street is not getting help. >> in hit us hard. i see a bright future to get the storefronts full. >> once people come here i think they really like it. >> if you are from san francisco visit visitation valley to see how this side of the city is the same but different. . >> chair peskin: and welcome to

the special rules committee meeting 2-22-22. i am chair aaron peskin, joined by supervisor connie chan and supervisor raphael mandelman. our clerk is mr. victor young. mr. young, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes. the board recognizes that public access to city services is essential and will be available in the following ways: public comment will be available on each item on the agenda. sfgovtv cable channel 26, 78, and 99 are streaming the meeting live. opportunities to speak in public comment are available by calling 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is

2692-457-6123. then press pound and pound again. when your item of interest comes up, press star, three to enter the speaker line. best practices are to speak slowly and clearly, call from a quiet location, and turn down your speakers. if you submit public comment via e-mail, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and included as part of the file. written comment may be sent via u.s. mail to city hall, 1 dr. carlton b. goodlett place, san francisco, california, 94102.

>> chair peskin: thank you, mr. young. can you please read the first item. >> clerk: yes. initiative ordinance, police code, public health emergency leave. members of the public who wish to make public comment press star, three to enter the queue. . >> chair peskin: supervisor

mar, the floor is yours. >> supervisor mar: thank you, chair peskin. i want to thank supervisor chan for your strong support of this measure. this is the third time this item has been before this committee, but i would like to briefly recap the importance of the measure and hope we find the right balance in the measures. public emergency leave is a commonsense policy to protect public workers and workplaces. in the past, public health emergency leave will make a material difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of san francisco workers. paid leave is essential for economic security and for public health. it protects everyone because if this pandemic has taught us anything, it has taught us that

we are closely connected, and we're stronger than our neighbor, our grocer, our teacher. covid-19 has shown too many gaps in the rise in benefits for social workers, and also, climate change continues to drive worse and worse fire seasons, so let's continue to take some lessons from this pandemic, to be more prepared for the next emergency, and the public health emergency reflects the important of these measures. when a local statewide health emergency is declared, it would automatically become available to use. if you're sick, need to quarantine, need to take care

of a family member due to an emergency or if you can't work due to the emergency, and protect health care workers and hospital staff, they can use public health emergency leave when the need strikes. i think today, we have reached the right balance, and over the past few years, we have seen the pandemic hit some of the racial injustices we face, as it disproportionately affects people of color. health care injustice as

barriers to matters of inconvenience become matters of life and death. one of the most important public policy interventions has been the expansion of paid public leave. no parent should have to choose between a paycheck and sending their sick child to school, so i really want to, again, thank

you, colleagues, for this opportunity to consider public health emergency leave for the third time this morning, and again, we prepared it as an initiative ordinance to keep this crucial safeguard in place for this and future emergencies because covid-19 isn't the only emergency we face. and especially as climate change presents a direct and immediate health threat to worsening fire seasons and health quality. emergency paid leave will provide two weeks of paid emergency leave during times. thanks again to my cosponsor, supervisors chan, ronen, and

preston, and i also want to thank city attorney lisa powell, and my legislative aide, edward wright, for their work on this policy, and all i ask for this committee is for you to -- thank you for accepting the amendments at the last two meetings, and i would request that you support this item moving forward to the full board with a positive recommendation. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you, supervisor mar. are there any comments from committee members? if not, why don't we open this up for public comment? >> clerk: mr. chair, operations is checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. if you have not already done so, please press star, three to enter the queue. for those who have already done so, please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted before you begin your comment.

it appears we have two listeners but no one in the queue for public comment. >> chair peskin: okay. seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. supervisor chan, would you like to make a motion? >> supervisor chan: yes. i make a motion to accept the ordinance and move the item to the full board with a positive recommendation. >> chair peskin: thank you. roll call vote, please. [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without action. >> chair peskin: thank you. mr. clerk, can you please call items 2 and 3 together?

>> clerk: [indiscernible] and appear before the refuse rate board to determine rate adjustments. item 3 is a motion ordering submitted to the voters at an election to be held on june 7, 2022, an ordinance amending the refuse collection and disposal ordinance to restructure the refuse rate setting process to replace hearing before the department of public works. >> chair peskin: thank you. mr. young. we've also had a robust discussion by the individuals who placed this on the calendar from the board. why don't we open this up for public comment on items 2 and 3? >> clerk: yes. members of the public wishing to provide public comment

should call 415-655-0001, enter meeting i.d. 2492-457-6123, then press pound and pound again. press star, three to enter the queue and wait until the system indicates your line has been unmuted. and it appears there are no callers in the queue. >> chair peskin: thank you. i would like to make a motion to send these two items to the full board with a positive recommendation. mr. young, a roll call vote, please. >> clerk: on the motion to send item number 2 -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair peskin: and then, colleagues, on the next item,

which i suspect will have no objection after march 1, i'd like to make a motion to send item 3 to the full board with a recommendation. mr. young, on that motion, a roll call, please. >> clerk: yes. on that motion -- [roll call]

>> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair peskin: next item, please. >> clerk: item 4 is a hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending january 6, 2026, to the small business commission. we have one set and one applicant. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. young. i just want to thank the member who has sat in this seat a dozen years. that would be commissioner kathleen dooley, thank you her for her service and wish her well. we have one applicant, tiffany

walker-carter. miss carter-walker, the floor is yours. tiffany, turn your camera on. >> okay. sorry about that. hi, everyone. i am tiffany walker-carter, a san francisco native, and a small business owner of [indiscernible] i'm sorry. i'm in my restaurant right now. we have locations in the first women led location of la cocina. i help to champion and serve what businesses will look like in the future of san francisco, and some of my goals had to cut the barriers and red tape to start and grow small businesses in san francisco. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you, miss carter-walker. are there any questions or comments from committee

members? are there any members of the public who would like to comment on this item? >> clerk: yes. members of the public who would like to comment on this item call 415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2492-457-6123, then press pound and pound again. press star, three to lineup to speak. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and then you may begin your comment. we have lost our caller in the queue. there are no callers in the queue. >> chair peskin: okay.

i would like to make a motion to -- supervisor chan. >> supervisor chan: thank you, chair peskin. i would like to thank commissioner kathleen dooley for all of her years of service. it's critical to serve our city and speaks to the diversity of our city. i want to thank her for her years of work and commend miss walker-carter, as well. you're already busy with your restaurant, but you've made the

time to serve on this commission, so we thank you for your service, and thank you, chair peskin. >> chair peskin: thank you, supervisor chan. with that, why don't we take the motion to approve the motion of supervisor chan. [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair peskin: next item, please. >> clerk: yes. item number 5, hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending july 1, 2025, to the entertainment commission. we have two applicants. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. young. good morning, miss thomas.

