good morning everyone. this meeting will come to order. welcome to the september 16th, 2024 regular meeting of the rules committee. i'm supervisor ahsha safaí, the acting chair of the rules committee. i'm joined by president of the board of supervisors aaron peskin. i'd like to entertain a motion first before we begin to excuse supervisor sherman walton from today's meeting. yes. on a motion to excuse supervisor walton. on that motion, member peskin, a peskin, i, vice chair safaí i safaí i the motion passes with supervisor walton being excused. great. i'd also

like to recognize sfgovtv jamie echevarria or jaime and our clerk today, victor young. for always being on point, mr. clerk, can you call the first item, can i make some announcements before we start? i'd like to make some announcements before we begin. yes, public comment will be taken on each item on today's agenda. when your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak on your right. alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. email them to myself. the rules committee clerk at victor dot young at sfgovtv. org if you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors that include as part of the file. you may also send your written comment via us mail to our offices in city hall. when doctor carlton goodlett place, room 244, san francisco, california 94102. please make sure to silence all cell phones

and electronic devices. items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors agenda of september 24th, 2024, unless otherwise stated, the first item on our agenda is item number one. ordinance approving the police department's inventory and policy related to the use of unassisted aerial vehicles or drones, and making findings consistent with the criteria in state law. great. last week we continued this item to make time for president peskin to join us, as he was unable to make last week's meeting. i know we have representatives from the san francisco police department joining us this morning. thank you for coming back today, can you come to the podium? i think supervisor peskin probably has some questions to begin. or you want to talk about some of the amendments that have been changed or some of the changes that will happen. please. please proceed. thank you. acting chair safaí and president peskin.

also, thank you to you and your staff for working with us over the last week. the police department would like to propose some amendments to the drone policy based on your feedback, questions we've received and concerns from members of the public. so if it's all right with you, i'll just read those aloud. yeah, please. so in addition to what's existing in our drone policy, we'd like to add prohibitions and restrictions to read department owned uas, which are drones. they're accessories or features and functionalities shall not be used for one, the purpose of infringing on the lawful exercise of rights protected by the first amendment. two for a non-law enforcement related matter. three in an unsafe manner or in violation of any applicable laws, rules or regulations for the uas shall not be equipped with weapons of any kind. five the uas shall not be a force option when the uas is being flown. operators will take steps to ensure the camera

is focused on the areas necessary to the mission, and to minimize the inadvertent collection of data about uninvolved persons or places, operators and observers shall take reasonable precautions, such as turning imaging devices away to avoid inadvertently recording or transmitting images of areas where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy unless authorized by law. in addition to that, we'd like to add a data retention section to the policy to read one. upon completion of each uas mission, the digital media evidence, or dme, shall be reviewed and evaluated for evidentiary value. all dme shall be uploaded into the department's digital evidence database. a if dme is found to have no evidentiary value, it is not relevant as it is not relevant to a criminal, civil, or administrative matter. data may be deleted within 30 days. and b if dme is found to have evidentiary value as it is related to a criminal civil or

administrative manner matter, it shall be retained for a minimum of 2.5 years and in accordance with federal state laws and regulations, two uas recorded data will not be collected, disseminated or retained solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the us constitution, such as the first amendment's protections of religion, speech, press, assembly and redress of grievances. for example, protests and demonstrations, and three pursuant to sf admin code 96.2, subsection e, the department must not retain any public footage for longer than 30 days unless a sworn member holding the rank of captain or higher has determined that a longer retention period is necessary due to an open criminal investigation, and must not allow any department staff to access any public footage unless a sworn member holding the rank of captain or higher has determined that access is necessary for an open criminal investigation. so that concludes our proposed amendments.

president peskin, do you have any comments to make? i thank you for working with interested parties and my staff in the intervening week, and i am prepared, subject to public comment, to make the amendments that carl has laid out and really appreciate your work in the intervening week. thank you. great. so, before we make any, thank you so much. thank you. i think we talked a considerable amount about how these have assisted already. i think the idea is to ensure that we're doing everything we can to abate and stop crime, and that's where it's going to be focused on. i think these amendments that are made, and we talked somewhat about that infringing on people's rights, not inadvertently being used in any way as a weapon or otherwise. so we really appreciate your consideration, and i can tell you that, they've had an impact on public conversation. so thank you so much for the work that you all have done. it would be

good at some point, maybe in 6 to 9 months, to get a little update on how many more operators you've hired and how many have been deployed. that would be helpful. happy to do that. thank you. thank you. mr. clerk will take public comment on this item before we move the amendments. yes. members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time. each speaker will be allowed two minutes. there'll be a soft chime when you have 30s left and a louder chime when your time has expired. you can proceed, thank you very much. i'm h brown, thank you for this item. and i am all in favor of it, get as many drone operators trained as fast as you can and, give them extra money if they're good. this is not just for the cops, folks. this is for earthquakes. this is for disasters. you can even, send some, send a couple drone operators over to ukraine, send them to gaza, give them some serious training on the ground.

but drones are a good thing. technology is a good thing. thank you. next speaker. jordan. my pronouns are she. they. i don't think that there's any drone policy that will be satisfactory. honestly we live in a city that's struggling with its budget, where people don't have enough to eat. and yet we're spending millions of dollars on fucking drones. like, literally. i don't believe that the safeguards will ever be adequate. i just don't i know the police are going to illegally use this shit because it's just yeah, i'm not a big fan of, spy games and just, i swear to god, in some parts of the country, if you tried to do this policy, like in some place out in appalachia, you know, them rednecks are going to shoot them down. so anyway, fuck, drones disapprove of this policy. i yield my time. fuck

you. are there any additional speakers on this matter? there are no additional speakers. i believe we can close public comment. thank you, mr. clerk, i'd like to make a motion to accept the items of the amendments as read into the record on the motion to accept the amendment. member. peskin, a peskin i vice chair. safaí i safaí i the motion passes without objection with, supervisor walton being excused. great. now we can send this item to the full board with a positive recommendation as a committee report as amended. yes. and a motion to recommend, as amended, as a committee report on that motion. member peskin, a peskin i, vice chair safaí i safaí i the motion passes without objection. great. mr. clerk, please call the next

item. yes. next on the agenda is item number two. ordinance requiring the new public library branch serving the oceanview, merced heights, ingleside and lakeview neighborhoods be built on city owned parcel of land at 100 orizaba avenue, subject to environmental review, required approvals and other applicable laws and prohibiting expenditures of city funds to explore, pursue or plan construction of a new library branch serving those neighborhoods at any alternate location except to expand the existing ocean view branch library located at 345 randolph street on any adjacent parcel and except as required by the environmental review process, required approvals or other applicable laws. thank you. since it's my item, i'll just quickly say, i think we talked mostly about all the issues. just as a reminder, supervisor peskin, this project has been delayed for almost two years.

