>> president stephenson: i call this meeting to order. >> clerk: this is the meeting of the san francisco commission on the environment. the time is 5:03 p.m. please note that the ringing of cell phones and similar devices

can still happen virtually and prohibited. please turn your devices off. due to covid-19 health emergency, department, staff and members of the public, the commission on the environment meeting room 416 is closed. however, commissioners and department staff will be participating in the meeting remotely. this precaution is taken per student to the stay-at-home order and local state and federal orders. commissioners will attend the meeting to video conference or by telephone if the video fail and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were present. public comment will be available on you each item of the agenda. sfgovtv.org is streaming the meeting at the top. public comment is available via phone by calling (415)655-0001.

and access 2497 903 8264. when connected, dial star 3 to be added to the queue. best practices is to call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turn down your devices. you may submit public comment by e-mail at environment@sfgovtv.org. i will now call the roll. [ roll call ] we have a quorum. >> president stephenson: next agenda item please.

>> clerk: thank you. item 2, review and vote on whether to approve resolution file 2022-01-coe, resolution making findings to allow teleconference meeting under california government code section 54553e. speaker charles sheehan, chief policy public affairs officer. this item is up for discover i and action. requires an order to allow the committee to hold meetings remotely as required under local law with certain brown act requirement. >> president stephenson: any discussion on this item? can i get a motion please? >> so moved. >> second.

>> president stephenson: we have a motion from commissioner sullivan and second by commissioner ahn. let's open up for public comment please. >> clerk: members of the public who wish to make a public comment on this item should press star 3 to be added to the queue. for those already on hold in the queue, please continue to wait until it's your turn to speak. the public comment instructions are on the screen. do we have anyone in the queue?

[ indiscernible ] >> caller: this is david pilpel. good evening. sorry, i have another meeting a. on this item just very minor on page 4 line 11 certification line on february 7 should be 2022. i have no objection. thanks. >> clerk: any other public commenters? >> president stephenson: let's

move to a roll call vote please. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call vote] >> president stephenson: motion passes. let's go to the next item. >> clerk: item 3, president's welcome. this item is for discussion. >> president stephenson: good evening everyone. before i get started, i have piano lessons in my house. if there's background noise, i apologize. the commission on the environment acknowledges that we occupy the unceded homeland of the ramaytush ohlone. we recognize that the ramaytush ohlone understand the interconnectedness of all things and maintain harmony with nature. we honor the ramaytush ohlone

people for their enduring commitment to mother earth. as indigenous protectors of the land, ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost as caretakers of this place. we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. as uninvited guest, we affirm their southern rightses a first people and pay our respects to the elders and relatives of the ramaytush ohlone people. thank you for your attention during that important announcement. this starts off with virtual commission meeting again. we are nearing the point when our commission meetings will start to return to being in-person. as we continue to receive guidance from the mayor's office and the city administrator's office, we'll share what in-person meetings is like. i ask for your patience,

navigating through this unfamiliar territory as we take the steps to walk back in the city hall once again. tonight, the commission will contemplate elections and the department's budget. last year this commission took a bold stand on demanding adequate and stable funding for the department. we were heard. thank you to my fellow commissioners and the advocates who may be this virtual room with us. i want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who contributed to these past two years of successful virtual online commission meetings. from the dedicated staff at sf environment to the team of technicians behind the scenes to my fellow commissioners and to all of the community memberships who dialed in to participate and letting your voices be heard, it's been an honor to lead during these years and keep up the important work here. tonight in the coming months, the rest of 2022 and beyond, i believe that we have our marching orders.

implementing the climate action plan. that's the job. that's it. i'll leave it at that and wrap up my president's welcome at this term. let open up it to public comment. you have comments pertaining to the department item please reserve your comments for item 6 which we will talk extensively. >> clerk: members of the public who wish to make a public comment should press star 3 to be added to the queue. for those already on hold in the queue, please continue to wait until it is your turn to speak. do we have any callers in the queue? >> i'm checking. we have no callers in the queue. >> clerk: perhaps we'll wait a brief pause to make sure no one else joins.

okay. >> president stephenson: public comment is now closed. next agenda item. >> clerk: item 4, approval of minutes of the december 7, 2021 commission on the environment meeting. explanatory documents december 7, 2021 draft minutes. >> president stephenson: commiss ioners is there a motion about the minutes from the last meeting? >> so moved to approve the minutes. >> i second. >> president stephenson: motion to approve by commissioner bermejo and seconded by commissioner wald. let's open it up for public comment. >> clerk: members of the public who wish to make a public

comment should now press star 3 to be added to the queue. >> caller: this is david pilpel, again. i'm looking for the age reference. one moment. page 3 item 8. there's a first reference to rich i'm not sure rich or

richard chen was named elsewhere. i think that would be word worth including. for the closed session those present in closed session are not named. that's a requirement of the sunshine ordinance. anyone present in closed session would need to be identified. i would recommend that to be added. the action on item 6e is not at all clear. there's no written motion. there's no explanation as to the level of recommended compensation increase. i'm concerned about how that happened. i don't think it's been properly disclosed to the public what the

action was. first names is used. that's unusual. seems informal or the actual record of actions of the commission. just finally, the end materials, how to participate in meetings and such starting on page 6, may not be needed or the minutes is certainly necessary and useful for the agenda. i might just amend the minutes. i'm happy to deliver any further details with mr. sheehan at another time. i hope those comments are useful to you. thank you. >> president stephenson: thank you for your comment. any other comments in the queue?

>> no other callers on the line. >> president stephenson: all right. public comment is now closed. let go to roll call vote please. >> clerk: thank you for that. [roll call vote] >> president stephenson: motion passes. next item please. >> clerk: item 5, general public comment. members of the public may address the commission on matters that are within the commission's jurisdiction and are not on today's agenda. >> president stephenson: members of the pub, if you have a public comment that not on today's agenda, now is the time.

>> clerk: members of the public who wish to make a public comment, press star 3 to be added to the queue. >> caller: this is david pilpel again. for general public comment, i'm concerned about the proposals currently at city hall from supervisor peskin that would significantly amend the 1932 residential budget and disposal ordinance and the potential impact that would have both on

the collection system both for residents commercial and otherwise in the city or ability to achieve zero waste goals appropriate oversight on rates in service. all kinds of things there. most significantly as we may hear briefly in the budget presentation coming up, the potential impact in the future on revenues that fund half the department. i wanted to raise that concern. not on the agenda. it will be before one of the board of supervisors committees in the next few weeks. not sure that the commission needs to weigh in. i wanted to make sure that you're aware and you may want to ask the director to report back at a future meeting on where that is and what that is and

what impact that might have. >> president stephenson: any other comments? >> caller: good afternoon commissioners. my name is paul. i'm coming to you with an orphan that i'm hoping to find a home for. it's a climate problem that we see in the city. when we look at the san francisco climate emergency, activities by a lot of agencies. these agencies are not independent. an example, mode shift. we want to get people out of their cars and transit. we want to build more housing

near transit. i have sat in planning commission hearings where this ceqa document state there's capacity on the busline. the same bus line that i have sat at the bus stops watching the buses go by so far they don't bother to stop. there needs to be some organizing body to integrate what different agencies are saying and doing with respect to the climate emergency. i think this is something that the commission on the environment should ask for oversight or assume ownership of because there are lot of these problems. similar issue is decarbonizing buildings and interaction with

