good morning. and welcome to the january 21st, regular meeting of the san francisco ethics meeting. this meeting is being held by the teleconference via the govern's emergency order. before we proceed, i'd like to ask the commission staff member who is asking our moderator today to explain some procedures for today's remote meeting. >> thank you, madam chair. due to the covid-19 health emergency and the covid-19 city

employees and the public, the meeting rooms at city hall are closed. however, commission members and staff will be participate engine today's meeting remotely. this is taken pursuant to the various local, state, and federal orders declarations and directives. members will attend the meeting via video conference. please note that today's meeting is being live cable cast on sfgov tv and streamed online at sfgovtv.org/ethicslive. once again streamed live online at sfgovtv.org/ethicslive. public comment will be available on each item on this agenda. each member of the public will be allowed three minutes to speak. comments or opportunities to speak during the public comment period are available via phone call by calling 1 (415) 655-0001. the phone number is

1 (415) 655-0001. access code is 24817383084. again, access code 24817383084. followed by the pound sign and then press pound. you will be automatically muted and in listening mode only. dial star three to raise your hand and to be added to the public comment line. you will then hear you have raised your hand to ask a question. make sure that you're in quiet location. including television, radio. it's important to prevent feedback when you speak.

when the system message says your line has been unmuted, this is your turn to speak. you will hear staff say welcome caller. we encourage you to state your name clearly as soon as you will hear if you change your mind and wish to withdrawal press star again. you will hear the system once your three minutes has expired, staff will mute you. you will hear your line has been muted. attendees who wish to speak on the public comment period may stay on the line and should raise their hands to enter the public comment line by pressing star three when their next item of interest comes up. public comment may also be committed in writing and will be shared with the commission after this meeting as concluded and will be included as part of the official meeting file.

written comment should be sent to ethics.commission@sfgov.org. thank you, madam chair. >> chairman: thank you, moderator. with that, i'll call the meeting to order. let's call agenda item number one, which is commission roll call. >> commissioners, please unmute your microphones so you can verbally state you're present at today's meeting. [roll call] thank you, madam chair. you have a quorum.

>> chairman: thank you. let's go to item two public comment on matters appears or not appearing on the agenda. >> now receiving public comment on agenda item two. each member of the public will have up to three minutes to provide public comment. if you joined this meeting earlier to listen to the proceeding now is the time to get a line to speak. it is important that you press star three only once to enter the queue as pressing it again will move you out of the public comment line and back into listening mode. the system will prompt you when it's your turn to speak. please address your comment to the commission as a whole and not to individual members. madam chair, we are checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. stand by.

we are currently on agenda item two. you all have three minutes to provide your public comment. six minutes if you're online with an interpreter. you'll hear a bell go off when you have 30 seconds remaining. if you have not already done so please press star three to be added to the queue. for those on hold, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. stand by. madam chair, we have no callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. thank you. today's agenda includes a composed closed session item under -- under agenda item number three to hold a conference with the city's department resource negotiators regarding labor negotiations. this item has been scheduled

for the commission's discussion and possible action. so, fellow commissioners, stemming from our regular meeting last week january 14th discussion, we've got a potential ethics and gift law changes we are considering. we invite ardis graham, department of human resources employee relations director and carol isen human resources director to be with us today for this closed session item. the anticipation and negotiation is the status of the meet and confer with the employee organization of the san francisco municipal executive association regarding the ethics commission will pose june 2022 ballot measure and regulation amendments. for the purpose of this item today there are four steps involved. first step on item threea, we

will receive public comment on all matters pertaining to agenda item number three including whether to meet in closed session. second, we will then vote on whether to meet in closed session under california government code section 54957.6 and the sunshine ordinance section 67.10e to discuss labor negotiations. this will be an action item. third is a closed session is held. the commission will initiate that closed session meeting to meet with the labor negotiators and following that closed session, we will then reconvene in open session. fourth, pursuant to the brown act section 54957.1 and sunshine ordinance section 67.12 and agenda item, we will

discuss and vote on a motion regarding whether or not to disclose any action taken or discussions in closed session regarding the labor negotiations. so do any commissioners have any questions about today's process? don't see any hands raised. before we proceed is there anything else that you may want to add about the commission's closed session process? >> chair, thank you very much. deputy city attorney andrew chen. obviously, once we go into closed session, those discussions will be confidential to respect the labor negotiation process as d.h.r. explained at our last meeting.

