>> clerk: and the time is 5:01. this meeting is being held by webex pursuant to the mayor's and governor's declaring of a local emergency. during the covid emergency, the fire commission's regular meeting room is closed, and meetings of the fire commission

will be held remotely. to enter public comment, dial 415-655-0001 and enter meeting i.d. 2489-736-7432. comments will be addressed in the order they are received. when the moderator announces that the commission is taking public, members of the public can raise their hand by pressing star, three to enter the queue. members of the public will hear silence until it is their turn to speak. members of the public will have three minutes to comment. please ensure you are in a quiet location, speak slowly and clearly, and turn down any

electronic items around you. roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: at this time, president feinstein will read the land acknowledgement. >> president feinstein: the san francisco fire commission acknowledges that we are on the homeland of the ramaytush ohlone. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place as well as for all peoples who

reside in their traditional territory. as guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homelands. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the ramaytush ohlone and by acknowledging their sovereign rights as first people. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. item 2, general public comment. members of the public may address the commission up to three minutes on any matter within the commission's jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda. speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or department personnel. commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with a speaker. the lack of a response by commissioners or department personnel does not necessarily

constitute agreement with statements made during public comment, and there is nobody on our public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. public comment shall be closed. >> clerk: item 3, approval of the minutes, discussion and possible action to approve the meeting minutes from the regular meeting on september 8, 2021. >> president feinstein: all right. and do we have any public comment on that item? >> clerk: we do not. there is nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. i see commissioner covington's hand raised. >> commissioner covington: thank you, madam president. i would like to make just two quick corrections on the minutes. on page 2, paragraph two, it

reads that -- excuse me -- who's going to be attending the memorial service for 9-11. mr. ong is the brother of miss betty ong. >> clerk: i'm sorry. what line are you on, please? >> commissioner covington: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14. line 14 on page 2, where it says mr. ong is the brother of miss betty -- >> clerk: that's paragraph one. >> commissioner covington: okay. yes. paragraph one, 14 lines down. >> clerk: all right. >> commissioner covington: so betty, excuse me, b-e-t-t-y. and then also, i would like the meeting to reflect our

discussion related to the drivers of muni stopping when directed. i also suggested -- that's on the last page, page 4. i also suggested that we send the video to sfgovtv so that as many citizens as possible should be aware of the fact when they're given direction by fire personnel to stop that they stop, and with those minor corrections, i would like to move this item. >> clerk: okay. i just have clarification. so you want me to add in that it should be put on sfgovtv? >> commissioner covington: i'm suggesting that the videotape

regarding these issues. >> clerk: okay. and you want me to add sfgovtv? >> commissioner covington: yes, please. >> clerk: okay. >> commissioner covington: i've already moved this item. >> i second it. [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes. >> commissioner covington: thank you. >> clerk: okay. item 4, chief of department's report. report from chief of department jeanine nicholson. report on current issues, activities, and events within the department since the fire commission meeting on september 8, 2021, including budget, academies, special events,

communications, andout reach to other government agencies and the public. and report from administration, deputy chief jose velo. report on the administrative divisions, fleet and facility status and updates, finance, support services, and training within the department. >> good evening, president feinstein, vice president nakajo and commissioners, and near practitioner brokaw. chief jeanine nicholson. my report tonight will be brief, but i first want to thank president feinstein for her words at the 9-11 ceremony and the attendance of our other commissioners. thank you very much for being there, and i want to give a shoutout to olivia scanlon and

the others for helping us get it together. it was a really touching ceremony, so thank you everyone who attended. and i met our nominated fire commissioner, arney morgan there. i believe he will be getting sworn in on monday afternoon, the 27, so looking forward to that. that is the latest information i have on that. there have been lots of sort of meet and greets going on with our panels for new firefighters, and tomorrow, i will be taking all the recommendations from those panels and deciding who will be

on the meet and greet staff. and then violation of covid, which has really been taking up most of our time these days. we have a lot of other things we'd, you know, really like to focus on, but this is where it's at right now. right now, we have 122 who are not compliant. out of that 122, 18 are on long-term leave, so we really have 104 noncompliant. some have filed for exemptions, and those are working through the system, so we'll see what the final number is, but we will definitely be losing some people due to the vaccination. and sort of pivoting or not pivoting but rolling right into

that, i do want to welcome dr. jan brokaw and nurse practitioner stephanie phillips. dr. brokaw came on board and was thrown right into the fire with the covid vaccine, and i am so grateful for her leadership, her and stephanie phelps. you all have just really done some wonderful work, and there are a lot of other things you'd like to be working on, and we have many of the same goals, and we're getting there. it's just taking a while, but i look forward to hearing from them later. and with that, i will conclude my report. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you, chief. is there any public comment? >> may i -- may i just go back one second?

>> president feinstein: yes. >> how could i forget the therapy dogs? so yesterday, myself and catherine alba were just north of san diego with an organization that has agreed to supply us with a therapy dog, and lieutenant catherine alba is to be the handler. she got to meet and choose the dog that she's going to bring back, and there was another dog there that i fell totally in love with, and we're bringing them back, as well. chief velo will have photos of them later, but i am just thrilled to bits. i wish i could be the second dog's handler, but i have other pressing things to do. so yeah, that's just a bit of good news for our members to

have some canine love around, so thank you. >> clerk: and there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. public comment will be closed, and just so i don't forget chief, who will be the second handler? >> christina gibbs, lieutenant christina gibbs, so those are the two people that will be handling the dogs. >> president feinstein: very good. thank you. do my fellow commissioners have any questions or comments for the chief? all right -- yeah. commissioner covington, yes.

>> commissioner covington: thank you. chief, i'm glad to know that you didn't pull rank on the puppy. that's to lieutenant gibbs to do that. how many dogs do we have in the department, including the two new ones? >> so these are our very first therapy dogs. >> commissioner covington: yes, i know that. >> we do have search and rescue dogs, and i know that one was retired, and captain gareth miller is going to be getting another one, so that does leave us with three, chief velo? will that be three? we have two right now, and captain miller, when he gets his therapy dog -- sorry, next search and rescue dogs, that

will give us three search and rescue dogs. does that make sense? >> commissioner covington: i was waiting for a response from chief velo. >> no, the number is correct. we have three, plus the two therapy dogs. three for search and rescue. >> commissioner covington: okay. five altogether. is vader one of the dogs that retired? >> president feinstein: i'm seeing a shaking head no. >> commissioner covington: okay. all right. thank you. well, i think it is wonderful because we had a lot of discussion over the cat who was going to be a service cat, so it's good to see that we have this going on and that you were able to go down just north of san diego to select them, so

kudos on that. nothing else at this moment. >> thank you very much, commissioner covington, and let me just add, there's still time for me to pull ranks on lieutenant gibbs. these canines will be coming to live with their handlers on october 26. they need to do some bonding and break them in there before they will be in the fire station, so it's still a couple months away, but it's -- it's in act, and in addition, this foundation source, hope foundation, will be here on october 18. they're bringing a dog for the son of a recently deceased firefighter, christopher yauch,

so they're just really doing great stuff. >> commissioner covington: yes, we certainly appreciate them. can you give us some information regarding the [inaudible] hope foundation? >> where the name came from? >> commissioner covington: yes. it sounds like it was named after a particular person. >> i believe it was named after a dog, but i don't know exactly. they raise and train dogs for military veterans, for all sorts of people. guide dogs, they do it all, and -- and for fire departments, and i believe they're also going to be working with the coast guard soon and who knows who else, but yeah, they're just, yeah, wonderful, wonderful stuff for us. >> commissioner covington: very good. i wanted to just say regarding

the 9-11 commemoration, i thought it was wonderfully planned and executed and such an inspiring time from betty ong's brother, and i thought it was inspiring when he said how much time he had, miss scanlon said take all the time you want. we were just riveted to his words, listening to him say what his sister went through when she was on the phone with american airlines, describing what was happening, and being

calm in such a situation where the other two stewardesses had been killed. so it's just a reminder that stewardesses do much more than serve coffee. they were there for our safety, and they do deserve our respect, and i would really, really like to thank mr. ong and his wife for coming and sharing their family's story. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner covington. vice president nakajo, good evening. >> commissioner nakajo: good evening, madam president, chief, administration members. chief, i just want to get some

clarity on next steps. you reported out a number of members i believe are at the point of where -- correct me if i am wrong, but that's the clarity i'm looking for -- that they have not registered, but i'm wondering what is the next step in the process for those members. could you clarify a little bit, chief, and give a little bit more information, chief, as to what the next steps are now that we've identified the number? >> absolutely, vice president nakajo. so what we have done is some of my staff have met with -- i believe not a disciplinary meeting, but what is available, what can happen to them in

terms of exemptions and what happens if they get approved or if they don't get approved. we invited the union to participate, as well, so they could advise the member, as well, even though it's not an informational meeting, it's a disciplinary meeting. they still have time left. they can get the johnson & johnson vaccine before september 30 and be compliant. so -- and just to be clear, these are people that have registered that they are not vaccinated, so it is what it is. we were down to about four people that had not entered

their vaccination status. if they are not fully vaccinated by october 13, which means two weeks after their last shot, we can move separate them, but there is an agreement with the union and with the department of human resources for the city that there is a sort of two-week grace period, amnesty period whereas long as they get their last vaccine by october 13 they can then return to work on november 1, but they cannot work between october 13 and november 1, so if there are any real holdouts -- but, you know, once we know who is not going to comply, we will begin the separation process and that will include an administrative meeting with me before i send it to the fire commission, and

then, that's up to the president and you and the commission how that's going to move forward. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you very much, chief. just one question of clarity. it sounded like october 13 was the deadline date, and my question is, by october 13, the members have to be vaccinated with both vaccines? >> so yes. they have to be fully vaccinated, which means two weeks after their last shot, so either their second shot of pfizer or moderna or their only shot of johnson & johnson will had to have happened two weeks prior. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. thank you for that clarity, and i'm going to make a recommendation that these options be presented to the

members. thank you very much, chief, and madam president, that's my question. >> and if i just, madam president, yes, the city is putting on several vaccination clinics, so there will be plenty of vaccine -- i mean, there is plenty of vaccine available, but i believe there's going to be toward the end of the month, as well. i believe there's going to be several clinics in the city. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you, chief. and i believe we already called for public comment. am i right, madam secretary? >> clerk: yes, you did. >> president feinstein: thank you. >> president feinstein: all right. i think we are ready for chief velo. >> good evening, madam president, vice president nakajo, chief, command staff.

