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tv   BOS Government Audits and Oversight Committee  SFGTV  February 20, 2025 10:00am-1:00pm PST

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s.f. gov tv san francisco government television
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one second. >> good morning. this meeting will come to order. welcome to the february 20th 2025 regular meeting of the government audit and oversight committee of the san francisco board of supervisors. i am supervisor jackie fielder, chair of the committee joined by supervisor sartor and supervisor cheryl. the committee clerk today is brant nipper. our thanks to sue you know of as of going to be for staffing this meeting. mr. clerk do you have any announcements? >> thank you madam chair. just a friendly reminder to those in attendance to please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices to prevent interruptions to our proceedings should you have any documents to be included as part of the filing should be submitted to myself the clerk public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda.
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when your item of interest comes up in public comment is called. please line up to speak on the west side of the chamber to your right in my left along those curtains. >> and while not required to provide public comment we do invite you to fill out a comment cards and leave them on the tray by the television tray left by the doors. >> if you wish to be accurately recorded for the minutes alternatively you may submit public comment in writing and either in the following ways email them to the government audit and oversight committee clerk monique creighton hat memo and i q you eat not see our a hawaii t o n at s.f. go v.org if you submit public comment via email it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file. >> you may also send your written comments about a u.s. postal service to our office at city hall had one doctor carlton b got the place room 244 san francisco california night for 1 or 2 and for item number one in partnership with our office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs, we have
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arranged for tinky wong and arturo cosenza to assist us in providing interpretation in cantonese, mandarin and spanish and we'll provide instructions in language when we open public comment on that item. and finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors of agenda of march 4th unless otherwise stated. madam chair, thank you so uh, thank you and supervisor chan who is the sponsor? >> oh, sorry. run running back please. >> got item number one? yes. >> item number one is a resolution affirming san francisco's commitment to birthright citizenship as a constitutional right and opposing president donald trump's executive order that attempts to unconstitutionally limit birthright citizenship. >> madam chair, thank you. today we're joined by supervisor connie chan who is a sponsor for this item and will be presenting today. >> supervisor chan, please go ahead. >> thank you chair fielder and thank you colleagues for
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scheduling this item at your committee. >> as a daughter of immigrant parents and an immigrant first generation immigrants myself it is an honor and a privilege to be able to sit with all of you here today as your district supervisor and to hear this item that i wanted to say that allows the community in san francisco and this body to affirm san francisco's commitment to birthright citizenship as a constitutional right and oppose president donald trump's executive order that attempts to unconstitutionally limits birthright citizenship a right that had already been affirmed by the supreme court almost 125 years ago after a lawsuit by wong kim ark wong kim ark i think many of you already know it was a u.s.. born united states born citizen who went on a trip abroad in
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1995 when he returned. the department of immigration denied his admission on the false basis that he was not a citizen of the united states and was ordered to be deported under the 1882 chinese exclusion act with the assistance of legal representation by the chinese consolidated benevolent association. and sometimes we call them two chinese six company and the chinese-american community. wong kim ark fought against unlawful detention and push that lawsuit to the supreme court where they ultimately ruled that birthright citizenship apply to all children born in the united states. and i must say with that ruling impact generations of chinese-americans and many other immigrants not just in san francisco but across united states and that today that united states and san francisco can be the robust and vibrant
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city and country that it is because of many, many immigrants contribute to them. >> but i also want to say that with that what is evident to us is that california with 40 million population majority really not just that they're first generation immigrants their children of immigrants that we now are actually the fifth largest economy of the world. that tells you something about immigrants and the brilliance of immigrant. >> so at this time when the current administration continues to propose policies that threaten the rights and existence of immigrants, i want to remind all of us that immigrants are the foundation of this country and this city. >> immigrants contribute to society. they enrich our country with cultural diversity. >> they bring us music arts
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and for me of course great food . they build local international economy courage, international trade and propel this country's economic growth as a city. >> and that has always embraced diversity, welcoming immigrants and a century free. >> it is critical for this body to reaffirm san francisco values. i want to thank all ten of my colleagues for their co-sponsorship. and before we go to public comments or i turn does back to our chair i just want to quickly mention colleagues it is my mistake and i overlooked it that in critical all while minor is that the wong kim ark returned to san francisco from 1894 to not at actually he returned 18 95 not 1894 that is currently as written page two line seven.