i do hope that the commissioners will respect that expectation of confidentiality. and second, i expect the next order of business to item 3a. thank you very much. >> chairman: thank you city attorney schenn. let's proceed to public comment, thank you, mr. moderator. >> thank you, madam chair. each member of the public will have up to three minutes to provide public comment. join the meeting early to listen to the proceedings, now is the time to get in line to speak. if you have not already done so, please press star 3. so pressing it again will move you out of the public comment line and back into listening mode. once you were in the queue and standing by, the system will prompt you when it's your turn to speak. please address your comment to the commission as a whole and not to individual members. madam chair, we are checking to

see if there are any callers in the queue. >> chairman: and i just want to remind the public that public comment is on agenda item three on matters pertaining to this item which includes whether to hold a closed session. >> if you have just joined this meeting, we are currently on agenda item three. public comment on all matters pertaining to agenda item three. you'll hear a bell go off when you have 30 seconds remaining. if you have not already done so, please press star three to be added to the queue. for those on hold, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. stand by.

madam chair, there are no callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. then we will proceed to action item 3b whether to meet in closed session under california government code section 54957.6 and the sunshine ordinance section 67.10e to discuss labor negotiations. do i have a motion? >> commissioner: so moved. >> commissioner: second. >> chairman: okay. >> and seconded by commissioner chiu. roll call please. >> i will now call the roll. [roll call]

the motion is approved unanimously. >> chairman: okay. thank you, moderator. and we will now moved to closed session and for all of the viewing public an on screen notice stating the commission is in closed session. the order will resume live once we can reconvene in open session. and we thank you for your patience and continued engagement. so now we are in closed session. moderator, can you make sure that

>> we need to do this. the staff can do it today or tuesday. we need to get these things done. if one part of our community is not informed this is not going to get you. we continue to have this discussion five or 10 years from now and the f.b.i. will continue to investigate us. >> chair lee, i would like to ask the partners that we are dealing with, department heads and others if they could provide us with examples of penalties of

people in their departments of failing to comply with existing rules such as filing on time for form 700s, complete form 700s, how many times have they actually acted to penalize department heads or department staff who report to them as well as when they have been informed that something is wrong that needed to be corrected, whether they have acted to make the correction? i know in the past we have seen department heads who refused to act when commissioners would act to interfere in the hiring process to see that a relative was hired. they were well aware of that. it was certainly in the

newspapers. they just declined to act. we have other examples. that is a very telling one. i would like them to provide us with information since they are talking about the fact they are doing a good job already. what does that good job consist of? i think that will help build public trust as well in their departments. the extent they are monitoring the community benefits, part of a community contract. following up on what the controller just issued with regards to rec and park, planning or anyone else. i would like them to explain if the proposed rules apply to city

union was separate agreements outside of nea like the police have a police bill of rights. i am not sure to what extent our proposals meet up against the police bill of rights. for example one thing in our proposal is when city employees misrepresent information in the course of an investigation. we have seen examples from the public defender's office of police misrepresenting information. is that covered by us or not covered by us? as you can see where i am going with this is that we have obligations on both sides, not just our side. our side is correct.

we need tonight clear what the problems are and if we addressed them or if we decided those are not problems we are going to address and move on. you can do that in the process. or if these are to delay or appeal action by ethics because they don't like the concept where we are going. thirdly, if they are hiding what they are not doing and making outside claims what they are doing rather than actually showing us what they are doing. thank you. >> staff recommended no action on this agenda item. let's move to agenda item 7.

we look forward to the session next friday. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you. agenda item 7. discussion of executive director's report. >> thank you, commissioner and members. there are a number of reports to provide this month as we start another busy year at the commission. we want to welcome our new commissioner and look forward to providing additional work that we do including procedural items we handle at commission meetings. my apologies for not having that done sooner. sorry for commission and look

forward to providing the briefing as fully as possible to avoid confusion in the future. i want you to know we have posted our ethics at work training and outreach program manager position on our job page. we are accepting applications for that. working to finalize the job application announcements for the three remaining positions. technology, two others are training and outreach communications specialist. we look forward to having those posted in the coming days. we have launched our he files. we stopped to celebrate the january date, we know it will continue as we lead to the first annual filing period in which all conflict of interest code

