>> we work in the requirements that the city implement as it does its infrastructure work. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you commissioner paulson. >> so, some of the comments that i'm looking at here and i am putting in in the context it's difficult right now during a so-called, i don't know what it is today but we've been in a boom time in which people have had fulfilling jobs and i know at least from is that people are during this boom time these are good times right now and this is the perfect chance to put

yourself in your trade and in your industry no matter if it's that is of value. and, and i am seeing that moving forward and obviously again i'm talking about this in terms of the inability to get contractors and folks into the business so i know that this urgency and i think all the commissioners if i'm correct in looking at this

but it still does you know, point out that there is a failure to be able toll do things and i don't say that with a capitol f but i'm saying this is a problem like everybody does in infrastructure and in construction it's like sometimes, you are having trouble getting thing done so i'm taking that in this particular context it's not a final-final. so, so i'm going to be conflicted about asking to do something oust ordinary as a commissioner moving forward because i do think there are probably is a position, i don't know what it is, i don't like that we're maybe going outside the norm just because of necessity right now so that being said, i'm just probably signaling that i might be the only person that says no and i know you are working with ibw

local 6 and others to do this stuff so this is not because of lack of effort or a major ability to say that as a commissioner, i don't want to get things done. so i'm just putting this in the context of what is presented to me and the other commissioners right now. thank you. >> to be clear, we are bringing this item back to you assuming, if we are successful, in negotiations and a separate item will come before you for any award. thank you. >> thank you. any other questions from ms. hail? >> seeing none. public comment, please. >> members of the public who wish to make two minutes of remote public comment on item number 14 please press star 3 to raise your hand to speak and if anyone in the room wishes to speak, please come to the podium. seeing none. do we have any callers? >> madam secretary, there are no

callers in the queue. >> thank you, public comment and item 14 is closed. >> thank you, any other questions. seeing none. motion and a second, please. >> i'll move. >> i'll second. >> moved and seconds. roll call. [roll call vote] >> thank you and the item passes. next item, please. >> next item is public comment on matters to be heard during closed session. and your closed session item the will be heard and conference with council and litigation and as plaintiff in the manner of initial order imposing water rights, curtailment and reporting requirements in the delta watershed and on water rights number s002635-s002636,

37, so01585 and so18734 and san jaoquin versus the state water resources role board and city and county of san francisco versus california state water recess control board at all and san jaoquin tributary versus california state water resources control board and if you wish to make two minutes of remote public comment on this item press star 3 to raise your hand to speak and do we have any members of the public in the room who wish to make public comment on this item? seeing none. do we have any callers? >> madam secretary, there are no callers. >> public comment is closed. >> thank you. can i have a motion as to whether to assert a

attorney-client plaintiff? >> move to assert. >> move to assert. >> second. >> roll call, please. [roll call vote] you have four ayes. >> thank you. >> we will go into closed session.

>> good afternoon, everyone. thank you for joining us today. we're happy to host this event with mayor breed and our iconic downtown partners to show our

support and commitment to the economic recovery of the city. we are committed to this effort and are thrilled to welcome back people to downtown. i'm honored to introduce our steadfast leader during a challenging time, but we're turning the corner. mayor breed, we look forward to the continued partnership of the downtown recovery plan, and welcome back to s.f. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, neela, and it's great to be here at selhurst park in the city, let me tell you, if you don't live here, you would want

to. this is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and it's great because the weather is nice, but there's been something missing for sometime, and that's the people. yes, the diversity, the folks from all over are what make san francisco so amazing. so when i reached out to members of the business community and asked them to work with me and join us in returning to work from march, so many businesses stepped up and said yes. so part of what we know is businesses don't just open up, and restaurants open up, and people move about, we've been cooped up for two years. a global pandemic has kept us

apart like never about, and now that we're emerging, we have so much to do. we were the first country to shutdown, san francisco, and we saved thousands of lives because of it. and now, 83% of san franciscans are vaccinated and counting. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: so we have something to be proud of, but no one likes to have a good time more than san francisco. no one takes fun more seriously than san francisco, and so part of the fun means when we come back, we need to see some amazing gatherings. i welcome our salesforce and c.b.d.s and others who came together with places like the flower mart to say basically that not only are we coming

back, but we're going to come back. if you have not been to club fugazi and have seen the show, boy, are you missing out. that show is extraordinary, and so we're bringing a little sneak peek out for everyone to see and enjoy. make sure you go and see the bigger show because boy, it makes you feel good about san francisco. it makes you feel good being a

part of this extraordinary city. thanks to lyft -- to lyft who are providing free bikes and scooters to get around the city, and make sure you visit places in the city that are going to host some of these activities because we are back. we are back, and now, it's time to appreciate life like never before. thank you to so many of our partners, and now, i want to introduce kip to make some remarks. he has put a lot of this together, and we welcome his advocacy and his leadership and answering the call when we needed it. before i do that, i just want to give a shoutout because i know what's been on the top of

everybody's mind. our community ambassadors in the orange jackets all over the city, we have retired police officers who are working as ambassadors, and so we are going to do everything we can to make sure that san francisco continues to be this extraordinary place that keeps a smile on your face, and thank you all so much for coming here today. and with that, i want to introduce kip from east cut. >> thank you, mayor breed, and thank you to you and your team for your tireless efforts in trying to bring people and businesses back to the city. so what i thought i'd do is

just share a few remarks about how our group came together and why we came together, and it's really no secret that covid has been a huge challenge cities. there's not a lot more that can be done to encourage people to come back to downtown, and if you recall, we started the process at the end of last year before omicron, and the chronicle had an interview with a small business owner, and he said it's great that restrictions are being lifted, but we need to show that things are different, and it was that concept, that don't just tell

me, show me, that things were different to bring this s.f., this bloomsf at the end of march. and so in conjunction with the mayor's recovery team, we sat down and said what can we do to help? and the decision was let's put together a celebration, let's give people a reason to come back downtown. and a vibrant downtown is not only critical for our recovery but for the long-term health of this city. this is where serendipity happens. these things happen unscripted and unplanned when we're down here, and this is where we come to eat, to shop, to be entertained. we know that precovid,

technology can serve to isolate us, and covid has exacerbated that, so these events are so critical for us to be together. so bloomsf at the end of this month will be a celebration. our group determined that that event would be more compelling. we'll see a wine walk, outdoor deejays. we'll have the launch of the outdoor cinema at the crossing. that'll be complemented by art installations at b.a.r.t. and muni stations. it's going to be a really fun weekend, so if you're a business, don't just encourage employees to come back, encourage them to come out. if you're a worker who's hesitant, come back and

rediscover what it is you love about your co-workers and what you love about downtown. we hope you all come back this weekend and help in getting downtown back on its feet. with that, i want to introduce robert tibbetts with an architecture firm, one of the businesses that's committed to bring people back in the month of march. rob? [applause] >> thank you. i do just want to take a moment to thank the mayor for her leadership. two years ago, you made a difficult decision in the face of fierce opposition from other levels of government, and

steered us through this, and i don't know that we've said we appreciate you for that. all right. coming back to work, we're all going to wear pants and shoes. we have 200 people coming back to work, and we're a design firm, so we need to work together. we need to see each other. there's a certain magic and collective creativity that just isn't possible on zoom, and that's just real exciting. on the way to work, we'll stop and get coffee and doughnuts, and on the way home, we'll stop and get our shoes repaired, get soup and salad for dinner, and we'll start to gather. we are going to be making our community a better place, and we are committed to doing that.

we have a great city, let's make it even greater. thank you. [applause] >> all right. next up, going to recognize and introduce -- just say as a san francisco native, i'm proud to introduce denise tran, owner and founder of a small business eatery in san francisco. [applause] >> hi, everyone. i just want to thank mayor breed for this opportunity to speak on small businesses in downtown. i am the founder of a bhan-mi sandwich eatery, two locations,

one at the airport, and one on market stleet, just a few weeks from here. i have to -- street, just a few weeks from here. i have to say three of my locations have reopened, except for the one on market street. the small mom-and-pop businesses in downtown san francisco that make san francisco so unique desperately need folks to come back to work. my shop, my little sandwich shop, relies on catering and office business and office lunches, and unfortunately, we're still closed, so i'm so excited for this opportunity

today, for the mayor to call businesses back to work because this gives us an opportunity to open our shop again and do what we love best. san francisco, we're all, under the leadership of mayor breed, have done such an amazing job of keeping everyone safe during such a hard time. let's continue to work together to bring back tourism to our city, to bring back conferences and businesses. let's bring back all the great things that we love about this city again, so thank you for this opportunity, and i look forward to what's coming our way. thank you so much. [applause] >> all right. next up, we're going to have

the mayor come back and introduce one of her favorite groups. >> the hon. london breed: i am? >> yeah. >> the hon. london breed: okay. well, just to top it off and give you a bit of a little bit of a taste of what you can expect from all of the great activities that we're going to be adding to san francisco, right now, we have a performance from seven finger circus. they perform at club fugazi, and here's just a tidbit of here's san francisco. [♪♪♪]