deputy chief jose velo. this is my report for august 2021. i will share my presentation, and again, this is some of the highlights since the last report and some highlights in september, as well. we're happy to report that all the strikers that were deployed to the dixie fires and other fires are safely home, so lots of good kudos from the agencies that we responded to assist there to help. we do have three members that are assisting in the fires. two members in the [inaudible] fire and one member in the [inaudible] fire. they are part of the incident management teams. we have started this incident

management team. i actually had to report about an hour ago, i got an update that's been at the [inaudible] fire, and he has given a presentation, one of the briefings at the caldor fire. one of the images there, they also made a significant donation to the caldor fire relief fund. the fires are not over yet. we still have 11 active large fires. to date, 2.3 million acres have burned, and just to give you an update, this is less than last year, but it's two times the average of the last five years, so a really bad year for our

forests in the state of california. [inaudible] are currently -- they were invited to a workshop in portland with other members of the fire service in the country, a fire dynamics workshop they hope to bring back to the training. they're having the 20 academy, they are in session, as you know, week seven of the 20 weeks. we have lost one due to deficiencies, so we have 19 remaining in the academy, and this is week four of testing in the academy. they're teaching the recruits, and we do it in a small little house and just by opening and closing, we identify the

ventilation patterns we also have [inaudible] rotations, sorry, and some of the skills, they continue to practice skills and operations, so that's continuing nonstop at power and folsom street. so here's the on boarding process of the 129 academy. [inaudible] we are connecting with many agencies within the city and collaborating with other departments to bring some population to the city and to the department. part of that is the city e.m.t. he participated in the interviews for the lead instructor for the next cadre of city e.m.t., and we

will have a support that way, too. we have members that are going to help us in some projects, and part of their [inaudible] extremely busy. he can fill you in any question you have about this program, but this is one of the things that he's working on right now. as you recall, we enroll our city e.m.t. internships and we're happy with what they're doing out there and hope that in the future they can be part of the department.

our team continues to do training in the best way they can. communications, outdoor skills in a safe manner, but they continue to practice [inaudible] and they brought into the department and we created this train the trainer program for our folks to be able to deliver some -- not only physically training and [inaudible] training but also mental training, yoga, to our members. so now, these members will go out to their departments and start training the members. it was no cost to us, and now we're going to expand the knowledge into other stations. [inaudible] and the chief was there, too, and the events of

september 11, where we climbed the building tower, 53 stories, to raise money for the international [inaudible], and the mayor was there, too, so happy to see that the chief was able to climb those stairs, as well, too. and here are our new therapist dogs. we have marley on the left-hand side with lieutenant alba and sadie, who's to be assigned to lieutenant gibbs on the right-hand side, so those are new members of the department that you'll get to meet hopefully very soon. dr. brokaw is really going to talk about this, but i really want to commend her and stephanie phelps for the work that they're doing to [inaudible] but this week, yesterday, today, and tomorrow and then in two weeks, we're going to have members coming in to do a wellness check, cardiovascular and other things. it's really a ton of work, and

chief parks and stephanie and dr. brokaw have been doing a ton of work. this is what she's working on, bringing wellness into our department. so this is yesterday, some of the members that were doing that yesterday, divisional training. as far as covid numbers, we had a really bad month. we had 51 members quarantined for covid. delta variant really took a toll on us. we had a little bit of a spike, but now, we still have 17 members, so we continue to direct or members to mask indoors and limit the contact with the public, which is difficult, the way we work in the fire department, too. on the random alcohol and drug testing program, 69 members were tested, and all were in evidence.

it continues to help with [inaudible] and probation physicals and all results were negative. 121 service requests in august. 112 were closed. [inaudible] and in late 21, stations 37 and 44 will be out to bid, so this is an on going contract that we have, replacement generators that have a limited life span, and we get this through eser bond money. we have completed the [inaudible] we have two units that respond to the cliff rescues, and we have an additional instructor for that so we need a brand-new vehicle. and station 49, you wanted to know about that.

the interior completion for the images that are going to be hanging on the walls in station 49's for the fall of 21, and the art fence, the famous fence is going to be estimated spring 22, and chief can explain the delays. there's several things that changed with that. the size -- the design, it's not changed, but the metal was required to be changed, so we hope to see that fence in the spring of 22. station 30, some of the updates, you remember this culture that was -- observation desk, that's completed. we have a -- interior work that's going on. there you see on the bottom, we have to create a new path for civilians, and we also have a ski lift for our jet skis that's going to be in the corner of the station, as well. going back to 35, we still have an issue with the electrical

situation, and i know you're going to have a presentation the next meeting from d.p.w. to address all those issues. fleet engines, we have 11. we told you there was a delay for the recall of the transmission, and there's some parts of that transmission. there's a nationwide delay. the truck that we're waiting to come has not come yesterday. as of two days ago, it was in new mexico, and hopefully, it'll be there by the end of the week. and our [inaudible] staff visited the [inaudible] factory and they're working on the [inaudible] project. as you know, that's been a major budget in the project.

this is part of the things they're working on when they are there, talking to them, and it's continued to work on the next few months of this project. our chief o'connor [inaudible] liaison, some of the project he's working on, as you know, we have a requirement from the board to the 2050 planning. basically, it's not been -- they extended the [inaudible] the manifolds, the portable efws, completion by december and a presentation to the board of supervisors, and [inaudible] until the full system is completed and projection for that is 2050 for that. we continue to do drills. september 29 is going to be a drill at [inaudible] will be attending, and the goal of this drill is the configuration of the portable water supply system for pressure and flow, so we focus on that, so that's [inaudible] and so forth.

so as the chief said already, the 9-11 ceremony, every single station in the city has had, just as we've done for the last 19 years. and last but not least, our memorial fire mass, vice president nakajo was there, and the mayor was there to remember the fallen -- it's been two years since we had that event, and we remembered their service. that's it for my presentation. any questions? >> president feinstein: thank you. thank you, chief velo. madam secretary, is there any public comment thus far? >> clerk: there is nobody on our public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. then public comment shall be closed. i'm just -- before i turn it over to my fellow commissioners, i'm going to make one announcement, which is that i did, on behalf of the

commission, to extend an invitation to the department of public works to come before this commission to talk mainly about station 35, and i know that we received, in our written materials for the meeting, a colored sheet, we received it for every packet, which showed pictures and updates on station 35, and i just want to comment, i was incredibly disappointed to see that the flu projected date for the station to become operational is fall of 2021. and i think a lot of what we need to discuss at the next

meeting, when the department of public works does come, is why this has gone so awry. the completion date has been kpleeded since -- since the time when i joined -- exceeded since the time when i joined this commission, and that was in january 2019. and i hope they are prepared to explain why a misuse of public dollars, using up bonds that are very much needed for other construction projects in the city for our department, and, you know, to -- to basically continually share the same

information over and over with different words, i don't want them to think that we don't notice that. so that is my comment, and other than that, i know you don't put that together, chief velo, but it did come under your report, and i wanted to make those comments. but other than that, i thank you very much for your report. >> thank you. >> president feinstein: all right. my fellow commissioners. vice president nakajo? >> commissioner nakajo: thank you very much, madam president. chief velo, thank you very much for your comprehensive report. i have just a couple of comments or questions that will refer to assistant deputy chief

velo. part of our decision is [inaudible] but i was just looking for a question of clarity a little bit because on your calendar sheet, i don't know if you have that in front of you, there is amounts of meetings and identifications, and one of those meetings identifications is august 6 of 2021 that talks about meeting with the director arce from oewd, and so i was just curious to know what that is because we are in -- still rolling out our

declaration of diversity, so i'm wondering what each role has to do with where we're at, so if you could share some information with the relationship of the department with oewd, chief peeples. >> thank you, president feinstein, vice president nakajo, chief nicholson, and command staff, as well. very good question, vice president nakajo. some of the work of this department is to look after the workforce of our department, the future workforce and the current workforce. that's exactly within oewd's wheel house. they are the ones who administer and manage a lot of

