>> good morning. welcome to the rules committee san francisco board of supervisors for today, monday, april 11, 2022. i am the chair of the committee aaron peskin joined by supervisor mandelman and committee member co n nie. our clerk is mr. victor young. do you have any announcements? >> yes, the board of supervisors and committees are allowing in person attendance and providing public comment by telephone.

equitable access is essential. we will take public comment as follows. first on each item on the agenda. those attending in person will speak first. then we will take those waiting on the telephone line. those watching channel 26, 78 or 99 and sfgovtv.org. the call-in number is on the screen. the number is 415-655-0001. id is 24938610602. press pound and pound again. when connected you will hear discussion and be in listening mode only. when your item comes up and public comment is called line up to speak and those on the telephone dial star 3 to be added to the speaker line. if you are on the telephone, please turn down your tv and/or

all listening devices you may be using. as indicated we will take public comment for those in person first. then to the public comment on the telephone line. you may submit in writing. e-mail to myself rules committee clerk. at sfgovtv. public comment by e-mail will be forwarded to the supervisors and included in the file. you may send comments through mail to our office at room 244 city hall. items acted upon today will appear at the board of supervisors -- i did not read the correct date. board of supervisors agenda

april 19th unless otherwise stated. that concludes my initial comments. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, mr. young. we are joined by supervisor ronan. please read item one. >> clerk: item 1. ordinance amending administrative code to prohibit departments from uploading or storing dna profiles belongs to crime victims that is not subject to the federal and state rules governing the index systems, databases and from storing dna profiles from crime scene evidence in any nonsealed dna database for longer than 60 days to require 15 days after the date of this ordinance the police department purge the databases evidentiary profiles stored for longer than 60 days and victim profiles stored for

any length much time and limit city departments to used the databases only for quality assurance purposes. not for any investigative purposes. members of the public who wish to comment on this item may line up to speak after we -- when we call for public comment. they may call on the number at 415-655-0001. id is 24938610602. pound, pound. once connected the meeting you will each press star 3 to enter speaker line. system prompt will indicate you raised your hand. wait until public comment on this item. when the system indicates you are unmuted begin public comment. supervisor ronan.

>> supervisor ronen: thank you so much, colleagues. today i am asking that you send this to the full board with positive recommendations. the legislation would prohibit the san francisco police department from storing victim dna profiles in the database. there is in response to the district attorney's discovery that a rape victim dna was used to identify the victim herself in the robbery case. the fact the crime lab is using victim's physical evidence against victims came as a shock to most of us in the city. the police chief ordered an end to this. we are working on state legislation prohibiting this fis

practice. one u.s.a. today article cast doubt on storing victim's dna. it is unclear whether a state law will pass. we need to clarify that we will never allow this practice in the administrative code to ensure it never happens again. furthermore, it is already extremely difficult for a rape victim to report this crime. the widespread news coverage will make it more likely victims will choose not to come forward. we need a clear message this violation of victim privacy will never happen again in san francisco. the legislation does three things. prohibits police or city departments from storing victim dna in a local database beyond 60 days. during that period it prohibits the use of that data for any

purpose other than quality control. 3. it requires sfpd to purge all past data by july 1, 2022. in addition, i have two amendments that i would ask you to include today. neither is substantive. first requires controller to enact audit of the crime lab evidentiary dna database and report on whether or not and how dna profiles were used in past cases. two. within two months of going into effect requiring the crime lab to publish a public notice giving details how the victim dna evidence is handled and stored so the public is well aware of the law and the privacy that will not ever be miss handled again. i hope you will join me supporting this legislation. i note very last comment the police department did submit

amendments. i don't find the amendments that important or essential. i also don't have a problem with the amendments. the city attorney wasn't able t review the amendments in time to include in the legislation today. it is unclear to me whether or not they are substantive. i would love this legislation to move forward. i don't think we should have any delay. if it turns out they are not substantive we can add at the full board. i don't have an issue with the amendments. i am not going to suggest that we include them because they are not -- >> supervisor peskin: they seem to be resighttals more than -- they don't seem to be substantive. i am not an attorney. i will defer to deputy city attorney pearson. they seem to be statements i

