>> good afternoon and welcome to the arts commission on monday july 1, 2024. i'm going to call the meeting to order by asking commission secretary to call the roll. [roll call]

we have quorum for today's meeting. also for the record, sarah hollenbeck and [indiscernible] >> thank you. may ask for additions or changes to the agenda? >> no changes. >> i somewhere something i would like to say, we are absolutely thrilled we have commissioner so with us this afternoon. lydia served with extreme

distinction on the arts commission for a number of years before pressed into other services for the city and county of, landing in the historic preservation commission where she did really remarkable work. historic preservation is historically been around preserving elements of the past with not very broad cultural reference, sitting within a fairly narrow lane of what deserves preservation, but under the leadership and guidance and partnership of lydia so, the lens was open -ceiling was broken on the elements of the city are eligible for historic preservation. it was a arduous process. that wasn't enough. the mayor puts her into mta,

where she works on infrastructure of the city and really creating a lot of the new systems that are in place so today we have one of the highest rankings in the nation in terms of customer satisfaction in our municipal transportation facilities. with particularly important about that is that is that is many people come from the different parts of our city and region to find work or to find their lives and so our public infrastructure is terrificly important. that wasn't enough. she ised asked for more and on the city planning commission, but the good news about that, is we have the authority for commissioner so to sit with us ex officio in her role on city planning commission on the arts commission, so welcome commissioner so. would you like to say a few words before we delve into the agenda? >> i like to take the entire

meeting w much i love the arts commission. [laughter] never thought i would be sitting here back in and share my passion with all of you. again, i just wanted to say that i'm extremely honored to be back here and i see a lot of familiar faces. our city attorney and jill and many of you here that were already serving on the arts commission alongside me. it was a journey that was truly a thankless job, but we all got to do it. in the arts commission, it kind of creates this passion that everyone-i have seen first hand how much artists is-it is our canary coal mine. whatever happened to the city, artists is the first one that took the benefit of it or took the most brunt of it so i carry that on and see more of

what we can do in terms of advocating for our people on the legislative and policy side of things. so, i'm just really happy to be back here as a ex officio. it was a honor and if anything i can be helpful to facilitate in any manner and getting better clarification, that's why i'm here . also, i just love to hang out with you all, so thank you for having me and i really do not want to take up the entire meeting time. >> i would like to say that when sue diamond whispered in my ear at your most recent swearing in, there was a opportunity that you would sit on their behalf, of course the entire commission as well as staff and the community want to thank you for being here. public meeting instructions. i like to welcome all persons

interested in the meeting to attend in person at city hall, room 416. the meeting is live on sfgovtv 2 comcast 78, astound 26 and at&t u-verse 99. i want to remind us of the policies and procedures for public meetings. one is would everyone put their cell phone on silent and non-ringing for the course of the meeting? thank you. i found myself embarrassed in not doing that many times. this meeting we are bound to follow the structure of the agenda and adherence to the best practices set out in the good government guide. every public meeting there will be a opportunity for general public comment where members may comon any item pertaining to this body. public comment will be taken in person with remote access provided for those who require a ada accommodation.

respectfully we ask you keep public comment on topic. each public comment is limited to three minutes. please understand the committee does not contribute dialogue towards public comment. each public comment will be documented for the public records. as a courtesy on the 4th floor, we have a women's restaurant located on the northeast side, men on the southeast side outside this room and all gender bathroom on the southwest side. in case of emergency, your near est stair exit is southeast corner on 4th floor outside this door. there are stair exits located on each corner of the floor. it is recommended to pull the fire alarm and use the stairs. fire alarm is a variable tone and strobe lights will flash. it strobe lights and alarm s go off you must evacuate the bidding.

we have one remote accessible accommodation requested. i will now turn this over to our commission secretary for public comment instructions. >> for members of the public joining in person who wish to comment on agenda items rblsh will be asked to voice your comment at the podium. you will see a blank public comment card on the podium. you are recommended but not required to fill out the card included in the minutes. i'll start three minutes when you speak using a visual timer. you will receive a 30 second warning. when your time is up i will say your time is up. those who wish to speak on agend items may listen for the next opportunity. persons who speak during today's meeting may provide a brief written summary of comments to be included in the minutes if 150 words or less. the arts commission may reject the summary if exceeds the word limit or not accurate summary of the speaker

public comment. persons unable to attend arts commission meeting may submit cor respondence. the secretary will post the comment adjacent to the agenda if one page in length. if longer then one page the arts commission will make available for public inspection and copying. correspondence to the arts commission will not be read aloud during the meeting ing. submittals may be made anonymously. subcommit to art-info@sf.org. [indiscernible] if you need reasonable accommodation you must contact the commercial secretary 48 hours in advance. the office will make every effort to accommodate requests. president collins please proceed when you are ready. >> thank you. i like to start the meeting by

reading our land acknowledgment statement. the san francisco arts commission acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the ramaytush ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. as guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders and relatives of the ramaytush community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. as a department dedicated to promoting a diverse and equitable arts and culture environment in san francisco, we are committed to supporting the traditional and contemporary evolution of the american indian community.i

now like to call item 2, which is the approval of the minutes. this is discussion and possible motion. i would like to remind commissioners when they make the motion to state their name and i'm asking for a motion to approve the june 3, 2024 minutes. >> second, commissioner [indiscernible] >> thank you very much. is there public comment on item 2? >> for those joining in person, please proceed to the public comment podium. we are on item 2. your time starts when you begin speaking. you will see a visual--requesting comments from those in person. those who like to comment on the current agenda item?

i see no request for public comment. public comment is now closed. >> thank you. is there any commissioner discussion or comments? on this item, 2, which is approval of minutes? seeing none, i'm calling for the motion. all in favor say aye. >> aye. >> opposed? motion passes unanimously. now calling for item 3, which is general public comment. this item is allows members of the public generally to comment on matters within the commission's purview as well as to suggest new agenda items the commission's consideration. i am asking for any public comment on agenda item number 3. >> for those in person, proceed to the podium and fill out the public comment information card. we are on item 3. as reminder you time starts when you begin speaking.

you will see a visual timer and receive a 30 second audible warning before your time concludes. i request comments from those in person. anyone who would like to comment on the current item? welcome. we are currently on item 3 and i will start your timer when you start to speak. >> hi, there. my name is amy foot. a professional musician, opera singer and music teacher in san francisco. i managed to live in the mission district of san francisco as a artist for the past 16 years of my life. something that felt both like a privilege and a burden for me. the privilege i experience is i get to teach kiddos music, prepare new works, sing old works and yesterday i had the privilege to sing third symphony along members of the san francisco symphony chorus. this is my second season singing with them. truly, one of the most financially stabilizing gigs i had the privilege to sing, yet my fellow symphony

musicians and i are feeling the burden what it means to be a working art tell us said living in one of the most expensive place said in the united states. while the symphony attempts to make new donors, i'm being evicted so my landlord can--[indiscernible] able to pain their chorus members to next season, i lost my church job as a church musician. the symphony is preparing to renovate the building, i'm unable to find places to teach my young students. you can't control all those thinegs of course, this arts commission can make sure that when you grant money to a organization they actually use that money towards their working artists. when you donate to the san francisco symphony, i implore you to make sure they put the money into the musicians living and working in san francisco so we can continue to live here,

make this a more artistic creative welcoming place to live and maybe even some day thrive. i would love to leave with a quote from a poem that inspired me to continue creating for the past 20 years. a noble prize winningpo etwho taught and left us with a-[indiscernible] decalogue of art ss. ests. beauty shall rise from heart and song and you shall be the first to be healed. the beauty you create shall be known as compassion and shall console the hearts of people. beauty shall not be an opiate that puts you to sleep, but a strong wine that fires you to action for if you fail to be a true man, a true woman, a true person, you will fail to be an artist.