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and so with that chair i am again very grateful for you scheduling this and any advance of that. i also want to thank that i see that there are folks out here today and going to make public comments. and i also want to say that let's also recognize the courage that for people who are willing to speak on this today because across the nation and even in san francisco that is a century people who speak out at this moment be it workers, be it families, be immigrants we know the tremendous pressure that they will have to face. and that's including our allies who speak on their behalf as well. so thank you for coming out to speak. we i appreciate your courage and and bravery for speaking out. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, supervisor chan. colleagues, do you have any questions or remarks? i just want to say thank you so
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much for introducing this resolution and and thank you all for coming out today to come and support it's very important in this time that as many communities are being under attack by the trump administration that we all come together across different walks of life across racial and ethnic backgrounds, across class. and so i'm very proud to support this resolution, be a co-sponsor with all of my colleagues on the borders supervisors. >> and this is just the start. we need each other now more than ever. so thank you for introducing us. supervisor chan. >> all right. if there are no other questions or comments. >> mr. clerk oh, sorry. supervisor slaughter thank you. chair fielder a really happy to see a strong showing of support from the community and and appreciate this being heard in this committee. this is i think a moment
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unfortunately we're in this moment but it is an opportunity for us to celebrate one key mark to celebrate a son of chinatown, someone born on sacramento street and really an opportunity to celebrate that legacy and to make a commitment that birthright citizenship is an asset. it is not a threat and i know that we're all united both here in our entire board and city in saying that thank you. thank you. all right. if there are no other questions or comments, mr. clerk, let's go to public comment. >> thank you, madam chair. we are now opening public comment for members of the public who wish to address this committee regarding this item. number one, as mentioned earlier, we do have tinky wong in our work a sense of joining us today if they can kindly provide an instruction on language please. >> all right. and speakers will have two
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minutes. >> when was this a city that said we just needed to sing in espanol? i can feel a kilo richer eating than the dancehall i meant to those particular eu metros to this business. >> this is like i from senegal i think python going commercial thank you and you guys i for you go on i think they who and will you thank yous helping hi guys i would that for speaker please thank you and thank you supervisor kind of chan for sponsoring this important resolution i am judge logan singh retired i'm the first asian-american female judge and northern california and i dedicated all my life to upholding the rule of law. >> this resolution is not only correct it is the law of our country. >> we have to uphold the rules of law because this is what united states is all about and we don't what does that mean to us, to the whole world
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? >> it is ridiculous that president trump thinks he's above the law. no one is above the law and i stand before you to tell some of the scholars like john yoo who think it is legal. >> it is not and we must defeat this crazy idea of our president like all his crazy ideas i and and unanimously supports connie chen and the supervisors resolution. >> another note before i became a judge i specialized in immigration law. >> i represent a lot of chinese who were the descendants of illegal immigrants who came to the united states because of the anti immigration policies of the 40s and 50s and they became legalized through the confession period. >> so a lot of the chinese who came there after came legally. unfortunately some of our chinese americans believe
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cannot continue that in the 30s they are legal immigrants and oppose illegal immigrants. well if this birthright policy is adopted they are the children of illegal immigrants as well. >> so chinese americans must really be careful about the slippery road that this leads you and we all must vote against and support against trump's birthright policies. >> thank you and thank you for addressing this committee. next speaker please. >> good morning supervisors. my name is sophia civic engagement organizer with then i want to start off by thanking you for your commitment and solidarity to our immigrant communities here in san francisco. the resolution affirming san francisco's commitment to birthright citizenship is a reminder to the federal government that cities as influential as ours will not
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stand by the racist and xenophobic agenda to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. as a beneficiary of dhaka i know the feeling of not having citizenship in the country that i've called home since i was three years old. ensuring that birthright citizenship is upheld will ensure that individu roles are protected and feel safe in the u.s. as immigrants are here to stay and we will stand taller with every attack. we hope to have your support. >> thank you and thank you, sophia. next speaker us ai supervisors. i lost my voice. he is going to read our statement. >> okay. >> my name is amy aguilar and i work up there to inform san francisco's latino immigrant communities about their civil and language access rights and to advance our community civic engagement. i'm a san francisco resident and we are here in support of the resolution to protect
