speaking, please mute your microphone. to ensure public participation, sfgovtv is airing and streaming this meeting live. comments to speak during public comment period are available by calling 615 -- 415-655-0001 and entering access code 2498-134-5431. press star, three to enter the queue, and when you hear your line has been unmuted, that is

your indication to begin speaking. best practice is to call from a quiet location, speak slowly and clearly, and turn down the volume on your television or computer. i'd like to take roll at this time. [roll call] nrs . >> clerk: thank you, commissioners. full disclosure, i am battling a cold, so i apologize for the sniffling during the hearing. first up is general public comment. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest

to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission except jaent items. with respect to agenda items, your opportunity to address the commission will be afforded when the item is reaching in the meeting. each member of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes. if you have not already done so, press star, three to enter the queue, and there are no callers. we will then go to item b, department -- item c, commission matters. president's report and announcements. >> hi, jonas. this is rich sucre, and i have nothing to report.

>> clerk: and then we would move onto announcements. >> hi, jonas. nothing to report. >> clerk: then we will move onto item 3, consideration of adoption of draft minutes for november 3, 2021. >> so moved. >> second. >> clerk: there is a motion that has been seconded to adopt the draft minutes for the meeting of november 3, 2021. on that motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: so moved, commissioners. that motion passes unanimously 7-0, and places us on item 4,

commission comments and questions. >> commissioner johns? >> yes. you know, there's been some questions about q.r. codes, and i wojd if that's some way we could look into that and maybe have a report from staff at some particular time? >> clerk: commissioner johns, i'd be happy to look at what's been installed in the city of philadelphia, and i agree it's a fantastic program to look into, even for just historic locations or significant

locations. >> clerk: and that will place us on item 5, 2021-007060-des at 200 rhode island. are you ready to make your presentation? >> so i need to recuse myself. i am on the board of the richard and [indiscernible] so even though the property was sold in 2017, i think i should recuse myself. >> so i move the commissioner

be recused. >> second. >> clerk: thank you. on the motion to recuse president matsuda -- [roll call] >> clerk: thank you, commissioners. commissioner matsuda, you're here by recused. mr. westhoff? >> yes, thank you. you can hear me okay? >> clerk: we can hear you just fine. >> let me share my screen.

okay. and you can see my screen okay? >> no. >> okay. now? >> clerk: yes. >> good afternoon, commissioners. alex westhoff, department staff. the item before you is a request to designate landmark designation at 200 rhode island, also known as the takahashi community. on july 13, 2021, the sponsor submitted the landmark designation application to the planning department. the property is located within a flat triangular parcel in the

showcase square district in the south of market neighborhood. the 186 foot by 314 foot by 64 foot triangular parcel is bounded by [indiscernible] street to the north, rhode island to the east, and a former railroad right-of-way to the west. the property includes the original building with three later additions, all of which are connected. the original five story heavy timber frame and brick building was designed by architect lee lansberg for r.h. levi and company. in 1965, the subject property was purchased by henry and [indiscernible] takahashi to

serve as the headquarters of the takahashi trading company. for decades, it served as importers of high quality products from japan, including porcelain, pottery, furniture, folding screens, and more, sold at san francisco stores in san francisco, sausalito, and daly city. in 1985, the takahashis founded the takahashi foundation.

in 2010, they received the order of the rising sun gold and silver rays award for their contribution to japanese culture, history, and arts in the united states. as detailed in the landmark report, the subject property is significant for the following. under criteria 1, it is significant with japanese post world war i resettlement and location and it is an early example of famed architect

alfred lansberg. the period of significance is 1912, the period the build was constructed, as well as 1965 to 2019 when the building was under the ownership of the takahashi family. staff recommend initiation of landmark designation for this property. currently, there are only two existing landmarks strongly associated with san francisco's japanese american community, including the japanese ywca. if designated, the building would be only the third associated with san francisco's japanese american community, and the only one to lie outside

japantown. the department is not aware of any opposition to the designation. this concludes my presentation, but i will be available to answer any questions. stacey farb, architectural resources group, will now provide a brief presentation. >> clerk: thank you, mr. westhoff. miss farb, are you with us? >> yes -- oh, no. >> clerk: you should mute your speaker unless you want me to

unmute you and you mute your phone. let me try unmuting your computer. how's this? >> it's good for me. can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, that works for us. you have five minutes. >> okay. my name is j.c. farb, and i'm with a.r.g. i'll just review the history, significance, and integrity of this property and just expand a little bit on the great intro that we got from alex. lansberg studied at berkeley and went onto paris.

