nonprofit. and so we cannot make that our goal as an organization . we are a school. you know, we educate young children. we want them to be open to the world and kind. and we do a lot of community work so that we know our children are out in the street. we encourage them to take the bus home, to be in the neighborhood. and even our what our parents had earlier after the incident. you can imagine, and most of our parents asked that we basically build a wall and we still kept our you know, fence on 18th street open, you know, with some plans because we don't want to shut the community out. and i don't believe the building walls is the solution to solve our problems. thank you. i hope that helps. yes, thanks. i would just say, commissioner, reason myself hearing that i'm comfortable with asking for the meeting, in part because i want our staff to be aware of, even if it's not agreement. but among cultural district and other community partners, so that we are not hearing things second hand. not that it's second hand, but just

we can be there. and if agreement can't be made, you know, that's fine. i think this project is really great and happy to support it. did you have any further questions or comments? do you want to add? nope. that i am supportive. so as long as we include the conditions that planning staff help facilitate a meeting with the project sponsor in the community and hopefully that a good neighbor agreement can be established. did you want to add something? yeah. thank you, monica department staff. somebody mentioned earlier sort of tying a timeline to that condition. so i just before a motion is made, i thought perhaps we could revisit that. so if there's any sort of timing aspect you want to tie to that meeting, whether it would be some time before the end of 2023, that meeting would occur. so the next what is that, five months we got left? okay great. thanks, commissioner brown. uh uh, i'm also a supporter of the project, but i also support adding the condition about the planning department, facilitating the meeting by the end of the year. and, you know, our, our approvals can be

appealed. so i think it is in the, the interest of the project sponsor to continue to work very closely with the cultural district and other neighborhood organizations. but having said that, i will make a motion to approve the conditional use authorization in adding the condition that the planning department facilitates meeting between the project sponsor and the cultural district or the community and or and other community organizations means we can finesse that language and have a separate set up before the end of 2023. does it also include the changes that staff read into the record today? your motion? so that actually was included in your packet last week. so we need to read that into the record. okay, great. i do want to check just point about staff. have any concerns about that or any need for clarification? okay. nope. sounds right. thank you, commissioners. i'm going to read this back and please let me know if i missed anything approved. there's been a motion that has

been seconded to approve with conditions with the additional condition requiring the planning department to facilitate a meeting between the community and cultural and the cultural district with the project sponsor in hopes of a good neighbor policy to be made. this meeting shall be made prior to the end of 2023. sorry monica. again, just want to clarify, there's a cultural district, but then united to save the mission is not cultural district and they're involved in this conversation as well. so oh, you did. i can specify ties between the community groups and the cultural district with the project sponsor. okay. yes okay. so on that motion, commissioner brown, commissioner damon has a comment or question. could the project sponsor indicate if they have any concerns with that condition as read into the record? do you have any concerns with the condition of meeting with the cultural district, with a meeting in this case will be facilitated by the planning. maybe excuse my ignorance. if i

don't know the timing of this could only worry that i have is we were hoping to start construction in january because for two reasons. we are also engaged with the builder. that's why the union representatives are here. so they're hoping to start. you still have your approval of our entitlements. so that's what the condition is that you would before the end of the year. the planning department would facilitate a meeting between yourself and then the everything else can go ahead because we can, as fast as the building department can get you your building permit. no, no , of course. so that was my only concern to make sure that, you know, the people that are expecting to work can work and that we don't run out of space for children. absolutely. so yeah, my no concern otherwise. thank you. this is just a condition to meet. there is no obligation for any result out of the meeting. that's okay. and you could meet tomorrow if you wanted to. and satisfy the. we would. but i don't. you know, we come for the other party to come to the meeting. so thank you. thank you. thank you, commissioners. i'm going to read it one more time. there's been a

