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 tre 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 chair post is doing an incredible 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.today.

>> (clapping.) >> i've been working in restaurants forever as a blood alcohol small business you have a lot of requests for donations if someone calls you and say we want to documents for our school or nonprofit i've been in a position with my previous employment i had to say no all the time.

>> my name is art the owner and chief at straw combinations of street food and festival food and carnival food i realize that people try to find this you don't want to wait 365 day if you make that brick-and-mortar it is really about making you feel special and feel like a kid again everything we've done to celebrate that. >> so nonprofit monday is a program that straw runs to make sure that no matter is going on

with our business giving back is treated just the is that you as paying any other bill in addition to the money we impose their cause to the greater bayview it is a great way for straw to sort of build communicated and to introduce people who might not normally get to be exposed to one nonprofit or another and i know that they do a different nonprofit every most of the year. >> people are mroent surprised the restaurant it giving back i see some people from the nonprofit why been part of nonprofit monday sort of give back to the program as well answer. >> inform people that be regular aprons at straw they get

imposed to 10 or 12 nonprofits. >> i love nonprofits great for a local restaurant to give back to community that's so wonderful i wish more restrictive places did that that is really cool. >> it is a 6 of nonprofit that is supporting adults with autism and down syndrome we i do not involved one the wonderful members reached out to straw and saw a headline about, about their nonprofit mondays and she applied for a grant back in january of 2016 and we were notified late in the spring we would be the recipient of straw if you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer thems in the month of genuine we were able to organize with straw for the monday and at the end of the month we were the recipient of 10 percent of precedes on mondays the contribution from nonprofit

monday from stray went into our post group if you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer theming fund with our arts coaching for chinese and classes and we have a really great vibrate arts program. >> we we say thank you to the customers like always but say 0 one more thing just so you know you've made a donation to x nonprofit which does why i think that is a very special thing. >> it is good to know the owner takes responsibility to know your money is going to good cause also. >> it is really nice to have a restaurant that is very community focused they do it all month long for

nonprofits not just one day all four mondays. >> we have a wall of thank you letters in the office it seems like you know we were able to gas up the 10 passenger minivan we were innovate expected to do. >> when those people working at the nonprofits their predictive and thank what straw is giving that in and of itself it making an impact with the nonprofit through the consumers that are coming here is just as important it is important for the grill cheese kitchen the more restrictive i learn about what is going on in the community more restrictive people are doing this stuff with 4 thousand restaurant in san francisco we're doing an average of $6,000 a year in donations and multiply

that by one thousand that's a lot to [music] san francisco emergency home program is a safety net for sustableable commuters if you bike, walk, take public transit or shares mobility you are eligible for a free and safe roadway home the city will reimburse you up to $150 dlrs in an event of an emergency. to learn more how to submit a reimbursement visit sferh.

[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 the doors open still. 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 our lovely environment and have a cocktail >> thought of my plan as a cio for the sheriff office is doing three things, one inaibt productbivity, make sure we are running a effective shop and the third thing is make sure we

provide customer experience, and so combination of those three strategic plan we have. >> very simple, accountability, transparency is basically understanding. what is the interaction with customers. for it we look as something as a commodity. people provide orders. >> the intangible benefits are huge. we have a system that provides services for the city that are intangible in a--[indiscernible] >> i think we are something in the business process. we are able to do all the book ings in time. able to share data with partners. all these leads to what is happening today, because at the end of the day if this is a--[indiscernible] we get a phone call from the ceo stating that, we there is a problem and that can impact the community and also

lives in public safety. >> aligning with the city is critical. [indiscernible] now we have to bring in partners to get better funding and make sure we get what we need and deliver the latest and greatest technology for the operation. >> one thing i want to leave the audience is, be kind to people and be nice to people. and, whatever job you are doing, however minimal it is, it starts with you and be accountable. there is a lot of challenges and we are living in a polarizing community now. look to communities to give back-[indiscernible] there is a lot of things here and i'm happy to support the sheriff organization to make sure to achieve goals and objectives. >> martin has been spack techural what he has given us.

he has given leadership nrflgz management and data sharing, enhanced by his presence and think he isn't the best kept secret for us anymore because dealing with sitey wide agencies and criminal justice partners he is accessed as a member of coit and justice committee to be a leader there as well so we are sharing him with everyone else, but we are happy, very happy with his experience with us and what he has brought to us.