will defer to deputy city attorney pearson. >> supervisor ronen: i agree and to try to get the attorney to sign off today and she wasn't able to. >> deputy see ann pearson. i agree with your assessment they resite what the state and federal law do. we weren't able to confirm those representations were accurate which we need to do before approving to form. i think they will not be substantive. >> supervisor ronen: i move this forward and include them if they are not substantive at the full board. go from there. i don't want any more delay and ensure crime victims evidence is safe and won't be used against them. >> supervisor peskin: no questions on the roster from

committee members. let's go to the san francisco police department. we have a number of potential speakers from forensic services director powell to the technical leader, shawn, captain of investigations and diane olivia from public policy and achfairs. the floor is yours however you wish to proceed. >> do i take questions? >> supervisor peskin: i don't see any questions. >> quickly i will talk about how the database used to be. i am mark powell forensic services director. database used to be anything we would generate in the lab would

go to the database. it was contamination. there was no timeline at all because our turnaround times could be as long as 4,000 days to get a case from the time it was submitted. fast forward to today. we are with the longest case 55 days last year. we are able to put a timeline on the evidence samples in the database. just moved to a new facility to rethink the workload. we are from compliance. one moment. just to our people logging in. item 2. go ahead and mute your microphones and turnoff cameras. it would be appreciated. thank you very much.

>> so we are the profiles in our contamination assessment database are only evidence samples, no reference samples. a known ample are not contained in the database. we are purged of any reference samples. we are in compliance. we have a policy only 60 day retention time to monitor for contain nation. cases are out the door quickly. no need to have unlimited timeframe. that is where we were and where we are at right now. >> supervisor peskin: supervisor chan. >> supervisor chan: thank you the, chair peskin. my question is that you mentioned that it is already purged. with what you have already stored.

it is interesting that it takes this ordinance to prevent the practice. i would like to understand that the practice that brought this legislation to us today now is because of the case that supervisor ronan was mentioning. is that started practice of sfpd previously or isolated incident? if you could walk us through what happened, i would appreciate it to help us and educate me at least. >> once our standard practice was to put anything prepared in house along with samples from lab visitors, lab staff, personnel, all of those were in the database. the whole purpose to monitor for contamination to make sure we as a lab didn't make a mistake.

we spilled dna from one sample in another case and it contaminated another case. that purpose was to prevent misleading investigators putting wrong samples in the matching database. as that grew bigger we were seeing matches not due to contamination. the lab didn't know what to do. notify on those, keep it to ourselves? out of that question came this policy to notify on anything that was seen in the databasena wasn't contamination. that is where we were at in around 2019. that is how the policy went into effect. it was never meant to be investigation. the lab had information. what do we do with it? >> thank you.

additional comments on behalf of the police department? >> good morning. i am the director of policy and public affairs for san francisco police department. the only comment i would conclude with is stating that we are moving forward with the protocol to make sure it is in alignment and changes have been suggested. we want to thank supervisor ronan for commitment to continue to move this issue forward. we are fully committed to make sure victims feel they can come back to the department and have the trust to work closely with us on any investigation. that is the purpose of the brought to colto make changes in our department. we want to balance public safety and make sure that we are moving forward with the role and responsibility for the city. on behalf of the chief i thank the committee and supervisor

roman for her leadership in moving this forward. >> supervisor chan: i think what is the amendments you are proposing to the legislation? >> we propose five amendments. you might have a copy if it hasn't been distributed. we can share a version. one of them is to be able to provide clarity on our language to be what we are actually proposing in current be policy and protocol. really the biggest piece is that we want to make sure that we align some language which it comes to expectations of moving forward with dna samples now proposed in the state bill that is the second biggest change. more for transparency when we can collect the sample. final is on the fourth page towards the end. you will see that we are

underscoring we have federal requirements. we want to make sure there is alignment with the ordinance language in the legislation in place today. >> thank you. >> supervisor peskin: no other representative the police department for this morning, why don't we move to public comment. any members of the public who would like to comment on this item 1? >> yes, members of the public to speak on this item are joining us in person should line up to speak now along by the windows. remotely call 415-655-0001 and enter id24938610602. press pound and pound. you will need to press star 3 to enter speaker line.

