rules committee.

december 6, 2021. rules committee.

>> good morning. welcome to the rules committee for today, monday, december 6, 2021. i am the chair of the committee supervisor aaron peskin joined by vice-chairman delman and committee member supervisor connie chan. our clerk is mr. young. >> committee members participate in this remote meeting through video as though physically present. we recognize that public access to city services is essential.

public comment will be available on each item on the agenda. channel 26, 78 or 99 and --governor rick scott are streaming on the screen. available by (415)655-0001. call from a quiet location, speak cloly and turn down your television or radio. you may submit public comment in either way. e-mail to the rules committee clerk at vic.yo un g at sfgovtv.

if you submit it will be forwarded and included as part of the file. written comments will be sent to city hall room 244. san francisco california 94102. that completes my initial comments. >> thank you. could you please read the first item. >> item 1. campaign and governmental conduct code. permit consultants and to prohibit elected officials, department heads commissioners and designated employees from soliciting behested payments from interested parties.

>> thank you. colleagues, we are back for the sixth time with the behested legislation. my staff earlier circulated to each of you and your offices the latest round of amendments that reflect conversations that my office has had, particularly with nonprofit stakeholders as well as the ethics commission as well as with other supervisors who have weighed in on this. i spoke with the city attorney, who was present this morning and was informed that one of these proposed amendments is in fact substantive. what i would like to do this morning is to make all of the non substantive amendments and hopefully pass out of committee this morning. i will speak a little bit to why it is urgent that it be done sooner rather than later.

i would like to duplicate the file and make the one substantive amendment and keep it in committee for consideration as trailing legislation. before i get into the specifics, let me just kind every mind us of where we have been and how we have gotten here and the basic principle in the legislation are. as you remember in the wake of the nuru scandal our controller did a report and recommended a number of changes and supervisor haney then followed up in september of last year with the introduction of this legislation with regard to behested payments particularly as related to department heads, and that was

in the midst of covid. this has been around here for a year and six committee meetings. the basic principles are pretty simple. we should not be putting ourselves or our city officials in positions of raising money from the parties seeking financial benefit from us. this dynamic has been allowed to persist for too long, and per controller's recommendation this legislation addresses it squarely. the amendments i have made along the way i think do that even more. to put it another way, you are either in the business of making grants to the city or applying for contracts from the city. you can't be in the business of getting contracts with the city in exchange forgiving money to the city. that is the definition of quid pro quo.

i also want to ground this in another principle which is in the realm of the practical. we, and that by i mean we as city officials, need to be able to comply with this. outside stakeholders also need to comply with this. we all need to understand our obligations and responsibilities. the amendments i made to get us to this point that i propose today are in furtherance of that latter practical consideration. in as much as we have tried to cast as broad net as possible, i want to be clear where the prohibition on behested payments need not apply. to that end i would like to make the following non substantive amendments which you are in receipt of at page 2. let me get my cheat sheet here.

lines 19 through 21. at page 4 lines 1 and 2. i propose to define the term grant and provide that people or entities who provide grants to the city are not interested parties for the sake of prohibition on behested payments legislation. if all you do is grant money to the city, then you are not an interested party as defined. this takes care of what some of my colleagues were concerned with with regard to accept and suspend approves. page 3 lines 11 and 12. i would like to exempt from the definition of interested party individuals who attempt to influence city officials via public speech provided they don't have another financial interest in the matter. there are a number of ways

people attempt to influence city officials that are entirely benign and things we should encourage like speaking on step of city hall or attending a rally. that should not make these individuals interested parties. page 3, lines 19-21. page 16, lines 14-16. i propose to limit so listing permits to those who they have made contacts within the last year. at page 4. lines 24 and 25. i propose to exempt uncompensated nonprofit board members from definition of interested party. at page 6 line 25, this is actually a clarification but i would like to limit the prohibition on indirect solicitations only to identifiable interested parties.

one amendment which i propose at page 3 lines 4-6 and page 4 lines 3-4. i will make to the duplicated file. that would make sure if the contract is before the board of supervisors for approval under 9.118, the charter section that requires the board of supervisors to approve contracts over $10 million in cost 10 years in duration or $1 million income to the city that the parties too those contracts are defined as interested parties. the city attorney has said that is substantive. i will do that in the duplicated file. before i open up to public comment, let me circle around to what i said at the beginning

which is to address why there is some urgency here. i note that in the context that this has been going on now since the scandal but over a year since this legislation was introduced and we really have a long overdue duty to cut this behavior out of our government. i always prefer to do things legislatively and not go to the ballot unless we have to go to the ballot. that said, i understand that the ethics commission which has no authority to put this legislation directly on the ballot is considering doing just that on or before the deadline early next year. i would like to show that this body is doing its job and can

adopt this legislation in my conversations with the ethics commission staff, they find these amendments and the body of the legislation to be acceptable and supportable by them so i will prefer that we pass this and not dither into next year when they are poised to put this on the ballot. with that if you have any questions or comments you can state them now or wait until later in the meeting. if not, supervisor chan, i will open it up to public comment. >> thank you, chair peskin. i want to thank you. i know how hard it is to really and also thank your team for

their hard work on this. i know it has been a lot of conversation with many different parties to make sure we get this right, and most importantly that is enforceable. thank you so much for your work on this. >> thank you, supervisor chan. i do want to thank and acknowledge my staff who has worked hard on this. debbie from the human services network who has been a real thought partner with my office in suggesting some clarifications and practical amendments. i would like to thank deputy city attorney and our council here this morning for their help along the way and patrick ford at the ethics commission for his council and collaboration. supervisor mandelman.

>> thank you, chair peskin. thank you for all of your work on this legislation over these past many months. i have been happy to allow and to watch as this process has gone forward. one question that has been brought to my attention that i want to understand how the legislation would work. i get the notion that elected officials with particular issues before us for some reasonable period of time prior to the guest or some to us for some period of time after. i think that makes sense. i am also understanding as we thumb through right now and i don't think this has changed in any of the amendments the

prohibition on soliciting payment from a contract lobbyist. what i have heard and i don't know if it is true. there are hundreds of contact lobbyists that, many of them may or may not have been working on something that appears before the board recently or likely to appear before the board shortly. is that right? is that a problem? is that something i should be concerned about? >> the notion is if someone is getting paid to influence a decision-maker that decision-maker should not be soliciting behested payments from that party that is paid to influence the decision-maker.