while there was an attempt to look for alternative sites, but unfortunately, that's just added to cost and significant delays. so we made some amendments last week. the one amendment that we made was that allowed in case there was an opportunity to expand the existing site to an adjacent parcel. we wanted to offer that as an alternative, as well. and those amendments were accepted. so i'd like to move this item today to the full board with a positive recommendation, unless you have any questions. i don't, but i'd be more comfortable if we sent it as a committee report. oh yes it is. i'm sorry. as without recommendation. okay any particular reason why i'm waiting to hear from other parties between now and tomorrow when we vote on it at the full board. okay, i guess we'll do that then. if we can send this item to the full board as a committee report without recommendation. as supervisor peskin gathers more information.

would you like me to open this up for public comment? oh, yes. absolutely. open up for public comment if there is any. yes. members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time. each speaker will be allowed two minutes. if you'd like to speak on this item, please line up by the windows. you may proceed. hi, my name is josh. in 2019, this board of supervisors passed a resolution stating that we are in a climate emergency and one of the primary actions as a result of that resolution was the formation of an updated climate action plan in 2021. that 2021 climate action plan, on page 120, healthy ecosystems, section 5.4 calls for a citywide policy by 2023 of tree preservation and development and infrastructure. and if that cannot be accomplished, then a basal area replacement plan. my understanding of this particular site is that there are a number

of native trees located on it which support native ecosystems, so as as written, this motion would not include that policy that was recommended to be implemented by 2023, because such policy does not exist, and it certainly is not an applicable law. so my request would be that if this report goes to the full board, with or without recommendation, that there be an amendment to include that the 2021 climate action plans healthy ecosystems. 5.4 a policy for preservation and adequate replacement. thank you. trees are like trees. they keep us alive. we've got a character named jake sieg who runs around the city, cutting down 100 year old eucalyptus trees. he's in line trying to cut down 800 trees in mclaren park. this is

absolutely insane. these trees provide habitats for hawks, owl, songbirds and raptors. they want to move it back to natural, natural plants. these natural plants were that were here when we first came here, would not support a hummingbird, keep our trees. are there any additional speakers on this matter? there are no additional speakers. i believe we can close public comment. thank you. i'll just reiterate what i said before. i'd like to send this item to the full board as a committee report without recommendation. yes. on the motion to refer the matter without recommendation as a committee report on that motion, member peskin, a, peskin i vice chair safaí i safaí i

that motion passes without objection. great. mr. clerk, please call the next item. next on the agenda is item number three. motion to approving rejecting the mayor's nomination for the appointment of eleanor bloom to the public works commission for a term ending july 2nd, 2026. good morning. thank you for having me today. my name is eleanor bloom, and i am honored to be considered for an appointment to the public works commission. i appreciate you considering that nomination and look forward to any questions that you may have. i am a mother, a spouse, an attorney, and a resident of the sunset district. i have committed my professional life to public service and look forward to serving my city in this new role. i believe very strongly that we have the opportunity here in san francisco to make the city a

great place to live, to work, to raise our families. as i am choosing to do. and a well functioning public works department is part and parcel of making making the city the one that the one that reaches that aspiration. i have spent a great deal of time pushing a stroller around and walking around our sidewalks in the sunset in alamo square in the hayes valley, where i used to live, right here, where my children went to went to childcare and preschool and where i work across the street. and, and i am struck by by two things. one, that we are working with, working with a phenomenal city. one of the world's very best and have made a great deal of progress in in making the city one that is amenable to a robust and well functioning city that that

cultivates those looking to live, work and raise families here. and also that we have a very long way to go. i'm i am cognizant of how much work the public works department has in front of it. and also that it takes the concerted effort of city residents, the board of supervisors and the department itself to fulfill those obligations that we have to the city public works. is it is also a matter of personal interest to me by way of background, i while i have made san francisco my home over the last seven and a half years and am deeply committed to the city. i grew up in coconino county in arizona, where one of my parents was for a long time the director of public works in what is there the second largest county by geographic area in the united states. very different kinds of

challenges than the san francisco department of public works has, but one where i grew up and continued as an adult to see the tremendous work that that my family and that the crews working for the public works department there have done the very challenging work they had to clear the clear snow to do some things that san francisco doesn't have as a as a particular challenge, but that there are some very real commonalities in the in the kind of work in the community effort there. and i would be proud to help support the efforts of san francisco to build a strong and well-functioning public works department here to serve our own city. thank you for considering my nomination, and i'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. i have no questions and looked at your resume and background and qualifications and think that the body would

benefit from a attorney. and i want to say it's a well, it's a well functioning body and is credible job. and feel free to call if we can be of help. thank you so much. i have a few questions. thank you for putting your name forward so you talk about challenges. what do you see are some of the challenges that public works faces as a department. yeah, so the challenges that i see from from the outside, obviously not yet having been in in the mix of, of an oversight role, but from the outside as a person living, working and raising children in san francisco, i think that we have, we have a massive docket for our public works department. i know that across my own neighborhood where i live and