district agency, resilience. this is a big deal. i don't see an integrated assessment of this problem because no one is calling for it and no one is responsible. i do believe this will be an excellent ask for you as commission on the environment to make. thank you. >> president stephenson: thank you for your comment. anymore public commenters? >> we do not have any more callers in the queue. >> president stephenson: next item please. >> clerk: next item is item 6, review and vote on whether to

approve the department of environment fiscal year 2021-22 and 2022-23 budget. speaker is joseph salem, the explanatory document is the draft department of the environment 2021-2022 and 2022-23 budget. this item is up for discussion >> president stephenson: dr. rap hael. >> this is the big item, one of the big items for tonight. i'm really excited to present to you our budget. let's start -- please put up the first side. i will open up the comments and explain how the discussion will go. we will be starting tonight's budget presentation looking at

our strategic priorities. how do the priorities of the department reflected in our budget. then, we will open it up to joe. joe salem, our chief financial officer will talk about our proposal based on existing funding and funding streams that we are confident about. i will end with a discussion about something you have asked about for a while and there's a lot of interested and i'm excited about which is looking at ways for us to access general fund funding. i want to start. i want to start by thanking the commission and as the president said in her opening remarks. thanking everyone on this call and all the people who supported this journey. i feel like it's been 20 years in the making.

there's a lot of people who have leaned in. i'm very excited about where we are today. 2021, while it was a very challenging year because of the pandemic and because of the economy and because of schools and everything that is intertwined as well as all the climate catastrophes that we've been experiencing, it was a very exciting year from a climate standpoint for the department o environment and city of san francisco. for one, we you want dated our strategic plan. that was very important for the department of environment. that we set our priorities in the next three years. we also adopted -- board of supervisors adopted and codified very bold climate goals that are going to lead us into the future. finally, the mayor adopted our

climate action plan. all of those have really shaped our budget priorities of what you will will see now. let start by thinking back to our strategic plan. if you can go -- i want to remind you about our strategic plan. there are these six goals. these goals reflect the input from the community, from you, from our stap and they shape our work plan. they are very explicit about what is important to us. racial equity is embedded into all the goals. as you recall, for this strategic plan, we decided to separate into its own goal racial equity work because we wanted to showcase our investment specifically in racial equity.

let's dive in. i want to talk briefly about each goal and how it's reflected in our budget. in the racial equity goal, they are inside the budget. there's the work we're doing on an internal focus on racial equity. those are resources we allocated into professional services to implement the racial equity action plan. it hire consultants to help us with tracking, training and survey. that investment shapes all the priorities that we do as staff to improve the racial equity performance of our internal system. we have four equity goals, you can see those what we will be doing in zero waste. we'll talk later about this as

well. it's what we call racial equity assessment where we'll be using those tools to look at each program that we implement. the next goal is the healthy ecosystems, healthy communities in ecosystem goal. our budget priority in this goal is all the incredible work that our healthy ecosystem does. that is due, we'll be institutionalizing a grant program for the toxic reduction team that's focused on bipoc communities, trying to accelerate and expand our reach and our co-creation of programs with the community. goal three leading on climate

action. there's a lot in our budget that reflects this, of course. last year, chapter 9, got us started in terms of codifying the goals. the climate action plan says this is what we ned to do. the board of supervisors gave us a bit of a kick start in this current fiscal year with the client equity hub. this year's budget is expanding on that foundation so that we can implement the climate equity hub. you'll also see things in there this year's budget, some grants that we're expecting to get. we're expecting to get a large grant on electric vehicles, focused very heavily on the bay view and our disadvantaged communities. we're going to be elevating the work of our energy efficiency program, focusing on refrigerants, repair programs for disadvantages small business. equity, climate action, all

these priorities are reflected in our budget. zero waste -- strengthening community resilience. this is one where we are actually leaning in on the green business program. for example, we're going to be in our budget asking to reallocate and think about the positions in that program so that we can reduce turnover of shorter term staff and really grow the professionalism of the staff we're operating on that program. this is where you're seeing interdepartmental work and focus on working on the capitol plan and other ways we can improve our reach throughout the community. zero waste and zero toxics. again, just like each of these, we have lot of basic programming that goes on that achieve zero

waste and zero toxic. what worry gong new this year, we expect to see additional revenue coming in because of the construction and demolition ordinance and the fees that will come in. we're focused on food waste prevention because of sb1383. you're going to see -- our focus will be in our zero waste program on ramping up the private sector participation and the donations program. a lot of the work you're used to is funded through here with a focus on waste prevention and construction and demolition. amplifying community action. this is our outreach project our

engagement budget. this is where we're going to be directing resources to our school education and environment program. those are fundamental areas of our department. those programs will be very responsive to what's going on in other program areas to engage youth in climate action program and make sure small businesses are aware of incentives that are available to them. this is where marketing comes in and our data analytics. you'll see in the budget, that we have position. we have data position now. that next fiscal year, we'll be really amplified to become our chief technology officer to make sure we are at the cutting edge of data. metrics, tracking as well as visualization. now, i like to turn it over to

joe and joe salem will take from here the sort of goals, broad high level, how is our funding reflecting our strategies, our strategic thinking. he will talk about the budget through his lens and then i'll come back to wrap it up with our general fund. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is joe salem. i'm the fiscal manager for the department of environment. i will be giving a brief presentation on the fiscal

2022-23 draft budget. couple of things, first is that this is a draft budget. we expect there will be changes between now and when we submit it to the mayor's office on february 22nd. we're not going to be reviewing the fiscal 2023-2024 budget in this presentation. it's impossible for us to know this far out what our grant funding will look like. we don't feel we can give an accurate assessment what the fiscal year will look like at this time. the city is currently projecting $108 million general fund surplus for fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024.

as a result of this projected surplus, the mayor's office is not requiring general fund departments to reduce outgoing expenditures for either fiscal year. increases in general fund support will not be considered. while the department of environment does not receive any general fund support, we do face some potential impact as non-agenda fund departments are expected to absorb any increases in their operating costs. in past years, we focused exclusively on the operating budget. board of supervisors modified the budget adoption process to require all departments to hold two public hearings to ensure that the public has access to department budget development process.

what is the difference between our a.a.o. budget and our operating budget? well, operating budget takes into account at department's current projection for source and uses in a given fiscal year. the operating budget includes new funds being requested to the a.a.o.

it will be appropriated in fiscal year 2023 and utilized over multiple fiscal years thereafter. west way to provide the comprehensive view of our budget process. this slide shows side-by-side our current draft a.a.o. proposal and our current operating budget.