>> good morning. >> chair peskin: we thank you for your interest in a seat on the entertainment commission, which would help protect the community as set forth in your application. we have two applicants, so we will take them in the order they appear on the agenda, so we will start with miss thomas. >> thank you. i've been serving in this seat on the entertainment commission. i'm really proud of the work that the commission has been able to do. as supervisor peskin said, my background is in public health. both my academic credentials, my work at the department of public health, and currently, i serve as the director of public

health at the san francisco aids foundation, and i'm proud to bring a public health and pandemic reduction lens to the entertainment commission. i'm very happy to answer any questions you may have. >> chair peskin: are there any questions for commissioner thomas? seeing none, let's move onto the next applicant, antrina crawford. good morning. i'm so sorry. you're on mute. >> can you hear me now? >> chair peskin: yes, we can. >> okay. thank you, and good morning. first, i would like to give thanks and recognition to the

body of the city and county of san francisco. we're all doing the best i can. for myself, this was rather new to me. i am a native of san francisco. i was born at san francisco general. my mother was, and my grandmother, as well, who just passed away at the age of 97. growing up, i always wondered why there was no one with my face on the commission. i'm glad to see them now, but i would like to see more. music has always been a soothing element in my life. the joy and expression of

gratitude i receive is indescribable. music is the universal language. it bonds and it heals, if i would love to be on a team of working with intelligent people, and everyone is my mentor right now, all of you guys. i would love to be working with you guys. how can i insert myself and be a good person in the community. i'm a mom of six and lost my husband six years ago to a heart attack. we're a family, and we just want to do the right thing and represent people that look like ourselves in a decent world of light. [indiscernible] you know, maybe a vegan outdoor event, but i

just want to be part of a team where i can make sure that everyone is happy at the end of the day, and that's just simply it for me. >> chair peskin: thank you, ms. crawford, and i very much appreciate your interest in the entertainment commission. this particular seat, as i indicated earlier, is a seat that has a requirement for a public health background, and looking at your application, there are other seats that are more general in nature, but i didn't see a public health background relative to your application, but there may be other good fits out there for you to get involved. >> okay. when you say public health, is care taking a public health? >> chair peskin: that could be. public health, like in-home care taking, is that what

you're saying? >> yes, i was providing those services, and i was also working at laguna rehab center. i've been doing it at the age of 18, and i'm 50 years old now. >> chair peskin: i didn't see that in your application, but i very much appreciate that. why don't we open this up to public comment who would like to speak to item 5. >> clerk: members of the public who would like to speak to this call should call 415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2492-457-6123. then press pound and pound again. press star, three to lineup to speak. for those already on hold, you should wait until the system indicates your line has been unmuted. it appears we have two

listeners but no one wishing to comment. >> chair peskin: okay. public comment is closed. given miss thomas' experience and her role in public health, particularly at the san francisco aids foundation, i would suggest that we continue her in this seat, and i would further suggest that, miss crawford -- and the clerk can point you to something called the maddie act.

i see supervisor mandelman nodding his head. supervisor chan? >> supervisor chan: thank you, miss crawford, for your interest in volunteering for public service. i am in agreement with chair peskin, that there are other opportunities that you can help us on other commissions, with your life experience and your life stories and your passion for music that perhaps we can find a good fit along the long list of commissions that we're actually in seat. there are many seats that are vacant that we hope that someone like you to serve on, so i really just want to thank you for your -- you submitting the application, and i thank you for your interest at this time, and just thinking about the night life and just so many

things that are happening in this city, that i do look forward to having commissioner thomas continue on the entertainment commission to bring a very specific opinion with her expertise on events and making sure that we continue on with the aspect of public health and bring that expertise to the table once we talk about, you know, recovery during this economy but also planning for different types of events and entertainment venues. so thank you, and i thank chair peskin for your suggestion on this. >> chair peskin: thank you, supervisor chan. and just -- i am just -- my staff just informed me that there may be commissions that

support in-home service work. so i'm going to ask you to reach out to my staff, calvin yan, c-a-l-v-i-n y-a-n@sfgov.org. so with that, let me make a motion to move the name of -- to approve the name of laura thomas with a full recommendation to the board to fill the seat. roll call vote, please. >> clerk: on that motion -- [roll call]

>> clerk: the motion passes unanimously. >> chair peskin: thank you. next item, please. >> clerk: thank you. item 5 is a hearing to consider appointing three members, terms ending october 21, 2022, and two members, terms ending october 21, 2023, to the local homeless coordinating board. >> chair peskin: the current incumbent in seat 8, eric brown, informed us this morning that he is not seeking reappointment. i want to thank him for his many years of service on the local homeless coordinating board. and then, i also need to tell

you that as to seat number 9, that is an appointee of the controller which has to be confirmed by the board of supervisors. i believe that the controller is getting ready to make that appointment but has not done so yet, so we will be continuing seat number 9 to the call of the chair until controller rosenfield has made that appointment, and then, we will take that up. so we have actually four seats and eight applicants. i want to start out -- i did some research over the weekend about how the local homeless coordinating board came to be in the late 90s, and then looked at the 2016 ordinance that was our current operating code provision that was created by mayor lee when he was creating the department of homelessness and supportive housing, and i thought we could

start with emily cohen from that department who could give us a little bit of background about the local homeless coordinating board and the role it plays, and specifically the qualifications for membership, which, as you see, to all of these seats, represent homeless subpopulations as set forth on the documents we have, families with children, single adults, veterans, chronically homeless, t.a.y. youth, persons with hiv/aids, persons with substance use disorders, mentally ill, and domestic violence. so miss cohen, the floor is yours. thank you for joining us this morning, and thank you for taking time over the weekend to give a little guidance in this area. >> thank you, chair peskin and

supervisors. thank you for having me, emily cohen from the department of homelessness and housing. this board is the oversight body to our continuum of care which is the federal funding and federal care to support solutions to homelessness locally. last year, we received about $60 million in continuous funds, and the lhcb is responsible for outlining those funds. this is an opportunity to engage the public, it's an opportunity to engage with people experiencing homelessness, and enhance public transparency from the department. the lhcb meet monthly.

our director and many staff attend. it is an important and informational component of our work. it's where we do a great deal of our public engagement at the lhcb, so grateful to all members of the public and members of the public who have indicated an interest to serve on the commission.

>> chair peskin: thank you, miss cohen. are there any questions from committee members? okay. why don't we go to the applicants in the order that they appear for statements for a couple of minutes each, starting with kelley cutler for seat 5, and kelley is the incumbent member of that seat. good morning. >> good morning. i am hope that my chiweenie stays under control this morning. i am applying for this seat again. i qualify for a number of things under that category.

experiencing homelessness [indiscernible] as well as a single adult, and -- compounding trauma when it comes to homelessness, and so ptsd that figures into the ball game. so my -- the things that i am really focused on is coordination with homeless people and lifting up those voices and making sure that at the table [indiscernible]. the other folks on the board have been amazing, and it's very diverse, and loads of

experience being brought to the table. i actually want to continue to learn so that we can actually do more, and we can be utilized more than we have been. part of the challenge is we have covid. that turned everything upside down, but we're still plugging along -- oh, and my experience. i didn't even -- oh, for the past few decades, i've been living and working in the community here. i worked in direct service, i worked with larkin street youth services, i've been doing street outreach throughout this, and then, for the past decade, i've been involved with the coalition on homelessness. i'm an [indiscernible] organizer there, and i made it there through way of the hope

office [indiscernible] and so i was actually in that role collaborating [indiscernible] and i saw how great it was when everyone came together because during this time we created this real shelter access which has been great, and i'm really hoping that it gets back on-line because it's not currently there. >> chair peskin: thank you so much. why don't we move on, if there are no questions, to nicolas staton. i'm sorry, supervisor mandelman, and my apologies. >> supervisor mandelman: i think i know kelley's answer on this, but i'm going to ask all

of the candidates. i'm asking about the balance of shelter versus permanent housing and the different types of investments that san francisco should be making. i am someone that thinks that we are dramatically undersheltered and ought to have many more access on the street for people who want to come off the street now, not when we have a permanent supportive housing unit for them in the future. that is not a position with which kelley is affiliated, but i wanted to ask her about the allocation of scarce funds now and the investments we should be making, your thoughts on

permanent supportive housing and shelter and the relationship between the two? >> yeah, i think there needs to be a balance because we look at [indiscernible], and you're stuck. a shelter, it's not a home, so there's a real, you know, balance. right now, we need a lot of homes, so i don't think -- i think we need to be smart about it, and being focused on actual housing solutions because that's going to end homelessness. i don't believe that we should accept that this is how it is, because frankly, this is not normal, but we've been dealing

with homelessness when it doesn't have to be this way, but the answer is balanced. i still believe that we need to be looking at the final goal of housing for persons experiencing homelessness, but also what the researchers are saying on this, and it's all directed in the direction of housing. >> supervisor mandelman: i would just respond that many of the cities, at least on the