designated borrows will file statements of economic interest the first time in economic process to help comply with the requirement. we have the policy team. the payment law takes effect january 23rd. we are preparing what that new law would require. in the last conversation your points are well-taken. we will try to provide as much information as we can and we know there is a lot of discussion over the past year about this. that new law takes effect january 23rd. i also provided information update on our changes that seem to happen quickly over the last

month due to the growing presence of omicron and city's guidance for telework for all staff. we temporarily closed offices for physical visits. we still provide services online through phone calls and e-mails with individuals. we are seeing movement about on site resumption of commission meetings. policy body meetings. the latest information that we have had is that the city has been targeting february 28th to be the date on which all bodies start meeting in city hall. that is information that may be subject to change depending on what is happening with the prevalence of omicron, but we are working and started meeting with other policy bodies to make sure we are aware of the logistics and any support we may need to provide you and the

public how those meetings work back when we resume on site commission meetings in the coming months or so. i have attached to this report two substantive items. staff are on hand for questions. one overview of the case data we have been looking at over the last six months with the whistleblower activity. there is interest on the part of the commission to look at that. we provided that data and observations and how we are using that to inform our ongoing whistleblower investigative activity. we wanted to share that with you. we will continue to report in the annual report about more in depth information from the course of year. we are instituting practices to look at investigations and issues. that helps the outreach going

forward. i provided list of the audat this time team of the lobbying audit. we are in implementation. when the january 15th disclosures are filed the team will be using that to pull the selection of the audits to be conducted in the coming months. we will be happy to provide further information about that. the slides here are the work that has gone into the process of planning, audit work and timeframe for what we anticipate over the coming months. that will continue in implementation phase. i think two last items to note. as you know, we do have a meeting next week. the first of our public hearings on departmental budget priorities for fiscal year 23 that starts july 1st of this year.

the mayor issued department instructions to departments on december 14th. due to the budget surplus the city has seen over $100 million in surplus at there time the mayor is not asking for any cuts. the mayor asked departments to retain the work within existing budget level. in any event you will see our agenda posted with materials later today so you and the public have access to that information for the public hearing next week. the commission meeting will involve a hearing on the budget priorities, closed session items you asked for earlier and the last item and any other regular items we have for the meetings such as that. there is some hiring news.

this month's executive directors report good news. we completed the process for hiring of new enforcement be director. it will take effect on february 7th. i am pleased to announce the new enforcement director will be pat ford who is the legislative affairs council. pat has extensive experience to draw upon in this new role. a go-to person on a lot of matters to help us wade through policy and be thoughtful about our new processes. we are delighted he is he is stg in the new role. you will hear from him. he will be playing a key role

with michael phone major policy work efforts. as we talk about in the budget items. we will talk about how we get through work that we have in front of us with the policy team of two. we also will acknowledge that we know we have a very strong michael who will contribute to work in this area. we will need to juggle as best was can until we are able to fully staff that unit. i congratulate the new capacity starting next month. i am happy to answer any questions if you have them for me. >> happy news. congratulations director ford. comments from our fellow commissioners. commissioner bell, then commissioner bush. >> thank you for that report.

congratulations to mr. ford, who has been putting in so much work on this. i feel very confident his work around enforcement and i think it is great. congratulations. i don't have any more to say than that. >> thank you, commissioner bell. >> i want to echo that congratulations, mr. ford. that is great news. i look forward to working with you. we have two enforcement vacancies on the website. i wanted to say i just used the electronic filing form. it is fantastic, glitch free, easy. congratulations to staff. that used to be a huge pain.

congratulations. thank you. >> i am delighted to hear we have technology working well this week. >> investigator positions are in the application review phase. the window closed. we hope to get more forecast out shortly. they are active. we look forward to having more information potentially at the february meeting for you on that. >> thank you. >> commissioner bush. >> thank you and my congratulations to pat ford as well, who has been the go-to guy for many of the issues that i have found that i needed answers for. director, i have a few questions related to the report that you have done which are easy

questions. the report breaks out the different elements that you are following. i didn't see one on public outreach. i am concerned that public outreach be elevated to an area as important to us as rewriting the laws and so forth. public outreach plan to include targeted audiences, not just general audience, but based on language, facility with internet searching, media, community organizations and including the goals and timetables and outcomes that are sought. that is an important element, i think, to our work. i think we need to spell out so the people can see that is

