i used to be like this, you know. i have compassion for people that are on the streets like the homeless and people that are caught up with their addiction because now, i feel like i can give them hope. it reminds you every day of where i used to be and where i am at now. >> the hon. london breed: good morning, everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed, and i want to thank you all for joining us here today to talk about public safety on a whole other level in light of the challenges that our city continues to face. you know, this has been a problem that has persisted in

the city for sometime now, and the fact is that things have gotten worse over time, and i want to thank a moment to appreciate our public safety officials today, some of whom you will hear from in a short moment, but thank you to our police chief, bill scott, for being here, our fire chief, jeanine nicholson, our sheriff, paul miyamoto, our director of public health, dr. grant colfax, our department of public works director, shireen mcspadden, and our district supervisor, ahsha safai.

in recent months, we've not only seen a rising number of criminal behavior, especially in the tenderloin that has become far too normal and cannot continue to be tolerated. all of our workers, our residents, and everyone who visits our city should feel safe no matter what part of town they're in, and i know that san francisco is a compassionate city. we are a city that prides ourselves on second chances and rehabilitation, but we're not a city where anything goes. our compassion should not be mistaken for weakness or indifference. today, we're announcing a series of public safety initiatives to create a city that is safe and turns the tide

on what we have recently seen in san francisco. and to be clear, what i'm proposing today, and what i will be proposing in the future will make a lot of people uncomfortable, but i don't care. at the end of the day, the safety of the people of san francisco is the most important thing to me, and we are past the point where what we see is even remotely acceptable. the first of these initiatives is the tenderloin emergency plan, which is already underway. during covid, we showed what this city can do when we unify our efforts and we work together collaboratively. tlou our emergency action, we protected the health of the city, and san francisco was a national model for addressing

covid. we saved lives. and let me say this: the tenderloin needs an emergency response, period. i spent a lot of time going to the tenderloin and have seen what's happening. we made a significant difference, but now, what i see is far, far worse. while there are still issues of needing to get people off the streets and into housing, and there are also very important urgent safety issues. last week, i met with families from the tenderloin. their stories are heartbreaking. just imagine if you had to walk

your kid down the streets of the tenderloin every single day with people shooting up, selling drugs, and because the sidewalks were so packed with people, you had to walk out on the street in incoming traffic on a regular basis. you've got these brand-new playgrounds where you don't even feel comfortable walking your kids to play in them because of everything they see around them, where you don't feel safe. the unsafe streets, and the dirty streets, and when i say dirty, i mean the feces in the

streets that department of public works will clean and have to come back just hours later. we can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. we need to be different, to act with urgency, and to be aggressive in countering these problems, and this is why i've directed mary ellen carroll, the director of emergency management, to lead our multiagency coordination on this effort, bringing the coordination and urgent responses that we brought to covid this year. in essence, a covid command that will be a public safety command that will be specifically targeted at the tenderloin community, and i'm going to have mary ellen carroll walk-through the details of what this means. our priorities are focused on issues of drug dealing, private

crime, public drug use, safe passage and accessibility for the people who live and work there, neighborhood cleanliness, housing resources, emergency medical calls, and we will be tackling illegal vending. in the short-term, that means taking actions like fixing the lights, adding additional lighting in very dark areas, dealing with the trash all over the neighborhood, but it also means coordinating with the police and sheriff's office on felony warrant sweeps, which have led to the arrest of 23 individuals so far with outstanding warrants. these are some of the people who have been holding this neighborhood hostage, and our criminal justice system has a responsibility to hold them

accountable. when the police make an arrest, the residents of the tenderloin should not see that same person back on the streets the next day dealing drugs right in front of their neighborhood. the next stage of this plan will roll out next month and continue for at least two months after that. the second stage will continue the progress made earlier on the law enforcement but interventions and connections of services to people facing evictions and other challenges, but to be clear, we're not giving people choice anymore. we're not just going to walk by and let someone use in public daylight on the streets and give them choice of giving them to the location we have identified them or going to jail. this will involve outreach workers, social workers, police, and community workers

working together, offering wraparound services at a new linkage site where people can start treatment, meeting people where they are, being the compassionate city that we are, but not tolerating the mess that we've had to tolerate. the final phase of this project involves keeping the streets safe for everyone who called the -- who call the tenderloin home, and promoting safety and neighborhood support. this also includes long-term partnerships with community organizations and residents to maintain the improvements made during the crisis operations phase. the key will be to never let

the tenderloin go back to what we are seeing today, to not go backward, to move forward, to feel and see a difference. but public safety isn't just about the tenderloin. we know that there are issues all over this city. our second initiative is targeting the illegal vending on our streets that is incentivizing the break ins and robberies like the ones we have seen at stores and small businesses throughout the city. and you know what's the sad reality before i was even an elected official, everybody knew whatever they stole for cell phones, laptops, anything you steel in the city, you take it down to the tenderloin, and there's somebody waiting to give you cash for these items. i want you to know, these are not just victimless crimes, and

these are not just property crimes. we're seeing stolen vehicles, physical violence, and the use of weapons. today, i'm introducing legislation to disincentivize theft by making the resale of stolen goods on the street more difficult. it will mandate highly visible posting of approved vendor permits to make it simple and easy for inspectors for proof at any time and if they can't produce it, we will take action. it will allow the department of public works to associate with law enforcement. if there is a need to move an

individual who's not complaint and the ability to confiscate goods. these are basic but important actions, and i want to thank supervisor safai for cosponsoring this legislation. we also need know that we need to give our officers more tools to effectively do their jobs. in 2019, the board of supervisors passed a law that effectively limited officers' use of camera feeds for certain situations. for what happened in union square, they could not. when there were multiple robbery crews hitting multiple stores, they could not access those cameras, which is ridiculous. think about that. you're in an incident of severe looting, aurofficers are not able to use that other