east coast, make a commitment to shelter anyone who asks for it, and i think that we can do both. >> chair peskin: thank you, miss cutler. why don't we hear from nicolas staton. >> clerk: i'm checking the list to see if they logged in. i'm not seeing a log-in for mr. staton at this time. >> chair peskin: okay. why don't we go to josh steinberger. >> great. can everyone hear me? >> chair peskin: yep. >> okay. great. my name is josh steinberger,

and i am a san francisco native. i'm currently the director at the [indiscernible] foundation. at e.c.f., i was the manager of the problem solving services program. for those who don't know it, it's kind of the tip of the spear for entry into the adult coordinated entry system. i have a master's degree from the university of san francisco in urban and public affairs. i completed my thesis on unconditional cal transfers for people that are homeless, specifically those deserving in our welfare systems and how this concept of deserving this makes these types of resources inaccessible for homeless. so now that i'm working in

oakland, i want to stay connected to the homeless life in san francisco. i think the homeless coordinating board is at an intersection which kind of makes it the perfect format where i want to apply myself. my value to the board will be my intimate knowledge of homeless service networks, down to the day-to-day operations but also while not losing sight of the big picture of the change that's needed. my personal goal is always to increase the quality of living for people that are homeless and unsheltered. as a point of support, my first goal will be increasing people receiving services into the san

francisco e.o.c. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. steinberger. i want to make sure that anybody we support is able to vote on all the funding matters and does not have to recuse themselves. >> we have a -- many funding sources that go into all of our programs in eocc, but they're all funneled through alameda county. >> chair peskin: gotcha. because eocc receives a lot of their funding from the city. i know that supervisor mandelman has a question for you. supervisor mandelman?

>> supervisor mandelman: yeah. i don't know if you heard the question for the previous applicant, but i asked the question about the unsheltered and the need for investment in various types of exits from homelessness, from immediate shelter to permanent housing and lots of other steps in between. you've worked on lots of the other steps including problem solving, but i was curious about your thoughts on what i perceive to be a significant under sheltering and how to think about permanent supportive housing and other types of exits? >> yeah, right, i think my position starts off in the position of a lot of other people, which is we need more of both, and we need to do a lot more on both.

one thing that i give alameda a lot of credit for is that piece between completely unsheltered and unhoused and being in a permanent housing, which is where we want everyone to be. the process of how we get there, i think there needs to be a lot more emphasis on. alameda is doing a lot with tiny homes, and i think there needs to be a lot more coordination on transition. the housing stabilizers, those working with those who have gone from the streets to the navigation centers and then

moved onto housing settings, those are the ones who have the greatest problem, and the touch of resources that they have can really follow up. i think the answer is to have more options in between people going from unhoused and unsheltered to housing, that can kind of prepare for more stability. i also think that there's a difference between unhoused and unshelteredness, just from supervising a team of housing workers. when we went into a neighborhood, we would see people that are in situations that we know can be improved with just a little bit more. like i said, my personal goal is to improve the quality of living for people that are

homeless, and that, for me, means people that are in situations that are dangerous, living on the treats, to another shelter, whether that's a navigation center, but taking that person into permanent housing might not always be the most hopeful. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. steinberger. and then, the policy representations question, there may be many answers to that, what subpopulations do you think you would be representing? >> well, i can take where i am now with the east oakland community project. i supervise a contract that helps people with hiv and aids. there's a majority of our unit

that's for d.v. survivors, behavioral health contracts, we have programs to support people who are recently released from jails, and people that are housing houses services in the field, so i think that there are a lot of kind of populations, subpopulations that are served by my work. >> chair peskin: thank you for that very thorough response. if there are no other questions, why don't we go onto mark nagel. >> supervisors, my name is mark nagel, and i'm a cofounder of rescue s.f. to bring about the bold action to end the homelessness crisis,

san franciscans must get off the sidelines and make their voices heard. i'm plying to join -- applying to the board to do just that. [indiscernible] the city will this month open a shelter at [indiscernible] the city will begin visiting some of these sites this week. we've advocated to improve data management practices and [indiscernible] on the city response to the crisis. we'll work closely with the department of emergency management and [indiscernible] i believe that i can be a

productive member of the lhcb. the skills that i developed in my business career before founding rescue s.f. [indiscernible] my work in the financial sector is in investment banking and capital [indiscernible] as a trained lawyer, i can assess the legal frameworks and constraints underlying programs and institutions. i appreciate the responsibility of serving lhcb. thank you for your consideration. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. nagel, and i will ask the same question that i asked the last speaker, and i'm sure supervisor mandelman will ask the same question that he's asked the last several applicants, and that is with regard to what subpopulations,

as we are required to consider, you would be representing? >> yes, i asked the same question myself. so i actually started with the bylaws for the lhcb, and i found article 3, section 2, that lays out the constituents of the members that the board should come from, and members of boards and local organizations are eligible to be on the board [indiscernible] with respect to your question, supervisor, i would explain my focus the last few years have been [indiscernible] people unsheltered are by and large homeless adults. 36% of people who are chronically homeless or

unsheltered, the vast majority are veterans and [indiscernible] so we are advocating for more shelter to [indiscernible] and certain adults. >> chair peskin: thank you. great response. supervisor mandelman? >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, chair peskin. i don't think your answer is going to be a surprise given where rescue s.f. has been the last couple of years. but going back to the newsom administration which closed many shelter beds, we've never recovered from that, and i

would ask you how you would go about solving that? >> it's clear the solution to homelessness is permanent housing. [indiscernible] it's obvious to us the answer must be something real, some interim shelter. there can be others, using emerging practices in the bay area and other parts of the country. it is cost effective, and it is a solution that people, we think, would very much value. not a dorm-type shelter, but a shelter where everyone would

get their own unit, a bed, storage unit, table, chair, with air and heating, something that they haven't had for years. it should be accompanied by services that would be right there on the site. [indiscernible] it's also important because with these service intervention, we can open up the sort of shelters to a wide range of subpopulations that we traditionally serve. traditionally, san francisco has been operating with scarce resources, and it's been focusing on [indiscernible] and when you become unhoused and

you aren't sick, you become sick and finally qualify for housing. [indiscernible] short-term housing to get to quickly then we can get tailored services, like some job or workforce development to get them back on their feet, leading productive lives and in independent living. they should not be forced into government supported housing to live their lives. thank to prop c, we can have a flow of money coming into this city so we can get people out of shelters and into permanent housing. >> chair peskin: okay. seeing no other questions from

committee members, thank you, mr. nagel, and why don't we go to the next applicant, the incumbent for seat 6, del seymour. >> okay. i can't turn my camera on. can you hear me? >> chair peskin: yes, we can hear you but we can't see you. >> okay. i can't turn my camera on, but i'll go ahead and get started. >> chair peskin: we know what you look like, mr. seymour. >> okay. thank you. my name is del seymour, and i've been in the san francisco area approximately 30 years,

and 18 of those years were homeless. i'm been out of the homeless community 12 years, but i was given opportunities to get out. a lot of help from my veterans organization, swords to plowshares. i'm a disabled viet nam veteran, and i'm proud to have served our country. so what i do now is i spend a lot of time with the local homeless coordinating board, and i'm the cochair. i probably am working for the board 20 hours a week. i'm calling mary ellen from the department of emergency management or shireen from h.s.h., or emily, who just got off the floor, i was on the phone with her this weekend. so i don't hesitate to call the community partners when there's an issue or a problem or someone needing somebody.

it's a seven day a week thing because homelessness is a seven days a week 24 hours a day problem. i actually was looking forward to -- i'm 75 years old. i was actually looking forward to stepping down somewhere around this year, but with the new management at h.s.h., shireen and her fantastic team, i'm just so excited and giggly about this department now moving forward so quickly, and real estate acquisition, setting up a decent housing and respectable sheltering. and the sky's the limit, and i just can't see leaving right now. i'm so involved in all the new acquisitions, i'm helping to get those navigation centers.