these resources for people to be developed. we have to do a lot of work with promotions, and also just to help future recruits and candidates to succeed. we find that a lot of individuals are lacking just base skills that are common maybe 25 years ago, base skills, communication skills, quite a few things that fall within our minimum qualifications. so we're looking for solutions. these are developmental solutions for raw candidates right now and how those are going to be partnered in the future because we're looking for resources for a lot of the programs we're going to need to ramp up here shortly. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. that makes a lot of sense to me. i'm a big fan of the internship program and what's involved in

the development cal support. i know that oewd is about development and job training. part of when chief velo was going through your report, it sounds like a -- and i don't have any issue at all. it sounds lake a lot of recruitment or identification of target population to get them interested in some area or some items in the fire department or city e.m.t. again, i can appreciate that, but i'm just trying to take this in as we as a fire department creates a workable unit that's going to be used within diversity. i'm also watching other departments because this diversity is, as i understand it, a mandate for us to adopt [inaudible] by other department, so i'm just curious as to everyone's going to roll

it out, and i think we are fortunate to have an officer, chief nicholson, be focused on that, as well. so thank you very much for that, and i can see where recruitment would be part of it. if it's recruitment, i know we had some specific [inaudible] but that's good. it's good that we are active. if i can continue, madam president, i have a couple of questions for chief dewitt. chief dewitt, same thing. i'm looking at our commissioners docket, page 83. there's -- end of the paragraph, eser bond 2010 n.f.s. update through august 2021. seismic, talks about fire station 16. you with me, chief? and what's happening with this is as i read this, it's

interesting because somebody like commissioner cleaveland would usually be scoping this out. it says completion date, july 16. the contractor achieves substantial completion january, and it talks about fiscal closeout for that project. my question is, is who created the liquid damages and who's paying for this and where does it come from? can you share this? >> i will do my best. good evening, commissioners, command staff, dr. brokaw,

deputy, anyone else i've missed, i am deputy chief [inaudible] with court services. i was not the assistant deputy chief during that build, but what i do know about liquidated damages, but what i do know is they are put into play when the contractor does not conform to the schedule as you saw. so we have an initial substantial and final completion date that was not met by the contractor, and so those liquidating damages are set out in the contract that will be charged per day for every day of delay. those liquidated damages are used to pay for p.w., department of public works project management, extended project management time, any architects that are on-site to continue work along the way, so basically goes to all of the other departments to continue to remain on the project during the delay. the contractor does not receive any of that money, it all goes back into mostly public works.

they receive the entire amount. >> commissioner nakajo: so we have a number of things that we are covering, overruns and delays. i don't want to assume anything, but it's our funds that we are paying out. >> that's correct. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. that's part of what i want to try to get confirmation on because it sounds like we're not at fault in terms of paying this liquidated damages. is that a good way to put that, chief, or do you want to put me on the right track? >> that's correct. if we had caused the delay, we would end up paying the contractor more money for all

of the delays that they are experiencing. so in this case, it was the contractor who caused the delay. they were fined the liquidated damages, and the amount is determined by contract, like if it's per day, they're charged a certain amount of money, and then that money goes back for all of the public works project management, construction management, all of their time on the job. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. it does not come back to the bond, it does not come back to the department, it just basically reimbursed p.w., so -- for their time, their extended time on the project. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. i just wanted to be clear as to what that tracking was, so i'm going to move onto my second comment. it's under eser bond 2014, seismic improvement program. i believe we're talking about station 35, so i don't know if

this paragraph -- sounds like it has something to do in terms of the electrical kinds of connections. i assume that there's somebody hired to manage the project, and pg&e is another form of management. do you want to explain that to me a little bit more, please? >> p.u.c., pg&e, other sister agencies, are not really part of that management team. they are independent. i'm not sure -- is that your question? so the question, the point of

energization, all of those areas, they are based on pg&e errors, not the project management team's errors. so that's the story, kbu i don't think we've really had a final conclusion. >> yeah -- >> commissioner nakajo: i think you -- go ahead, cleve. >> yeah, may i interject? thank you. yeah, there's a lot of sort of finger pointing, and i think we can definitely get into this more in two weeks when we do have public works here -- >> you're muted. >> thank you. so there's a lot of -- i think we can get into this more when public works is here, and perhaps they'll be able to answer, but in my experience, it has been -- there's a lot of finger pointing and nobody is taking responsibility, and the

money comes out of the bond, and so that is the frustrating part. for me, we have so many needs and a limited amount of funding, so yeah, it just is frustrating. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. chief, the president has started to talk about how long she's been involved with the commission, and we're talking about station 35. for me, particularly not in terms of identification or anything but the term is 25 years. so for me, it goes all the way from the old days that we used to talk about station 1, where

they were at, station 5, station 16, station 49, now station 35. so i'm just concerned because it's bond money. i'm not going to say it's our money, but our members got the public to vote for those bonds, but for us, it's an order of business. if we don't have our house in order for a matter of business, i'm going to start to get concerned, but somewhere along the line, we have to start taking accountability. any way, those are my questions. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you, vice president nakajo. i don't see any further comments -- oh, yes, commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: thank you. i'm looking forward to our

meeting with the d.p.w. i have a number of pointed questions for them. i thought that they were going to be on today's agenda. i learned, you know, that they would not be here today, but in anticipation of their representatives being present, i did visit station 80 -- excuse me -- 35 on monday, and it is a gorgeous facility. while our firefighters are in this very cramped, old, dilapidated building, so commissioner nakajo says it is not our money, but it is our

money. that's my feeling. it is our money, because we are citizens of the city and county of san francisco, we are commissioners of the fire department, and we are taxpayers, and we are boosters to our city, and to have hundreds of thousands of dollars go to no benefit to us as citizens or as a department is reprehensible, so i know i want to get to the bottom of it and come up with a resolution. this is just not the way a huge

project should go, and the calendar speaks for itself. this has gone on far too long, and we need, as you've already said, some accountability from somebody because someone's responsible. if you're project managers, you're supposed to manage the project, not look inspiration from the gods of war, so that's my comment on that. so two weeks. should be interesting. >> president feinstein: and if i might just indicate we did extend an invitation to d.p.w. to appear at this meeting, and

they indicated that they could not be prepared in sufficient time and there are are appear -- and therefore are appearing at the next meeting. because like you, commissioner covington, i visited station 35 twice, and it is gorgeous, and it is where -- our people are deserving of it, and they're not being able to use it through no error of ours, and that is what is particularly distressing, along with the fact as chief dewitt mentioned, you know, liquidated damages don't go back to the bond. they go back to the department of public works. every dollar out of bond is one

less dollar we can spend, and we have several that are in need of work, so i agree, it should be an interesting conversation in two weeks. >> commissioner covington: the money that we're talking about are not chump change. i think it is senator dirksen that said, $1 million here, $1 million there, and before you know, it we're talking about real money. i have other questions, also, but i am mindful of the time, and we have our medical team that's going to be speaking, so i will hold off on my other comments. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner covington. any comment, maureen? >> clerk: no, there's nobody on our public comment line. >> president feinstein: okay. so public comment is closed.

our next item, please. >> clerk: item 5, update from department physician. dr. jennifer brokaw to provide an updated overview on the duties and responsibilities in the physician's office, and accomplishments over the last year. >> president feinstein: dr. brokaw? >> hi. very pleased to join you. very happy to be here tonight. chief velo, i think you're going to share my presentation for me. it's brief. it's 12 slides, so it shouldn't take more than eight minutes. sorry couldn't do this myself,

but -- so i'm here to talk to you tonight since i joined the department as supervising physician in march of 2020, just as the pandemic hit san francisco. i have a very strong memory of looking at the cruise ship full of passengers with covid outside the golden gate, and i have not received an offer from the department yet, so i told her, look, i don't know if you're going to hire me or if you are planning to hire someone else, but your department needs a physician, so it's been a very historic 1.5 years. we're not out of it yet, and i really appreciate the opportunity to serve the city and the department in this way,

so thank you. so i wanted to give an overview of the physician's department. some of you may be familiar with it, others may not, so yeah. so the best way to think of the physician's department is part of the hub of the wheel of the workforce machine in the department, and the hub of our wheel includes our office, the department office, and human resources and payroll. and basically, we are working together to keep our firefighters and paramedics at work, healthy, paid when they need to be paid, legally compliant, and we do so with the assistance of, of course, the command staff and

leadership and also d.w.c., which is the division of workers' compensation. next slide. so how do we do this? we -- in our office, the physician's office, we do four big things. we do a -- the new hire medical screen, so for every academy, for every big new hire group, we are part of -- we are one hurdle in the process to become gamefully employed at the department. we also do medical screens for members in our department who are undertaking civil service promotions, so we do a medical screen of them. a big part of our job here in the physician's office is injury illness liaison and claims management, working very, very closely with the

department division of worker's compensation to help both members have their medical claims created within the division of worker's compensation, to connect with occupational health and specialists, and to get back to work when their injury is healed or their illness is over. and a lot of that has to do with a return to duty evaluation, which is an important part of that. and then, we are also instrumental in the modified duty program, where an injured worker who's not ready to go back to full duty can be assigned office work within the department while they're still undergoing therapy for their injury. next slide. another big and important part of our job is wellness and

compliance, and by compliance, i mean compliance with osha regulations. traditionally -- and this was precovid, we did -- we did and do infectious disease notifications. now right now, it feels like it's all covid, but in the past, it's also included t.b., tuberculosis exposures, blood borne pathogens such as hepatitis b and c and the needle stick hotline. we are under osha mandate to screen for hearing loss and t.b. regularly, and we are working to get back into compliant with that? we have an immunization program and have for a long time in the physicians office wherein we