motion that has been seconded to approve with conditions with the additional condition requiring the planning department to facilitate a meeting between the community groups, the cultural district and the project sponsor in hopes of a good neighbor policy to be made. this meeting shall be made prior to the end of 2023. yes on that motion, commissioner ron i. commissioner ruiz, i. commissioner diamond i commissioner imperial i, commissioner coppell and commission president tanner. i thank you. commissioners that motion passes unanimously and will now take us to your discretionary review calendar. thank you. well. well, folks are leaving and we're getting to the 615. sanchez i just want to say , i know we had heard kind of out of order request concern about continuance. i understand staff may have had a request for continuance from miss hester. we're not clear if she is or isn't representing somebody. and so my inclination will be to hear the item with the folks who

are present here. there are two requesters, and then if at the end of that, the commission is inclined to continue it because one requester is not present or their attorneys and present, we could consider it. after hearing from those who are present, because i do see a number of people like one request, for example, is on the phone line. i know we have people in the chamber so unless there's any objections from the commission to that, that's how i like to proceed. may i update about ms. hester? sorry hold on. we're not ready. we will. okay thank you. i will now call the item. item number 18 for a record number 20. 22 hyphen 009006 grp hyphen zero two at 615. sanchez street and staff. we will now hear from you. good afternoon, president. members of the commission. trent green and staff architect. the item before you is a public initiated request for discretion to review of building permit application number. 2022

0908.2052 to construct a 553 square foot third story vertical edition and a 204 square foot addition to an existing adu of a single family dwelling on the existing building as a category c with no historic resource presence built in 2002. there are two drt requesters. the first sammy, host of j.w. sanchez, llc of 617 sanchez street, which is the adjacent property to the south, is concerned that the proposed project is not consistent with the neighborhood pattern of rear building heights, offsets and setbacks. his proposed alternatives are to look at the opportunity to expand within the existing building volume to eliminate the need for vertical expansion. the second hugo gantry of 619, sanchez street, the neighbor to the south, is

concerned that the project represents major construction that would have noise, dust and congestion impacts to the neighborhood. to date, the department has received no letters in opposition and five letters in support of the project. staff supports the proposed addition as it complies with the residential design guidelines and is within the buildable area of the lime. the additional massing of the proposal above the existing roof parapet is minimal and modulates the building height to step with the topography. d.r. requests for number one at 617, sanchez has an approved permit to demolish the existing detached garage and the non complying two storey single family dwelling at the rear of the lot and its construct a new four story single family house with an adu . the size and scale of the subject building at 615. sanchez with its addition is similar to the proposed new construction at

617 sanchez the brewery wall. the proposed addition aligns with the corresponding level of the approved plan for the four story building on the adjacent uphill neighbor. at 617, sanchez is the subject building also has a voluntary four foot side setback. further buffering the property from its neighbor, a variance granted in 1998 to allow construction and front and rear setbacks stipulated through a notice of special restriction that any future additions to this property would need need to seek and justify variance. as the variance was heard on april 26, 2023, and a decision is pending. the determination from the zoning administrator. none of the issues related to construction rise to the threshold of exceptional or extraordinary, nor are they within the planning department's purview to monitor or regulate. therefore staff deems there are no exceptional and extraordinary circumstances and recommends not taking discretionary review and

approving the project. thank you. i'm available for questions. thank you. thank you. we will now now hear from dr. requester number. one hi, good afternoon, commissioners. i'm my name is amy hose. please speak into the microphone. thank you. just so we can all hear. okay i'm sammy hose. i'm directly jason neighbor at 617 sanchez i opposed this variance application on the basis that there are no exceptional or extraordinary circumstances. furthermore, the proposed project violates the intent of

the original variance from 1999 and is not consistent with the surrounding neighborhood pattern of real building heights, offsets and setbacks. while i'm sympathetic to the project, sponsors need to increase the number of bedrooms for their family. i believe there are other ways that have not been explored that would be more consistent with the prevailing pattern of adjacent homes. for example, when developing my own home next door at 617 sanchez, i work very hard with the neighbors and the planning staff to incorporate a series of rear setbacks at the upper floors. the proposed project, before you completely ignores these established setbacks and the proposed vertical addition creates a hulking four storey mass at the expense of the neighborhood. when i approached the project sponsor to request a modest rear setback on the upper floor, my concerns were ignored and i was told that the resulting primary bedroom would

