it. >> well, i can waive some of it. >> there's a percentage of that we can actually determine if the department determines to go there, and chief hernandez, thank you for your information there. with regards to the appellant, could i speak to one of them a second, please? >> clerk: they're still on the call. you can ask the question of mr. vitari. >> mr. vitari or mrs. vitari.

>> mm-hmm. how can i help you? >> mr. vitari, thank you for your testimony today. i find your testimony very believable, and i understand how difficult it is if you're not in that world and dealing with it every day maneuvering, particularly with two departments, so we see that a lot. so just wanted to stress that with you, and i do understand sometimes professionals, you know, it's easier for them just to do the job and keep them aboard, and when they go away, they can leave quite a mess behind, and that's something i see a lot of, so i respect that position that you're in, and my sense in listening to you and your wife that you are trying to get ahead of this. and so what i'm going to propose to the commissioners, and obviously, someone else can weigh-in, is to propose on waiving the fees as best we can. i don't think we can take all

the fees down, and i can check in with the city attorney and then requesting that you be given that 90 days to get your permits in line and work with the planning department, which i do believe would take a little longer once you do get your permits in place, so if there's a conditional use process, i'd highly recommend it. might have to get some more legal counsel if you're not in that way trying to get those applications filled out and get them into planning so they can start that process, which is a notification process and so on. just on the use of the place right now, what exactly is going on out there if you don't mind me going on, actually. >> clerk: and not to interrupt, just to let you know, i have unmuted mrs. vitari, as well, so both of you guys can speak. >> okay. yeah. >> i can speak to that in that

regard. >> okay. mrs. vitari, go ahead. >> yeah. so during the pandemic, we were working with a consultant and planning for a use, which didn't work out. at this time, we were trying to find -- we are trying to find a commercial tenant so we can finalize what the change of use will be. so at this point, there's no business or there's no one actually there, so right now, we're in the middle of trying to find a commercial tenant. >> yeah, and so that's kind of important, you know, that you kind of -- what the use kind of stays within the allowable zoning and so on, because sometimes, we find these, you know, buildings are used for different things. life safety is what we work on, and we want to make sure that that's maintained.

so thank you, vice chair. i can make a motion or wait until the end and listen to other commissioners. >> any other commissioners like to weigh-in? >> i don't -- i just have some questions just have a time standpoint. so the property was bought in foreclosure in 2014, and the items, the violations, whether it's the kitchen -- were those -- were those -- were those items part of the property when you bought them or is that -- was that -- is that new construction? >> i believe all the existing violations were from existing things that were there when we bought it in foreclosure. >> okay. >> if i can add, the oldest records we can find was a letter from 2005 that talks about the kitchen -- there's no

plans about a kitchen, actually. they talk about a kitchen in 2005, and the old owner used it as a test kitchen. just some of the documents that i shared was in 2014 and 2013, which shows the property for sale with that condition. >> and then, i have a question on the use. it's an s-2 right now warehouse, and you're going to the city to get a permit for -- i mean, to planning for live work. >> we are talking to planning about officially changing the use to community facility private, however, they -- as my wife mentioned, the building itself is currently vacant. we've used it before for our office space, but we vacated the property in the last few months, especially because we have all this spending paperwork with planning.

>> no, i understand, but the new use that you're applying for with planning is a private community facility. is that what you're saying? >> yes. we're working with planning to maintain as much of the existing building as possible. however, we have it for lease, so if a commercial tenant comes in, ideally, it will fit all the criteria that we need, the fitted use. >> okay. that's all the questions that i have. >> okay. thank you, commissioner bito. any other commissioners like to chime in? so this would be the m.l.s. listing for the property, and that's how you would have purchased it in 2014. what you have submitted, is that the old covered up by the green? >> yes. this is what you've done and

the city signed off on. are you planning to keep any of the items that they've done or are you just going to cap it off and let the city inspect? >> so we filled in the pool and that's as much as we could move forward because we had a lot of questions what to do with the second floor, and we're working trying to find out how to get rid of the hot tub because it's basically blocking all the balcony. and yeah, the brochure that you have for sale, that's before we bought it from the bank. when we bought it, there were no disclosures given to us. we actually found out this brochure just last month because my wife was actually a realtor, and she was able to