provide booster shots to firefighters who have not had, say, a tetanus shot or need a booster for hepatitis a or b or if their immunities get low. and when we do new hire screening, we check people's immune levels to various infectious agents, and once they are hired, we will offer booster shots if they need it. as chief velo mentioned, starting this week, we have restarted health screening, which has not happened in this department for a few years, and very, very successful first week of our know your numbers campaign, which has really been made possible by my colleague, stephanie phelps, and she has had the assistance of the health services system of san francisco? it's been a really nice

collaboration wherein they have lent their contracts to us, and we have provided the funding, and so far, we have screened over 100 firefighters for cardiovascular -- firefighters and paramedics for cardiovascular events and ten-year risk factors for cardiovascular events. next slide. chief velo showed this, but this was a flier that went out. it's a private confidential screen, but we will get aggregate numbers about the health of our department with respect to cardio lackar disease, and from that, i hope to plan for pilot programs, training, education, and perhaps some policies around health related things at

stations. next slide. something that has been important to me since i came into the department is health education. we have a lot of expertise in our department. stephanie is not just a nurse practitioner but a ph.d. in occupational health. we have tony boone who is our industrial hygienist who knows a lot about what he calls engineering controls to make stations healthier. he's been instrumental in getting exhaust systems installed to remove exhaust and remove harmful agents out of the stations. during covid, he's been very important for us to educate us. and then, i have been working very hard both to counsel

members one-on-one but also have done several videos and webinars along with stephanie phelps, natasha parks, firefighter arlene nunez to educate about various topics, mostly about covid, but most recently, we did a sleep webinar for firefighters. as soon as i got here, i began writing a newsletter. i think, commissioners, you received this newsletter. it was borne out of necessity because the covid pandemic was

a fast moving topic, so i began writing about covid immediately and giving numbers to the field, and i continue to do so, but this is an example about a newsletter that was not about covid but was about cancer in the fire service. next slide. and you can see it's very flushed out and i hope clearly written. i do spend a lot of time preparing these, and it's been very gratifying to hear that people read them. next slide. so i want to talk specifically about the sars-cov-2 response. it's really taken a lot of my time and stephanie's time. just to recap, we have had

about 229 cases of covid in our department. i think the number is six hospitalizations. currently, we have 32 people off work for either isolation from that ten-day quarantine isolation or continuing to be off work, and we have nine people, additional people, who have been off work for more than a month, and i think many of those people may not ever return to work because of their experience with covid. so it's 229 people. most people have had mild cases, but as i say, six hospitalizations and nine people total whose total career has been impacted forever. so what have we done during this time? we've talked about the education we've provided. we've also done notifications

of exposure to covid, so that includes both ambulance runs and medic runs for the fire suppression people. contact with known covid positive patients. also, exposure to colleagues in the fire station that have tested positive, which has been a lot of our recent experience with the delta variant. we've filed a lot of worker's compensation claims for covid because it's presumptive illness that's covered by workers comp. there have been instances where people were, you know, away on vacation and clearly did not get it at work, but the majority of our cased are presumed to be due to work. because of the delta variant and our rapid spread in august in which we had 52 cases of covid, including vaccinated

members who had to leave work because of covid, we've implemented rapid antigen testing in the state in collaboration with the california department of public health. chief velo and stephanie have gone out to stations and done these 15-minute rapid antigen tests at stations where there's been more than two cases at a station. finally, we have been real proponents of vaccination. anyone who knows me knows that i am a huge fan of the vaccines. i have spent i don't know how

many hours doing one-on-one counseling with reluctant members, i have spent hours at the moscone center doing vaccinations, and i have set up in my office to offer the field the comfort and event of getting vaccinated here with us. it's been a very interesting experience in the last couple of weeks, but i have vaccinated about 24 members of the department, and it feels good to have been part of that effort. next slide. so to recap, you saw this slide with chief velo, but you know, we had been doing so well with keeping the virus at bay, and then last winter, we got hit pretty hard. you can look at the peak of that spike and know that we began getting vaccinations

right there and then at the peak, and the vaccinations worked extremely well in addition to having p.p.e. readily available to us throughout the pandemic until the delta variant came to town and did what it meant to do, which is get transmitted very easily and breakthrough the vaccine, although it does not make vaccinated people very sick. so as chief velo said, right away, 75% of our department got vaccinated, but 25% were holdouts up until a couple of weeks ago. we got 82 to 85%, but i believe we're closer to 90% vaccinated

now. next slide. so i've been here 1.5 years now. and when i think about the future of what i would like, the pandemic has taught this department and me that our office can do a lot more with regard to health screenings and education. we can partner with the chief of health and safety to do programming, and we have. we can expand our surveillance of the department to make sure we understand the issues that are on going. in the past, mental health has been carved out from the physician's office, and that is something that i would like to create a bridge to the

behavioral [inaudible] and that network of therapists will be available to our members free of cost through the employee assistance program starting in january, so that is really exciting. as you can imagine, like, everyone, but especially people on the frontlines, mental health is an issue that you can deal with. [inaudible] >> so that's the conclusion of

my presentation. it's my honor to work in the department and help out during this time, and i welcome any questions or comments. >> president feinstein: thank you, dr. brokaw, very much. >> thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you. let me turn to my fellow commissioners, if they have questions -- ah, every time that the grid comes up, everybody has moved around, so i have to relocate you, but any questions for the doctor? >> clerk: there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: thank you, madam secretary. public comment will be closed. chief nicholson, i guess, is now on the commission and she would like to make a comment, so chief nicholson, please. >> pardon me, and thank you very much, president feinstein, i just wanted to be sure that

the commission has met our nurse practitioner, stephanie phelps, who is here, as well, and if she would just like to say hello, she is fabulous, and we just so appreciate her as well as dr. brokaw. so stephanie phelps. >> yes. thank you so much for having me. i just want to say it's been a pleasure to work with dr. brokaw the last 1.5 years, and i'm proud of the work that we're doing and the work in mental health and engaging in a mobile t.b. program that should be coming soon. >> president feinstein: excellent. thank you. thank you. vice president nakajo or commissioner covington, any questions or comments? >> commissioner nakajo: i defer to commissioner covington first, and then, i'll have a comment after the commissioner.

>> president feinstein: all right. commissioner covington, please? >> commissioner covington: okay. thank you, madam president, and thank you, mr. vice president. and so dr. brokaw, can we begin at the beginning? can you tell us how you were invited to interview for this position? >> yes. my background is in emergency medicine, and in 2010, i decided that patients were getting lost in the system and needed that heath advocacy and navigation was a much needed service, so i peeled out of the emergency room and created a company called good medicine, and we were a group of multidisciplinary health

professionals that provided advocacy and engaged in approximate advanced care planning with seniors and supported them through serious illness. and actually, through a friend of mine, directed the film toxic [inaudible] about firefighters and cancer, i was introduced to tony stefani at the cancer prevention foundation. and tony, soon after meeting me, had me come to present to the board about the company, good medicine, and the services we offered. shortly after that, i became a contracted patient advocate with the cancer prevention foundation, and my work was with firefighters who were at end of life after battling cancer. and after working on several very sad and difficult cases

with the foundation, they commended me by giving me the white helmet award, which was a great honor. and at the gala, where i gave my remarks about my work with the foundation and my vision or my thoughts about firefighter health and wellness, chief nicholson approached me and said, you know, we might have a physician's spot available, and i'd like you to interview for you, so i did. like, i said, when the pandemic was at our door, at the golden gate, i really did feel compelled to serve in some way for the city. >> commissioner covington: thank you for that background. and who do you report to? >> my direct report is to chief velo. >> commissioner covington:

mm-hmm. and who hired you? >> the commission. >> commissioner covington: could you please, please, please let her answer the question. >> it was the commission. >> commissioner covington: yes. we interviewed you, and it was a good interview. i'm so happy that we didn't have any lag time between you interviewing with the commission and coming on board. so just to make sure that we cover some of the basic information, you are totally

vaccinated? >> absolutely. >> commissioner covington: and members of your staff are, as well? >> 100%. >> commissioner covington: well, i want to commend you on the newsletter. it's very good. the first time we received it in our packets, i was elated to see the information in such a handy dandy format to keep up with, so i appreciate that.