in the queue continue to wait until you are unmuted to begin your comments. there does not appear to be anyone in the room lining up for public comment. we have one person in line for public comment on remotely. >> supervisor peskin: first speaker, please. >> hello, supervisors. what i want to bring to your attention is that we once had this lab in a very dispickcable and contaminated area. in order to understand what happened, you have to go to the source which you haven't gone to. no lab had to deal with that contamination and the new lab

and director and i believe there used to be a director who was selected by the board in new orleans. this is a new director. what i want to bring to the attention of supervisors not all of you know about criminology, nor do i have an understanding of the dna. the district attorney's fiasco upon this. it is a very rare something comes up. one in 100,000. making a big deal about it. the gentleman from the lab stated our measure to put things in place. you, supervisors, should be more interested in serving the interest of the constituents

which you are not. thank you very much. >> supervisor peskin: any other members for public comment on item 1? >> any additional callers? >> that completes the queue, mr. >> supervisor peskin: public comment is closed. while there are amendments yet to be approved by the deputy city attorney and in so far as those amendments appear to be nonsub tantive and could be incorporated by the sponsor of this legislation, supervisor ronan at the full board, i would make a motion to send the item as presented with recommendation to the full board of supervisors. supervisor ronan. >> two things. i also introduced amendments. >> supervisor peskin: why don't we start by taking a roll call on the amendments of mine by supervisor ronan that are before

us on that motion a roll call, please. >> clerk: on the motion to adopt amendments. supervisor chan. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman. >> aye. >> chair peskin. >> aye. >> the motion passes without objection. >> supervisor peskin: then on the item as amended to send to full board with positive recommendation subject to future amendment by supervisor ronan. row call please. >> clerk: on the motion. supervisor charge. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman. >> aye. >> chair peskin. >> aye. >> the motion passes without objection. >> next item. >> clerk: item 2. hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending

january 15, 2023, five members term ending january 15, 2024, and one member term ending january 15, 2025. >> thank you: >> supervisor peskin: some 30 years ago the board of supervisors established health authority to create an efficient delivery system for medical beneficiaries. we have a number of individuals up for almost all cases reappointment. there is one vacant seat. these are seats recommended by various authorities as set forth in your board packet. with that why don't we go to the individuals in the order that they are listed. i will add that a residency waiver is not required. we will dispense with that.

>> board members are invited applicants keep your cameras off and your phones muted until you are called to speak. turnoff any other devices you have on in the room such as televisions or radios to avoid feedback. thank you very much. >> supervisor peskin: everybody who has been nominated will be appearing remotely. we will start although she is in a conference and might appear later is dr. jian qing zhang for seat two. >> thank you, supervisor peskin. i am dialed in from phoenix.

i am with the hospital council to the seat number two. i am a healthcare innovative healthcare executive with progressive leadership experience in hospital and medical group development and management with more than 20 years of success in hosting performances to people centered healthcare administration. i have been serving on the board member for four years. i sit on other association boards or medical groups. i have also taken care of san francisco members for almost 20 years. when i was a family practitioner. san francisco health plan is very important to the populations that we serve.

i believe i can bring leadership and clinical experience in taking care of medical patients for more than 25 years. once appointed i will work with colleagues or members. the management team to address the post pandemic healthcare issues. somehow impacted san francisco members such as the behavioral health, substance abuse, healthcare disparity and many more issues. thank you very much. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. we will go to roland pickens for seat number 3. >> thank you, chair peskin. i am roland pickens was with the

department of public health joining you from lagouda hospital. since my appointment to the board doing business as san francisco health plan i have had the opportunity to represent the san francisco health network, the integrated delivery for the department of public health including hospitals, san francisco general and various clinics. primary care, specially, mental health and substance abuse clinics in the city. it is a pleasure being on the board serving currently as vice chair of the san francisco health plan board. the ability to be a voice on behalf of the department of public health in the city to inform medical beneficiaries in

san francisco to receive the best care possible. we have been through san francisco health network proud to be the largest provider within the san francisco health plan. we think that we do a good job contributing to the highest performing local health plan providing services to medical beneficiaries in san francisco. i submitted buyback ground another -- my background information and respectfully request your consideration for reappointment. >> supervisor peskin: we will go to seat 4. emily webb. ms. webb. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you so much for considering my reappointment to the san francisco health authority board this morning. my seat represents the seat for

st. luke's hospital. now as you are well aware it is part of the c.p.m.c. network. they have along standing commitment to working with the plan to collaborate with local health providers to provide comprehensive access for medical managed care members in san francisco. currently we have approximately 40,000 members that we work with two different medical groups to provide comprehensive care to san francisco health plan members. we find that being on the board is helpful to ensure providing care and coordinating care with the plan and those critical safety partners. i am proud to have served in this for the last four years. i look forward to being appointed for another four. i started my career in public health at san francisco health plan. i worked in the provider