something that we need to look at. secondly, i am glad to see you are doing a lobbyist review. when i looked at the lobbyist plan attached to the document that we got from the commission meeting today, it follows the traditional things of money in and out. it does not include one of the elements that required and that is to file the outcome that they sought. the outcome is the while point of lobbying to get a certain outcome. but yet most lobbyists are leaving blank what it is the outcome they seek. i hope that the review will pinpoint that as an issue and

remain lobbyists that needs to be completed. i would like to see that expanded just by one area. that is to say what is the outcome sought and the value to the client so that he could say we are seeking permits for x, y, z developments which have a value to the client of bla, bla, bla. one of the reasons i say that is because we know of many times in which a permitted piece of property is traded away for some other benefit. that happens a lot on the south of market area. i would suggest we look at adding that in addition to

having people fill out the what it is the outcome you are seeking. finally, i note that all lobbyists are to re-register by february 1st. i hope that after the february 1st reregistration you can give us a thumb nail sketch what that shows. how many lobbyists increased from prior years. what departments are primary interest of lobbyists and that kind of thing. as part of that we ask within our provisions to ban people

from giving gifts or contributions in many cases specifically targeting the members of a commission that they are lobbying. san francisco doesn't operate its approves in a silo. you might start off with planning then go to permit appeals after you got a planning permit or go on to the assessor's office because you are changing the value and how are you going to do that. i would prefer if what we had was an approach that looked at city approvals and not just a specific commission.

i don't know what anyone else's views are on that. my experience is that things move through a number of chairs to get to an ultimate outcome. i would think we would want cover all of our bases with that. that is my comments. thank you. >> commissioner chu. >> thank you, chair lee. i want to congratulate the team on the form 700 e-filing project. i know that was a huge effort and a long one. many challenges and the fact we are here now on january 22 and it is live and you have worked. congratulations on terrific work. secondly, congratulations to mr. ford. what a well deserved role.

i think you will be terrific. i look forward to working with you in the future. i know you will bring all of your passion and dedication to it. i think it is really great for the commission. congratulations. >> let's open up for public comment, please, moderator. >> i am sorry. i wanted to say one more thing before we went to public comment, if that is possible. >> please. >> since this is my next to the last meeting, i wanted to weigh in on something that commissioner bush said that stimulated this kind of appreciate your indulgence. the sentiment i tried to express

earlier around the frustration of getting stuff done that i feel and also having communities understand and that stuff. the notion that commissioner bush said about outreach for director pelham. i think it is really important because so many community-based organizations see as their power base the supervisors that represent them in their district. i think it is important for us as ethics commission to have a presence. we may not have that power but we should be present for those community-based organizations that feel bike that we are hearing what we feel so we can get it right. this is really important for the

black community, which is shrinking and disappearing in san francisco. other communities that are feeling that they don't have access to power and that these rules and regulations put them in more of a bind and strand them further away from power because they may not understand them. this whole outreach piece is something that i talked about during my shorten urhere. whatever we come up with it is important for people to understand it because we want them to understand that this isn't something that is out to get them. we heard in the comments 800-pound gorilla is powerful people. now rules and regulations are going to putter the little person. i know that is not what our

staff and team is trying to do. it is through an ongoing outreach strategy that we can actually hear from people so that we know about this stuff on the front end rather than having to be frustrated dealing with it in the middle and on the back end. that wasn't as articulated as i wanted it to be. i want to associate that i believe it is important to structure the outreach so that we get it so we have understanding more at the beginning than trying to garner understanding and explain that we are on your side at the back end. i leave it there. i thank you for giving me a moment to extend the meeting with those comments. >> thank you, commissioner bell. it was perfectly communicated. we heard you. i want to attach my thoughts to your comments.

i think that the city, communities are ever changing and instead of reaching out we really need to build the trust first. i think that is that we need to go up there ourselves instead of telling them what we are doing we need to hear from them what we ought to be doing. thank you very much. we can go to public comment right now. moderator. >> we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue. for those on hold please continue to wait until the system waiting you have been unmeets. we are on the agenda item 7. discussion of executive director's report of the activities since the commission's previous meeting. if you have not done so press star 3 to be added to the public