>> there's a lot of paranoia of the vaccine and the likelihood of experiencing side effects. one of my approaches is i listen to everything that they say that's happening, and i say, you're absolutely right. if you slap out the virus for what you've told me about the vaccine, what you've told me is correct. it causes blood clots. it can cause, you know, neurologic problems. it can affect the heart. the vaccine side effects and

serious side effects are quite rare. i always acknowledge that yes, of course, there are some people in the world that have been harmed by the vaccine. we can't deny that. but when you imagine now that, you know, billions, now billions of people have been vaccinated -- the number of people who have been harmed is so vanishingly small, this is just such a huge win for the vaccine scientists, we really have to embrace these as a medicine that can both protect you and protect our society. the other thing i like to point out to our vaccine reluctant members is they are first responders. they are people who run into

burning buildings and perform c.p.r. on people whose hearts have stopped. they are a brick in the wall that we have to build in our community against the virus, and being vaccinated is a brick in the wall. it was difficult news when we learned that vaccinated people could transmit the virus; that they had similar amounts of virus build up in their nasopharynx as unvaccinated people. that was difficult to overcome with some of the reluctant people, but i like to point out that you're still five to seven times less likely to become infected in the first place, even when exposed, and that you are certainly much less likely to land yourself in the hospital.

and i also [inaudible]. >> commissioner covington: thank you very much. you've given me a comprehensive answer to the question. you said that there were 299 cases of covid within the department. >> 229. >> commissioner covington: 229. okay. that is better, 229. all right. is there a common route to transmission? >> you know, it did change. in the beginning, in the winter time, i would actually say that most people were infected by friends or family, but we did have several members become infected at the congregate care settings when they went into

transport patients or provide services. there was transmission to our members there. now with the delta variant, it has really changed. i would say the majority of our members are infected at the fair -- fire stations, so there's been much more peer to peer transmission of the virus. >> commissioner covington: i think it's important for people to realize that so they understand why there is such a push to be vaccinated. it's very important. you mentioned during your introductory comments that nine people may be off work

permanently. can you give us some more information about that? >> well, i can say that there's some people whose physical condition will not permit them to come back to work. >> commissioner covington: and that's as a result of covid? >> yes, yes. >> commissioner covington: okay. >> there are some people that became really ill and have developed ptsd as a result of it, so i can't say that they'll ever come back, but they may take a long time. >> commissioner covington: yes, and ptsd takes a long time to even begin to grapple with before you get to the other side. >> yeah. >> commissioner covington: you said in august there were 52 cases, and now how many cases did we have?

>> in august, there was 51 cases. right now, we have 15 people in isolation in their ten-day, you know, quarantine period, and 17 people remain off work. >> commissioner covington: and those people that are in isolation, are they in medical settings or do they just remain at home? >> no, they are not permitted to come to work. very few of them are very ill. >> commissioner covington: so just self-isolation. >> yeah, per the c.d.c. protocol. >> commissioner covington: okay. thank you. i wanted to ask about 2010, you

said you wanted to be more in health advocacy. >> yeah. >> commissioner covington: do you feel that you have been a strong advocate while you've been in the department? >> yes, i have. it's a funny position to be the department doctor because i am the employer. i do represent the department, so i am not the member's physician. i represent the employer, and when they are injured, i do not see a lot of their medical records unless they choose to share them with me, so that is a unique position to be in.

i think, in the past, there's been some loss of trust between the physician's office and the members, and i've spent a lot of the last 1.5 years trying to regain trust. you know, i have to call out my colleague, stephanie, who i think has really held this department together in terms of how the field, the firefighters, paramedics, and e.m.t.s, have felt about this office. i think she's been a bridge, but the [inaudible] was involved making difficult decisions or involved in making difficult decisions about somebody's capacity to continue working, so a lot of my time in the last 1.5 years has been really trying to establish a rapport and to communicate to

the union and the field that i'm really here to improve -- try and improve the health of the department and to advocate for individuals to be healthier and to get better faster. >> commissioner covington: well, thank you for that response. and the last page of your presentation, you have future roles for physician's office at sffd. could you elaborate on some of the things that you're thinking of? i see expanded health screening and that sort of thing. >> yes. we would like to, as i mentioned, continue to do events like we are undertaking in the coming weeks, where we

do a [inaudible] and both do hearing tests and test people for t.b. we'll collect those results and, you know, advise members what they need to do if they have a positive t.b. test or need hearing aids. that's something i covered in one of my newsletters. i don't think people realize that hearing aids are allowed -- you are allowed to have hearing aids if you're a firefighter. you just can't wear them into a fire, doing things like that to reassure people that having a

medical condition isn't necessarily the end of your career, and we are here to help you through whatever disability you have. chief velo's been terrific in conceptualizing a campaign that we would like to roll out in the next year called 30 in and 30 out? 30 years of service and then 30 good years of retirement. to be healthy in your retirement, you have to start during your career. >> commissioner covington: yes. well, your attention to hearing lot is much appreciated, because that is one of the occupational hazards of being a firefighter because many of them lose their hearing.

so to the extent that we can save firefighters, i think that is great that we can have that screening. i will yield the floor so that my fellow colleagues will have the opportunity to ask you questions, and thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner covington. vice president nakajo. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you, madam president. thank you again, doctor, for your presentation and for answering all these variety sets of questions, as well. i wanted to remark just in terms of being part of this presentation and exchange of information, i definitely wanted to acknowledge you as our department physician, but also, i think your remarks towards stephanie phelps was appropriate because there in the interim before you came in,

and even before, when we had our [inaudible] physician, very often, stephanie phelps was the person that was the open arm, if you will, to the membership. and to me, it's all about customer service and decor. again, i'm referring to commissioner cleaveland. i must be missing him if i talk about him twice, but he has talked about bedside manners, and so i -- doctor, i just wanted to say how appreciative it is. i also wanted to acknowledge anthony boone, your team, but also barbara marino in terms of all the support staff at the doctor's office. i -- since you've come in, i do appreciate the newsletter. sometimes it becomes show me more of an overt change that is

sophisticated, well planned out, and that became that piece for me. i started looking forward to that piece, but also, i started reading that piece. and then, i started realizing that it was not just related to health related issue, but somebody's menu was out there, as well. i just wanted to say that was a good form of communication. again, i appreciate all of the times that you spent with all of the details. i think that your relationship and your caring nature within the department and your professional decorum is obvious within that, as well. i also, commissioners, i have to yield, through transparency, that a few weeks ago, i was a patient of dr. brokaw when i

went to get my flu shot, so i was able to see her within her setting, if you will, and have a little chitchat, and it was able to have that little decor as i looked away as i was able to get my shot. thank you for that, and thank you, madam president. >> president feinstein: thank you, vice president nakajo. i wanted to make a few comments. i appreciate and i like the newsletter, too. i've learned a lot about it, and i think it's really a fabulous idea, and i hope all of our members are reading it. it conveys a lot of really, really good information that can benefit us all, and i just

have to say, since the time that i've been on this commission, the piece of work that i've seen, it would certainly impact my mental

health. i wanted to ask you one technical question here, and that is with regard to, it's the chart. it says covid and sffd 2021, and there's the two big spikes, and then, it -- it -- it appears -- i'm not quite sure i'm reading the date right -- september 2, 2021, that we're going up against. >> you know, you're correct. at the beginning of this month, we were on track to repeat august. >> president feinstein: wow. >> and -- yeah, yes. i i was very concerned. i sent an e-mail, you know, to our command staff but also to the department of public health

saying okay, i think we need to rapid test everybody in the department every day because we were just passing around the virus very, very easily. the velt -- delta variant is really a bad, bad player. and as long as we've been trying to enforce mask mandates, i think what happens in the fire house is, eventually, somebody takes off their mask, and the delta variant can spread. i am happy to say, though, i think that as of, like, three days ago, the virus was starting to fall off. just this week, we have not had more positive cases, whereas

couple weeks ago, we were getting three or four new cases a day. so knock on wood somewhere, but the beginning of september looked like august, and i think the end of september is going to look like a steep drop off. >> president feinstein: oh, that's really good to know. because i saw that, and i thought how can that be? >> i know. >> president feinstein: so thank you very, very much. you know, the physician's office appears to be in very good hands thanks to you two and also to mr. boone, and yeah, thank you for keeping those who take care of us healthy. >> yeah, we want to acknowledge nancy parks, too. she's part of our team, too, and it's a pleasure to work

with her. >> president feinstein: well, that -- i was remiss in not acknowledging that, and i've got to say, i think it's a great idea to go around to the stations. that really makes, i think, a big difference to go to them rather than wait for them to come to you because they may or may not, so that's an excellent program, so thank you. thank you. all right. >> clerk: are we moving on? >> president feinstein: i think we're moving on. thank you. >> clerk: okay. item 6 -- item 6. commission report. report on commission activities since last meeting of september 8, 2021. >> president feinstein: yes. vice president? >> commissioner nakajo: thank you, madam president. i just wanted to take this

opportunity to just acknowledge that to commissioner covington, when i was making references to eser bond funding, if i made reference to that wasn't our concern, i was mistaken. my point is it is part of our responsibility and it is our funds, so i just wanted to make sure that my point was clear in terms of safeguarding and doing the oversight of the funds that is very important, so that's one thing that i wanted to make sure that we were able to clarify. the other thing was that i attended mass on sunday, september the 19. the fire, police, sheriff mass, and i just wanted to acknowledge the command force, chief nicholson, that the representative from the fire department, captain joe