relations department at the time healthy san francisco was formed and i have a longstanding history of working in the safety plan over the last decade in san francisco. i have also served on a number of other community boards, family resource centers, trauma providers and working with community clinics. i have a vast knowledge of the safety net and am proud to be a thought leader from the hospital side in the ways to more effectively serve this very important population in the city and county of san francisco. i hope to continue in this role and representing better health on the board. the plan is very important to how the safety net runs in san francisco. it is highly effective and collaborative. it is very unique. i am privileged to represent and

work with these amazing colleagues on the board. looking forward. there is quite a bit of opportunity be for this plan as we see medical membership grow with expanding populations to additional age categories, undocumented people in san francisco and across the state. also with the state rollout of more coordinated approach to safety net service delivery. the plan will be an important leader in those efforts as we move healthcare forward for this population. i hope to be able to serve in that capacity to provide input and guidance toward that end. happy to take any questions. you should have my application and resume for the seat. thank you so much for considering my reappointment this morning. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. we will move to seat 6.

eddie chan. good morning, mr. chan. >> did morning, supervisors. thank you for meeting with us today. my name is eddie chan, current president and c.e.o. northeast medical services serving 50,000 san francisco residents. most vulnerable as you are aware. i have been on the san francisco health board for 13 years. i have been a member of the finance committee during my entire tenure here. we are probably second be largest provider of medicaid beneficiaries in san francisco. my colleagues from the department of public health is the largest. we are probably the second. i do also serve on a number of other boards outside. more on the national level and very happy to say that we have

provided a lot of services during covid times. we are providing about 90,000 vaccinations to date. i don't have the exact number of tests that we have done but it is very large as well. again, it is most of the most vulnerable populations in san francisco. if you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask. i do ask for your consideration for my appointment on the board. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: next we will move to the only seat where we actually have a new potential member and that is joseph woo for seat number 7. good morning. >> good morning. i am dr. joseph woo. i am a new applicant.

in a role recommended by the san francisco rural medical society where i serve on the board. i have had many roles. i am currently director of the healthcare association and president of the all american medical group, both of which serve the medical community to san francisco health plan and blue cross. as i mentioned. i am an emergency physician by trade. i served a decade on quality improvement and physician advicement. i am advocate for underserved. i seek your appointment. i am open to any questions. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: next we will go to seat number 8.

steven fugaro succeeding himself. >> there is dr. steven fugaro. practicing physician in san francisco practices 35 years as primary care. i have cared for underserved during that time and proud to have been a physician. my seat is like dr. woo's seat on behalf of the san francisco medical society. i have been past president before. i have been affiliate for 20 years. probably what i am most proud of board of the san francisco health plan for the last 12 years. served as chairman for the last six years. as you heard this is an extra and collaborative board, individuals from all different aspects of healthcare,

hospitals, pharmacies and clinics and physicians working together to really do the best job they can for the underserved of san francisco. our organization has grown enormously in the last five to search year was the expansion of medical through the aca obamacare. we do anticipate fairly significant growth in the next few years as more and more responsibilities are being placed on us by the state. you heard emily mention california advancing medical. basically in the hope of offering those in california more person centered approach. that is a big challenge as well as taking care of dual eligibles and doing even more cover age of home healthcare. we are very proud also of the

fact we have a brand-new c.e.o. several individuals who you have heard from including roland pickens and eddie chan and steve fields you are about to hear from serve on the committee with me. we were able to find an outstanding new c.e.o. former state secretary and treasure government operations and chief operating officer at the san francisco health plan back in 2005 and 2006. she is extra ordinary and we are thrilled to help us guide us through big changes. i ask consideration for reappointment. it is my honor to be a member of this board and chairman for the last six years. thank you very much. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, doctor. we will go to the mr. steven

fields for seat 12. also succeeding himself. good morning, mr. fields. >> i believe you are logged on twice. that is why we are getting the echo from your line. log out of one log in, it would be appreciated. go ahead and unmute. he logged off completely.

