actions. that's a perfect world. and in the reality world, i see there are two kinds of gifters, if i may use that term. there are those who are city residents who really want to show their appreciation to their public officials or want to show their support by, you know, by providing a private plant for earth day or, you know, some special cookies or what have you during the holidays. i think that we should find ways to allow that to continue because there is a bigger group of gifters that we are -- we need to focus on and those are

the professionals so to speak and those are the one that is commissioner bell has spoke of. those are the folks who are at least two steps ahead of whatever we do. they will find a way to go around whatever restriction that is we spend time to evaluate and oppose. so i think that we need to really find a balance to create a way to acknowledge that, you know, gifting should not be viewed as a quid pro quo. that's something that we definitely need to really look at and how do we deal with it. and i understand your dilemma and your unique situation. but i think for the public

because right now we're looking at the public's confidence level in our government. do we have a clean government. do we have a government that treats everybody the same. so if i were to see a commissioner occupying the seat watching a ballet performance, it may be easy for the folks to see, hey, you know, why are they there? you know, is it part of the perks that they have? and that sends a really -- is not a very good message and you mentioned about, you know, the commissioners really need to see the areas and they do, but do they really need to be there at the performance to see that i'm still not convinced that

they do and good for the other commissioners who have the box seats. maybe they could invite their colleagues not to create a quarrel situation, but maybe on their personal level, they can support each other because the bottom line here is the perception that government officials are getting, you know, something that public officials should not be getting. so that's a perception issue that i really struggle with because until we send a good message that when we talk about an ethical government, we practice it. so, you know, maybe on the

short-term, maybe you can explain it on your website that as a commissioner, these are the things that, you know, you get not the benefit, but that's part of your duty. i don't know. that's something that we need to really discuss so that people will know that as a board commissioner, these are your responsibilities, therefore you are required to do certain things, but it's notable that other arts museums, they do not give out free tickets to the commissioners. the arts museum and what have you. so the other things that i really want us to look at is i understand on the practical way many department employees do value holiday parties, birthday

parties, and special cautions and, you know, and it may be unfair for the staff to have to pay for it because, you know, there is an equity issue here. i wonder, mr. ford, have you looked at other best practices where i know that from the federal government, we have a crowd funding source that senior executives who get paid a lot more than the line staff, we are asked to put in to a city, but there's a firewall. nobody knows how much money we put in, who put in the money, but if the budget is for $10,000 somehow $10,000 comes up.

everybody has a great time, great party and that, commissioner bush, remind me, that met the federal ethics rules because no one knew who paid for what and no one would ask for whatever favors in the future and with the event of crowd source funding, i wonder if this is something that this commission may want to consider and recommend to different departments. that, yes, we understand that there needs to be these, you know, additional funds to support staff relationship building and what have you, but instead of nibble around the current gift rules, you know,

whether restricted forces. instead of nibbling around the edges, i'd like for us to make a bold statement that all gifts are prohibited. go to a you know, develop a crowd source site with enough

firewall built in. because you know whoever thought this out, there are folks out there who are already plotting how to go around it and we may be back in a year or so to look at ways to close those loopholes. so that's my frustration for the day before the giants game. so if we can entertain -- if there's no more comments. commissioner bell, i see your hand raised. >> commissioner: yep. and commissioner bush's hand was up before mine. >> chairman: okay. sorry, commissioner bush. i didn't see you. >> commissioner: i'm sorry. yes, so my hand is up for mr. calden and thank you,

mr. calden for your advocacy and direct points. so i have two questions for you in response to what you said. >> yes, sir. >> commissioner: so as i understand the letter, the people that you are representing, want an exemption from the gift rule as expressed by the commission because of the reasons that you stated, you want to be exempt from them. >> let's parse that out because there's gifts to city departments and then there's the concept of an individual person receiving a gift and they're two separate issues. so i'm going to address them both, if you will. the first is in regards to city departments which the report

addresses in section a.3. the only exception is if a gift is accepteded under the terms of the statutory gift fund. that's contradicted by article five of the charter because article five of the charter gives the governing board the ability to accept gifts of any amount without action of the board of supervisors. >> commissioner: you're saying you're an entity that that does not apply to. >> i'm saying -- yes. i'm offering that as a correction to the report. even if you did pass this -- even if this legislation did pass, the charter trumps the admin code and that section would not apply to the charitable department. >> commissioner: i love the word trump. we get smacked down on that one. >> well, with regard to gifts. let's talk about gifts to individuals. which i think is what you might be after. my intention and i do understand chair lee's point about perhaps the public perception of a commissioner or member of the board of supervisors say sitting in a

seat at the ballet. i do it differently. i think that if a person is funding these departments, they're otherwise charged with the oversight of them and they're not watching shows that that isn't your responsibility. i think it's within your responsibility for who has management oversight rules and responsibilities to not comment on things. i see it exactly as the opposing view and i think the people of san francisco would agree with me that, oh, you run a performing arts center, but you've never watched anything from it. so i think the public actually moves in the other direction. as far as the value of the -- or the number of seats and tickets used, it is correct. the vast majority of tickets are the charitable trust departments distributed through the war memorial because you need to sit in a seat. the fine arts museum, they have much lower ticket prices. if you are a person, so a ticket price to the dejeong is

$200. you can have free admission for two members and two guests all year and it's fully tax deductible. so if you're a person who itemizes your taxes, that's free. so the cost differential is much greater and i didn't create the cost differential. the board of supervisors voted to take an overthe role of u.c. regions and the responsibilities to the war memorial in 1928. so the trust dates back to 1921. and part of running it is coming down to see things in it and part of doing that is receiving a seat to sit in. so my argument actually is that those tickets aren't gifts and i can go back to what mr. ford said. the ticket itself is just a credential to access the space during the public use period because the public use periods for the museums and the performing arts center and this

is completely unique to us. but the public use period does require ticket for access. >> commissioner: and i appreciate that because i understand how you are framing it and reasonable people can frame things totally differently and to their advantage. so i get that. my question then to you is then where is -- if what we were -- if we were to agree with what you said, where's the oversight to make sure there's not abuse to what you claim? because you can claim a wonderful purpose. yes, i'm on the board of whatever, i should see a perm answer to see if the volunteers even know where the rows are and the seats are and if people are in their seats or on their cellphones. i could see that i want to observe that. but what is the mechanism you're proposing for us or -- i'm sorry -- to inform us on

how we make sure that isn't abuse? what's the oversight? >> the form 802s accomplish that. the whole reason the war memorial's included ntsz report and that we're having this conversation is because of the consistency and the regularity with which we file our form 802s. again, 80 out of 140 were filed out of the war memorial alone. the reason that mr. ford and canning were able to create this report is that all of this information is readily available on our website. if you want them on the ethics commission website. if you want a centralized website, that's fine with me. so i think the reporting function itself is what accomplishes that and if the ethics commission wants to sit down and talk about how we do it and maybe give us coaching. i'm all for learning. [please stand by]