i hear yourself, supervisor peskin, stepped in for some of our nob hill housing that was in jeopardy. i really appreciate the stance that you took, and supervisor mandelman, i appreciate your stance on some of the issues that we deal with. as far as my residency situation, because i have a situation with residency, i moved out of the tenderloin two years ago because i got economically forced out. after being homeless 12 years ago, i was able to buy my family a home in another part of the city on the g.i. bill. i do not live in san francisco, i live in another area of the city. i'm here seven days a week, probably 16 or 17 hours a day.

i barely know what color my house is because i'm hardly there in the daytime. i want to put a community group together -- i can answer your question right now, supervisor mandelman. we need more high capacity sheltering. i've been to san diego, baltimore, l.a., and they shelter more. i would love more permanent supportive housing, but what about tyrone and sheela tonight? yeah, we can wait on housing, but we can't. we need to have shelter for everyone who needs housing. i will never stop yelling and screaming about it until we get in agreement on that. i was just facilitating a planning board equity meeting, and i'm also on several of the

boards of san francisco, so i give a lot of my time to this city, and i'm done. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. seymour, and it sounds like you answered my question, and it sounds like you answered supervisor mandelman's question, so why don't we go to ansel romero, the incumbent for seat 7, also on a residency waiver. >> thank you for the opportunity to join and serve the lhcb. [indiscernible] which is an off shot of three fairly large nonprofits that have come together over a number of years. in that role, i served over

7,000 low-income individuals, housing over 8,000 low-income individuals. we were managing and operating and had developed over 7,000 low-income units. i'm a certified property manager. in 2019, i had the distinction of being awarded the grassroots advocate for the year by leading age california, which is the largest senior advocacy group in the state. with regards to the city that i've really grown to love, i had a really significant role in the preservation of the fed -- frederick douglas haines gardens, so i've been involved

in housing and supportive services, specifically in san francisco, over 400 low-income individuals. in january of last year, i've created my own consulting company, and in that role, i have served a number of other housing organizations and advocacy organizations. just been a desire to further broaden my scope. in that role, i was asked by the state of california through the california department of aging for a project on the s.c.a.n. foundation to create a project that was the first of its kind. it was identifying all the agencies in the state of california that serves all individuals, both seniors and people with disabilities and cross-referencing these agencies to identify the

different scopes of the services that they provided, their funding, along with providing recommendations. what i hope to do if fortunate enough to join the boards is really leverage my experience in not just leveraging the development of housing but also services and equate that into the realization of the lhcbs strategic plan. measuring is really important. what doesn't get measured doesn'tet get done. when looking at the materials, it was heartening to note the targets, and i would like to see that done in the future. but i think in closing, in addition to metrics, what's really important is really looking into what have we done

as a board working with our partners and really making a difference in a person's life individual by individual, and that's something that i would really look forward to participating in if fortunate enough to be appointed to this board. thank you for your consideration. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. romero, and i know that supervisor mandelman has his question that you've heard before, but let me just ask the question that i've had before, which is which subpopulations do you think that you would be representing if appointed? >> well, given my experience, chair peskin, i'd look forward to serving single adults. i've also served veterans chronically homeless and people with hiv/aids and certainly look forward to serving these folks on the board. >> chair peskin: thank you, and then, my second question is

relative to conflicts or potential conflicts relative to your new business; if any of your clients are recipients to grants or contracts with the city or county of san francisco that might preclude you under certainly conflicts from casting a vote. >> not at the time, chair peskin, but i would be mindful of that moving forward. >> chair peskin: thank you. supervisor mandelman? >> supervisor mandelman: yes. i would think about investing in shelters and other ways to

immediately move from the street and potentially into permanent supportive housing, and i think we have overbalanced that, the permanent supportive housing in favor of the shorter term and more immediate exits, and wonder what your thought right side -- thoughts are about that and how to think about that? >> thank you, supervisor mandelman. in 2019, the homeless population, over 8,000 individuals in the city and the county, i was just struck by the fact, and i shouldn't have been, but over half, over 65% have been homeless for over a year. given my experience and how long it takes to develop low-income housing, anywhere from six to seven years, there's got to be a balance. we just look around, and we see that there's a problem with undersheltering at this time. so i'm all for -- it's just -- that's got to be addressed, and there has to be a balance, and

there's got to be -- for as long as the shelters have the necessary services that we were talking about before -- in my opinion, the worst thing you can do, whether it's permanent supportive housing or temporary shelters, if there's not enough housing to support that, it would be a disaster. just looking around this, over half the population, the homeless population has been unsheltered for over a year. that really needs to be addressed. understanding that lhcb is really looking at permanent solutions to housing, it may be counter intuitive that if there's a huge, huge focus on sheltering -- sheltering is a

huge part of moving to permanent supportive housing. as long as the services are aligned with that, then that's certainly something i will be -- continue to be behind. >> chair peskin: thank you. all right. seeing no further questions, why don't we move onto nikon jeanell guffey for seat 7. good morning. >> hi, good morning. thank you for having me, chair peskin and supervisor chan and vice chair mandelman. just really quickly, simply i'm a resident of san francisco county. i'm currently -- am a product of a child who faced housing insecurity in san francisco. i currently am employed as an

employee with family and children services. i've been there almost 22 years. my role currently is director with family and children services, and with my experience and background, i have a masters in social work, and i'm a licensed clinical social workers, and i am an advocate for foster youth and [indiscernible] youth, and it's my job to make sure that their voices are being heard. currently, [indiscernible] under the age of 25 are foster youth, and i believe and ensure that we can and will do better. i believe that the voices of the families and voices of the children that are impacted with all of the trauma that they experience is very crucial and critical, to kind of bring that

knowledge, and to housing security to t.a.y. youth. to answer the question of supervisor mandelman with permanent and supportive housing, i work with both, so i value the importance of temporary shelter. what's important for the youth that i serve is ensuring that there are safe environments and space for their belongings, so they kind of feel a place where they're valued. and the other piece is ensuring that there are appropriate services in place, even in shelter structure. i think with my experience and what we currently have in the foster system, i would able to add a voice on things that have worked for us, areas of growth, and looking how we can transfer some of this to our housing population.

so with that, i thank you for your time and consideration, and i look forward to your questions. >> chair peskin: thank you, ms. guffey. i think you've answered all of our questions. very much appreciate it. last, but not least, why don't we move onto gary mccoy. >> good morning, supervisors. i've been very active in advocacy the last ten years, having experienced homelessness, substance use disorder, and hiv and aids as a member of the lgbtq community. i would love an opportunity to serve san francisco in this capacity. previously served on the san francisco shelter monitoring committee from 2015 to 2018 as vice chair and chair of its policy subcommittee and served on the california homeless committee and finance coordinating council from 2017

to this past january, when it transitioned to the california interagency council on homelessness. i would love your support for a seat on the local homeless coordinating board. i'm also happy to talk to you about any issues that come up. in terms of supervisor mandelman's question, i do support increased shelter capacity, but there needs to be permanent housing. i'm a fan of the housing ladder. it worked for me, so any time we have an opportunity to support housing opportunities would work, whether it's moving onto families or friends,

anything to sort of clear the bottle neck that we do have in our housing system that's right now. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. mccoy, and relative to my question, i believe that health right does not have any contract with h.s.h. is that correct? >> yes. as far as i'm aware, we have no h.s.h. related contracts, but always happy to recuse myself if any conflicts happen to come up. >> chair peskin: perfect. and i'll turn it over to supervisor mandelman? >> supervisor mandelman: i think mr. mccoy answered. he's a believer in permanent supportive housing and recognizes that we need more shelter. >> chair peskin: there you go. >> supervisor mandelman: there you go. >> chair peskin: okay. why don't we open this item up to public comment? are there any members of the