>> regardless whether we are talking about a particular issue or contract or thing. in general this set of people if they work for non-profits or for profits who talk to us on a regular basis about stuff impacting the city we should not be calling those people to ask us to find money for non-profits we care about. >> that essential my hope that people who are because that again goes into the notion that there is a quid pro quo. they are carrying water. they get paid for that. we grant them what they desire and they in-turn, yes, are you proposing language to limit the

contact lobbyist prohibition to actual contacts in the last year like we did for permit consultants? is that what you are saying? >> i am trying to understand what it would do and what the intent is. i can imagine there are contact lobbyists. i can imagine people register as contact lobbyists even though they ever really ask for anything but to maintain good relationship with the city. i can imagine on the nonprofit side there might be a similar situation and i guess, i mean, you and i privately discussed. my concern about the ethics rights i have never supported tightening. it is that we box ourselves in ever more tightly and create, you know, things for people to screw up without necessarily leading to better ethics in the

sense of newer gate, for example. i don't know whether this is a concern of mine. it is something raised. thank you for engaging around it. >> if what you are saying, which is, and i hear you, which is if you go down the list of contact lobbyists on the website there are individuals registered as such that many of us have never heard from or have not heard from in years. the way, i think, to deal with that would be what we did for permit consultants to limit them to actual contacts in a period of time. if you haven't heard from making this up at&t in the last year, they would not be covered.

that is an easy change to make. narrowing. i am not the city attorney. that would be nonsub tantive, i would imagine. >> thank you. >> why don't we open up for public comment. any members of the public to comment on this item number 1? >> yes, mr. chair. operations is checking to see if there are callers in the queue. please let us know the callers are ready dial star 3 to be added the queue. for those. on hold wait.we have six callere online to speak. first speaker, please. >> good morning, supervisors. this is is debbieler man at human services network. we appreciate our work with

supervisor peskin's office which we feel has addressed our concerns to protect legitimate fund raising while addressing the ethics issues. we are still working on the piece around attempt to influence which is still vague and we believe overly broad. we think that that provision should be limited to those with a financial interest which is the primary driver in corruption cases. the attempt to influence language includes advocacy that may not involve direct contact with the public official. and that person may not be aware of the attempt to influence. rallies and public forums are one example. it could include things like sending a tweet or sending a letter to the editor. a big example is petitions. if somebody turned in a petition

with a thousand signatures. the public official may not look at the names. >> thank you. i agree. in some sense this is what the ethics regulations, i think, should be revised to do. i will circle back to that.

next speaker, please. >> good morning, chair peskin, supervisors. i am bruce wolf. i am the current chair of the sun shine northern passports. i wholeheartedly support this legislation to address non-profits that ethically do business and fund raise and benefit the people of our great city. i appreciate the work of hsn and your staff. i am tried being embarrassed over the progressive political let's liberal values in san francisco. we have no control of public officials. i do welcome this. i also believe in fairness and

appropriate balance and regulations. to include such advisory bodies like the sunshine ordinance task force. somehow it feels a bit overreaching. compared to those who truly could or would have an effect of the declines we are experiencing today where they hold authority of the financial value which is ordinances to control. i am getting conflicting ethics commission who is charged with implementing and enforcing this legislation and our legal counsel at the sunshine task force. the ethics commission wrote in a written opinion the first initiation that the task force members are not subject to the current spending law. i am receiving communications the members are quote not commissioners.

despite the task force legal counsel's opinion that we are commissioners, but then we don't hold administrative proceedings. it is not clear as to where bodies like the task force it is in regards to who the officers are. >> thank you. i appreciate that. next speaker, please. >> good morning, this is charles head, president of coalition for san francisco neighborhoods. i applaud your advancing this legislation. years ago i was on the civil grand jury that investigated the ethics commission and worked with larry bush to cut out the cancer quit pro ." larry is now on the ethics commission. he is doing so. i am glad that you are banding

together with him. good luck to you all. thank you very much. good morning. >> next speaker, please. >> we can hear you now, mr. pill plow. >> as i said, last week and i will expand on that. i believe that ethics is critical to making the changes work regulations and training on page one line 16 i think there is an and that should come back. page 3, line 6, that should be indented. page 6, line 13. concept of public appeal the referenced in the legislation. the definition was struck out. i believe that public appeal should be defined on page 4 with the other terms.

since i asked last week and didn't get an answer since ethics is the filing officer do these amendments apply to the san francisco unified school district and college district. i understand that the meet and confer process with employee organizations has been completed and, finally, importantly i support this ordinance and believe that any further needed fixes can be done with the trailing legislation of the duplicated file you referenced. thank you for all of your work and all of the work behind-the-scenes to make this happen. i appreciate it very much. >> thank you. any other members of the public for item 1, public comment. >> i believe that was our last public comment on this matter. >> public comment on item 1 is closed. colleagues. i would like to move the an for

mentioned amendments with the exception of the one substantive amendment page 3 line 4-6 and page 4 lines 3 and 4. supervisor mandelman. >> i have two more questions. >> why don't we adopt those amendments then get to the questions. on the amendments a roll call, please. >> on the motion would you like to duplicate the file first? >> no. i would like to duplicate the file after. >> on that motion to amend. supervisor chan. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman.