[applause] >> the hon. london breed: big round of applaud for seven finger circus. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: whoa! goodness, doesn't that make you nervous? do i clap? i don't want to mess them up, right? well, this is what you're going to be seeing all over san francisco, and we want to thank all of you for coming, all the businesses who committed to bringing their employees back during the month of march. i've already seen some of the lines at some of the businesses downtown, so we want our businesses reopened, we want our economy going again, we

want to be out and about, enjoying our beautiful city, so again, it is not too late. it is still the month of march, so bring your folks back two, three, four, five days a week or bring them back for dinner, bring them back to see san francisco at club fugazi, bring them back to the flower mart. it is time to takeoff those pajama pants and go down. we are open for business, san francisco. thank you all so much for coming today. [♪♪♪] [applause]

>> 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. [ ♪♪♪ ]

>> chair ronen: good mornin the meeting will come to order. this is the march 23 budget and finance committee meeting. i am hillary ronen, the chair of the budget and finance committee. i am joined by vice chair supervisor ahsha safai remotely. he's on his way in, and gordon mar will be joining us shortly. our clerk is brent jalipa, and

i would like to thank kalina mendoza with sfgovtv. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes. just a reminder while in the chambers to silence your cell phones and electronic devices. the board recognizes that public participation is equitable and the board will be taking public comment for each item on the agenda. for those watching either channels 26, 78, or 99, and sfgovtv.org, the public call-in number is streaming across the screen. that number is 415-655-0001. then enter the meeting i.d. of

2499-723-2102, then pound and pound again. when connected, you'll hear the meeting discussions, but your microphone will be muted and you'll be in listening mode only. when your item of interest is called, people in the room should lineup on the right side of the room and remote users should press star, three. as mentioned, we will take public comment in person first, and then, we will go to the telephone line. or you may submit public comment in writing to me,

b-r-e-n-t j-a-l-i-p-a@sf.gov. for items 7 and 8, we arranged for interpreter services. we have marty dixon joining us remotely. marty? [speaking spanish language]

>> interpreter: thank you, mr. clerk. >> clerk: and finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors agenda of april 4. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, mr. clerk. can you please call item 1? >> clerk: yes. item 1 is a resolution authorizing san francisco animal care and control to enter into a use agreement with bh-ab productions, l.l.c., to develop and produce a documentary television project about sfaccs animal emergency rescue calls and animal control officers, and grant all necessary trademark licenses and the exclusive right for a term of no longer than one year and one week to traditional and

digital networks, to commence upon approval by the board of supervisors. madam chair? . >> chair ronen: thank you, and i understand that virginia donohue is here to give you a short presentation? >> yes. thank you, supervisor ronen. as you know that sfacc is the city's animal shelter, and we enforce all state and local animal welfare laws. bh/ab productions is a group that we are familiar with because they are the group that was here for the live

documentary during the pandemic. they were super popular with users, and this is a different company than we had worked with during the pandemic, but it's the same individuals. next slide. we're going to show you just a small portion of a clip of one of our live films. play, please. >> we are on our way to rescue an animal in a chimney. we're going to see if we can work this out and get the animal out of the chimney.

where is this house? ah, the person waving at me. hi, there. >> hi. >> look at this kitty cat. there's one right there. >> there's one right there. >> oh, my gosh. did you tell your papamatheakis there was a birdie in -- did you tell your papa that there was a birdie in the chimney? i like kitties. >> yesterday, both of them kept coming over here and looking up here, and then, we started hearing knocking about and knocking about, and i looked it up on-line, and apparently, the animal is just as scares. >> yeah, that's been the first time -- >> oh, high, gorge. >> you see him? >> yes, he's a beautiful pigeon that's going to be real mad at me in a second.

hi, love bug. trying to help you. hi. can i grab you? you're going to make this hard? i don't want you to get hurt, love. let me help you. [indiscernible]. >> i'm proud of you. >> thank you. i'm proud of myself. this is your friend. >> it's a pigeon, huh? >> thanks. so as you can see, really great positive promotions of the officers and the work they do. so this resolution would allow us to work with this team again. they don't have a home for the show yet, so it would allow to produce reels that they can go

and shoot for other companies. do you have any questions? >> chair ronen: no, but i have to say, i started my day in a bad mood, and that film just lifted my spirits. colleagues, any questions? sorry. go ahead. go ahead. >> i was just going to say, well, thank you. officer cohen, in my opinion, is generally uplifting in my day, as well. >> chair ronen: there is no -- oh, supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: thank you, chair, and sorry for being late. i just want today say, i visited the animal care and control a few times with

virginia and her team, and it is such an amazing space. it's one of those only in san francisco, right? if you've ever seen it, and so just tremendous work, tremendous work with animals, and this is such an important thing, so thank you for letting me support this, and thank you for allowing me to say a few things. >> chair ronen: supervisor mar? >> supervisor mar: thank you. i just wanted to say thank you to director donohue. as you know, me and my family are huge fans, and we adopted our kitties from animal care and control, and yeah, thank you for the efforts that you do to help the city, and thank you for getting the broadcast

recognition that you deserve in the city. >> chair ronen: thank you. you've got three fans on the budget and finance committee. mr. clerk, are there any speakers for public comment, or can we open this up for public comment? >> clerk: sure. members of the public who are present in person should lineup by the curtains, and for those joining us remotely, dial 415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then press pound and pound again and press star, three to enter the queue. we have no speakers present in the chambers. mr. atkins, do we have any callers present in the queue? i think we hear a caller.

caller? it might be unattended. we should come back to that point. >> operator: mr. clerk, there are two callers in the queue, but both lines appear to be unattended. >> clerk: thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you. public comment is closed. supervisor mar, do you want to do the honors? >> supervisor mar: yeah, i'd move that we send this to the full board with a positive recommendation. >> chair ronen: roll call vote. >> clerk: on the motion that this resolution be forwarded to the full board with a positive recommendation -- [roll call] >> clerk: we have three ayes. >> chair ronen: thank you so

much. at the request of supervisor preston, i will be calling item 2 later on in the agenda. mr. clerk, can you please call items 3 and 4 together? >> clerk: yes. item 3 is an ordinance appropriating $385 million from the issuance of one or more series of refunding general obligation bonds, and placing such amounts on controller's reserve in fiscal year 2021-22, and item 4 is a resolution approving the issuance and sale of not to exceed $385 million aggregate principal amount of city and county of san francisco again obligation refunding bonds, series 2022-r1, to refund certain outstanding again obligation bonds of the city and county of

san francisco, approving the form and authorizing the execution and delivery of an escrow agreement relating to certain prior bonds, approving the form and authorizing the distribution of the preliminary official statement and authorizing the execution, delivery, and distribution of the official statement relating to the sale of said bonds, ratifying certain actions previously taken, and granting general authority to city officials to take necessary actions in connection with the authorization, issuance, sale, and delivery of said bonds. members of the public who are joining us by phone who wish to provide public comment should call 415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then press pound

and pound again. madam chair? >> chair ronen: thank you. i believe we have somebody from the city here for us. >> -- just as brief background, back in 2020, the board approved approximately $1.5 billion in g.o. refunding bonds under a master refunding resolution, and since then, in 2020, the city issued, pursuant to that resolution, about $195 million of general obligation refunding bonds which achieved net present savings of 122 million, so before you is proposed the fourth series of bonds under that master refunding resolution to achieve additional savings for the