find this from the old m.l.s. and find out that that was the condition before we actually purchased the property. >> okay. no, and i -- [inaudible]. somebody? >> no, to answer your question, the goal is to cap everything off and leave it that way for the next commercial tenant to come in. >> got it, got it. i, too, find your testimony believable, as commissioner mccarthy has mentioned. i'm okay with moving forward with a motion. commissioner mccarthy, would you like to make a motion? >> so just a question from the city attorney about the fees. as chief hernandez had mentioned, we do have the ability to waive the $1500, and if so, what would that amount be and what could we bring it

down to? >> president mccarthy, under building code section 105-a.2.3, which describes the powers of the a.a.b., it states that [inaudible] for a substantive cost imposed pursuant to section 102-a upon a showing of substantial error by the department, so that's the standard that's in the building code? i'm not sure if there's sufficient evidence of substantial error in the assessment costs, but the board can take action on that. >> okay. obviously, there is no error. okay. so it looks like the best i could ask for here is to make a motion -- the board to hold the order in abeyance to allow time

to obtain time for permits to allow for corrections. chief hernandez, can you weigh-in on the fees? maybe you would know something that could help us out here? >> yeah, so what we have done in the past is we're able to reduce some of the penalty -- instead of nine times, we're able to reduce it to two times. for the code enforcement, we can work on our time to make sure that the inspector was on top, and if the owner has proof that the inspector was not, i can reduce some of the hourly rates here. >> okay. so that's maybe something you could work off with the appellant, if that's okay with you and on behalf of me and the commission. would that be acceptable to you, chief hernandez? >> yes, yes. >> so the appellant

understands, mr. vitari, we'll reach out and work on anything here, and then my motion is as i called. >> commissioner mccarthy, i'm sorry to interject. i just want to clarify for the record the motion would be to uphold the order of abatement but holding it in abeyance for that period. >> yes, and i believe it's 90 days for that period is what we're allowed, correct? >> correct. >> that's my motion. >> i'll second through the chair, yeah. >> okay. so the second was vice president tam? >> commissioner moss. >> commissioner moss. okay. just one moment, and i will do a roll call vote. >> could you repeat the motion again, please? >> so the motion is to uphold the order of abatement and hold

this in abeyance for 90 days. there was a motion by commissioner mccarthy and a second by commissioner moss. >> no, i don't take any exception. i just wanted to hear it. i didn't hear everything. thanks. >> clerk: okay. vice president tam, did you want to make a comment or just go ahead with the roll call vote? >> okay. let's hear it. >> clerk: okay. go ahead, sir. >> so i noticed based on the legal code that the attorney suggested, having a [inaudible] on the notice of violation, correct? i know it mentions the bathrooms being not legal, however, based on the 1987 plans that we pulled out of the

building, it did shows two bathrooms in the building. they're obviously now different from what they used to be, but i don't know if that could possibly help. but otherwise, i'm fine with the 90 days it being enough to just correct everything that we can. >> all right. so you're saying that it shows two existing bathrooms, but it's not that it's in the place that it should be. i'm assuming that would be something that you would work out with d.b.i. and the inspectors, and they would advise whether or not you can keep them. >> i'm sorry to interject again. one more modification that needs to be made to the motion. the maximum period of abeyance would be 60 days, not 90, so that would be the longest period you could hold anything. >> would 60 days be sufficient

here? >> so since all the plumbing violations have been resolved, yes. >> so do you want to restate the motion to reflect 60 days? >> clerk: okay. so the motion is to uphold the -- the department to uphold the order of abatement and to hold it in abeyance for 60 days. okay. so the roll call on the motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: okay. the motion carries unanimously. thank you. >> thank you, mr. and mrs. vitari. i hope it gets all sorted out. >> clerk: okay. thank you. okay. so our next item is item d, general public comment. this is for general public

comment for items that are not on the abatement appeals board agenda. there does not appear to be any public available, and so the next item is item e, adjournment. is there a motion to adjourn? >> so moved. >> clerk: and is there a second? >> second. >> second. >> clerk: all in favor? okay. so this abatement appeals board meeting is now adjourned. it is now 9:41 a.m. we will reconvene as the building inspection commission at 10:00 a.m., and that is under a separate meeting invite. >> thank you, everyone. >> clerk: okay. thank you, everyone.