>> aye. >> chair peskin. >> aye. >> supervisor mandelman. >> two more things. apologies. trying to get myself caught up. the two other issues that i understand to have been noting around and i feel like you have dealt with at least one of those. an exception for accept and expend where the board of supervisors takes an action on it. i think that is in here. >> correct. these are the two the mayor's office brought to me. other is exception with organizations with m.o.u.s. i should not presume to know your questions. >> with regard -- first one yes.

that is in there. with regard to the second one. the answer from at least my office is no. the reason i addressed earlier on which is an m.o.u. does not necessarily cure what we are fundamentally going after. you are either in the business of making grant in the city or applying for contracts from the city. you can't be in the business of getting contracts with the city in exchange forgiving money to the city. i am not okay with the m ou exception because there could be m.o.u.s with organizations that give money to the city and get contracts from the city. that is precisely the behavior that is quid pro quo behavior. corruptor not.

respectfully to the mayoral administration yes number one and no number two. >> one example where i think an organization does both of these things. the situation here as i understand it would be a friends of group that sometimes does the work in which there might be an agreement or contract with some kind of work the city wants done. also raising money that the city thinks is valuable making payment to the city or somebody else to do what the city wants. that is the model that you feel is problematic. is that just the one obvious parks alliance or are there

other friends of groups that are doing that, too? >> it is obvious in the instance that you just mentioned and it may be in other places, but it is the notion that there are inherently potential conflicts in that relationship. the fundamental point here is the point around whether or not the fact of an m.o.u. leads to an exemption. i say no to that. i think the body of what we are trying to get to is clearly set forth here. god only nos what else could be in m.o.u.s. the m ou between the department and third-party is not acceptable to this supervisor. >> the notion there has not been

at least through the mayor's office an m.o.u. approved by the board of supervisors. >> it would be approved by the board of supervisors, right? >> it depends on what it is. no, they are approved all of the time by departments that don't come to the board of supervisors as supervisor chan well knows from her days at rec and park. >> before we vote on this with the full board i want to understand implications for any other friends of the group. >> understood. thank you supervisor mandelman. i do hope to prepare some additional amendments along the lines that ms.ler man spoke to. they are relatively easy as to categories of speech for

interested party definitions. mr. chen is aware of those and they are straight forward. with that i would like to duplicate the file and continue the duplicated file to the call of the chair. duplication requires no vote. continuation does. mr. young, a roll call, please. >> on the motion to continue the duplicated file to the call of the chair. supervisor chan. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman. >> aye. >> chair peskin. >> aye. >> the motion passes without objection. >> then, colleagues, before i

make a motion to send this item to the full board as committee report with recommendation, let me state maybe the obvious. that is that it is never easy for elected officials to hamstring themselves. as a matter of fact i was reading a story about the creation of the fair political practices act when then i believe governor in his first time jerry brown explained to the parties that were interested in that that the legislature would never pass it because the legislature would never want to tie their own hands. in deed they had to go to the ballot. i in san francisco we are better

than that and we are more courageous than that. if we are not inclined to tie our own hands given what has happened in san francisco and the shame and embarrassment that it has brought the city and county, we have no choice. it is long overdue. i appreciate supervisor mandelman's comments about the law of unintended consequences and the further narrowing of what an elected official can solicit and what the rules are around those solicitations. frankly, colleagues, we are in the business of regulating. we are in the business of making sure that our constituents needs are met. yes, fund-raising particularly around elections is one of the unfortunate things people in these positions have to do because even with public

financing you still have to raise money. i actually on balance think getting us out of the third-party fund-raising business or putting some very bright lines around it is the right thing to do, healthy for our society and we, frankly, should focus as much as we can on regulating and not on fund-raising. we do a lot of fund-raising. they are called bond measures, property taxes. it always, you know, gets me when for instance in 2008 when we went to the voters and asked for $800 million to rebuild san francisco general hospital. the voters of san francisco with the support not only of the san francisco democratic party which i chaired at the time, but with the republican party anemic as

though it may be in two-thirds majority voted to tax themselves for $800 million. then mark zuckerberg gave an additional under $100 million and got his name put on the hospital. it is the peoples hospital. we paid for it. we fund raise all of the time from our generous constituents. they are called property taxes, parcel taxes for the school district. why we are running around asking folks for $2,500 here and $5,000 there, i mean i can't say that i haven't done it. i have. the reality is that the big money comes from the voters of san francisco in any of that

this legislation is about any city firm, department head or supervisor not raising money from interested parties. we have worked to craft and sculpt andnary wrote to definition of interested parties. i would like to make a motion to send to the full board with positive recommendation for consideration tomorrow. we will see what happens tomorrow. i know that the mayor's office has issues. i know that some of my colleagues are concerned this will hamper fund-raising abilities, but let's give it a whirl. i really appreciate the advocates along the way who made helpful right mature suggestions incorporated in the six meetings along the way. mr. clerk as roll call, please.

>> supervisor chan, my apologies. >> thank you, chair peskin. i am not too sure this body is or the legislative branch of government was more korage us. years or decades in the making of this body including from the work you have been involved in limits political donations and establishing the public financing system that works including supervisor mar's increasing the dollar amount for the matching.

also eliminates any interested parties, lobbyist donating to political campaign to elected candidates. all of those measures are in place to allow someone like me working immigrant background from working families with no connection to really big donors to be elected to office. those are the works to this point which frankly i think that is what i see is that again all of this is really back to who can pay? who can pay to influence decision-making process in city government? for elected officials and city department heads for them to make something happen in the city is that they need to be courting big donors, people with

money so that we can make something happen. that fundamental approach creates some of the problems we are seeing, corruption charges we see for someone like mohammed nuru and others that they thought they needed to do that in order to make something happen within the city government. i will leave it like that. i do think this is not -- i look forward to seeing how this will be implemented. i do appreciate what chair peskin mentioned to show that we are committed to do this work and that we to do this work and to make sure that if we needed to tweak it we can because in the event the ethics commission

decides to put this to the ballot, i think there is going to be more challenges to make sure this actually works. we should move forward. >> supervisor mandelman. i do have the duplicated file failed to make the amendment i wanted to make to the call of the chair. we can get to that from a minute. supervisor mandelman. >> thank you, chair peskin. one of the perhaps unfortunate effects of another well meaning piece is the inability of committee members to engage with each other outside of committee meeting around the legislation