city, so i will go forward here. so as you can see, before you on the slide, the -- this refunding issuance will be to refund certain prior outstanding bonds, primarily the 2008 sfgh hospital bonds and the 2014 eser bonds issued from 2008 to 2014. typically, when we issue bonds, we issue them with a call provision which allows the city to issue the bonds after a certain call date for the bonds. these bonds have reached their call date in 2022 and are available for refund. based on our current estimates, this will create gross savings to property taxpayers of

approximately 37.4 million, based on estimated interest costs of 2.45%, and that amounts to 8.9% of the principle, which is about $370 million of the bonds that we're proposing to refund. that's slightly different than what we had included in the memo back in january, but as you are aware, interest rates have risen, and we're in a rising interest rate cycle at the moment, but it's well within our parameters for issuing funding bonds. we can issue refunding bonds as long as we achieve a minimum of 3% [indiscernible] savings. this slide shows just sources

and uses as a simple. as our most recent estimate of the funding cash flows. again, the resolution allows up to $385 million to refund all the principal. the final date would be the same of june 2024, and we're expecting to close in april 2021. these cash flows were provided by our underwriters, we did an r.f.p. for underwriters in december and january. we received 11 proposals for senior managers and 15 proposals for comanagers that were reviewed and scored by our qualify set of panelists, and according to the scoring and the criteria we had laid out,

we selected the two top scoring senior managers and the four top scoring comanagers. i'd be happy to take any questions you may have at this time, and thank you for your consideration of this item. >> thank you, chair ronen. nick menard from the budget and legislative analyst's office. bond 2022-r 1 [indiscernible] we show the transaction costs on page 8 of our report, which total $2.4 million, and then, according to when we looked at this originally, the office of

public finance estimated that the funding of the bonds would total $46.5 million, though it sounds like the savings has gone down with the current interest rates. this complies with the city's long-term debt policies, so we therefore recommend approval. >> supervisor safai: thank you. just maybe to the controller's office or the b.l.a., the cost to refund the bonds is $2.4 million. that's how much we're paying the underwriters and bond issuance group, is that correct? and then, the debt service savings, that is money -- the

debt service is paid through the general fund? where's the source of the debt service? >> no, just quickly, to address your first question, the most current set of numbers that we got from the underwriting firm is approximately $1.5 million in cost of issuance and underwriting, and that's consistent with the city's policy to not exceed 2% for cost of issuance and 1% for underwriter's discount. when we issue the bond -- >> supervisor safai: yes, i see

that. >> we have a policy constraint for our capital planning program to keep the tax rate under the -- at or under the fiscal year 2006 tax rate, and so by creating savings on the outstanding bonds then that allows additional issuance of other bonds to go within that

tax rate. >> supervisor safai: so no real savings to -- we just allow that money to be used again in the future, which is good. it's important, because we have the commitment not to exceed a certain debt service level, but that allows us to free up debt in the future. >> that's correct. it preserves flexibility to the board to allow the issue waens of other bonds in the future. >> supervisor safai: okay. i just wanted to get all of that on the record. i appreciate that. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, madam clerk. members of the public who wish to speak on this item and are joining us in person should lineup to speak now next to the curtains. members of the public listening remotely should dial in 415-655-0001, enter meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then pound

twice, then press star, three to enter the queue. please wait until the system indicates your line has been unmuted, and that will the time to begin your comments. there is no public comment in the chambers. mr. atkins, do we have any callers on the public comment line? >> operator: mr. clerk, there are no callers in the queue. >> clerk: madam chair? >> chair ronen: thank you. supervisor safai, do you want to make a motion? [indiscernible]. >> chair ronen: roll call, please. >> clerk: thank you. on that motion by vice chair safai to forward items 3 and 4 to the full board with a

positive recommendation -- [roll call] >> clerk: we have three ayes. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. >> thank you, supervisors. >> chair ronen: mr. clerk, can you please read item 5. >> clerk: yes. item 5 is resolution re reauthorizing the issuance of tax empty lease negative new commercial paper certificates of participation, series 3 and 4, and taxable laze revenue commercial paper certificates of participation, series 3-t and 4-t, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $100 million to finance the acquisition, construction, and rehabilitation of capital improvements and capital equipment approved by the board

of supervisors and the mayor, authorizing the delivery of an alternate credit facility in the principal amount of $100 million, and approving and authorizing execution. members of the public attending in person should lineup by the curtains, and members of the public listening remotely who wish to make public comment should press star, three to enter the queue. madam clerk? >> chair ronen: thank you. i believe we have nick from the controller's office.

>> yes. we authorized this additional 100 million in july 2013, which we referred to in series 3 and 4. this is a form of short-term debt that allows the city to pay debt coming due, instead of issuing the full amount of the long-term participation, the city utilizes interim paperwork to fund the project until the project is close to colleague, at which time long-term certificates of participation

is issued to pay down the program. the -- this represents annual savings to the program of $285,000. in connection with the closing of the new bank of the west facility, it there will be certain costs to the program in

typical long-term financing, which we expect not to exceed, and they are passed onto the capital project which is paid over the life of the long-term debt, and that's it. let me know if you have any questions. >> thanks, chair ronen. so this reauthorizes $100 million of commercial paper and $100 million of line of credit that expired in 2022. this replaces a similar one

that expired last month, and the city would accrue $600,000 of one-time costs to get the agreement in place, and then one-time as shown in page 16 to keep in place. we recommend approval. >> chair ronen: can we please open this item up for public comment. >> clerk: thank you, madam chair. members of the public who wish to speak on this item in person should lineup by the curtains. members of the public listening remotely should dial 415-655-0001, meeting i.d.

2499-723-2102, then press pound and pound again. press star, three to enter the queue. there are no members of the public present in person. mr. atkins, are there any callers in the queue? >> operator: we have no callers in the queue. >> chair ronen: may we have a roll call vote, please. [roll call] >> clerk: you have three ayes. >> chair ronen: thank you. mr. clerk, could you please call item 6. >> clerk: yes. item 6 is a resolution authorizing the port commission to accept and expend a grant from the california state lands commission, through the american rescue plan act of

2021 allocation, in the amount of $14 million plus additional amounts up to 15% of the original grant amount that may be offered, for eligible operating and capital expenses for fiscal year 2022, effective upon execution of the funding agreement through june 30, 2024. members of the public present in person should lineup by the curtains to speak, and members of the public listening remotely some dial 415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then press pound again. madam chair? >> chair ronen: and i believe that boris from the port commission is here with us? >> yes.

we have a quick presentation and we'll make ourselves available for questions afterwards. can you see my presentation? >> chair ronen: not yet. >> can you see it now? >> chair ronen: yes. >> so the port of san francisco manages 3.8 miles of waterfront. we are self-supported by our own revenues. our operating budget is approximately $110 million annually. the economic consequences of the pandemic eroded two pillars of the port economy, and the pandemic had an outside impact

on our leasing proceeds with our total proceeds down 40% from prepandemic levels. the port met these challenges by reducing $60 million in a number of ways. while the economy has somewhat recovered from the on set of the pandemic in march 2020, full economic recovery is expected to take five years, with tourism spending expected to return to prepandemic levels in 25-26. in february of last year, we work with speaker pelosi's office to author the american rescue plan act, and it was the first plan made available to ports nationwide.

governor newsom's budget included a $250 million to the port for their loss. 14.4 million of the awarded funds are eligible to are spent in the current fiscal year. the remaining will be accepted through the upcoming budget process. last month, the port submitted a second application for 58.1 million to cover our state land revenue losses for 2021. the disbursement of those funds will be made at the next meeting of the state lands

commission in april. page 9 of your packet detail spending of the $14.4 million today. page 17 of your packet includes the proposed use of funds for the entire funding package. today, we're asking expenditure

of the funds, and it's been a long road to get here. we thank you for your time, and we're available to answer any questions that you have. >> chair ronen: thank you so much, and there's no b.l.a. report for this item. can we please open this up for public comment. >> clerk: yes. members of the public who wish to speak on this item should lineup by the curtains. members of the public attending remotely should call

415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then press pound twice. press star, three to enter the queue, and wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted to begin your comments. we have no callers in the chamber. mr. atkins, do we have any caller in the queue? >> operator: mr. clerk, there are no callers in the queue. >> chair ronen: thank you. i would like to thank speaker pelosi for this, and i would like to make a motion to recommend this to the full board with a positive recommendation. can i have a roll call vote. >> clerk: yes. on the motion to send this item to the full board with a positive recommendation -- [roll call] >> clerk: we have three ayes.