jurisdictions -- our officers are not able to use something that other jurisdictions use. we need amendments to clarify that officers are allowed to access these cameras when needed to address critical public safety issues. there is a balance to be had, i know, but right now, if our officers cannot use cameras during a mass looting event, then that policy is out of balance. we are actively working on those amendments, with plans to introduce it in january, and my hope is that the board will support changes. lastly, we're increasingly asking our police department to do more. they're working overtime to address these challenges,

including responding to the rash number of retail thefts, and expanding a number of deployments through our tourism deployment plan so when come here and support our economy, they feel safe, and they want to return, and we change the narrative about what people say about san francisco. and focusing on auto burglaries to make significant arrests on prolific crews. they've done all of this -- our

officers are committed to doing the work, and they're committed to keeping us safe, but everything they've been doing over the recent months and everything we've going to ask of them in the coming months before we pass a new budget is going to require more overtime funding, and it's going to require more police officers. my budget office is currently working with the san francisco police department and the chief to understand what the needs will be to get us through 2022, and i will introduce a supplemental to ask this board for the resources that we need so that the deployment that exists now will not end after the holidays. the deployment that we're starting in this city needs to be permanent. as we are preparing for our budget, we will ensure these resources occur, including

academy classes and overtime, are in place as part of the budget, and i will introduce that as part of that budget in may, but we cannot wait to continue some of those actions now. some of those actions are underway immediately, while others require significant action and legislation, and there will be more work on this front. taken together, they can make a real difference on our streets and on our city. i want to recognize our police officers and their commitments. vacations have been cancelled, time off has been cancelled. it's been all hands on deck, and at the end of the day, what has made the most significant difference to address public safety is, yes, we've made investments in social service programs, yes, we pushed for

reforms to our criminal justice system. we will continue to do that, but when a line is crossed, people have to be held accountable for the crimes they commit in our city, and that's where our police officers have been critically important to our ability to do so. thank you to sheriff miyamoto who has been a real partner, and i'm looking forward to working more with allowing our sheriff's departments to work off duty. at the end of the day, i know this sounds like a lot of different things. i know this sounds like more and more promises that may not materialize, but i want each

and every person in this city to know this work, and what we are going to do to turnaround how people feel in san francisco is the most important thing to me. this is a city that has a population of under 1 million people but has a $12 billion budget. the people of this city have been extremely generous with providing us the resources to make a difference. and now, the priorities we need to make must be to protect them. when you are in a room full of people, i would say probably anywhere between 90 and 95% of folks could raise their hand and say that either their car has been broken into or they've

been a victim in some capacity or another. that is not okay. that is not acceptable, and it's time that the reign of criminals is over. it happens when we are less tolerance of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city. we are going to turn this around, and this is the most important thing for me and i know leaders of public safety in this city at this time. with that, i'd like to introduce our police chief, bill scott. [applause] >> thank you, mayor.

good morning. let me start with this. the people in our city who have been impacted by crime, by quality of life issues such as open air drug usage, street vending, some of our issues with unhoused population that lead to trash on the streets and needles on the street and things like that, these things have to change. now from a policing perspective, let me tell you what you can expect from the san francisco police department. first of all, enforcement of drug dealing and drug dealing offenses. it's little consequence that we've arrested 600 people in the tenderloin alone this year.

it's little consolation when you're still seeing drug dealers on your block day in and day out. it's little consolation when we seize four times as much fentanyl as we did last year, and we still see open air drug use happening day in and day out. and here's the point to all of this. we will continue to make arrests, and we will make more arrests, but there are areas in this city that need constant 24-hour patrol while we make those arrests. this is what i'm hearing over and over and over again, and i

thank the mayor and our elected officials who are here with us for introducing the line because this police department will draw the line, but we need the resources to do it. and let me go in a little bit more detail how this works, because i'm going to speak about our officers. they're asked to go in and do their job, make an arrest. they're in the station, writing reports, booking evidence. that has to be done. while they're doing that, that corner, nobody is there, and when that's happening, we can't afford to have a neighborhood where that happens.

i've been out with those officers. i've walked those blocks with them. they make an arrest, they're out in the field. 30 minutes later, i go back, and it's like they've never been there. there are places in this city where we need constant police presence. and let me be very clear what i'm saying. i'm not saying unconstitutional arrests, i'm not saying brutalizing or excessive police force. i'm saying we need to be out there, and that takes time, that takes money, and that takes resources. when i ask an officer, what do you need to do your job, the answer is usually two things: we need enough people to do our jobs the which we've been asked to do it, and we need to be supported when we do our jobs the right way. as your chief of police, that's

what i'm asking for. i'm asking for the resources to do our job like we need to do, and i'm asking for support for our officers when you ask them to do the job the way they should do it. police departments all across this country are facing hiring challenges. this city is no exception. we need to have an environment in this city where people want to come to work here and be police officers. that doesn't happen without support, and mayor breed, thank you for your support on this. we need the public support, they need my support, and they deserve that if we're asking them to do a very difficult job. so i'm going to go into a little bit more detail before i introduce mary ellen carroll to the microphone. open air drug deals, open air

drug dealing, we need consequences. listen, i'm here to talk about what we can control, we, the san francisco police department can control. but when we are using drugs, and some of people that i'm talking about, they have substance addiction issues, they need medical assistance to get through those issues. we have to be compassionate about that, but being compassionate about that doesn't mean we turn a blind's eye to what's happening on the street. the criminal just system has changed. a decade ago, possession of a small amount of heroin or crack cocaine would land you in jail with a felony, but it doesn't mean we can't be compassionate. it doesn't mean we can't rely