before us. i am grateful for the work with other supervisors and with departments and non profits over many, many months to make this legislation work. i remain as i said earlier and you acknowledged concerned about unexpected consequences. this is not a bright line rule. this is not a supervisor going out of business fund-raising from right parties but creating new rules how that works. it is possible and likely that you struck the right balance and that this is legislation i will support at the full board. i am not prepared right now to vote on it, particularly not to vote on it coming tomorrow. i am going to be a no today. maybe a yes tomorrow after i have gotten these questions

addressed. thank you for your work on this. >> thank you, supervisor mandelman. with that we will -- we will go to housekeeping on the duplicated file at page 3 line was 4-6. page 4 lines 3 and 4 as a 9.118 provision that i spoke to that and you are in receipt of on that motion to the duplicated file which includes continuation to the call of the chair. the file as amended, duplicated file as amended a roll call, please. >> chair peskin. would you like to rescind the duplicated file and i will make

the motion to add the one amendment and continue to the call of the chair. on that motion roll call, please. >> motion to amend and continue to the call of the chair. supervisor chan. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman. >> aye. >> chair peskin. >> aye. >> motion passes without objection. >> motion to send the original file as amended with recommendations as a committee report. roll call, please. >> on that motion. supervisor chan. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman. >> no. >> chair peskin.

>> aye. >> the motion passes with vice chair mandelman dissenting in committee. >> we will discuss this more with the rest of the board tomorrow. next item, please. >> item 2. hearing to consider three members to the food security task force. members of the husband lick who wish to comment -- public who wish to comment call 415-655-0001. 24837 is 554296-pound and pound again. dial star 3 to speak. system prompt will indicate you raised your hand. wait until you are unmuted.

right now star 3 to speak. we will get to that part of it after discussions. >> thank you, victor. we have two applicants for three seats. why don't we hear in the order they appear for seat number 12. meredith terrel. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you for considering me for food security task force seat 12. i worked with community-based organizations in san francisco focused on food during emergencies for 17-years. i am excited to be nominated. i have served on the food security task force in 2010 as co-chair. i currently attend meetings and have engaged this year. i hear the message loud and clear the security task force is charged with re-thinking food

security. i am looking forward to joining current members to seek participation throughout san francisco and change the way we approach the essential topic. we need many voices, strong partnerships to help address policy in san francisco around food security. i hope to bring security during emergency to the group. since 2010 i worked with american red cross focusing on community inclusion and food access. we can agree the covid-19 response laid to bear inequities across food access in san francisco. one size does not fit all to meet community needs. we need to do better. we have made food available with the view that culturally appropriate food is a luxury. it is imperative to allocate needed resources.

i will seek to gather voices from the community to represent needs of seniors. having focused on senior population during my time with the meals on wheels san francisco it is essential to ensure their voices are present and needs are met. thank you. >> thank you. questions or comments? seeing none. we will move on. >> good morning. can you hear me. >> yes. i apologize nor not pronouncing your last name correctly. reece. i am with the san francisco african-american faith-based could amlition. i have been in this roll for

three years. our mission and goal for 33 churches in san francisco area, bayview, hunters point, tenderloin and pacific islanders and people of color city-wide. this coalition was launched in november 2016 to address the high priority health needs for service. the health issues in our congregations. [indiscernable] housing, mental health and hunger. at the time our pastors prioritize hunger as third most present need. thanks to the covid-19 all of our work has been shifted to emergency response to hunger. for the last two months we

shifted our concentration to food security for our target population. donations an philanthropic organizations and partnering with dph with the new deal, the food bank and more to serve our most impacted target area. while doing so i learned there is still a need for long-term self-sufficient programs in our community. with technology and experience i can be a valuable asset for the food security task force. i have identified and established relationships with the black farmers who are interested in partnering with african-american cultural community organization in our neighborhood. after my retirement from the

airline industry after 45 years of international experience i am excited to work with the task force when we thinking a broader approach to the community issues and needs. taking advantage of the trust relationship coalition has established with our faith-based clientele. innovated approaches are yet to be tried to this new normal society in which we serve. thank you in advance for your consideration in appointing me as a member of the task force. >> thank you. are there any members of the public to comment on item 2?

>> there are no callers in the queue. >> if you have not done so dial star 3 to be added the queue. for those on hold, please continue to wait. if you would like to be added the queue press star 3 to be added at this time. i will give them a few moments. it does not appear to be anybody in the queue for public comment at this time. >> public comment is closed. colleagues, if there is no objection and no comment, i would like to make a motion to have meredith terrel serve in seat 12 and guille rmo reece in

seat 19. anybody who represented the community-based organization to provide nutrition support and works to increase food security of san francisco residents is welcome to apply for seat 19. on the motion to forward with recommendation meredith terrel for seat 12 and reece for seat 14. roll call, please. >> supervisor chan. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman. >> aye. >> chair peskin. >> aye. >> the motion passes without objection. >> thank you. can you please call the next item. >> item 3. hearing to consider appointing one member term ending april 30, 2025 to the police commission.

members of the public to comment call 415-655-0001. id248371554296. pound pound. if you haven't done so press star 3 to line up to speak. >> thank you. colleagues as you will recall, patrick did not apply to continue and her term expired i wang to thank ms. dejesus. we have been waiting for applicants. we have some impressive applicants before us. first chattopadhyay has withdrawn.

there are four applicants for the seat before us today. i want to thank them all for applying. thank and acknowledge the many letters of support and e-mails that we have receive. with that if there are no opening comments, i would like to open this up in the order that they appear on the agenda for opening statements. from the applicants for the police commission starting with david rizk. >> good morning. thank you for the opportunity. good morning, supervisors and mr. clerk. i want to talk to you this morning about why i am interested in this position why i would be a good fit.