>> we have to expect our city officials to follow all applicable laws. if the tickets are in fact necessary for the department to

carry out its functions it's hard to say how that would be an affront to tax payers. it is important to push back on the concept that the city can obtain for free, it should do that, rather than pay for it. we talked about that for the free males. for a business lunch with a contactor, it's okay to pay for the free lunch. rather than save on the restricted lunch. especially on save appreciation.

they recommend the city do more to pay for staff appreciation for that very within. it's much better that we as a city value that and consider it necessary. rather than rely on restricted sources to pay for it. let's end that practice. i wanted to provide some of those clarifications. >> thank you for the clarification. if there are no more questions. let's go to public comment -- >> can i ask a question here. i can't cite the specific part of the law, there's a provision that says you're in frequent

contact with somebody on the seam revenue source there's prohibitions that are triggered. did you know what those are? >> i think you're talking about the disclosure on the record bp people and personal relationships. >> do you have that. >> this is on the docket for phase three. the requirement is that if it's a public official that's on a public body, they disclose it on

the record. if it's not someone on a public record, it's not really clear. they can keep a memo or something upon file. it's not blg centralized. that's something that we're going to look ats on phase three gentleman i look at some of the spur members. that's half the department heads. >> if the city attorney is available, i would call commissioners are on the call,

they are required during open session, they have a personal relationship with even to recuse themselves from the vote. they need to make that point clear at the open public meeting, a. i correct on that bun, city attorney? >> i'm sorry. i'm not sure i caught all of the question. >> whether there's a new record to declare personal relationships, any understanding is commissioner rz required to

declare when an item comes up even if they re not required to reer cues themself, they are required to declare they either know this person casually or whatever. >> yeah. thank you for the clarification. >> yes. commissioners have that dislez disclosure requirement. in terms of having that as a mere of public record. it's at a public meeting and immediates to be captured in the moting mens.

staff mop also v a dlez you're>? general i think that's not a well understood rule among city p officials. >> okay thank you. mr. moderator. let's go to public comment to see if there's any. >> mads am chair, we are checking to see if there are callers on queue. if have you just joined us ware

currently on item nine. please press star three to add your public comment. pp. >> ip think i might have stiped a step. since this agenda item requires action shall we entertain a motion to approve before we go to public comment. >> i move that.

>> he'll second. if mr. ford could explain briefly what the next steps would be, that would help the context of this motion p. motion.gentleman the vote actua. >> rules regarding dpifts to individuals fsm you take action today for gifts given to city departments. that will allow us to begin drafting ordinance language. we'll put together recommendations into those two reports into a single ordinance.

you can you look at it and expectation about it f. the the commission approves by a in ourr out of five vote. you would you have the option to place that on the ballot as a ballot measure. >> clarification on the next election, is it in march or june of next year -- i believe it's

in june of next engineer. p if my recollection is correct it's three months out. >> okay. your motion and second stays the same. we can proceed. now let's proceed to public comment, please. >> callers please wait until the system indicates you are unmuted. press star three to be added to the comment queue. you have three minutes to add

your public comment. you'll hear a bell go off with thirty seconds remaining. first caller in the queue. >> members of the ethics commission. i'm the clerk of the board pursuant to charter section 21118 we realize the role is a solid partner to you and the work you do. in put sue ant to record keeping and immediate inspection p it yr report does mention our office in receiving and compiling

records for disclosure. we envision dollars a new legislative system that comprehensively made the access to reports to be included more seamless. you are dep issued an rfp which open and transparent actions.

we're work withing the city attorney's office to resolve the issues. we've dpun to refresh the scop top add on what we originally envisioned which would be a one stop shop for all stake holders. it would allow for a dep themselfselfs. it with provide a time stamp with it. we want to help with

accountability and have a strong instrument of integrity that is helpful to you. we can keep puz updated on our progress. jol tuz. i want to make sure your comments will be included in our minutes fors this meeting p. .>> i've been listening for the longest time. i find this whole subject very convoluted.

we have 35,000 employees. we have no way of knowing what is being done in each department. what are the obligations. at the end of thary there's checking done as there is in a federal government. with the gifts. you're going all over pleas. it didn't start with a political system. as citizens we good to the sunshine task farce and get

nothing. they kick can done the stroat. the city attorney has a position -- why is it a citizen who is a whistle blower, why isn't the citizen compensated. we had a time we had 25,000 employees. we now have 35 thoi employee ses. what club do you all have pps other than gifts go into this

category. how can you help the tax payer. the tax payer is pissed off because you have all these expediters. you never mention them. you have all the powrl brekers.. you have the machine. you have nancy pelosi. very corrupt. >> can you caller. next caller on the line. >> commissioner, thank you so much p. i'm looking at you and

hearing wha you said. we'll ten with our deterrence and resources of corruption and money. you're paying a lot of attention to a 30,000-dollar roll esm watch. and tickets. you're missing the biggest points of all. the billions in contracts used as a way to get the money as a way for gifts. the community benefits exam. the puc public funds.

the players are the same. cmd is the biggest exam in the city of san francisco. duane joanses p. the memtion p recommendation put forward is very short p. they essential phet a legal of cease and desist.

if you want to stop it, go after the offenderred. the contractors who have made millions, billions presm. billions. a public member staff made it public that there are contract it's that are by pex invite only. you need to be invited.

>> it looks like we might have one more person. >> if i can get sixty second extension please. >> if you provide the a detional amount of time to one commenter

have you to allow the same opportunity to all callers. joom pp maybe at a later time. >> we have a motion and second to approve guest gruels agenda item number nine. roll call, please. >> a motion as been made and seconded. i'll now call the roll. (roll call).

we have a couple more agenda items that will need some time. let's see if we can finish the tw items because i know she sz interested in.

nsm. >> i am available to speak. this item enforce pment staff prepared at the name of the commission. at a subsequent meeting the kinds of things that might be within the realm of staff discuss when presenting a proposed settlement before the commission. i think have staff id fie the kinds of considerations the approach we've taken so far. that request arose around the

august agenda in terms of sharing certain cosines of information. what we have endeavored to do in this item is provaid back growpped for the commission and public about the kinds of values that have informed our process so far but also the risks at steak in now we determine legal

discussions.>> i remember wantis in the policy aspect. what was the proposal if you can

give a grieving on that. that would be helpful. jool when staff negative oash yeats ben phets that will are in what penalties are negotiated.ar are the severity of the violation, the timing of the violation. whether a pattern of nine compliance exists, whether the respond ant attempted to conceal.

in 'prior meeting there wagz a seven factor and blp they can wy can pay the money. another consideration is to look at other cases that this commission has resolved or similar administrative agencies might have resolved to try to get a sense for if we can put it this way wharks is the cost, what is the prays tag on this kind of violation. what we're attempting to do

there is to be skin and fair and ensure where wep land on a scale of severity and cost with similar matter both parties are thinking about what additional costs may arise fingerprint thet reach settlement. those are but necessity

necessarily concrease costs. >> is the time really to raise them now. >> it happens whz the penalty can be. they set five thousand ldz as the maximum for each count. it's possible that five thowp dollars doesn't have the punitive effect that it did years ago. we enjoy some discretion sprrng

we can collapse at a single count or make mull m kowns. you can assess penalties ors man that's was received. respond ands have a greater interest in pulling prior

settlements from the prior shelves. look, this kind of violation ohm cost two thousand dollars and should still only cost two thowp dollars. we hope to incrows penalties offer time thases just due to you cost of living. >> if you like to make public comment, please do so now.