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birthright citizenship that has been stated a birthright citizenship is the right guaranteed by the 14th amendment of the constitution and i am pleased to see that over 20 states and many advocacy organization tions have sued to block the trump's administrative executive order to end birthright citizenship. it is crucial for cities like san francisco to take a stand at ucla's latino policy and politics institute has stated in the policy paper on the health and social cost of ending birthright citizenship. these actions from the federal administration are heightening the fear and uncertainty in latino communities which lead to reduced health care utilization worse birth outcomes, lower public safety net programs examples enrollment and supplemental nutrition assistance program or medicaid and economic stabilities changes to birthright citizenship would disproportionately impact latino children. as the ucla policy brief states in 2022, 75% of all children 0
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to 17 years old with non citizenship parents were latino, 4 million children. this has disproportionately impacted on our community because latino children are the largest and fastest growing population of children in the country. i want to thank you the san francisco board of supervisors and the city of san francisco for your leadership in ensuring all immigrant communities are protected. >> thank you for your comments. amy i guess the next speaker good morning committee members. my name is nick jee. i'm here representing chinese for affirmative action and we are pleased to be here today to express our support of the city's birthright citizenship resolution and board and the board's recognition of wong kim our critical role in guaranteeing birthright citizenship for all those born in the united states. wong kim ark and the chinese consolidated benevolent association is fight for justice. over 125 years ago ensured that
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every child born in the united states regardless of race, color, sex ability class parents, national origin parents immigration status are automatically considered u.s. citizens through the constitution we are grateful to supervisor chan and the board of supervisors for recognizing the importance of birthright citizenship to san francisco and to push back against trump's draconian attempts to scapegoat immigrants. we must work together to ensure that all immigrants regardless of status know they are welcome here and that their rights are protected. thank you and thank you nikki. >> next speaker good morning. >> my name is tanya li and nick nick advocate with chinese for affirmative action and as a first generation immigrants i came to united states eight years ago i became working at
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caa to support our community after i graduated from college and i choose to stay and build a home in san francisco. i'm a resident at district two and work at district three. so really glad to see my supervisors here and however, eliminating the birthright citizenship would add yet another burden on the immigrants like myself. we not only have to worry about our own complex situations but also the future of our children all the educational and social opportunities that comes with being born in the su born in the united states should be provided to the next generation. so i like to say thank supervisor connie chen for introducing this resolution and the rest of the board of supervisors for co-sponsoring. >> so over 125 years ago wong camargo and the san francisco chinatown community came together to fight for the future and place for all immigrants in american society. and i'm proud to be here today with everyone to continue this fight. so i urge the community here to pass this resolution and thank
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you so much for your time and considering and thank you for addressing this committee. next speaker good morning. look for any hayward to we don't like anything major hasan fancy hemingway yoga common to lampposts hong kong metal to taunting a team to hold off handing a big name cards on your own putin tong hanzo tsang common shingo yano hago soto yoko yang diego or hawaii fan him don't don't tell him all to mumble mosul hong go yeah but also kobe in fact to go alexi let me call him 40 subsidies something long have you done me calling post on toussaint a young more young gitonga got a highly courtly man by looking up low down they kidnap coca the lamp authorities and hunting meaning him dunking her no coco sequoia jumper for hong kong so how you man say a quote beautiful maxi
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call gap how farkas your letter while yo-yo now on the pinking equipment so young go on come back on i told you indigo queenie hey mona why you me to sing a common q you got some cheese and going to holland boy yoho took keith has outing long william john paul why even fat hotel cat now we've suddenly make or hello yoko imogene coca embankment hi welcome to come to fool you sam i see she thinks look i t even say i call you how am i to send coleman king legal cacao quite to get him for something you so you turns out thank you the morning my name is annie i'm an outreach worker from the caa. i live in san francisco and i am a residence of chinese descent. >> on the day of his inauguration, president trump signs our full executive orders one of which was to challenge and restrict birthright citizenship. there have been 20 lawsuits