modernizing policing has been a passion of mine for a number of years. i have spent a lot of time working on it from many different ago gels which i think -- angles which qualify me for this position. when i first became a lawyer i worked for two federal judges. i worked on federal cases for them. i saw many different criminal cases and learned the way the judges view prosecutions. then i worked at a san francisco-based nonprofit called electronic frontier foundation that looks at civil liberties issues in emerging technology issues. i went into private practice as pro bono attorney handled civil rights and excessive force cases from police departments and innocence project matters exonerating folks who her the

victim of bad police work. then i joined citizenry view which oversees citizen police. that operates much like the police commission. it hears misconduct cases and reviews policy changes for bart police. now, i work as an assistant public defender. i have seen hundreds of searches, arrests, investigations, good and bad, and i am very aware of the impact and benefits of law enforcement in the way they interact with community. finally, i am a member of the bar association of san francisco task force. lawyers, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement that weigh in on issues in the criminal justice

system. through that organization i have built relationships with leadership in all of the major criminal justice agencies in san francisco. da office, public defender, police commission, d.p.a. i am fortunate to weigh in on most of the most important issues that have come through the police commission in recent years and written dozens of letters and white papers and research memos offering research, legal counsel and advice to decision-makers in hopes of improving the types of policy outcomes we have in san francisco. those are my basic call fixes. i want to say a little bit about my approach to this work. as you all know and is obvious for the last several years in the united states. police reform and oversight is hard work.

it can be extremely challenging, involves competing interests with high stakes. i had a front row at bart. i have been on the receiving end on oversight committee of anganguish of family members. i heard anxiety of members of the public fearful of being caught alone at night on the platform by the trains or in the parking lots. i have essential heard from commander staff about their own safety concerns about desire to do their job and the difficulties of their job. with this experience and what it taught me is that in evidence-based experience-based pragmatic approach to negotiating reforms that honor first the community needs and

build trust between the community and the department is important. it is essential to guaranteeing public safety. i also think de-escalating rhetoric in difficult situations and reaching compromises is incredibly important. it often brings the best result. a few more things of my guiding principals. a few years ago i wrote a brief supporting the polis commission challenging the use of force policy in san francisco. it is modern iced and we wrote to the court of appeals formulating policy that preserved life and promotes trust between police agencies

and communities they serve. fundamental duty of local government. i think that is the mandate of the police commission. a lot more the police commission does. i personally look although several years old now to the obama white house's 21st century policing principles. there are six of them that form the basis for what us d.o.j. did when it came to san francisco to urge 272 recommendations that they ultimately made to the department. those are things like increasing community input to policy and oversight, leveraging new technology to improve transparency, building capital through community engagement, neighborhood problem solves. community polices is something

san francisco made great strides in. training and education. the fact is that there are shortages of police officers state-wide. it needs to be a profession people continue to look up to. that involves training and honoring office of wellness and safety. these would guide my approach to working on the police commission. i want to say little bit about diversity. my father's family is arab. migrate grandfather came to the united states to sell pots and pans. my family remembers that. my family was fortunate to take the opportunities that this country provided to become professionals and to turn towards public service. my father was a doctor.

i took that up myself. i followed it. i am assistant public federal defender in san francisco. i am dedicated to a diverse group of candidates. primarily people of color, spanish speakers, some new to the city. very diverse group. my job is to understand and emphasize and advocate for people who have a tremendous range of experiences and backgrounds. i represented everybody from immigrants to lifelong residents of filmore district and everybody in between. this is important. as long time citizen of the city, i was born here. i would be proud and i think i have experience with the city and communities here to serve

the board of supervisors well as a police commissioner. thank you for your time and consideration of my application. >> thank you for your application. you appear to be eminently qualified. today or at some point in the future this appointing authority or another appointing authority that we can find a place for you on the police commission. with that we go to the next applicant. jesus gabriel yanez. >> good morning, chair peskin and mandelman and chan. i have been devoting myself to providing violence prevention and creating safety programs,

mental health, clinical evidence informed programs in san francisco's community-based organizations since 1997. as a mental health specialist i have been involved in a wide range of partnerships and collaborations early in the 2004-2005. a group of community providers saw a need to better impact on systems involved young people involved with street activity. that led us to create a community response protocol to reach out though those individuals not receiving support services. through those effortings we created volunteer group of outreach workers, professionals

that reestablished the program that was devoted to making sure those young adults were receiving the support and treatment needs and that treatment needs were met. the effort led to us establishing the community response network, a program to expand to impact on city-wide communities. we incorporated partners from filmore district, western addition, chinatown, bayview-hunters point and expanded efforts to ensure we were cultural responsive to the needs of the different communities in san francisco. for our efforts we receive a

certificate of honor from the board of supervisors in 2005. in 2007, i was appointed to mayor newsom's leadership counsel and planning work group to establish the violence prevention plan for san francisco which was put into effect between 2008 and 2013 as advisory member with the community assessment and referral center. i work with the public defender's office and district attorney's office and leadership at san francisco police department to craft language and create protocols for the booking and detention of juveniles which the san francisco police department general order 7.01. in addition to my work collaborating with nonprofit organizations and juvenile probation department, public

defender's office, i was selected as a groups fellow by the department of children youth and families in 2010. an opportunity that gave me access to working with a broad group of community leaders to determine what it is that this city can do differently to better impact those families and individuals that are over represented in our criminal justice systems. my whole career has been devoted to creating alternatives and ensuring that community voice is being included in the different processes that our city has in order to create public safety. one of the particular goals that i would have as a police commissioner is to ensure that we are utilizing trauma-informed

care approaches. that we are ensuring when there areis departments that are -- incidents escalating as a result of street incidents that we have a police force trained in containment and deescalation, police force connected to the communities that they serve so that they can make the right decision as far as resourcing and making sure that those individuals that are often times coming into contact with the system solely because of their conditions, mental health conditions, be it their displacement situations, having to live in transitional housing or on the streets that we are working to make sure that each

and every one of those individuals is also being respected, their rights are adhered to and we make every effort possible to make sure that we are not criminalizing situations that have more to do with social conditions as opposed to a criminal activity or a, you know, that they are not being criminalized solely for being individuals who do not necessarily have the resources to access housing, to access transportation. i think in particular my goal considering this, you know, the main issues that we have in this city with accountability, with