we're currently expect to request about $14.5 million in our a.a.o. submission to the mayor's office for that energy grant. we only expect to recognize little over $6 million from operating revenue from that grant source in 2023. the side-by-side comparisons you see here are for illustrated purposes to show magnitude of the variant is important to review our operating budget as opposed to our a.a.o. budget. you can see we currently have a deficit of $436,000 for fiscal 2023. the majority of the deficit is

directly related to anticipated increases in labor costs to the department and various grants and work order considerations. while the figure looks significant, and is, it does represent less than 2% of our operating budget. last year we had a deficit of approximately $623,000 at this time. this slide shows our budget -- how our budget is broken out by funding source and program expenditure. a.a.o. figures shows differences in what we submit through the a. am o. budget process and anticipating operating budget. while our a.a.o. request shows grant revenue comprising 41% of our budget, it's currently anticipated to fund about 22% of

our operating budget. similarly, for the expenditures by program, you can see very material differences between the a.a.o. request and the operating budget request as it stands today. in our energy program, expenditures are currently 21% of our budget at the a.a.o. level but only 20% of our budget at the operations level. as you can see here, our operating expenditures are made up of 32% year waste, 10% toxic reduction, 5% climate, 3% green building and 1% urban forest and less than 1% for biodiversity. last two slides encapsulate to

review the total operational budget as just our a.a.o. proposal. it makes it much more clear in terms what we're going to be utilizing our funds for in a fiscal year and gives best picture for our plan for any given fiscal year. we see a comparison of our operating budget from fiscal 2022 and 2023. there's increase of approximately 9% or $2.4 million. this increases due to the construction and demolition funding and anticipated increases in labor costs. in september 2021, the mayor

signed an updated environmental code chapter 14, construction and demolition recovery ordinance as well as the public works code section 725 into law. the most significant update is the requirement for haulers of mixed debris to purchase an annual or seven-day debris permit. the seed revenue will be enforce chapter 14 requirement which will help the city cut down on 150,000 tons per year of waste that is landfill and or illegally dumped on city streets. this new law became effective on january 1, 2022. if you can see, the major variants on the revenue side is the large increase due to the new construction in demolition ordinance fees. on the expenditure side, the

major variants are in personnel and services of city departments are also a function of the construction and demolition ordinance fee. here we have a breakdown of staff by program. as a result of how our department is funded, our program f.t.e.s tend to move around a bit with changes in funding. you will see small increases and decreases year-over-year for some programs. overall, we are increasing staff by 4.56 f.t.e.s for fiscal year 2023. the major changes come from two new positions in zero waste related to the new funding under the construction and demolition ordinance and new two positions within climate related to work

being performed under the board of supervisors's add back funding for the climate equity hub. here's a list of our work orders with other city departments and our programming partnerships. i didn't see we worked closely with city departments. they are vital department funding. we greatly value our interdepartmental relations. providing these important services through partner department consist about 13% of our operating revenue. all staff worked really hard to maintain positive relationships with these departments and demonstrate through providing compensational deliverables, the value of the services that we provide to these departments.

i like to take a minute to acknowledge the program staff's role in maintaining these levels. it makes my job much easier. without them, this will be a much more challenging ching to do. they did a spectacular job in both developing and maintaining these relations with other city departments. i wanted to acknowledge that. these are the key dates for the fiscal 2022-2023 budget process. the next big deadline is our submission of balanced budget due to the mayor's office on february 22nd. may will mark the beginning of the board of supervisors's budget hearings. hearings are held in may and june but the department of environment historically being

held as the main group. it may actually be in the june group this year. fiscal 2022-23 budget will be adopted on july 31st by august h every other city department will submit a letter to the mayor's office certifying that the budget that was adopted is adequate and no supplemental general funding will be required. we'll be working hard over the course of this month to balance our current shortfall. we'll be examining our expenditures, pursuing potential sources of potential revenue to close that gap that we currently have. while i don't anticipate any cuts to the service levels. we'll be taking a look at our budget, identifying potential reductions in expenditures ways

we can reduce costs. we'll also be continuing to aggressively seek out new sources of revenue, applying for grants and seeking partnerships where the potential exists. that concludes my portion. i will bring it back to debbie. >> thanks, joe. joe's presentation, what we decided to do tonight was to sort of think about the budget with general fund and without general fund. joe did his portion of as if we didn't have general fund except for the addbacks that we got in this current fiscal year that are two years in nature.

small amount of funding for this coming fiscal year. what we've done, we have a really interesting process of engaging internally to ask ourselves, what is needed this coming fiscal year. not to solve this climate crises. what is needed in 22-23 to set us up for success for everything we know that we're going to need to do to implement that climate action plan. implementation of the climate action plan is not solely in the purview of the department of environment. we have a really important role to play in. i like to think of the department as the hub of the wheel. that hub has got spokes that go out to other city departments. that go out to elected officials. both in the city and in the state and in the fed. that go out to our business

partners, our faith-based community partners. all of the partners in the city, our education partners. how do we make sure that the hub at the wheel is healthy and able to support those folks. what we decided there were three basic areas of focus that we wanted to start investing in for general fund. you can see, look at the right-hand side of this slide now. we came up with the added up to about $3.2 million. this is an estimate. that's why it's in the title of the slide. this number will likely change in the next couple of weeks. we wanted to hear from you and what your reaction was as well as from the public. this is the fist time we're multi -- putting this number out for the public and the commission to comment on. our best estimate, we need about

$2.4 million to invest directly in that building sector. decarbonation of buildings. that's larger amount than the others because responsibility for this, very much falls been within the purview of the department of environment. the next sector is a transportation sector. how we will get off fossil fuels for trucks and cars in the private sector? i'll talk about what each of those will do. the third bucket is how do we -- this is something that i think previous commissioners will be so happy if they finally heard that we want to invest in institutionalizing a program on biodiversity will help ecosystems within a department and not make it a scrappy program based on grants, small grants and work orders. how do we make this a strategic program. what will this $3.2 million do?

it is not solving the climate crises. here's what it's doing to help us be the hub of the wheel. it is helping us have the staff and leadership available to build and implement a legislative agenda. we have a road map in front of us. especially along building decarbonation. that climate action plan outlines what we need to do in 2022, 2023 and 2024. we need staff who are solely responsible for getting that work done. we need to focus everything we do on equity and workforce development. we do not have the workforce we need to implement that legislative agenda. we need to make sure that workforce is distributed. we understand what kind of incentive need to be put in place.

i need to understand where those incentive programs are and which ones need to come first base the on the policies we're putting in place. that's what i want to do this coming fiscal year with the right team in place. actually create a workforce program and thought leadership within our department that can work very closely with the mayor's office of workforce and economic development or the office of workforce economic development. data and dashboard, you want to know how we're doing. we need the data system to do that. we need visualization tools and tracking tools to create that dashboard. that's going to take an investment of resources. access state and federal grant. we need to position ourselves. where we have the strategic thinkers in place in the electric vehicle world, in the building decarb world that will

the bandwidth to say, what is governor newsom planning. what is shovel-ready project. what's available from the infrastructure bill. what happen is possibly available from the build back better program if that ever passes. there's so much money at stake. we need people who are not only able to look up and see what's possible and work with our development program but also have to the strategy and time to build those connections and spokes at the we'll so we can get those shovel ready project. finally, the last part is so critical for staff morale. that is to stabilize the funding. so that i don't have staff

feeling like every year they are wondering if they will lose their job. wondering how much time they have to spend to raise their own salary. that's tough. it's been tough for 15 years. it's getting harder and harder. this confusion of general fund money will give us a baseline bo work. it allow us to be strong as leaders so we can reach. we need to stabilize our foundation so we can do that leaning and not burn people out. there's so much more detail underneath it. for tonight, what i'm hoping is to get reaction and may be generate some discussion and questions on what joe apprehending and what i

presented here. between what you heard from joe and between what you heard from me, i think this is incredibly exciting time. i'm curious about the future in that field. thank you. >> president stephenson: thank you. i have questions. i'm really excited to see this. it's a long time coming. it's just a start. i think that's fantastic. bravos to everyone working on this. one quick question. when we look at that last slide that had the elements that the $3.2 million go towards, my understanding is that's in addition to the budget that we just saw and then it's going to result in a set of resources, additional hires, additional

outside work order that will fulfill all the things that were stated. >> that's an excellent point. it is additional funding. it is not replacement funding for anything in joe presented. that's critically important to get across. for us to do the work, we can't be losing money on one end and replace it over here. we need a net gain of 3.2. >> commissioner wald: i have two questions. one about what joe said and other is about this last slide from debbie. for joe, i have new question about the ordinance. are the fees that are generated by that new ordinance s there