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across the country demanding that this to begin unconstitutional and that the president has no power or authority to change the constitution with a single signature for more than 100 years the 14th amendment of the united of the us constitution has granted automatic citizenship to anyone born on u.s. soil which is beneficial to the country and the people in order to build a work force and build a country. >> trump's implementation of these executive orders will seriously affect communities cause fear hurt immigrant communities and lead to division and discrimination. in the past when the chinese exclusion act was passed right was passed residential had racial prejudice against chinese american use. the golden art case to challenge this right hoping to destroy citizenship if successful at this time in a charter amendment that was seriously undermine the
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constitution many families will be separated. the united states is a country built by immigrants and immigrants have made tremendous contributions today i think and call on the city of san francisco to continue to support the immigrant community and defend perfect citizenship. this country has rules and a constitution. the president must follow them to the next speaker. place thank you. good morning. my name is kevin benedicto. i'm a proud filipino american san franciscan, an attorney and a member of the san francisco police commission. but i'm also here today as the son of immigrants who fled a brutal dictatorship rife with government corruption and unequal justice to give their children a chance at a better life. they came to america seeking something different. a government of laws not men. thanks to them i was able to grow up and support and defend those laws. every day i promise to honor their courage and sacrifices.
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and today that promise has led me here in unequivocal support of this resolution. today i'm also not speaking alone as a board member of the asian american bar association of the greater bay area or aba, one of the oldest and largest asian-american legal association chains in the country. i come bearing the voices of our leaders and our members. more than a century of settled constitutional law has established and confirmed birthright citizenship. when chinese-american wong kim ark born right here in san francisco, two noncitizen parents fought to have his citizenship recognized and prevailed in the u.s. supreme court under the 14th amendment in 1898, a mural of wong kim ark still stands today in san francisco's chinatown. and his legacy lives in those in our community including many of our members who are citizens by virtue of birthright. today in the midst of black history month, i'm reminded of dr. king's words darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. hate cannot drive out hate.
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only love can do that. we must bring light and love to the darkness and hate that these attacks on our community represent. we must steadfastly defend our rights, our families and our community about supports today's resolution and stands proudly beside those who are fighting to protect the constitution no guarantee of birthright citizenship. i thank supervisor chan for introducing the resolution chair fielder for hearing this committee and all the supervisors for their co-sponsorship. >> thank you and thank you again benedicto. >> next speaker i echo marlene like oh i'm on why you are long i think my moten come okay i need all high volatility. listen come on. cool. yeah i'm like woo i will since i got to come fast equipped being jacopo music although amigos just like i did all year long singing the kiwi so what i make of long ago you may you may tell me to hold or the
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youth in you and so i'm walking down guantanamo and what the idea i need cockatoos i bass young man neil young got it all in on him all day long go to go gang okay well you only know one thing i may like to thank all my gang gun. gun? i don't see why gang i come michael how do you go being the a-team mole on codigo moto g like pinto do you know they come to a gathering mohonk we go you only you young all the heidi or young age so you go mongolians they're going well hey morgan heidi along comes old awkwardly so you need been told a you only know you kate i need all tools i guide home you look in lieu okay well hang cold i got you deep importance uncle michael young we are guided on not being done assaulting or to call borgia the morning everyone my name is venetian bull and i am an immigrant mother with two children. i am here today to support permanent citizenship because it upholds constitutional values, strengthens communities
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and ensure a fair and just society where every child born in the u.s. has an equal opportunity to succeed. living in america as an immigrant means facing many challenges from language barrier to financial struggles but no income a children a recognized a citizen in this country gives me hope that they can pursue better opportunities and have a stable future before citizens. it isn't just about legal status it's about giving every child a fair start regardless of where their parents come from. if this is allows family like mine to fully participate in the community without fear and give my children the confidence to dream big and contribute to the community i want my children to grow up feeling they belong and i ask you to protect birthright citizenship so they can have the same rights and opportunities as any other child born here. thank you and thank you. next speaker like like a whole