he was very active in san francisco after the 1906 earthquake and designed several buildings, including the hammersmith, four of the city's seven carnegies, and later expanded to the east coast. 200 rhode island is an early example of lansberg's work. the building features dramatic corners that conform to the ingle parcel. can you change the slide out? in 1965, henry and [indiscernible] takahashi purchased the offices to use as the headquarters for the

company. in 1941, she married henry takahashi and settled in california with his family. next slide. shortly after they were married, they joined more than 120 other japanese americans that were forceably removed to a japanese internment camp in utah, and after the war, they returned to san francisco and in 1937, they purchased a building in san francisco and opened the takahashi trading

company. they began importing quality goods for sale to a broader american clientele. they were among many families and small businesses that helped revive japantown following the war and elevated the status of japanese goods and helped americans develop an appreciation for japanese art and decor. at its height, the takahashi trading company was selling goods across the united states. they purchased the brick warehouse building at 200 rhode island street in 1965 to serve

as their corporate headquarters. they added to the property in 1968 and 1976. slide, please. mrs. takahashi left her business to help her sister and helped found the takahashi foundation. in sum, the building at 200 rhode island street is significant for its association with the japanese resettlement in san francisco in 1902 and is an example of architect alfred

lansberg. the property retains sufficient integrity to restore its historic significance, and a remainder of the building looks like it was with the takahashi settlers, and that is my presentation. i'm available for questions if you have any. >> clerk: great. thank you. members of the public, this is your opportunity to speak to this matter by pressing star, three to be added to the queue. through the chair, you'll have three minutes. >> good afternoon, president matsuda and the board

commissioners. my name is [indiscernible] and i am here in support of the initiation of the takahashi trading company as a san francisco landmark. if designated, the building would join a very short list of buildings associated with japanese americans and asian americans and pacific

islanders. apihip seeks to elevate local and state efforts to promote japanese and asian american pacific islander stories, and we offer full support for this designation. i strongly urge you on the commission to support the nomination of the takahashi trading company as a city landmark. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. last call for public comment on this item. you need to press star, three to be added to the queue. seeing no additional requests from the public to speak on this item, public comment is now closed, and the item is now before you, commissioners. commissioner foley? >> i actually have an office right around the corner from this building. i think the building's incredible. i think even more important than the building, you know, beautiful historic building, i

think the cultural aspect of what these people have been doing their whole lives with the business and with the foundation, i'm in support of this, and i think it's a stunning story of what this family did, and i'm super glad to be here and supporting this. thank you. >> clerk: commissioner so? >> thank you, alex. always nice to hear your presentation and from architect resource group, and thank you for the member of the aapi community supporting this. i am supportive of this

landmark designation because i know by doing this, it allows the owner to double the office from 12,000 square feet to 24,000 square feet, and i'm happy to hear the property owner will continue to thrive in the business and continue to make fortune, so thank you for pushing it forward. i know it's a long effort, and good luck for your prosperity. >> clerk: thank you. commissioner johns? >> so i move that we approve the initiation for landmark designation? >> second.

>> clerk: so commissioner foley, i have to ask, your office is around the corner. do you happen to own the building? >> my office is around the corner. >> clerk: for posterity's sake, it sort of raised alarms. >> thank you, jonas. >> clerk: so on that motion to approve designation -- [roll call] >> clerk: so moved, commissioners. that motion passes unanimously, 6-0, and commission president matsuda, you may rejoin us now for the next item, which is an informational presentation. item number 6, 2016-013156-srv

for the citywide survey update. this is an informational presentation. go ahead, shannon. >> thank you. could you share your screen? >> i'm just waiting to get sharing permission. >> clerk: i'm sorry. who needs to get sharing permission? >> melanie [indiscernible]. >> clerk: melanie? okay. you should be able to share your screen now, melanie.

great. we can see your screen. you may want to make is a slide presentation so it goes full screen. -- make it a slide presentation so it goes full screen. >> all right. just one second.

>> clerk: melody, we're going to go to -- oh, there you go. i'm just going to hand it off to josey. looks like you -- >> thank you, melanie. good afternoon, commissioners. shannon ferguson, department staff. my colleagues and i are here to provide you with an update on the on going citywide cultural resources survey for 2021. next slide. i want to introduce you to the department staff who are working on this citywide survey. i'm currently serving as acting team leader while

[indiscernible] boudreaux is on leave. we have melanie bishop, [indiscernible] historic context statements. maggie smith is working on art particular extremity and the community outreach strategy. we also have two fairly new planners, elena moore and alessandro hall who are working on historic context statements. next slide? the presentation today will provide an update on survey methodology, historic context, data management and collection, scheduling, and next steps, and now i'd like to turn it over to

melanie. >> good afternoon, commissioners. melanie [indiscernible], planning department staff. please excuse us as we work through our technical difficulties. we'd like to start off with a note that we are [indiscernible] with racial and social equity per resolution 1127 adopted by this commission on july 15, 2021. the citywide survey aims to sustain businesses culture by bringing communities today to honor, share, and celebrate their histories. in addition to raising awareness of the city's diverse cultural resources, it will guide planning department decisions regarding new developments. buildings eligible for historic significance may qualify as a

result of the planning made by s.f. survey. the survey is comprised of many parts, including the historic context statement and the historic resources survey [indiscernible] the resulting service findings will be organized by neighborhood, revised from 37 to 41 neighborhoods total, which align with tracts and [indiscernible] across the department. [indiscernible] will discuss the intangible cultural heritage methodology. it will serve as s.f. survey practices that will define tangible versus intangible