this neighborhood here where i work, our sidewalks are in desperate need of maintaining maintenance, and that that is something really hard to effectuate across a city of this size without without adequate staffing and resources behind that. so i think i think we have some very real challenges there. i think that as a department, the department of public works is of course, recovering from a very challenging period. i don't know what that looks like yet. from the perspective of budgeting and staff morale and the functioning and the relationship between an oversight body, a fairly newly created oversight body and the department itself. but i suspect that there are there's ongoing recovery and rebuilding and engagement with a new oversight body that may be a challenge. i, i think also that in a city

where, as i said, i think san francisco is one of the great world cities, i think we are working with tremendous natural environment and lived in cultural environment. and also that means that the needs of the city and the natural world in which we are working is very diverse. and that that can be a real challenge, as i have witnessed in growing up with a in a public works household, can be a very real challenge for a department to meet those needs of the people and of the built environment that vary considerably from neighborhood to neighborhood, site to site, and sometimes block to block. so you touched a little bit on sidewalk maintenance. one of the, one of the things that public works has suffered from i

mean, we had a hearing in this chamber about a year and a half ago. they have a historic vacancy rate within their department, particularly in their operations division that can range between 20 and 30, that has ranged between 20 and 30%. they just got a permanent director within the last 6 to 9 months, which has been great, director shaw, someone i worked with back when i worked at public works almost 15 years ago. so she definitely knows and has done a tremendous job of getting the operations division more focused on things like sidewalk potholes, graffiti abatement, sidewalk cleaning for illegal dumping, graffiti, pruning trees. and they just doubled the size of the maintenance division. we get calls all the time of supervisors on sidewalk repair. a lot of that is related to tree

roots and is the city's responsibility. as of 2017. so it's only been seven years. so there's a lot of work that they're catching up on. and it's important work. so i would encourage you to focus on the vacancy rate within the department, focus on ensuring that that is a top priority for the department in terms of how it operates, particularly in their operations division. so that's something that's near and dear to me. hopefully you can make that one of your priorities. you mentioned it somewhat, and having grown up in a household that saw it on a daily basis, you understand. but those are the calls that we get the most as supervisors have to do with the operations division more than anything else. so thank you for your willingness to serve and look forward to working with you. great. thank you so much, if open this item

up for public comment, mr. clerk. yes, members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time, each speaker will be allowed two minutes, miss bloom seems excellent. i'd like to offer a personal challenge to director short. now that you're permanent, how about getting us a decent bathroom in front of the armory? my dog and i have been cleaning around that building for two years. we managed to push it all the way from 311 all the way up to planning, and have the scaffolding removed from around the base of the building. it's clean now. the public toilet they have there on 14th is a disgusting piece of plastic shell garbage. what they have in storage is three dozen of those white units, and by the way, the attendants who run that, that, that shell hate it. they're ashamed of it. the mayor has two dozen of these white trailer

things in storage. some mayoral candidate ought to step forward and challenge the mayor to put one of those in front of the armory. does anybody know any mayoral candidates who might do that? let's get a good plan. a good one of those big white toilets in front of the armory, the job training corps next to there. they have hundreds of people come through there and they crap and pee all over the sidewalk and next door in front of the armory. please get us a decent bathroom in front of the armory. jordan again. pronouns she her. they them. now, i'm glad that there is a public works commission and i do want to elevate that anybody who serves on this commission needs to be committed. as the last speaker said on expanding our bathrooms, because i hate stepping in piss and shit just as much as any other san franciscan. and i don't want to. and i think that is a constructive solution. but i

don't know if i can support this individual because she's probably just another mayoral hack from the west side who doesn't have an equity lens. and i will say this right now, like one concern i have with public works is the street sweeps that are happening much more often. look after the supreme court did that, like, you know, the police, public works, all these goons are taking away people's medications and ids and all their belongings and making it harder for them to exit homelessness. is the public works commission going to fucking do something about it, or are they just going to take orders from the mayor and make decisions behind closed doors, and we'll all be more fucked from that? seriously, as a homeless rights advocate, we need to be paying attention to what public works are doing because these goons and thugs are stealing our belongings. they're stealing medication.

people are dying on the streets. they're stealing their ids, and shelters are not good places. so yeah, i'm a big fan of public toilets. i think public works has a commission, has a good use to it, as i do think most commissions do. but i we need people of better caliber. we don't need hacks who have no equity lens, who don't care about our neighborhoods. so just fuck this appointment. i yield my time. fuck you. are there any additional speakers on this matter? there are no additional speakers. i believe we can close public comment. yes public comment is closed, supervisor peskin, would you like to make a motion? i will make a motion to amend the subject, motion before us by removing the word rejecting in the long title at line three and remove the word,

rejecting. let's see, where is it in the motion move that the board does hereby reject. remove the word reject in line seven. and then with that amendment, send it to the full board with a positive recommendation. great so there's a motion to send this item to the full board, as amended. yes. on that motion, member. peskin. all right. peskin i vice chair safaí i safaí i that motion passes without objection. all right. please call the next item. next on the agenda is item number four. motion approving rejecting the mayor's nomination for the appointment of mike chen to the municipal transportation agency board of directors for a four year term ending march 1st, 2025, and chair safaí, i just want to thank mike chen, who we heard earlier at a previous hearing for reaching out to chinatown trip and having that

meeting which resulted in chinatown trip being pleased to have the opportunity and recommends, at least to me, that we approve this nomination, which i am ready to do today. great. we'll give you an opportunity to say a few words. thank you. chair safaí, again, mike chen for the san francisco municipal transportation authority agency, we last met. i last came to this committee on july, and i thanks to this committee, i received very clear and direct feedback about what to do next. and so in that time, i've had a very busy august. i've met with many groups in chinatown in the chinese community, as supervisor peskin said chinatown trip, but also some of the merchant communities and other groups in chinatown, including, ccdc. the chinatown community development corporation, the chinese chamber of commerce, the chinese merchants association, the chinese consolidated benevolent