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lot you are totally going ordinal oh girl christina haywood benton mama maguire gotto ying parker in my ankle gap lady psych i got i don't don't okay i'm going to oncology baluchistan government munchkin coaches staff are sick and we have i got you tom and we've all gardening though for some time you hey michael today just some guy hides it he enjoyed day okay like hang what i mean funny so will go to like my kids on your way in man gabbing well heidi tossed out on michael welcomed out for something how perfect though michael chosen good morning how folks are will that heidi so sunken so but hot she hot on but did not go out would seem that had zika chosen someone same got busy at the tango sacred lake up for mingling he'll face on i jumped on god's own dr. pink into my cassie most olga heidi and what you
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mean culberson fun he and michael don't own it don't go like i been to see sat so you don't go we told myself are kneeling hoga kellen hey man what i say calling our land and go get city it's just uncommon to like us only i might get you man some fun though yank got polo coca polo tarzan come and get some fun. >> tom actually like today. >> hi everyone. i'm christina, an outreach worker from the caa. i am a single mother. the united states is a diverse immigrant country which where people from all over the world and different races live here. preserving birthright citizenship is very important for every parent and every family living in san francisco. children born on american soil should have this right which is a right guaranteed by our country constitution. i'm one with the immigrant families and my children was born in the united states. i feel very honored that she has been recognized as an
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american citizen by birth. without this i wouldn't know which country will accept my child will accept my child identity. without this constitution my child will be stateless. as 4 to 1 came out another cases american courts have repeatedly repeatedly ruled that those born in the united states should have the rights of american citizen by birth. and this cannot be changed just by saying so. i hope that our leaders can continue to support wise citizenship regardless of the immigrant's immigration status of their parent. that idea and rights are perfect citizenship be waiting . >> thank you and thank you christina. next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is sharon and i'm with the chinatown development center chinatown community development center, otherwise known as siddiqui's mission is to build community and enhance the quality of life for san francisco residents. is the place based community
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development organization serving primarily the chinatown neighborhood and also serves other areas including north beach and the tenderloin. cdc has many roles as neighborhood advocates, organizers and planners and as developers and managers of affordable housing. we're committed to the empowerment of low income residents diversity and coalition building and social and economic justice . we firmly support the constitutional right to birthright citizenship and oppose the president's executive order protecting the meaning and value of birthright citizenship. birthright citizenship is a fundamental constitutional right of the 14th amendment of the united states constitution. this is especially important to the end to san francisco since the long established legal precedent was founded here in san francisco, chinatown in the united states supreme court case. wong kim ark. the executive order is a blatant violation of the constitutional rights birthright citizenship and would be devastating to cruz's mission and would tear apart the communities it serves. cdc strongly supports the resolution affirming san francisco's commitment to birthright citizenship and recommends its adoption. >> thank you and thank you, sharon.
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next speaker. good morning. >> my name is shikha srinivas and i represent the asian law caucus, the nation's first asian-american legal and civil rights organization. >> i'm here today to express the caucuses enthusiastic support for san francisco's birthright citizenship ordinance. thank you to supervisor chan and the san francisco board of supervisors for publicly declaring the importance of birthright citizenship. this is a fight of particular significance to elc. our office sits just blocks away from where wong kim ark was born in san francisco. >> chinatown. his courage in standing up and bringing forth this legal challenge continues to be an inspiration for all of us. >> his advocacy would enshrine birthright citizenship as a bedrock of u.s. democracy that for over a hundred years every person born in this country would be constitutionally guaranteed citizenship. consistent with wong kim ark's
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example. the same day that the trump administration issued its executive order limiting birthright citizenship, aoc joined other advocates to file a legal challenge to stop the administration from implementing it. we are encouraged that the court in this case and all the courts that have examined the executive order so far have agreed that the order runs afoul of both the constitution and federal statutory law. but we can't just rely on the courts. we need to stand up and speak out more broadly in defense of birthright citizenship and against the executive orders dangerous implications people born in this country may have their citizenship questioned or challenged solely due to their race. >> we at aoc will continue our work to strengthen and protect the rights shaped by wong kim ark's legacy. >> once again thank you to the city of san francisco for your leadership in this fight for our constitutional freedoms. >> thank you.