assets, respond to community's [indiscernible] and make recommendations on how to engage with communities and place decision making into the hands of the community knowledge bearer. this will ask communities, what do they want? we should expect to hear different ideas with different levels of trust and ownership. we'll continue to follow this approach while continuing to engage with the community. to that point, many people are contributing to this effort, including department staff, consultants and interns, the historic preservation commission, and the survey advisors group. we are continuing to rely on tech support and will rely heavily on the public for information and participation. we've been working with our

survey visors group that consists of seven members [indiscernible] framework with proposed methodology. starting next year, we'll be working with the planning department to identify service and stakeholders during each geographic phase of the survey. from here, my colleague maggie will provide an update on the strategy to date. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm maggie smith, senior planner [indiscernible]. as this is intended to be a modern survey, we will heavily

rely on community outreach. we will be open and transparent and hope for a symbiotic relationship between staff, planners, and community a survey process will be complemented by community events and will be finally accessible and inclusive in cultural resources, diversity, and values. a multilayered community approach as seen in this graphic seeks to connect with the community members across the public participation spectrum, inform and engage, and ultimately collaborate to share knowledge, history, and culture through partnerships with community focused institutions, organizations,

and knowledge bearers. we hope to meet people where they are and to also understand the sensitivity around sharing. [indiscernible] community walks such as tours of what we and others have learned, a continuing internship program, and a collaborative digital platform and social media. we will also be sure to provide materials in different languages and services during the event. i'll pass it back off to melanie. >> hi. so i'll be going into our citywide context statement? and as a reminder, our citywide context statement is organized

by context and subcontext listing. [indiscernible] consist of several parts seen here as the [indiscernible] items and will vary, depending on the topic. since our last update to the commission in april 2021, we've made some upgrades to include some cultural groups in our [indiscernible] to be stated. based on recommendations received during our survey advisory group in october, we are having conversations around the creation of a pacific

islander statement and will be prioritized as budget and staffing allow. i also wanted to clarify in this slide that we'll be completing a separate jewish culture statement that will include all of the members of the jewish community [indiscernible] portola context statement and western context statement [indiscernible] the following is an update on our existing context statements that are in progress or have drafted completed. the items in yellow are in final draft and will come before this commission for adoption hearings in the near future. today, you'll be considering [indiscernible] as a separate item. next, i'll pass it back to maggie, who will provide some

updates on data collection and management. >> hello again. so let's dive into data. some of this may sound familiar, but i've found it's good to repeat when it comes to data. [indiscernible] and efficiently organize our research and existing documentation. for individual properties such as buildings, structures, and objects, districts, and intangible resources so that we can ultimately develop findings and a dynamic cultural resources inventory that'll

last for years to come. this is what our survey will help us do, and this probably looks a little bit similar to last time. this is a solution for data management, data discovery, and visualization, and project task management. it's an open source software platform developed currently by the getty conservation institute and [indiscernible] fund for context data management. [indiscernible] as you can see from this graphic, arches offers a [indiscernible] through an app called collector, a seemingly endless search capacity [indiscernible] community outreach and crowd

sourcing capabilities, creation, research, and discovery, and the ability to publicly share our hard work. how are we doing with our implementation? the initial system design which includes how we collect, manage, and visualize our data is [indiscernible] since we need to create spaces for all of our existing information to go into the platform. with this in place, we'll be able to begin the pilot in january, when we'll start collecting data in the field and in the office. we've also spent countless hours cleaning up our preservation data. this ensures only good data goes into our on-line platform. so this is a quick snapshot of the development of our on-line data management program uses arches. each of these squares represents a mechanism to organize different types of

information. the activity model, to start off, with describe and provide links to our path surveys, designations, and evaluations, such as landmark nominations and historic resources responses. the community input model will collaborate to our digital platform and allow the community to share things like facts and photographs. the cultural district model will provide information on the city's cultural district. the district model will create a space for us to document and evaluate historic districts, neighborhoods, and land sites. the intangible practice or heritage model already based on the intangible cultural heritage model under way.

the [indiscernible] person model will provide information on organization, institutions and people, such as information organizations, important individuals, [indiscernible] etc. the research resource model will allow us to cite our sources, and finally, the unit model will create a space for us to document and analyze building structures and objects. all of this connect to one another and allow us to building relationships. for example, if there is a building significant to a district [indiscernible] directly relate the item.

our data cleanup. instead of showing you all of our spreadsheets and mapping files, here is just a brief look at our data cleanup to do in [indiscernible], our project management software. much of this work is held to provide improvement data for the housing data development report. we also wanted to confirm that arches will by no means replace p.i.m. p.i.m. will still provide historic resource data, but in the future, will link through to arches for public access to more details historic resource information and advanced research capability. [indiscernible] update.