ensuring the resources in place have an effective impact. i would love to see us move towards creating communication between the immigrant community and the san francisco police department. i believe our commission can play a role in facilitating that conversation. we know with improved communication, communities feel more comfortable reaching out to create a proactive approach to addressing incidents and containing situations before they escalate into issues that need to be dealt with by the criminal justice system. as immigrant i have been personally impacted by the manner in which the police department has interfaced with the laten x community. i believe that my experience

working with the broad coalition of partners in every community in san francisco gives me insight to be able to understand the needs of different communities in san francisco and works to the cultural new answers of every subculture into account when makings disease decisions -- decisions about public safety. i live on 16th. i see a lot of interface between the police department and the folks that are coming to access services here at the native-american center or mental health program that is right down the block from here. i see the positive interaction

that are an outcome of our efforts such as the compassionate alternative response teams and crisis intervention teams that receive the capacity building training that i believe every officer on our streets should meet provided within order for us to make sure that we are containing de-escalating and connecting people to the supports that will help them rehab it tail the need that they have in their life and connect to those services that will help them get out of the situations that put them in, you know, in the line of contact. lastly, i really believe that we have an opportunity. there are 400 plus pages of

recommendations from the d.o.j. i know we are making progress in improving our department. i also know that we need to be very, very steady and proactive and we need to make sure that there is true communication and accountability, quantifiable and qualitative information that will inform the direction we are going to take this department. i appreciate the opportunity to presenting my call fixes. i -- i would love to involve myself in a greater level to develop a safer community for all. grateful to present before you today. >> thank you, sir.

if there are no questions or comments from committee members we will go to the next applicant listed. stephen schwartz, lulula flame. please proceed. >> i know he was with us earlier. >> i am with you. prepared to make my statement. i want to say that i am known as lulu around the city as an activist. ll an flame.

i haven't changed my name. it is an e-mail address that i had for many years. anyway, i believe my call fixes for the police commission are unique. people over use the word unique. i am a transgender female. i don't approach the supervisor as a token, novelty or representative of the transcommunity. in my quotemale unquote career i served 10 years as staff writer for the "san francisco chronicle." i served as member of another san francisco appointed body. simplification commission from 96-99. i lived most of my life in san

francisco. in the last four years i have undergone physical attacks that trans women suffer in the city. i suppose all trans people do. i know about trans women. i have investigated a process for relief. i interacted twice with police account ability regarding transissues. supervisor peskin knows i can get low crisis. i will be as brief as i can. i am committed to support modern efficient just and socially enforcement law enforcements. i studied police operations around the world including mexico, central america, peru, eastern europe, other places

where violence and lawen informationment and other issues are serious issues. i want to stress i am experienced as international human rights investigator. i worked for united, worked for the nether lands and royal dutch government. for the united states government. investigating cases that i would say most investigators will never have to deal with. mass murder, atrocities. very difficult things to see. i often talk about what i saw and how it affected me. piles of dead kids are pretty dead to deal with. worse is when you see dead children with eyes still open. i say that to indicate the kind of person i am. multi link gal.

bilingual in spanish. speak other languages that are relevant. european languages. [indiscernable] i speak russian. law enforcement in the city. our city can provide a global model for the future of law enforcement. that is why i seek this appointment and intend to accomplish. i will add a couple more little things i said to others when i sent out an e-mail about my desire to serve in this capacity. i believe policing in america is obsolete. police institutions are 19th century. it needs modernized and changed in many, many ways. it may sound strange. barcelona showed us how to do this. they have police bodies rooted

in the community. recruit from community. train people to work with the community. to respond to the community. i could give you a lecture. i won't. there was a time when the police were hated, hated, loathed in that part of spain. the police now are trusted there. it is extra ordinary to see in a city with as much of a revolutionary past as barcelona loves its police officers. i am for language diversity. i can tell stories when i was a reporter. we have to listen be to rank and file. reporters go and interview troops in war zones. it is times to interview the troops in war dozen. we need to hear what they think and how they live and what they feel about the issues they

confront. i am for the model for women police. it has problems with honor killings and other issues. the decision was made that the police would include as many women as possible to make it as progressive police body to carry this society forward. i am for that. two other things. one thing is important. we have to deal with mass crime, mass looting. i will say something many, many people would find out rage us. i believe vigilante is worst than crime. i don't like it when i hear that the store owners have to arm themselves because they are frightened of mass crime. there are ways away from this.

the main way is to prevent vigilante. there is a lot more to say. i am a talkative person. i will add one thing. i don't know if it is appropriate to say this. this wasn't originally my idea. this idea was brought to me by rang and file officers in company a who have interacted with sometimes typically positively, sometimes negatively. they trust me. i trust them. it was officers from company a that came to me to say did you know you can present yourself as an applicant. you don't have to run for election. they said i should do this. i went ahead and made my application. i hope you will consider the fact that i have been for social

justice since i was born. i have had many different experiences. i will never cease fighting for social justice. one last thing. after january 6th, people who say they hate police have a problem with me. the police department was all of the problems we have in this country protect me, protect us all. on january 6th, they protected our democracy. i want us to have police that we all trust, we all respect, we all obey when they are correct. as i said we can make the city a model of modern policing for the world. thank you, members. >> thank you. last but not least we will go to veronica fimbres.