>> clerk: mr. fields, are you there? we hear you. please proceed. >> good morning, supervisors. steve fields. i have been on the board of the health plan probably the longest before it was yet comprised of an official board. one of the great professional pleasures of my life to bring behavioral health services to the deliberations and to the planning for the expansion of

medicaid services, medical to services in san francisco. you know the ongoing two plan model has struggled with the process of including persons with severe mental illness in the specialty care area. there are a lot of reasons for that. when i joined the board to provide perspective in the discussions and deliberations about the impact of medical policies on persons with severe mental illness. we are entering a time of excite mend of the possibility of improving and expanding care to persons facing those challenges. i am looking forward to a chance to work under the new executive c.e.o. yolanda richardson and with the policies and practices

that are expanding to include more responsive necessary to persons with mental illness, and it looks like an exciting time to be on this board. i look forward to continuing my partnership with other members on expanding medical services and improving services with behavioral health challenges. i ask consideration for reappointment. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you for your long many year commitment to this body and its work. any members of the public who would like to comment on this item 2? >> clerk: members of the public to comment are joining us in person join up along the side by the windows. remotely call 415-655-0001 id is

24938610602. pound and pound again. when connected you will need to press star 3 to speak. for those in the queue please continue to wait until you are unmuted. that will be your queue to begin comments. first in person public commenter, please. >> good morning, supervisor, san francisco health plan. i want to let you know on behalf of the san francisco health plan we are grateful for the current board members seeking reappointment. they are all volunteers. to provide tremendous input and just value on behalf of our 150,000 low income medical members. we are grateful for the doctor for deciding to join our board, dr. woo. thank you for your consideration of their appointments and reappointments.

>> supervisor peskin: thank you. any remote members of the public for comments? >> clerk: remote public comment. we have one listener on the line but nobody in line to speak. can i confirm that please? >> mr. clerk no caller in the queue. >> supervisor peskin: public comment is closed. colleagues, i will reiterate appreciation to the search seven individuals and make a motion to forward all seven applicants with a positive recommendation on that motion a roll call, please. >> clerk: on that motion. supervisor chan. >> aye. >> vice chair mandelman.

>> aye. >> chair peskin. >> aye. >> clerk: the motion passes without objection. >> supervisor peskin: next item, please. >> clerk: resolution appointing dennis j. herrara director of the san francisco bay area regional water system financing authority for the remainder of the four-year term ending june 30, 2023. call 415-655-0001. id24938610602. pound, pound. when public comment begins press star 3. the prompt will indicate you raised your hand. wait until we take public

comment. when the system indicates you are unmuted begin your comments. >> supervisor peskin: good morning, general manager herrera. i will start by saying i remember when the state legislator created this authority 20 years ago. the san francisco seat has generally if not always been held by the general manager of the public utilities commission. in so far as this falls under the jurisdiction of the board of supervisors this would be a good opportunity to check in with our relatively new general manager of p.u.c. some 20 years ago there was concern from customers and partners about the seismic stability and redundancy from fromthe sea ara to to pay.

-- see ara. in the early 2000s the successor to to creation of the bay area regional water system financing authority. i thought would be a good opportunity to check in on what we call the program, where it is at today and to what extent the financing authority which has now the extended ability pursuant to senate bill 699, which is law to issue bonds through the end of this decade through 2030, whether or not using that finance authority is being contemplated. if so for what kind of projects? with that good morning, general manager. >> good morning. general manager of the san

francisco public utilities commission. thank you for considering my appointment as director of the san francisco bay area regional water system financing authority. as chair peskin alluded to and as you know the sfpuc provides drinks water to 2.6 million customers including retail in san francisco and wholesale customers in alameda and santa clara counties. sb1870 created the regional water system financing authority when we were getting the program improvement with a way to collaborate on financial decisions related to the regional water system. the financing authority is regional organization that raises money if needed to help improve the san francisco bay area regional water system. this appointment served the

remainder previously approved term ending on june 30, 2023. previous general managers served. as new general manager i look forward to serving in this position as well. before questions about my potential pending appointment to respond to supervisor peskin. rest assured in terms of overall completion it is well. we are about 95% completed. very few projects left. a big part of my first five months in office has been getting out and seeing the extent of the system, improvements that have been made and marveling not just at physical infrastructure but two other things. one, incredible dedication of sfpuc employees in the field every day ensuring the system is properly updated and maintained.

it is an incredibly come mex system their professionalism is something to marvel at and to compliment be our partners. not just willing net but eager necessary to collaborate with p.u.c. to make sure the system is up to enough. doesn't necessarilytate intervention supervisor peskin alluded to 20 years ago. there was a reason that happened. i think that we are all the better for it. we have a system that like i said is about 95% complete in terms of work done. it is a testament to what can happen when you work collaboratively and have tremendous expertise. that system now like i said is a marvel and is seismically

protected as possible due to the good work and good efforts of people at the sfpuc and our partners. with that i am happy to take questions that you have and i look forward to continuing to serve in this position. thank you, supervisors. >> mr. general manager my initial question whether or not the bonding authority of this entity is contemplated for use in the coming foreseeable future. any response to that? >> not to my knowledge. it has that authority as you are well aware. it hasn't been been necessarytated. to my knowledge it is not contemplated at this time. i think what you will find is the collaboration that is going on with this authority in the event it is called for.