our modifications include reprioritizing for racial and social equity, existing and planned historic context, and using neighborhoods that align with census tracts, as melanie mentioned. the schedule is tight. there are a lot of parcels to cover, and it's also dependent on consulting timelines as well

as staffing availability. while we intended to begin the pilot this past june, we needed more time to build out our data, build our arches platform, and communicate our strategy. the end date is still the same with presenting our findings and going into adoption hearings in 2026. so what's next for us? we will finalize our rotating survey advisors group and pick back up conversations with supervisors, complete the draft community outreach strategy, send postcards to the pilot area to notify of survey prior to infield work and conduct the survey early next year, in january likely through april, and we'll report back to this commission in the first quarter of next year. so with that, thank you very much, and we look forward to answering any of your questions.

thanks. >> clerk: thanks, everyone. unless there are immediate questions from members of the commission, we should open up public comment. members of the public, this is your opportunity to address the commission by pressing star, three to enter the queue. seeing no requests to speak, public comment is now closed, and it is now before you for review and comment. >> thank you, jonas, and thank you to our presenters today. that was a lot of information that you synthesized and presented in plain english. commissioner johns? >> thank you. one of the things that i heard that was new today was this was to be a modern survey, and i'm not quite sure i understand what that is, and i appreciate

some further explanation of a modern survey. does that mean that it is cut -- it is to take a photograph as it is now and not consider what was in the past? >> so i can take that because i said it. so modern survey is just making sure we put community outreach at the front, and that we are using historic context statement to inform the survey findings. we want to make sure we are as inclusive as possible, and i think surveys in the past have sometimes just focused on architecture, so in that context, [indiscernible] in that sense making it a modern

survey, and hopefully that does help answer your question. >> it does, and i appreciate that. that leads to another thing that i had, and that is this seems to be primarily a geographic based survey, and that might be useful for many communities in san francisco but might not be for other communities, traditional community groups in san francisco. and because if you just go to, say, the supervisor for one district, that's highly political there, and they have to answer to their

constituents, and you might get information that you might not get when you ask someone else, so i'd like you to keep that in mind. another thing, i noticed there was a jewish history for russian hill and excelsior portola. well, i'd just like to acknowledge excelsior portola community was not particularly long lived nor particularly important in the jewish community nor were the russians before the 1970s, when the soviet union started to break up, and so i do think it would

be better to focus on the jewish community that drove it or were influential. i would suggest the cosmopolitan, and the founding of wells fargo bank or our city, the jews of san francisco, or the house of harmony. i'm a little concerned that the

project doesn't miss the most important elements of the community. that's -- and if i could help in any way, i could introduce you to the descendants of some of these influential families. but if i can help by keeping out of the way. that's what i'll do. >> thank you. [indiscernible], planning department staff. thank you for your comments. we do want to make sure we're capturing people's his correctly. any input or suggestions would be extremely helpful. we'd really appreciate. >> i'd like to meet all of those people that you just mentioned, commissioner johns. i'd love to participate on

those. thank you very much. as melanie said, the most humble picture we can provide would be the best. commissioner black? >> thank you. very quickly, this came up a couple weeks ago when we were discussing the housing element, and i really appreciate you taking the time to present where things are. i know we've had a presentation in april, but this shows just how complex this is and presented some things that i was not aware of. so thank you very much, and keep going on this because it's such an important component of what we do, and it'll be very important to property owners as soon as it's completed, so thank you. >> thank you. any other comments from the commission? are we, just out of curiosity,

are we, the city of san francisco, the first to undertake this type of survey. >> we are. we always are the first. >> great to know. thank you very much for your good work. oh, commissioner wright. sorry. >> i guess -- thank you. can you hear me okay? great. so i want to thank the staff for their great work on this, and just to acknowledge that i think that this is of the utmost importance to cultural heritage resources to our city. so i would like to urge the staff and the department to continue to prioritize the citywide context statement to get it finished as quickly as

possible. and what commissioner black stated, i was thinking the exact same thing, the relative importance of this work to projects that would be coming out of the housing element and to the housing development of -- the housing element itself, and i understand that the housing element will be completed, i believe, the end of next year, and this will take quite a lot longer, but i hope that information gained along the way during this could continue to inform and form the housing element, so i do think that is the case. and i also wanted to kind of latch onto what commissioner johns was stating about how

this has kind of a geographic process, and i think it's important to remember that during the presentation. i had one last question for staff, and i'm curious if the arches platform can include oral histories or i think that's kind of -- not kind of -- very important to a lot of the cultural groups in the

city. >> hi. maggie smith, yeah. -- in the city. one of the reasons that we did go with arches compared to other data management platforms is that it's not necessarily -- arches does not require all of our information to be geographically focused. we can capture information on people and organizations and our context and things like that without having to give everything a location, and so we can capture stories without -- it can be a broad

story about the city in general, and we don't have to say, okay, this is a broad story in the city of san francisco that this happened. it allows it to be more tied to the resources itself and to the cultural heritage. >> great. and just kind of the last comment to tack onto my questions, i think it's important to tack onto the data collection to remember that certain members of the community may not have the technology or be technologically savvy to add to the survey and the information that's being collected, although i presume that's also