[indiscernible]. >> clerk: thank you, mr. vice chair. >> chair ronen: can we please read item 2? >> clerk: yes. item 2 is an ordinance deappropriating $200,000 previously appropriated to the mayor's office of housing and community development and reappropriating $200,000 to the department of building inspection for tenant outreach in federal department of housing and urban development funded buildings and other publicly financed residential developments in fiscal year 2021-22. members of the public listening remotely who wish to make public comment should call 415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then press pound and pound again. press star, three to enter the queue and wait until the system

indicates your line has been unmuted before you begin your comments. >> chair ronen: thank you. supervisor preston? >> supervisor preston: thank you. i did want to speak briefly on some of the background why this is on your agenda today. in last year's budget cycle, my office secured funding for two experiences full time public or affordable housing organizers to conduct outreach, education, and assist residents on their housing needs in h.u.d. or publicly subsidized housing. the purpose is to ensure that these residents, disproportionately african american tenants, get the help that they need as tenants from folks who are experienced and

folks frankly not hired by the owner or operator of the properties. after the budget was approved in july, we were repeatedly assured that the process to disburse these funds would be undertaken imminently. there was really a constant back and forth that our office had with mohcd, which we were told there would be a prompt update, followed by claims of staffing changes at mohcd there were delays in getting these funds out the door, repeatedly asking through the fall when there were no updates of this, and promises of further information that never materialized. after many, many meetings, e-mails, calls, we followed up

again on this in november and got no answer on this. in december, we introduced this item in committee because it was clear at mohcd there was no intent to get the funds out the door, these funds were transferred to the department of building inspection. i would like to ask that the item be tabled. i do want to say, just before wrapping up, it's just really problematic that residents face

really horrible housing conditions, and after we worked to get the folks the housing that they need, we faced hurdle after hurdle and delay after delay, and still in march, we do not have these funds out the door with an ever-shifting array of excuses. i want to thank the department of building inspection for their willingness to help address this and look forward to working with them to get these funds into the field as soon as possible without delay. thank you very much. >> chair ronen: thank you, supervisor preston. any questions, colleagues? no? can we please open this item up for public comment. >> clerk: thank you, madam chair. members of the public who wish to speak on this item joining us in person should lineup now. for those listening remotely should call 415-655-0001,

meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then press pound twice. press star, three and wait until the system indicates your line has been unmuted, and that will be your signal to begin your comments. we have no public speakers in the room. mr. atkins, do we have any callers in the queue? >> operator: mr. clerk, there are no callers in the queue. >> chair ronen: seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. may i please have a roll call vote. >> clerk: on the motion to table the item -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are three ayes. >> chair ronen: thank you. mr. clerk, can you please read

item 8? >> clerk: yes. item 8 is a resolution retroactively approving and authorizing the mayor and director of the mayor's office of housing and community development to execute grant agreements for the distribution of covid-19 rental stance through mohcds emergency rental assistance program to eligible san francisco tenants and landlords, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $52 million for a term from july 1, 2021, through june 30, 2023, approving the form, and authorizing the execution of the grant agreements, granting general authority to city officials to take actions necessary to implement this resolution.

members of the public who are joining us remotely and wish to comment on these items, please call the public comment number at 415-655-0001. meeting i.d. is 2499-723-2102, then press pound twice. once in the system, you will need to press star, three to enter the speaker line. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted before you begin your comments. as stated earlier, we have partnered with marty dickinson who will provide spanish interpretation for these items. marty? [speaking spanish language]

>> interpreter: thank you, mr. clerk. >> clerk: thank you, marty. and for those who have lined up along the curtains, i imagine you're here for public comment. please wait until we open public comment, and then, i'll direct you to go and stand, but for this item for the time being, please go ahead and take a seat. madam chair? >> chair ronen: thank you so much. i believe that brian chu is on

the line to present this item? >> yes. brian chu with the mayor's office of housing and community development, and i believe we have a presentation that we can put on the line. thank you. so we can go to the next slide. we have two items, item 7 and

8. item 7 is to amend a portion of the administrative code to administer funds that are placed in specific created funds in the emergency rental assistance relief fund that would allow us to be able to offer rent funds directly to tenants as well as landlords, nonprofits, and c.b.o.s to distribute the funds. item 8 is a resolution to deploy a certain amount of city funds that are aimed at emergency rental assistance. this is a combination of funds that come to us from the prop c a year or so ago in addition to moneys given to us in the

mayor's budget and in that rent resolution and relief fund. we're coming to you for item 8 because we have two grants that would exceed $10 million, and for those that exceed $10 million, we need board approval in order to execute those grants. next slide, please. just a few quick words about our emergency rental assistance program. it combines emergency rental assistance with legal protections offered by our full scope eviction defense providers. the emergency rental assistance program combines the funding from the state that i think you all are aware of, as well as funding for our own local program. you can see the program eligibility off to the right is for our annual -- for our households that are at or below 80% area median income, experienced financial hardship during the pandemic and are at

risk of homelessness or housing instability. next slide, and this is just a summary of the rent relief program. this is for the state program. next slide, please. for the local program, we have three households receiving $21 million. we opened it in june, and we closed it in september because the state opened up a program. we are now going to open our program back up because the state program is closing april 1, so it's essential that we get our program back up and

running. as you know, the city passed its own funding request, but we need to provide rent assistance for prospective rent, and now, that particular portal will now be closed. this just reinforced what i said. our local ordinance does go into effect april 1, but we

needed to provide payment to those people prior to april 1. and then, our program will provide assistance for pending foreclosures. next slide, please, and then just a reminder for folks who may be watching this on-line, if you go to sf.gov/renthelp, you can get rental assistance, help with evictions and landlords. and that's the end of our presentation here. so just just a reminder, for

the -- for item 7, we are amending the code. it allows specifically mohcd to extend the use of the fund to june 30, 2023, and we have worked with supervisor preston's office to come up with these amendments, so that is the reasoning behind item 7 is just to amend the parameters of that fund so that the dollars that come from that fund can be used in rental

impact assistance programs. you'll also see an amended resolution for item 8, which allows us to expand our existing grant agreements with three of our providers above the $10 million. one amendment to the resolution is to remove the reference to retroactivity. it will not -- we are moving forward with future plans, so there's no retroactive portion of this resolution. we retain cath lynn charities and mission neighborhood centers. we amended the dollar amount to reflect only the amount that attaches to these extensions, so that's why the 52 million is

the only one being referenced. an additional amount that you'll see is a removal of one of our community partners, [indiscernible] resource center. they had originally been included in a prior version of this resolution. after we had submitted the initial resolution, we had received communication from their board that they were conducting an internal review of some of their own practices. because of the significance

amount that flows through these organizations, we need to provide it in advance of all of these grants. advances need to be approved, specifically approved by the controller's office, and the controller's office has now required that our fiscal team certify explicitly for each of these grants, that we certify that we have no concerns about the fiscal management of those funds. they were doing an internal review of a number of issues that were brought to their attention, and our financial team determined that, based on that, they were not able to go through the provisions necessary certified by the controller, and in that case, for the purpose of this

particular resolution, and for this resolution only, we did need to remove that one organization from this listing, and you can see that that results in an increase to the other organizations listed. again, the organization mentioned is still a granted organization, and they are still granting what we gave

them in the first round, and this does not affect their ability to receive funds in the future. we are committed to work with all of our community stakeholders, especially the latino community, which you know has been most significantly affected by covid, and are -- have been shown to be the largest recipient of all of our emergency rental assistance

programs. i lived our provides here, three other provides, who aren't included in this resolution because their amounts don't exceed $10 million. we're committed bringing these providers together with all of the community stakeholders. i understand that there is concern, and the community wants assurances that the removal of this provider at this particular time would not endanger services to community members who are in desperate chance of evictions. we have been meeting regularly with all of our emergency

providers, and that is my presentation, and mr. ramirez and i are happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> chair ronen: great. i have a number of questions, but before that, let's go to the b.l.a. >> thank you, chair ronen. this would essentially align it with any existing city rent relief program. file 020211 would retroactively approve four rent agreements for an amount, $52.05 million. since the introduction of the