on medical and health care resource to have a balance of health care treatment and enforcement. we've struggled with that, i'll be the first to admit it, but that day is no more. we will engage, we will engage consistently, we will offer up services. the city and the mayor and everybody standing here in front of you are working on a plan to do just that in the very, very near future, but at the end of the day, at the end of all of this, people will not be allowed to smoke meth, to smoke fentanyl, to inject heroin in their arms in public spaces, and it's very important that we are consistent and that we sustain this effort because to do it for two weeks is not going to help us long-term, and again, it takes resources, it takes a commitment, and it takes a desire to sustain this

effort. this department will own its shortcomings. we're not a perfect department, even though we try to be that. but i can say one thing, that the commitment is there. given the resources, we know we can have better outcomes than what we've seen, and we can have consistent outcomes. we want to be held accountable for those outcomes, i want to be held accountable, but we need the resources, no doubt about it. using technology -- i've been doing this job for almost 33 years now. if we can't use the technology we have in a way that protects civil liberties but still protects the crime and the criminal issues that have been disclosed, then why do we have

it. if you are the victim of a violence crime or the owner or a store keeper that had your store looted, it's little consolation to say, yeah, we can get the video after you've been victimized. yeah, there's value do it, but we need to do better. we have to do better. and lastly, we've seen what happened in our city on union square on november 19. it's not the first time it's happened, but we saw the nature of it happening, and we saw it happen every where else. i'm here to tell you that that

increased deployment made and continues to make a difference. again, seeing it with my own eyes, walking it with officers. and i've seen it all over the city, but in union square, after the world was set on edge with what they saw, the people that have to go there and work every day, the people that have to take transportation to go there, the people that want to go there and shop, that have to look over their shoulder, worried that 50 people are going to run in the shop with knives or guns or hammers or whatever they have to run in the shop, it matters to them, so we need to sustain this effort. so you have our commitment. i want to thank our elected officials for supporting this effort. chief nicholson, fire chief,

sheriff miyamoto, and many others, dr. colfax, and others. we can do it when we do it together, and we have the support and the resources to get us there. so thank you, and with that, i'd like to introduce mary ellen carroll, the director of our department of emergency management. [applause]

>> thank you, chief scott, and thank you mayor breed. emergency management provides coordination in times of crisis, and today, as you've heard, there's no more significant crisis than what's happening in our streets and especially in the tenderloin. during the pandemic, san francisco demonstrated what can happen when we work together. at the mayor's direction, the department is going to collaborate with our community partners. over the next few months, the

team will implement a multiphase assessment approach. the first phase is already underway. through meetings with community stakeholders and residents, we have developed an understanding of the challenges that we have to address. enforcement and the disruption of criminal activity to guarantee safe passage in our

community. during this phase, social workers, clinicians, community partners, and resources will work in concert to offer wraparound services at a new temporary linkage site. when it's established, it will allow services, and at the same time, as you heard, law enforcement will be present in the community. our response will operate with the same level of urgency, coordination, and focus that was so successful during our first against the pandemic. the final face of our

interventions will focus on transitioning to a sustained operation that will help keep the streets safe and accessible for all who call tenderloin home. this phase will include long-term partnerships with our community or with community organizations and residents to maintain the improvements that we will achieve during this crisis operation response. the tenderloin is home to families, local businesses, nonprofits, immigrants, seniors, and young professionals who all deserve a safe and healthy place to call home. last week, as the mayor spoke, we met with the first group of san franciscans, and they demanded that the city take action so that they no longer have to live in fear in their

neighborhood. through our effort, the city will stand with mothers who want their children to get safely to and from home and school and the playgrounds and the parks. we will stand with merchants and neighbors, and i want to thank mayor breed for her leadership, and at this time, we will introduce our sheriff, paul miyamoto. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. these recent incidents, this recent uptick, all of the things that have been discussed here by all of the previous speakers, have created a citywide public safety concern that the san francisco sheriff's office is prepared to continue with the solution and

provide services and support necessary to make sure that our collective efforts are not just a flash in the pan, are not just a temporary solution, but something that is long-term and sustainable. i think it's very important to recognize that we have city leadership here, just as with the pandemic, the city leadership is here to address the problem of safety and public safety and as a public safety official, as an elected law enforcement public safety official, i am very grateful for the collaboration and the coordination not just between the electeds and our city government in addressing these concerns. we are going to be redeploying

services that we have in place to help address the immediate concerns in the hope of creating a model to be sustainable over the long-term. our staff will be working them, and we have over 800 [indiscernible] we will continue to do so in this new model to address these concerns, to finally say no to some of these problem that's we face, and our support that we

provide is compassionate mitigation of these challenges. we don't just work as law enforcement deputies in the street, we don't just work in the justice system with justice involved persons, but we're there with them for long period of times, in the health care facilities. we establish relationships, and relationships we hope to leverage in reaching out to people and making sure that they have support and access to services, as mary ellen mentioned, as the chief mentioned, as the mayor mentioned. our commitment is what you get from us at the sheriff's office, and in collaboration with the rest of city leadership, we look forward to

this. our staff members, people that have been dedicated to public safety for their careers, it was mentioned by the chief that a lot of us are working overtime. we're understaffed, we're underutilized, and we're working overtime to get things done. the commitment that we have here, we have to make sure we have what we need. thank you, madam mayor. >> the hon. london breed: thank you. that was a lot of information to process, and we'll be