thank you. >> thank you. are there any additional public comments? i will start the timer when you begin speaking. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is [indiscernible] along with my colleague amy, you heard and my collying [indiscernible] who spoke to the commission about a month ago. here representing the san francisco symphony chorus. we professional singers are a member of the american guild of musical artists, one of several bargaining units of the san francisco symphony negotiates with. our union represents 32 professional singers at the symphony and i would like to draw attention to the particular unique body and [indiscernible] there are 32

paid professional singers and that is supplemented by more then a hundred talented volunteer singers wloo despite that completely unique make up among organization in the country managed to garner 7 grammy awards this for in the 50 year history. that specifically for the chorus, not the orchestra. it is vitally important that this body and other large donating bodies to the san francisco symphony are aware of the fact that the distribution of funds to the working artists is perhaps not managed in the way it should be. there is lot of public media comment, a 'g you may have seen in which the representatives from the symphony characterize the financial difficulties in terms that make them appear b to financially

responsible, however, it is my belief and belief of my colleagues that the near of financial fiduciary responsibility is masking a deeper problem and it is therefore my intention to ask this body to and to reflect with my colleagues that stated to provide intense scrutiny and oversight over funds distributed to the san francisco symphony at this time. we don't believe that the funds are being put towards the artists that make the symphony what it is, and it is worth mentioning and repeating what my colleagues said, that being a working artist in the city is incredibly difficult. it is one of the most expensive places in the world to live and unlike places like new york or berlin or london, the opportunities for working artists are limited and the san francisco

symphony is one of the few places in the city where a working artists like myself can expect regular and fair pay for his work. thank you very much. >> thank you. any additional public comments? me when you begin speaking. >> good afternoon. my name is--i'm the second generation san francisco native american. you say native american, we say native [indiscernible] my father was born in the same hospital as bruce lee in chinese hospital in chinatown. i complained several times via e-mail about discrimination and fraud and my main problem is that

non-resident artists awarded the grants that are supposed to be for san francisco resident artists and as the previous members of the public have stated it is extremely expensive and difficult to live in san francisco and giving the-knowingly giving the awards not just the money, but also the advertising, the mass e-mails, the posters on market street to people who are not san francisco residents or to people who previously defrauded the county and-because i believe the market street poster was open to anybody, but the individual i was complaining about in question had previously won the 2023 resident artists award which i looked up what the requirements were for that and the deadline was 2020 and you had to swear you lived continuously since 2018 and this person was in san banedo county and won the california arts

council $10 thousand san banedo county award for the same year of 20 twoe 32. i provide that information to the sfac in october. they ignored it completely and during-i applied for several grants and never won anything directly, i won a regranting which was never funded so haven't received that money either, and then in my arts grant application review panel meeting i felt like the panelists were not culturally sensitive to me, because i stated i'm not white, which i'm not, but i'm [indiscernible] they said non european which makes me think they don't understand the-[indiscernible] spain and [indiscernible] additionally, i was told that via e-mail that they couldn't favor native american artists because

that is considered racism. when i tried to explain that we dont use blood quanta. blood quanta is offensive to a lot of native people. we rely more on whether the person is a part of the community, whether they contribute and live in a culturally traditional way. i are know that there was a group that was raising funds for african american entrepreneurs that was blocked for racism using a law-that is my time? thank you. >> any additional public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. >> calling item number 4, the committee reports and committee matters for discussion. i call for item 4, subitem 1,x which is

the civic design review report and introduces committee chair abby schnair. >> thank you president collins. on june 17 civic design review committee meetings we reviewed two conceptual projects. the purpose of the-for the first one was the san francisco fire department division of training and both these--they are conceptuals presented to us, which is why i'm not showing images because things will change but they are both very exciting projects. the san francisco fire department division of training, their purpose is to provide a upgraded training campus for firefighters and emergency medical technicians to meet the evolving needs of emergency responders in the 21 century urban environment.

the new facility will provide space for live fire training, clasroom and equipment training and emergency medical service training and the project will consolidate existing san francisco fire department training facilities in one new location, replacing current training facilities in the mission district and on treasure island, the san francisco fire department must vacate. where they are going at 20 o0 muren is in a district with the treatment plant and some of the other fire and safety type of buildings. have been recently finished and/or in e th it will become this corridor with all these different type of agencies. i think it will be really nice. the second building is even--is really kind of amazing. i encourage if you have never

seen this at least to go on the website and take a look, if not go and see, but this is part of the hetch hetchy and our water system and how it comes through. it kind of comes down the big pipeline to this moccasin facility and this is a new engineering and records building for it. so, it's in a incredible location and president collins was lucky enough to just been there, so might turn this over when i finish with the quick description so he can explain some of his thoughts on it. the building will provide offices for the engineering and records department and shall be contemporary in design while complementary to existing buildings at the moccasin yard. the landscape and building are exposed to west side advantage of the views of the old moccasin power house and adjacent reservoir. the west side terrace may function as

outdoor break area. the building pitch roof open up the east side to incredible panoramic views of the mountains and the pen stocks transporting the water from hetch hetchy reservoir down from yosemite down to us. it is amazing how this whole thing works. anyway, that's the end of my report and if there are any comments from commissioners, love to hear it. >> i will weigh in. fortunately for two days i was the guest of san francisco water and power. we headed out from here and we ended up at the hetch hetchy reservoir, but midway through, we had a tour of the moccasin buildings. it's a extremely important part of the infrastructure. san francisco water and power is the reason that we have abundant

water and we have power in san francisco and the history of the building that dam of course is very important and it important to recognize that in the course of building the reservoir and the dam, there was the flooding of the hetch hetchy valley and what that means of removal of indejinous residence for centuries on the land and the price paid for us to have the abundant water and power we have. and so, the moccasin power plant is somewhat below everything is below hetch hetchy, but it is significant part of the infrastructure. sitting on there is an amazing historic building. the challenge is that the expense of preserving that building is excessive so it creates a very difficult

design solution for anyone that is doing that to recognize the importance of the history. no eraseier is something we can ever forget and so, the design of this is extremely important because it is also carrying a lot of the records and so, i am pleased commissioner schnair is in a very good conversation with the public utility's division of san francisco and water and power and to be able to oversee how this project unfolds. it is significant not only because of the records and the administrative building, but also a place where art will be. again, while that is on the visual on the civic design side, commissioner ferras will be seeing the same project in visual arts and so, we are

in this process and i'm pleased the commission has a voice in this, because i think the voice right now is very important. >> i agree with that. thank you president collins. is there any other comments? any public comment? >> for those in person proceed to the podium and fill out the public comment information card. we are on item 4.1. as reminder your starts when you begin speaking. you will see a visual on the podium. anyone who would like to comment on the current item? i see no request for public comment. public comment is now closed. >> thank you very much. i am now going to-do we have any commissioner comments? we already had that. sorry. thanks for keeping my on track. i am now calling item 4, subitem 2.