public who would like to speak to item number 6? >> clerk: yes, if you have not already done so, please press star, three to enter the queue. if you have already done so, please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted before you begin your comment. it looks like we have three callers lined up to speak. >> chair peskin: thank you. may we have the first caller, please. >> yes. i'm calling in support of kelley cutler for the homeless coordinating board. it's absolutely critical that the coalition on homelessness retain a seat on the local

homeless coordinating board. it's vital for us bringing up questions and having a dialogue in a public forum with the department of homelessness and supportive housing. additionally, i wanted to just support gary mccoy, who's done amazing advocacy and been part of standing up with the linkage center, and finally, i wanted to comment on mr. nagel. appreciate with great respect that he is coming to us with a goal of creating solutions for homeless individuals. i don't believe he represents homeless individuals, i believe he represents neighborhood groups, and so i feel like it's important to acknowledge that. rescue s.f. is not made up of homeless individuals or people that have experienced homelessness, so i feel that that might be a disqualifying

aspect of his application, and thank you. appreciate your time to build a group of people that will help us navigate through the challenges of creating real solutions for our homeless neighbors. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. my name is fred winegrad, and i'm calling in support of mark nagel. i totally disagree with the last caller. rescue s.f. is looking for solutions, and their solutions are driven by alternatives. what i like about mark is his ability to bring people together. in a federal sense, it's like crossing the aisle. rescue s.f. has had advocates from the homeless coalition on their seminars. they've also had feedback in

the tiny houses that will be implemented on 33 gough, so i think we need really new and supportive programs that will help the homeless, not keep them out there as a shelter. it's inhumane, so i'd really advocate for mark to be a member. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. are there any other speakers? >> clerk: yes, we have two additional callers. >> chair peskin: next speaker, please. >> hi. my name is jennifer laska. i'm the president of the [indiscernible] foundation. i'm calling in support of mark nagel. he's done a tremendous job over the years educating the public

on the complexity of issues facing homelessness. he's been instrumental in getting homelessness opportunities launched in the city, and i think he would be amazing. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker? >> good morning, chair peskin and members. my name is carolyn kennedy. i'm a core team member of rescue s.f. i've read all the applications, and i support the candidacy of mark nagel, gary mccoy, kelley cutler, and josh steinberger. mr. nagel has tremendous skill and experience that would benefit a wide range of san

francisco homeless community. most recently, he met with stakeholders in the tenderloin and the department of emergency management to redefine the dashboard that he developed. i also want to say a little bit about mark as a human being. he's caring and committed and thinks objectively before making decisions. he works with others well, works constructively is well. mark is a tremendous advocate for both housed and unhoused, so i want to just add that because i've observed this over the last two years. thank you for the opportunity to give public comment. >> chair peskin: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> hi. this is jennifer friedenbach, and i am calling on the coalition of homelessness, and thank you, rules committee, for your consideration today. i wanted to call in support of kelley cutler to be reappointed to the local homeless coordinating board? you have a number of incumbents here that are very -- have been really -- putting a lot of work into this and have a lot more work to do and have been very -- you know, this -- this body is not an easy body to manage, but what kelley brings is she is doing -- spending her days doing outreach on the street and is bringing direct representation of folks and what they bring. she has experienced homelessness and knows this

system really well. she has a knowledge of what's working and not working in the homeless system and is able to engage actively with people who are experiencing crises and undergoing homelessness. i feel like it's incredibly important to preserve that seat. thank you so much. >> chair peskin: thank you. are there any other members of the public for public comment on this item? >> clerk: i believe we have one additional speaker. >> chair peskin: yes, please. >> hi. my name is carolyn thomas. i've been involved in trying to forge homeless relations in the neighborhood for oh, at least

the last seven years. i've also been an attendee of the lhcb meetings. i'm here to support mark nagel's appointment to the lhcb board. i believe has the ability to serve all segments of the population. he's not beholden to a specific idealogical point of view. i'd ad -- advocated for many of the homeless solutions that are being implemented for many years, and he's encouraged

people to show up and support different solutions. he brings to an analytical and data driven mind. i'd like to support del seymour for his experience in organizing and collaboration in several different organizations, including the lhcb board. i believe his appointment should be reupped. >> chair peskin: thank you for your comments. are there any other speakers in public comment? >> clerk: i believe there's one more who jumped on. >> hi. my name is olivia growacki. i am a resident of the outer sunset, and i am calling to

support kelley cutler on this board. she has the experience of homelessness and has been working in the homeless response system for over a decade, so it's really important that we have people who know what it's like, that have been homeless, that aren't just seeing homelessness from an angle where they haven't lived it or experienced it. i think it's important that kelley has a background where she's walked in direct services. you can't walk around this city without someone stopping kelley and saying hey, i know you or don't you work for the homeless coalition? i think it's imperative that kelley continues to serve on

this committee, and i ask that you support her reappointment, and i just can't speak enough about what she's done for our communities here in san francisco. so thank you so much, and i ask that you reappoint kelley cutler to the homeless local coordinating board. >> chair peskin: mr. young, do we have any other callers wishing to make public comment? >> clerk: that was the last caller. >> chair peskin: okay. colleagues, i just wanted to point out that there are actually a number of vacancies. mayor has one vacancy that has yet to be filled, and as i mentioned earlier, the

controller has yet to fill his vacancy, which of course would still have to come before this committee and the board of supervisors, and then, [indiscernible] that are before us today, seats 5, 6, 7, and 8, wherein we have two incumbents applying for reappointment and two that are vacant. so i just wanted to say that because when we are done today or when the board is done next week, there will still be two vacant seats, and we have quite a number of qualified applicants here who may be able to be appointed by the controller to his vacancy or by the mayor to her vacancy, so i just wanted to [indiscernible]. my inclination, but i very much want to hear from you,

colleagues, is for continuity and for the qualifications to reappoint the two incumbents who are seeking reappointment, and that gets us to the very difficult work of sorting through the balance. i will make a couple of observations, and i really want to thank all the applicants, all of whom are clearly committed and qualified. the couple of observations that i would like to make for our commission is seat 1, sophia isom, who is not seeking reappointment, was an h.s.a. representative, the human services agency. i say that because miss guffey also works for the human services agency. it does not constrain us, but i think there's some value in having a human services agency

member on that body. and second, i will note that we have many, many san franciscans here. i know that we have two individuals who are seeking residency waivers. one of them is, of course, del seymour, the incumbent, and another, ancel romero. i would be inclined to be sparing with our residency waivers. i would be inclined to not do two of them, but one perhaps, but let's hear from you, colleagues, as to what your thoughts are. don't all speak at once. supervisor mandelman?

>> supervisor mandelman: yep, thank you, chair peskin, and as is usually the case, we have -- or not usually, but as is sometimes the case, we have an abundance of riches and too many good people for us to appoint to this body. i think i share your inclination to reappointment del seymour and also share your inclination that nikon guffey should be on this body. as to the other choices, i have several thoughts about several of them. i guess i have thoughts about three of them. josh steinberger has abundant experience, i think, you know, in the city working for city

agencies as well as nonprofits. seeing this from his vantage point on the other side of the bay and as a san franciscan i think would be very good to have on there, and a good person. i think it would be good to have him on there. gary mccoy, i also know him and respect his work, and while i may have some difference with him on the shelter versus housing debate, i, you know, still think he would be great on this board, as well. mark nagel's application raises questions about what the role of the local coordinating homeless board is and should be. i think for many people and the public, this is not just a body -- and i think for the members of the board itself, i don't think they see their role or that the broader public sees

their role as simply overseeing $60 million in federal contracts. they seem to, at the very least, [indiscernible] and they also sometimes go beyond that to weighing into broader questions like encampment resolutions, the role of hsoc, and to the extent that they are going there, i would be strongly inclined to have mark nagel on there. so i guess i've put put three names out there for two spots. >> chair peskin: yes, and whether anybody is on this body

or not on this body, supervisor chan, thoughts from you? >> supervisor chan: thank you, chair peskin. i would be inclined to support incumbents. during my public service career, i have actually worked with gary mccoy, and knowing his experience in my professional and personal life, i am inclined to support gary, as well. i think it's important to think about having the mayor and the

controller to articulate their appointment and thoughts, but those are my thoughts on these appointments today, thank you. >> chair peskin: yeah, i wish the controller had made our job easier. i did suggest, on friday afternoon, that he make our job easier by supporting and appointing someone from this list, which he mentioned he might do but has not yet done. i think we've got a couple of choices. one is we can continue this to our meeting of monday and see if the controller makes our job easier. the other is we can continue

seat number 9, which is, of course, subject to confirmation by this committee and the board to whenever the controller makes his decision. but in terms of hazarding a motion that would be simpatico, i'm inclined to support kelley cutler -- maybe what we should do is take this piece by piece. do three and continue 8 and 9 to the call of the chair and see what mr. rosenfield does for us. how is that for a proposal? all right.