providing additional information through our communications team, and at this time, are there any questions? question? [indiscernible] . >> well, that can be answered in two parts. first, we have to stop what's going on, with the understanding that there's a possibility that it's going to displace somewhere else. in the area of the tenderloin, we sort of know where those are. we have to still be present in

order to not let the problem repopulate as soon as we leave. i wish we could be everywhere in the city, but there are a lot of areas that need our attention. when we're out there, the people aren't selling drugs where we are. they see where we are, and they wait for us to leave. but if we're on the next block, or we go to the next block with them, we've -- you've got to understand what we're dealing with. this is a very transitory drug

market. people who want to sell drugs, they know there's going to be plenty of demand, and we have to disrupt all of that, while at the same time, we have to predict where they're going to go next, and we have to be waiting on them. this is a humbling experience, difficult experience, but it can be done. so resources, and understand that we have to do what we say and say what we mean. we're not going to arrest everybody in one day, we can go there and make 20 arrests right now, and there's going to be 20 other people that come right behind them, and we realize that. that's why we've got to be there when they come, so that's part of the strategy.

[indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: well, i think at the end of the day, the arrests will be made by the police department, with the hope that our district attorney will prosecute those cases. and accountability is not always jail time. it's some sort of punishment that's appropriate to the crime. when we talk about criminal justice reform, maybe it's someone in their first offense. do we think they should just be let out and the charges dismissed? no. there could be a layer of community service or things that they're required to do as a result of committing that crime, and currently, there are challenges with accountability, and my hope is that the d.a.,

who we are definitely trying to work with, will hold the people that the police arrest accountability. we will, in every single instance of arrest, put together a report that is clear, that makes it clear in terms of what was actually done, and what the specific offense is. and our hope is that in light of everything that's being done, that the maximum charges in every one of these cases are what the d.a. goes after. there are things that we want to do to reform this system, this is an industry. the car break-ins, the theft and the looting, it's not only how many are happening, it's

how violent they're becoming. [indiscernible]. >> the hon. london breed: i have conversations with him regularly about everything that happens in the city related to charges that we hope he will impose. we have a relationship where we have conversations about many of those things, but as you know, he is an independently elected official, and at the end of the day, you need to ask him what he plans to do. [indiscernible]

. >> the hon. london breed: so i will say that, you know, when we talk about the number of stabbings, the number of shootings, the number of physical assaults that are occurring, unfortunately, our ambassadors and all of these other great services that we have, they're not equipped to handle those things. and in fact, some of them have put themselves in harm's way because of it. so too many people are crossing a line, and it's time for us to make a change, and that's where law enforcement comes in. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: to be clear, when those funds from the police department were redirected specifically to serve the african american community, there were no cuts to the number of officers that we had in the department. there was really a goal of, you

know, making some transformative changes with law enforcement and make it go clear that we are going to invest in people to avoid them even being involved with the criminal justice system in the first place but also make it clear to the criminal justice system that we are going to reform to help those that are disproportionately affected. an investment is necessary as a result of it. [indiscernible]

. >> the hon. london breed: so part of what's in the plan is giving the opportunity -- say, for example, department of public works, they are the enforcement leg of some of the illegal vending, but at the same time, we need to open the door to collaboration. we are still working on building that trust, and i think, unfortunately, we do have people who, under no circumstances, are they willing to work with our police officers. and from my perspective at this point, it's important that we have nonprofit agencies and people that are nonsafety personnel, we need them to develop relationships with the people who need to protect our city because ultimately -- and

i'll tell you an example of one of our persons who was out there, working to be that voice, and sadly, he was stabbed. so we have those situations that occur, and ultimately, when the crime occurred, then everyone wants help. is we have been putting in action with all of the decisions that they've been making, and what we're seeing in terms of our use of force cases this is where we are and this is what we need to do.

>> we have a united group on our incident management team on how to approach these problems, but what we've been doing the last few weeks is sitting down, negotiating a solution, and moving forward, and that is part of the approach. we'll be reviewing on an every single day what our operation plan is for that day and then looking at what will happen the day before.

this allows us to be agile, it allows us to adjust. we have to be successful. we are coming to the table with a set of tools and tactics, and if it doesn't work, we will sit down again, and we will adjust. [indiscernible] . >> so the balance with the drug usage, particularly when we're dealing with people that are addicted, we can't ignore what our health officials are telling us what works. i would venture to say that the

vast majority of the people that we're talking about have some sort of substance use disorder. what we're going to put into place, what director carroll has talked about, we have to listen to the science and the experts, but at the same time, we can't just allow people to use on the streets. if we're constantly talking to people and getting them to the right locations, we should given them an opportunity to do it. we ask someone on the street, if they want to go services,

skm they say yes, and we see them on the streets again, we're not asking again. then, it becomes enforcement. possession, use, those are misdemeanors, so the law still allows them to be cited out. let's say they're cited out, and a third time in the same day, the law allows us to ask for a detention based on the likelihood that the offenses will continue. all of those processes that i talked about will be put in place. we have to be consistent, and it goes back to what i was saying, and i'll say it again, it takes resources. when we're not on the streets, we see the activity that we're trying to address, and can't

address it if we're not there, so while we're in the process of enforcing, we have to replace those officers are officers that are constantly in the streets in some of the most challenging areas, and that's been a tremendous struggle because i'm telling you, if you go, and you've seen this in action, it's a revolving door. the consistency of deployment along with compassion, offering services, giving people a chance to engage in those services, but we have to be consistent. you're smoking crack on our streets, you're smoking meth,

no, that's not going to happen. we're going to engage. you may not be arrested the first time, but we're going to engage. we have to rely on what works from a clinical perspective, but that has to be balanced, and it's not an easy solution. >> that's all we have. thank you. thank you.