the visual arts committee report. introducing committee chair commissioner suzie ferras to present the visual arts committee report. pay strict attention to this, because while the report is one thing, the consent agenda is laden with actions taken in the committee. >> thank you president collins and that is a great point. i am just giving the report for the visual arts committee, it is definitely tied to the actions we are taking in full commission. thank you. so, i like to give the visual arts committee report for june 2024. we wen over several project s. first to have to do with the san francisco airport's new additions. first one is the 3 story mural. the only blue is the sky by craig calderwood. the work complete would the

help of [indiscernible] muralists who is the leading san francisco mural arts organization based in the mission since 1977 and they were lucky enough to have susan survantes to help. the mural spans 3 floors, including the ground floor, departure and mezzanine level at the top. in the work calderwood employees [indiscernible] to express the diversity and-queer history and culture. the work honors the legacy of civil rights pioneer, supervisor harvey milk. i want to just bring attention to how large this mural is. it will be both before and after security, so some people will be able to see at least part of it without having to buy a ticket and then

of course people arriving to san francisco what a great way and i'll mention this too with the nex project, to let people know where they are arrived with the bright colors, the exuberant celebration of san francisco culture,b and i know we brought this up before, san francisco values, which if you are a san franciscan we know what that mean and are proud that, so such a great way to announce san francisco and people arriving here and welcoming people to the little happy bubble we get to live in all the time. second, we have the suzanne husky, close encounter with california sublime. [indiscernible] thank you xhegzer. commission. painting merced river, yosemite valley.

taking a picture with a california grisly bear. albert was a german american painter best known for lavish landscape of american west. landscape painting in the mid-19 century by pointers like bornstat portrayed the land as wild and magnificent and often commissioned by railroad typhoons. husky information asked how to consider the wilderness and wildlife is cumodified in center of consumption and exploitation. another piece we will be welcoming people as they arrive to san francisco at s if rks o. also, laden with humor, but also the idea of conservation, something part of san francisco and california values, so another way to just let people know where they are.

next, we have jet martinez, fog lilies. presented as installed for the west side pump station. the mural located on the upper portion of the new pump station facade is viewable from multiple vantage points and approximately 2800 square feet. the mural inspired by iconic lily, a flower that is priv lnt throughout san francisco. the plower clean lines are meant to evoke sense of purity which represent the purifying of the pump station perform a essential city service. this is a part of a larger project you will get to see as more of the art instillation manifests, but this is such a beautiful grounding piece at the end of sloat and such way as this area will be transform under to a public walkway. alright.

and then one last thing i want to mention, i know this project has been going along for i think 9 years or--7 years i think when it was started, so happy to finally see it completed. the original design had very vibrant colors and the artist chose to go with more muted colors that match the natural landscape of the fog. and lastly, we had three major conservation projects of the civic art collection presented. mechanic monuement, [indiscernible] we got to see before and after pictures. anyone who has not seen that it is worth checking out the amazing work. as well as 3d scanning parts missing and now replaced and it is notable to see the before and after pictures of how much cleaner and more vibrant these

longstanding monuments are. that concludes my report, unless there is any comments or discussion from commissioners. >> i comment the husky is a interesting piece. if you look at another great artist that appropriates these types of things, kent monkman does a similar play in the big huge landscape but inserting something important for your eye to look at it. is nice to see a juxtaposition of the type of work in the collection of the terminal so people don't get kind of mono-begin to look at the world through a broader and very important and significant historical lens. going back to the discussion with commissioner schnair ñzabout the

valley and all that means. i think this is a part of a broader reparation through visual arts we can begin to address through eraiseier of history so thank you for taking that on. brilliant. >> it is beautiful. >> any other commissioner discussions or comments on the visual arts committee report? >> this is commissioner schnair, i just was curious what this slide--did you have any close up of the husky piece? was there one they showed at the visual arts? >> not right now. >> alright. we can't blow it up, but if you get a chance to see it or if you can on your own blow it up. it is amazing to see the detail of the bear and all the family taking-it says a lot. the other is about the jet

martinez. if you know his work and he's been a muralist for quite some time very talented his work is beautiful and vibrant and what i like about this piece is he took into account what it is like at the beach with the fog. those of those that live on the west side know all about, so i just feel he captured it beautiful and it is a fabulous piece and thrilled to death with it and yeah it was between 7 to 9 years, dont know exactly. a long time coming. beautifully done. >> i had a question. [indiscernible] is that [indiscernible] >> it is. >> i'll be at the airport tomorrow so i'll send a personal picture. i want to talk about the lotus fountain, it looks fantastic. it makes a huge difference walking by.

really historic monument so thank you for all the work of restoring. >> i just want to add a couple things. the round of applause for the staff doing the conservation work. [applause] and i just want to mention two other things about our agenda. firstly is, s if rks o is one of the premier art museums in the country and happens to be our airport and not in small part because thof collaboration with sfac and the work we are doing to outfit sfo with amazing world class art that represents san francisco. it is getting goose bumps thinking about it and looking forward to the disco balls also about to be revealed and also a great way to say welcome to san francisco and then lastly, the piece at the west side pump station, which jet martinez is a amazing example of sfac collaboration with other departments, i know sometimes

in the city that can be a challenge to get departments to work together seemlessly, but it seems sfac and sfpuc has so many examples project after project working together for the right reason s to create such amazing art around the city and in our neighborhoods. wanted to mention those things. >> thank you. any other comments from the commission? may i ask for public comment? >> those in person please proceed to the podium and fill out the public comment card. we are on 4.2. your time will start when you become speaking. you will receive a 30 second warning before your time concludes. requesting comments from those in person. anyone who would like to comment on the current agenda items? seeing none, public comment is now closed. >> thank you. now calling item number 5.

this is the agencywide strategic and business plan contract discussion and possible action. we are going to have discussion and pobel motion to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter into agreement with ems ams planning and research corporation to procure a agencywide strategic business plan not to exceed $353.200. now i'm calling on deputy director of finance and administration, sarah hollenbeck to present this item. >> thank you president collins. i just excited about the fath that we are finally ready to bring this new contract to you so we can proceed forward with the important work of our strategic planning effort and we are hopeful to be able to get started again in august. with your approval if that is

the pleasure of the commission. >> just for clarification, can you explain to-this is commissioner schnair, can you explain to us exactly what clause the [indiscernible] >> yes, i guess in brief, the contractor who had been engaged to do this work essentially got out of the business of doing strategic planning for arts organizations so we had to find-revert back to as i understand it, second firm in the original rfp process. >> is there any further discussion or questions from the commission? no? is there any public comment on this agenda item, number 5? >> we have a motion? >> can we have a motion to

approve the agency wide strategic and business plan contract? >> so moved, commissioner schnair. >> a second? >> second, commissioner musleh. >> thank you. any public comment on item number 5? >> for those in person, proceed to the podium and fill out the public comment information card. we are on item 5. as reminder will start when you begin speaking. you will receive a 30 second warner before your time concludes. anyone that would like to comment on the current item? i see no request for public comment. public comment is now closed. >> thank you. now may i have a motion-call the final motion to approve this item number 5? all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed?