comment queue. you have three minutes, six minutes on an interpreter. you will hear a buzzer for 60 seconds remaining. stand by. >> we have callers in the queue. >> welcome, caller. your three minutes begins now. >> commissioners, i was listening to the director and she touched on maybe 30 issues plus. i want to pick one issue so that one of the commissioners who is saying that he is talking about outreach. i want to enlighten this commissioner and others about this business about which you have the san francisco public utilities commission that kept

the sewer system improvement project to $6 billion. it is now $12 billion. think about that. when it was $6 billion, 5% of that was outreach. $200 million. $150 million of that outreach. dwayne jones for work force. now, i am going to remind you it started with $6 billion. it is heading towards $12 billion. [please stand by]

i appreciate the outreach to cbo and further opportunity for dialogue around the previous agenda item and i will look forward to participating and will also submit written comments in advance the next time disappears on the agenda . secondly i want to comment in general around public engagement. we all do our best to participate. this is the 146 page document on your website and i still have not been able to read all of it. i think we're all doing the best we can as cbo's to understand the work of this commission and to to participate and we do appreciate all the attempts you make at outreach toour sector . i also want to express appreciation for something in the executive directors report, the creation of an ethics training program that includes

citycontractors . i've spoken to this need for this type of program for severalyears . a lot of ethics laws are very complicated and confusing and can result in doctor equations if somebody doesn't understand them and isn't careful. city employees do receive ethics training. the contractors also subject to several ethics laws are much less likely to be fullyaware and first in the details of these laws . in past human services network has partnered with the office of labor standards enforcement to arrange training for health and human services nonprofits around labor laws and we would be more than pleased to assist this commission in any way possible to help ournonprofits ensure that they are in compliance with ethics laws as well so thank you for creating that program . >> thank you. >> thank you caller, please

stand by. not in chair, there are no further colors in the queue. >> thank you very much. now to agenda item number eight, discussion on other items for future meetings. commissioner bush. >> thank you chair lee. i wanted to make sure that it's on record that i'm going to request a bylaw amendment to allow us to begin meetings at 10 rather than 9:30 in the future. i know we are doing that for the next meeting. january 21 meeting but thereafter, after 9:30 and i'd like to give us an opportunity to discuss making that at

10:00. so that's one thing i'd liketo see on the agenda . thank you. >> commissioner. >> i think one thing that would be helpful would be an enforcement update . i've been flipping through old minutes and previously obviously nothing confidential but there may have been a summary ofenforcement matters and how many are open . what state are they in? it would be helpful to have an overview of that process. for me as acommissioner but probably for my colleagues as well , thank you . >> thank you. anything else? okay. agenda item number nine, additional needs for public comment. >> did you want to take

comments on agendaitem number eight ?>> thank you for the reminder. >> we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue for those already on hold please wait until the system indicates you have been an muted. if you joined we are currently on public discussion of agenda itemnumber eight, discussion of possible actions for future meetings . if you've not already done so pressá3 to be added to the queue. you will have three minutes, six minutes if you are with an interpreter. you will hear a bell go off . please stand by. metal chair, we have a caller in the queue. thank youcaller. your three minutes begins now . >> caller: [inaudible] >> your three minutes begins now.

>> caller: [inaudible] >> apparently looks like the caller was onanother phone call . i did meet them . madam chair,there's no further colors in the queue . >> commissioner bush has his hands up. >> i do because i would like to add to the discussion of the controllers report on community benefits and whether they're being monitored . that was a reportthat came out in the last 72 hours i think . and in close relationship to that is an ftp see report on statements that shows a sharp increase in payments for

government purposesas opposed to nonprofits . and i think it would be good for us to have a briefing on that at the same time as we look at the controllers report. so i'm adding thoseto my request . thank you. >> we have next friday's meeting to address the budget so for the february meeting, we would have the bylaw for the contractors report, controllers report as well as the behest in payments and i just want to remind my colleagues that that would be our last meeting to

take action on a possible ballot measure. so we need to keep that in min . of course, we can act on a new meeting and check in as needed those are the items that we have before us for the next couple of months. okay. agenda item number nine, opportunities with public comment and members appearingon today's agenda .>> please stand by.madam chair, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue. please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been under muted.