>> i'm london breed and i'm excited to be here at sf general. with a number of people to talk about and the city plans around climate change and thank you for being with us here today as well as state senator scott wiener and sophie maxwell and i know president walton will join us soon and today is a significant day. it's a major step for our city

and towards being more independent and providing 100% renewable energy for san francisco. through clean power s.f. and hetchy power in our city we provide 70% of the power to places like general, city hall, to our schools and treasure island and other locations throughout san francisco and i remember in 2012 or 2013 and senator wiener would remember how important clean power was to the people of the district i represented and so he and i worked very closely to fight to push san francisco in a direction where we finally rolled out a clean power program and in fact we worked to make sure that clean power program was provided to the residents of the bayview hunters community community first.

the district that supervisor maxwell used to representative, because of many of the environmental injustice that's had occurred but more importantly, because we know it's possible. why do we need to continue to wait? why do we need to continue to be subjected to fossil fuel? is that are destroying san francisco and destroying our planet. we can't just be about instant gratification and what we see before us, we have this by will the future and what's being proposed in this world through the paris climate accord and i want to thank president joe biden for making sure we rejoin that pledge and what being done will be significant but what is going to be done in san francisco will be even more

significant we can go further but sadly we've had obstructionist and pg&e that has made it difficult to do so and so, while i want to work with this company as a partner, the fact is, it's been very charging. and one of the things i wasn't planning on talking about today is the fact we have hundreds of affordable housing units that are not only being delayed, because of bureaucracy, it's being delayed because we can't get power into those units and just imagine hundreds of units that could be made available to low income families that can't open and because we can't connect the power because of the delays, because of the excuses, because of the expense of

providing new equipment that we weren't even aware that we had to provide in the beginning of the process. the goalpost being moved throughout the game. at this time, what we know is important is for us to do what is in the best interest of the city and for us to take responsibility we've done it this pandemic, san francisco general, our frontline workers here at general, the work they had to do. that work didn't stop and the lights didn't go out and the power didn't get cut off in the middle of the day, and our clean power sf program and what we do through the public utility commission has been reliable and has been on point throughout this pandemic and we'll be reliable for the people of san

francisco. we know that over 70% of san franciscans want to make sure that our clean power program is publicly run. reliable, clean, affordable. those are the important things we need to think about doing and move forward aggressive lie to make it happen so what are we doing? what are we doing here today? we're taking significant step to invest in the future and when the people who came before us decided, san francisco, needed its own water systems, and they discovered a valley way out two and a half hours drive or something from san francisco. to build the hetchy reservoir and just think about it. this is what we're doing and of you go to any of the city you

won't drink it out of san francisco. it's because the investments were made for better future to make sure that we had a reliable source of water that was clean and good. that's what we're doing here today. we're asking the california public utilities to assess the assets, the power grid that provides power to san francisco because we have made, what essential, was a fair offer to pg&e to purchase those so we can control our own power here in san francisco and this is an important step towards a future, a future where just recently the board of supervisors voted to approve a more ambitious and i want to thank them and our plan to move aggressive and through

the public utilities providing 100% renewable energy by 2025 and everyone in san francisco having access to renewable having control of the distribution of power. we've proven that we can manage the system and we have proven we could make it work without rolling blackouts and the number of challenge that's continue to persist. we have proven it through our clean power program. as we move in this direction and i want to thank dennis her he is a and the members of the district attorney office for putting together this request and to the california utilities

commission. this is the first step to get us to a better place. it's significant, it's an investment in the future. we may not be around as either elected officials or even alive when the fruits of our labor from this moment, for the next generation, but our kids and our grandkids because of the work we're doing here today and with that aid like to introduce city attorney dennis her era to talk about what we're introducing >> thank you, madam mayor. i like that. well, first madam mayor, thank you for setting the stage and not just for what we're doing

and to be invested in fighting the battle of climate change and thank you for your leadership along with senator scott wiener and i had the pleasure of working with him in my office for eight or nine years and i thought he was the harded working deputy in the city attorney office and now the senator in the senate and thank you for your leadership on everything and to my deer friend going back to shutting undo the power plant and we find ourselves and here standing by each other and and since 1918