motion passes unanimously. thank you. i'm going to call on agenda item number 6, which is the bart civic center next generation fare gate presentation and discussion. i introducing manager of local government and community relations, bradley dun to present on this item. mr. dunn. you don't have a time limit. >> thank you. thank you so much to president collins, and commission for having us today. part of the arts commission charge is to enliven urban space and a big part that is transportation. if people don't come to urban spaces, they are not enlivened. they wither and we saw a lot that during the pandemic, so we wanted to come to talk to you about a

couple bart initiatives. the new fare gates and safe and clean plan, because we will be starting at civic center station and so much of the art commission-your two galleries and so much of the civic art program is here in civic center and we have so many great art institutions that rely on transit and people coming from all over the bay area to support a vibrant arts scene in civic center and the rest of the city. so, wanted to start with a little bit about our safe and clean plan. you can see a map of the bart system. we have 50 stations over 130 miles of railroad tracks across the bay area. during the to a look at the service and listening to riders who said, what we really want is is a safe system that is clean, that allows us to take more non-commute trips for leasure and for things like going to

see art on a saturday. going to the asian art museum, rather then just getting to work. we launched the safe and clean plan really focusing on those key things. improving the safety situation on our vehicles. improving cleanliness and we changed our schedule significantly to encourage those off-commute hour trips to cultural institutions to going to dinner, going to the symphony and the museum with your family. and i wanted to at this point just talk a little bit about our ridership. you can see statistics on the screen, but bart is no longer what it was envisioned in the 1950 and 60's. a means of suburban executives to downtown san francisco for work on carpeted seats and sending them back to we have seen during the pandemic bart

serves our core essential workers and the folks that really drive san francisco and make san francisco what it is. some of the other speakers talked about displacement from san francisco and artists pushed out of the city. one they they can get back in is public transit on bart. we know if we don't make the improvements, the people left where a unsafe and dirty system are those that dont have other choices. somebody that looks like me and besides the fact i live six blocks that way, if i lived in the suburbs i can drive a car and park in a garage. those people have other options and exercise the options if we let the system crumble. but we know the people that need the

tired the legacy fleets. the fleets when i was a kid no longer exist. we donated several to railroad museums and art projects, but you will only have new fleet of the future cars which are much easier to clean, which allows us to double down on the cleaning. they have information and screens so people can tell where they are going and they are much more friendly for people with disabilities d people with bikes. those kind of things. we also doubled the rate in which we clean our vehicles, which encourages people to get back on the vehicles. we switched our service so trains arrive every 20 minutes or less. in san francisco in the heart of the system we have a lot more options where we are going out ised the core of the system, but that does make a difference if you go to a play and before we made the schedule changes, not a lot

of people would wait 25 minutes for the next train. they get in uber or lyft or drive, so we hope these will be really good for arts institutions and bringing people back in. if you have a safe and easy way to get into the city and go to an arts institution, we think that helps people do that. we also made a commitment to safety and security on our system. we doubled police presence system wide, which helps deter crime just by having people on the vehicles. we have gotten bart police officers out of cars and onto trains, walking trains, which makes a really big difference. we also are running shorter trains, which saves money with a $400 million budget deficit, but also creates a sense you are not in this by yourself with something weird happening at the back of the train, and so we

increased response time to 4 minutes, which is starting to improve the safety situation on bart. but we are also understand we need to right-size our approach to a lot of the problems that exist with safety and security, and having a gun is not always the right approach, so we have created progressive policing bureau that the american public transit association gave invasion award to last year for its approach to quality of life and mental health challenges from our passengers. so, we have crisis intervention specialist with background in social work and we have transit ambassadors that are used to divert things that are not dangerous, but need somebody's attention away from our police officers to a more appropriate response. and then third prong of the safety approach is fare gates. we have fare gates that commissioner ferras was talking about sfo

earlier, the fare gates at sfo are held together with duct tape because the seals, the rubber gaskets haven't been produced in so long that they don't exist anymore. it is big part of modernizing the system to be a clean pretty system that rivals other international systems. the gates are used in places like seoul and paris but excited about them. they improved censors for accessibility so if you-it isn't just a timer, it actually senses when you go through the gate, so if you have a stroller or wheelchair or bike it senses that and a much easier experience to walk through. and then, we are-as you can see, much shinier and cleaner, a lot easier to maintain and keep up. we will be starting to install these at civic center station late july. we already installed one gate.

we [indiscernible] west oakland station, but we got one gate back from the federal--that was a gate that an accessible gate and made a big difference. a lot easier work, doesn't break down as much and deterring some folks that were using the system for methods or means other then intended from accessing the system. so, that's a big part of it. a physical barrier also removes interaction between fare evaders and police. it stops the behavior rather then have somebody stop somebody and tell them they can't use the system that way. which removes the potential for conflict. you can see civic center station. this is the concourse level.

you can see the elevator on the far right 7th street side. that is down to the accessible gate that will be open throughout construction. and then you can see the three fare gates labeled array 1, 2, 3. each array will take two weeks to replace and others are open through construction period so don't think it will be a major impact to our customers and our riders and to people coming to civic center. we are also doing outreach. we conducted a lot of outreach. worked with lighthouse for the bliped, mayor office of disability and several other organizations so providing briefings like this and making sure people understand what is coming and that it is exciting part of modernizing

bart and so we are also going to be talking about our with our riders through bulletins they access through the bart app and you can see on the screens in the station. i'll turn it over to-sorry, one more thing, a big part of the outreach for the fare gates is to make sure-we want to these gates to keepal out of the system that are not using it for intended purpose, but we want people that want to use the system for intended purpose need to use the system for intended purpose not to be deterred by the cost of transit, so we got a program called clipper start it is a fairly new program that provides a 50 percent discount to low income individuals. you can reside anywhere in the bay area, if you make less then 200 percent of the federal poverly poverty livl you get 50 percent.

as we are at the platform and talking about the program we encourage low income people to sign up, because it can make a big difference in a household budget. with that, i'll have molly come up and talk about a couple of our downtown projects that are also effecting patrons saz they come in and out of downtown. >> president collins and commission, thank you. my name is molly burke, the government community relations representative for san francisco and san mateo county projects for bart so i'm your outreach contact and my information is on the last slide. wanted to come before you today to give a snapshot of the big three. these are the three bart projects that we are building on market street. if you are moving up and down market street you likely see chain

link fences enclosures. i promise they will go away one day. we are working really hard and so the big three i like to talk about-i'm go ing to start at the bottom. the traction power substation project. we are building five traction power substations across the bart district, two are in san francisco. one is at the civic center and one at montgomery station. those projects will be complete by spring of 2025. we opened up the sidewalk, a large opening and we lowered 25 tons of traction power equipment into the civic center station and that is now hooked up and ready to be turned orn. we are montgomery doing the same and this project allows to run-currently today we run 23 trains through

the transbay tube so this bumps to about 30 trains a hour. next up, i'll jump to the escalator projeth. this is a renovation project. 41 escalators in the downtown stations. 23 are on the e street level and 18 are internal to the stations. and we are trucking along with those. my numbers are actually-they changed since we turned in the presentation, so we have actually 12 escalators complete, 4 are under construction currently with 24 to go. the big dadaddy, the one that takes up most of my team, near and dear to my heart are 21 canopy covering the entrances up and down market street. those numbers have also changed. we have completed 11 canopies to date. two of those were the pilot

canopies we built back in 2017. we have three under construction with seven to go. we are moving along pretty quickly. if you look at the canopies at each station, there is on the under-belly of the caenopy. canopy. you are nodding your head so aware of the art program. very beautiful. adds a unique touch and when patrons come out of the station on regular basis they can go, i'm in the right place because they recognize the art. one unfortunately to report on, we had to bring on a glass polishing contractor as you know in the art world, we can have graffiti and unfortunately acid etching. we are working hard and brought a glass polishing contractor to combat the issue. glas panels are very very costly and so we are working on keeping up