>> : one of the issues that i discussed with staff was a procedure that's used at the police commission. that is the police commission itonly determines what angst itt will take first determining what fact dollars are. i think it's a idea dispieding decidewilling what the issues ad

deciding the benality. it's a bifurcation approach. i think that our rules should consider -- i know that our law and our charter allows the dmilings r commission to set puch hearing office everies. wouldn't require anything new p. i thought i would put that forward as it what a hearing maight be. hear mightbe. >> when i was on the police

commission, yes, we did have commissioners rotate p as commissioners on cases brought by the brief of police. those are open hearings. they are treated as a regular hearing. they had recorders, and were open top the public. if we go down this route to ask

one member of the commission to act as hearing officer we would need to treat this as far as i understand. a matter of public atability, a public meeting. >> i have no problem with that. it creates a little bit of space between a fuel commission and a single commissioner conducting a hearing. >> p i just had a couple of brief thoughts. i know we're press for time. we're not talking about in main full blown hearing of the merits

merits. i do recognize that staff's memo does raise a lot of practical considerations that you should mull over. what we did for those, i didn't any any questions today were inappropriate or raised any proacial legal risks. right now it seems like the current practice is acceptable.

restroom. >> my memory comes frz a siem when the commissions executive director deferred to the ftbc. he with just going to let it dee. that became so obnoxious that they moved forward and also accepted the reservation of the executive descrector. it was a very fraught moment i disoir to have it this issue

elevated beyond the executive director. i think that's a good thing. i'm just thinking that the emphasis on parody is all the people who are making an decision there's a defense shouldn't also make what the penalty is. that's the distinction joop you're right. thp commission as well can re sort to the use of a hearing officer. if i understand the regs correctly only as a hearing on the mereets is pretty enfroak

infrequent. i think commissioner bush, if you wanted to make use of that revision, i don't anyone here would oppose it. he i think it's a due pros pes consideration. if the commission is performing multiple roles.

there's an erosion in the commission's fairness or a perception -- >> we had cases in the last year that went back as far as 2012. the longevity of it would be the driver's license ar figure involved. -- that's my thought.i throw y

colleagues. >> okay. thank you commissioner bush. joom thank you p. i have a question for deputy city toarp. cityattorney. whm would it be appropriate it

it it it go into a closed session i understand that the confidentiality of the investigation is very important but then i think as whez rapled billion with i'm curious if and

to what extent a close session koz help solve some of these issues. >> there's a strong presumption that all meetings of a public body such as this one meet in publish session. unless we just foi it nm the exception of 'brown act. >> are we talking about violations other than campaign violations. >> i think we're talk you can

talking aboutall violations. >> if i could propose settlements in closed session. that was a reform that was adopted in 2028. there may have been a time when commission considered settlements in closed session. my understanding is when we under tock this nps p regulations p. the possible use

of closed session even if the regulations provided for it, the use of closed session would enable the commission to address that particular practical consideration that you're veering into confidence methods or fakes related to but would not resolve the due perfects he is concerns or other practice cat consideration about wanting it make sure that bhrp many whz

they go into p-n settlements in good faith. they will not make disclosures in settlement threz yeurs. testimony meam meam be unavailable but trigger shflt .>> i want to thank the staff in writing out this memo. the guard rails which we could

talk about, deputy city attorney commented in terms of our kneeing today. i really appreciate this. i didn't know all of that about the closed session. can we go into what i know as executive session for things. to have the ability to have dleb deliberations. i was just tray to go get into some of the deliberation verse sus that was a gz back and forth

an vaw of equity. i was in search of some form pf dleb raition that stays within guard real. he would hoaps there's peps we had a lot to chew on today.ie

discussion. it's clear that within our ming structure we can get some meeting structure. i'm always speaking structure. .>> it's one thing to read about

the rationale behind things -- i think it's one thing to read about the rationale and the process of going through the deliberation and decision making process. i wonder if i can propose if this is possible for the commissioners, no more than two, to sit in in one of these sessions with the staff so we can really expary yens the back and forth and negotiations. in addition to understanding the

dase is of this moa prodpram bip real will he observe. this maip help understand this stream line better joovment my strong view is that would not be a good a process. we would be happy to sit down

with any commissioner at anytime and go over what are the processes while still proinspecting that due process that needs to be around any enforszment matter. we would be more than happy to facilitate the prodpram. we wap to snreamplez thastles back a lng beaz.

also p process. joom thank you very much forlet suggestion. since this does not require any action from the commission. let's open up for public comments. jap for those already on hold, please continue to wait. ware currently on the presentation of taf property and pros he is and orders of public

process. sps pros.

>> let's move to agenda eye ement.

>> it focuses on internal

programs and policies and boards and commissions. it has several components. retention, discipline, professional development, a culture of infusion, phase two from the city's framework moving to a broader prospective. what you've seen is skin with phase one work and what is happening in the city. how we can build and strengthen how we do our work. create as much diversity and

equity in our work as we can given where we are with our oal priorities this year. internally we've been talking about in taking baby steps a rong this journey thsm is a rorlt that engages staff sloardship we have been working closely with the department of human resources groups and doing out reach to reach non traditional sources of applicants to our positions. it's very much focused in hiring

an recruitment. two specific action items that are identified and reported on in our august report or framework. that is really to embed a fy22 he pep p. we've been rely on heavily on dhr at this poin but know that's not where the work stops. what we're hoping to do with the department of human resources sup sort because we're a small organization, fostering healthy

environments. we've looked at surveys. where we may need to build and want to build in this area. as we think about our ongg hiring. dreking with prlder community kn vapes and roach noorm placers anld a pipe lienl p. frm parking lot si, education and out reach. pipeline for future hires. perhaps we as an ethics

community has not looked at in the past. that's something that we need to talk about, when we reach out in the campaign season, we want these issues not just to be words on paper but really think creativity that are effect ef pf .i'll pause there and see if you have any particular questions for us at this point.