be too small. i should note that the fourth floor primary bedroom as proposed, would be almost 20ft long. by 15ft wide, which is massive by established residential standards. i would suggest the project's sponsor consider a far less impactful approach, which would be to expand over their double height living room. this would be a far more economical, economical solution and would provide the additional bedroom they are seeking. it would also be completely contained within the existing envelope without need for the vertical addition of a variance or further impact to their neighborhood when granting references and approving projects. it's important that these buildings be considered for the next 5000 years, not just the next 5 to 10 years. thank you for your time and hearing my concerns. thank you.

dr. requester number two. i see that you are on webex. we will unmute you now and you will have five minutes. can you hear me? well, yes. thank you. good afternoon, commissioners. my name is actually, i'm the resident at 619 sanchez where i live with my wife. first, let me also acknowledge that dave and gina, the owners of six, 615 sanchez, are good neighbors and we are glad they moved in last year. and we are genuinely happy . their family is growing. nevertheless, we have some major concerns about the extension project. we believe the vertical addition at the top of the existing structure will cause significant privacy concern. the new space will look directly down upon our living room, our bedroom downstairs, as well as in our backyard. this will considerably reduce the privacy of our own. we are also puzzled

regarding the motivation of this extension as mentioned it, the commission brief states that the extension is necessary to accommodate their growing family . this house is already one of the largest homes on the block, if not the largest. the house stands at 4000ft!s with lots of wasted space that could be repurposed. rather than extending this giant gray bunker which already stands out in the neighborhood. and to conclude, after listening to these hearings today, it's clear to me that the need for housing in san francisco is critical. i believe this city needs more new multifamily constructions and more density. so everyone has a chance to live in the city and not just millionaires on site in our street and in the surrounding blocks. there have been about half a dozen house extensions and never ending construction disturbance since we moved in two years ago. yet

none of these new constructions have added any new housing to this neighborhood. and like the other ones, we don't understand how this extension to the already largest home on the block will help the city of san francisco achieve its housing goals. thank you for listening to me today, commissioners. thank you. we will now hear from the project sponsor. good afternoon, commissioners. brett gladstone i'd like to introduce my clients. i hi commissioners, thanks for your time this evening. it's a long day. my name is dave. this is my wife, jenna. we are the homeowners. at 615. sanchez and long time residents of the neighborhood. we have a growing family. we have a two year old and a six month old. and we are very excited about raising them in this amazing city today, we're trying to expand our home to fit our family. so now i'll hand it over to our attorney, brett, thank you. thank you. earlier during the continuance, i said i

hadn't heard from ms. hester and i hadn't. but later today, she did call me and she told me that she was out of the hospital and she's recovering at home. and she's feeling better. but she won't be representing either of the doctor requesters. i'd like to introduce glenda fine. fine. excuse me. who's also italian and is the architect of this project. first, i want to thank the neighbors for their support . i wanted to mention back in february 20th of 2020. sorry yeah. 2022 your your projector, please. february 20th, 22. your commission approved the request for next door for project of 4200. excuse me. 4028ft!s are or project. top floor, by the way, is a little smaller than her top

floor next door. the property is owned by an llc. and i know you heard that derek webster plans to live there a little confusing to me because she's told my clients and my clients have told me that she created an llc to develop it and sell it. the non adjacent owner, of course, has only stated a concern tonight and in the paperwork about construction noise. in an email dated september 22, the adjacent request asked my clients to quote, share the beautiful view with me, unquote, and you see that on the overhead, referring to the more than 200 degree view that future occupants of her place will have in the unbuilt four story building. even if views were protected, which, as you know, they're not the adjacent dr. or its future occupants will have a great view of at least 180 degrees in many