with that graffiti acid etching on the panel. that is my report and thank you all very much. >> [indiscernible] the last-there we go. [multiple speakers] we can take a picture. before you leave, would you just give us a little bit more background on the traction power? what is their function? i looked it up, but [multiple speakers] >> you are just like my husband. he uses that thing ev the traction pad it is added power. it is basically enhancing the current power that was from the original system, so we took a look at the system and we needed more power, we needed to renew the power that is currently there. it doesn't just entail the traction power equipment, but cabling

and a whole bunch of other pieces with it, so it was a very large projbect and the people on market street that had to ender this--it has been a long project, at least 4 years but it is great. it will make our system much more resilient and efficient. >> at the core, traction power converts power that is coming through our 34 thousand volt cable to usable power for our trains to propel them forward. so, that's a large amount of electrical equipment that steps down and allows for the trains to move forward and start and move at rapid speed through the tunnel and you can't put this in the tunnel across the bay so having a lot of it in downtown san francisco underground and in oakland

allows for that process to happen. >> thank you. particularly,b i love for commissioner so to offer comments having worked on the muni system. you have anything you like to add to the conversation? >> i do and thank you. it is delightful to hear bart is doing everything it takes to make our market street and also connecting to our muni system as smoothly as we can be. i had been also really interesting to hear your update on all the chain link fences, because every day i get in the muni i wonder when is the other side of the entrance open up. i am curious to know about in terms of the community outreach you mentioned-- civic center-my first question

is why civic center was the first one you chose to install these fare gates, and second, besides the two organizations you mentioned,ic which is the mayor office of disability and also lighthouse- >> yeah, >>-how about the folks in the tenderloin, have you been reaching out to them to make sure when this is being implemented they are not feeling left out and confused and all things about-by the way, i really appreciate-i think a lot of our mono lingual minorities have been pleased to see all those instagramable moments in our bart. i think it is molly's team of doing it. i don't know if you have been in some of the bart train rides. they have cartoon-like a real

size cartoon plopped up and you can take photos and instagram for anything the bart had new initiatives. i forgot exactly what the message is for, but it was so successful that it was something that i actually had been mentioned to on our board of director's meeting at sfmta, we should use some that and we also love your sweaters and sfmta is creating our own christmas sweaters. we have gone through the talent here with our arts commission and we could probably maybe version two next year and make it better. back to the real business, i do want to see-make sure bart do a fair share of truly engaging the community that we-they are really that is the only way they get around, through our system. >> definitely. so, i worked with gene the

marketing manager for a very long time while with muni and they did a great job on the muni holiday sweater. i bought two. this is the beginning of outreef. reach. this is the first presentation we have done. because we were only doing one gate at the bottom of a elevator platform, that gate is all most exclusively used by people with disabilities to get on and off of the platform. everybody else uses one of the three arrays in the concourse and walks down the stairs. the initial outreach for the one gate was very much focused on the disability community and you could see back here we got kind of-we did tours of cility and passed out fliers on the platform to make sure people knew what

was happening to those users come into and out of the gate. we are going to reach out to community organizations. cultural districts like soma pilipinas working with tenderloin community benefit dist rict and different groups. we are briefing members of the board of supervisor after we come to you. you were first in the endeavor, so we pride ourselves on making sure people know what is going on and having culturally competent outreach in civic center. it is a complex community with a lot of different groups that use our system and we want everybody to feel comfortable and happy using the system. >> thank you. good to hear that you are continue to do the community outreach, because that is very important. not all community receive the message in the same medium, so thank you for doing that. >> i was conferring with commissioner schnair who is on the board of act. i sit on the board of sfmoa and

collectively we are concerned about increasing audience and we know the bay area is our primary target for the audiences and so i would just encourage some outreach of if you haven't already to the multiple cultural organizations in the city, because we are absolutely aligned in wanting safety and audience and are participation and equity behind your presentation. >> definitely. we have been-we launched the safe and clean plan last september and we have done over hundred presentations to different community groups all around the bay area about our safe and clean plan. encouraging people to try bart again and give us another chance and get back on bart. we hear, i used to take bart to the theater but had something happen and

didn't feel comfortable so don't do that anymore or go into the city often. we believe there is a sim bioses between arts organizations and downtown and bart. bart can't survive unlessorts arts organizations and create the desire to come downtown and bart--all those organizations can't survive without bart bringing those people there, so we really have to work together to make san francisco fun again and make these different activities whether downtown first thursday or many of the other activities people take bart to, stuff people want to go to. >> commissioner schnair. >> if i can also say, for not just act but the commercial theaters in that general area where the strand is, you know how long it took for your construction there, and between

that and then the pandemic it is really act had to rethink their programming. if you can make a presentation or be in contact with them and with the rest of the theater arts in that area, i think it would be really helpful to get the message out that you know, it is getting easier, cleaner, better, come on back. >> we'll definitely reach out to them. >> i have one more thing i like to see if you can provide to either public information, also will be helpful to the board of supervisors. one thing that really hits san francisco hard as a challenge like we all heard of it is small businesses, and anything we did to transportation we had put some effect on them.

with discussion of the roll-out project, i wonder if you have schedule of finished day of the construction. you mention people will all have something to look forward to that this is-will be done before chist ms. carol. >> we have 21 canopies. each has a different date of starts and finish and the dates are in flux because of a variety of things. the pg&e building downtown, that building has scaffolding on as restoring the facade. we can't do our scaffolding while theirs is above the entrance. those kind of things impact construction schedules.

in addition to just the regular mondacity of construction where you glass panels don't come in because there is shortage of glass panels in the world. molly does an amazing job walking up and down the e streets and talking to neighbors businesses and making sure they know what is going on. we have e-mail blasts to those folks after molly collected the e-mail to make sure they know what is going on, and each of those kinds of escalators and those different programs, we are trying to get done as quickly as possible. for a very long time, the escalators and some of the things were neglected and everybody wants to do it some other time because now is inconvenient and not a good time because we have exhibition opening or we got it is spring or summer or christmas. you got to do it at some point, otherwise things break and we have been at a point where things have broken with a lot of these systems and

so we are really excited to get this new equipment in there. these new entrances that look really great until somebody throws acid on them. look like the modern beautiful systems of transit around the world and we think that is important for people to say, hey, not only do i live in a beautiful place, but i want to use the system because it is inviting and welcoming. >> any other comments from the-commissioner ferras. >> thank you president collins and thank you both for the presentation and i have a few questions. firstly, to speak to what my fellow commissioners were talking about, the arts organizations in the neighborhood and across the city. i wonder if there is a opportunity for collaboration for marketing. if there is a way you can potentially reach out to these art organizations to do a collaborative marketing

that invites people to take bart to their museums? >> so, great idea and we already work with many arts organizations through our bartable program, which is a-we have e-mail list of 50 thousand people we blast out. fun events around the bay area that take less then 10, 15 minutes to walk to from bart, so for example, a lot of the broadway sf stuff is comotional and you can win tickets signing up on bartable.com. sign up for the news letter and win tickets for that. a lot of the community festivals and stuff are bartable and we tell people about those. juneteenth or pride or these that just happened in the city. we are telling people from all over the bay area, hey, you should get on bart and come to san francisco and go participate in these arts opportunities. >> i wonder if there is a way

also to enlist the arts organizations to help do that work. they probably also have a extensive mailing list if there is a way to collaborate where they tell members to take bart to their museum jz organizations. also, i know you guys have billboards where people are sitting there and people read them. if you can some sort of-i don't want to say deal, but if there is a way to collaborate where they shout out for you guys and you shout out for them by posting on the bart trains as well. >> yeah, definitely. i think that definitely makes sense and we'll continue to reach out to those organization. one cool program i would just throw mention up for is, we got a teen poetry program. different poetry dispensers in stations contributed by teenagers who

have written poetry across the bay area and selected to participate. if you see one at a bart station, get a poem while you wait. we think that is a really cool thing to do. >> it is super cool on the bartable literature that commissioner shelby is showing up on the website. [laughter] >> that is very convenient for the presentation. >> right. if there is a way to do some kind of present your bart ticket and you-not that they can do much, $1.50 off, whatever it is, comotion. another question about the canopies, wondering maybe it is too late in the design process, but has there been any rethinking of the design as half way through the canopies they are already getting vandalized? any possibility of thinking the rest how to prevent that?