[inaudible] did an excellent job in presenting the remarks of that particular occasion of mass, so i just wanted to acknowledge that publicly, as well. thank you, madam president. >> president feinstein: thank you. thank you. i think the chief has indicated that we did all attend the september 11 event, which really was put together in the most moving way. i really commend everybody in the department who worked on it, and i think like everybody else, you know, mr. ong's comments about his sister were, you know, really tremendous, and this historical context, and he -- he was -- he was -- he was really truly just fantastic, and i do want to

echo, too, the things that the chief expressed to miss scanlon, who i know was there at 4:00 in the morning, setting up and getting everything organized, and also to all the members of the command staff that were present, and the members. it was very moving, very, very moving. and i'm sorry. commissioner covington, i wasn't sure if you have -- usually, you have your white pen, and i can tell. ah, there you are. thank you. sorry about that. >> commissioner covington: oh, that's quite all right. i just wanted to say to commissioner nakajo that i wanted to know how the moneys were spent in the city, and i -- monies were spent in the

city, and i hope he didn't take umbrage with what i said because i know how near and dear this city is to him, so i wanted to make clear that i got you, bro. thank you. >> commissioner nakajo: commissioner covington, thank you very much. >> president feinstein: all right. and public comment? anything, madam secretary? >> clerk: there is nobody on our public comment line. >> president feinstein: it will therefore -- public comment will be closed. >> clerk: okay. item 7, agenda for next and future fire commission meetings. >> president feinstein: all right. we will have a full agenda for the next meeting, i can assure everybody. please don't try being out on vacation or calling in sick because we're going to need

you. department of public works will be -- well, you're going to need a doctor's note. the department of public works is going to be presenting and hopefully explaining to us, you know, why we keep waiting for station 35, and, you know, i think it's going to be a very robust conversation between the commissioners and those representatives. they may call in sick. i don't know. we'll see, but that will be part of it. and then there'll be another item on the agenda, so it'll be a robust meeting. i'm sorry. vice president nakajo? >> commissioner nakajo: thank

you, madam president. i just wanted to interject when d.p.w. does appear, all of our collective concerns is that training center, and what's going to happen with that training center in the sense of the kind of responsibilities that we need that are being demanded in terms of our personnel and producing folks with some real training, but also, as earlier presented, if there's diversity and recruitment, that we have a facility that's state of the art for the city and county, so i'm concerned about that, and i just wanted to put it out there in terms of that, madam president. thank you. >> president feinstein: much appreciated. thank you. >> clerk: and there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: thank you, madam secretary. public comment is closed. >> clerk: all right. and item 8 is adjournment. >> commissioner covington: so

moved. >> commissioner nakajo: second. [roll call] >> clerk: this meeting is adjourned at 6:51. >> president feinstein: all right, everyone. have a good night.

today we are going to talk about fire safety. we are here at the urban center

on mission street in san francisco. it's a wonderful display. a little house in the urban center exhibition center that shows what it's like in a home in san francisco after an earthquake. one of the major issues that we are going to face after earthquakes are fire hazard. we are happy to have the fire marshall join us today. >> thank you. my pleasure. >> we talk about the san francisco earthquake that was a fire that mostly devastated the city. how do we avoid that kind of problem. how can we reduce fire hazard? >> the construction was a lot different. we don't expect what we had then. we want to make sure with the gas heaters that the gas is shut off.

>> if you shut it off you are going to have no hot water or heat. be careful not to shut it off unless you smell gas. >> absolutely because once you do shut it off you should have the utility company come in and turn it back on. here is a mock up of a gas hear the on a house. where would we find the gas meter? >> it should be in your garage. everyone should be familiar with where the gas meter is. >> one of the tools is a wrench, a crescent wrench. >> yes. the crescent wrench is good and this is a perfect example of how to have it so you can loosen it up and use it when you need it. >> okay. let's go inside to

talk about fire safety. many of the issues here relate to fire, for example, we have a little smoke detector and i see you brought one here, a carbon monoxide smoke detector. >> this is a combination of smoke and carbon monoxide detector. they are required in single homes now and in apartment buildings. if gas appliance is not burning properly this will alert you before the fumes buildup and will affect you negatively. >> this is a battery powered? >> this is a battery powered and it has a 10 year battery life. a lot of times you may have one or the other. if you put in just a carbon monoxide

detector, it's important to have one of these too. every house should have a fire extinguisher, yes. >> one thing people expect to do when the power goes out after an earthquake about using candles. what would you recommend? >> if you have a battery operated candle would be better to use. this kind of a candle, you wouldn't want it in an area where it can cause a fire or aftershock that it doesn't rollover. you definitely want to have this in a non-combustible surface. >> now, here we have our stove. after a significant earthquake

we expect that we may have gas disrupted and so without gas in your home, how are you going to cook? >> well, i wouldn't recommend cooking inside of the house. you have to go outside and use a portable stove or something else. >> so it wouldn't be safe to use your fireplace to cook? >> not at first. you should check it by a professional first. >> outside should be a safe place to cook as long as you stay away from buildings and doors and windows. >> yes. that will be fine. >> here we have some alternative cooking areas. >> you can barbecue and if you

have a regular propane bark could barbecue. >> thank you for joining us. and thanks for this terrific space that you have in this exhibition space and thanks for helping san francisco stay >> he is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. brought this department together like never before. i am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the san francisco fire department, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome, jeanine nicholson. (applause).

>> i grew up total tomboy, athlete. i loved a good crisis, a good challenge. i grew up across the street from the fire station. my dad used to take me there to vote. i never saw any female firefighters because there weren't any in the 1970s. i didn't know i could be a fire fighter. when i moved to san francisco in 1990, some things opened up. i saw women doing things they hadn't been doing when i was growing up. one thing was firefighting. a woman recruited me at the gay-pride parade in 1991. it was a perfect fit. i liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and

coming up with different ways to solve a problem. in terms of coming in after another female chief, i don't think anybody says that about men. you are coming in after another man, chief, what is that like. i understand why it is asked. it is unusual to have a woman in this position. i think san francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. i worked my way up. i came in january of 1994. i built relationships over the

years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. working out of firehouses. the fire department is a family. we live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. when i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. i didn't want to talk to any of my civilian friends. they couldn't understand what i was going through. the firefighters knew, they understood. they had been there. it is a different relationship. we have to rely on one another. in terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of

us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. that hasn't been there for a while. part of the reason that i am getting along well with the field now is because i was there. i worked there. people know me and because i know what we need. i know what they need to be successful. >> i have known jeanine nicholson since we worked together at station 15. i have always held her in the highest regard. since she is the chief she has infused the department with optimism. she is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. i appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the fire department today. >> there is a retired captain

who started the cancer prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer. he started looking into it. in 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the san francisco fire department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. it was a higher rate than the general population. we were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didn't have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. the turnout gear was covered with suit. it was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and

helmet. the dirtier you were the harder you worked. that is a cancer causeser. it -- casser. it is not -- cancer causer. there islassic everywhere. we had to reduce our exposure. we washed our gear more often, we didn't take gear where we were eating or sleeping. we started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. i have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. it is not if or when. it is who is the next person. it is like a cancer sniper out there. who is going to get it next. one of the things i love about the fire department.

it is always a team effort. you are my family. i love the city and department and i love being of service. i vow to work hard -- to work hard to carry out the vision of the san francisco fire department and to move us forward in a positive way. if i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. you never know what door is going to open next. you really don't. [cheers and

>> candlestick park known also as the stick was an outdoor stadium for sports and entertainment. built between 1958 to 1960, it was located in the bayview hunters point where it was home to the san francisco giants and 49ers. the last event held was a concert in late 2014. it was demolished in 2015. mlb team the san francisco giants played at candlestick from 1960-1999. fans came to see players such a willie mays and barry bonds,

over 38 seasons in the open ballpark. an upper deck expansion was added in the 1970s. there are two world series played at the stick in 1962 and in 198 9. during the 1989 world series against the oakland as they were shook by an earthquake. candlestick's enclosure had minor damages from the quake but its design saved thousands of lives. nfl team the san francisco 49ers played at candlestick from feign 71-2013. it was home to five-time super bowl champion teams and hall of fame players by joe montana, jerry rice and steve jones. in 1982, the game-winning touchdown pass from joe montana to dwight clark was known as "the catch." leading the niners to their first super bowl. the 49ers hosted eight n.f.c.

championship games including the 2001 season that ended with a loss to the new york giants. in 201, the last event held at candlestick park was a concert by paul mccartney who played with the beatles in 1966, the stadium's first concert. demolition of the stick began in late 2014 and it was completed in september 2015. the giants had moved to pacific rail park in 2000 while the 49ers moved to santa clara in 2014. with structural claims and numerous name changes, many have passed through and will remember candlestick park as home to the legendary athletes and entertainment. these memorable moments will live on in a place called the stick. (♪♪♪)

>> everything is done in-house. i think it is done. i have always been passionate about gelato. every single slaver has its own recipe. we have our own -- we move on from there. so you have every time a unique experience because that slaver is the flavored we want to make. union street is unique because of the neighbors and the location itself. the people that live around here i love to see when the street is full of people. it is a little bit of italy that is happening around you can walk

around and enjoy shopping with gelato in your hand. this is the move we are happy to provide to the people. i always love union street because it's not like another commercial street where you have big chains. here you have the neighbors. there is a lot of stories and the neighborhoods are essential. people have -- they enjoy having their daily or weekly gelato. i love this street itself. >> we created a move of an area where we will be visiting. we want to make sure that the area has the gelato that you like. what we give back as a shop owner is creating an ambient lifestyle. if you do it in your area and if you like it, then you can do it

on the streets you like. >> thank you. thank you, brothers and sisters of the san francisco building construction trades council for leading the celebration by providing these incredible instructions, demonstrations with our citybuild students cycle 35, so thank you, trade students, for being here. [applause] >> again, we recognized earlier this morning, the unions that were here, right, because without them, citybuild would not be here. thank you, and we have district council 16, laborers local 261, plasterers, local 266. masons in the front, local 300.

engineers local 3. local engineers 377, and we have our sheet metal, local 104, danny. thank you all for being here and welcome to our 15-year celebration of citybuild academy. it's truly an honor for me to be your emcee today. it's truly great to be here today after the last year with all the zoom meetings. for me, it's really been an honor to standup here, right, with my mentors, all the past citybuild directors that are here, we have chris rodriguez, chris iglesias, pat mulligan, joshua arce, and of course myself.

without them mentoring me these last 15 years, i would not be here, but of course, thank you, mayor breed. [applause] >> thank you for leading our city during these tough times. you saved lives, and you're leading the way for economic recovery, and we're going to be building stronger together, and a special personal thanks to you for appointing me to this position. thank you, mayor breed. [applause] >> and we have our president of the board, shamann walton. [applause] >> now i have a story to share with you all. him and i used to run up and down these hills, knocking on doors, inviting people to citybuild. supervisor haney, thank you for being here. [applause] >> all right? and with deep, deep gratitude, please join me in welcoming the honorable mayor london breed.