if you are joining we are on public discussionof agenda item number nine, additional opportunity for public comment on matters. or not. on the agenda pursuant to ethicscommission bylaws .if you have not already done so restá3 to be addedto the queue . youwill have three minutes to provide your comments, six minutes if you are online with an interpreter . you will hear a bell gooff when you have 30 seconds remaining . madam chair, we have a caller in the queue . welcome, caller. your three minutes begins now. >>. >> caller:i want to go back to humidity benefit . i served in the federal government for a law enforcement agency. i was six armies last congressional liaison familiar

with the freedom of information act. i am ashamed at this committee when they were given a clear path in an investigation with empirical data and i'm zeroing in on the controllers office. took all the information and gave it to thecity attorney . who gave it to somebody that led in the indictment of colin kelly. and julia dallas. and some others are being investigated now . you commissioners must understand and you have a judg among you . she understands it more than most of you all. you haveanother gentleman that i know . he understands it. it's very difficult for the

public to go to the sunshine task force and win 9 to 0 and yet no action is taken linked to the opera house.it's very difficult for the public to go to the controllers office and talk to the head of the controller and the deputy controller and get no results for two years. where are the timelines on the whistleblower ? and what you all do is talk in generalities. we have no leadership. no accountability whatsoever. no transparency. what i see is that none of you all can do a needsassessment

based on an. all data . empirical data? so for 15 years if you all cannot resolve the situation that somebody has tocome from outside , take my information and do the indictment? shame on you all. and i'm not blaming the ethics commission because you have no resources. you have no manpower. you had one investigator and when i was stopping you said i can't disclose this but all that the mayor did was disclose in the newspaper that she paid a fine of 24,000. >> your three minutes has expired. please stand by madam chair, there are no further comment

callers in the queue. >> agenda itemnumber 10 is adjournment . with no discussion.i wanted to thank everybody for your patience and again for putting up with my tech challenge. monday is a holiday so stacy and i wish everybody a happy three-day weekend. thanks everybody. >> have a great weekend. >> happy mlk day.

>> the city has undertaken a pilot program to hook up private privately -- owned hotels. >> the community members say this is helpful for them especially for the seniors and families with kids from seniors being able to connect with the family during the pandemic and too watch the news has been really helpful during this time where they are stuck inside and are not able to go outside. for families it is important to stay connected to go to school, to get connected so they can

submit resumes to find jobs during the pandemic. [speaking foreign language] >> challenges that might seem for the fiber in chinatown is pretty congested. the fiber team found ways around that. they would have to do things such as overnight work in the manholes to get across through busy intersections, and i think the last challenge is a lot of buildings we worked on were built in the early 1900s and they are not fitted with the typical infrastructure you would put in a new building. we overcame that with creative ideas, and we continue to

connect more sites like this. >> high-speed internet has become a lifesaver in the modern era. i am delighted that we completed three buildings or in the process of completing two more. i want to thank our department of technology that has done this by themselves. it is not contracted out. it is done by city employees. i am proud and i want to take a moment to celebrate what we are doing.

>> when i look at an old neon sign that's working or not working, i feel the family business that was in there. >> since 2009, citywide, sf shines, has supported businesses and sites like the ones that receive new neon signs. >> you know, sf shines is doing

an amazing job to bring back the lighting and the neon glow of san francisco. >> sf shines is such an amazing program, and i can't think of another program in another city that gives matching gunned funds to store owners, mom and pop owners, and if they've got a neon sign, they've really got a great way to advertise their business. >> this is a continuation of the sf shines program. >> focusing other neon signs is relatively new to us. of the seven neon signs, we've invested about $145,000. >> a good quality sign costs more, but it lasts infinitily longer. as opposed to lasting five

years, a good neon sign will last 15 to 20 years. >> in san francisco, the majority of neon signs are for mom-and-pop businesses. in order to be able to restore these signs, i think it gives back to your community. >> part of the project has to do with prioritizing certain signs in the neighborhood based on their aesthetics, based on their current signs, and base on the history. in the time that we've been here, we've seen a number of signs restored just on eddy street. >> there are a number of signs in the tenderloin and many more that are waiting or wanting to be restored. i have worked with randall and al, and we've mapped out every single one of them and rated them as to how much work they would need to get restored. that information is passed onto sf shines, and they are going

to rank it. so if they have x budget for a year, they can say all right, we're going to pick these five, and they're putting together clusters, so they build on top of what's already there. >> a cluster of neon signs is sort of, i guess, like a cluster of grapes. when you see them on a corner or on a block, it lights up the neighborhood and creates an ambient glow. if you havy got two of three of them, you've created an atmosphere that's almost like a movie set. >> some of the hotel, we've already invested in to get those neon signs for people to enjoy at night include the elk hotel, jefferson hotel, the verona, not to mention some we've done in chinatown, as well as the city's portal neighborhood. >> we got the fund to restore it. it took five months, and the