mr. clerk, i will make a motion to nominate -- or to recommend to the full board kelley cutler for seat 5, del seymour with a residency waiver for seat 6, nikon guffey for seat 7, and continue seats 8 and 9 to the call of the chair. on that motion, a roll call, please. >> clerk: on that motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> chair peskin: and as soon as we hear from the controller, i will schedule this at the next available agenda, and we are adjourned.

when i shoot chinatown, i shoot the architecture that people not just events, i shoot what's going on in daily life and everything changes. murals, graffiti, store opening. store closing. the bakery. i shoot anything and everything in chinatown. i shoot daily life. i'm a crazy animal. i'm shooting for fun.

that's what i love. >> i'm frank jane. i'm a community photographer for the last i think about 20 years. i joined the chinese historical society. it was a way i could practice my society and i can give the community memories. i've been practicing and get to know everybody and everybody knew me pretty much documenting the history i don't just shoot events. i'm telling a story in whatever photos that i post on facebook, it's just like being there from front to end, i do a good job and i take hundreds and

hundreds of photos. and i was specializing in chinese american history. i want to cover what's happening in chinatown. what's happening in my community. i shoot a lot of government officials. i probably have thousands of photos of mayor lee and all the dignitaries. but they treat me like one of the family members because they see me all the time. they appreciate me. even the local cops, the firemen, you know, i feel at home. i was born in chinese hospital 1954. we grew up dirt poor. our family was lucky to grew up. when i was in junior high, i had a degree in hotel management restaurant. i was working in the restaurant business for probably about 15 years.

i started when i was 12 years old. when i got married, my wife had an import business. i figured, the restaurant business, i got tired of it. i said come work for the family business. i said, okay. it's going to be interesting and so interesting i lasted for 30 years. i'm married i have one daughter. she's a registered nurse. she lives in los angeles now. and two grandsons. we have fun. i got into photography when i was in junior high and high school. shooting cameras. the black and white days, i was able to process my own film. i wasn't really that good because you know color film and processing was expensive and i kind of left it alone for about 30 years.

i was doing product photography for advertising. and kind of got back into it. everybody said, oh, digital photography, the year 2000. it was a ghost town in chinatown. i figured it's time to shoot chinatown store front nobody. everybody on grand avenue. there was not a soul out walking around chinatown. a new asia restaurant, it used to be the biggest restaurant in chinatown. it can hold about a 1,000 people and i had been shooting events there for many years. it turned into a supermarket. and i got in.

i shot the supermarket. you know, and its transformation. even the owner of the restaurant the restaurant, it's 50 years old. i said, yeah. it looks awful. history. because i'm shooting history. and it's impressive because it's history because you can't repeat. it's gone it's gone. >> you stick with her, she'll teach you everything. >> cellphone photography, that's going to be the generation. i think cellphones in the next two, three years, the big cameras are obsolete already. mirrorless camera is going to take over market and the cellphone is going to be better. but nobody's going to archive

it. nobody's going to keep good history. everybody's going to take snapshots, but nobody's going to catalog. they don't care. >> i want to see you. >> it's not a keepsake. there's no memories behind it. everybody's sticking in the cloud. they lose it, who cares. but, you know, i care. >> last september of 2020, i had a minor stroke, and my daughter caught it on zoom. i was having a zoom call for my grand kids. and my daughter and my these little kids said, hey, you sound strange. yeah. i said i'm not able to speak

properly. they said what happened. my wife was taking a nap and my daughter, she called home and said he's having a stroke. get him to the hospital. five minutes later, you know, the ambulance came and took me away and i was at i.c.u. for four days. i have hundreds of messages wishing me get well soon. everybody wished that i'm okay and back to normal. you know, i was up and kicking two weeks after my hospital stay. it was a wake-up call. i needed to get my life in order and try to organize things especially organize my photos. >> probably took two million photos in the last 20 years.

i want to donate to an organization that's going to use it. i'm just doing it from the heart. i enjoy doing it to give back to the community. that's the most important. give back to the community. >> it's a lot for the community. >> i was a born hustler. i'm too busy to slow down. i love what i'm doing. i love to be busy. i go nuts when i'm not doing anything. i'm 67 this year. i figured 70 i'm ready to retire. i'm wishing to train a couple for photographers to take over my place. the younger generation, they have a passion, to document the history because it's going to be forgotten in ten years, 20

years, maybe i will be forgotten when i'm gone in a couple years but i want to be remembered for my work and, you know, photographs will be a remembrance. i'm frank jane. i'm a community photographer. this is my story. >> when you're not looking, frank's there. he'll snap that and then he'll send me an e-mail or two and they're always the best. >> these are all my p

>> on behalf of the san francisco office and historical society, our partners and sponsors, welcome to the 2022 black history month kickoff program. i am aloe williams, president of the society's board of directors. the society was founded in 1955. in 1958, it merged with a local chapter of the association for the study of african-american life and history, which is better known as the national group which started the celebration of what is now black history month. that is the society became the

official sponsor of black history month in san francisco. from the beginning, the society has centred its black history month activities around the theme established by the group. the national 2022 black history month theme is black health and wellness. today's program and other society programs throughout the month of february will address this theme. we hope you will enjoy and be informed by today's program. as is our custom and tradition, today's program will begin with an invocation. the reverend amos brown, senior pastor of third baptist church in san francisco will provide today gigi invocation. the invocation will be followed by the singing of the negro national anthem by the soul singer. [♪♪♪]

>> it is significant that we have chosen this year as the national theme that we are focusing on the health and wellness of this african-american community. need i remind you, history calls on us. and because of that, mid atlantic slave trade, our ancestors were robbed of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. and the quality of life was compromised because of the way we were treated. we were not even considered human. in fact,, the constitution of this nation defined us, at one

point as being three fifths human. consequently, when this elected policy treated us as not being human, we got less than quality food, quality healthcare, quality mental health, and a quality environment to live in. friends, that is un-american. that is inhumane and that is the height of egocentrism and selfishness. i hope that out of our celebrating this african-american history month,

we shall collectively, in our city, work to correct the age-old historical disparities. it has experienced -- it has caused us to experience hypertension and strokes, doubled and almost tripled in some communities than that of the majority of cultures. women disproportionately dying of uterine cancer, breast cancer, and we have been challenged with the age-old's -- age old sickness of sickle-cell anemia. in addition to that, and too many of our communities, there have been food deaths.