something that could be done from members of the community that could provide that, but there will be specific outreach to communities to get the widest range of information from people. >> maggie smith. if i can just speak to that briefly. yes. while we will have sort of this survey collection platform, we will be out in the community themselves to be available but also be available to enter in stories if the community wants to share them with us. and also, we have an e-mail [indiscernible]@sfgov.org. people can e-mail us that way,

or just call. we'll have a wide variety of community outreach through our community outreach strategy, which we'll be bringing back to you early next year, so yeah. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you for your comments. commissioner so? >> thank you, maggie. thank you, melanie. it's amazing. i know there's a lot more work than just your slide deck, and i love the rigor and also the systematic organization is slow and how you presented it to us. it's easy to digest. i applaud prioritizing different neighborhood to looking at establishing this cultural resource survey, and i also realized that in the advisory group that you have,

is there any chinese speaking advisor on that group? >> not currently. >> because the reason that i'm trying to say is that i publicly is not too accurate with my data, but isn't there more than about 30% of san francisco resident is actually chinese descent? so it will be paramount to actually have one represented. i can voluntary myself. i myself write chinese in mandarin and cantonese. i see on the panel that you actually allow commissioners, so i see only commission president matsuda is on it, and i'd love to help out in that capacity. primary is to breakdown the language barrier, like, what commissioner johns was talking about was breaking down the

transparente. why we are doing this and what it means to the community. there are a lot of just lack of understanding that create unnecessary concerns, right? if i can be of any help to make things a little bit easier to understand, i would like to volunteer myself to be part of this team, and i'm also on the board of chinese historical society of america. we can pull more resources, and i think they're already in contact with you and marselle boudreaux, so it's making sure that we understand different culture, different language, different diaspora.

like, the african diaspora need to be represented, and i wish that our panel could be more diverse. like, myself, a professional, it's also language enabled in those areas. if you see a lot of board of supervisors meeting, we started to have translator on it, and it helps them to feel so much that they're a part of it. so i just wanted to leave it like that and follow up with me because it's important to preserve our legacy, our culture, and also bringing better education to the public all the amazing thing we do, and i'd love to be able to get on more of what you do in the technology databased platform. it's data driven, how we

present it. sometimes you use technology and data to inform our decisions, but then, on the other hand, when it gets to community outreach, you might have to dumb it down a little bit so that people who are not digitally savvy are included. >> thank you, commissioner so. i don't know if maggie and felony will talk about that. i believe this is the first primary stuff, and i believe the next step will be to reach out to the various cultural districts. i know we are going to plan to involve a number of community

groups, and the community groups will be searching community rights and communities of color. it's a very important component of it, and we're trying to take this one step at a time so we can be as inclusive as possible as we step ahead. [indiscernible]. >> i think that commissioner so said it very well, just the importance of cultural history, and the planning staff, as well, they were gracious to analyze the community aspect of it, and it's -- it's so important on just, like, a basic level to have the nothing of all of this so children can

grow up seeing all the different cultures and how they're important. and what president matsuda said, are we the first ones doing this? it is -- if we're the first ones doing it, i think it's vitally important because i think it tracks across the country. just, like, oh, what are they doing there, just like the mention of philadelphia and that type of thing. i think it is a good educational tool, and commissioner black and commissioner wright mentioned the housing element, and i think that's an important part of it. i know in seeing the presentation just recently and how the preservation

alternative was set into sort of each of these in the housing element, i almost feel like this will help define something more substantial for what the housing element says about our city, you know? i think some of the statements were very brought, but i think there's something familiar that you need to see in this. in any case, all great comments, and thank you. >> thank you. i don't see any further comments from the commission, so i think we're done for today. but again, thank you. thank you to the two of you, thank you to the whole team. it's -- it takes a lot of work to get it this far, and, you

know, nothing is perfect and any questions that all of you raised today are very important, and they will definitely seriously be considered. one thing i just want to emphasize is i have seen a lot of reports being done by various city departments, and some that deal specifically with communities because the main purpose may be to empower communities of color, but i don't see the level of cultural competency that i've seen with this -- in those commissions or in those departments as i see with the citywide survey, so i thank you for doing that, and i thank you for the sensitivity of really understanding where we need to have more information and how we need to step forward, so thank you very much. i think, jonas, we are ready to move on. >> clerk: yes. i was going to say, we're not quite done yet, president

matsuda. we do have one last action item for you all. case 2016-013156-srv for the citywide historic context statement, earthquake shacks theme document. this is for your consideration to adopt, modify, or disapprove. staff, are you prepared to make your presentation? >> i'm sorry, jonas. if i could interrupt. commissioner wright, did you want to speak again? was that on the last agenda item? >> yes, i was just going to say that i appreciate the staff is prioritizing groups and neighborhoods and that, you know, i think as part of the housing element and other pressures that there's a lot of development pressure and pressure for some change, so

it's just good to prioritize the neighborhoods and areas and groups that might be most at risk. >> thank you. okay. sorry. sorry that i didn't see your chat request. jonas, sorry. we are now onto agenda item number 7. >> clerk: indeed. i believe melanie was -- had her presentation up. we can see it now, so the floor is yours. >> good afternoon, commissioners. thank you very much for sticking with us. the item before you today is consideration to adopt, modify, or disapprove the earthquake shacks theme document. earthquake shacks are a theme identified within the single-family context in the residential 1880 to 1989 residential contacts within the