resolution approving the grant agreements, mohcd has updated their funding plan as described by mr. chow. so the department, i understand it, is going to introduce an amended resolution with three providers, and just the new resolution from 52.5 to 44.5. the grant agreements fund these organizations administrative costs to administer the grants as well as provide 33.5 million in rental agreements to households. this rental assistance would benefit about 2259 households. we consider approval of the

cochange to be a positive amount for the board, and we recommend approving the amended version of 22011 to be submitted by the department for approval. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. do you want to -- i'd love you to go first, supervisor preston, and then, i have a number of questions. >> supervisor preston: thank you, chair ronen, and thank you for calendaring these items. i did want to speak specifically on item 7 and perhaps provide a little bit more -- some of the context for this one. i think we have several sources of these rent relief funds, and

this is an attempt to unify all of these programs. item number 7 is related to the fair recovery act package that our office moved in 2020, which raised taxes on the high end real estate transactions and has already brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to the city, and thank you, chair ronen and supervisor mar for approving those ballot measures and bringing those funds in. as part of those packages, we created the housing and rent relief fund to cover back rent for tenants affected by covid-19, and appreciate the unanimous support of the board for creating both of these funds. at this time we passed the original iteration of the

original rent relief fund that item 7 now amended -- this was back in oct-2020, at that time, there was no federal rent relief program, there was no state rent relief program. i'm proud to say that san francisco was really first out of the gait on this, and we as a city saw this issue coming early, we took issue early and responded through the initial ordinance. $10 million of the money is currently in the rent resolution and relief fund.

i appreciate mohcds collaboration on this, is we are trying to disperse the funds. this will allow mohcd to leverage the existing $10 million that's in the existing rent relief fund, along with $20 million in prop c funds, and 32 million from prop i that was approved in last year's budget. so all told, this will give the city a total of $62 million to prevent displacement and keep struggling san franciscans in their homes. i want to remind everyone just because i do it at every

possible time when this issue comes up, we are facing a march 31 deadline for the applications to the state, and really just urging anyone who is listening to help get the word out that that deadline is upon us, and appreciate all the work of community organizations to spread the word. i do want to note that every one of these state claims that get processed is going to be one less claim that the city pays for with those funds. we know that this is not going to meet the need, especially if if they're going to get the

average that we're looking for, $10,000 per application. this is a many millions of dollars issue, and the more people we can encourage to apply before march 31, the better. i would like to get clarification from mr. chu around the amendment of the dollar value down on item 8, just to have confirmation on -- some clarification that we're

not reducing the amount down. i think expanding that on the record would be great. i think we need to conform this -- the formal name of the rent resolution and relief fund, not rent resolutions with an "s," and that appears repeatedly in the ordinance, with rent resolutions, so if the department could amend all of those original form of resolutions in the document, and so i'd request that you make those amendments, and thank you again for the time. >> chair ronen: thank you, and we'll make those amendments

after public comment. mr. chu, can you please just answer supervisor preston's first question? >> yes, sure. in terms of the difference of the 52 and 62, the other $10 million that comes from prop c, that's being administered by the department of homelessness and supportive housing, but the original amount available is 62, as supervisor preston stated. >> supervisor preston: and through the chair, when you say it's being administered, it's being administered for rent relief directly to tenants or for some other purpose? >> my understanding is it's also being administered for tenants, and they are target being those tenants that are imminently homeless because of their priority focus, and we

provide assistance to that kind of broader range of tenants that may not qualify for the h.s.h. definition of homelessness. we cover kind of a broad range of anybody that would have the housing destabilized by not having that rental stance. >> supervisor preston: thank you. through the chair, so this is -- was not aware of the reduction. i just want to make sure this isn't diverting any of the funds. certainly, as you just described them, we're diverting some of these funds and the presentation of homelessness. there were conversations between our office and mohcd, some interest in potentially --

from mohcd about potentially using some of these funds for the subsizized housing providers -- subsidized housing providers, and i just want to be sure that we're preventing displacement. i don't have any concern in principle which agency is administering it for that purpose. i think we've spent a lot of time with mohcd to make sure we're all on the same page to confirm how the funds are being used. i do think we're on the same page with mohcd, but i think we haven't had conversations with h.s.h., and i'd like to get

some feedback on that. >> sure, supervisor. after this meeting, we can set up a time because we're in conversation with h.s.h. all the time about that, so we'd be happy to set that up with your office. >> chair ronen: is that all, supervisor preston? is. >> supervisor preston: yes, thank you, chair ronen. >> chair ronen: i want to thank you so much for all of your hard work for getting rent assistance to any san franciscan that needs it. i remember being in press conferences, national press conferences with you, and we looked down the line, and we envisioned a massive, massive eviction wave in the city, and the only thing that would prevent that would be rent

relief, and i just want to thank you for all of your advocacy on behalf of all san franciscans, and my gratitude knows no limits. thank you. >> supervisor preston: thank you. very much appreciate it, chair ronen, and appreciate your strong support of every one of these measures, both for measures and to create rent relief. generally speaking, when it's come to stopping evictions and making sure that we act unanimously in pushing the state to push for rent relief, i think, if i'm not mistaken, most of those have been unanimous, and this board has taken a strong stand, and i

hope they'll be able to. >> chair ronen: i also wanted to thank bryan chu and mohcd for all their work. this has truly been a massive undertaking that we should be proud of. i do have a couple of

questions. this committee doesn't meet again until a day before that deadline, and so that's why it was so important to get this next tranche of funds out, is that correct? >> yes. it really was driven by the state application period. >> chair ronen: okay. i wanted to give a shoutout to nick menard and the b.l.a. they had to work extra hours and go outside their normal work process to make this happen, so thank you to nick, and thank you to my staff, nikki, for her incredible work. so because you decided not to

offer additional funds to la raza c.r.c., i'm hearing concerned that the mission and latinx communities won't have access to these funds. as the mission supervisor, catholic charities, homie, and native american health center, and eviction defense collaborative is just a couple of blocks outside of the mission. so basically, six of the seven organizations are inside the

mission, is that correct? >> that's correct, and i will say, as you know, that different organizations have different constituencies, and that's why we wanted to try to link those up. we wants to make sure that they will have equitable access to all of the other providers. yes, they're all in the mission, but some people are just really used to going to one place. we want to make sure that we can do all of the collaborative pairing up that we can to make

sure that we don't miss anyone. >> chair ronen: thank you -- can you tell us how much money is remaining in the original tranche that the organizations received? >> so the 6,000 for e.d.c. -- 6 million -- 6,000? 6 million from catholic charities, 4 million for n.n.c., 4 million for la raza c.r.c., and 6 million for homies.

>> so of that original 4 or 6 million, how much of that is left? >> chair ronen: yeah. >> so chair, in the b.l.a. report, you'll find the remaining balances for grantees provided in the resolution. it does not include the remaining balances for all seven of our providers. la raza c.r.c. has a remaining balance of 900,000 in the first tranche, and it will be that remaining balance that will sustain the la raza c.r.c. team and help people complete the application, and then, other people will cut the check. la raza will still be

collaborating with our community members, but they will be collaborating for check cutting for the remaining providers. >> chair ronen: do you have any idea what the remaining funds are? >> so i believe the remaining aggregate from the first tranche is about $4 million. in terms of the need, what brian mentioned earlier, the state of california has processed about half of the applications that have been submitted by san francisco tenants, so that's more than 9,000 applications, more than $106 million, and presumably, there is still more than $100 million to deploy from the state program, and our local program will serve as the safety net to the state

program. so as brian mentioned earlier, our local providers will collaborate with our he lick defense system, the tenant right to council. it will provide rental assistance for the months that we know that the state will not cover, and then, also serving the most vulnerable tenants who -- the state program is not as low barrier as our local program, so we want to make sure that we're able to serve the people that need it. >> chair ronen: so as long as a tenant gets an application in or landlord prior to april 1,

then, the state will process them. >> that's correct. >> chair ronen: so we don't have a firm grip on what the need is afterwards. >> that's correct. [please stand by]

. >> chair ronen: which is why we made a very unusual exception to hear this item outside of our normal process, and i appreciate those answers. supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: thank you, chair ronen. thanks. some of the questions that you asked were some of the questions that i was going to

highlight. i am concerned about where the rental relief funds came from for my district. can you provide some of the outreach that they provided to

my district? >> a lot of -- actually, only about a percentage or two below the mission, so we definitely are able to reach out to all the different neighborhoods, and as you said, the impact of covid affects every single neighborhood, east side, west side, north to south. >> supervisor safai: and are you able to provide which organizations provided that support to 941 --