when we funded the construction of water and power in yo sem tee. pg&e is the poster child for utilities that puts profits ahead of people and we have seen what happens when you don't put people first and focus on safety. that's why they need to take control of the future and why we are taking the action we're doing today as the mayor as said, with we have a fair offer for $2.5 billion to purchase their san francisco utility assets and they have rejected outright that proposal and said it does not represent a fair market value for their san francisco assets so today, our

office filed with the california public utilities commission and eye vallation petition to assess the fair market value of their san francisco assets so we can move forward with the goal of getting reliable public power here in san francisco and shouldn't be a surprise. under the law they have had the authority for 100 years to make evaluation of a utility as set that a public entity wants to purchase and it's probably occurred over 40 times in the last 100 years. and so this is not new. it is established. and let's set out the value. they say that we haven't made a fair offer. we are more than willing to go before the public utility commission and make a clear case why we want to acquire these assets and what we believe the value is and it is time to move

forward and this filing today is the next step in demonstrating san francisco's commitment to purchasing these assets. i think the mayor alluded to the failure of pg&e to come to the table has been compounded by its obstruction. whether it's affordable public housing, or even a children's museum, they have put unnecessary charges to the consumer to obstruct and get san francisco out of the power business. why are we standing here in san francisco? to dispute san francisco's ability to provide power for a ucsf research facility right here that is benefiting our

heroes on the front line and what is that resulted? , a four-month delay and thousands and thousands of dollars extra costs because pg&e as object tracted san francisco's right to provide power to this facility and it should not be a surprise when you look at how much construction has occurred over the last several years in projects across this city. madam mayor, mayor wiener, i thank you for your courage and your commitment to make sure we're taking the next step forward because, this obstruction, this delay needs to stop and we need to get moving forward to make sure we provide to everyone, reliable and affordable public power and with that i'd leung to ask my colleague, senator scott wiener to come up and say a few words.

>> so we can get on with this process and this is not a short term issue, this is going on forever and ever, san francisco has struggled with g and e for so long and we've seen the problems caused when you have a utility which is so massive, offering such an untenable geography that it's not keeping up its assets. it's so focused on performing for wall street it doesn't make basic say tvusd and infrastructure investments so san bruno, paradise, et cetera, et cetera, and you've heard the

consequences here in san francisco. energy is not cheap from pg&e. we pay a lot. it's not like pg&e is somehow the low cost provider, it's not. it's the highest or among the highest in tractor-trailer country because of its own negligence. we in san francisco have experience and you heard this from the mayor and the city attorney, firsthand, that the local obstruction and the children's museum it's my old supervisor directing. when i was on the board of supervisors, we worked very hard with the community to get that incredible community resource, rehabilitated and upgraded so that we can have access to science for our kids and including kids from all over the city. so that we can could have summer camps there and after school programs and amazing resources. we got it done. it was right as i was leaving

the board of supervisors and going to the senate and i get a call from rec and park. pg&e was refusing to inter connect the randel museum to the power grid and refusing to turn on the lights. after all that work, by the community, all that community in the city, pg&e in the most petty and vindictive way, it wasn't just random, we need to be very clear. it's not that they didn't have the time to get around to it, it was petty and vindictive because pg&e knew that the power. just like muni and museums and park facilities and that are

becoming caught up and pg&e's power struggle to provide clean and renewable power. this is real, it matters and it's time to move forward and if they dispute the evaluation let's have a third party perform that evaluation and let's move forward so san francisco can do what it's been doing for 100 years and that is to provide reliable, clean, renewable energy. sometimes when we talk about public power in san francisco, constituents can say, you know, the city doesn't do this well or that well, why would we have them run the power enterprise. the city has burning running that power enter surprise for 100 years and a regional water system for 100 years and a sewer system for 150 years and the toilet flush and the lights go on and the power comes out of the tap so i know that san francisco can do this well and