>> change orders are the vain of municipal construction, but we also have pretty significant requirements for those canopies. from a safety and security perspective having been transparent prevents security situations that our bart police department said is really intentional to preserve that line of sight. unfortunately there are not a lot of transparent materials that are strong and inexpensive and not very breakable. we have started applying a different film that prevents some of the acid etching and the polish process. we can only do it so many times per panel because it removes material from the panel, but it has been pretty successful so far. it would be really great if we

didn't have people loitering and throwing acid on the beautiful panels we share with sfmt a and muni because that is a cost bart and muni share. trying to maintain the panels and it is super bummer for people that don't have feel like respecting their city is important. lastly, to go back to more of the beginning of your presentation, you talked about the addition of the cis and ambassadors, which kudos to that and sure a lot of people will be interested in that part of the presentation and wondering too if you can speak briefly, because i do think the community will also be interested in was there additional training for the officers that will be on bart as well? >> yeah, everybody at bart is required to undergo de-escalation training. molly and i had to get certified by the first, so we just completed

ours, so there is training that goes towards our officers to make sure that they are well trained and held accountable for making sure the system is safe and doing so in a way that respects individuals . a big part what we are trying to do with the transit ambassadors and crisis intervention specialist is make sure the people with the most-with the right kind of training respond to the right kind of calls, so it allows for somebody with the most training in de-escalation and mental health to be the person that is responding to a welfare check. we also want people to use the bart watch app or text bart pd, if you see somebody having a rough time,

we want to get the person help and it isn't necessarily going to be a person with that is a sworn police officer. we will right size the approach to the situation and we think that also encourages people to tell us what is going on in the system and to make sure that we are sending people out to get somebody help. we don't want people worst day to get worse. we want to make sure we are connecting people to services and our crisis intervention specialist last quarter connected 288 folks to services which we are proud of, so we are really happy that we are trying to make sure that we are being smart rather then just saying, more enforcement, more enforcement, more enforcement. but also recognize that the people that have to deal with unsafe systems are our transit dependent folks, and it is not fair to them to have really

scary unsafe systems. if you have no other choice, that sucks if the system is not one that you can rely on to get you somewhere safely and make you feel comfortable riding transit. >> thank you. >> as a final comment, as you just heard about to engage in our strategic planning and one of the focus of our strategic plan is to use arts for economic vitality, so i hope there is a opportunity to have a deeper collaboration in the dimension you are talking about, because again, safe audiences are what we all want and they drive 11 percent of the cultural institutions drive 11 percent of the economy and the ability to get people there safely is primary so i

hope we find traction in the strategic plan around your work. >> we are happy to par tace pate at a stakeholder. we have station planners that work on different individual stations and then molly and i doing community and government relations, so please let us know how we can be helpful in the planning process and love to participate. >> thank you very much. seeing no further commission comments. any public comment on this agenda item number 7? >> those in person- >> 6. >> please proceed to the podium and fill out the comment card. we are on item 6. your time begins when you start speaking. you will see a visual timer and receive a 30 second warning before time concludes. there is request for public comment. >> i'm a san francisco resident and don't own a car and take bart

on regular basis and thankful for you to be here and in the name of safety and request you bring the innercombutton back, because i understand you are spending all the money on fare gates and technology, but the old bart cars as a rider were better, because they-the other day i was riding bart and saw all these passengers coming in the cars-coming in the doors between cars because somebody was spoking crack or methon a car and i said okay, let me just handle this and press the button wasn't there. and you rely on apps and technology and when i was on bart on my way here, i was approached by two men who were like scan the app to give feedback and the next person approached was elderly gentleman and he doesn't have a smart phone. if you don't have a smart phone or in the tunnel or there is no cell phone service you have no way communicating and saying there is a problem

on the train. the innercomsystem, just a button with microphone and speaker to the operator of the car and so if you can please just reinstall those on these new super high tech trains, bring back 1910 technology. i would feel a lot safer. thank you. >> any further public comment? >> seeing none, public comment is close said. >> thank you. before we close again i want to thank you for the fullness of your presentation. obviously there is a lot of interest here. it was on the agenda as fare gates, but it is much bigger and well presented conversation, thank you very much. i call item 7, the consent calendar. i'm asking for commissioners any withdrawl or recusal at this time. i'm seeing none. we will take all the consent

items as one. i'm calling for any commissioner discussion or comments on the consent calendar? i'm seeing none. motion to approve the consent calendar? >> so moved. commissioner schnair. >> second? >> second. >> any public comment on item 7, the consent calendar? >> for those in person, please proceed to the podium and fill out the public comment card. we are on item 7. as remeender your time starts when you begin speaking. you will receive a 30 second warning before your time concludes. anyone who would like to acomment on the current agenda item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> thank you very much. i'm calling agenda item

7--sorry- >> 8. >> final motion. >> final motion. all in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? lord forbid i forget that one. consent calendar. motion approved unanimously. thank you. now calling item 8, which is new business and announcements. these are current administrative budgetary legislative and programming development and announcements. are there any commissioner discussion or comments on this agenda item, number 8? >> i have a have a comment. i was happy to see so much of the harlem of the west going into the--i guess retroactively. i don't really understand the process, but it was good to see all of this artwork, photography going to be at the

airport, and good timing for me because i'm doing a harlem of the west presentation on sunday for the fillmore jazz festival. it is about the harlem of the west, so that really got my attention. one of the most important histories in the bay area, perhaps up there with willie mays when it comes to importance and really defining a city. i'm very thankful for that. i wanted to mention the fillmore jazz festival this weekend, which is probably san francisco's most self-identifying festival when you are talking about the connection to its history, culture, small business history, because fillmore street had an incredible amount of small businesses

owned by black people, restaurants, clubs, night clubs, artists who came here touring. hotels. when there is a fillmore jazz festival, there is a opportunity to really talk about art, culture in the bay area specifically san francisco. i encourage people to come out. i played for 10 years straight and then didn't play for 10 years and so now i get a opportunity to play it again this sunday. >> where is the venue? >> so, there's two main stages. there is a california stage, that is sort of one of the-then it goes all the way down to-there is a california-sutter stage, so i am playing on the sutter stage. >> where is your presentation? >> the sutter and fillmore at 4 o'clock.