>> we take a lot of pride in what we do. the electric shop covers all of waste water, so out of this location here, we cover everything from oceanside to southeast plant and all the computations including treasure island and yerba buena. we have all the preventative responsibility, maintaining maintenance and also keeping up with work orders from

operations. i would say one of the things fortunately for me is the staff is incredibleably motivated. the staff here knows what to do, how to do the job safely, and it makes my job incredibly easy. >> they know the job, and they know the challenges, and i think it's all about personal pride. they want to do a good job. from our maintenance group to our i.n.c., dedication to the people. when they're going home, and they're crossing the bay bridge, and they get a call that there's a problem with a pump station on treasure island, they return to work. they turnaround in westbound traffic and get back to work and get this pump back in line, and i can't tell you how much that means to me as a boss and the city and county of san francisco. >> as a group, if they didn't do what they do, the streets

would be flooded with waste and gray water, and it could become a health hazard. we take a lot of pride in what we do, and we do the jobs right, and you walk away fulfilled that you've done the city a >> the hon. london breed: all right. so quiet in here today. is it quiet? kind of quiet. well, first of all, thank you, everyone, for being here today. thank you for the boys and

girls club for hosting us here in san francisco, and i really appreciate the continued to stand before you as the mayor of san francisco to introduce something that i'm very proud of and something that is long overdue. so today, we're here with a number of elected officials, nonprofits, and professionals, because the city clearly needs a change when it comes to our young people. during covid, we all know that kids suffered, and schools that were closed led to learning loss and mental health challenges that sadly continue to this day, but we can't pretend that these

opportunities didn't exist in the past, but today, we can create a new path forward. currently, there are ten agencies that make decisions for our kids. it is so frustrating and confusing for kids when parents can't speak english and they have to translate for their parents. the thing about these programs, they don't necessarily have a coordinated vision, and the programs are confusing for families to access. we are here because we

desperately desperately need to put our children first. there are a lot of people standing here today that really care about kids. supervisor melgar couldn't make it, but she supports our kids. supervisor raphael mandelman is here. former president of the board of supervisors norman yee is here, who led the fight in the city. we also have board members like jennie lam and former board members like hydro mendoza, who i can't tell if they're here because i can't see under the mask as well as the service providers to -- who provide services to our kids. and of course, we have our

parents, some of whom you'll hear from today. getting this charter amendment onto the ballot is going to take a lot of partners, and i'm really proud of all the people who are supportive of this and with us today, including our young people, who probably -- [applause] >> the hon. london breed: i know we can put our kids in focus. in the summer of 2020, with our schools closed, we needed to support our kids, especially those living in public housing and congregate settings who had nowhere to go, nowhere to learn. that's when the city, under the

leadership of maria su, with the department of children, youth, and families -- [applause] >> the hon. london breed: that's when we created the learning hub. the program that we created happened in a matter of weeks, so these hubs, they served thousands of young people with a safe place to learn, to be around other kids, to get access to other food and to feel normal during one of the most difficult times of our experiences. and what made the community learning hub successful was the communication and partnership with the city and communication and partnership with the nonprofit agencies. we would often ask why we aren't using the schools, and i had no good answer for that, and that's exactly why this ballot measure is needed. it has two main focuses. first, we will centralize the

work we've done for kids. it seems like it should, but it's not. one of the most frustrating things as mayor is dealing with bureaucracy, and the agency that is responsible for what, and the expectation that nonprofits who are already working hard to serve our children have to fill out several different applications and meet several different requirements, and specifically, the measure will combine existing youth service departments into a single children's agency for the city and county of san francisco, which will be significant. it will create a unified vision, bring services and funding together in one place, improve efficiency by aligning all the spending that we make towards specific goals, and

reduce bureaucracy so parents have one specific location to access services and programs. how do we allow children access to things that they may be interested in doing? this holistic approach will better serve families and kids. the next part of this charter amendment will be school board accountability. the other thing that is so critical to, i know, what everyone is most excited about, is, you know, the fact that we need to change what happens at

the school board. i'm standing here with school board members past and present who have done difficult work. they know what it takes to make hard decisions and to focus on the core mission of that really important body, but unfortunately, the schooling board we have has too often focused on the wrong things at the expense of the big picture. people -- school renamings instead of getting schools opens, massive school budget deficits, parents who feel like they're not being heard, and kids who have not felt like they're being prioritized, i get where they're coming from. as mayor, i don't have control over the school district, but every year, the city provides millions and millions to the

school district. i'm not just talking about the $25 million we gave them for covid along with the various district partners who provided support for the challenges that they were experiencing. my responsibility is to ensure that those city dollars and resources are being spent well. we need to set some basic, basic accountability standards if we're going to keep spending that money, so children first will do just that. it will require the board of education to self-certify every year that they've met some of these basic guidelines, including undergoing regular training to improve their effectiveness, conduct extensive parental engagement to ensure all parent voices are heard, and allow the

superintendent to manage other staff, which unfortunately is not happening. approve the annual budget and ensure that it aligns with the overall goal of the district and conduct annual self-evaluations to ensure that they are working together as a collective body to achieve these long-term goals. now this is about good government and accountability. it's about ensuring that the city dollars are being spent wisely. it's about a reset of the board of education, and most of all, it's about our kids. no longer will this city give a blank check to the school board until it demonstrates some level of improvement and accountability to serve our children. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: so we have a lot of work to do, not just to get this charter on the