we are not eating a healthy diet. consequently, we need to be creative and think outside of the box and make sure that we have, in our communities, stores that will sell as quality food and never as it has been document lee reported, leftovers. we don't need any more hush money thrown at us. during the days of enslavement when those who worked in the big house and finished cooking for those who enslaved us, whatever grease and cornmeal that was left, many times they had to take the cornmeal and grease and make hushpuppies to sustain

themselves. and then there were times when the dogs would be out barking and they were hungry too. some of them would throw out hushpuppies and say, hush, puppy or hush, dog. that says to us, symbolically, and in some instances actually, we should stop accepting leftovers, prongs, and that which others would not want to eat into our bodies. finally, let me say, help also is maintained by people having a sense of belonging. a sense of belonging. psychiatrists and psychologists

have documented the fact that whenever a group of people feel that they are invisible people, that they are not connected, that they are not respected and not regarded, they develop mental challenges. and you all have heard, i'm sure, about the posttraumatic stress syndrome. we have too much stress in our communities. from noise, guns, and violence. and many times that violence comes from the tone. how we talk to each other, how we treat each other. so what is the answer? we need to work towards creating what dr. martin luther king jr. by teaching this, what was

that? the establishment of a beloved community in which we first learn how to reasonably and rationally respect our self-worth. and secondly, the obligation of society to make up for times in which we were wrong and we received payback for the times that our watering holes, our community gatherings were destroyed by so-called urban renewal. it was not urban renewal -- urban renewal, but it was black removal. i will not go into detail dealing with the specificities, but in the city and county of san francisco, we have to do more than just calm -- call on

god or pray to god. we must work collectively in a responsible, realistic, righteous way to restore every historical center were african-americans were embattled. commerce, cultural celebration, and having a place to say that this is ours as sons and daughters. [♪♪♪] let us pray. [singing]

[singing] will [singing]

[singing] >> we will now have readings from the mayor of the city and county of san francisco. the honorable london breed and the president of the san francisco board of supervisors, supervisor walton. >> hi. i am mayor london breed. thank you for joining as as we kick off black history month in san francisco. this year's theme of black health and wellness is not just a response to covid. it is celebrating the black

health care workers who have provided culturally competent care for our families for generations. from the black doctors and nurses in today's hospital. to the doolittle and the healers in the field when our ancestors were in play. it is honoring the leader who fought to open clinics that served black people when hospitals would turn us away. it is recognizing the contributions of black scholars and practitioners like dr. carlton goodwin who was more than just a black physician in san francisco. he was a civil rights leader. he was a newspaper publisher. he advocated for black people and told our stories in our own voice. in celebrating black history month this year, we are renewing our commitment to ensure the next generation has equitable access to health and wellness resources, including cancer treatment, nutrition, and preventative care to mental

health, therapy, and mindfulness. as a kid in the western addition, we were lucky to have the health center that served our neighborhood with compassion and care. even today, while we are living in the era of vaccines and testing, there's still a lot of elders in our community who do not trust modern medicine, and with good reason. we have all heard the stories of how black people were used for cruel experiments under the guise of medicine. that is why it is so critical to create a holistic, inclusive, and black system that can break down the barriers for health care to everyone. programs like the abundant birth project. a project that provides guaranteed income to support black mothers during pregnancy and after giving birth. our dream keeper initiative has committed $60 million annually for the black community of san

francisco, with $14.9 million to expanding and sustaining black health and wellness programs. i'm excited for a future where everyone has equitable access to healthcare and wellness resources. thank you to al williams and the san francisco historical society for helping us host this event today. thank you for joining us to celebrate and honor the history, health, and lives of black people in this city. [♪♪♪] >> good afternoon. this is president of the san francisco board of supervisors, representing district 10. first of all, i want to start off by saying, happy black history month and wishing you many blessings this year for 2022. i also want to thank the san francisco african-american historical and cultural society for always remembering to bring us together as a people.

to celebrate the contributions of black people, not only here in san francisco, but across the country. each year we come together at city hall to kick off black history month. and as we know, every day is black history. it is very important to highlight those contributions and it is really important to kickoff black history month in that fashion, reflective of the city supporting black people. i also want to take the time to say that my fraternity brother, carter woodson started black history month, which originally started as negro history week. so that we could look at all the things that black people were doing here in the united states, contributing to society and making sure that everyone knew and understood black folks are intelligent, black folks are human beings, and black folks

are people who need to be celebrated here in this country. as we come together for another black history program, unfortunately we are not able to do this in person again this year. i want everyone to remember your history. remember that you are great. remember that you come from greatness, and remember that you are special. happy black history month, and again, i want to thank the san francisco african-american historical and cultural society for bringing us back together. [♪♪♪] >> thank you, mayor breed and supervisor walton. debate area company will now share with us their rendition of rooting for everybody black. >> i root for everybody black.

everybody black is my hometown team. everybody black dropped the hardest album of the year, easy. everybody black is in this show, so i am watching. everybody black is in this movie, so i am watching. everybody black's new book was beautiful. how you don't know about everybody black? everybody black is mad underrated. everybody black reminds me of someone i know. i love seeing everybody black to succeed. everybody black deserves the promotion more than anybody. i want everybody black to find somebody special. [ indiscernible ]

>> i met everybody black once and they are super chill and down-to-earth. i believe in everybody black. >> there's something about everybody black. [applause] [♪♪♪] >> we now have readings from the san francisco assessor reporter, joaquin torres. >> hello. i am the assessor recorder in the city and county of san francisco, wishing all of you a wonderful start to black history month. here in san francisco we are grateful for the contributions african-americans made with building and strengthening our culture and autonomy, and for advancing our pursuit before a more equitable society.

to our history making mayor, london breed, african-americans have elevated san francisco to world-renowned places. as we reflect on those contributions, let it fuel our ongoing and collective goal towards justice. as dr. king said, we are tied in a single garment of destiny. whatever offences directly affects all of us indirectly. this one,'s workers and his actions ground us in the purpose to advance black health and well-being as we work to close racial inequity and we fight for voting rights, pay equity, access to excellent healthcare and police reform, the work that we do offers tribute to those leaders who have come before us and for those who have laid the

path using the diversity of practices to move our hearts and our minds towards a more humane and just world. some of them have left us this year. sydney paktia -- desmond tutu, sidney potier. the society, who since 1955 has made sure we know where we come from and continues to lead the effort and timeline to celebrate african-americans in the bay area through one of the art -- oldest collections of art and recordings. for you, in appreciation of your work to keep these traditions of black history month alive and present and to preserve the rich history of african-american culture in san francisco, so we present to you a certificate of honor to thank you for your service. happy black history month.

>> thank you, assessor torres. it is now my honor to briefly introduce the keynote speaker. dr. jonathan butler. he is a faith leader and community activist. is a postdoctoral fellow at the university of california san francisco and holds a ph.d. degree in medical sociology and a master of divinity in religion and health. he is a social epidemiologist and minister with interest in the role of religion of childhood experiences and psychological stress on health outcomes. dr. butler is also the executive director of the san francisco african-american faith-based coalition, which seeks to address food security in san francisco and whose mission is to mobilize the city and its resources to eliminate health disparities and inequities in the african-american community.

with that, i give you the keynote speaker, dr. jonathan butler who will share his thoughts and suggestions on the subject of black health and wellness. >> my name is dr. jonathan butler. i am grateful to the san francisco african-american historical society for the invitation to speak for this year's black history month kickoff in san francisco. i served as executive director of the san francisco faith-based coalition. the coalition of 21 churches with a mission to eliminate health disparities and serve as an associate minister at the stork baptist church and a researcher in the department of family and community medicine at the university of california, san francisco. this year's black history theme is black health and wellness. when i think of black health and wellness i am reminded of the same principle that symbolizes it is taken from the past what is good and bring it into the

present in order to make a positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge. it is a word that translates to retrieve and to go back, to get, to return, to seek and to take. and to understand who we are today in terms of our black health and wellness. we must go back and learn from the history of yesteryear. that's why i am delighted to greet you from the motherland. i am currently in ghana and i have been able to experience the culture here, taste the food, but to visit the coast slave castle, which has been an overwhelming experience. just imagine that castle. up to 2,000 men and female slaves who were shackled and crammed in the castle ventilated dungeons with nose to lie down and very little light without water or sanitation.