>> i don't have that information before me, but i am happy to get that back before you. >> supervisor safai: second question was just to build on what chair ronen was asking. it sounds like you have additional funds to award. is that correct? and if there are, why are you holding back on moneys to provide rent relief support? why is that money not being

distributed now? >> in that case, i was speaking to the chair, for example, about funds that may have been created through proposition c that we may have now but may come to us in the future. prop c will be our primary source moving forward because we have a one-time distribution of the 32 million, and then,

the one-time $10 million that was in provider preston's fund, so outside of that, moving forward, the primary funds will be prop c funds, that is correct. >> supervisor safai: and just to go back to my previous point, you don't have or the organizations are not providing information on where they're -- which organizations are working with which neighborhoods in the city? >> oh, no, we do have that information. every organization puts down the neighborhood that they work with together. the figures that i put together for you was the rolled up figure of each of the neighborhoods, but we can break that down by provider. >> supervisor safai: so you do have that. >> yes. >> supervisor safai: so that's essentially the questions that

i had. i was concerned about where the money was distributed for rent. here's another one. i just wanted to get it on the record. how do you ensure that the funds are disbursed? how does that work, and how do you make sure that the money is utilized for rent? >> yeah, so supervisor, i just wanted to emphasize that this is a citywide program, so despite six of the seven community-based organizations being located in the mission, it's one unified application. the tenant selects what organization they would like to work with, and m my notes, the top five neighborhoods makeup

60% of beneficiaries. the number one is the bayview. number two, mission, three tenderloin, four, excelsior, and five, south of mission. 98% of all applicants are extremely low-income and very low-income, so it really speaks to the effectiveness of our state-citywide program in engaging our most vulnerable residents. our emergency rental assistance program, in the vast majority of cases, is a direct payment to the landlord. we do have, in very limited cases, direct-to-tenant payments when the landlord is

unresponsive or uncooperative, but in most cases, these are payments done to landlords or management companies. >> supervisor safai: so a person goes to one of these organizations and says, this is my organization, this is my period of rent, and what happens? >> so then, the organization collects that documentation, that lease agreement. the organization has to attempt to make contact with the landlord, to obtain, for example, a uu 09. >> supervisor safai: so the organization cuts payment directly to the landlord, not the tenant?

>> that's correct. >> supervisor safai: okay. those were my questions. thank you, chair ronen. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. we will now open this up for public comment. >> clerk: thank you, chair ronen. members of the public who wish to speak on this item who are joining us in person should lineup by the curtains. members of the public who are joining us on-line should call 415-655-0001, meeting i.d. 2499-723-2102, then press pound and pound again. press star, three to enter the queue and wait until the same indicates you have been unmuted before you begin your comments. marty dickinson will be providing spanish

interpretation, and marty, if you could please provide the instructions in spanish. thanks. [speaking spanish language] >> interpreter: thank you.

>> clerk: thank you, marty. we do have a speaker at the podium, and i'll start your time for two minutes. >> i was hoping that we could have two minutes as our organization is impacted the most, a loss of $8.2 million. >> chair ronen: okay. we have the same rules for every speaker. >> we are the main organization impacted by this, and the main topic of discussion. >> chair ronen: you are not the main topic of conversation. please proceed with your comments. >> i was very disappointed to see this amendment. we actually have -- we've actually been working very hard, and i know when the city was working really hard to get these out fast, la raza, our

staff was getting these out fastest. i know that six of the seven you mentioned, you're saying you're located in the mission, but we serve 18,000 families a year in our food pantry. we link families to our family resource pantry, giving out diapers and wipes, covid assistance for families. we have a 52-year history of doing this. we are a latino task force and latino parity equity coalition member, and those funds would move out of these hands, so it isn't a good change, and what happens with this amendment, it doesn't allow our ability to have our case workers give the

funds directly to the families and connect them with other services. we've worked on subcontract before, and for us, it actually made it more difficult to serve the families and get funds in their hands faster, and that's actually what la raza community center does. i would actually ask -- this is heard before the board of supervisors on april 1, due at the state on april 9. i would ask to have a reconsideration of the deadline. >> [indiscernible] so, you know, someone with a lot of

disabilities, i was easy to come to one organization, which was la raza c.r.c., to get services at one location. so having these funds would ensure that we maintain that high standard and quality of services, which as cochair of the behavioral health commission, i've coauthored a resolution to maintain that for

behavioral health services. furthermore, a lot of our clients will come from d-4, d-9, d-7, and d-6, so supporting us and maintaining that funding would help us on that issue, so we urge you to continue supporting us. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> we're going to need spanish interpretation for this next comment. >> clerk: miss dickinson? >> hello. my name is [indiscernible] takia. i have been with the community for 17 years.

as a volunteer, i have been working to distribute applications and so forth. i consider that funds should be given out to us so that they can be distributed among the most vulnerable in our community, which is young children and single mothers. this group relates to us, and there's so much work that we can do and need to do. >> clerk: thank you so much. [speaking spanish language]

>> hello. my name is claudia rodriguez. for the last nine years, i have been a volunteer for the group, and the last two years, i've been working for them. this was the only group that was open during the entire pandemic, so they were giving out not only funds, but essential needs like rent, diapers, food, gift cards, and things that the people were

needing at the moment. we distribute over $600,000 in essential items, so we are claiming that you help us remain open and distributing these funds. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is [indiscernible], and i am a resident of district 6. la raza community resource center has been a place where people feel community, where they can come, and yes, there

are many other that provide these type of services. secondly, i'm here as a supporter to amend this budget because la raza, as the previous speaker said, people realize that they do speak the language. we are speaking that la raza gets the community, and we respectfully request that the board of supervisors take that into consideration.

>> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker. >> hi. my name is brenda, and when i heard them speak about landlords and renters, my sister is one of the few black people that owns a home. she had someone renting who wasn't paying rent, and my sister was a city employee,

didn't have a lot of money. whatever agency she was dealing with, they hardly talked to her. when all the money was given to the tenants, she got nothing, and still has nothing, so i think this does need to be looked at a little basis closer clerk -- little bit closer. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> the board has been meeting with gabriel every month, and gabriel has told us time and time again how proud he is at the hard, hard work of the agency staff and pushing a large number of rental assistance checks outside the

door. i've never seen any indication of any malfeasance or any inappropriate appropriation of the funds, but i did support an outside expert coming in to review, and they found no instances of inappropriate allocation or misuse of funds. i do understand the logic in brian chu's letter.

it does make sense that they would have some problems delivering funds to an agency with an investigation open, but the investigation has been closed and the agency has been cleared. i would certainly urge the board to take that into consideration that the audit has been closed and the organization has been cleared. thank you so much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is carla garcia, and i'm a board member of la raza. i've been a board member since july 2021, and i can tell you that this organization is really beloved by the community. it's an icon by the community, and i'm pleading to keep the funds that we have, because we

need them. i mean, we, like martin said, we have conducted an outside audit, and everybody -- everything came out clear. mr. gabriel medina has done a wonderful job. he has raised salaries to all the employees, and also benefits. there was some rumors, too, but i would just ask the board of supervisors to consider facts instead of rumors. our lawyer is going to call soon just about the things that were added, and also, please, make sure -- i just wanted to also mention that nancy pelosi came to la raza in august, and she thinks that we are a star organization, that we went beyond the call to help the

community, and i hope you consider that, as well. thank you for your time, and i hope you keep the funds with la raza. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i'm here to argue for the full reinstatement of la raza's eraf funds. la raza c.r.c. is the gatekeeper organization, so la

rasaprovided and completed an investigation of both fiscal and cultural practices with no findings of mismanagement or malpractice by an independent third party. just because that employees leave does not mean that the organization is incapable, but there needs to be due diligence of the false claims involving an organization that has been top tier in rolling out funds. supervisors, would it not possible to include the resolution that if there are no findings in the financial audit for la rasa c.r.c. that the funds can be reinstated? this can be a compromise. thank you so much for your time

and the work that you all do, and i please urge you to make sure that la rasa stays funded to continue the good work that they have been doing for over 50 years. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. looks like that's the end of the in-person speakers. mr. atkins, do we have any remote attendees who would like to speak? >> my name is jose cartagena. i work for catholic charities, senior director for the homeless programs and emergency relief programs. i just want to call just to say thank you for the support that you provide san francisco.