expenditure restricted only to people who do the work? even if it is s there any possibility where you can sake like a segment of it as for overhead? in other words, treat it like a grant that you received from somebody else? if you can answer that question before i go to my technical question, i'll be grateful. >> i'm well versed in the world of fees for the city. my understanding is that the fees selected must be used to -- must go towards whatever we are

funding for -- i'm not saying this correctly, sorry. the fees we collect must go towards c.n.d. work as stated under chapter 14. we don't have the latitude to use it for other purposes. we need to -- every year we need to go back and allow paperwork that rank sizes the fees to what we're spending to ensure we don't spend less money we take in. there is an element where we do have personnel component. there is an indirect component to the staff. >> commissioner wald: as far as

your last slide, like commissioner stephenson, i thought it's very exciting. it's just what needs to be done at this point in time. my question is about the function of this slide. am i to understand that this $3.2 million estimate or whatever or or less final version of it is, are you going to use that number to sort of calculate that, how much money we need to raise -- a measure that is put forward the san francisco voters? that the purpose of the exercise? the budget exercise that you

gone through to document the needs so we can calculate? the way we're going to raise it. >> that's an interesting question. let me give you a retuscaloosa re- reaction to it. there's so many unknowns about ballot measures. one of the things we're doing this fiscal is trying to look at the menu of opportunities to raise revenue. what this is doing is presupposing that probably we'll need revenue to get off foyce sill fuels in build billings. that's a pretty good job.

what we don't know, today, is how much money we need beyond our little staffing increase that this will give us. to actually make sure that x number of builds are decarbonized. a ballot initiative will start to raise that kind of revenue. this is looking for an j. from - investment from the general fund. what will come out of that, a better understanding of and systems in place to make sure that the tens of millions that will have to be used for climate, gets spent appropriately and with the

community's input. that's how i responded to the question. >> it's not the actual money that we're going to need. it's going to be far larger than this. >> commissioner wald: that money is going to come from the ballot measure or some other similar streak can raise really -- >> general fund surplus is huge. that's a lot of competing knees in the city now. i assume that all that surpluses will not be invested in climate. let see if we can find really

good revenue sources. >> commissioner wald: this is still going to require some arm wrestling from that general fund surplus. >> thank you for raising that. i'm hoping the commission will talk about and hoping the community will also talk about ways that we can work together to accomplish that. >> president stephenson: any other questions or comments? commissioner hunter. >> commissioner hunter: thank you for throwing this last slide in here. it's great to see here. you are probably one of the most diplomatic people that i have ever met that runs a department. i have to ask the question, is this impressive enough goal.

is this going to get us to where we need to be to calculate these number. seems like the general fund money -- we're using this money to calculate an additional money. two years have bassed without making big. >> that's a really legitimate question. yes, i'm diplomatic, but i'm also a realist and pragmatist. i think in fact that the city can support love more in investment in climb.

what's interesting to me is to figure out what's going going on in other departments. i am hopeful that other city departments are last at their budget through this climate lens and thinking about what investments can make. san francisco p.u.c. is working very hard to -- how do we get more customers. are there supports we need. there's so many people within our purview. this is the number i'm going from zero saturday fund.

i don't want it to be overwhelming so that we throughs credibility as a department. i do think that if i were to say daschle money, it will be incentive money. my problem is, i don't know what number to tell you today on that. that's just -- that's the dilemma that i have in this moment. i know there's a number. i'm trying to do a number that i can totally thinks. this is where i can use other people's help and focus. let's get ready and let's make a

commitment for our budget. >> clerk: please let us know as a commission if you need to hear from more money -- >> commissioner wan: the climate action plan is not just department of environment. it's everybody. it's the whole system, is there a community engagement to raise awareness which would generate, support or pressure so we could moving towards the goal we are. >> thank you for that question

commissioner bermejo. i want to make sure i understand it and specific it physically, are you talking about community engagement in support of the climate action plan or in in support of other. no. >> it's true. the reason i ask because it feels awkward. this is my community budget. i'm asking for assistance from the commission from the community to help make that point across. clearly, on the climate action plan and community engagement and helping people understand that they have a role. than is something that -- my two leads on community engagement are working is to set aside funding to do that.

what's really important t will put some money into that outreach budget that is a lot >> commissioner sullivan: debbie , i wanted to also second some of other commissioners. we're dome straighting it will go to climate goals. which is so important. i wanted to take a look at the slide with showing the funding goes. inquire little bit about sinking

behind that. >> it was a long process. i asked, tell me what you can handle. what do you want? if i would wave magic wand for next year. when we sat back and said, all right, where, where is our confidence that we can deliver the value in a year because we need to make sure that we spend every cent that we get. i want to be able to explain

exactly to the mayor's office and the board what they're going to get for that money. sop it's not vague. there's kind of passive language that drives everybody crazy. we we talked about it let say electric vehicles. what is it that's holding you --we needed to create a new leadership role.

year two will be more than year one. for the healthy ecosystem, i don't think, that program is so throughout the department. for that program, what we wanted is to have a dedicated leadership position so that someone isn't doing this wonderful work at treasure island where he's supervising plantings out there, he's not spending time developing the carbon sequestration tools and

the policy framework and legislation we need on landmark. land -- land management. these programs, it reflects in a way, it reflects a number of projects we're already doing.

is that enough specificity? >> commissioner hunter: one final follow-up question. the building sector is getting the bulk of the funding. what would you do there? >> the building sector is so big because if you look at the climate action plan in terms of what we need to get done on existing buildings, it's intent. if we're going to meet our 2025 having all large carbon neutral -- we got to get started on that. no one else is working on that. it's not like i can go to some other city agency say, hey, what

are you doing on that? already partner, but we're leading. we have a lot on our plate. the community is telling us loud and cloud. we want to cocreate it with you. in that is grant money for environmental justice grant. it's money to fund the financial equity hub. there's quite bit of professional services money in there that so we need the hunters that we need it. we don't have professional services money to hire a

consultant. this is going to give us a way to work with the community. >> we're going to be ready as partners to see here's what the ♪♪ committee looks like. that's what's in there. thank you for asking. >> clerk: thank you. >> president stephenson: deb bayh, at the end of the, the reddish colored box stabilizing funding, is the have had that in

his field goal fear. how much is it going to cost us to get off natural gas in hit sict it depends if we can do things together and get departments to work together at the same time financial it depends on the amount of heating and cooling that we need if we invest in energy efficiency.

she's numbers that we're asking are asked aroundly world. of >> president stephenson: you talk about bag hub at the wheel. we had discussion around employment -- that is us. there's also -- i'm hopeful other cities and departments thinking what they can do. hoping that they are doing it is not the athlete i think are needed. it's to get them to do do it. , there's an element of

authority giving. this is like we're wiving this forward and we're holding everyone accountable. i know our city department bought into it. in san francisco, we are doing phenomenal work across so many different departments and climate. i think it's very important. >> i agree. i think the way that in my experience almost 30 years in local government, the way to get other departments on board is to get the mayor office and the elected officials on board and to get the community on board. the department of environment

saying, come and do this. we have some ability. i think the city departments need to hear from their constituents that this is really important. d.b.i. is really important. p.u.c. is really important. as you say, these department heads, they are with me. they are. and far staff are. they have a lot of competing needs for competing -- not needs -- but competing things on their time. let's think as a commission and as a community how we most articulately and effectively send a message that is a citywide initiative?