association, and b, chinatown. i have committed to those groups that i'll be working with them in consultation on some of their priorities. and i've heard very clear feedback from them about things around around the outreach process to the public, around public safety, on transportation, and also supporting commerce and small business, let's see, especially, you know, i've heard regarding comments from supervisor safaí from july, talking to merchants and having and hearing very clear and specific feedback around parking and loading around delivery pickup around customer access and working and figuring out how to use transportation to help support the small businesses of san francisco, i'm happy i know that there have been many transportation, as there are issues that are coming before the board that have come before in the past two months, and i'm happy to answer any questions. thank you. yeah. and i just want to say that part of this process, which i think we took advantage of here, is to just create the opportunity to have

those contacts and hear that input and have buy in from the community, knowing that they have access to a commission that has a very direct daily impact on so many different people's lives in various ways. so thank you for availing yourself of that opportunity. great. thank you. and something that came up since we we've since we met last time i met with the transit operators union and one of the things that they spoke about is how often they're left out of the conversation and the decision making at the mta, i'll give you a perfect example. so we sit on the county transportation authority. oftentimes, the mta comes and asks us for approval for dollars that have come down to make purchases. one of them has to do with light rail vehicles, and it came to my attention that the

agency, instead of working with the operators when they were going to purchase these light rail vehicles and talking to them about the operation of the actual vehicle itself, ended up purchasing vehicles that the operators were not familiar with. and so the instruction then became just when it the vehicle needed to slow down or stop, they instructed them just to hit the emergency brake. yeah, the mushroom break and each vehicle is measured by a certain measurable mileage track mileage. when you consistently hit the emergency brake, you grind the wheels down and it essentially reduces its usage, which then costs the taxpayers millions of dollars, puts them out of service at a higher rate.

instead of just getting a vehicle that they actually have a functioning brake that they're trained on, that's just one example. during covid, when it first started, we kept hearing from the head of the mta that everything was safe. the operators were in a contained glass area. there was no need to encourage the use of cash or have rear board, rear boarding. but instead, you know, again, i went down and met with them. there's a as you know, you ride public transportation, there's a large gap between the glass. many operators were, being exposed to covid at a much higher rate because of the interactions. so then we pushed them to have cashless rides and vehicle, you know, rear board. those are just two concrete examples. so not many commissioners interface with

them, interact with them, and talk with them. so i would encourage you to do that to reach out to the transit. t.w. and talk with them about their thoughts and hopefully you can get more of their input. so that's just for your information, but i just wanted to underscore that, that another thing that's come to attention is, and i'm sure you've been following the news since the last point in time count of those that are unhoused, a number of families living in rvs has gone up exponentially. it is the largest increase in the homeless population in san francisco, technically under the category of homeless, right? even though they have a roof over their head in most cases. and it's been exacerbated by the end of some of the guaranteed income programs that we had when

it comes to rental assistance, food assistance, job loss, and mayor breed has put forward a new proposal to essentially reverse a long standing policy of the mta. the policy mta was to not just begin putting up no overnight sleeping restrictions, kind of randomly, but instead working with other different agencies to transition people out of. it's one of the reasons why, in my district, we did the first safe parking in the city. we did it at the balboa park parking lot. station, and subsequently now there's one in candlestick point. so the push is now to begin to tow people all over the city, not necessarily providing them with

good transitional space. it's one of the reasons why we did safe parking, because this in most cases, if it's an rv or if it's a car, it's the only asset the family has and takes a little bit more time to transition them out. now we did, and i will say, and i think it is the correct practice once you've set up safe parking, once you've gone out and done the appropriate outreach, then you can begin to put more of the no overnight sleeping. and that's what we did in in the excelsior. and it was very effective. but we were able to get 40 spots. so i just want to hear your thoughts on that. you're going to be serving on the mta board. it's happening as we speak. so i just wanted to get your insight and thoughts on the restrictions and rv towing and how it's impacting a lot of families in san francisco and unhoused individuals. thank you. supervisor, for, for to your first point, for the for the operators, i believe i agree with you that the operators are the backbone backbone of mta and that we need to any policies

that that involve them, we do need to make sure that that it works for operators and, and on the ground that behavior actually does, that, that things that happen at the board actually do translate and work with people who are actually implementing those policies on the ground, for, for vehicular homelessness. i have seen i've been keeping up a little bit with the news, i would say that in general, we want to make sure that we have policies that that put people in better situations and not in worse situations. we should be using towing as a last resort, and not without using not without actually providing people realistic and better and credible offers of better alternatives, such as the vouchers such as the voucher programs and alternative housing and affordable housing offers, you know, whatever the mta can do in consultation with department of homelessness and supportive housing, you know, whether that's brainstorming and ideas to offer, as you said, safe parking sites and to help

bring those online so that people have a place while while the city and its agencies can work with them to find better solutions and better situations for them. and so that's those are the things that i am thinking about. if i were to serve on the board. so just so i'm clear, the proposal essentially gives the director the authority to push these bans without any public hearings. so there would be no public hearing in front of your body. so that was really what the question is about. it's a change in policy. not only they've had they've always had the ability to expand, but it's been a little bit more thoughtful and more in coordination, so really what they're doing is they're saying there'll be no more public hearings on this. yes, that's what i really wanted. your thoughts on. i would like to make sure that the mta does hold does hold hearings about this, about the situation. does that mean that does that mean that

the mta should be holding a hearing every for every block? i think that's that's a question. so right now they don't put the policy is they don't do it without public notification. right. and as i said, and there was a one block in our in our area actually a couple block area near the safe parking. and they went through that process. they posted it, said we're going to have a hearing. it was on the agenda. and everything went according to plan, but at least there was an opportunity for the public to be aware of it and weigh in, this is a major reversal in policy. so that's what i'm highlighting for you, is that there would no longer be that option for public hearing when it comes to this, which is an important issue. i mean, listen, at the end of the day, we don't, you know, want people living in vehicles. we don't want people sleeping in vehicles. we want to get them transitioned into into more permanent housing opportunities.