it's time to take those next steps. and with that, i am would like to bring up former supervisor, for this drick, sophie maxwell. >> they stole everything i was going to say i am so upset but i can do this. i'm speaking today as president of the san francisco public utilities commission and as a long time resident and former member of the san francisco board of supervisors and along with many communities leaders and environmental leaders and we closed two power plants. the have a view power plant and the portero power plant among the oldest, polluting power plants in the state. it was obvious it was about profits and not people. it was obvious injustice, environmental injustice was running with pg&e and it was long, hard fought and we won

that one. with public power, it will be people before profit. with public power, the city will be responsible to the people they serve and the people who pay the bills. it's about time. it's been a long time. it's something we must take responsibility for the local electric grid in san francisco. with clean sf, we will have reliable power, green, clean and renewable electric power. this is what we shall do and what we have been doing and when citizens understand we have been doing it. and as scott mentioned, when you turn on the lights they come in and when you flush it goes down. we will continue that in a better way.

thank you. >> we worked very hard with the san francisco venue coalition, the independent venue alliance to advocate for venues. put this issue on the radar of the supervisors and obviously mayor breed. the entertainment commission and the office of small business and we went to meetings and showed up and did public comment and it was a concerted effort between 50 venues in the city and they

are kind of traditional like live performance venues and we all made a concerted effort to get out there and sound the alarm and to her credit, maybe breed really stepped up, worked with matt haney, who is a supervisor haney was a huge champion for us and they got this done and they got $3 million into the sf venue recovery fund. >> we have represented about 40 independent venues in san francisco. basically, all the venues closed on march 13th, 2020. we were the first to close and we will be the last to reopen and we've had all the of the overhead costs are rent, mortgage, payroll, utilities and

insurance with zero revenue. so many of these venues have been burning $1,000 a day just to stay closed. >> we have a huge music history here in san francisco and the part of our cultural fab lick but it's also an economic driver. we produce $7 billion annual' here in san francisco and it's formidable. >> we've been very fortunate here. we've had the department of emergency management and ems division and using part of our building since last april and aside from being proud to i can't tell you how important to have some cost recovery coming in and income to keep the doors

open. >> typically we'll have, three to 400 people working behind the teens to support the show and that is everything from the teamsters and security staff and usualers, ticket takers, the folks that do our medical and the bar tenders and the people in the kitchen preparing food for backstage and concession and the people that sell key shirts and it's a pretty staggering amount of people that are out of work as a result of this one verne you going tarkanian. it doesn't work to open at reduced capacity. when we get past june 15th, out of the into the blue print for our economy we can open it it 100% and look at the festival in full capacity in october and we're just so grateful for the

leadership of the mavor and dr. coal fax to make us the safest ♪ america and this is been hard for everybody in san francisco and the world but our leadership has kept us safe and i trust them that they will let us know when it's safe to do that. >> a lot of people know about america is military stuff, bullying stuff, corporate stuff. when people like me and my friends go to these foreign country and play music, we're giving them an american cultural experience. it's important. the same way they can bring that here. it sounds comfy buyia, you know, we're a punk band and we're nasty and we were never much for peace and love and everything but that's the fertilizer that grows the big stuff that some

day goes to bill graham's place and takes everybody's money but you have to start with us and so my hope is that allel groups and people make music and get together because without out, hanging together we'll hang separately, you know. >> other venues like this, all over the place, not just in the san francisco bay area need to exist in order for communities to thrive and i'm not just talking about the arts communities, even if you are here to see a chuckle bucket comedy show and you are still experiencing humanity and in specific ways being able to gather with people and experience something together. and especially coming out of the pandemic, the loss of that in-person human connection recovering that in good ways is going to be vital for our entire

society. >> it's a family club. most our staff has been working with us for 10 years so we feel like a family. >> what people think of when they think of bottom of the hill and i get a lot of this is first of all, the first place i met my husband or where we had our first date and i love that and we love doing weddings and i expect there to be a wedding season post 2021 of all the make up we haddings and i hope that many people do that because we have had so many rock ep role weddings. >> i told my girlfriend, make sure you stand at the front of the stage and i can give you a kiss at midnight. at this got down on one knee at the stroke of midnight. it wasn't a public thing, i got