>> the hon. london breed: thank you, everyone, and i can't tell you how much today fills me with so much pride. this program, in celebrating 15 years, has an extraordinary history, and in fact, we're joined today by former supervisor sophie maxwell, who in 2006, with gavin newsom, started citybuild because as a former electrician, now semi retired, i guess, sophie maxwell, as supervisor, saw the need for the people of the bayview-hunters point and people in various communities to have an opportunity to be a part of building this city. and a.b.u. -- yes, because if we don't work -- [inaudible] . >> the hon. london breed: a.b.u. and other community organizations saw that they were being left out of what was happening in san francisco. and to make that connection, to

make sure that people from these communities knew that it was possible for them to be a part of the trades, a part of building our city, citybuild was founded. and so i want to thank many of our folks here. we've already mentioned a number of folks that were instrumental, but really, i've got to give it up to gavin newsom and to sophie maxwell and to the building and construction trades and to a.b.u. for everything you did as partners to address this need. and you see this partnership blossoming. we went from 300 participants a year to increasing that, to now, with this new space, 600, doubling the number of citybuild participants that will come out of this program because we need you, we need

you. the president and the vice president and congress just passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. $1.2 trillion, building roads and bridges and airports and other infrastructure. we need to make sure that people who want to be a part of these trades have an opportunity and are ready, are ready for these projects, are ready to make that money, are ready to do the jobs that he -- that we need them to do, are ready to build our roads and our bridges in our country. we know how critical having a job is, what it means for people's lives and livelihood. union jobs are so valuable. they are the reason why my aunt and uncle was able to help me get through college. they're the reason why people are, of course, able to pay

their mortgage and take care of their kids and take care of their families. that's all of any of us want, a decent living wage to be able to take care of our families and our lives, and in the process not to leave anyone behind who wants this extraordinary opportunity. so that's what citybuild is about. and as we celebrate these 15 years, everyone who has played a valuable role in helping to make this program a success, and to then take it to the next level, all the construction companies, all the folks who are donating and participating and actively engaged in the building and instruction trades that are really opening up the apprenticeship opportunities to make sure that folks are learning and able to go out there and build those high-rises in san francisco, build these roads in san francisco, and do what is best for our city, and everyone

plays a role in that. and i want to just also say thank you so much to city college for partnering with us on this project, to swimmerton, and there's a couple of other companies here -- i think clark construction and others -- that have been helpful in participating and donating materials and supplies. all the building and construction trades, the carpenters, the electricians, the -- i just learned to cut glass over here with the folks over here, the plasterers. there's so much that goes into building, and everyone can play a role. and there are more women in this program now, which i think is great. women not only leading project managers, like my friend, lori, here, who are actually running these projects and putting that

finesse on fine of these projects. so thank you all so much. a day is an extraordinary day, a day to be proud of, mazzola, jr., but we need to make sure that we are including citybuild in the fabric of what we need to do to move our city forward. and finally, i've got to say, i usually don't make commitments on the spot, but one of the things that's important to me, when we're asking people to participate in these programs, where do we think they're going to get money from? there's a small, very modest stipend, but they're here from -- someone told me 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., but they're learning and working.

one of the things that we're learning that is so valuable is money is not a barrier to their success. that they don't drop out this program because they have to take another job that conflicts with the time for them to participate. and in having conversations with joshua arce, and in having a conversation with sheryl davis today, we are going to increase the stipend, to increase the stipend. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: because it is so important that money is not a barrier to success. i want everyone that finishes this program to complete it and to get employed. we started off with about 82% of those who completed citybuild who actually ended up in apprenticeship programs and employed. we're at 95%.

now it's time to get to 100. we've got work to do. we're going to get it down, and so we're really going to see this program go to the next level so we are celebrating success with our graduates and those who are doing more to help uplift the next generation for people who will take over for you, many of you who retire in the building and construction trades. you're not going to be here forever because i know if you're like me, my knees are getting bad, so it's time to prepare the next generation for these extraordinary opportunities, so thank you all so much for being here to celebrate citybuild. [applause] >> mayor, thank you for those inspiring remarks and providing the support for our citybuild academy students.

now, the next thing that i'm going to bring up is almost a story, and that story is based on the four pillars, the foundation of what makes citybuild a success, and this is partnership. so the first pillar is our community, right? the history of citybuild is rooted in the community. before citybuild was even created, a lot of the city organizations were running apprenticeship programs with the help of the building and trades council. i want to give them recognition. we have a. philip randolph institute, young community developers, charity social services, anders and anders, our bright line defense, a.b.u., and expanded partnership with j.b.r., and 5gs has been helping us this year to build units for

survivors of domestic violence. graduates of the past class helped us come and rebuild that. so from this community, right, and of course, our commitment from commissioner maxwell and former supervisor maxwell, citybuild was created, right? so now, with leaders like don marcos -- where is he? don, right? 50 years at mission [inaudible] hall, and who's going to be coming after me from the roots of great community is one of your leaders that fights every single day, fight for equity, not just bayview residents but all san francisco residents. president of the board of supervisors shamann walton. [applause] >> president walton: happy birthday, citybuild. the mayor and director nim

really said a whole bunch of points that i was going to make, but one of the points that is important to remember is all the things that make citybuild possible. if it wasn't for the c.b.o.s fighting in the community, if it wasn't for members of our neighborhood that fought consistently to make sure that folks who were isolated, disenfranchised, had an opportunity to be trained to gain resources that would enable them to take care of a family, we would not have this program called citybuild. so i want to thank all of those partners. ken nim named most of them. i want to thank all of our partners who have been on the frontlines for a bunch of years. whether we talk about ramon hernandez from local 261,

whether we talk about a lot of the folks that i see in this audience that are doing this work, this is why we're able to celebrate 15 years of partnership. but i want everybody to know and understand that citybuild is a citywide program, and we love and are excited with that. citybuild has its rooted here in district 10. i want to thank former supervisor maxwell who's now the president of the san francisco public utilities commission for her work and her vision in making this happen. 15 years of not just giving people a fish, but teaching them how to fish so they will not able to have a career, be able to have a long lasting opportunity to raise families in this beautiful city is important. it's a legacy that continues, so i just want to thank everyone that supported this work for a long time. the people in the community who

have been trained, who have these jobs, who now come up to us on the daily and say thank you for the partnerships and collaboration, who are now training folks and teaching folks on how to become a member of the trades and participating in community activism, this is what this is about, and this is what citybuild was built for. i want to thank director arce who played a pivotal role even prior to coming over to the director of the office of workforce development. i want to say that this is a day that we can all celebrate for mr. james richards. i want to thank him for all of his work for making sure that young people are connected to opportunities in our community. so for the next 15-plus years, we need to make sure we continue growing this program, make sure that everyone has an opportunity to get connected to these amazing union jobs because we have so much work in

this community, and the people born and bred in this community need to be able to take advantage of these projects. thank you for being here, and thank you, citybuild, for 15 years. [applause] >> thank you, president walton. also rooted in that community our director of human services, sheryl davis. [applause] >> also, without the support from our construction business community, they would not be getting the jobs, so i want to give out a special thanks to both plant navy brothers, cayhill, we have silverado. ecobay. we have patrick ryan right

there. hilti tools, who donated a lot of the tools that you see in the back, and a special thanks to panko for providing breakfast, and webcor that's going to be providing lunch at the end. so without their support, our students wouldn't be getting the job, so thank you. in these challenging times, we need someone who understands the business community and match it with the needs of our residents to build back stronger. our office of economic and workforce development director, kate sullivan. >> good morning, and thank you. the sun does shine in d-10. thank you to all the previous

folks who built this before me. i'm hardly four months into this job, so i can't take credit, but what i can tell you is this program will also continue to be this shining beacon that it has become here in our city. when i think about economic recovery, which is part of my charter in this role that i'm in, i think a lot now about how we build back not just better, not just stronger, but more diverse, more interesting, more equitable on every level, and this program has become a model in a city and frankly for cities across the country for how to do it differently, how to create a partnership that is city government, that is our community, that is our unions, and to create an ecosystem that provides a platform for everybody to get on the economic recovery bus.