>> thank you. pp i am focused on your power point for inclusion and blanging. and belonging. this is the the city's template and you are filling that out. congratulations on that. i think you want to have a conversation with the staff on what inclusion an plonging means for your staff in terms of, they are not pre vieding mental

health serch sesh he ises. it is 'a very own equal roam and howp it is structured to meet that t. you meeght want to be aware of other thing going on in the city. can i make a connection between ethics and some of the cultural perceptions in the city. for example, there is currently going on commissions that have plans about reparations. i think in terms of an external sense of what's going absurd

that these other departments an dmitions are specifically toe did a deeing p with these eesh eus. are they tolely aware of whaf you're doing. if you fill out this template, as director, i would keep asking myself an the staff the so what

question. p what's the tangible that it looks like. before we did this, our office looks leak this. here is what we expect to be a tarngible rul of it. tangibles of it. >> information to customers in six or seven languages or

dialects. pg and e offers it in 17 different languages and die dialects. san francisco's ethics committee has it in one. i wander if we're doing a good enough job in our public facing work to people whop spoke who speak russianor currently dr

situation. i would recommend as part of our equity we plan in the next 12 months to do a teaching or awe community meeting that's targeted to individual language pfs about whraz available a ej ethics is they can make use of what we dough and more accurately participate in our ploa dprpls. we know from voter roles.

fesms. >> thank you. he'd like to associate myself with comens from beth commissioner bell and commissioner bush. billing on the comments for forsing feelings of staff an inclusion and belonging.

not feel exposed is inkred bri valuable. kre a base line where the organization is today and understand the areas where there's room for improvement pause people's perceptions can widely and what we may understand and what's happening mee be juf ten of the he is perg. obtain really useful insights to

dpied efforts going forward. secondly in the number one areas. in the equity plan was with regard there was a note eation thatlet. it's great that the more diverse applicants are applying, are we seeing increased auto increaseds

across all areas. if we don't see them, can can't hire them. what happens as you good through the funnel. second review and final offer. can you see overteam wand 'are of specificity.

>> that is information thag we e asked for over in human resources. as we write job disremember descriptions what are we seeing from stage to steaj. that would be very fof active for us. we haven't awldz got it op our radar. it's frp understand p. he's thip think the answer that we all addly know, we have not. we have not done the job that we should with you the resources we had had, we have not. i'm happy to answer any

questions you might have. based on your experiences and organizations to make sure we're on right track will. >> i appreciate the spirits of your comments right now is whether dhr is the right place to go to for experience an teans as po posed it go to a

non-profit. our reputation has been somewhat tarnished. i would subject at least pex p looking at other options. request i want tp echo pep want to echo what mycommissione. can really change the linguistic cultural diversity within office. i think i asked this before,

when we tbawk ling wifltic needs of city. it's dprail th linguistic needs. you know as well as any of us there's no one size fits all. every applicant's back grund an experience is different. i hope in addition to qup tative

elements, pi look at the qualitative and awn equal background that they can bring to this commission. that's the way it principling true racial eqwight to th dep. he twn echo when uz look a the new hires. look at what you are deficient in. that's the best dhans is when you have these new hires. i don't know if you want any action from commission. i think juf a entrepreneuration to follow pum up with you.

>> we're happy to provide an ongoing update and after our process is completing for further progress on the plan. we'll make sure to give you an update after our hiring process from any insights we have on that. >> the last i checked the top three language spoken by san francisco residents are chinese, spanish and vietnamese. keep that in mind when you interview prospective applicants. >> commissioner lee, we are getting up to 2:30 p.m. pi will

i willhave to drop off. i'm hoping i can come back after 15 minutes. >> i have a feeling we'll be seeing you again. >> we have come to the public comment for item eleven. you'll have three minute it provide public comment. you'll hear a bell go off when you have thirty seconds remaining. first caller, your three minutes starts now.

>> sixty six percent of the ldes in san francisco do not hold a state license as required. the city projects that you're dealing with and the city is paying for and the residents are paying for are being inflated in prices, not done according to the plan specifications. i'll give you one example. a san francisco based organization. they compared the sub way at three point four billion dollar per mile.

compared to london which is a compatible city in size in size at 49,000 per mile. what happened to the billions. what happens is all the lbd's, all the cronies of willy broan that ended up being years and contractors are licensed. one more example -- >> i'm sorry caller. your time has expired. >> it looks like the only other

caller is also mr. hawks. i think we can move on. >> public comment is closed for this item. let's move onto item 12. discussion and possible action and resolution on continuation of remote it commission meetings. >> thank you. city attorney is with us as well. should you have any questions about the provision or background. as you know, the circumstances around covid and public meetings and reopening continues to evolve regarding public

meetings, bodies to continue to meet remotely but a requirement that every third days stating a need for remote meeting. we attached the city attorney's advice and the resolutions adopt. we have not yet heard any definitive word about moving into city hall. as soon as we hear about that, we'll share that with you an the public. we have to come into compliance with the resolution i've attach today this memo. with that i'll pause.

if there are any additional comments she would like to make. >> i do not have anything to add. the director covered everything we've advised about this action needed today. >> i would lake to echo a comment that came from a member of the public a while ago that we at least remain with the capacity of being able to call

in. i'm less handicapped than some. i understand there are people who work during the day. we tried to do this many years back, at that time, the city didn't have the capacity to put news a room for the city to have access to put us in. i do encourage we utilize the capacity. >> thank you chair lee, i was going to make same comment. under score the moment that we're living through right now, i think it's important for city

government and the ethics commission to be responsive to the people and residents of san francisco whom we serve. there's been a reckoning that's happening in the work force with the rise of zoom and remote meetings. it would be very inequitable to take that away after the emergency of the pandemic has subsided and to require people to come in person because it's inconvenient for scheduling. access, i think is really critical for the public. it's important that we do all we can. .director pellum as you learn

more for the future of a hide a hybridmeeting. >> he would like to apologize. the rez lawtion we prepared fsm resolution -- if that'sapprovo

include the ethic's commissions title where that exists. >> i will need a motion and second to approve this resolution. >> motion. >> just to clarify the doctmentt that's available has ethic's commission. >> so moved. gentleman moved by commissioner bell. >> seconded by commissioner bush. >> let's open it up for public comment. i'm seeing no callers.>> just te

the confusion lies. the proposed ordinance is attached to the same document. the actual resolution is on page two, three, and four of the

attachment that is on the website on ethics commission website. >> a motion was made and seconded. >> (roll call) it is approved unanimously. >> we are on item number 13.

the director's report. >> thank you. i will just highlight for you the bottom. line that i'm mostexcited about. we do have some new staff that i'll be introducing you to. jeff has been with us for four years. as awf all experienced diring his name. it's b challenging times. he has seen us grow to a much

larger time than has been seen in the commissions history. i think it's really important to acknowledge the important work that jeff has been doing. we are going to miss him. is he a compassionate unflabbable. wep appreciate his mind and compassion for doing a lot of work and leading us to a frem am

tremendous new level. retired. she is off enjoying her new chapter. the work she did in the finance area is something we'll be absorbing and looking fresh at despite her retire m. ron old whrop was not able to b. here is the really other good news. we have two other new hires.

pms they are both joining us as senior investigators. their backgrounds are very impressive. we have a lo changes going on in the enforcement division. bringing on a new team and wish the old team the best. i'll pause there and turn it back to you. >> thank you. my colleagues, thank you for the great years of seshing this cometion. wish them gdz speed and

adconvenient you'res ahead. the new staff will add the enjez to keep this work forward. p. >> i just want to add my thanks to jeff in in particular. and ron. >> it's been short but it's been sweet. i want to thank jeff for doing orientation, answering questions that vi, spenning time with me as he goods off to his law firm.

i juf twoon thank him for what he did for me in a shore per of of time. all bef and thank you so much p. joom p publish comens p. nocallers in the queue.

public comment is closed. i would like to ask my commissioners if we can take on agenda item 15 first because she mentioned she might be able to join users in a couple of minutes. i definitely want her participation on agenda item 14 which is possible action meetings. >> don't we go onto agenda item 15 which is additional opportunity for public comment for matters appearing or not appearing on agenda. >> we're not checking to see if there are callers in the queue.

please continue to wait until the system lets you know you are unmuted. for matters appearing or mot not appearing to the agenda. yule have three minutes to provide your public comment. you'll hear a bell go off when you hear thirty seconds remaning. joom nowp we're on agenda eye emmy number 14. pp possible items for future meetings. i know we discussed the whistle

blower program. gentleman.>> i would say the whe blowers program. it seams like we can lack at both of them a within tame an make recommendations in the or how it's being implemented. >> okay. anything else. >> public comment, please. >> sure. do we need to formerly make a motion first? >> : i don't think we need to.