4 p.m. yeah. >> i also like to call attention to july 20, when commissioner shelby's orchestra will be live at port chicago for the california theater in pittsburgh. that is on the 20th of july. the full orchestra recollects by the way. >> about 18 years ago i did a piece commemorating world war ii story based on a book by robert allen called the port chicago mutiny and details the history of basically 50 sailors charged with mutiny when they did a work stoppage they were forced to do work they were not trained to do. there was a explosion and investigation that included thurgood marshal.

these men were not exonerated but what happened was the entire united states military desegregated after the investigation because the men were segregated during world war ii. we heard fighting for double victory. victory abroad against fascism and victory at home against segregation. after world war ii, after these men-the investigation of the explosion it happened about 25 miles outside san francisco port chicago. thurgood marshal was on the case. they desegregated the united states services, so this is a important part of history that happened in the bay area. originally commissioned by eva patterson equal just ares society. never played the piece because it is always hard to put it together and have

a organization to support it and all this, so this is really the third time in 18 years i got a opportunity to play it, so thankful to the people of port chicago who are organizing this. >> any other commissioner comments? note, i want to share with everybody--i know we have gone through really difficult times as a city and i won't just say during covid. it happened before covid. we watched our artistic talent just dissipate and disappear, and i think as art commissioners it is really hard to see that and really personal for a lot of us, so--and of course covid just brought everything to--this month has been extraordinary. i just want to congratulate everybody in this town who stuck around,

has worked hard, been intentional and planned it whether mayor office, whether our commission, all the other departments that work with us, all the creatives,b all the people doing it, this city is on fire. this is the city i fell in love when when i came out in the 1990 and you see that in the air. this month, this particular week alone it wasn't just about the gay prideb which always brings people in, but there was so much going on. about all our cultures in this town. i want to give kudos to everybody, especially the commission, i know the staff work hard l. of these public events bringing music, live music back on the streets, something we have not had i can tell you for 20 years. personally i can tell you that. we having all of these events on thursday, the first thursday we talked about.

i hope bart can bring more people in, because it is extraordinary. not just because it has street parties, because museums are free, and i went to the first one and you could not believe the amount of people go toog the museum, which is nice to see. but, also all the art that in the last two years of my service on the commission that i'm seeing going up and i'm getting such great feedback from people who actually had nothing nice to say about our city and that to me is indication we are on the right trajectory and thank you for your patience. everybody for all the parts you play making this happen, so proud to be part of the journey. thank you to all of you. just want to say that. >> i want to second commissioner hakimi. i notice that too. i live in the mission, been in the mission 27 years and it is like it was when i first moved there. things come back in circles and

cycles and priorities. we evaluate. the commission is on fire right now and some of it i think has to do with the efforts of the arts commission. small business, artists themselves. i think we continue to light the fire of our young artists, our established artists, mid-year artist and this is what we will see happen. create the conditions and let the artists run with their ideas. i see that in the mission and it is looking like nashville. every place there is live music outside. i just pitched that yesterday to someone. >> i want to thank the planning department for giving the permits for people, because the biggest hurtle was the permit. it is just amazing when we think collectively and intentionally as the city the community actually shows up it and it isn't segregated.

we are in it together and that is the part i'm so proud of, because we have the most unique city in the sense we have 11 districts with different cultures and you see they [indiscernible] not the segregated. i really thank you all. >> may i-can i share? thank you for sharing. this past month has been historical for not just celebrating pride, but also for every san franciscan and also northern californian who feel the sense of joy that we haven't been feeling for many many years. truly san francisco is coming back and i do want to share this really recent information. we probably many have heard about the idea tinkering around how to bring more vibrancy and joy back if n to specifically downtown in the city.

also helping elevate and revitalize our small businesses. as of june 25, that moment finally happened. the mayor with the board of supervisors, we had created san francisco to become the first city in california to create a new entertainment zone. that started with on front street between california and sack sac remento street. we will hope that will enable more people to come together and enjoy life and learn everybody's culture and understanding with our differences. we have more commonalities then differences through arts.

that is actually part of in collaboration with the planning department. [laughter] >> any other comments? commissioner schnair. >> i just want to thank you president collins. i want to make another comment about the harlem of the west photography and art. the caseage gallery at sfo, they have an extensive collection and i was lucky enough to be on wrun one of the panels we were reviewing the art and there is a huge amount of the documentation of what went on that is in-at s if rks o and they will-the gallery is that area-the connector between terminals 2 and 3 with our wonderful long artwork that was done along the long corridor. next to that, there is the caseage gallery and they have

reoccurring and anyway, it is huge, the amount of work collected there and it is fabulous. just wanted to let everybody know, if you go between 2 and 3, we love our long corridor with our great artwork, but take a look at the photo gallery as well. >> are there further comments? please, commissioner ferras. >> thank you president collins. i wanted to first here here what my fellow commissioners are saying. the city is coming back to life and it is like, so exciting to see it happening. i know through the work that some of us are doing, that is part that collaborative effort that i think a lot of us creative's, we have been heart-broken seeing how many people had to leave and a lot put fire in our bellies to work extra hard to make sure we are supporting and nurturing and foster the community so the creative

community does not disappear. such a important part of our culture. so that also being said, we have three more art walks coming up this year and they might be the last ones and i am okay with that because where we were when we started art walk sf where the city is now,ic there is so much going on. all the night markets across the city. part of the work of art walk sf is empower neighborhood leaders, teach how to do their own events, giving access to resources and proud to say we have done that. we served over a dozen neighborhoods and hundreds of artists, hundreds of artists, some so many of them letting us know they first time vending the work. some had never taken the step selling their artwork, but creating something free for the first two years for the artists, so they could take that step. take the leap of faith without

really feeling like it might be a financial downfall. it was a boom for a lot of people. i knew a few artists are now making living as artist and creative people and that warms my heart, i can't tell you because that was part of the point. so, if you haven't been and would like to join us, it is about a celebration of our neighborhoods, the celebration of the arts community, both visual artists, performing artist and small businesses. there is a whole point of we don't bring in outside food vendors so you go in the restaurants in the corridors we host the art walks. we have three coming up. august 3 is in the castro and all the events are first saturdays, 12 to 5 p.m. and then september 7 is in the fillmore, and october 5 will be in glen park. please join us. we may have more next year, not sure, but dpefinately these three

come help us celebrate. >> thank you commissioner ferras. i would like to say that for either 13 or 15 years the sunday streets have persisted. be persistants. this is a way we use our own mobility to tell the story of our communities, and sunday street started out with the merchants in horror this would happen and now they really cry for the sunday streets. don't give up. finally, i like to share reminder of the instillation of thomas j price sculpture. as sound turns to noise which takes place monday july 8 at the embarcadero between pier 1 and the ferry building. the port of san francisco and arts commission will hold a small joint unveiling celebration on tuesday july 9 starting at 1 p.m. commissioners,

staff and members of the public are invited to attend and celebrate. a calendar invite with further details will be sent out shortly. commissioner hakimi. also happy to share that the chinatown artists registry request for qualifications will launch next thursday july 11. the arts commission and the chinese cultural center will hold a joint press conference at portsmouth scare at 10:30 a.m. what i like to say is that, a [indiscernible] is upon us and that is called for tuna and immortality garden machine. res pit for the weary type traveler featuring a right of ancient intelligence carried out by gardeners. towards the continued improvement of the human specious. this is a instillation in the robert gallery free to everybody at

sfmoma by none other then great terra e walker of stockton california. may a headway to see it. there is so many stories within this creative dimension what she created so be prepared to spend the time and enjoy the-it is free and it is in the space that is open to the public, so you don't have to buy a ticket, but it is up for two years. >> plenty time to get there and go back and go back. >> have already been twice. i took director remington this morning to see it. are there further comments? >> can i ask one question before we--i wonder the status of what is happening in the gallery? [indiscernible]