biggest challenge was it was completely infested with pigeons. once we got it clean, it came out beautiful. >> neon signs are often equated with film noir, and the noir genre as seen through the hollywood lens basically depicted despair and concentration. >> you would go downtown and see the most recent humphrey bogart film filled with neon in the background. and you'd see that on market street, and as market street got seedier and seedier and fewer people continued to go down, that was what happened to all the neon strips of light. >> the film nori might start

with the light filled with neon signs, and end with a scene with a single neon sign blinking and missing a few letters. >> one of my favorite scenes, orson welles is chasing rita hayworth with neon signs in the background. >> i think what the office of economic and workforce development is very excited with is that we'll be able to see more neon signs in a concentrated way lit up at night for visitors and most especially residents. the first coin laundry, the elm hotel, the western hotel are ones that we want to focus on

in the year ahead. >> neon signs are so iconic to certain neighborhoods like the hara, like the nightcap. we want to save as many historic and legacy neon signs in san francisco, and so do they. we bring the expertise, and they bring the means to actually get the job done. >> people in tenderloin get really excited as they see the signs relit. as you're driving through the tenderloin or the city, it pretty much tells you something exciting is happening here. >> knee an was created to make the night more friendly and advertise businesses. it's a great way of supporting and helping local businesses. >> there's so many ways to improve public safety. the standard way is having more eyes on the street, but there's other culturally significant ways to do that, and one those ways is lighting up the streets. but what better way and special way to do that is by having

old, historic neon signs lighting up our streets at night and casting away our shadows. >> when i see things coming back to life, it's like remembering how things were. it's remembering the hotel or the market that went to work seven days a week to raise their money or to provide a service, and it just -- it just -- it just

>> my background is in engineering. i am a civil engineer by training. my career has really been around government service. when the opportunity came up to serve the city of san francisco, that was just an opportunity i really needed to explore. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] i think it was in junior high and really started to do well in math but i faced some really interesting challenges. many young ladies were not in math and i was the only one in

some of these classes. it was tough, it was difficult to succeed when a teacher didn't have confidence in you, but i was determined and i realized that engineering really is what i was interested in. as i moved into college and took engineering, preengineering classes, once again i hit some of those same stereotypes that women are not in this field. that just challenged me more. because i was enjoying it, i was determined to be successful. now i took that drive that i have and a couple it with public service. often we are the unsung heroes of technology in the city whether it is delivering network services internally, or for our broadband services to low income housing. >> free wi-fi for all of the residents here so that folks have access to do job searches,

housing searches, or anything else that anyone else could do in our great city. >> we are putting the plant in the ground to make all of the city services available to our residents. it is difficult work, but it is also very exciting and rewarding our team is exceptional. they are very talented engineers and analysts who work to deliver the data and the services and the technology every day. >> i love working with linda because she is fun. you can tell her anything under the sun and she will listen and give you solutions or advice. she is very generous and thoughtful and remembers all the special days that you are celebrating. >> i have seen recent employee safety and cyber security. it is always a top priority. i am always feeling proud working with her.

>> what is interesting about my work and my family is my experience is not unique, but it is different. i am a single parent. so having a career that is demanding and also having a child to raise has been a challenge. i think for parents that are working and trying to balance a career that takes a lot of time, we may have some interruptions. if there is an emergency or that sort of thing then you have to be able to still take care of your family and then also do your service to your job. that is probably my take away and a lot of lessons learned. a lot of parents have the concern of how to do the balance i like to think i did a good job for me, watching my son go through school and now enter the job market, and he is in the medical field and starting his career, he was always an intern. one of the things that we try to

do here and one of my takeaways from raising him is how important internships are. and here in the department of technology, we pride ourselves on our interns. we have 20 to 25 each year. they do a terrific job contributing to our outside plant five or work or our network engineering or our finance team. this last time they took to programming our reception robot, pepper, and they added videos to it and all of these sort of things. it was fun to see their creativity and their innovation come out. >> amazing. >> intriguing. >> the way i unwind is with my photography and taking pictures around the city. when i drive around california,

i enjoy taking a lot of landscapes. the weather here changes very often, so you get a beautiful sunset or you get a big bunch of clouds. especially along the waterfront. it is spectacular. i just took some photos of big server and had a wonderful time, not only with the water photos, but also the rocks and the bushes and the landscapes. they are phenomenal. [♪♪♪] my advice to young ladies and women who would like to move into stem fields is to really look at why you are there. if you are -- if you are a problem solver, if you like to analyse information, if you like to discover new things, if you like to come up with alternatives and invent new practice, it is such a fabulous opportunity. whether it is computer science or engineering or biology or medicine, oh, my goodness, there are so many opportunities.