>> cool. wheel check to see if there are callers in. >> for those on toamed please continue toooooooooooooooooooooo

>> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses, and challenges residents to do their shopping within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services in our neighborhood, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i am the owner of this restaurant. we have been here in north beach over 100 years. [speaking foreign language] [♪♪♪] [speaking foreign language]

[♪♪♪] [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language]

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>> it's great to see everyone kind of get together and prove, that you know, building our culture is something that can be reckoned with. >> i am desi, chair of economic development for soma filipinos. so that -- [ inaudible ] know that soma filipino exists, and it's also our economic

platform, so we can start to build filipino businesses so we can start to build the cultural district. >> i studied the bok chase choy heritage, and i discovered this awesome bok choy. working at i-market is amazing. you've got all these amazing people coming out here to share one culture. >> when i heard that there was a market with, like, a lot of filipino food, it was like oh, wow, that's the closest thing i've got to home, so, like, i'm going to try everything.

>> fried rice, and wings, and three different cliefz sliders. i haven't tried the adobe yet, but just smelling it yet brings back home and a ton of memories. >> the binca is made out of different ingredients, including cheese. but here, we put a twist on it. why not have nutella, rocky road, we have blue berry. we're not just limiting it to just the classic with salted egg and cheese. >> we try to cook food that you don't normally find from

filipino food vendors, like the lichon, for example. it's something that it took years to come up with, to perfect, to get the skin just right, the flavor, and it's one of our most popular dishes, and people love it. this, it's kind of me trying to chase a dream that i had for a long time. when i got tired of the corporate world, i decided that i wanted to give it a try and see if people would actually like our food. i think it's a wonderful opportunity for the filipino culture to shine. everybody keeps saying filipino food is the next big thing. i think it's already big, and to have all of us here together, it's just -- it just blows my mind sometimes that there's so many of us bringing -- bringing filipino food to the city finally.

>> i'm alex, the owner of the lumpia company. the food that i create is basically the filipino-american experience. i wasn't a chef to start with, but i literally love lumpia, but my food is my favorite foods i like to eat, put into my favorite filipino foods, put together. it's not based off of recipes i learned from my mom. maybe i learned the rolling technique from my mom, but the different things that i put in are just the different things that i like, and i like to think that i have good taste. well, the very first lumpia that i came out with that really build the lumpia -- it wasn't the poerk and shrimp shanghai, but my favorite thing after partying is that bakon

cheese burger lumpia. there was a time in our generation where we didn't have our own place, our own feed to eat. before, i used to promote filipino gatherings to share the love. now, i'm taking the most exciting filipino appetizer and sharing it with other filipinos. >> it can happen in the san francisco mint, it can happen in a park, it can happen in a street park, it can happen in a tech campus. it's basically where we bring the hardware, the culture, the

operating system. >> so right now, i'm eating something that brings me back to every filipino party from my childhood. it's really cool to be part of the community and reconnect with the neighborhood. >> one of our largest challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve.

>> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event. undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one

roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san franciscans to see is the dynamics of the filipino-american culture. i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to discover, i want them to rediscover the magic of what diversity and empathy can create. when you're positive and committed to using that energy,

good morning. and welcome to the country club. and i really want to first of all thank billy and the country club and the whole team for hosting us here today. for those who don't know, the country club is it one of the core community pillars in the castro for many people seeking recovery can have support. and the castro. so thank you castro country club for all you do. i'm scott weaner. and i have the opportunity of

representing the california state senate. we're here to talk about what we're doing at the state and local level to address it and i'm honored to be join by our mayor, mayor breed and supervisor mandelman, by our director of public health and my amazing community leaders who you'll hear from today. so we have been working all year on providing more state support for san francisco's work addressing our meth crisis which is a significant crisis in the city. we know in 2019, a majority of overdose deaths were meth related. that most admissions to our psych emergency room are meth related. we also know we have big problems with fentanyl and heroin. meth is a huge contributor to those overdose deaths in san francisco.

we also know that meth leads to significant behavioral health challenges on our streets with people creating unsafe conditions for themselves and for other people and we need to get people to get healthy and to recovery. so right now, i authored senate bill 110 which is sitting on governor newsome's desk, which will explicitly legalize something called contingency management which is perhaps or one of the most effective tools for helping people addicted to meth. for people to get sober and stay sober. we know that meth does not have a pharmaceutical treatment to help people get into recovery, like, for example, opioids, there's medication that you can take.

that doesn't exit for meth yet. we hope it will one day. and contingency management is a proven tool that the san francisco aids foundation have been using for a decade. that the veteran and that has proven results in helping people use less or stop using entirely and to get into recovery and stay there and be healthy. so we're calling on the governor to sign sb110 to allow san francisco and other cities in california to take this approach which the biden administration has embraced. so this is something that we really need to move forward here in california and in san francisco. in addition this year in the state budget, i was able to obtain $4.2 million so san francisco can open up an additional meth sobering center. san francisco is moving forward with these sobering centers so that people who are using meth

have a place to go to come down, to be in a safe space, to get connected to resources and we hope eventually to go into recovery. so i want to thank our senate leadership and everyone and our budget committee who allowed us to obtain this funding for meth sobering center in san francisco. we know that people of san francisco are incredibly frustrated with the situation with overdoses and people dying. we had a record number of overdose deaths last year. it's heart breaking for this incredibly compassionate city. it is a public health crisis. it is not a criminal problem. this is not about arresting people and cycling people through the system. this is -- this needs to move away from the overwhelming of our emergency rooms when we have other tools that can help people without flooding our emergency rooms. and that's what these

strategies are about. so, again, thank you. and now i'd like to bring up mayor breed who has been and is a true leader on these issues with a lot of different innovative approaches here in san francisco. mayor breed. >> thank you. first of all, i want to just say thank you to senator weaner for his leadership in sacramento on all things that are important to address in san francisco and in particular addiction we know is a very challenging thing. he has been leading the fight on safe consumption sites. he has been leading the fight on resources to address the challenges that we face with getting this meth sobering center open and i really want to thank and appreciate his work, his ability to deliver $4.2 million to help support this facility is going to be absolutely incredible and we

will be opening that center in the soma neighborhood in november. we have to think about diverse number of solutions and it's not one size fits all. i have had as some of you may know family members who struggle with addiction and the last thing that you want to see is someone who you love who is strung out on drugs, out on the streets, or worse, someone that you love die from a drug overdose. we can't just make it disappear because we don't want to see it. these are people. these are people with families. these are people who folks love and care about who have challenges just like many of us have challenges in life and so this is really important to me and very personal because, you know, what we see happening on our streets because of the challenges with addiction is

something that we can help to do something about and part of what we want to do is we want to save lives. over 95,000 people in this country died as a result of drug overdoses this past year and we want to make sure because we saw record breaking numbers of overdose deaths in san francisco and we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to prevent that. that's why we're here today. we know that we have to think about a diverse number of solutions and how sb110 is really i think a very innovative way, again, one that senator weaner already talked about as being implemented by the aids foundation here in san francisco and others because we have to make sure that we provide as many resources as many incentives as possible to get people on the right path.