ballot, but to pass it and take action. we have to show that this city cares about our kids and their families. let me just say, as a kid that grew up in san francisco, you know, my grandmother was the person that was completing all the paperwork and doing all the things that needed to be done to make sure that i could participate in all of these programs. i was completing all the forms. i was completing all the forms, working with my grandmother, and at the time, a lot of people with the nonprofits, they were on the forefront with me, hearing me through this process. we thought technology made it better. in fact, things have gotten way

more complicated, and it should not be difficult for kids to participate in programs, for them to receive a good education and the support that they need and deserve so they can thrive, so their lives are made better. we owe it to them to think about their future, and part of that is making sure we're grading them. not just on math, science, reading, and writing. and right now, we're failing. we're failing our kids, we're failing our families, and so this charter amendment is about doing something different, doing something better, because i know we can do something better because they serve it, and i want to take a moment to recognize the leaders of the department of children, youth, and families. thank you, maria su, for helping to lead this charter amendment.

[applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you to all the families who have provided their input. we are truly grateful, and as i mentioned to a number of folks before from various nonprofits and agencies and parents, this has really been a collective effort, and long overdue, and we're going to have to work hard to get this passed, but when we get it passed, and when we implement it, we all are going to see and feel a change for our children and for our future. so thank you so much for being here today, and at this time, i want to introduce the supervisor of this district that we're in, and who represents district 8. ladies and gentlemen, supervisor rafael mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam mayor.

welcome to district 8, everyone. you know, if norman yee, london breed, maria su and phil halperin agree on something related to kids, you know it's got to go good. as another san francisco former kid myself, i know this is a really good ballot measure. i think this measure is a measured and reasonable response to some of the frankly chaos that we have seen coming out of the school district, and we have, as a city, a tremendous stake in what happens at the district. we don't run the district, but we fund it in significant measure, and this ballot recognizes that, as a condition of that funding, we should have some expectations around the

quality of governance, and so i really appreciate that that is an important piece of this charter amendment. but i also really appreciate the thoughtful approach to the delivery to children and their families and the process that has gone on over many months. i have not been part of that process. i have checked in with folks along the way who have been part of it, and i have been really impressed to see folks digging in and helping kids in san francisco like they should. and plus, i called norman and asked him what he was doing. particularly, i want to thank maria for stepping up so phenomenally over the last two

years. during this pandemic, some folks stepped up, but not everybody. but maria did. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: many of the parent leaders out in the audience stepped up during the pandemic, and thank you. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: and the boys and girls club stepped up during the pandemic. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: and so with that, i'm going to introduce rob connolly with the boys and girls club. [applause] >> well, i'll be brief. i really just want to welcome you to our columbia clubhouse in mission park. this clubhouse has been here 114 years, and the boys and girls club has been in the city for 130 years, so we've been

helping boys and girls and families in the city for a long, long time. i want to welcome the mayor to columbia park. we got this just in time, and i think the mayor was able to get it for a little bit. you know, i guess i just want to say, mayor, thank you for prioritizing kids, families, and community. with that, i want to thank maria yu. when the mayor called for the shelter in place in mar 2020, we called up and say hey, we

don't think we're going to be able to close. i says, we really want to figure this out, and within a few hours, working with the mayor and dr. colfax, and whoever else that i don't know, figured out how to keep the boys and girls club open during the pandemic. our sites that we had controlled completely like this clubhouse and several other places, we were able to keep open. across the city, we have five facilities, and you heard about alignment. we receive funding from a number of different places in the city, and it is very challenging for us at every

level, administratively as well as programatically, and responding to the different needs assessments that come out, and all the administrative processes of who's getting funded by this contract and that contract. one of the thing that's we jokingly said, we ask the kids, what are your thoughts on this program? and they said, what program is that? it's the program funded by mohcd -- no, we don't ask them that, but they say they like this program because. really appreciate having everybody here, and appreciate the leadership, and the willingness to dig in and find

greater alignment for families like ours, and we look forward to working as a nonprofit with the city in a successful effort, which we hope it is. with that, i'm going to introduce mario paz, who runs the location here in the mission. mario's been in his role leading the organization for 15 years, so mario, welcome. [applause] >> thank you, ron. i'd first like to thank the mayor and maria su for your continued leadership on behalf of children, youth, and families. we do this work because we love our children. it's our children, and san francisco has proven to be one

of the most generous cities in the world when it comes to our children. i think about this assault from covid that we continue to have, and one of the things that we've found out is our most vulnerable are truly, truly the most vulnerable. the other important issue we learned is that it really, really, really does take a village, right? and we are that village. and we talk about that, but it really does take a village. but guess what? in order for that village to succeed, you need to be prepared, you need to be coordinated, and you need to be accountable to each other. this creates a village that's well prepared, well coordinated, and most importantly, we're going to be accountable. we're going to be accountable to each other, and most importantly, we're going to be accountable to the children. i grew up in the city.

i benefited from many of the programs here. i grew up in san francisco. i'm a son of san francisco, and i'm proud of it, but i'm here to tell you, we can no longer afford to fail our children. we've shown the world what we can do in so many different, but why are we failing on this? we're going to work hard, we're going to hold each other accountable, and thank you all for being here, and thank you all for your leadership. thank you. [applause]

[speaking cantonese language]