whether you are a kid growing up in the fillmore, whether you are prison involved and looking for your next chance to build your life back, whether you are a woman, a rosy the riveter who wants to weld -- and i know plenty of them -- and anyone who wants the right and dignity to support their families with their head and their hands and their hearts, this is for them. before i came to this job that i so love, and thank you to my mayor for the privilege of doing this, i came out of manufacturing. i came out of s.f. made and started my career 20 years ago in electronics manufacturing. i know how to world, and i always thought that making and building are kindred spirits, and when we built the first

city's advanced manufacturing training program, s.f. trade, we modelled that after citybuild. it's here, your little sister, and hopefully, 15 years from now, that program will be able to standup here and show you all the people that we've put in manufacturing. so at the end of the day, it really is all about partnership. i want to thank all the people that came here to make this happen. i especially want to thank all of you who have been working out in the field during this pandemic, building our houses, repairing our bridges, working with our major institutions to build schools and create the community that we all have the privilege to live and work in. thank you for being essential workers. thank you for making sure we didn't ever fall behind on our housing production, and i look forward to being here for the next 15 years. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you, director. so we listed two pillars, right? we have community, we have the business, and the next we're going to be talking about is our labor foundation. giving a special recognition to bowman, scott, for donating the concrete. 15 years, it's rooted in that tradition of labor, hands on, really getting the people the skills that they need prepare them, right? as was the carpenters that help started the first academy, right? bringing in the instructors. we have bo, we have sergio that are standing in the back somewhere, right? they provide the curriculum to really get us started, right? we also have the laborers, the laborers training center, as you saw, providing the safety, making sure the people on the construction job site that are actually getting the work done,

that they have percentage safety. now with us today is our president of the san francisco building and trade council and the secretary business manager for local 38 plumbers, larry mazzola, jr. [applause] >> thank you, ken. the tough part being going toward the end of the agenda is that everybody takes what you were going to say and uses it. so i might repeat some things, but i think some of the things that i'm going to repeat are worth repeating. so good morning. i'm honored to be here on behalf of the san francisco building and trades construction council in our beautiful city. while i typically thank our esteemed leaders and guests, i want to thank the students,

alumni, and staff of citybuild. let's please give them a hand. [applause] >> you're going to hear from ray guzman of local 104, and he is a living testament to the success of the partnership between the academy and the union apprenticeships. it's no surprise to us that he is so successful. it is by design, and with every job that he is dispatched to, opportunity is available to the next generation. in fact, for every three journey men working, one apprentice will see work. we bring in many citybuild grads to have as many opportunities as possible, one of the best being stacey provist. we appreciate mayor breed's and president walton's support for the president biden and vice

president harris' infrastructure funding because it will get us more work and bring more members to our unions. we appreciate the contractors that make project labor agreements work for our communities. the trades stand for quality craftsmanship and pride, and we pride ourselves delivering the very best workforce to our industry. that allows us to demand the very best wages, retirement, and health care security to our members. we are stewards and guardians of our city's working class. as such, we know that putting skilled workers on projects that build our city means we can keep the pipeline of good jobs flowing. that pipeline starts with partnerships like citybuild. the commitment and adherence to

the multicore curriculum is key to the success and partnerships we celebrate today. this training academy prepares you for a lifelong journey of honing and demonstrating the finest work in your trait under some of the most challenging and often dangerous conditions. the path you embark on with your citybuild cohort is one filled with promise and opportunity. apply yourself, and you will learn from the very best in the field. be they an electrician, a welder, or a plumber, they will teach you all they have so that you can pass it on one day to the next generation. i want to thank everyone here today, and i also want to recognize the president of the san francisco labor council who's here today, mike casey. mike? [applause] >> lastly, i sit on the p.u.c.

joint administrative committee, and we are proud that ben poole is here, and we are proud to report that under the project labor agreement, we have the highest number of local residents on city project. so i want to congratulate the p.u.c., and i want to congratulate citybuild, and i look forward to another 15 years of success. thank you all. [applause] >> thank you, everyone. we have our last speaker, a student graduate from cycle one, but before i call him out, we want to have a quick shoutout to citybuild president, and a couple of our funders. i saw bob liddy come in. there you are, bob. with us today, our first graduate from cycle one,

reynado guzman. [applause] >> i'm not very good at this, so i wrote something, too. [applause] >> okay. good morning. my name is ronaldo guzman, and i'm a graduate of the very first citybuild academy class. i am a journeyman sheet metal worker and proud member of the sheet workers union local 104. [applause] i am a native san franciscan, and i graduated high school in 2002. i'm currently working for control air north at the ucsfrab project at san francisco general hospital. thank you, bull construction. ken, raise your hand, for bringing me here today to celebrate this milestone.

while it's been 15 years, an incredible journey, when i started at the county way back. when mayor newsom welcomed us to our first-class 20 years ago, i could not imagine what the sheet metal class could provide for me and my family. i'm talking about sheet metal, heating, air conditioning, and ventilating industry. i earn good middle class wages, along with insurance and pension so i can retire someday. it's because of citybuild that gave me the opportunity to start my career as a sheet metal apprentice and work my way up. i have pride knowing i helped build some of the biggest

construction projects in the last 15 years, such as the golden state warriors chase arena, 181 fremont street, and san francisco general hospital. so to all of my citybuild classmates, you will be rewarded, and whichever construction trade you choose will be the most gratifying work you will do. thank you guys. [applause] >> all right. thank you, rey. one last shoutout to the san francisco giants. thank you for being here and hosting, and we're about to wrap up. >> hey, wait up, ken. something came in this morning, ken. >> this just came in from the governor, the founder of citybuild, our mayor at the

time who created citybuild. in 2006, when i joined together with supervisor sophie maxwell to form this program, it was with the vision that a community labor partnership to refer and train san francisco residents for public and private construction projects would be a boon for economic development. good paying jobs and social yo economic mobility. 15 years later, that initial vision has far exceeded our expectations. thank you, governor. [applause] >> so we're about to wrap up and lunch is about to be ready. just want to give a special thanks to our citybuild staff, chris, bettina, richard, anita, and the person that made this all happen, our citybuild academy manager, chase torres. and our citybuild instructors:

bo, sergio, guillermo, and faculty members stephanie and kristin. thank you all for being here. lunch is provided in the back. thank you all. enjoy. >> i personally love the mega jobs. i think they're a lot of fun. i like being part of a build that is bigger than myself and outlast me and make a mark on a landscape or industry. ♪♪♪

we do a lot of the big sexy jobs, the stacked towers, transit center, a lot of the note worthy projects. i'm second generation construction. my dad was in it and for me it just felt right. i was about 16 when i first started drafting home plans for people and working my way through college. in college i became a project engineer on the job, replacing others who were there previously and took over for them. the transit center project is about a million square feet. the entire floor is for commuter buses to come in and drop off, there will be five and a half acre city park accessible to everyone. it has an amputheater and water

marsh that will filter it through to use it for landscaping. bay area council is big here in the area, and they have a gender equity group. i love going to the workshops. it's where i met jessica. >> we hit it off, we were both in the same field and the only two women in the same. >> through that friendship did we discover that our projects are interrelated. >> the projects provide the power from san jose to san francisco and end in the trans bay terminal where amanda was in charge of construction. >> without her project basically i have a fancy bus stop. she has headed up the women's network and i do, too. we have exchanged a lot of ideas on how to get groups to work

together. it's been a good partnership for us. >> women can play leadership role in this field. >> i tell him that the schedule is behind, his work is crappy. he starts dropping f-bombs and i say if you're going to talk to me like that, the meeting is over. so these are the challenges that we face over and over again. the reality, okay, but it is getting better i think. >> it has been great to bond with other women in the field. we lack diversity and so we have to support each other and change the culture a bit so more women see it as a great field that they can succeed in. >> what drew me in, i could use more of my mind than my body to get the work done. >> it's important for women to

network with each other, especially in construction. the percentage of women and men in construction is so different. it's hard to feel a part of something and you feel alone. >> it's fun to play a leadership role in an important project, this is important for the transportation of the entire peninsula. >> to have that person -- of women coming into construction, returning to construction from family leave and creating the network of women that can rely on each other. >> women are the main source of income in your household. show of hands. >> people are very charmed with the idea of the reverse role, that there's a dad at home instead of a mom. you won't have gender equity in the office until it's at home. >> whatever you do, be the best you can be. don't say i can't do it, you can

excel and do whatever you want. just put your mind into it. >> san francisco recreation and parks department offers classes for the whole family. rec and parks has a class for everyone. discover what is available now and get ready to get out and play. henri matisse. frida kahlo. andy warhol. discover the next great artist. get out and play and get inspired with toddler classes. experience art where making a

mess is part of the process. classes and the size the artistic process rather than the product. children have the freedom to explore materials at their own pace and in their own way. talks love art, especially when they died into the creative process -- dive into the creative process. at the end of the classes, they have cleaned and washup. of.com great way to get out and play. for more information, visit sfrecpark.org. that out and play and get into the groove. rec and parks offers dance

classes for seniors. first-time beginners or lifetime enthusiasts -- all are welcome. enjoy all types of music. latins also, country and western. it is a great way to exercise while having lots of fun. seniors learn basic moves and practice a variety of routines. improve your posture, balance, and flexibility. it is easy. get up on your feet and step to the beat. senior dance class is from sf rec and park. a great way to get out and play. >> for more information, is.

>> chair: this meeting will come to order. this is the september 22, 2021, budget and finance committee meeting. i'm matt haney. and i'm joined by committee members saf clerk, do you have any announcement? >> clerk: the minutes will reflect that committee members participated in this remote meeting through video conference to the same extent as if present. we invite public comment in the following ways. public comment will be available on each item on this agenda, in channel 26, 78, or 99.