directions other than the north to preserve the view, the adjacent requester made two requests. first, ask my client to create a setback at the fourth floor. you'll see here. so that the views are improved. and when my clients didn't agree to that because it would shorten their bedrooms so much, she asked that the floor be eliminated and that an interior interstitial floor be created in the double height living room. my clients looked into that. they had their engineers write a letter, which is before you and in your exhibits talking about the difficult and expense of doing that. also the five foot deck would introduce direct views from the adjacent or dr. requesters, fourth floor into my client's bedroom and vice versa . also the fourth floor of the request is approved. building

has a deck which would allow significant views back into project sponsor's bedroom. lastly, having an open deck would create noise that i think the requester or the occupants would not be comfortable with. despite dr. requesters statement that the project is not consistent with the existing pattern of rear building setbacks, this drawing overhead will show the proposed new fourth floor is allowed is aligned with the fourth floor setback that you approved next door for dr. requester. it also shows that floors one through three of my client's existing building are also aligned with dr. requesters for the floor and are three first floors are a full 11ft less deep in the lot then the requesters floors. one through three. the attached aerial photograph overhead shows that my client's building protrudes less deeply into its

lot than all the neighborhood houses to the south protrude into their respective lots, including requesters, own approved building to minimize the proposed vertical addition, my clients proposed to place the addition of the existing roof deck, which already has tall parapet walls, some as tall as five feet, which you'll see there. so the building's profile for many angles already appears to have at least half of a fourth floor addition. dr. requester has stated that creating the infill floor would be less expensive than putting up a fourth floor. but she hasn't indicated that in any way. how that works to the contrary, the letter i showed you from our engineer indicates all the structural problems and how costly it would be. and of course, creating an interstitial floor would be so disruptive to the building. my clients would not be able to live there during

construction in any portion of the building. my client's lot is 75% larger than the dr. requesters lot, yet my client's proposed building has a square footage that's only 24% larger and keep in mind, i think contrary to what one of the drew requester said, the clients have a two unit building the requester at 619 mentioned there will be views into the side windows and i don't know if we show that, but we don't understand where those windows are. and maybe you can point out here those are our side windows that would look into this. one is one. this one is one. the only south facing window that is a is not even above the neighbor. so that's one south facing window. the only one that could potentially look into the requester at six one nines home

. as you can see from our exhibits, the size meets the mandela special use district ordinance that many of the neighbors proposed and with the feeling that it this neighborhood and those around it buildings were too massive. of course it complies with that and the adu complies with the adu restrictions of the code and that's shown here in the chart which is also in your exhibit. excuse me a minute. so. i think i just want to end with a couple of comments. first of all, the adjacent neighbor to the north would be concerned about an interstitial floor that would reduce his privacy. you may be hearing from him just in some.

we feel that the request proposed rear setback would protect a small portion of her future occupants. north easterly views and none of its expansive easterly and southern views would be expensive, would be would be reduced, and it would preserve the northeastern views at the expense of the privacy of both homes. and we do reject the idea of a setback as a result. and thank you very much for your time. we have two minutes. and the architect is here. if you have any questions. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. we'll waive the rest of our time . thank you. we will now open this up for public comment. members of the public who are here today, please come forward . those calling in remotely, please press star three or use the raise hand function via webex. hi, my name is scott

goldman. i'm david's neighbor just across the street to the west. so like when i walk out my front door, i'm looking directly at his home. just the first thing i wanted to say was there's like a big tree in front of the house. so his roof decks not really visible from the street and any kind of like addition he would build above it at least the amount he's talking about really wouldn't be visible. there's a really eclectic mix of housing styles on that street. there's i know one right, a couple houses down . they always call it the iphone house that has like a bunch of like weird porthole windows. don't really feel like david's house is like that strange in the neighborhood. i also don't really feel like building it. the couple extra feet he's talking about is really changing anything in terms of like the neighborhood character. it definitely wouldn't affect my. me living in my house at all.