citywide historic context statement framework. so the department dissolved the earthquake shacks theme document in order to perform consistent and [indiscernible] earthquake shack typology. as mentioned in the previous presentation, all surveys [indiscernible] consistently throughout the citywide survey processes. the earthquake shacks theme document specifically [indiscernible] by the san

francisco relief corporation in 31 refugee camps across the city. after the closure of the last refugee camp in 1908, [indiscernible] moved onto lots and altered, becoming permanent housing for refugees caused by the quake and fires. they were constructed in three predefined sites noted on the slide on the right and identified as type a, type b, and type c. constructed of mostly redwood lumber, the shacks were clad in board and batten siding and painted their signature park green color [indiscernible] john mclaren.

[indiscernible] but typically in neighborhoods that are in one of the 31 former refugee camps. the department has encountered when issues when [indiscernible] this property item in the past. due to level of alteration, earthquake shacks can be difficult to identify without further research. one of our architects is working on illustrations that will assist field surveyors to identify common types of altered earthquake shacks. in addition to the framework, the department maintains a list of known and potential earthquake shacks that will inform our citywide survey work. we consider these issues in the

development [indiscernible] which i'll go into next. the period of significance for this property type begins in 1906 and ends in 1915. the state was chosen to account for alterations to earthquake shacks [indiscernible] onto private lots across the city during the reconstruction period after the 1906 earthquake. most earthquake shacks will be eligible under criteria a or 1 due to their association with the 1906 earthquake and fires. however, some earthquake shacks will rise to the level of significance under criteria c or 3. the department of planning developed a 1906 earthquake

themes document, including the grant and loan programs and bonus plan programs, which provided funding for residents to rebuild after losing their homes in the disaster. character defining features will differ based on the eligibility assessment but will include the property's box frame construction, small scale massing in addition to architectural elements associated with the property type. as i mentioned in a previous slide, integrity thresholds will also differ depending on eligibility with the bar being lower for earthquake shacks solely under criteria a-1 events. there are simple evaluations to support the framework seen on this slide here. i'll briefly go over them now. the property at 364 richland avenue is locate index bernal heights -- located in bernal heights and was found to be a

likely earthquake shack based on measurements. [indiscernible] but their attention of other character defining features, including the pitched gable roof and small scale massing allows it to be considered under the criteria of a-1 events. the property at 1227 24 avenue is located in the outer sunset neighborhood and was a consideration of three type a and one type b earthquake shacks. this was common to create more liveable space in an accessible manner for refugees. the subject property was determined eligible under both criteria a-1 and c-3. the alterations are in keeping with the property's

[indiscernible] character. earthquake shack activist jane cray identified 1227 24 avenue and [indiscernible] in 1984. our third and final example is the property at [indiscernible] avenue located in the bernal heights neighborhood. the building moved to its current lot in 1948, and the property was identified as a potential type c earthquake shack. however, due to the cumulative impact, the [indiscernible] due to a loss of integrity. many community groups and advocates have conducted primary research and worked to identify earthquake shacks over the years. this has greatly informed this document. to close, i'd like to acknowledge the work of jane

cray and the association of the [indiscernible] san francisco earthquake shacks, [indiscernible] the western neighborhoods project and bernal history project, to name a few. this concludes my presentation, and i'm happy to answer any questions. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, melanie. if, again, there aren't immediate questions from members of the commission, we should open up public comment. members of the public, this is your opportunity to address the commission on this matter by pressing star, three to enter the queue, and through the chair, you have three minutes. >> good afternoon, commissioners. this is woody [indiscernible] from san francisco heritage. i'm just calling in to implement staff, melanie, on this work. it's a very thorny and -- compliment staff, felony, on this work.

it's a very thorny thing to identify earthquake shacks, so it's great to have a document, a living document that can change and adapt to what we find over time to recognize as a start these important and tangible relics from perhaps the most significant event that san francisco experienced, the 1906 earthquake and fire. and great thanks to jane crion who started all of this in the 1980s and who is the mother and celebrating all of these refugee shacks. thanks. >> clerk: thank you. last call for public comment on this item. seeing no additional requests to speak, commissioners, public comment is now closed, and this

item is now before you. >> great. thank you. commissioner black? >> so shortly after i moved to san francisco over 30 years ago, i had the pleasure of meeting jane crion shortly before she passed away, and i wanted to thank her for her work. i find them so compelling, and a few years ago, i went through the history room at the library and went through her reports and the files on these. they're available for the public to look at, and they're very interesting. planning staff's been involved in this question for a long time, and i remember seeing [indiscernible] and moses [indiscernible] names along with james [indiscernible] name