the dungeon was littered with human waste and men were separated from the women. the captives regularly raped the health -- helpless women. it also featured these confinement sales. -- cells. small, pitch black prisoners. once they step foot in the castle, they could spend up to three months in captivity. imagine living in these dungeons. defecating on themselves, standing near corpses. under these dreadful conditions until they were shifted into the new world. and then for them to cross the atlantic, from being thrown off the ship's, to come to places like the united states, africans were then hunted like animals, captures, sold, tortured and

raped. they experienced the worst kind of physical, emotional, sake will -- psychological abuse. you can imagine how traumatizing the slavery was. emancipation was followed by 100 more years of institutionalized racism through the enactment of black coals, convict lease -- convict leasing, lynching, these violations continue. and when combined with the crimes of the past as dr. joyce states, it results in unmeasured injuries. so to understand where we have come helps to delay the necessary foundation to ensure that everyone lives equality and sustained life for future

generations to come. so first when we think about black health and wellness, we have to think now about not only what we eat, how often we exercise, how often we get the sleep that we need, but we must understand the stressors and trauma and how they are measured comprehensively. we don't only experience racism and discrimination. there is financial stress and work stress and the work-family spillover type of stress. neighborhood stress. all of those stressors combined has damaging impacts on our physical and mental health. blacks especially are additionally harmed by this racism and discrimination. this -- these stressors proliferate over the life course and across generations and it

widens the health gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged group members. to address these types of health inequities, we must focus on the structural conditions that put people at risk for these stressors. we should focus on programs and policies and all levels that address the social conditions. let's look at this stress phenomenon. this trauma little deeper. what we mean by stress is being stressed out. feeling overwhelmed. out of control, exhausted. anxious. frustrated, angry. what happens to us when we feel these types of stressors. we don't get enough sleep. we eat too much of the wrong thing. we drink excessively. we smoke, we neglect to moderately exercise that can reduce these stressors.

the succession -- this success of these stressors -- [ indiscernible ] and when the brain perceives and experiences stressors, there's certain loads the where of tear move -- of our body throughout. this is why we experience many cases of diabetes and hypertension and obesity, but it is the racism and the discrimination that is

correlated with this substandard employment housing, education, income, access to health services that is associated with risks that include occupational hazards, exposure to toxic substances and allergens in the home, and low-quality schooling and lack of availability, at easy access to illicit drugs and alcohol, violent neighborhoods, environmental exposures, to these daily stressful events of living in poverty, racism, oppression, inequality, sexism, classism calls for us to come together and advocate what it is that we desire. we have to deal with damaged,

fragmented, disrupted social relations, social networks and infrastructure of support. you have to deal with the social efficacy. we have to deal with an elevation of the structural and destructive social norms promoting violence and unhealthy behaviors. what do we need to advocate for? we need sustainable community economic development. we need restorative justice. we need healing circles. we need to reclaim and improve our public spaces that have often been stolen from us. even in places like ghana. we need to advocate for shifting community norms and enhance the social connection and networks that we have had before.

we need to rebuild intergenerational connections and relationships and organize and promote positive community activity and provide more of a voice and an element of power for community folks around shifting and changing the environment as well as our structural factors. we need to create safe public spaces through improvements in our built environment by addressing parks and housing quality and transportation. reclaim and improve our public spaces. we have experienced this community level trauma. it is not just the aggregate of the individuals in the neighborhood who have experienced trauma from exposures to violence, but there are manifestations or symptoms of community trauma. community trauma is cumulative

in synergistic impact and regular instance of interpersonal violence. historical and intergenerational violence and continual exposures to structural violence. for us to become a people who have good quality of life, for us to address this issue of creating a healthy community, we must come together. we must demand what was stolen from us. i would like to end my conversation with a statement about our faith. a connection to faith has long been recognized as having a deeply profound impact on our social and emotional well-being. and throughout history, a connection to a higher power has been the cornerstone of resilience and empowerment that has sustained generations of

individuals from the african diaspora. trauma and health disparities face historically and currently african and african americans that contribute to the enduring legacy of faith and spirituality. to this day, it remains a powerful source of hopeful light for the community. when we help -- we think of health and wellness, we think of bringing us together. [♪♪♪] >> thank you for those inspiring, informative, and thought-provoking remarks on the 2020 black history month theme, black health and wellness. you are certainly giving us a great deal on things to think about and to think on for the days and months ahead. once again, we now go to some more performances. [♪♪♪]

[singing] [singing]

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[♪♪♪] >> thank you for another great performance. we hope you have enjoyed today's program. we look forward to seeing you at our genealogy resources program. and other programs on february 19th through 26th. last, but certainly not least, we would like to thank our sponsors and everyone who support made this program and all of our programs possible. we look forward to seeing you in person or virtually at these upcoming programs. until then, please stay safe. now, i leave you with a closing

performance by the singer, rubble. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] [singing]

[singing] [singing]

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>> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files

of san francisco. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i'm one of three owners here in san francisco and we provide mostly live music entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and it's not a big menu, but we did it with love. like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. for latinos, it brings families together and if we can bring that family to your business, you're gold. tonight we have russelling for e community. >> we have a ten-person limb elimination match. we have a full-size ring with

barside food and drink. we ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar. we're hope og get families to join us. we've done a drag queen bingo and we're trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. this is a great part of town and there's a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. there's a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hang out at. we have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and it's exciting. >> we even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. it's in the san francisco garden

district and four beautiful murals. >> it's important to shop local because it's kind of like a circle of life, if you will. we hire local people. local people spend their money at our businesses and those local people will spend their money as well. i hope people shop locally. [ ♪♪♪ ]

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>> my family's starts in mexico in a small town. my parents are from a very, very small town. so small, that my dad's brother is married to one of my mom's sisters. it's that small. a lot of folks from that town are here in the city. like most immigrant families, my

parents wanted a better life for us. my dad came out here first. i think i was almost two-years-old when he sent for us. my mom and myself came out here. we moved to san francisco early on. in the mission district and moved out to daily city and bounced back to san francisco. we lived across the street from the ups building. for me, when my earliest memories were the big brown trucks driving up and down the street keeping us awake at night. when i was seven-years-old and i'm in charge of making sure we get on the bus on time to get to school. i have to make sure that we do our homework. it's a lot of responsibility for a kid. the weekends were always for family. we used to get together and whether we used to go watch a movie at the new mission theater and then afterwards going to kentucky fried chicken. that was big for us. we get kentucky fried chicken on sunday. whoa! go crazy! so for me, home is having

something where you are all together. whether it's just together for dinner or whether it's together for breakfast or sharing a special moment at the holidays. whether it's thanksgiving or christmas or birthdays. that is home. being so close to berkley and oakland and san francisco, there's a line. here you don't see a line. even though you see someone that's different from you, they're equal. you've always seen that. a rainbow of colors, a ryan bow of personalities. when you think about it you are supposed to be protecting the kids. they have dreams. they have aspirations. they have goals. and you are take that away from them. right now, the price is a hard fight. they're determined. i mean, these kids, you have to applaud them. their heart is in the right place. there's hope.

i mean, out here with the things changing everyday, you just hope the next administration makes a change that makes things right. right now there's a lot of changes on a lot of different levels. the only thing you hope for is for the future of these young kids and young folks that are getting into politics to make the right move and for the folks who can't speak. >> dy mind motion. >> even though we have a lot of fighters, there's a lot of voice less folks and their voiceless because they're scared. sustainability mission, even though the bikes are very minimal energy use. it still matters where the energy comes from and also part of the mission in sustainability

is how we run everything, run our business. so having the lights come on with clean energy is important to us as well. we heard about cleanpowersf and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. it was super easy to sign up. our bookkeeper signed up online, it was like 15 minutes. nothing has changed, except now we have cleaner energy. it's an easy way to align your environmental proclivities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it, and it doesn't really add anything to the bill.

>> 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 sannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

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