and there's a whole host of reasons, as seen by that. they're not the same in a lot of cases, not the same demographic or makeup background of what we see people living in tents. it's oftentimes very, very different. and as i highlighted in some cases, it's people with families and children. it's people that are actually working in construction. it's students. so you know, if you're just doing it without any notice, without any transition, i think it can have a real detrimental impact and essentially just pushes it from one block to the other. and what's happened is you've seen a larger increase in bayview-hunters point over the last couple of years, because there's other areas that have been putting up these restrictions. so that's what i'm highlighting for you, bringing to your attention, and wanted to get your thoughts on that process. yes. i believe that that changes to this policy should come with notice. none of

this should be a surprise to people who may be living on those blocks. i believe that there should be consultation, whether that whether that happens at the level of the mta board, whether that happens at a different part of the mta happy to happy to have more conversations about that. for example, engineering, public hearing, whether and to make sure that there are that the process works well, that there are solutions for people, that there are real solutions so that people can get into better situations. great, just one last thing. i wanted to highlight for you. it's unfortunate. we had been pushing for years for new traffic signals to for pedestrian safety, bike safety, turning on alemany, we were able to activate two of the traffic signals at different intersections. one, we is not and still waiting for that to be activated. and unfortunately, a senior was hit in the crosswalk, at that location. so just

anything you can do as a commissioner to interface and highlight the work with pg and e and accelerating and the puc and accelerating traffic signals and lighting being turned on, i think will help with pedestrian safety and also just safety in general, particularly at major intersections that are high injury, so that's it for me, mr. clark, can you open this item up for public comment? unless you have any other comments? supervisor peskin? yes. members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time. each speaker will be allowed two minutes. thank you very much. h brown again, thank you both for your work here, the applicant seems excellent. i'm on the ground again with my dog looking out my window. i'm seeing, the very best, bicycle lanes in the city

are in front of the greek orthodox, and the french schools, one block from my house in the old levi's factory. they're raised islands. the whole bit. then you hit 14th and you cross the street. you have all of these people bicycling their kids to school down at the friends in the greek orthodox, on these basket things with 1 or 2 kids in front, and they come down valencia, approaching 14th from four barrel. and there's nothing there. it's not a question of redoing a bad job in the center lane, which they're going to do. there but there's nothing there. the lines are all worn out, and you see these people who are paying $60,000 a piece for these kids to go to school. they're risking their lives, coming and crossing 14th street extremely dangerous. let's buy some more green paint and paint inside lanes from four

barrel down to the corner. we've already had two accidents there within the last year. green paint for barrel to the corner and on the loo in front of the armory, lurie. lurie did it, lurie. lurie had an event there, and he brought two of those big wide toilets down there. and mayoral candidate lurie did what the mayor wouldn't do. and the mayor's got two dozen of them. let's get a loo in front of, in front of the armory and let's get green paint from four barrel down to 14. it's jordan again. pronouns she they. as a good government advocate. formerly homeless person. tenderloin tenant, public transit rider, and someone who has been almost been run over by car brained assholes. i oppose malicious mickey chen. he is nothing more but a political hack who only

got appointed because the bullshit ass mayor needs a foot soldier on sfmta's. does mickey chen support road diets and high injury corridors, or does he support westside gas masters flying throughout the city? does mickey chen support free muni for seniors and disabled adults, or does he support cutting social programs? does mike chen support banning switchbacks and dealing with overcrowding issues, or does he support undermining public transit altogether? does mike chen support oppressing rv dwellers and poverty toes? i think secretly deep down he does. does mickey chen even support the idea of commissions, or does he support closed door decision making like commission killing, rapist loving tamil genocide and enemy of democracy? kanishka of together sf and overcrowding on transit is a public safety issue. as i worry often about being groped on public transit like a certain supervisor did to me at a political event years ago. does mike chen care about

safety for women on transit? seriously this guy is a corrupt fuck ass that needs to be rejected. but i know you won't because mayor's appointees always get through without any scrutiny, so i yield my time. fuck you. hello. members of the board of supervisors. my name is robin pam, and i'm here to comment on behalf of kidsafe sf to support mike chen's nomination for the board. we represent thousands of parents and allies of families in the city who want to see a city where streets are safe enough for kids to walk and bike to school and transit serves everyone. we support mike because of his commitment to transit, biking and walking in the city. he walks the walk and he also has extensive experience on the sfmta citizens advisory commission, representing diverse constituencies and diving deep into the challenges facing sfmta today and given the sfmta is facing some massive challenges in the coming years, we are going to need leaders like mike on the board who are prepared to

deal with them. people who share a commitment to upholding the city's transit first vision zero and climate policies, and also an ability to help the agency make the hard decisions that are going to be necessary to address these coming fiscal issues. mike, is all of these things, and we strongly urge you to support his nomination. hello, supervisors. my name is peter belden. i'm the political chair of the sierra club in san francisco, and i'm here to voice our support for the nomination of mike chen. i think we sent in a letter a few weeks ago of support. the sierra club has a strong interest in sustainable transportation, and mike has been a great supporter of sustainable transportation. and the great thing about mike as a nominee is that we know what we will get because of his time on the citizens advisory committee, including as chair. so he has a track record. so we urge you to support the nomination. thank you. hi, supervisors, i'm leanne

chang, a transit and safe streets advocate in san francisco. i'm here to support mike chen's nomination. mike is a regular transit rider and cyclist, who also understands what it's like to navigate the city by car, and he's a proven leader. as an asian american, i'd also be delighted to have him represent our diverse community. but more than anything else, mike's uniquely proven and prepared for this role as he's been a member of the sfmta. cac for almost five years and elected by his peers to be chair of that committee. in that sense, i kind of think of him as having had a five year long proving ground and job interview for this role and having him having seen his work from various angles over that time, in my view, would be very lucky to have him. i've seen mike prove his thoroughness fair mindedness, and commitment to helping san francisco live up to its transit first and vision zero goals, while also working with the communities that he serves to understand and address people's needs and concerns. i think he would do an extraordinary job of bringing people together while also moving these issues forward.