also, it seems funny to complain about the construction because there's at least 3 or 4 houses on the block under construction . so there's just always construction. i don't know. you live in a city. isn't that how it's supposed? i don't know. but anyway, all that to say david's a great neighbor. he's kind of made it his personal mission to, like, clean up the sanchez steps, which are just perpetually full of random detritus. i would love for him to have a house where his family can have separate bedrooms and yeah, i mean, it seems reasonable to me. it's kind of this is one of my first experiences with like public hearing processes around building it. i'm sure you hear this a lot. it is kind of upsetting, like how much anyone can just step in and tell someone they can't change something in their house. but i guess that's how it works. but all that to say i support david's construction and yeah, that's i'll see the rest of my

time. thank you. last call for public comment. seeing no additional requests to speak. oh please come forward and line up on the screen side of the room if you plan to speak, please start. hi. so my name is david leeson. i live at 601 sanchez, which is the property directly bordering on the north side of 615. i've lived there since 1994 with my wife, joanne. we were there originally for the original variance that was required for the construction in 2002. i have to say i agree with some of the sentiments that have been expressed around and large size of properties developed in this area, but i am in support of this particular development. i think it's a step in the right direction, adding more bedrooms to this large property. therefore kind of justifying the large larger size of the

property. but i have a two bedroom lounge property about a four bedroom lounge, probably then a two bedroom, large property. so i can only support it in that respect. i am a an opposition to the alternate proposal that has been put ahead , put forward to build the property, build more bedrooms within the property, particularly on the northern side as i said, it was present during the original variance hearings and the intent of the original variance. well, the original variance was mostly required because of the setback on the northern side of the property. so to say that the setback was was an exception there. and then to add additional rooms overlooking my property on the northern side is not really within the spirit of the original variance. and this is why we have these variance hearings, is to make sure that the original, the terms and the spirit of the original variance are observed. so i think building additional bedrooms on the northern property would be

against that that intent. and such bedrooms would be directly overlooking my bedroom and my and my kitchen directly into my yard. so so i'd be against that. so overall, i'm supporting the original proposal and i'm against the alternative. that's been proposed by the developers at 615. thank you. last call for public comment. if you're calling in remotely, press star three or use the raised hand function via webex. see no additional requests to speak. we will now have a rebuttal from dr. requester number one. you have two minutes. okay thank you. we will now move on to dr. questar. number two, do you wish to have your rebuttal for two minutes. though? i waive my

time. thank you. okay. thank you . and project sponsor, do you wish to use your rebuttal time? if it's. sorry. thank you. my client asked me to clarify something. dr. request your number. was it 1 or 2? the one who lives at the non adjacent property has told you that there will be a privacy issue. but we just looked at the plans again, and there's only one south facing window that he would look at. and that's a bathroom window . a small window at, i think, above high level. and my client just wanted me to clarify that. by the way, i've talked to tina tam, the acting zoning administrator, and she'll take under advisement and we'll hear back from her about issuing the variance. but if you have any questions about the variance, i'm happy to answer them. the

important thing to know is why are we requesting a variance today? it's not because we're doing something, not meeting the code. it's simply because the original variance, the one that allowed the building to be what it is today, says that if there's any future changes to the building envelope, there must be another variance. but we're not doing anything today that's not complying with the code. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. and now the public hearing portion of the item is closed and the item is now before you commissioners. great. i'm glad to see it's a two unit building adding space to the adu and to the main building. again, four bedrooms makes more sense into in a building of this size and really is a more modest increase in the scale. it doesn't really material i think change the size of the primary home sub attentively so i don't see any unusual and extraordinary circumstances and would support a motion to not take and approve the project. commissioner coppell so moved. second, thank