down on one knee and said will you marry me and is he she had are you [beep] kidding me and i said no, i'm dead serious and she said yes. we were any time homicideel of the show. we just paused for new year's eve and that was where i proposed to my wife. this is more than just a professional relationship it's more than just a relationship from a love of arts, it's where my family started. we'll always have a special place in my heart. >> venues, you know, represent so much. they are cultural beckons of a city. neighbors can learn and celebrate and mourn and dance together. venues and arts and culture are characterized as second responders to crisis and they provide a mental health outlet and a community center for people to come together at and it's the shared history of our

city and these spaces is where we all come together and can celebrate. >> art often music opens up people to understanding the fellow man and i mean, taz always necessary and if anything, it's going to be even more necessary as we come out of this to reach out and connect with people. >> we can sustain with food, water and shelter is accurate and does anybody have a good time over the last year? no. >> san francisco is a great down. i've been here many years and i love it here and it's a beautiful, beautiful, place to be music and art is key to that. drama, acting, movies, everything, everything that makes life worth living and that's what we've got to mow proteasome no san francisco and that's what is important now.

[♪♪♪] >> i try to start every day not looking at my phone by doing something that is grounding. that is usually meditation. i have a gym set up in my garage, and that is usually breathing and movement and putting my mind towards something else. surfing is my absolute favorite thing to do. it is the most cleansing thing that i'm able to do. i live near the beach, so whenever i can get out, i do. unfortunately, surfing isn't a daily practice for me, but i've

been able to get out weekly, and it's something that i've been incredibly grateful for. [♪♪♪] >> i started working for the city in 2005. at the time, my kids were pretty young but i think had started school. i was offered a temporarily position as an analyst to work on some of the programs that were funded through homeland security. i ultimately spent almost five years at the health department coordinating emergency programs. it was something that i really enjoyed and turned out i was pretty good at. thinking about glass ceiling, some of that is really related to being a mother and self-supposed in some ways that

i did not feel that i could allow myself to pursue responsibility; that i accepted treading water in my career when my kids were young. and as they got older, i felt more comfortable, i suppose, moving forward. in my career, i have been asked to step forward. i wish that i had earlier stepped forward myself, and i feel really strongly, like i am 100% the right person for this job. i cannot imagine a harder time to be in this role. i'm humbled and privileged but also very confident. so here at moscone center, this is the covid command center, or the c.c.c. here is what we calledun -- call unified command. this is where we have

physically been since march, and then, in july, we developed this unified structure. so it's the department of emergency management, the department of public health, and our human services hughesing partners, so primarily the department of homelessness and supportive housing and human services agency. so it's sort of a three-headed command in which we are coordinating and operating everything related to covid response. and now, of course, in this final phase, it's mass vaccination. the first year was before the pandemic was extremely busy. the fires, obviously, that both we were able to provide mutual support but also the impact of air quality. we had, in 2018, the worst air quality ten or 11 days here in

the city. i'm sure you all remember it, and then, finally, the day the sun didn't come out in san francisco, which was in october. the orange skies, it felt apocalyptic, super scary for people. you know, all of those things, people depend on government to say what's happening. are we safe? what do i do? and that's a lot of what department of emergency management's role is. public service is truly that. it is such an incredible and effective way that we can make change for the most vulnerable. i spend a lot of my day in problem solving mode, so there's a lot of conversations with people making connections, identifying gaps in resources or whatever it might be, and trying to adjust that. the pace of the pandemic has

been nonstop for 11 months. it is unrelenting, long days, more than what we're used to, most of us. honestly, i'm not sure how we're getting through it. this is beyond what any of us ever expected to experience in our lifetime. what we discover is how strong we are, and really, the depth of our resilience, and i say that for every single city employee that has been working around the clock for the last 11 months, and i also speak about myself. every day, i have to sort of have that moment of, like, okay, i'm really tired, i'm weary, but we've got to keep going. it is, i would say, the biggest challenge that i have had personally and professionally to be the best mom that i can be but also the best public

certify chant in whatever role i'm in. i just wish that i, as my younger self, could have had someone tell me you can give it and to give a little more nudge. so indirectly, people have helped me because they have seen something in me that i did not see in myself. there's clear data that women have lost their jobs and their income because they had to take care of their safety nets. all of those things that we depend on, schools and daycare and sharing, you know, being together with other kids isn't available. i've often thought oh, if my kids were younger, i couldn't do this job, but that's unacceptable. a person that's younger than me that has three children, we want them in leadership positions, so it shouldn't be limiting. women need to assume that