i think this a very receptive audience. >> president stephenson: i think that's why it's important that we focus on this now. in the time that i've been on this commission, i was baffled by this idea that we had these unfunded mandates. put all these things are incredibly important. i think you're right. we're in the right time and space to make that happen. >> vice president ahn: just to comment really. of course, understanding $3.2 million is modest for the scale of the challenge that we're trying to tackle at the state level, billions of dollars

used for surplus for climate change and pouring money into the bay area and region. in the concept is system, it will be helpful if system has sense of the budget. hopefully we can continue to fighting for more and more money and expand our administration cargoly. i'll be happy to. with leverage and no general fund support.

it will be for us to come back and give that feedback. we're going to need some matching funds. that may be -- that's not in that 3.2. it will be interesting. >> commissioner wald: this all seems okay to me truly. you're asking for assistance and i'm not confident that we are giving you the kind of assistance that you need.

it seems to me that the kind of assistance we can give you in addition to what's already been asked of you, i think commissioner hunter's question, commissioner bermejo's comments were good. i am admitting not so much the substance but the strategy. should we have another letter from the commission? should -- i happen to think that this is an optimum time for us to ask other departments to do the same kind of assessments that you are so that all of the departments will saying climate action is big for the city and

us. we need more money to do it and we're going to do it in an organized way and. if you get all of these other departments, to make the same kind of affirmation and we get our partners to ask them to do that, we will be more successful. we will get everybody to focus on what is most important. we will act like it's the most important, other agencies will support it in that. it doesn't have to be detailed. a real strategy.

>> there's a lot of talk about strategy. there is a lot of talk at the mayor's office, talk with other departments. in terms of what is needed, it is -- the world is run by those officials up. it's often a numbers game. who is making their voice heard. i'm not at all i agree that you need a strategy. i guess in this context, i'm not sure how best to deliver it to you. i think would be helpful always helpful for me as department head to have union wishes clear

through you, yourself. that is one thing that's helpful. at this point, i'm very hopeful but i don't have certainty. what happens in the process n proposal goes mayor's budget affiliation. ver support is putting their proposal up. i'm assuming that all the other departments doing the sometime thing. the discussion happens within the mayor's office as to where the priorities are and what the strategies are. having this commission weigh in to that process, to that ma -- it's helpful.

the there, that we received. they went to other people as well. in eternal.-- this is a conversation that is happening. you like tell -- there's a much bigger story here. i think of what. >> do i have a make a motion

they wind is letter -- regarding their departmental budgets. do you we headache this more concrete? >> do we have to do the other one also? can we do the other? >> president stephenson: how about we get a motion to accept the budget and then we'll go to

public comment and we'll cock .testimony let open up to public comment. >> clerk: okay. thank you. members of the public who wish to make a public comment on this item should now press star 3 to be added to the can you. to -- do we have anyone in the queue?

>> caller: hello. my name is sandy. i am a resident of district 5. i work in climate and energy philanthropy. i'm really pleased that we're finally asking for general fund dollars for the department of environment and dollars are here before the drafting taxing issues.

sf environment -- >> next caller please. >> caller: caller again commissioners. let me say how much i appreciate -- it's important to recognize that building the resources now is the most important thing. this is a great start. i look forward to see the larger

request next year. that is so important. thank you, i fully support approving the budget request and letters to increase the coordination thanks. >> president stephenson: thank you for your comment. >> caller: good evening. i'm a constituent in district 9. thank you so much for taking my comment pin discussion.

i fill -- i strongly support increasing staffing for the department of environment. as hub of the wheel t definitely needs more staff to coordinate. i want to egg coe the call -- echo the call for more carn company. one percent for climate equity capture counts for san francisco's primary budget which is with -- it will fund much needed programs, healthy ecosystems or others it.

just about everything you doe need, plate water -- the pollution -- sorry, let me start again. pollution from burning carbon --thank you, i fully support, fully funding the climate emergency response and thank you for doing so too.

>> caller: hi, i'm in district 9. i'm with 350 san francisco in the san francisco climate emergency coalition. i support the department's request for funds from the city's general fund. it is necessary. all that modest request. i urge all to -- we will help you push this through. we will help to make sure it happens. it's heartened to hear

commissioner wald say, what about a mount measure. we need as -- we must bin to fund the recently updated climate action plan by a number of needs. a city with a general fund budget $13 billion, the department of environment has to scrape and beg and write grants to subsequent their inadequate budget. i support -- this fund will execute the plan that we need to save ourselves and our budget planet to the major -- thank you commissioners for supporting this.

>> caller: hi commissioners. the town today was great compared to 10 months ago. i real really. this is a monumental step from -- we cannot begin to do -- director city.

the public has spoken. we've been at this over a year now. we have a number of suggestions as far as the one percent for climate equity campaign. that would make improvements in people's lives and begin the process of learning and experimentation. we can't wait around for state and seem like $120 million is lot to benefit people's lives. getting gas stoves out of home and save money.

about that state and federal money -- some of that money is already here. we need to put money in to members of the jury it. -- we need to put up money to get homeowners and community take on those projects. otherwise the money will sit there. we'll be complaining and waiting for the next opportunity. the time to sacramento now. flood -- we ask that you endorse climate equity act.

>> caller: hi. i am very encouraged to sit in on this meeting. it's really exciting. -- representing an organization that says after habitat restoration, we also have a lot of the strategies in the biodiversity healthy ecosystems budget that need to be funded. we already do this work. we scrape and we pull for the funding to do this work. when we talk about program implementation, having an

incentive is for us to apply for more funding to do the work that we know how to do that engages the community in that work. i think this budget should be approved. i'm in support of 1% for climate equity. it will behoove us to really ash tick late this budget request. she's a general fund and board of supervisors, first step to ramp up exponentially for more funding, climate action.

>> caller: hi. i'm dr. robert ghoul. i live in district 8. i have two grandsons living in the city. i'm a professor at ucfs working program on reproductive health and the environment. tonight i'm speaking as president of san francisco bay

physicians. in strong support for this budget proposal. which is essential for all the reasons you gave. glad to see commissioner the supporting this as well he -- we know our patients and communities particularly in poorer airs of the --

>> president stephenson: all right, thank you very much. i wanted to check one thing. my list look like there are callers in the queue. may be i don't see the same one that you do.

[ indiscernible ] >> president stephenson: commiss ioners, i think that we should take a roll call vote on the motion that was already put forward and then we can have a further conversation about next steps. roll call vote please. >> clerk: yes. [roll call vote]. >> president stephenson: motion to approve the budget passes. commissioner wald, would you like to restate what you were

thinking might be the right next step. i heard you say something about writing a letter like we did last year but expanding the scope of that throat include other commissions and the departments >> commissioner wald: i do think we should write a letter to the board supporting this proposed budget. including the general fund ask. i like to see us support the 1% for climate equity. i don't know if that's appropriate for us as a commissioner would take.

we should consider sending a different letter on behalf of the commission to other selected commissions of the key department urges them to emphasize and showcase the work they are doing on the climate men in the proposed budget.

>> vice president ahn: i like this idea of a letter. my additional suggestion will be to focus -- focus wars a focus on in now. >> commissioner wald: we should have another letter. >> president stephenson: i believe that in the past, we've taken a motion to empower the president to deliver a letter on behalf commission on to the office and reports on the budget. we can likely take at the same

time, suggest that we reach out to celebrity departments. may be as further encourage them to highlight their own budget works in their own benefit again -- >> i'm thinking about timing. if you -- because the commission isn't saying you need to ask for more money. the message is take stock of your budget. that's -- your point -- to your

point about larger strategy, i think there is a citywide story to be told here. that's the point we want to make on on the -- we hope you will also do that. we didn't think about the wording as long as the commission is comfortable with the letter coming from the president of the commission. we can on -- we need general fun money. this is a start strategy.