if you have that kind of mindset i have enjoyed working in san francisco so much because of the diversity. the diversity of the people, of this city, of the values, of the talent that is here in the city. it is stimulating and motivating and inspiring and i cannot imagine working anywhere else but in san as a society we've basically failed big portion of our population if you think about the basics of food, shelter safety a lot of people don't have any of those i'm mr. cookie can't speak for all the things but i know say, i have ideas how we can address the food issue. >> open the door and walk

through that don't just stand looking out. >> as they grew up in in a how would that had access to good food and our parent cooked this is how you feed yours this is not happening in our country this is a huge pleasure i'm david one of the co-founder so about four year ago we worked with the serviced and got to know the kid one of the things we figured out was that they didn't know how to cook. >> i heard about the cooking school through the larkin academy a. >> their noting no way to feed themselves so they're eating a lot of fast food and i usually eat whatever safeway is near my

home a lot of hot food i was excited that i was eating lunch enough instead of what and eat. >> as i was inviting them over teaching them basic ways to fix good food they were so existed. >> particle learning the skills and the food they were really go it it turned into the is charity foundation i ran into my friend we were talking about this this do you want to run this charity foundations and she said, yes. >> i'm a co-found and executive director for the cooking project our best classes participation for 10 students are monday they're really fun their chief driven classes we have a different guest around the city

they're our stand alone cola's we had a series or series still city of attorney's office style of classes our final are night life diners. >> santa barbara shall comes in and helps us show us things and this is one the owners they help us to socialize and i've been here about a year. >> we want to be sure to serve as many as we can. >> the san francisco cooking school is an amazing amazing partner. >> it is doing that in that space really elevates the space for the kids special for the chief that make it easy for them to come and it really makes the experience pretty special. >> i'm sutro sue set i'm a

chief 2, 3, 4 san francisco. >> that's what those classes afford me the opportunity it breakdown the barriers and is this is not scary this is our choice about you many times this is a feel good what it is that you give them is an opportunity you have to make it seem like it's there for them for the taking show them it is their and they can do that. >> hi, i'm antonio the chief in san francisco. >> the majority of kids at that age in order to get them into food they need to see something simple and the evidence will show and easy to produce i want to make sure that people can do it with a bowl and spoon and burner and one pan. >> i like is the receipts that

are simple and not feel like it's a burden to make foods the cohesives show something eased. >> i go for vera toilet so someone can't do it or its way out of their range we only use 6 ingredients i can afford 6 ingredient what good is showing you them something they can't use but the sovereignties what are you going to do more me you're not successful. >> we made a vegetable stir-fry indicators he'd ginger and onion that is really affordable how to balance it was easy to make the food we present i loved it if i having had access to a kitchen

i'd cook more. >> some of us have never had a kitchen not taught how to cookie wasn't taught how to cook. >> i have a great appreciation for programs that teach kids food and cooking it is one of the healthiest positive things you can communicate to people that are very young. >> the more programs like the cooking project in general that can have a positive impact how our kids eat is really, really important i believe that everybody should venting to utilize the kitchen and meet other kids their age to identify they're not alone and their ways in which to pick

yours up and move forward that. >> it is really important to me the opportunity exists and so i do everything in my power to keep it that. >> we'll have our new headquarters in the heart of the tenderloin at taylor and kushlg at the end of this summer 2014 we're really excited. >> a lot of the of the conditions in san francisco they have in the rest of the country so our goal to 257bd or expand out of the san francisco in los angeles and then after that who know. >> we'd never want to tell people want to do or eat only provide the skills and the tools in case that's something people are 2rrd in doing. >> you can't buy a box of psyche you have to put them in the right vein and direction with the right kids with a right

place address time those kids don't have this you have to instill they can do it they're good enough now to finding out figure out and find the future for