>> good morning, supervisors. i am veronica fimbres. i applied for this position a little while ago, over a year, i believe. i was interested in serving on this particular commission because i think that there is a lot of work to be done. my experience as a nurse. i have been a nurse over 38 years. safety nurse at sanquenton and community associate for the department of public health where i work. i have experience with working with police and i have experience on both sides of the law. i have jailed before and i have experienced the law before. i remember that this office was created. it was originally called the

office of citizens complaints. it was run by mary dunlap to regulate and oversight of police department. i worked with all police chiefs we have had up until greg with my last police chief i worked with. i changed a lot of laws and rule that happen in the jail working with the sheriff's department. for transgenders. i am the first transgender officer in the history of the city and county of san francisco and serve appointed by the board of supervisors in the late 1990s. i served at the pleasure of three mayors. mayor willie brown, newsom and ed lee. over 14 years and eight months. as a person that has experienced

the policing, i think the mental health part of polices is the most important. i want to make sure the people, citizens of san francisco receive the best policing that is possible in our city and in our state. i think that as a black trans woman i am concerned about the things that other citizens are concerned about and mentioned by the other speakers who have presented their issues here. i think that ones we get the police force and proper oversight of police force a lot of issues citizens are having will stop the complaining and abuse that is done by the police to citizens. i would like to see the murders

of trans people of color solved. my girlfriend mariah was murdered not too long ago. her murder is still not solved by the police department. i would like to see action taken be on that. i think that more important than anything we have to show and the reason i run is to show that transgenders can do more than just walk through the streets. we have viable important part to play in society. i want people to recognize that. that is why i seek to be on the police commission. >> thank you. thank you for that and your past service. with that, colleagues. why don't we go to public comment on item 3. are there any members of the public to testify on the appointment of a new police commissioner to seat number 3?

>> please dial star 3 to speak. if you are on hold wait until the system indicates you are unmuted. i believe we have five online with three in line to speak. first caller, please. >> hello, supervisors. i am the vice chair of the health commission. i am also the former chair of the youth commission. i am here to speak as member of the democratic club, one of the vice presidents. i could-chair political action committee meeting with kevin ortiz. i am here to speak in support of

jesus yamez for seat three. it is important to have representation of the latin x community on the police commission especially by people with experience at the behavioral health system. i work at a homeless shelter and i have seen some of the amazing work that the team has been able to accomplish so far with the behavioral health approach for the most vulnerable people on the streets who are coping with dire circumstances. i truly believe that jesus has that experience as well as from working within the community but having personal experiences coming up through the city as

immigrant. i wanted to enforce that the democratic club has asked for continuing latino support. thank you for all of the amazing work that you have done. thank you. >> next caller, please. >> i am ron sickle, director of justice services. i am speaking on behalf of

jesus. i have known him for 20 years in many capacities. i have worked alongside him when he was co-chair of juvenile justice providers association as well as on individual cases involved in the justice system. i have a tremendous respect for his thoughtfulness and intuition. i am involved in juvenile justice reform, transitioningal justice reform. one statement repeated is the first place of contact and reform is police. if we don't have them the rest of this will not be nearly as effective. consequently, one of the biggest communications gaps is between the agencies working on this and the police. i feel strongly we need someone

on the commission to understand it deeply and who is part of the community greatly affected by the justice system. a commissioner connected to the multitude of people and agencies involved with people involved in and affected by the system. we need someone who is completely trusted by the community as well as who understands working with the systems affecting their lives with positive reforms for the future. jesus has the unique combination of intellectual and academic understanding of the issues. intuitive understanding due to intimate involvement and years of experience with all of the different departments and offices that are part of the justice system. i met him 20 years ago. >> year time has elapsed. if you can turn your camera off

during or deliberations that would be very much appreciated. next speaker, please. >> good morning. director of road map initiative collaborative effort. i have submitted a letter of support on behalf of the appointment of jesus to the commission. i have had the pleasure of working with mr. yanez20 years. i have seen the work he has done for youth and violence prevention programs. it impacted nose we serve and i have seen the impacts on developing the next generation of leaders in the community. his legacy of leadership development speaks for i was.

-- for itself. he has advocated for best practice intervention to address the issues. it is my belief that living in the urban environment poses unique challenges, to youth, young adults and families. he understands the needs of these individuals by facilitating connections. his work and experience have been unique and vital perspective. i support his selection. when polices is scrutinized more than ever these are needed for the department to improve community trust and being seen as vital partner in public safety in the city. thank you for your consideration. i am hopeful you will consider mr. yanez for this position. >> next speaker, please.

>> good morning. i am the manager for the latino task force. it is agencies working on covid response and support for latino community. i am calling in support to jesus yanez as candidate for police commission. i have known him for 20 years. i want to echo what people said already in support of him. in the time that he has worked with so many young people, they have now become productive and responsive citizens in the community. also, the breadth of his work over the last years in ensuring we have healthy and productive citizens in our community. i am district 5 resident. i can speak to the copy of his

impact city-wide not just one community and one neighborhood. i do support his candidacy. we would love to see him on the police commission. we look forward to him bringing all of the relevant experience that he has, in particular his on the ground experience where we move away from politics, move forward and actually realize the great ideas that city government can come up with. he has a proven track record of that and that is what we want to see in our community. someone who can it is in city government and realize policies and programs and initiatives on the ground. that is why i am calling to support jesus yanez. thank you. >> next speaker.

[indiscernable] >> we can't hear you, speaker. >> hello. this is julie tron in support of david rizi. i have worked with the department for six years. i was named to the commission working group prior to any involvement from the department of justice. i was then named to negotiate the policy with the poa prior to vote by the commission. we did so for 20 hours over two days. we were unable to reach full agreement. unanimously supported the appeal. without david's amazing work as city attorney and his brief we may not have succeeded to uphold

the use of force which is a model for the state. i sat on two working groups, two with david and the chief strategic plan with the traffic force 7.01 involvingoff -- juveniles. the volunteers doing this work are frustrated by commissioners who lack time to take this serious work. i have worked directly with david on a host of issues. as member of the bar association. he is our go to for complicated positions. i have worked closely with jesus who i trust you know by now who weighed in and supported david for her position. it is critical to have commissioners with expertise and time. this is important time and police response.

he comes to you, david comes with expertise and eyes wide open what this takes to accomplish the job. i would ask any applicants for the commission seat about involvement with the working groups, commission hearings to determine if they are fully aware of the work involved going forward. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> that was the last public comment for this item. >> okay. public comment for item 3 is closed. is there one more speaker? >> one more speaker. >> all right. please proceed. >> hi. this is kevin ortiz with the democratic club speaking in my personal capacity. the san francisco club has for over 40 years advocated for

latinos represented at government from supervisor to commissions as well. on april 22, 2021, we released a letter advocating for the seat of jesus to be represented and replaced by someone of latin x heritage to represent the values of jesus who had given time for the police commission. we ask today that we move forward and support the appoint mess of jesus yanez. it is important to take into account the latino community. we have heard from the task force and democratic club who did a letter on this issue. it is important the community continues to be heard and represented in these spaces as we know that police brutality

and issues with over policing tends to happen to communities of color especially latino and black community. i ask today that you support jesus for this appointment moving forward. thank you for your time and consideration. >> thank you, mr. ortiz. no other members of the public. >> we have one more. >> go ahead. >> i am marion. i was the former policy director of the san francisco department of police accountability. it is a position i retired from in 2020 after working for over