>> can we every now and then get a update what is coming to the gallery next? i think something is coming up soon. >> we'll make sure you have that, because it could be a error. the director gave a presentation to staff about that work. would you like to say something? >> no. >> do we know the next session? when the next-do we have a-- >> i can send that to you. i know in the director's report normally director remington will state all the dates. absolutely we'll send-- >> [indiscernible] was that included in our agenda for vac last meeting? >> yeah. there was a presentation from--presented on- >> there is a lot of material. we'll make sure it gets to you. fair question. >> did you say carol walker is

from stockton? >> yeah, from stockton. >> i didn't know that nchlt. >> as a girl she would come to sfmoma. that is her origin story. she would come there as a girl and so as a adult this is her second major show there. the drawing show was in 97. >> i saw that. she was what, late 20's? >> yeah, she was pregnant with octavia, her daughter now is 20 years old. so t is a tour to force. is there any public comment on new business and announcements? >> for those in person, please proceed to the podium and fill out the comment card. we are on item 8. as reminder your time starts bh you bebeen speaking. you will receive a 30 second warner before your time concludes. i requesting from those in person. anybody who would like to

comment on the current agenda items? i see no request for public comment. public comment is now closed. >> always what i love to do. agenda item 9, adjournment. [gavel] [meeting adjourned]

i'm chanel joyce i'm a firefighter for the san francisco fire department. i currently am the station 4. in the mission bay districtism lived in san francisco in noe valley. grew up with my mom and i went to high school in san ma te'o. after high school i went to mississippi where i played volleyball in university of southern mississippi. what got me going after college was i was applying to place related to fire and police i loved my experience but my family is home. i grew up here and could not be far from my family anymore i came back. >> i have been a firefighter for 4 years the transition to the fire department has been seam tells is the same. team work and coming together.

transitioning to the job med me comfortable that i made the right decision to come become and work for a fire department that is big in diversity and equality and becoming a fell. i got to be a member at a few different fire stations. each station has their own culture. i worked in places that are xroem and with a young crew and had the most seniority have 3 or 2 years in whatever it may be. learning stuff when people have been in the job for 20 plus years and learning from people got in it grew me to adopt and work with everybody. >> a lot of people will come up to mow and say, thank you for your service noise to see a woman in the fire department. you are doing it. it is nice to see kids waiving

look a woman firefighter. they get excited i love that part of the job seeing the excitement that people see. you are a woman you can do this job. every person has a good experience with the fire department. no one ever spokous they say, they are here. they're do this work and everybody loves them. not everybody gets that in their job. i don't do it for the recognition but niez nice to see people that respect had you do and know you did a lot to get here and you still do to work and you set your life on the line for other people. it is cool.

[music] >> sarah duncan the honeer chef here. alexa and i own this location today. we are wem omen in business. we started this location in san francisco about 5 years ago, and previous--had a kitchen in the back on geneva avenue. we moved over here about two years into that venture and opened this one november of 2019. i grew up in east texas and [indiscernible] bbq venture and wanted to do something different here which is our new orlean style. gentilly is a district in new orlens that remeans we of the excelsior. [indiscernible] i lived out here for 17 years. alexa also lived in the neighborhood and we wanted to stay in

excelsior. we think people enjoy. there isn't a lot ofication food left in the city. there used to be before covid so we wanted to do something the city wasn't already flooded with. gumbo is your traditional style new orleans style stew. we have a nice dark rich broth. pulled chicken, shrimp [indiscernible] the other popular items are fried chicken, a grilled mac and cheese. cajun green beans. number two seller. san francisco is a special city. it got a very big food driven industry. it is very hospitality friendly. i feel like especially in the restaurant industry, me being a chef it is a pretty male dominant world

out there, and i think it is really special the two of us have been able to come together as women and open this restaurant four months to the day before shutdown and keep s9 we put a lot of love into this place. we try to make it feel you are walking into someone's living room where you are comfortable. we are at 482 mission street. welcome to check environment and have a cocktail

>> # >> >> >> >> you are watching san francisco rising. >> hi you are watching san francisco rising. reimagining our city. he's with us to talk about how our library's economic recover. mr. lambert, welcome to the show. >> thank you. i'm glad to be here. >> i know it's been difficult to

have books going virtual. have we recovered? >> yes, we are on our way. our staff stepped up big time during the pandemic to respond to the health emergency. since last may, we have been able to steadily increase in person access to library facilities. currently we are at 95% of our precovid hours of operation. in the coming weeks we are going to fully restore all of our hours. we have four branches that we are going to bring back to seven day service. they are currently operating at 5 days a week and we are going to go to every tag line and i know all the foot traffic has not returned to san francisco, but our library is seeing a resurgence coming back. >> can we talk about programs

after covid? >> absolutely that is part and parcel of our mission. we were doing that work precovid and certainly the library stepped up during the pandemic. we doubled our level of programming for personal finance small business help, jobs and careers. we have a dedicated small business center here at the library. there is a wide suite of programs that our librarian led. we have a financial planning day coming up in october and we have financial coaches that members of the to the main library and take advantage of their expertise. >> i understand the mission is in the middle of a renovation. how is that going and are there other construction projects in the horizon? >> yes, we have major projects in the pipeline. the historic mission branch library, carnegie

library over 100 years old and we are investing $25 million to restore that facility. we are going to restore the original entrance on 24th street the staircase from the lower level up to the grand reading room. we are going to push out on the orange alley side of the library and expand space for teens and children we are going to create a robust community room a multipurpose space. we are also investing $30 million in the chinatown branch we are going to upgrade the mechanical systems to the highest level of filtration as we increasingly respond as cooling centers and air respite centers and open access to the roof. it has some unique views of chinatown to create the inspiring space it is. >> i believe you have programs for families that have free and

low cost entries for museum and zoos is that correct? >> yes. it's a fabulous resource. go to our website. with your library cart patrons, our residents can go to the public library and get passes to the museums, all of the incredible cultural institutions that we have in san francisco all for free with your library card. >> how are these great free services paid for? how is the library system funded? >> we are so fortunate in san francisco. we are funded for by the library fund and those that taxed themselves just for library services. we also get a dedicated portion of the general fund. that together allows us to

be one of the most well supported libraries in the nation. we have the third most library outlets per square mile of any municipality. all of our branch libraries have professionally trained librarians on-site. service that we are able to provide, the collection we are a leading library in our country. >> that lead know ask about your biggest annual event in the city. how does the event work and what's happening this year? >> we are excited for this year's one city book. this is our signature annual literature event. we have everybody in the community reading the same book. this year's title is "this is your

hustle" named after the pulitzer prize nominated and pod taste. this is about the population. one nice thing about this selection is that they are both local. we are going to have several weeks of programming, kicking off next month. it will culminate here in the auditorium november 3rd. so our library patrons will get to meet the authors, hear from them directly and one other important aspect about this year's selection we have our own jail and reentry services department. recently the foundation awarded the san francisco public library $2 million to work with the american library association to shine a light on our best practices here in san francisco, and really help our peers in the industry learn how they can replicate the service model that

we are doing here in san francisco. >> that's great. well thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show, mr. lambert. thank you very much for your time. >> thank you, chris. that's it for this episode, we will be back shortly. you are watching san francisco rising. thanks for watching.