you, commissioner is on that motion to not take discretionary review and approve the project. on that motion, commissioner braun. hi, commissioner ruiz. hi, commissioner. imperial high commissioner diamond i, commissioner coppell and commission president tanner, i thank you. commissioners that motion passes unanimously and concludes your calendars. great thank you, commissioners. we will be back here next september 7th, if you can believe it. something to noodle. we had two hearings that started at noon this week and last week. if that is something folks are interested in going forward, i understand historically prior commissions did start their hearings at noon. obviously i think it was actually changed because commissioners wanted to start after they had lunch at the classic noon hour of lunch. so if folks like getting out earlier and starting earlier, i'm amenable. if folks liked what we had at 1:00, i'm also amenable. so please share with me any comments or if you're agnostic, you know, take that into consideration as we head into the last, last few quarters

of the year. so with that, we are adjourned to our summer recess. thank you. >> hello everyone. thank you so much for being here today. welcome to the 2022-2023 san francisco youth celebration. give yourselves a round of applause. my name is

emily nguyen the chair district chair on the san francisco youth commission. i feel grateful to be here today to celebrate this incredible group of youth commissioners. there is no way that i can incapsulate everything we accomplished together in a 5 minute speech, but i'll try do my best. when i first stepped into city hall for the first youth commission meeting, i knew nothing about government but now it is one of my greatest passions. little did i know how much we would accomplish as a team and how much the youth commission would mean to me. seriously though, it has got ten to the point where family and friends are concerned how much time i spend in isthe building. coming back from the pandemic a main goal is bring back the youth commissionism we interacted with youth from all over the city through office hours, our budget town halls and

our community events. from passing out candy to youth at the great-to teaching third graders about local government and district lines to tabling sunday streetss, we have been able to center youth input and engagement in our work. another main goal was to have all our work and all our legislation be rooted in empathy and personal experiences. growing up next to freways my whole life, i'm so grateful to have gotten there opportunity to explore the central freeway on the youth commission and to speak on a panel with senator scott wiener about the freeway harmful impacts on youth and are marginalized communities. we priortaz issues thatd mat to us. we advocated for more transit stops and frnd lestreets. mew free muni for all funding and embarking to make bart more youth

frndly and youth accessb. additionally, we are working to advance 16 to the 2024 ballot to champion youth civic engagement. lastly, we are exploring how to make juvenile hall more rejuvinated. we held a hearing meeting with several departments and district offices and hearing from constituents to advance the issue. all this work and much more culminated in a 75 page budget policy report with 16 recommendations to the board of supervisors. making this report in under three months was probably one of the hardest things we ever had to do together, but we did it and we did it together. this youth commission achieved so much this year, but most importantly, we made life-long memories and lifelong friendships. commissioners dedicated them sevl jz gave their all to the youth commission. i can't count all the hours we spnt in city hall arguing about legislation until

ten p.m. on a school night or working on youth commission legislation instead of homework. grateful to say i made lifelong friends and lifelong partners through the youth commission. i firstly want to appreciate vice chair barker plumber for all the support this term. thank you for all the 10 p.m. phone calls to plan town hall meetings and presentations and thank you for being the best partner i could ever have on the youth commission. can we give commissioner plumber a round of applause? [applause] i also want to appreciate our staff for all their hard work and endless dedication to this youth commission. we cannot have done everything we did this year without their hard work and their expertise on organizing and government. can we please give them all a round of applause? [applause] all and are all i'm so proud of everyone and everything we

accomplished this term and grateful for all the memories. you all make the youth commission what it is. can we please give every commissioner here today a round of applause? [applause] thank you everyone so much and now i'll be passing it off to commissioner barker plumber for his speech. [applause] >> thank you chair nguyen and thank you all for joining us today as we celebrate the work and accomplishments of the 2022-2023 san francisco youth commission. it has been a busy year to say the least. it is kind of surprising to think it was les then a year ago we were on this very balcony with our mayor getting sworn in to serve and during that time we focused on service the young people of san franciscoism i want to say one statistic that i was really surprised by at the end. one of our staff members added up all the hours youth commissioners have put into public meetings here in san