>> president stephenson: commiss ioners thought on the 1%? i have a question on that. would that in any way -- >> i think they would not be surprised if the commission on the environment thought it was a good idea. [ laughter ] >> president stephenson: okay. >> we should try at least. and work toward it.

>> i would love to frame it as at minimum and not the maximum. i think 1% is a great start. something to aspire to. i'm assuming it's going to cost more than 1%. >> president stephenson: commiss ioner wald you want to make a motion that encapsulates all those things? >> commissioner wald: i move that we delegate to the president and staff the drafting of a letter to the mayor which will support budget request that

approves general fund request. that we also support 1% for climate equity as inspirational minimum been -- also ask the president to draft letters to other selective departments that urge them to highlight and emphasize their climate work later in the budget cycle as evidence of all that we are all doing together.

>> i will second that motion. >> thank you. >> president stephenson: we got a motion and second from commissioner sullivan. i i believe we neild to open for public comment. let's open for motion on this one.

>> caller: this is awesome. thank you. >> caller: okay. what i said before, i want to thank you. this is great. please do this. >> caller: i am super in support of this. i want to echo the other callers

comment that this 100% should be additional to already existing programs. public transit is an important part of the climate action plan. what's already being done should not be counted as the climate action we need to meet our goals. thank you so much. >> president stephenson: let close public comment. let's go to a vote on >> clerk: for the roll call vote. [roll call vote].

>> president stephenson: motion passes. that was awesome. [ laughter ] thank you everybody. >> clerk: item 7, review and vote on whether to approve the commission on the environment 2021 annual report. speaker is charles sheehan. this item is for discussion and possible action. as i like to report, i remember from our first year at the department, it was commissioner wald who pointed out, i remembered it ever sincers we are obligated to do this by statute. it's in the requirements that commissioners have annual reports. while i think it is a great

exercise, it's also requirement. for all those reasons, that is why we are here today. i don't have any formal presentation. i kind of go through it and talk about the highlights and differences from previous years. it's not a install effort. thank you again to those three folks who helped us. there's a picture of the commissioners. once we are allowed to go back to in-person meeting, which is

around the corner, we will get a full picture of all of our commissioners. stay tuned and we'll have that for future reports. this is annual letter of welcome from the commission president. we have the section that documents our new commissioners and then the next page again. we have the section documents of existing commissioners. congratulations to both commissioner hunter and commissioner wan. this is the part where we talk about the milestones the big initiatives that the commission covered. you can see, very appropriate, we're leading off with all of

the discussions last year that we had on additional department funding. i think that's very appropriate. talking about the ramaytush ohlone initiative from last year. strategic plan, all topics that we talked about this year. this is a shot out to all of our climate partner. we have partners in our city departments, the advocates who showed up today who showed up last year, policymakers, non-profits, what we do is definitely concerted effort throughout the entire community. that acknowledges that. this page has a new item in commission demographics. you took a survey and that

survey formed a demographic section for this annual report. what's significant is that this is a requirement is asked within our racial equity action plan. various city ordinances are acknowledging the issue and commission diversity. very important that we include this section in here. because it was the first year, it was a bit of a challenge. thank you to everyone who took the survey and helped us get it done. we also included a section on commissioner terms because we heard that will be interesting. this is a summary some of the issues that came before the policy and operations committee.

this is the legislative summary. all the resolutions, formal documents that were passed by the commission. ly pause see if you have questions on the annual 2021 annual report. >> president stephenson: do i here a motion to approve the report? commissioner bermejo moved. second from commissioner wan. let's open up for public comment please. >> clerk: thank you, members of the public who wish to make a public comment should press star 3 to be added to the queue.

>> there are no callers in the queue. >> president stephenson: let's go close public comment and go to a vote. [roll call vote].

>> president stephenson: motion passes. >> clerk: item 8 is director's report. speaker is debbie raphael. this item is for discussion. >> thank you. last meeting feels like 100 years ago. it was december 7th on december 8th when we had the launch of our climate action plan. i realized that i hadn't even talked about that in the past tense.

william roger from goodwill recrafted ted talks. it was a really wonderful way to launch the plan and highlight the work of city agencies as well as staff members and the community. i want to point out a few things that are happening. one interesting to thing to note. we shifted our emergency ride home program to be in essential workers ride home program because transit was interrupted.

we are sun setting that program. that is sunset we provided 5311 rides to essential workers that were covered. it was a wonderful way that we were able to pivot on behalf of the city and essential workers. in terms of resources and grants, department of environment partners with our neighbors in alameda county. we were awarded $500,000 grant from the economic development agency build back regional challenge. we're looking at an regional approach to reuse building material. we understand that just the building materials that are generated in san francisco probably need distribution beyond our borders.

if we're successful, there's a follow-up grant of $100 million over five years. this is big money. when we talk about reuse of materials, it's so hard to figure out how we're going to crack that nut. building materials is a huge potential. we're in big on phase one we'll see what comes out of it. on the equity side, this is where we make small grants go away. we're going to be through the

booker t. washington community center. we're working with them to refine our climate equity assessment tool. that is an assessment of policies and their impacts on community. so that every policy that we adopt goes through that assessment tool. we want the tool to be used and critiqued and developed by the communities that we're trying to impact. rather than us developing a tool alone, we've got the small grant to work with our partners to refine the tool. i want to acknowledge that this is the 25th anniversary of the commission on the environment this year. yea to us. 25 years, 1996.

she is going to be chief of staff to mayor michelle wu in city of boston. she is moving from west coast to the east coast. she's chief of staff, which is a really interesting role for tiffany. i think she's going to kill it. they are so lucky to have her. yea for alumni for commission on the environment. introductions, i'm not sure who's here.

we have three of you, thank you for hanging out. i'm going to first call on anna. she is an outreach and transportation associate. very important position for us. anna, if you can turn on your camera. there you are introduce yourself. >> hi, my name is anna. i've been working with the department since december 6th. two months as of yesterday. i mainly work with the sfmta and working on the worker ride home program. i'm looking forward to learning ropes, ins and outs of city government and learning what i can about transit in san

francisco. it will be a big learning year. >> wonderful. we're so glad you're here. >> hi, i'm taya. i've been for 20 months now. as an environmental assistant. i'm looking forward to more collaboration and networking with other stakeholders to make sure we are buying green products and integrating environmentally friendly --

[ indiscernible ] learning as much as i can along the way. i'm glad to be join us today. thank you. >> now we have kara batista. >> good evening, i'm kara batista, i'm a senior environmental specialist in the energy division. i started on january 3rd. i'm working closely with lowell and the energy division staff and i'm leading the energy access sf. i will be helping to implement the climate action plan. i'm looking forward to meeting

all my new colleagues in person at some point in year. >> this team really represents the finest in their stage in their careers. they all had grueling applications. thank you for sticking with us. that's it for my report. welcome to you three. thank you. >> president stephenson: welcome everyone and thank you for sticking it out. commissioners any comments or questions? let's open up to public comment please. >> clerk: members of the public who wish to make a public comment on this item should now press star 3.