and not to mention here in san francisco as we all know, we see, you know, a lot of the addiction play itself out on our streets and so many people see and then they think, we don't want this happening on our streets. well, we don't want it happening on our streets. we have to make sure we have places like the castro country club. we have to make sure that we continue to support health right 360 and their incredible work. we have to make sure that people have alternatives. this, you know, crisis of addiction with fentanyl, with, you know, meth, with heroin, and all of these other drugs that, you know, are getting into the hands of folks all over the streets, it's a struggle. it's a challenge and it's one that we're prepared to meet, but we have to make sure that we have the places, the resources, the capacity so that

when someone says "i need help, we're able to be there." when they're at this meth sobering center, they're not just sitting there by themselves. they'll be people there to provide alternatives and to try and help them get back on their feet. we want to make sure that every solution possible exists in the city and county of san francisco so that as soon as someone puts their hands up and says i need help, we are right there, we're ready to get them into any treatment that makes the most sense and that's going to lead to success for them and their life. so i want to thank you all so much for being here again. thank you so much, senator weaner for your leadership and work on all of these matters. it is great to have a partner who understands and values the need to do this work and he has truly been an amazing leader and an inspiration. so thank you so much, senator

weaner. >> thank you, mayor breed. we'll now hear from our san francisco director of public health grant colfax followed by my successor on the board of supervisors, supervisor rafael mandelman. >> good morning everybody. it's impressive to have the leadership of so many here. your work to address our city's overdose crisis and meth crisis is saving lives and, again, placing san francisco at the forefront of compassionate and effective care. thank you for hosting us today and your stewardship of the castro country club. for decades, this has been a place for where people can come on their journey in recovery. so key to the community. and thank you for the leadership at hr360, a

tremendous partner as we address ongoing issues in the city and for your focus on helping us develop the drug sobering center coming this winter. and, finally, thank you tammy martin for your advocacy in sacramento on these key issues that are so important to the lgbtq+ community. as we all know too well, san francisco has seen an alarming number of overdose deaths. and these overdose deaths are truly preventable. and today marks a big step forward in supporting our community who struggle with substance abuse. to get there, we are expandaing what we know to be an effective care treatment and creating a safe space like soma rise. this is about innovative practices, low barrier to access and meeting people where they are so that every door is truly the right door for people

to begin their journey on recovery. in 2019, i had the honor of cosponsoring. we came together with community based organizations, and people with experience using methamphetamine to develop a plan. that seems awhile ago, but i'm so proud that our top recommendations from the meth task force are taking shape and being implemented. and as senator weaner shareded, many of the addiction treatments are unfortunately not effective for stimulant addiction. a treatment for stimulants that we know work is truly contingency management and that's what we've been supporting in the health department for many years. advocates have been waiting for someone like senator weaner to make it possible to expanded funding source, contingency management and therefore serve so many clients. we all want to do the right

thing, we all want to implement effective treatments, but i can tell you making it reality with ab110 would really allow us to scale up this intervention. we also know that not everybody is ready for treatment. meeting people where they are, building those relationships and serving their immediate needs is key. some will rise. it will bring people indoors where they can have a safe, welcoming place to come down, rest, and be connected to services. tragically and unfortunately, fentanyl has changed the landscape of drug overdoses throughout the country and here in san francisco. contingency management provides our key parts of our approaches, but are pieces of a much larger response. san francisco is investing millions of dollars through mental health sf. we are filling gaps and coordinating services. i want to remind our communities for ways we can

support friends, family, neighbors who use drugs and/or stay safe ourselves. san franciscans are saving thousands of lives a year with naloxone, a medicine that reverses the effects of overdose. along with our community partners, we've distributed over 28,000 overdose kits annually. test strips are free at our pharmacy at 1380 howard street and at community sites across the city. we simply cannot give out too many given the pandemic, the pandemic of overdosed in our city. second, the san francisco department of public health in partnership with the fire department has launched two teams to respond to people in crisis or those suffering from an overdose. the street crisis response team and the street overdose response team. if you see someone in crisis or suspect someone needs support, please call 911 and someone will be there to help them. and now it's my pleasure to

introduce a champion of our efforts in our community, supervisor mandelman. thank you. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, dr. colfax. and i will echo all of the praise and gratitude that has been should you ared on billy lemon and the castro club because you are doing life-saving work every day and it's an honor to represent you. this is a great day and this is great legislation senator weaner. when we had that meth task force a few years ago, it was not an uplifting or happy experience to have that conversation because we do have -- we did have a meth crisis, we do have a meth crisis, we've had a meth crisis for some time and the reality is that meth is a really hard drug to figure out good intervention for. and as has been said, the

medical interventions seem to not be particularly effective. but when we heard the presentation on management at the aids foundation, really, i thought it was a cause for hope and something to feel like man oh, man, we really need to be doing more of this. and so recommendation number six i believe in the meth task force report. thank you for letting us convene, mayor, and dr. colfax and i following that up was to build out and fix out the medi-cal funding contingency management. and here we are two years later but we need a signature, governor. we need a signature, but we can dramatically expand those efforts throughout california. it has been personally gratifying for me to see some of the other top reports of those get closer to fruition. the sobering centers were the first, the number one

recommendation, a safe place for people who are in crisis or on the verge of crisis in the streets, shouldn't be on the sidewalk. need to be in a safe place and ideally get connected to services and we're on the cusp and i think we're going to need more than one, but one is a start. and the second recommendation of that task force report was better outreach to those on the street. and the mayor has made that a priority. we are exploring many different ways of getting to folks on the streets, not having the police be that first point of contact, but rather folks who can work with people ideally before an overdose, but after an overdose to keep people connected and get folks into treatment. so the crisis continues. you can see it every day out on the streets. it's not just on house folks either. one of the things we learned, the prototypical of a meth overdose was a gay, white man

in his late 40s. that's a little close to home. but this has been a challenge in the queer community, but it's a challenge for lots of communities and so we need to move faster, more, do more, not rest until we actually -- until we get more of a solution than we got. so i know we're going to do it. i know the mayor's super committed. thanks everybody for your efforts and now we've got to do a whole lot more. oh, and after saying nice things about billy levin, i get to bring billy levin up. i love billy. >> thank you, supervisor. good morning everyone. my name is billy lemon. i am the executive director of the castro country club, a position i've had for about six years and before that i was addicted to methamphetamine. i got sober in 2013 through the