francisco, whether that's the commission or our subcommittees, and a totaled to over 138 hours of work youth commissioners did here in city hall representing young people in the city and county of san francisco and that is really important work we all partake in and something i'm really proud i was able to do alongside all you, so thank you for that opportunity. i want to say one thing of what i'm most proud of us doing this yoor, which is really the yurk we did investing our time, our energy and connecting with our communities. covid has been a difficult time and people got disconnected in this city because of isolation and because of people's individual struggles and the work that not only the youth commissioner is doing, but our mayor is doing and many of the elected leaders and appointed leaders in the city are doing to reconnect with our san francisco community is so important and something that i'm

very proud we were a part of. so, i want to really introduce and welcome someone who i think really understands that. who understands the importance of connecting to these communities, listening every day and that is our mayor london breed who is a personal inspiration and someone the youth commission learned from over the past year in terms how we can connect with our communities and how we can create a good coalition to fight for the best san francisco we can, so thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for your work and your advocacy and thank you for the great remarks to emily put those into perspective. all the great work that you all did throughout the time that you served as youth commissioners, i bet you didn't think you would be working so hard. but, you were able to accomplish great things in the process.

what is interesting about being here today, it takes me back, because just recently i was redoing my retirement forms, and one of the persons who i was meeting with to help understand what was going on said, you have some time that you could actually buy back in 1991, and i said, 1991! wait a minute, i was in high school in 1991 because i graduated 1992. i remember i was a part of one of the first organizations to bring youth into city hall to learn about policy in government. i completely forgot about this, but it was called the mayor's youth forum. the mayor's youth forum was put together by former mayor

art agnus and i like to remind mayor agnus i got to meet him in his office in high school and he laughs about that. the mayor's youth forum was filled with a lot of department heads at that time. people who helped us learn about government and how to make a impact. what is interesting to hear emily talk about the amazing work you all did over the course of the past year, what we did back then pailed in comparison to how advanced you are in your thought process and how you have taken the positions that you are in and have gone above and beyond to really try and shape policies and to shape resources for young people in san francisco. now, we collected a small pay check and we learned

more about government and learned from those who represented government, but never were we given or even asked for a platform to do the kinds of things that you all are doing, because the youth forum i think had a lot to do with why we have the mayor's youth forum that existed then has a lot to do why the youth commission was created. it was created to provide a real platform, because it has been a long time since i have been a young person, even though i consider myself young at heart, and the experiences that you have are a lot different then what we experienced growing up. how do we evolve? how do we change as a government to meet the needs of young people today? the internet want around when i was in high school. it was just forming somewhat when i was in college. the access to

computers were very limited and cell phones, forget about it. those things remember expensive and i don't know if you have seen an original cell phone but it was heavy and had to carry it around in a case and unless you had money you could ntd afford it. when i think what i experienced growing up and what you have access to and the kinds of experiences you have now, it is so important as policy makers that we are not shaping policy for young people based on what we experience. we need to hear the voices of young people based on what you are experiencing today so that our policies reflects the needs of the next generation in a way that is effective. is more effective in delivering for you at a faster pace then we have in the past. so, i want to express my appreciation to all of you, because it take as lot of time. there are so many other things that you could

choose to do. you could-i'm sure you all in looking at your various applications and your resumes and what you submitted, many of you are involved in other extracurricular activities. you have responsibilities at home. you have responsibilities in community and the fact you are dedicating so much of your time to not just make your lives better, but to make the lives better for other young people in this city is stored. extraordinary. it was important we not just swear you in and talk about what you are going to do, but we take a moment to reflect on what you have done, so that you can put it into perspective and to really appreciate all that you accomplished, because sometimes we do things and then we are on to it next thing and we do something and on to the next thing and we don't take a moment to pause to real ly appreciate the heart and soul watt we put into making something extraordinary happen so today is about