>> supervisor peskin: how often does the authority meet? >> once a year. annually in january. >> supervisor peskin: any questions from committee members? any members of the public? any remote members for public comment on item 3? >> clerk: for those listening remotely call 415-655-0001. id24938610602. pound, pound. once connected you need to press star 3 to enter speaker line. if you are in the queue wait until you are unmuted. that will be your queue.

we -- two speakers. >> eileen. speak has taken a neutral position on this appointment. that being said we would like to follow up on the comments at the capital planning committee on april 4th. the emergency firefighting water system also known as a wash was brought into service 1913 under the jurisdiction of the fire department. in 2010 it was transferred to the p.u.c. for the purpose of balancing the city budget. since 2010 there are a number of misguided policy decisions. it is now using a wash to replace water mains using the funds which is inconsistent with prop 218. due to the p.u.c. policy

decisions, speak and others are advocating to transfer to the new department under the city administrator with engineering to d.p.w. which would still be a direct report to the city administrator even after the upcoming restructuring. regarding the remadelyn payne .[indiscernable] they had a hearing on p.g.e. and how it affects p.u.c. operations. supervisor peskin asked p.g.e. if they accepted $2.5 million offer from the city for infrastructure. p.g.e. would not have to be addressing this issue.

same to a wash. if it were transferred out of p.u.c. they would not have to deal with this issue any further. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: next speaker, please. >> this appointment is once a year. the issues we have the real issues we have is with the san francisco public utilities commission. we are not about the project amount of money spent is over

the amount budgeted. we need to have a hearing on the project so that san franciscans understand what is happening. while we are on that subject, we need to have a hearing again on the sewer system improvement project. that is important. there is a lot of corruption still going on within the sewer system improvement project. they are not permanent members. we need to find out who are permanent members who we serve and why are we pandering?

given an opportunity to become a permanent member and it did not. these are questions to ask so that san franciscans can be enlightened. the people who really should know the facts are kept in the dark. thank you very much. >> supervisor peskin: any other public comments on this item. >> clerk: that completes the queue. >> supervisor peskin: public comment is closed. i will not ask about the vice president of the united states and make a motion to send this to the full board with a positive recommendation. mr. clerk on that motion a roll call, please. >> chan. >> aye.

>> mandelman. >> aye. >> peskin. >> aye. >> motion passes without objection. >> supervisor peskin: we are adjourned. >> thank you, supervisors.

shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services within our neighborhoods, we help san francisco remain unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> my name is ray behr. i am the owner of chief plus. it's a destination specialty foods store, and it's also a corner grocery store, as well. we call it cheese plus because there's a lot of additions in

addition to cheese here. from fresh flowers, to wine, past a, chocolate, our dining area and espresso bar. you can have a casual meeting if you want to. it's a real community gathering place. what makes little polk unique, i think, first of all, it's a great pedestrian street. there's people out and about all day, meeting this neighbor and coming out and supporting the businesses. the businesses here are almost all exclusively independent owned small businesses. it harkens back to supporting local. polk street doesn't look like anywhere u.s.a. it has its own businesses and personality. we have clothing stores to gallerys, to personal service stores, where you can get your hsus repaired, luggage repaired.

there's a music studio across the street. it's raily a diverse and unique offering on this really great street. i think san franciscans should shop local as much as they can because they can discover things that they may not be familiar with. again, the marketplace is changing, and, you know, you look at a screen, and you click a mouse, and you order something, and it shows up, but to have a tangible experience, to be able to come in to taste things, to see things, to smell things, all those things, it's very important that you do so.

well, happy women's history month to you all. i'm kimberly ellis. i'm the director for the san francisco department on the status of women. and i have the incredible honor of not just working for a department that's dedicated to women, girls, and nonbinary, but a city and county that's committed to uplifting women, girls, and nonbinary. but the