help of -- [ applause ] -- through the help of a myriad of city services that are offered and now supported by many of the folks standing behind me and most primarily mayor breed. we appreciate everything you do. a little -- what i want to say and what i feel is most important is, you don't get a crowd like this in a space like this, in a small neighborhood community center unless there is a very pressing issue. senator weaner has been a long champion of the castro country club. he helped me get out a work force development program funded in 2014 because here's the deal, i got sober with the help of prop at the san francisco aids foundation. at the time, i was homeless. i had a backpack and i walked into the offices of rick andrews, hi, rick. at that time, rick was the

director of prop, i invited him this morning. and prop worked for me. prop is positive reinforcement opportunity project. and, basically, it allows somebody to get a positive test -- a negative test for methamphetamine over a period of time and those little incremental rewards for somebody who was a stimulant user is an effective treatment. and that combined with a whole host of other things. abstinence, maybe not abstinence and eventually folks find their way. and they find their way because san francisco is a compassionate city that cares about folks moving forward. everybody up here cares about folks moving forward. and what i hope is over time

that through the fantastic board of hr360. places like the castro country club, we can meet folks where they are and provide a myriad of options to kind of get their substance use to it a position where they feel comfortable. that's what i do every day and i am a living, breathing example that if you offer a helping hand, that eventually folks will figure out a way to make it work for them and so i really want to thank everybody up here. dr. colfax, vicka, senator weaner and the mayor for funding our work force development program. thank you. we very much appreciate it. we know that you have a lot on your plate and it really is appreciative. i'm very heart warmed to have

you on the premises in a sacred place. so thank you everyone. >> our final two speakers will be vick eisen. >> thank you everybody. can you all hear me? i'm short. thanks for having us here. you know, i am grateful to live in a city and a county that follows and believes in science and follows the research and that is no small thing in this era of covid. and it's also demonstrated by how this city and how our state has responded to drug use, drug overdose and to problematic drug use. we follow the research and we follow the evidence and the science even when it kind of defies our beliefs, closely

held belief systems. in it defies with someone we might of read on the internet. contingency management under sb110 from senator weaner follows the science. it follows research on effective interventions for people who use methamphetamine. now, you have to realize sb360 has been around for a long time. it was a partner and a research project on contingency management back in the late 90s. now i'm an old treatment person. so the idea to me of paying people to not use drugs seems strange, but i said, hey, it's research. let's go with it. and so what did we find? it was effective. we said follow the research. we need to invest in things that work even if they seem unusual to us or unexpected or it's not the path we thought

things would take. so i'm grateful to live in a place where we have a mayor, senators, and board of supervisors who are willing to do that. the summer rise project which we are grateful to be apart of is also evidence of following research on low barrier, low threshold intervention for people in drug crisis. what we want to be able to do is to meet them where they are and connect them to care. that works. that research that shows that that works is also personal experience that shows that that works. you heard billy's story. i'm a former drug user. way back in the day, i went to ashbury's detox clinic. i must have gone nine times. i felt welcomed nine times.

eventually, because they cared about me and i trusted them, i went to treatment and so we look at soma rise. people think they should be in jail. people are filled that we will greet them with love and compassion and food and a shower and a warm place to be and we'll do it all over again until the point they say we want to do something else and when that second comes, we will be there to connect them to care. we'll connect them to health right 360. we'll connect them to service along the path to health. we will be there to do that. we are facing an unprecedented crisis in overdose deaths.

these are just steps to take, but we are proud to be apart of a movement towards really doing anything it takes to taking care of people who use drugs and improving the life of people in san francisco. thank you. [ applause ] >> good morning everybody. tommy martin, legislative director of equality california and every day i go to work to push back against discrimination, against stigma, and against shame. those are just a few of the barriers that prevent people from accessing treatment that they need to overcome addiction. i'm honored to be here today to represent the over-900,000 members of equality california which is the nation's largest statewide lgbtq+ civil rights organization. and, together, we all joined

senator weaner in urging governor newsome to sign sb110 and to combat meth use which is a long standing crisis in the lgbtq+ community. and advocating for this bill over the past 10 months now, imet with a surprising number of people who were not aware of this crisis in the lgbtq+ community and that lack of awareness is another barrier to treatment and another reason stimulant use has grown so rapidly. and meth is often presented as a party drug in the lgbtq+ community, but as we know all too often, it comes for roughly 60% of overdose deaths in san francisco in 2019 and in the mortality rate is high among african american men. so sb 110 is not just a public health priority. it's not a priority just for the lgbtq+ community, it's also

a racial justice priority. we heard this year senator weaner secured a significant state budget which will provide trauma space. and governor newsome has shown a strong commitment by improving that budget investment and that's why we look forward to his signature on sb110 which will provide another critical tool in reducing meth addiction and saving the lives of lgbtq+ californians. thank you. >> thank you, tommy. so now i want to thank everyone for being here. we're happy to answer any questions that members of the press may have. >> reporter: mayor breed, there's currently a resolution at the board of supervisors committee urging you to call for a local emergency on overdoses and then immediately implement overdose prevention sites is that something you're supportive of?

calling for a local emergency on that? >> what i plan to do is exactly what i've been doing and that is making sure that we're focused on action and investments. you know, this pandemic, when we were hit with this pandemic, we use the powers of a declaration of emergency for the purposes of addressing this issue and we know that there are challenges with drug overdoses that are, of course, problematic and this is definitely a public health crisis and the solution is not necessarily a declaration of emergency. the solution is putting resources and putting forth action toward addressing this issue. and so we are doing what we can

to invest significant resources in combatting the crisis and to also be clear ever since i was on the board of supervisors, i have been trying to push to open a safe consumption site and we have been experiencing a number of challenges. senator weaner has been pushing for the state legislation that would allow for us to open those sites and avoid people losing their licenses and other challenges that may come their way. so this is not a issue that san francisco's going to be able to combat alone. this is an issue that we're going to have to continue to work with our state representatives to try and get the job done. and i think, you know, with the investments and the advocacy that we have here today, every single day, we're going to continue to push in that direction. >> reporter: if this resolution made it to your

desk, you would not support it? >> i cannot confirm that at this point because i have not had a chance to review the resolution. >> i do want to reiterate that sb57, our state legislation to legalize safe consumption sites is moving forward and it will move forward in january. governor brown vetoed it in 2018 but we're going to put it on governor newsome's desk next year. >> reporter: mayor breed, director colfax recommended that if we're in a crisis to call 911. are police still responding to meet calls that involve nonviolent situations involving the unhoused. don't you have different advocates to get crisis response to the streets? >> no there shouldn't be. what has been said today is that almost every single day,

san francisco police officers are providing narcan to those experiencing overdoses and they are also saving lives. but what happens when you call 911, the dispatcher analyzes the call to determine who should come out. so, for example, we had the overdose response team, but if they're not available, we need to send someone sooner rather than later. we can't wait and this is a new vehicle. a number of the things that we're putting in place in terms of the street crisis response team, the overdose response team, the wellness checks, we have just put those things into place. and they're working very effectively when they are able to respond, but they're also very time consuming. so it's not like you can just show up to a scene and say get in an ambulance and say let's go. sometimes it can take an hour or two hours for one individual to get support because it requires patience and it requires an understanding of what that person is actually going through. so if none of those groups of