thank you. see, i don't think there's any other public commenters, are there any other commenters on this matter? there being no further public comment, i believe we can close public comment. great all right. well, i think there's a significant amount of challenges facing the mta, one is the directors contract will be up at the beginning of next year. small businesses are really suffering in this city. there's a whole network of bike lanes and pedestrian improvements that have not been implemented, and ridership and bus lines are threatened due to a lack of funding. so you come in, mr. chen, with a significant. and i could keep going, you come in with a significant set of challenges, not to mention some of the ones that we talked about last time where you have a department that does and is

known to and this is listen, not disparaging, but this is just a constant criticism of the of the agency is just its lack of community outreach and communication. and we talked a little bit about that last time. so i'm not going to belabor the point, but appreciate you spending the time. i can tell you're a thoughtful person, you've spent the time going and talking to people that have significant need of a voice. i think you're somebody that will do the job to your utmost ability. so i'm happy to support you here today. so, make a make a motion to strike all of the reject and change it to approve and send this item to the full board with a positive recommendation. yes. on a motion to amend, to delete. rejecting throughout the legislation and recommended as amended. on that motion, member peskin, a peskin i vice chair safaí i safaí i that motion passes without

objection. great. and before you call the next item, i just want to take a moment to recognize gateway high school students that have come here today, thank you for joining us and observing democracy in action. really appreciate you all being here. i know you're going to be here today and tomorrow, but just so you know, for the record, this is how i started learning about local government here in san francisco, 24 years ago, sitting in the chamber observing the process, listening to the questions and then thinking about the ultimate outcome and how it impacts the city. seeing it right here is where it happens for the city. so welcome. thank you all for coming out. thank you to your teachers taking the time, bringing you here. i think it's an important part of learning about civics, mr. clerk, before you do that, can we take a five minute recess, and we will come back out. three minute recess. we'll come back at 11:00.

we're ready. let's get started. yes. before moving on to item number five, i just wanted to clarify that item number one, i wanted to clarify and confirm that there was no amendment to the ordinance itself. the change was to the policy. great. thank you. thank you for that note. yes, we the way that the ordinance is written is that there's an ordinance that governs the policy, and then there's internal procedures. and we were talking about the internal kind of policy that's not related to the ordinance itself, that the department can amend and change at any time through conversation with this body. yes. thank you, thank you. please call the last item. item

number five is a hearing to consider appointing seven members. terms ending november 18th, 2024, and terms beginning november 18th, 2024, and ending november 18th, 2026 to the urban forestry council. okay, so we have a number of different people that are applying for a number of different seats. so any of them here today with us, let's see. would you like me to read the list? sure. that'd be great. yes, first on the list is morgan bassett for real? she did indicate she was unsure if she would be able to make today's meeting. is this person present at today's meeting? no no, no, you don't need to speak for her. that's okay. who are you? are you also applying? i'm the urban forestry council coordinator. oh, okay. yeah. go ahead. why don't you say a few words? that'd be good. yeah. so i'm

here. we have seven applicants that i'm endorsing for seat one. morgan faville, who manages the open space preserve at ucsf. 60 acres, 30,000 trees and is supporting of variety of nonprofits there, including sutro, stewards, who's embarking on the restoration of the creek, carla nagy, who is also not present for seat two, who has spent decades working for friends of the urban forest and a variety of roles directing various programs and eventually, vp of operations, currently working as a consultant at a variety of scales locally and internationally to support future urban foresters. pam pamela nagel, who is present here today. i'll let her speak for herself, edgar flores, who

is applying for seat four, who works for poder and hummingbird farm, current member of the council. i can speak more about him if you would like, a new applicant for seat five. caroline scanlon, who goes by carol, is currently the program manager for friends of urban forest tree planting program, which is responsible for planting the majority of trees annually in our city, and while does not currently live in san francisco, was born here and was also a youth that went through the program at garden for the environment, which is what sent her on our path for urban forestry, josh cliff, who is also here today, and antonio moreno, who is also present today for seeds one through seven, the other couple of

applicants i am not familiar with. great. thank you for your public comment. okay. are there any of the other applicants if you would come forward one by one, that would be great. before you step outside, could i get your name for the record, please? yes. sorry, my name is jesus lozano. i'm the urban forestry coordinator, and i work for the san francisco environment department. in that role. good morning. my name is pamela nagel, and i'm a registered consulting arborist as well as an isa certified arborist, i'm. i'm applying for reappointment to seat number six. sorry. seat number three. josh's seat number six, and i'm also a registered landscape architect in the state of california. and i've been on the council since 2019. and i'm also chair of the land landmark tree

ad hoc committee. and i've lived in san francisco 35 years now, 29 of them in bernal heights. and for i started planting trees with friends of the urban forest in 2002. so i've been i've planted in every neighborhood in the city, and i'm pretty much aware of lots of issues that have to do with both hands on planting of trees and urban tree policy, i what i'd like to do moving forward, if i can be reappointed is, increasing the visibility of the council. i think we've got a lot of work to do. the urban forest is shrinking, we're we can't even keep up with trees that we're losing, so that's one thing. and just kind of, kind of get everything up into the public eye, the council, although we have monthly meetings, is not really well attended. it'd be great to see more people at the at the meetings, and, that's

really it. if you have any questions, i'd be happy to take them. thank you for your service. thank you. thank you. good morning, supervisors and i first want to start by thanking both of you for being ardent supporters of our urban forest in your respective districts, my name is josh clip. i'm here as an applicant for seat six. i'm an attorney and a certified disability access specialist. and believe in environmental justice for all, especially people with disabilities. but my proudest title comes from the board of appeals, where they simply refer to me as the lorax, they call me this because after years of appearing before them, they understand that i am thoughtful, i do my homework, and my number one goal is always to achieve better citywide outcomes through a lens of climate resilience and environmental justice, while modeling how we can all work together to protect and grow our urban canopy. my proudest example of this is mission

verde, which i've described in my application and received a commendation for that work from the board of supervisors, as well as from the monte quatro cultural district. and this model was recently used as a model of best practices delivered to municipalities across the state of washington. most important to me, however, was the community that we built through mission verde and the trust that we built through mission residents and city leadership. through our partnership with public works, i also worked on a tree removal for the ucsf renovation, a very needed renovation. but through my work and negotiation, we were able to do a secure and nearly a quarter million dollar fee from ucsf for planting trees in the southeast part of the city. as to whether the council is familiar with me or whether i've attended meetings, they pretty much know me on a first name basis as to what i would do on the council. i would really like to begin to implement the mandates of the council, set forth in the environmental code, chapter 12, section 1203, and specifically work on legislation and policy, and perhaps even