20 years at the department of police accountable, formally office of citizen complaint. i continue to do police oversight into these throughout california, oregon and washington. my comments concern the police commission applicant david rizi who i met as the policy director in 2016. he was part of a collaborative working group to revise the police department use of force policy. this work took enormous research, discussion and absolutely end less collaborative with the police department, city represents, community advocates and police commission. david was an instrumental participant in these really relentless meetings. it ultimately resulted in use of

force policy that if you look throughout the state. it set the standard. it was an amazing time and david was an instrumental part. not only was this use of force policy so important but afterwards the police union did everything to stop it from being put in place. david's work on the briefs was so significant because it was so important in solidifying the position the police commission could set policy. that work that he did was so vital. not only then did he do this work on san francisco police policy but he -- >> thank you very much. it is good to hear from you after a long time. any ore members of the public for public testimony on item 3?

>> one additional. >> go ahead. >> hi, good morning. i amvaller re. here to speak on supporting jesus as police commissioner. i want to say that often times city commissions are for political appointties or those ready for a political career. jesus comes from the community, has worked for the community for many, many years. he does not have an alternative agenda except to be fair and bring a voice to the commission that would be super-helpful to the commission as you approach these issues at hand. i know that he had a current turmoil with defund the police.

jesus will bring a community be voice to that debate and discussion. we highly recommend jesus as a police commissioner. thank you so much for taking his name into consideration. thank you. >> thank you. any last members of the public to speak on this item? >> we have pomore people that just called in. >> go ahead. >> this is rebecca young. i i have been a member of the criminal justice task force for two years. i have come to know and work closely with david rizi. there are competitive candidates. the community liaison would be important. only one of the candidates

before the board today is a subject matter expert and that is david rizi. he know the meyer's act, understands m.o.u., understands and writes about it and educate others about what the issues are. it would be very added boost. we would lose him. i hope he is appointed here. it would be a necessary added boost to the police commission if san francisco is movingforward on police reform. >> next speaker.

>> good morning. i am selina, executive director at horizon limited. i am here in support of jesus yanez for police commissioner. my colleagues have explained why he would be excellent for this position. he devoted his life to violence prevention initiative, part of community response, community referrel dinner. he has been positioned to have a unique perspective. i want to say he is a trusted member of the latino community. lifting our issues and our voice. he is currently working on the latin x safety plan as

consultant for the vocational school which is in line with his experience in this work. i want to be brief. i know others will be talking. again, we in the latino community feel that he would represent us. thank you so much. >> thank you. that, i believe, concludes public comment. am i correct? >> yes, that was the last public comment for this item. >> public comment is closed on item 3. the matter is in the hands of the committee. i want to thank all four applicants that appeared before us today for applying and being willing to serve and credentials. i think, colleagues and i don't want to put words in your mouth on that two of them rise to the top. first two we heard from mr.

rizk and mr. yanez and we received testimony on both of their behalves. i would like to think that both of them could and should become dated on this body for a while we did not have an embarrassment of riches now we do. there are seats expiring in a few short months. the mayor has an apment minute perhaps we can reach to see if the mayor is interested. i am chair of rules committee in 2022 we can consider one of those applicants for a seat that is coming up in april. with those opening comments i will turn it over to you two,

supervisor chan. >> thank you, chair pass ken. chair -- chair peskin. i believe that it is great to have diverse school of thought. diversion background for the make up of any regulatory body for our city government in all level through all of the decision-making process. as far as i have been on the seat as member of the rules committee we have appointed mr. larry ee and jim burns and mr.mac. >> carter over stone. >> thank you so much. now three members to the police

commission. very diverse. mr. yee is a union advocate for the chinese community. jim burnings is an immigrant lawyer and mr. carter. the new generation, again, the involvement for another attorney, i believe. i think that for me i am definitely looking for someone especially in the absence of commissioner petra. someone from the latino and latin x community and think about being a voice for that community.

kind of a diverse school of thought. thinking about really a long time working community. very specific in the sense where on behalf of the community dealing with law enforcement and what can be an alternative solution to bring those alternative solutions to the table. not just in philosophy or ideology but to understand on the ground the purpose. it is time that, you know, giving a lot of concerns among public safety. i think it is time to really have an intellectual honest and pragmatic conversation. i am a firm believer at this point. i think that i have a lot of concerns worries about the optics that exist out there. i think all four condaydats that

spoke on it. i do not believe that the public safety and social justice are mutually exclusive for our community. i doubt motives for anyone speaking otherwise. i look for someone who demands public safety for communities of color and with the mind of understanding social justice can be within that conversation as well. i am here and ready to make that decision today. i am ready to support the candidate that, you know, on this list that can represent the community here. i think that jesus yanez is a good option to consider today. i would urge your support. but i also think that there are

opportunities. chair peskin we have opportunity in april to consider other candidates with the ability to serve in 2022. thank you. >> thank you for the directions or suggestions as to direction on a tough choice. supervisor mandelman. >> thank you, chair peskin. i think i would like to begin by expressing my gratitude for commissioner jesus and her long service to the commission. she took the job very seriously and worked very hard at it. as a bonus she was a three for. latino, woman, and queer.

we have a number of excellent candidates in front of us. two are the top two. both of them are going to talk in terms of gender representation and in terms of sexual orientation representation as well. it is not a great thing for this commission not to have any queer people on it. that being said, both of the folks who seem to be the top contenders would be important additions. it is meaningful to me that commissioner recommended david rizk and the bar association recommended