on this file. this report is very well written, and it shows an understanding of what makes these structures special, so i'm really glad that this is happening. these shacks, in my opinion, are such a unique housing trait. they have to be preserved and celebrated, and this document represents a fair and equitable way of doing it, beginning with flexible eligibility standards in terms of alterations. these are not high style queen anne victorians that we should be evaluating that they retain most of their form and most of their architectural elements. honestly, besides the goldy shacks, none of them are in their original conditions, and other ones have been altered by

connecting them, but still, most of them are still recognizable by their size, massing, and form. sadly, what makes them special is mostly their small is also what endangers them. we are in a crazy land price and housing situation here in san francisco, and the demand for large houses, i think these shacks are very, very threatened by that. so to address those pressures, we need to treat these

differently from other resources, and i think that begins with permitting modifications to allow these to be accommodated, what mr. [indiscernible] was saying, and this could all happen, provided that the shack is still recognizable. still someone walking down the street would recognize it as an earthquake shack, even though it doesn't look exactly like it did in 1906 and 1907. the two eligibility standards do a good job of that, and the four criteria of character defining features also do a good job of that. for example, in the report of eligible and noneligible structures are really good examples of how we should be applying the criteria. i'm also in support of allowing the shocks to be moved, and i

would allow future moves, if necessary. unlike most residential historic resources, they've already been moved at least once, so the original context, by its nature, can't exist, and allowing them to move might just be another step that would preserve the few remaining shacks that we have, and i have one other idea that i wanted to raise with my fellow commissioners and staff that i think might be helpful in preserving these structures, and that would be to allow people who want to redevelop a property that currently has a shack to get some zoning dispensation to allow it to be used as an a.d.u. even if it doesn't strictly meet all of the other a.d.u. requirements

or structure coverage. allowing this would reduce the pressure to demolish the shack on a property where someone wants to build a big house. it provides an incentive to preserve the shack, and at the same time, it would provide needed housing. and this could be more properties where the plan isn't to develop the whole property. i know there are a bunch in backyards that are probably not on the city's radar. i personally know of a cup that i suspect are original shacks, and they're both just used for storage, and i think the flexibility to convert them to an a.d.u. would be an incentive to make an investment in the

property instead of allowing them to deteriorate over time. i just wanted to identify something else that i think we could look at to help save these structures. i think they're really special, and i think we really need to do everything we can to preserve them for san francisco's history. >> thank you. commissioner wright? >> yes, thank you. i just want to add to that and that i really appreciate commissioner black's thoughts on, you know, thinking outside the box to preserve these resources rather than to completely lose them, so i think that's really important for the department and us as a commission to consider.

and i also want to thank the staff for their work on this. one comment i had regarding some resources, and you probably already know this, or maybe not, but i believe the national park service, the ggnra or the western regional office has some understanding or maybe informational research on earthquake shacks since the two in the presidio are part of their collection, and there may be an opportunity for collaboration and information sharing, if that's not already happening. >> thank you. commissioner nageswaran? >> i just wanted to say that it's an excellent example of a themed document, you know, from the city survey that we just heard the presentation on.

it's very compelling and succinct and it just gives everybody an idea of what makes these buildings special, and yes, of course, i agree that these are very important and special to san francisco, so that's really fantastic, and yeah. i really enjoyed hearing about it and, you know, look forward to hearing more of these documents that come out of the city survey. thanks. >> thank you. commissioner johns? >> thank you. i also want to compliment the staff on this document which i think was really, really good. i'd like to second commissioner

black's comments. she -- in the end of her remarks, was [indiscernible] to mention them, and i was not. if there's some way that her documents could be forwarded to the powers that be, i think that would improve the theme statement a great deal. thank you. >> thank you. i don't see any further comments from the commission, and jonas -- oh, we have a request to speak from rich sucre. >> hi, commissioners. rich sucre, department staff. thank you for all of the comments on the document. you've heard that melanie and a

lot of our community partners are doing some really great work on it. commissioner black, we definitely hear you, our a.d.u. program and how we work to incentivize these are definitely important, so we will try and take these forward and see if we can work with the necessary bodies to get the correct code that will support these necessary structures. thanks. >> thank you. commissioner so? >> hi. thank you. i really enjoyed watching these slides and thank you for the hard work. it's one of these resources that people tend to overlook, right? so thanks for doing that, melanie. it must be a fun process for conducting the survey and finding all the shacks in a seven-by-seven city. and i really like the idea from

commissioner black to incentivize homeowners. and i want to challenge you to go a little bit further, to incentivize them to do a little more reuse. the term a.d.u., i'm really aware that there's a lot of criteria that was set forth on the state levels and local levels, so perhaps maybe we can continue to educate people on what they have and encourage them to turn it into something

useful for the future and current generations. that's my input on it. however way it takes, rich sucre, i know you can do your magic on it. thank you. >> thank you. commissioner foley? >> i'd just like to say to staff, what a great presentation. i've actually seen a bunch of these shacks over time, and they're great. i wish i had a backyard that i could make a shack in. thank you so much. >> thank you. commissioner wright. >> yeah, i just wanted to add to my previous comments and discussion for allowing for flexibility that, you know, as we're always kind of doing in preservation, you know, we're always kind of trying to strike balance, i think, and, you know, allowing for change and update and, you know,

potentially moving or, you know, how do we retain our resources while allowing for change and prevent complete loss of our resources and, you know, it's always kind of a double edged sword when -- you know, when allowing certain things kind of encourages or sets precedent for allowing, you know, more change that we might want, but on the other hand, retaining and preserving them at all is something better than a complete loss. so i just wanted to add that to the discussion, food for thought. >> yes, thank you. if there are no more questions or comments from the commission, would anyone like to entertain a motion?