we serve everyone. the pandemic have put us in a very difficult position but also help us to work better together to partnership. if you don't receive money from the city, but you are working in visitacion valley, you are working with a client, we establish partnership, but not necessarily the client has to come to mission to receive services. the system that the city has put in place is excellent because you don't have to come to our offices to receive services. you will be able to apply

on-line. a worker will be assigned if you have not -- i want to emphasize that we were open through the entire process of the pandemic. we never close our doors, and i want to reaffirm catholic charities naming to continue doing our work, our share of the work in the city. thank you for approving this resolution. >> clerk: thank you so much for your comments. at this time, we have 25 members of the public listening with 15 in the queue. if you are in the -- if you are listening and you haven't already done so, please press star, three to get into the speaker line, and wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted before you begin

your comments. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. i think we have a caller on the line. >> hi. i am the covid-19 rent relief outreach coordinator at the san francisco antidisplacement coalition. i'm calling to emphasize the urgency of our city to authorize the funds that previous supervisors have spoken for to be put into the local city rent relief program. over the past year, i've worked with the city and mohcd to get

people applied with the rental relief program. we know there's still about 9,000, 10,000 applications in the pipeline, and extensions haven't been extended, and it's really important to get these funds to these organizations that were read so that we can continue to help low-income tenants. thank you so much.

>> clerk: thank you for your comments. next caller. >> my name is henry morales, and i've worked in the city services and the community programs. i just want to extend my complete support for homies because we have a relationship with the community. i have an auntie who is getting help because of this. kudos to san francisco for leading the way, not only for doing its job but making sure that san francisco helps its

residents. again, just give my complete support. i love what they're doing. great organization. they're doing great work, and they can be supported. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. caller, you may want to lower the volume on whatever listening device you're using.

hello, caller. we hear you. >> hi, my name is [indiscernible] can you hear me? hello? hello? >> clerk: yes, you may begin. >> great. thank you. my name is luis coronados, and as we all know, covid has resulted in a very strong impact on our community. i think what i'm hearing is that not including la rasa c.r.c. in the funding seems challenging, just given the work that they've done in

collaboration with the city, not just the last 50 years, but the last two years, not only to the mission, but to all of san francisco. i think that what i would ask from the committee is that if there's no funding that are coming out from the audit, as i heard from the treasurer of la rasa c.r.c., then that this committee include an item within the resolution that says if there aren't no findings regarding financial malpractice, that the funds for la rasa c.r.c. be awarded the way they have been originally allocated. i think that's an elegant solution to this challenge because i think by doing -- by not providing those funds to la

rasa c.r.c., a certain part of our community will not be able to access relief made necessary by the covid crisis. thank you so much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. >> hi, hello. hello. can you hear us -- hear me okay? >> clerk: yes. >> so i'm actually calling for eight people who are going to give public comment, and the first caller will need interpretation, so i'm bringing up our speaker right now. >> clerk: thank you. >> oh, okay. actually. okay. okay. go ahead. >> hello. my name is luis vasquez gomes,

and i have works in the different organizations [indiscernible] i'm calling to keep complete funding in house for la rasa. during the pandemic, we were the only organization that kept our doors open for the people. we had a pantry serving 150 families, and in two months, we are serving near 1,000 families, and we actually extended our worth. we started opening another

pantry. and also, we have the program rental assistance [indiscernible] and i personally processed more than 250 families and distributed nearly $750,000. with that, i just wanted to emphasize that we have the capacity to continue serving our community, and it's very frustrating, and unfortunately, because of the internal matter, the agency, and all the excellent work that we've been doing for the last 50 years gets questions when, in reality, we should be applauded for our work in this community. also, nearly 30% of the eligible families do not apply for assistance, so it's

important that we keep funding for families. >> okay. the next speaker. [speaking spanish language]

>> clerk: thank you. >> hello. my name is carmen gallegos. i am a volunteer of la rasa and also a volunteer of the food bank. i have been informing people of all the resources that la rasa has for our hispanic population. i have personally gotten help from them, as well, and during the pandemic, we was the only organization that was open for pandemic and food help. i personally helped fill out many applications, so i hope that we remain steady and

helping la familia continue with the cause that they are doing. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, marty, and thank you, caller, for your comments. next speaker, please. [speaking spanish language]

>> my name is magali, and i have been working as a family specialist to assist families

with whatever they may need, and know that theed funds are needed to keep giving families what they need. thank you. [speaking spanish language] >> hello.

my name is christina ortiz, and i have been a volunteer for the organization, or i currently am. i want you to know that this community of people helping have not only done -- have not only helped with essentials but also have helped with emotional problems that we may have. i've taken classes here for parenting and leadership, and this makes us grow, as well, so i would ask that you continue to lend your funds to us. thank you. [speaking spanish language]

>> hello. my name is estramos, and i have been in san francisco for about 17 years. i am currently a volunteer. i was able to pay my rent during covid thanks to this

program, and many families weeks and years and months after covid have gotten help, not only financial but emotional, as well. so i urge you to hold your heart and please help us retain these funds. thank you. >> hi, good afternoon. my name is marisela gomez, and i've been working at la rasa as a case manager since 2017. during the pandemic, we administered and successfully assisted our community with various mohcd grants.

i'm calling to ask that the board of supervisors reinstate and pass the original resolution and to fully fund la rasa c.r.c., the 8.4 million program grant. mohcd has allowed us to continue providing critical safety net services to one of the most vulnerable populations in san francisco. as expected, we have seen a tremendous surge from first time assistance to on going spar. -- on going support. due to the numerous factors, including language barriers, loss of job, huge rental debt among others, the impact of covid continues to be difficult for the latino community.

as the statewide eviction protection expires on march 31 and harassment from landlords continues to escalate, it is essential to continue supporting our most vulnerable communities. thank you for your continued support and helping us help san francisco. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> hello. my name is [indiscernible] and i have been working for la rasa for the last 17 years. my experience with one of the families was -- it was a family of five that's experiencing many difficulties. the mother was having

depression, the father had an accident, and they were just struggling with the kids at home. he reached out to us, and because of you, we were able to assist him. he was able to get it off his chest because he didn't even have a clue of what was out there for his family, and he reach out to us. it has been hard during this pandemic for many of our families, and i'm just happy to serve, and i'm asking to please keep the funds at la rasa so we can continue serving our families. >> hi. my name is [indiscernible] caldas, and i am grateful to say that i live in district 9 and work at la rasa community

resource center. i implore you to reinstate the original resolution to fully fund la rasa 8.4 million. our families need this funding more than ever, and defunding us is defunding la rasa. our families need us. during the pandemic, we never closed our doors, and i work with families to give them funds through the much needed eraf program. i know firsthand that with the full funding reinstated it will allow us to expedite the process of getting funds to the families when it's needed most. we've received countless

e-mails and letters from the families that we help, and i'm reiterating that defunding la rasa is defunding the ones who need it the most. i also ask that you not rush this decision and at least give yourselves until april 5, when you vote on everything. thank you so much. bye. >> clerk: does that conclude your speakers? >> it does. >> clerk: thank you so much for organizing, and thank you so much for participating. mr. atkins, next speaker,

please. >> yes, hi, good afternoon. everyone. thank you for making this time. my name is michelle, and i am a board member with la rasa community resource center. i have actually been a volunteer for almost nine years, teaching the la rasa participant citizenship on the weekends, and i would urge you to consider approving the funding for la rasa, as we have previously stated, our recent audits found no mismanagement and no violations of any kind of policy in this field. we do appreciate all of our staff and everyone that's worked so hard serving the latino community. as i have personally witnessed

so many people coming to the center to help people get ahead. they need these jobs, and they need this extra support, this extra rental assistance to have a peace of mind and to have a respectful life, so i urge you to consider before you vote on this. thank you. >> clerk: thank you so much for your comments. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. >> hi. my name's roxanna morales, and

i am calling in favor of the extended resolution for the covid-19 resolution. i used to be the lead eraf case manager person at la rasa c.r.c., and i just wanted to clarify some situations. i left february 4 because of a lot of problems that were going on at la rasa, particularly in the eraf program. remember, we were still giving out checks in october, and when i left in february, we still had people that had not received assistance, and they were waiting for assistance since december, and they had applied way before then. so i do want to say, we had to completely stop working for a period of time because mr. gabriel medina told us we no longer had funds, and we had several checks bouncing. the payment was always delayed, people were always calling us angry because we didn't have

the funds to give to them, even though we had promised to give it to them after the whole process was done, so i do urge you to let the resolution stay as it is. la rasa is crucial and important to many people, and i just think they should be allowed to work with the eraf programs, but they should not be have contact with the funds. >> clerk: thank you so much for your comments. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. >> hello? can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can. >> hi. my name is john mendoza, and i'm calling here today in support of the amendment to keep the money with la rasa. i just want to speak a little bit about the different agencies in the mission.