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thank you. a string of us next speaker. >> when they asked me no worries me too nicely among advocates they said i thought a charm the supervisors political nozzle importancia all the rituals were the upper nacimiento como madre the threshold nazi they'll sing estados unidos sickle as with an airport nacimiento you have established that the opportunity valley's is the resolution a fear factor los ninos nozzles a kaesong wireless until allay singing portrayals tattoos migratoria espadrilles be welcome the apple yarra is the resolution at the head effortlessly to la familia gracious. >> good morning committee members my name is me or not i am a part of coleman advocates. i want to thank supervisor chen and the board of supervisors for recognizing the importance of birthright citizenship. as a mother of three u.s. born children. i know that citizenship provides stability and opportunity. this resolution reaffirms that
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all children born here are equal before the law regardless of their parents immigration status. i ask the committee to support this resolution. protect and strengthen all families. >> thank you. thank you, marina. next speaker. >> the yasmin brazil committee me number is blanca, fabiola catalan. so you are the is congressman advocate the rest represent dynamic community of immigrants. if they are cuban expressed to me freedom me freedom apoyo alla resolution lamia sobre la l'origine de nacimiento ghidorah the citizens harassment their supervisor the chen yeah la junta supervisor is puerto matapos dura for public comment de la importancia danielpour the return nacimiento of los attack as i stated it your fundamental is and on an emotional and the stress community that is
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governing syria the dhaka celebrity marama analog significa vietnam inserted omri berman familiar your then the most profound that rises again is the police trump that return the transformer estados unidos in gardendale only that familiar la like me that your rispetto santorum plaza exclusion m elias la minto almeida la violencia pedroia somerset tipperary syrian on moscow that impose the brussels crusaders e permitted and most case also say that estamos do your sources aliens regardless of legado they want kim ark defend their ebro to hear alaska money that is immigrants that they made la discrimination russian yet fear madness of the was constitutional is better than samosas delgado said you demolish and open interest familias nuestro seahorse in israel futuro which has aggressive. >> good morning committee members my name is blanca catalan. i am a parent organizer served with coleman advocates representing my immigrant community. i am here to express my strong
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support for the city's birthright citizenship resolution. i want to sincerely thank supervisor chen and the board of supervisors for taking a stand and publicly affirming the importance of birthright citizenship. the attacks on this fundamental right are causing deep emotional harm to our communities. i said that the recipient i know firsthand what it means to live in uncertainty. yet my family and i have deep roots in this country. trump is trying to reshape america into a place where family unity, dignity and respect are replaced by exclusion, isolation, fear and violence. but today we are here to say that we are not going to stand by that and let it happen. we are proud to build on wong kim ark's legacy. defending and protecting immigrant communities. stopping racial profiling and affirming our constitutional rights. we belong here and we will continue to fight for our families, our children and our future. >> thank you.
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>> to the next speaker please. good morning. >> trend often resident of san francisco. the 14th amendment is a promise of equality. and of what it means to treat people equally. >> let's remember the history that brought us to birthright citizenship and support our immigrant communities and support children as they grow up here and help them thrive. >> thank you. thank you, trentham. next speaker. good morning supervisors. >> denise taylor with api legal outreach. over the 50 years that we've been serving san franciscans, we represented thousands of folks from our immigrant communities the disadvantaged, the underserved. since the inauguration. every day i wake up more angry than the day before. angrier and angrier. it's it's it's wearing me out.