>> i make a motion to approve? if we need -- do we need to approve it? >> yes, we do. >> second. >> second. >> motion to approve the theme document. >> i make a motion to approve the theme document. >> second. >> clerk: thank you, commissioners. if there's nothing further, there is a motion to adopt the theme document. on that motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: so moved, commissioners. that motion passes unanimously 7-0, and concludes your hearing today, commissioners. >> thank you, everyone. commissioner johns, did you want to say something? >> yes, i did.

i have a question. so we have now passed a motion to approve this. where does that leave commissioner black's accessory dwelling unit comments or doing other things to reserve the preservation or saving of these? >> i think mr. sucre can answer that? >> yeah, thanks, commissioner johns. like, the planning code has a lot of incentives that are related to historical resources throughout the planning code, so this is definitely something we can take up with our legislative team and see what we can amend, given our current code to basically help in both, you know, establishment of an a.d.u. in most cases, like, for example, in our current a.d.u.

program, we do have a resource follow the standard and look at ways to basically incentivize the preservation of them so it's something that we'll move forward on with our decision makers and help them advocate for these kind of properties. >> thank you. >> clerk: if there's nothing further, commissioners -- >> i'll just make sure not just looking at a.d.u.s, too, anything we can incentivize. >> okay, jonas, i think we're ready to adjourn. >> i'm sorry. i have one more question. how will we know what the conclusion of the decision will be? >> if we're successful getting legislation drafted and passed,

it would come back before the h.p.c. for adoption. >> it would come back before us? >> yeah. >> okay. thank you very much. >> thank you, everyone. jonas? >> clerk: i'm afraid to say anything. >> happy thanksgiving, everyone. >> thank you, everyone. >> happy holidays.

>> this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your san francisco history used to be. >> we hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. >> even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. and they tell us that. >> you're going to get something made fresh, made by

hand and made with quality products and something that's very, very good. ♪♪ >> the legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by san francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. it really provides for san francisco's unique character. ♪♪ >> and that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration. >> i'm michael cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. ♪♪ the bakery started in 191. my grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. it is a small operation. it's not big.

so everything is kind of quality that way. so i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. >> i'm leslie cirocco-mitchell, a fourth generation baker here with my family. ♪♪ so we get up pretty early in the morning. i usually start baking around 5:00. and then you just start doing rounds of dough. loaves. >> my mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. after that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. ♪♪ you know, i don't really think about it. but then when i -- sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and

everything and we've been over 100 and that is when it kind of hits me. you know, that geez, we've been here a long time. [applause] ♪♪ >> a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. we all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. our lineage and i'll use one example of tommy's joint. tommy's joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and he's a fourth generation san franciscan. it's a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was san francisco like back in the 1950s. >> i'm the general manager at tommy's joint.

people mostly recognize tommy's joint for its murals on the outside of the building. very bright blue. you drive down and see what it is. they know the building. tommy's is a san francisco hoffa, which is a german-style presenting food. we have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. you prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. you want your pastrami to be very lean. you can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. san francisco's a place that's changing restaurants, except for tommy's joint. tommy's joint has been the same since it opened and that is

important. san francisco in general that we don't lose a grip of what san francisco's came from. tommy's is a place that you'll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. you'll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. that's important. ♪♪ >> the service that san francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in san francisco. ♪♪ so we'll help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors

does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of san francisco. but i say really, more importantly, it really brings them public recognition that this is a business in san francisco that has history and that is unique to san francisco. >> it started in june of 1953. ♪♪ and we make everything from scratch. everything. we started a you -- we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. the business really boomed after that. >> i think that the flavors we

make reflect the diversity of san francisco. we were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. businesses come and go in the city. pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and there's so much competition. so for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. >> we got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. she was our customer in 1953. and she still comes in.

but she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that we're carrying on our father's legacy. and that we mean so much to so many people. ♪♪ >> it provides a perspective. and i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, you're missing the context. for me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. >> i just think it's part of san francisco. people like to see familiar stuff. at least i know i do. >> in the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommy's joint and looks exactly the same. we haven't change add thing. >> i remember one lady saying, you know, i've been eating this ice cream since before i was born. and i thought, wow! we have, too. ♪♪

>> chair haney: this meeting will come to order. this is the november 17, 2021 budget and finance committee meeting. i'm matt haney, chair of the budget and finance committee. i'm joined by supervisors safai and dean preston who is here in place of supervisor mar, who is not -- who will be with us at noon. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? >> yes, the minutes will reflect that committee members participated