when you're poor and underprivileged like myself -- i've been in the mission 45 years, and you find an agency that helps you, that agency becomes like family. so to take the money away from la rasa and all the families that depend on la rasa for their resource, that would be devastating. we had the homeless problem solved because we had them in hotels, and if you let them out of hotels by losing our funding and losing their support, you're really going to be hurting. i urge you to support this agency and support these funds. this is not a time to destabilize somebody's social network and that's where they depend on, so please, support this amendment.

keep la rasa resource center, and thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. currently, we have 24 people listening and nine in the queue. if you are one of the 24 listening and wish to provide public comment and have not already done so, please press star, three to make public comment. mr. atkins, can we have the next speaker, please?

it seems like that line is unattended. >> good morning, supervisors and community. my name is karl [indiscernible] and i work at la rasa community resource center as an immigration attorney and as the director of the legal program. i have worked at la rasa close to eight years, and i've led the immigration program that

whole time. i've heard a lot from my colleagues and others about the great work that la rasa does. i have full confidence in the ability of la rasa staff to implement rental assistance projects like this one. while la rasa has a great and committed staff, that's due to the continued legacy of la rasa's previous director that gabriel medina inherited when he took over a little over a year ago. i'm commenting to clarify some things about the situation here. in late january, our three program directors who collectively have about 40 years of experience concerning la rasa's programs, filed

grievances to the board of directors. the majority of staff had raised concerns about the e.d.s more treatment of them and poor management of programs. the board announced that it found zero problems with the e.d.s conduct even though we had allegations that staff felt led on, led on by the investigator. i had an incident where the investigator violated the investigation where he spoke to

me about another grievance. >> clerk: so sorry to cut you off, but we are limiting each speaker to two minutes. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. >> hello, board. my name is kristin mitzel, and i am their outside counsel, and they've asked me to share a little bit more what's happening to you. as you know, they had complaints coming in, so they took steps and hired attorneys and consultants on the outside.

>> due to la rasa with their connections with the community, they have been in place for

over 50 years. people say it's not the same, but then, there's a change in management style. you have a new person come in, and of course, they're going to be passionate, trying to improve the services and everything. i hope we can amendment the resolution to note that at the same time and just recognition that this is a gem of an organization. each organization in the mission and everyone in san francisco has a purpose. it's all beautiful. we need to come together as different community organizations and give our all

to communities. >> clerk: thank you. your time has expired. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. sounds like that line is unattended. >> can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can. please begin. >> okay. i'm sorry. yes, my name is marian, and i work for la rasa community

resources, and i want to tell you that it doesn't matter if la rasa has 50 years of community experience or less, the money needs to be

distributed. i thank you to mohcd for keeping the door open and making sure that families receive their money in a more accurate and a more substantial way, taking down barriers and allowing requirements. >> clerk: thank you so much for your comments. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is [indiscernible] and i'm [indiscernible] at homie. as an organization, we've also been open during the pandemic. our latin-based organization is in proximity to the mission corridor and has continued to

operate, as well. in addition to rent assistance, we provide food for 800 households a week, and the demographics we serve is citywide. i see it firsthand and strongly affirm community members in need of support within the 16 street corner and citywide will continue to access city services within the strong network of city agencies, and on behalf of our organization, we thank the city for supporting vital services and our community organization. >> clerk: thank you so much for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good evening. my name is petra mendoza, and i

wanted to bring your attention to an incident on february 28 where la rasa [indiscernible] at the hands of the current administration. i have been a volunteer at la rasa community center for about three months, working at the food pantry to provide families with a healthy diet and nutritious food. because of that, i had given my personal information as well as personal number receiving announcements for events that i volunteer for. however, on february 28, i received a surprised phone call at 6:28 p.m. this woman introduced herself as carla garcia and advised me not to attend the rally the

next day as the city would takeaway their funds. moreover, in an abrupt manner, she asked me if that was what i wanted to happen because that's what would happen if i attended this protest. lastly, when i questioned how she received my number, which was supposed to be private and received solely for the source of a volunteer, she explained because she was a member of the board, she had access to private information. this is why i have reached out to inform you all about this. thank you for listening. >> clerk: thanks so much for your comments. mr. atkins, next speaker, please. >> hi.

my name is laura. i am the director of radco program at eviction defense collaborative, and i just want to express my strong support for the local eraf program in general, and it's had a strong impact in supporting our chinatown community. through our partnership, we were able to reach the chinese community, and e.d.c. was one of the only providers who had mandarin and cantonese speaking

staff to help people with the program, and we have received feedback that that was very needed for their clients. i know that we'll continue to reach this very important population through our outreach partners, so thank you for the opportunity. i also want to highlight that e.d.c. is the lead in the san francisco tenant rights council system, and radco can act quickly to administer assistance to those in eviction proceedings because they all get referred to radco. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. mr. atkins, can you confirm that we've reached the end of the queue? >> operator: mr. clerk, we have reached the end of the queue.

>> clerk: madam chair? >> chair ronen: thank you. public comment is now closed. first, i want to acknowledge all the comments from la rasa community resource center. i want to thank all of the staff members for coming in and testifying today. [speaking spanish language] >> chair ronen: i have been a huge fan and supporter of this organization and donor myself to this organization for many years. [speaking spanish language] >> chair ronen: but it's very

unusual that we've been presented with a situation like this. [speaking spanish language] >> chair ronen: we have a fiduciary duty when we oversee any money that's taxpayers' money, but especially $8 million that's going to residents that could be homeless, that we are sure that the organization receiving those funds is capable of doing the work. [speaking spanish language]

>> chair ronen: and there's a lot of disturbing events that have happened at la rasa that, unfortunately, are coming to public that we've heard today, that several long-standing staff that had the love and trust of the community quit the organization, and one of them was the facilitator of the eraf program, that 70% of the staff sent a letter, alleging financial improprieties of la rasa including her concerns were ignored, and that's very serious. [speaking spanish language]

>> chair ronen: we have to be very careful here. so i understand that mohcd has suspended these funds until the organization is sure that -- or until the department is sure

that this organization can handle the funds and has the personnel to distribute the $8 million to the public. [speaking spanish language] >> chair ronen: now, i just have a question for brian chu, if you're still there. i hope you are. >> yep, i'm here. >> chair ronen: okay. great. so given that there is a new third party audit that seems to show that there's no financial improprieties in la rasa, and -- i'm just wondering, what would be your process going forward for deciding whether or not to allocate the approximate $6 million in additional funds

to la rasa, if it makes sense to do so? >> well, a couple of items. so just to clarify my previous statement, i intended to convey that there was a possibility to add up to $6 million without going back to the board. that's different than saying we have the $6 million now. we may have the additional dollars through unexpended dollars that are left in the pool from this time around and/or dollars that are unexpended or that may come to us in july. so that being said, in terms of the process going forward, i would need to consult with my staff, but i would imagine that we would be consulting with our lead fiscal team because it's the fiscal team that needs to make a certification to the controller's office, and we would connect with the

controller's office to -- their office has set up the requirements to allow advances to be made on city contracts, so i think it would be a consultation with the controller's office and with our lead finance officers to review the works. >> chair ronen: i'm sorry. so you don't have additional money to distribute to la rasa if you then deemed it appropriate? >> there is -- there are some dollars that were not allocated through this resolution. we didn't need to put them on this resolution because that amount won't go past the $10 million, so that funding is currently available for distribution. >> chair ronen: so are -- >> and any additional dollars

that we get in the next fiscal year. [please stand by]