they're more capable than they think they are. men will go for a job whether they're qualified or not. we tend to want to be 110% qualified before we tend to step forward. i think we need to be a little more brave, a little more exploratory in stepping up for positions. the other thing is, when given an opportunity, really think twice before you put in front of you the reasons why you should not take that leadership position. we all need to step up so that we can show the person behind us that it's doable and so that we have the power to make the changes for other women that is going to make the possibility for their paths easier than ours. other women see me in it, and i hope that they see me, and they understand, like, if i can do

it, they can do it because the higher you get, the more leadership you have, and power. the more power and leadership we have that we can put out >> the market is one of our vehicles for reaching out to public and showing them how to prepare delicious, simple food. people are amazed that the library does things like that. biblio bistro is a food education program. it brings such joy to people. it teaches them life skills

that they can apply anywhere, and it encourages them to take care of themselves. my name is leaf hillman, and i'm a librarian, and biblio bistro is my creation. i'm a former chef, and i have been incubating this idea for many years. we are challenged to come up with an idea that will move the library into the future. this inspired me to think, what can we do around cooking? what can i do around cooking? we were able to get a cart. the charlie cart is designed to bring cooking to students in elementary students that has enough gear on it to teach 30 students cooking. so when i saw that, i thought bingo, that's what we're missing. you can do cooking classes in

the library, but without a kitchen, it's difficult. to have everything contained on wheels, that's it. i do cooking demonstrations out at the market every third wednesday. i feature a seafood, vegetable, and i show people how to cook the vegetable. >> a lot of our residents live in s.r.o.s, single resident occupancies, and they don't have access to full kitchens. you know, a lot of them just have a hot plate, a microwave, and the thing that biblio bistro does really well is cook food accessible in season and make it available that day. >> we handout brochures with the featured recipe on the back. this recipe features mushrooms, and this brochure will bring

our public back to the library. >> libraries are about a good time. >> i hired a former chef. she's the tickle queen at the ramen shop in rockwood. we get all ages. we get adults and grandparents and babies, and, you know, school-age kids, and it's just been super terrific. >> i was a bit reluctant because i train teachers and adults. i don't train children. i don't work with children, and i find it very interesting and a bit scary, but working here really taught me a lot, you know, how easily you can influence by just showing them what we have, and it's not threatening, and it's tasty and fun. i make it really fun with kids

because i don't look like a teacher. >> in the mix, which is our team center, we have programs for our kids who are age 13 to 18, and those are very hands on. the kids often design the menu. all of our programs are very interactive. >> today, we made pasta and garlic bread and some sauce. usually, i don't like bell pepper in my sauce, but i used bell pepper in my sauce, and it complemented the sauce really well. i also grated the garlic on my bread. i never thought about that technique before, but i did it, and it was so delicious. >> we try to teach them

techniques where they can go home and tell their families, i made this thing today, and it was so delicious. >> they're kind of addicted to these foods, these processed foods, like many people are. i feel like we have to do what we can to educate people about that. the reality is we have to live in a world that has a lot of choices that aren't necessarily good for you all the time. >> this is interesting, but it's a reaction to how children are brought up. it is fast-food, and the apple is a fast-food, and so that sort of changes the way they think about convenience, how eating apple is convenient. >> one of the things that i love about my program out at the market is the surprise and delight on people's faces when they finally taste the vegetable. it's been transformative for some people. they had never eaten those

vegetables before, but now, they eat them on a regular basis. >> all they require is a hot plate and a saute pan, and they realize that they're able to cook really healthy, and it's also tasty. >> they also understand the importance of the connection that we're making. these are our small business owners that are growing our food and bringing it fresh to the market for them to consume, and then, i'm helping them consume it by teaching them how to cook. >> it connects people to the food that they're buying. >> the magic of the classes in the children's center and the team center is that the participants are cooking the food themselves, and once they do that, they understand their connection to the food, to the tools, and it empowers them. >> we're brokering new experiences for them, so that is very much what's happening in the biblio bistro program.