>> i don't want to be involved in the process after it happens. i want to be there at the front end to help people with something in my mind from a very early age. our community is the important way to look at things, even now. george floyd was huge. it opened up wounds and a discussion on something festering for a long time. before rodney king. you can look at all the instances where there are calls for change. i think we are involved in change right now in this moment that is going to be long lasting. it is very challenging. i was the victim of a crime when i was in middle school. some kids at recess came around at pe class and came to the locker room and tried to steal

my watch and physically assaulted me. the officer that helped afterwards went out of his way to check the time to see how i was. that is the kind of work, the kind of perspective i like to have in our sheriff's office regardless of circumstance. that influenced me a lot. some of the storefronts have changed. what is mys is that i still see some things that trigger memories. the barbershop and the shoe store is another one that i remember buying shoestrings and getting my dad's old army boots fixed. we would see movies after the first run. my brother and i would go there. it is nice. if you keep walking down sacramento. the nice think about the city it takes you to japan town. that is where my grandparents

were brought up. that is the traditional foods or movies. they were able to celebrate the culture in that community. my family also had a dry-cleaning business. very hard work. the family grew up with apartments above the business. we have a built-in work force. 19 had 1 as -- 1941 as soon as that happened the entire community was fixed. >> determined to do the job as democracy should with real consideration for the people involved. >> the decision to take every one of japan niece american o japanese from their homes. my family went to the mountains and experienced winter and

summer and springs. they tried to make their home a home. the community came together to share. they tried to infuse each home are little things. they created things. i remember my grand mother saying they were very scared. they were worried. they also felt the great sense of pride. >> japanese americans. >> my granduncle joined the 442nd. when the opportunity came when the time that was not right. they were in the campaign in italy. they were there every step of the way. >> president truman pays tribute. >> that was the most decorated

unit in the history of the united states army. commitment and loyal to to the country despite that their families were in the camp at that time. they chose to come back to san francisco even after all of that. my father was a civil servant as well and served the state of california workers' compensation attorney and judge and appellate board. my parents influenced me to look at civil service s.i applied to police, and sheriff's department at the same time. the sheriff's department grabbed me first. it was unique. it was not just me in that moment it was everyone. it wasn't me looking at the crowd. it was all of us being together. i was standing there alone. i felt everyone standing next to me.

the only way to describe it. it is not about me. it is from my father. my father couldn't be there. he was sick. the first person i saw was him. i still sometimes am surprised by the fact i see my name as the sheriff. i am happy to be in the position i am in to honor their memory doing what i am doing now to help the larger comment. when i say that we want to be especially focused on marginalized communities that have been wronged. coming from my background and my family experienced what they did. that didn't happen in a vacuum. it was a decision made by the government. nobody raised their voice. now, i think we are in a better place as country and community.

when we see something wrong we have change agents step up to help the community affected. that is a important thing to continue to do. you talk about change and being a leader in change and not knowing whether you have successes or results. the fact of the matter is by choosing to push for change you have already changed things. through inspiration for others, take up the matter or whether it is through actual functional change as a result of your voice being heard. i think you have already started on a path to change by choosing that path. in doing that in april of itself creates change. i continue in that type of service for my family. something i hope to see in my children. i have a pretty good chance with five children one will go into some sort of civil service. i hope that happens to continue

that legacy. >> i am paul, sheriff of san francisco. [ music ]

>> we are right now in outer richmond in the last business area of this city. this area of merchants is in the most western part of san francisco, continue blocks down the street they're going to fall into the pacific ocean. two blocks over you're going to have golden gate park. there is japanese, chinese, hamburgers, italian, you don't have to cook. you can just walk up and down the street and you can get your

cheese. i love it. but the a very multicultural place with people from everywhere. it's just a wonderful environment. i love the richmond district. >> and my wife and i own a café we have specialty coffee drinks, your typical lattes and mochas and cappuccinos, and for lunches, sandwiches and soup and salad. made fresh to order. we have something for everybody >> my shop is in a very cool part of the city but that's one of the reasons why we provide such warm and generous treats, both physically and emotionally (♪♪) >> it's an old-fashioned general store. they have coffee. other than that what we sell is fishing equipment. go out and have a good time. >> one of my customers that has

been coming here for years has always said this is my favorite store. when i get married i'm coming in your store. and then he in his wedding outfit and she in a beautiful dress came in here in between getting married at lands end and to the reception, unbelievable. (♪♪) >> the new public health order that we're announcing will require san franciscans to remain at home with exceptions only for essential outings. >> when the pandemic first hit we kind of saw the writing on

the walls that potentially the city is going to shut all businesses down. >> it was scary because it was such an unknown of how things were going to pan out. i honestly thought that this might be the end of our business. we're just a small business and we still need daily customers. >> i think that everybody was on edge. nobody was untouched. it was very silent. >> as a business owner, you know, things don't just stop, right? you've still got your rent, and all of the overhead, it's still there. >> there's this underlying constant sense of dread and anxiety. it doesn't prevent you from going to work and doing your job, it doesn't stop you from doing your normal routine. what it does is just make you feel extra exhausted.

>> so we began to reopen one year later, and we will emerge stronger, we will emerge better as a city, because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> this place has definitely been an anchor for us, it's home for us, and, again, we are part of this community and the community is part of us. >> one of the things that we strived for is making everyone in the community feel welcome and we have a sign that says "you're welcome." no matter who you are, no matter what your political views are, you're welcome here. and it's sort of the classic san francisco thing is that you work with folks. >> it is your duty to help everybody in san francisco.

>> good morning. the meeting will come to order. wrel welcome to september 18, meeting of budget and finance committee. i'm supervisor chan, chair. joined by supervisor melgar and supervisor hillary ronan. shortly by vice chair rafael mandelman. i like to thank calina mendoza from sfgovtv for broadcasting the meeting. mr. clerk, do you ve