bringing a dedicated youth seat to this council and working with the san francisco unified school district, and that's about it. i have lots more on these notes, but not enough time. so if you have any questions, i'm happy to answer those great. thank you, thank you. are there any more applicants who would present to speak? good morning. my name is antonio moreno. i speak a littl. yes, my name is antonio moreno. good morning. i, i'm applying for seat number seven, and i sent in a couple of, recommendation letters, and i've been working with the bonnie sherk foundation living library for almost half a dozen years, restoring areas wherever we get a chance, working with school districts and, restoring and

cutting out concrete and installing more trees and more, native understory and whatnot. if you have any questions. where do you work? you said you work in the community i live in library is my nonprofit organization that i work for. it's a life frames. it's a foundation founded by bonnie sherk. and that's we work in the excelsior district with some of the schools there and their surrounding green areas and their gardens developing new gardens and open spaces that are not being used into gardens. you know, i'm very familiar with bonnie sherk having being the supervisor of the excelsior. that's great. i appreciate that that you're continuing that wor. did you work prior? did you work with her prior to her passing? you know, unfortunately, i did not. oh, okay. friends that did. and they all had so many good things. that's why i was brought

in, because i think they they thought i would be good with what her plan was. and she was. oh that's great. yeah. thank you so much. thank you for your willingness to serve. you're welcome. any other members of the public that would like to comment or going for a seat? okay great, mr. clerk, public comment is closed, so i think what we'll do is i move to recommend morgan visit five zero for seat one, carla nagy for seat two, nagy, pamela nagel for seat three, edgar flores for seat four, carolyn scanlan to seat five. josh joshua clip to seat six, and antonio moreno to seat seven. yes. can we add a vacancy? residency waiver for

seat one and seat five for those two applicants? i guess okay, yes, we can do that. yes. would you like to vote on that motion? yes yes. on that motion to appoint, to appoint the members as listed member. peskin i, peskin i vice chair. safaí i safaí i that motion passes without objection. great do we have any other items in front of us today? mr. clerk? that completes today's agenda. great. we are adjourned.

>> everyone loves a good sunset, but in san francisco we take to a new level. i'm city supervisor engardio and i represent an entire part of the city called the sunset. it stretches 30 glorious avenues. welcome to district 4! the sunset is a collide scope of people culture and experiences for residents of all ages. we are a beach town, we are a chinatown, and not a town at

all. the sunset is home to 80 thousand people and we love our dogs. we live in neat row houses, homes with yards, story book homes and every quirk in between. the sunset used to be sand dunes all the way to the ocean. when the city needed to grow, san francisco's future ran through the sunset. we built rows and rows of housing for a great irish population and welcomed a great chinese population. today home to a gowing number of families from all backgrounds and the future starts here. >> we chose sunset knauz we love san francisco but during the pandemic we needed more space and more family focused, so that is where we found the sunset. how walkable it is. we live along iving street along where diana's school is our son's day care is. >> our kids and all the kids we

knee in the neighborhood are really the future here and we are really excited to live in the neighborhood. we love it so much. >> nina and alex are expecting their first baby and it first leaders of the newly formed sunset community band which bring together musicians of all ages at special events. >> we are about to have our first kid and met so many younger people and so many moving into the neighborhood. exciting to raising our family here because this community is awesome. >> bringing the community together and making it stronger i think a band can help with that. it is a matter of civic pride and coming together and doing something as a community that really makes like us from a collection of people into a neighborhood. >> sundays in the sunset are

for worship, farmer's market and live music at the ocean. if the sunset had a town square, it would be this magical area that appears every sunday on 37 avenue. the sunset farmer market isn't just a place to get good food and produce, it is where community gathers live music from local musicians and cultural celebrations and [indiscernible] share ideas to shape our city. it really is the place the community comes together to celebrate the best of the sunset. >> something about it had sunset chinese cultural district is there a lot of opportunities to uplift the chinese voice and chinese people. when you look at the sunset, a lot of think of trees and single family homets and the schools, but there isn't a lot of very iconic locations that people

can look at and know they are in the sunset. one thing we are working on is to unveil a new mural in the park by community and as we do more work in the sunset and uplift the unique qualities of the community, we want to do more mural s and spaces that are iconic so the sunset gets a piece of being unique and identifiable. >> a supermarket for everything you need for chinese home cooking and [indiscernible] the rice noodles are so good they are featured in catherine moss latest novel, [indiscernible] takes place in the sunset. there is a old school menu at the ond mandarin islamic restaurant and a item so spicy they have to warn customers. maybe bobo can neutralize the spice. the sunset has plenty options. try the bars at the beach. we also have the sunset

reservoir brewing company and o'briens irish pub. cuisine in the sunset spans the world. [indiscernible] >> travel and work in [indiscernible] we have our own restaurant. and then, it was my turn to follow her to her country, so that's why we opened in her neighborhood. >> we are looking for more a local gentleman gem. we traveled around the world and what we highly value, a place for the community to gather. a local hang-out spot. that is why this isn't a restaurant, it is cafe, you can order a coffee, you can have a fuel full meal but it is place to connect. whether parents kids friends is why we decide to go qulose close to

the beach, a neighborhood i am familiar with. i run into people all the time. i live in a big city but why i chose district 4 outer sunset. it has a small town feel. i love our neighbors. >> the sunset has everything from footwear to hardware. here is great wall hardware, 3500 square feet of retail space. we carry about 22 thousand items and counting. it never stops because i have a thing. when a customer says don't you have this and i don't have it, it bothers me. i want to have it,s so it is just of those things about owner a hardware store, people expect you to have everything and you to fulfill that need. i like to serve my neighborhood. most businesses you want to buy this or that or eat this or buy the widget. a hardware store is different. people come in and have a problem and