>> we are introducing kids many times to new vocabulary. names of seasonings, names of vegetables, names of what you call procedures. >> i had my little cooking experience. all i cooked back then was grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. now, i can actually cook curry and a few different thing zblz . >> and the parents are amazed that what we're showing them to cook is simple and inexpensive. i didn't know this was so easy to make. i've only bought it in the market. those comments have been amazing, and yeah, it's been really wonderful. >> we try to approach

everything here with a well, just try it. just try it once, and then, before you know it, it's gone. >> a lot of people aren't sure how to cook cauliflower or kale or fennel or whatever it is, and leah is really helpful at doing that. >> i think having someone actually teaching you here is a great experience. and it's the art of making a meal for your family members and hope that they like it. >> i think they should come and have some good food, good produce that is healthy and actually very delicious. >> cooking is one of my biggest passions, to be able to share, like, my passion with others,

>> this is a huge catalyst for change. >> it will be over 530,000 gross square feet plus two levels of basement. >> now the departments are across so many locations it is hard for them to work together and collaborate and hard for the customers to figure out the different locations and hours of operation. >> one of the main drivers is a one stopper mitt center for -- permit center. >> special events. we are a one stop shop for those

three things. >> this has many different uses throughout if years. >> in 1940s it was coca-cola and the flagship as part of the construction project we are retaining the clock tower. the permit center is little working closely with the digital services team on how can we modernize and move away from the paper we use right now to move to a more digital world. >> the digital services team was created in 2017. it is 2.5 years. our job is to make it possible to get things done with the city online. >> one of the reasons permitting is so difficult in this city and county is really about the scale. we have 58 different department in the city and 18 of them involve permitting. >> we are expecting the residents to understand how the departments are structured to navigate through the permitting

processes. it is difficult and we have heard that from many people we interviewed. our goal is you don't have to know the department. you are dealing with the city. >> now if you are trying to get construction or special events permit you might go to 13 locations to get the permit. here we are taking 13 locations into one floor of one location which is a huge improvement for the customer and staff trying to work together to make it easy to comply with the rules. >> there are more than 300 permitting processes in the city. there is a huge to do list that we are possessing digital. the first project is allowing people to apply online for the a.d.u. it is an accessory dwelling unit, away for people to add extra living space to their home, to convert a garage or add

something to the back of the house. it is a very complicated permit. you have to speak to different departments to get it approved. we are trying to consolidate to one easy to due process. some of the next ones are windows and roofing. those are high volume permits. they are simple to issue. another one is restaurant permitting. while the overall volume is lower it is long and complicated business process. people struggle to open restaurants because the permitting process is hard to navigate. >> the city is going to roll out a digital curing system one that is being tested. >> when people arrive they canshay what they are here to. it helps them workout which cue they neat to be in. if they rant to run anker rapid she can do that.

we say you are next in line make sure you are back ready for your appointment. >> we want it all-in-one location across the many departments involved. it is clear where customers go to play. >> on june 5, 2019 the ceremony was held to celebrate the placement of the last beam on top of the structures. six months later construction is complete. >> we will be moving next summer. >> the flu building -- the new building will be building. it was designed with light in mind. employees will appreciate these amenities. >> solar panels on the roof, electric vehicle chargers in the basement levels, benefiting from gray watery use and secured bicycle parking for 300 bicycles. when you are on the higher floors of the building you might catch the tip of the golden gate

bridge on a clear day and good view of soma. >> it is so exciting for the team. it is a fiscal manifestation what we are trying to do. it is allowing the different departments to come together to issue permits to the residents. we hope people can digitally come to one website for permits. we are trying to make it digital so when they come into the center they have a high-quality interaction with experts to guide then rather than filling in forms. they will have good they will have good

>> clerk: good evening, everyone. this is commission on the environment and the time is 5:05p.-m. cell phones and pagers are prohibited. due to the covid-19 health emergency and pro detect commissioners, department staff and members of the public, the commission on the environment meeting room 416 is closed. however, commissioners and department staff will be participating in the meeting. this is state wide stay-at-home order and all proceeding and proceeding local, state and federal orders declarations and directives. commissioners will attend the meeting throughid