>> president stephenson: let's close public comment. next item. >> clerk: next item is the nomination and election of commission on the environment president and vice president this item is for discussion and

possible action. >> clerk: i did refresh of the process and i watched video from couple of years ago. we will entertain nominations for the president and vice president position. we will start with the presidency and accept nominations for to position only. after discussion, we'll have public comment and then we'll vote. then we'll have that same process for the vice president position. we'll have discussion and then we'll take public comment and then we'll vote. i want to remind commissioners individuals cannot make themselves. with that, are there any questions on that process? seeing no questions, at this time, i will entertain nominations for commission president. >> president stephenson: any nominations for president?

commissioner wald? >> commissioner wald: nobody is going to do this, i nominate and hope she'll accept our current president as president for another term. >> president stephenson: i am flattered and have greatly enjoyed the last two years of leading. all virtually. i think it's probably high time to pass the baton to somebody else. as we go to in-person meeting, i feel like it's time to let somebody else step in the role. i like to decline in the hopes that perhaps we can have

somebody else take up the baton and run with it. >> i want to thank president stephenson. you done a wonderful job. i would like to nominate vice ve president, commissioner ahn to be the president. he has been the champion of racial equity agenda. he has always been a great champion and advocate for this field. i look forward and learn a lot.

>> president stephenson: commiss ioner ahn, do you accept the nomination? >> vice president ahn: thank you for the words, commission wan. i do. i enjoyed serving as your vice president. i hope can do as good of a job as you've done leading us through it really hard last two years. >> president stephenson: any other thoughts and discussions or nominations? charles, you said that we do nominations and then we open it up to public comment. time to open it to public comment. >> clerk: members of the public who wish to make public comment on this item press star 3.

>> there are no callers in the queue. >> clerk: okay, seeing there are no callers. if there's not any other discussion, we can move to a vote on this nomination. >> president stephenson: let's do it. >> clerk: let's do it. [roll call vote].

>> president stephenson: motion passes. congratulations mr. chair. [ laughter ] i think, eddie i pass it to you. do i continue to preside -- i think i pass it over. >> clerk: last year time we did this, where we had the person kept going. it's really up to you. >> president stephenson: let's move on to nominations for the vice president role of the commission. commissioner bermejo? >> commissioner bermejo: i like to nominate commissioner heather stephenson to be the vice president. i think you led with grace in the last two years.

she's made this webex world seemless, the congratulations and the issues that we care so much about has slowed. i loved your leadership. i hope that will you continue to serve as vice president of the commission. >> president stephenson: i will be very happy to serve as vice president. >> clerk: is there any other discussion or nominations? we can move to public comment again. members of the public who wish to make a public comment, press star 3.

>> there are no callers in the queue. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call vote] >> president stephenson: thank you everyone. next item please. >> clerk: item 10, committee reports.

this item is for discussion. >> president stephenson: commiss ioner sullivan. you want to give a report on the policy committee. >> commissioner sullivan: my vort that we did not -- [ indiscernible ] >> president stephenson: commiss ioner wan? is there a operations committee report? >> commissioner wan: yes. the committee last met january 10th. there were several presentations including department budget heard tonight, the draft of the annual report that we reviewed tonight. we had presentation update. last meeting will be april 18th at 5:00. hopefully may be in-person at city hall. thank you. >> president stephenson: thank you.

any discussion? any public comment? >> clerk: members of the public who wish it to the make public comment can now press star 3 to be added to the queue. >> there are no callers in the queue. >> president stephenson: public comment is closed. >> clerk: next item 11. announcements. this item is for discussion. >> president stephenson: any announcements? public comment?

>> clerk: members of the public who wish it to the make public comment can now press star 3 to be added to the queue. >> there are no callers in the queue. >> president stephenson: public comment is closed. >> clerk: next item is 12. new business and future agenda item. speaker charles see man chief policy and public affairs officer. this item is for discussion. let me pull up my screen here. the next commission commission on the environment meeting is on march 22nd. the next policy committee meeting is coming up on februar. the next operations committee

meeting is on april 20th. for the upcoming commission meeting, we are potentially going to bring you to update on our racial equity action plan, implementations and next steps. we are bring to you record retention. we're right to bring it to you for the next meeting. we may have a presentation related to ev charging classes at this or potentially later commission meeting. i'll pause now to see if there are any questions. >> president stephenson: any questions? public comment please. >> clerk: members of the public who wish it to the make public comment can now press star 3 to be added to the queue.

>> there are no callers in the queue. >> president stephenson: public comment is closed. >> clerk: next item is 13. adjournment. this meeting is adjourned. the time is 7:30 p.m. exam. thank you for joining us. >> president stephenson: thanks everybody. congratulations commissioners.

>> we have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola.

>> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history. in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to

people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a fund-raiser. since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san

francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is

the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website

we are celebrating the glorious grand opening of the chinese rec center. ♪ 1951, 60 years ago, our first kids began to play in the chinese wrecks center -- rec center. >> i was 10 years old at the time. i spent just about my whole life here. >> i came here to learn dancing. by we came -- >> we had a good time. made a lot of friends here.

crisises part of the 2008 clean neighborhood park fund, and this is so important to our families. for many people who live in chinatown, this is their backyard. this is where many people come to congregate, and we are so happy to be able to deliver this project on time and under budget. >> a reason we all agreed to name this memorex center is because it is part of the history of i hear -- to name this rec center, is because it is part of the history of san francisco. >> they took off from logan airport, and the call of duty was to alert american airlines that her plane was hijacked, and she stayed on the phone prior to the crash into the no. 9 world

trade center. >> i would like to claim today the center and the naming of it. [applause] >> kmer i actually challenged me to a little bit of a ping pong -- the mayor actually challenge me to a little bit of a ping- pong, so i accept your challenge. ♪ >> it is an amazing spot. it is a state of the art center. >> is beautiful. rights i would like to come here and joinit. >> shop & dine in the 49

promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their shop & dine in the 49 within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services in the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so we're will you shop & dine in the 49 chinatown has to be one the best unique shopping areas in san francisco that is color fulfill and safe each vegetation and seafood and find everything in chinatown the walk shop in chinatown welcome to jason dessert i'm the fifth generation of candy in san francisco still that serves 2000 district in the chinatown in the past it was the tradition and my family was the royal chef in the

pot pals that's why we learned this stuff and moved from here to have dragon candy i want people to know that is art we will explain a walk and they can't walk in and out it is different techniques from stir frying to smoking to steaming and they do show of. >> beer a royalty for the age berry up to now not people know that especially the toughest they think this is - i really appreciate they love this art. >> from the cantonese to the hypomania and we have hot pots we have all of the cuisines of china in our chinatown you don't have to go far. >> small business is important to our neighborhood because if

we really make a lot of people lives better more people get a job here not just a big firm. >> you don't have to go anywhere else we have pocketed of great neighborhoods haul have all have their own uniqueness. >> san francisco has to all