need a solution and they are looking for you to navigate them through that problem and offer them products that help them get to where they need to go. people are great. i love this neighborhood. there is different ethnicities here, different cultures here. we all intermingle and mix together and we get along fine and i always like that about this neighborhood. it is just a nice place to be. it is near the beach, it is beautiful and near the zoo and near golden gate park, stern grove. great schools, great parks. whats there not to like? we also love pizza from hole in the wall to [indiscernible] hottest restaurants in the sunset tunching vietnamese food [indiscernible] ice cream [indiscernible] this is great highway park. a great place to burn calories on the

weekend. i'm here every sunday doing a long run and start with 5 miles and with this ocean view, if it motivates me i try for 10. the new york times named great highway park one of 52 places to change the world. it is that amazing and the gem of the sunset and people are finding new ways to activate the space. in halloween it turns into the great haunt way. >> we imagine a future from the part time road close toor to a park to welcome people all ages and activities to our coast. >> since we had [indiscernible] always looking for ways to sort of improve what is already good around us. the neighborhood is great. it will be even better with a park here. >> sunset turn to put a new sign up on our coast. open for all. >> this is the treasure of san francisco and this hasn't been

discovered yet. homes are still relatively affordable, there is decent schools and a place for kids to have a feeling they can run and play and take part in things. what i'm happy the great highway has become a park for the weekend. i'm glad we share what we have with the rest of the city and people come from outside the city. i'm sure people come from the east bay, and i just feel like, seeing the people out here enjoying this represents the hope for the future. >> imagine the potential of an emerald necklace in the sunset for safe biking and recreation along the green belt of sunset boulevard which connects lake merced with golden gate park and great highway park. quality of life matters and we know how to take care of each other. sunset youth service helps teenagers find purpose and self-help for

the elderly let's seniors shine. local artists capture the sunset experience and work is on display in cafes like java beach and black bird books. the art of conversation happens at this new barber shop called the avenue. the owner calls it a barber lounge because he wants to create a space for the community to gather beyond hair cuts. this corner is a hent of the future. you see new housing built for new generations and it is over a community space that everyone loves. the sunset is a place full of potential. >> the possibility is here, more then anything. you can start something here and people will get behind and the community finds there is a need for it and people support it. >> i always look around the corner, the next thing we can do to crank it up more and make it safer, make it more enjoyable. bring in new business, support them. >> i really hope we bring just joy,

because ultimately music helps bring joy to the community. >> this is where people are at. this is where people want to be, so it gives me a lot of positive energy. >> my office created the first sunset night market on iring street where i'm standing. more then 10 thousand people showed up. nobody has seen that many on--[indiscernible] here it celebrate all the fun things in life, food music and art. our beautiful sunset always amazed. the sunset experience is pure joy. the sunset is where we will create our best san francisco. join us.

as latinos we are unified in some ways and incredibly diverse in others and this exhibit really is an exploration of nuance in how we present those ideas. ♪♪ our debts are not for sale. >> a piece about sanctuary and how his whole family served in the army and it's a long family tradition and these people that look at us as foreigners, we

have been here and we are part of america, you know, and we had to reinforce that. i have been cure rating here for about 18 year. we started with a table top, candle, flowers, and a picture and people reacted to that like it was the monna lisa. >> the most important tradition as it relates to the show is idea of making offering. in traditional mexican alters, you see food, candy, drinks, cigarettes, the things that the person that the offerings where being made to can take with them into the next word, the next life. >> keeps us connects to the people who have passed and

because family is so important to us, that community dynamic makes it stick and makes it visible and it humanizes it and makes it present again. ♪♪ >> when i first started doing it back in '71, i wanted to do something with ritual, ceremony and history and you know i talked to my partner ross about the research and we opened and it hit a cord and people loved it. >> i think the line between engaging everyone with our culture and appropriating it. i think it goes back to asking people to bring their visions of what it means to honor the dead, and so for us it's not asking us to make mexican altars if they are not mexican, it's really to share and expand our vision of

what it means to honor the dead. >> people are very respectful. i can show you this year alone of people who call tol ask is it okay if we come, we are hawaii or asian or we are this. what should we wear? what do you recommend that we do? >> they say oh, you know, we want a four day of the dead and it's all hybrid in this country. what has happened are paper cuts, it's so hybrid. it has spread to mexico from the bay area. we have influence on a lot of people, and i'm proud of it. >> a lot of times they don't represent we represent a lot of cultures with a lot of different

perspectives and beliefs. >> i can see the city changes and it's scary. >> when we first started a lot of people freaked out thinking we were a cult and things like that, but we went out of our way to also make it educational through outreach and that is why we started doing the prosession in 1979. >> as someone who grew up attending the yearly processions and who has seen them change incrementally every year into kind of what they are now, i feel in many ways that the cat is out of the bag and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle in how the wider public accesses the day of the dead. >> i have been through three different generations of children who were brought to the procession when they were very

young that are now bringing their children or grandchildren. >> in the '80s, the processions were just kind of electric. families with their homemade visuals walking down the street in san francisco. service so much more intimate and personal and so much more rooted in kind of a family practice of a very strong cultural practice. it kind of is what it is now and it has gone off in many different directions but i will always love the early days in the '80s where it was so intimate and sofa millial. >> our goal is to rescue a part of the culture that was a part that we could invite others to join in there there by where we

invite the person to come help us rescue it also. that's what makes it unique. >> you have to know how to approach this changing situation, it's exhausting and i have seen how it has affected everybody. >> what's happening in mission and the relationship with the police, well it's relevant and it's relevant that people think about it that day of the dead is not just sugar skulls and paper flowers and candles, but it's become a nondenominational tradition that people celebrate. >> our culture is about color and family and if that is not present in your life, there is just no meaning to it you know? >> we have artists as black and brown people that are in direct

danger of the direct policies of the trump administration and i think how each of the artists has responded so that call is interesting. the common

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patty zarb present. vice chair zarb is present with three members present. we do have quorum for the public works commission meeting. public comment is taken for all