>> okay. i will be translating. i have two children. my son is 13 years old, and my daughter is six years old. during the pandemic, sprisk provided a community learning hub to support my children through distance learning and

children workshops. i have received covid information and community resources such as where to got vaccination and where to get the covid test, and my family has attended events like halloween festival and thanksgiving. i'm thankful for the san francisco unified school district to provide wellness checks and meetings for parents conducted by the teachers. after my first wellness meeting, we received hand sanitizer from the teachers, and during the holidays, the

teachers personally discovered study materials to my children. we hope the city and school district can continue to serve even after the pandemic. this will provide the services that parents have been calling for since before the pandemic for education. thank you. [applause] >> hi. my name is chanel, and i am a

parent of two children in san francisco unified school district. thank you, mayor breed, for allowing me to speak my voice today. this children first initiative is very important for the children because during the first 18 months of distance learning for my son, he was in middle school at the time and didn't experience his graduation, and the experience of distance learning for 18 months impacted him a lot of he gave up after his younger brother went back to two days hybrid in april, he dove more into the internet. it was devastating for him, and he needed an outlet to survive, so he picked social media, and now, i'm seeing the consequences of that. he's so stuck now being a freshman now still in tenth grade. i'm a working mom, and my

husband works, we didn't have 24 hours to watch him. i assumed he was doing his classes, but he wasn't. i think he was only on the internet, and now he's having a really hard time adjusting in person in high school. it all just broke my heart because our kids were not in school. i feel like it was damaging to our kids' physical health and mental health. i understand that the district want today rename -- wanted to rename schools, but it wasn't a time for it. getting our kids back in school was our first priority. i hope this initiative will help our city kids and my kids. i'm optimistic that it will help the city kids. we're all overwhelmed, and we're all in the same boat, i

get it, and we need to have all hands on deck starting yesterday. my hope is that we'll do this together, listen to our teachers, principals, and do this as a san francisco community. our kids need our help and resources. i'm afraid about those budget cuts. do we have enough mental health resources that they need after promo distance learning. i am a mama bear protecting her cubs, and i hope we can do this right now. i'm a fan of prevention. if we don't do this, take action, we're going to affect our children's career potential. they can be artists, doctors,

lawyers, scientists, and many more opportunities in this city. the school board has a big responsibility. if the school board was operating as they should be, we wouldn't be here today. early on, the school district didn't listen. they didn't take the help from experts. i hope the san francisco unified school district starts to put politics aside. take advice from experts and consultants and govern better for our kids. i believe this children first initiative will help. it will move us forward helping our san francisco students be all right. to be clear, it's all about the children. thanks again for being a service for our kids. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you to our parents for their compelling stories, and the

reasons why we're here today, and at this time, i just really want someone who has been many, many years and who put kids first. although she's no longer on the school board, she cares about the children and is always actively engaged and providing feedback or historical information or institutional knowledge to help us move things forward in a positive direction, and someone who i'm sure if she was still on the school board, some of this would not be happening. please welcome former school board members rachel norton. >> good afternoon, everyone. it's really a mixed bag that

i'm here today. it's sad that here's where we are, but this is where we are, and i have to say that san francisco is the envy of many other districts in california because of the incredible support that the city of san francisco gives our district. in 2010, when the last economic downturn happened, i had been on the board about two years, and i went to a california school board association conference, and people said oh, we're cutting p.e., we're cutting art, and we didn't have to cut those because of the support that the city gives the school district. what happened during the pandemic, maria, mayor breed, the services that were provided

to school children made a lot of difference for families. i think normally, of course, a school board member would bridle when the mayor who's not in charge of schools should tell the school board what to do, but those are the times that we're not in, and somebody should step up and say that that's not important.

every year, the board adopts governance rules as part of its policies and procedures, and yet, we have not always seen those governance rules or procedures to be followed by the board, so i'm very grateful to you, mayor breed, for putting this forward. i gather, since supervisor mandelman is here, that he is cosponsoring. thank you. i'm also happy to see my former colleague, norman yee here, who, like me, spent many years in the trenches on the school board, and i think that this is an idea whose time has come, and i think it's time to start moving the district forward, so thank you. [applause]

>> the hon. london breed: and i just want to add one more speaker just to stay a few word because our former president of the board of supervisors, norman yee, also served on the school board, and so i want him to say a few words before we open it up for questions. . >> you know, i wanted to send the school district a message that if you don't step up in your leadership, then you're just going to, you know, lose it. the state's going to take it over, and they need to understand that. just because the state takes it over doesn't mean it's going to be better. it just means cutting without

knowing our community, and thank you, mayor breed, for really introducing this charter amendment. it's been needed, and i've been pushing for these for decades. when i was president, i put in a new council for children and families, but it just lacked a, needed a little bit more teeth. i think we started seeing the coordination of children's services between departments, and to work together, no more silos. it's really similar to what we

did [indiscernible] i'm glad to be very supportive of this charter amendment because i think this would move the city into the right direction. thank you very much. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, and i want to thank c.y.c. and sarah wong for all of her advocacy. thank you to the s.f. parent coalition for rising up and doing what's necessary to not only support your children but to support all children in san francisco, and thank you to

katie albright for being with us today from safe and sound. we have a sector of people who truly love and support kids in san francisco, and i'm very positionate about supporting kids because i was probably one of the most problematic kids growing up. again, had it not been for the support of those places that i had to go as a kid, and teachers and all those things that i was exposed to, i just don't know where i would be. the people that i grew up with ended up, unfortunately, in many instances, in the criminal justice system, they ended up dead, and they ended up on drugs, and i still see some of

those people today in various places, and somewhere along the way, we failed them. if we don't do this and more to support our children, to protect them, to uplift them, to make sure that we get rid of the barriers to their success, that's how we make the difference for them so they don't end up in the same situation that so many people that i grew up with ended up in. so that's why we're here today. we're here today because we need to change that structure, and we need to think differently about how we make things better for them. so i also want to just take an opportunity to really thank phil halperin for his extraordinary leadership over the years of supporting children, period. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, phil. he is one of the most committed san franciscans ensuring we are