people are available to respond in those teams, and someone is calling 911 and it's a crisis, we're going to send what we need to send in order to try to help deal with this situation. and it should be noted again that there are offices out there with narcan that are helping people too. and i get it. there are some folk who is have a problem with it, but at the end of the day, it's going to take all of us to work together to help address this crisis. and i apologize, but i do have another thing to go to. >> thank you. >> final questions. >> reporter: quick question for dr. colfax on another note. where do we currently stand on the indoor mask mandate? is that something you're discussing? repealing at this point? >> we're in discussions with our health officer and other science health experts looking at our numbers and figuring out

where there may be sub substantiatebility. and we're on a downward path and we're going to be continuing to figure out the best time to potentially roll back some of the indoor masking mandates, but right now, we're not prepared to do that. >> do you have a timeline? >> i don't have a specific time line. >> can you expand a little bit more on san francisco in terms of that positive path that you're referring to? >> well, our cases have been dropping. we're almost at half the statewide average, but right now we're about 11 per 100,000 cases. our test positivty rate is below 2% and that's the first time it's been below 2% for a number of months. we have about 65 people in the hospital on average on any given day. i think the most important metric is our vaccination rate. so we're at 82% of people eligible to be vaccinated and in relationship to how we all get back to an ongoing, safer

environment, the new normal, we're really excited about the 5-11-year-olds being eligible for the vaccine at the end of october. that will be a major step forward allowing children to continue that in-person learning. so excited about that. >> what kind of metrics are you looking for? are you looking for certain case rates? >> it's a combination of factors. so it's looking at that and a lieu of those variables that i just talked about. >> do you think it is the vaccination rate that's most contributing to san francisco being at a better vaccination rate. >> i think it is. i mean, we're higher than most jurisdictions and i think you also see the fact that in the hospitalizations among people hospitalized, people without vaccine are eight times more likely to be hospitalized with covid than people who are fully vaccinated. so these vaccines are saving lives.

they've saved lives in san francisco and will continue to do so. so the message is if you haven't gotten vaccinated, please get vaccinated. we have drop-in centers across the city. we have 100 vaccine sites usually within a 5 to 10 minutes walking distance in san francisco. >> great. any final questions? >> perhaps dr. colfax mentioned this, but we heard about the unprecedented crisis on overdose deaths, what is contributing to that? >> it's spiking everywhere. this is throughout the country, throughout california. san francisco is not unique and i think there are -- we were already, you know, we talked about death of despair. people who feel like they have no other options, lack of support and and the pandemic made things worse because there was less access to services and to health and so, again, this is not just a san francisco

problem. it might be more visible here because we're more concentrated denser city, but it's happening absolutely everywhere. in rural areas and in urban areas, suburban areas and that's why this sb110 received a unanimous bipartisan vote of support in the senate and almost unanimous in the assembly. it was not controversial and it was very bipartisan support because every community is suffering. okay. thank you very much everyone. [ applause ] [♪♪♪] ♪ homelessness in san francisco is considered the number 1 issue by most people who live here, and it doesn't just affect neighbors without a home, it

affects all of us. is real way to combat that is to work together. it will take city departments and nonprofit providers and volunteers and companies and community members all coming together. [♪♪♪] >> the product homeless connect community day of service began about 15 years ago, and we have had 73 of them. what we do is we host and expo-style event, and we were the very force organization to do this but it worked so well that 250 other cities across the globe host their own. there's over 120 service providers at the event today, and they range anywhere from hygiene kits provided by the basics, 5% -- to prescription glasses and reading glasses, hearing tests, pet sitting, showers, medical services, flu shots, dental care, groceries,

so many phenomenal service providers, and what makes it so unique is we ask that they provide that service today here it is an actual, tangible service people can leave with it. >> i am with the hearing and speech center of northern california, and we provide a variety of services including audiology, counselling, outreach, education, today we actually just do screening to see if someone has hearing loss. to follow updates when they come into the speech center and we do a full diagnostic hearing test, and we start the process of taking an impression of their year, deciding on which hearing aid will work best for them. if they have a smart phone, we make sure we get a smart phone that can connect to it, so they can stream phone calls, or use it for any other services that they need. >> san francisco has phenomenal social services to support people at risk of becoming homeless, are already experience and homelessness, but it is confusing, and there is a lot of waste. bringing everyone into the same space not only saves an average of 20 hours a week in navigating

the system and waiting in line for different areas, it helps them talk, so if you need to sign up for medi-cal, what you need identification, you don't have to go to sacramento or wait in line at a d.m.v., you go across the hall to the d.m.v. to get your i.d. ♪ today we will probably see around 30 people, and averaging about 20 of this people coming to cs for follow-up service. >> for a participant to qualify for services, all they need to do is come to the event. we have a lot of people who are at risk of homelessness but not yet experiencing it, that today's event can ensure they stay house. many people coming to the event are here to receive one specific need such as signing up for medi-cal or learning about d.m.v. services, and then of course, most of the people who are tender people experiencing homelessness today. >> i am the representative for the volunteer central. we are the group that checks and all the volunteers that comment participate each day.

on a typical day of service, we have anywhere between 40500 volunteers that we, back in, they get t-shirts, nametags, maps, and all the information they need to have a successful event. our participant escorts are a core part of our group, and they are the ones who help participants flow from the different service areas and help them find the different services that they needs. >> one of the ways we work closely with the department of homelessness and supportive housing is by working with homeless outreach teams. they come here, and these are the people that help you get into navigation centers, help you get into short-term shelter, and talk about housing-1st policies. we also work very closely with the department of public health to provide a lot of our services. >> we have all types of things that volunteers deal do on a day of service. we have folks that help give out lunches in the café, we have folks who help with the check in, getting people when they arrive, making sure that they find the services that they need to, we have folks who help in

the check out process, to make sure they get their food bag, bag of groceries, together hygiene kit, and whatever they need to. volunteers, i think of them as the secret sauce that just makes the whole process works smoothly. >> participants are encouraged and welcomed to come with their pets. we do have a pet daycare, so if they want to have their pets stay in the daycare area while they navigate the event, they are welcome to do that, will we also understand some people are more comfortable having their pets with them. they can bring them into the event as well. we also typically offer veterinary services, and it can be a real detriment to coming into an event like this. we also have a bag check. you don't have to worry about your belongings getting lost, especially when that is all that you have with you. >> we get connected with people who knew they had hearing loss, but they didn't know they could get services to help them with their hearing loss picks and we are getting connected with each other to make sure they are getting supported.

>> our next event will be in march, we don't yet have a date set. we typically sap set it six weeks out. the way to volunteer is to follow our newsletter, follow us on social media, or just visit our website. we always announce it right away, and you can register very easily online. >> a lot of people see folks experience a homelessness in the city, and they don't know how they can help, and defence like this gives a whole bunch of people a lot of good opportunities to give back and be supported. [♪♪♪]

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