that. a day to honor all of you on your accomplishments, especially those who are moving on to universities, including places like howard and washington dc, across the water to uc berkeley and even harvard. it is really a accomplishment to move in this direction and to be able to go on and to take what you learned here in your further studies and my hope is that public service is calling you to a certain capacity. public service is what was my calling. i realized that after we were seeing changes in the community and i was being exposed to so many extraordinary things, i wanted to be a part of the decision making body that has a impact on community. now, it may be public service for you, it may be making policies, it may be creating the next new cell phone that you don't have to hold, but it is

just in you- [laughter] with technology the way it is moving today you never know what it could be. i used to watch the jetsons cartoon and had flying vehicles and now we have vehicless in the city driven without drivers so anything is possible and you are the nest generation that will lead the city and create. san francisco has a history of resiliency and invention. the first television was invented here. the first (indiscernible) no one was talking about climate change and what we needed to do to protect our city and our planet. so, that is the kind of invasion that we have in the people who are part of the fabric of our city, and you all as leaders in san francisco represent that. i want to say thank you

for your work. thank you for your service, and thank you for all that you have done, and will continue to do for san francisco, but also i know without a doubt that you will go on to whatever university or whatever job opportunity and a lot of the same things you did here you'll carry that with you in those various positions, and you'll do great things, so just be proud of that, take a moment to reflect, and also continue to maintain your very important relationships with one another. i still have friends that i had since i was in kindergarten, and those relationships are special. you will look back on those relationships and think, wow, we have known each other this long and those are going to be the people that carry you through and sustain. thank you again for being here and all your hard work and commitment to san francisco and congratulations on a successful year for those who are going away to college, good

luck and make sure you come back and you work for opportunities for all so you can earn some money during the summer and you can develop some additional skills and for those who are moving on to the next level, whether high school, continuing high school or moving from junior high to high school, continue to do great things and much success and please know this city will always be there for you. thank you and congratulations. [applause] >> can all the commissioners come up front?

>> the stewardship program is a (indiscernible) based program. we work with student kind r garten through 12 grade and work with scrks fusd and (indiscernible) focus on 5 themes. sense of place, plant adapation and animal adaptation, water soil or (indiscernible) depending on the grade level and accommodations the class may need the educators work to adapt the programming to be whatever works best for the class, so they can gain activities (indiscernible) some don't, we try to meet students where they are at and get comfortable connecting in the space and feeling a sense of ownership and safety within their (indiscernible) >> the first component of a youth stewardship program trip will be a in clasds

visit where we go to the school, we give a presentation on the natural history of san francisco, we talk about the concept of a habitat, so what does a habitat contain, understood, water, shelter, space. >> children at this age, they learn best through using their senses, having the real life experience and (indiscernible) students also learn about responsibility and it is a great message for student to learn, if you take care of environment, the environment will take care of you. >> so, when we finally get the kids outside, we have two main components to the field trips. one is going to be the restoration component where we are working on the habitat and parks by pulling out (indiscernible)

or maybe watering, and then the other side of our trip is going to be the educational component, which can range from a nature walk with a sensory theme where we are talking about what we smell and hear, to a focus on plant adaptation and animal adaptations. >> (indiscernible) >> just a great opportunity for students to learn more, connect with nature, and hopefully what they learn from the youth stewardship program they can take with them for the rest of their lives, and they will appreciate their environment more. hopefully, when they appreciate it, they take care of it more every day. >> (indiscernible) >> so every year we open the application up in the fall. interested teachers can apply for a classroom visit and up to two field trips to the

city park of their choice. field trips are 2 and a half hours long and like i said, they can happen in any city park (indiscernible)

>> we have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history. in the early 1800s the portola

was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a fund-raiser. since we established it, we awarded 23 scholarships and six

work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and

personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website

this meeting is called to order at 2:06 p.m. the sheriff's oversight board meeting in session. on behalf the board wield like to thank the staff at sfgovtv for providing assistance to broadcast and moderate the meeting. view the broadcast on cable channel 26. please stand t