doing right through our policies, through our funding, and other resources, so we really appreciate you, and thank you for your work. so with that, i think i'll open it up to questions, maggie. all right. questions? yes. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: so i'll say two things. there's the superintendent that's trying to govern and propose, from my understanding, a reasonable financial plan to address some of the deficit that the school district has, and then, there's a proposal by two of the school board members, and this is part of the problem and why we are introducing this charter amendment because the fact is

the one that's introduced by the board members, if that passes, and that is the direction the school board goes into, then sadly, the district goes into phase two of a possible takeover. the last phase is phase three, and then, there's a done deal. the state takes over the schools. so it's clear if it goes to that point, then, we're headed down that road, and to me, the fact that the school board members are moving toward that direction -- this will disqualify them from allowing them to play the $25 million that they owe to the city and

county of san francisco. they're headed down the wrong path, and they need to let the superintendent govern the school board so we don't have school board members micromanage what the superintendent should be doing, and i think that's part of the problem. any other questions? [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: well, the city doesn't have control

over the school board because if we did, we would probably not be in the situation we're in.

there is a financial requirement that we provide resources to support the school district. and we're attaching accountability to that. so it has nothing, from my perspective, to do with a take over. we also feel strongly that,

with those public dollars, there has to be an opportunity for the public, including parents, to have at least some say in what's happening with the school district. and the concern that we have the most is how the board members are micromanaging the schools, micromanaging whether a principal should work at a school because of political reasons, when in fact, the only thing they should be responsible is hiring and firing the superintendent and legal assistant. but getting involved because someone supported someone in a campaign, that's crazy. that's the problem, and this is not about anything other than fixing a broken governing

structure. [applause] >> just one more question. [indiscernible] . >> the hon. london breed: i must say, a lot of this is something that i wanted to do for sometime, especially when the pandemic hit. it's looking at a disorganized chart where funding comes from. early childhood education, dcyf, tay-u, and all of these things were all over the place and not coordinated. and then, the beacons and what's happening with the beacons. and i know these structures like the back of my hand, and there was a real disconnect between all of these agencies

and all of this money and how our kids were not only doing in life but how they were doing in school, and so there's no direction. so we -- what we did had everything to do with being treated like we're an a.t.m. machine with unlimited money, and then, when we would ask for it to be used for a specific purpose or what have you, there was no way to have any accountability attached to that. there was money that i provided to the school district for specific purposes that i still don't necessarily have accounting for who it was used for that purposes, including

establishing wellness centers in every school in san francisco, and this was before the pandemic, and so i want some accountability for where those dollars are, and why haven't those wellness centers even opened in the first place? so that's been the focus of wanting to make sure that there's accountability, and we get more, and we get more for our families and our children. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: all right? thank you, everyone. thank you for being here. let's get this on the ballot and get it passed, because that's what this is about. thank you. [♪♪♪]

>> we are providing breakfast, lunch, and supper for the kids. >> say hi. hi. what's your favorite? the carrots. >> the pizza? >> i'm not going to eat the pizza. >> you like the pizza? >> they will eat anything. >> yeah, well, okay.

>> sfusd's meal program right now is passing out five days worth of meals for monday through friday. the program came about when the shelter in place order came about for san francisco. we have a lot of students that depend on school lunches to meet their daily nutritional requirement. we have families that can't take a hit like that because they have to make three meals instead of one meal. >> for the lunch, we have turkey sandwiches. right now, we have spaghetti and meat balls, we have chicken enchiladas, and then, we have

cereals and fruits and crackers, and then we have the milk. >> we heard about the school districts, that they didn't know if they were going to be able to provide it, so we've been successful in going to the stores and providing some things. they've been helpful, pointing out making sure everybody is wearing masks, making sure they're staying distant, and everybody is doing their jobs, so that's a great thing when you're working with many kid does. >> the feedback has been really good. everybody seems really appreciative. they do request a little bit more variety, which has been hard, trying to find different types of food, but for the most

part, everyone seems appreciative. growing up, i depended on them, as well, so it reminds me of myself growing up. >> i have kids at home. i have six kids. i'm a mother first, so i'm just so glad to be here. it's so great to be able to help them in such a way because some families have lost their job, some families don't have access to this food, and we're

♪ >> it is unclenate's creativity time. welcome to uncle nate. we are are going to draw bubble letters. you need supplies. you need a pencil, markers, something to color with and a few pieces of paper. gather up supplies and meet me back right here. all right. let's go. got all supplies out. draw your name lightly in the center of your page. give yourself room. give each letter a little room. all right. now, i want you to draw around each letter like you are driving a car around each letter.

next, let's erase the center. take away the original outline and then we will be left just with the bubble letter. make sure you get the center part out of there. okay. we will touch it up. time for color. i chose yellow, orange, and red. yellow at the top, then the orange in the center, and i am making a stripe right through the center all the way across. last, my red, which makes a cool fade. time for the outline. unclenate's creative time. figure it out. now we are going to do a drop

shadow. a shadow underneath each letter and to the side. it is really going to give it a 3-d look. wow! great job. i bet you didn't think you could draw that. now you can draw bubble letters you can use it to draw things for your friends, cards. it is really useful. i hope you had a good time. i will see you next time on uncle nate's creativity time. uncle nate's creativity time.

>> welcome to the rules committee of the san francisco board of supervisors for today monday january 10, our first meeting of the new year. i'm the chair of the committee, aaron peskin joined by vice chair supervisor rafael mandelman. our clerk is mr. young.