>> i try to start every day not looking at my phone by doing something that is grounding. that is usually meditation. i have a gym set up in my garage, and that is usually breathing and movement and putting my mind towards something else. surfing is my absolute favorite thing to do. it is the most cleansing thing that i'm able to do. i live near the beach, so whenever i can get out, i do. unfortunately, surfing isn't a daily practice for me, but i've been able to get out weekly, and it's something that i've

been incredibly grateful for. [♪♪♪] >> i started working for the city in 2005. at the time, my kids were pretty young but i think had started school. i was offered a temporarily position as an analyst to work on some of the programs that were funded through homeland security. i ultimately spent almost five years at the health department coordinating emergency programs. it was something that i really enjoyed and turned out i was pretty good at. thinking about glass ceiling, some of that is really related to being a mother and self-supposed in some ways that i did not feel that i could allow myself to pursue responsibility; that i accepted treading water in my career

when my kids were young. and as they got older, i felt more comfortable, i suppose, moving forward. in my career, i have been asked to step forward. i wish that i had earlier stepped forward myself, and i feel really strongly, like i am 100% the right person for this job. i cannot imagine a harder time to be in this role. i'm humbled and privileged but also very confident. so here at moscone center, this is the covid command center, or the c.c.c. here is what we calledun -- call unified command. this is where we have physically been since march, and then, in july, we developed this unified structure. so it's the department of emergency management, the department of public health, and our human services

hughesing partners, so primarily the department of homelessness and supportive housing and human services agency. so it's sort of a three-headed command in which we are coordinating and operating everything related to covid response. and now, of course, in this final phase, it's mass vaccination. the first year was before the pandemic was extremely busy. the fires, obviously, that both we were able to provide mutual support but also the impact of air quality. we had, in 2018, the worst air quality ten or 11 days here in the city. i'm sure you all remember it, and then, finally, the day the sun didn't come out in san francisco, which was in october. the orange skies, it felt

apocalyptic, super scary for people. you know, all of those things, people depend on government to say what's happening. are we safe? what do i do? and that's a lot of what department of emergency management's role is. public service is truly that. it is such an incredible and effective way that we can make change for the most vulnerable. i spend a lot of my day in problem solving mode, so there's a lot of conversations with people making connections, identifying gaps in resources or whatever it might be, and trying to adjust that. the pace of the pandemic has been nonstop for 11 months. it is unrelenting, long days, more than what we're used to, most of us. honestly, i'm not sure how we're getting through it.

this is beyond what any of us ever expected to experience in our lifetime. what we discover is how strong we are, and really, the depth of our resilience, and i say that for every single city employee that has been working around the clock for the last 11 months, and i also speak about myself. every day, i have to sort of have that moment of, like, okay, i'm really tired, i'm weary, but we've got to keep going. it is, i would say, the biggest challenge that i have had personally and professionally to be the best mom that i can be but also the best public certify chant in whatever role i'm in. i just wish that i, as my younger self, could have had someone tell me you can give it and to give a little more

nudge. so indirectly, people have helped me because they have seen something in me that i did not see in myself. there's clear data that women have lost their jobs and their income because they had to take care of their safety nets. all of those things that we depend on, schools and daycare and sharing, you know, being together with other kids isn't available. i've often thought oh, if my kids were younger, i couldn't do this job, but that's unacceptable. a person that's younger than me that has three children, we want them in leadership positions, so it shouldn't be limiting. women need to assume that they're more capable than they think they are. men will go for a job whether they're qualified or not. we tend to want to be 110% qualified before we tend to step forward.

i think we need to be a little more brave, a little more exploratory in stepping up for positions. the other thing is, when given an opportunity, really think twice before you put in front of you the reasons why you should not take that leadership position. we all need to step up so that we can show the person behind us that it's doable and so that we have the power to make the changes for other women that is going to make the possibility for their paths easier than ours. other women see me in it, and i hope that they see me, and they understand, like, if i can do it, they can do it because the higher you get, the more leadership you have, and power. the more power and leadership

we have that we can put out

you're watching san francisco rising. today's special guest is monique gray. >> hi. i'm chris mannis and you're watching san francisco rising. the our guest today is marquise gray. he runs out of the office of the mayor in the city and county of san francisco. and he's with us today to talk about the recent progress of the sunnidale hope sf housing project. welcome to the show. >> good morning. thank you for having me today. >> let's start by talking about the existing residents of

sunnydale and their history. >> so sunnydale was built in the 1940s for a workers. it's the largest public housing community west of the mississippi. it's about 50 acres. pretty huge. about 760 single story units one to four bedrooms. >> i understand it's an ambitious rethinking of the residences. can you briefly describe the scope of the program and hope sf's involvement? >> yeah. the work of hope sf is this idea of more than housing. that acknowledging that our public housing community, the levels of violence and poverty that are in these communities are not by accident. you know, it's our opportunity to address a system issue, you know, that people need more than housing. they need health services.

resources. economic investment opportunities, jobs and things of that nature. and so hope sf strives to work with our city systems to better serve our public housing communities. >> so recently, mayor breed and speaker pelosi toured the site to both put focus on a national housing initiative and also to highlight the completion of the first new building. how many units does it contain and when will people start moving in? >> yeah. it was an amazing event. honored to have the secretary here with us as well in our community. it's 167 units. it's about 75% going back to the original families that currently live on site. so the replacement. so i did forget to mention i want to say real quick, the beauty of hope sf is housing development, new development without displacements or anti-displacement initiatives. so, for example, the building is 167 units.

75% of those units going to families that have lived there in the community for generationings and the other 25% are tax credit units adding to the affordable housing stock here in san francisco and those units are up and running now. they're leasing them as we speak. people are picking their units each week until they're filled up. >> so was this particular building put on a new plot of land or did people have to move out so it could be constructed? >> that's a good question. our first building was vacant which you may have saw across the street from this building and then this plot of land is the way we kind of do it, we do it in phases. once one goes in, we're able to move families into the new unit and where they previously were occupying, able to demolish old buildings to build the new. so this area had some older units that were demolished. >> it's impressive that construction has been able to continue during the covid-19

pandemic. can you talk about some of the challenges that needed to be overcome and how the community has managed during the crisis? >> that's a great question. you know, in san francisco, if i understand it correctly, i could be wrong, i believe housing was an essential service. the mayor made a strong commitment early on in the pandemic that we would continue to build housing as housing has been a critical issue in our city. so the housing part hasn't impacted us too much. 67 units have been going on its current time line. the bigger challenge for us was showing the families in our communities, low income families had the resources we need to survive the pandemic. many of our families didn't have the luxury of working from home, working in the zone and things of that nature. making sure they had access to covid testing and things of

that nature. so i want to give a big shout out to our resident leaders, our service providers across all four sites. for those that don't know, hope sf is four sites. sunnydale is one of the four sites. and so across those four sites, the most critical thing was making sure folks in these neighborhoods which have historically have been disconnected from resources have the things that they need to remain healthy, to, you know, survive the pandemic as we all had to survive the pandemic and we did pretty well. we were able to bring back scenes and covid testing on site. food distribution was happening all throughout the week. wellness services and things of that nature were all happening on site thanks to our resident leaders and our service providers across the sites. >> so, finally, when could we expect the next set of

residents to be ready? despite -- i guess we just said covid doesn't have an impact on the schedule. when will the next residences be ready? >> yeah. things are rolling. we have block a3 and block b3 to the building we were referring to earlier. and things are on pace. things are going really well. so we're looking at starting construction spring of 2022 and that will be 170 units and the goal is to have that lease up around 2024. >> well, thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show, mr. gray. thank you for giving us the time today. >> thank you, chris, and i really appreciate your time as well. >> and that's it with this episode. you've been watching san francisco rising for sfgov tv i'm chris manners. thanks so much for watching.

>> good morning. and welcome to the rules committee of the san francisco board of supervisors for today, monday, february 7th, 2022. i am aaron peskin. i am joined by committee members. our clerk is victor young. please could you make your announcements. >> yes. the meeting will reflect that community members participate through videoconference to the same extent as though physically present. public access to city services is essential and invites public participation in the following ways. public comments will be available on each item on the -- on each agenda on san francisc