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but thanks to your resolution and it's time for san francisco to show its anger and its leadership in this country. people talk about san francisco all the time. but we are in the forefront of the resistance to these types of policies. and i want to say racist policies because it's no coincidence that the original challengers in federal court were western from the western states and they were all asian-americans. they were suffering under multiple exclusion acts against chinese, japanese and other api races. so it's time for us i know you're not in congress yet but it's time for us to show that resistance starts from our local communities and works its way up. we are at the forefront of many progressive issues in the country and we thank supervisor
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chan for taking the effort to make this an issue that hopefully we will hear in the rest of the country. >> thank you. and thank you much for addressing this committee. >> next speaker good morning committee members. first of all first and foremost i want to thank supervisor chan for spearheading this resolution and the rest of board for supporting. my name is crystal van and i'm with chinese for affirmative action. the trump administration's attempt to revoke birthright citizen citizenship and deny children born in the united states to immigrant parents the rights of citizenship would create a new generation of stateless children. my parents are immigrants and i'm a citizen of this country due to birthright citizenship without birthright citizenship. thousands of babies born in california would be denied access to important anti poverty programs like cal fresh
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and calworks school lunch and student financial aid. without birthright citizenship these children including myself will grow without passports. social security cards, access to jobs and the right to vote. this would perpetuate racial inequity and make them vulnerable to exploitation and lead to widespread economic ,social and political marginalization. >> trump's actions are unconstitutional and are an attempt to instill fear among san francisco's immigrant communities and the rest of the country feeling racial profiling and stoke anti-immigrant sentiments. today's resolution sends a message that xenophobia and racist fear mongering have no place in san francisco. thank you again, supervisor chan and the entire board of supervisors for your leadership in condemning the president's unlawful actions and uplifting
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wong kim park's legacy. thank you that thank you for declaring that immigrants belong here. >> thank you and thank you christel van. >> next speaker honorable supervisors. supervisor chan. my name is policy. i am an executive director of the japanese cultural and community center of northern california. i want to thank you for authoring this resolution. it's not just symbolic. it's going on record. it's taken a stand that we're not going to take this anymore. you know our tyrannical president is dismantling america and san francisco needs to stand up. >> i'm a little disillusioned that our democrat party hasn't organized enough to stand up. i have to restrain myself from swearing so i'll make this quick. you know he doesn't care about the constitution, doesn't care about bill of rights.
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he's coming after people that doesn't look like him. and san francisco is at the forefront and we need to let america know that san francisco is going to stand up and we're not going to take this. so thank you very much and thank you policy. >> and if we have no further speakers or madam chair, that completes our cue. >> all right. seeing no further speakers, public comment is now closed. >> i would like to introduce the following amendment. that's a resolution as the committee to carry which will correct a date in which mr. wong kim ark returned to the us . >> the amendment is as follows. page two line seven amending the date from 1894 to 1895. it reads whereas in 1995 wong kim ark returned to san francisco. and i now move to amend this item as presented. >> and on that motion to amend.
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correcting the date on page two line seven vice chair sartor. sartor i remember cheryl cheryl i chair afield here i feel your eye we have three eyes thank you. >> the motion passes all right and now i move to send this item to the full board of supervisors with positive recommendation. >> mr. clerk please call the roll. and on that motion the forward the full board with the positive recommendation as amended. how a vice chair slaughter sartor i remember cheryl cheryl i chair field her i feel your i we have three eyes thank you. >> the motion passes mr. clerk please call item number two. >> yes, item number two. his a resolution authorizing the office of the assessor recorder to solicit donations from various private nonprofit,
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philanthropic and other entities to support the urgent provision of legal services related to the creation and enforcement of immigration laws, regulations and policies including litigation and regulatory reform efforts at the local, state and federal level and non legal services and support for the city's immigrant communities. goods and services including legal services related to defending and supporting lgbtq plus rights and goods and services including legal services related to defending and supporting reproductive rights, goods and services including legal services related to defending existing environmental protection laws and promoting environmental protection efforts and goods and services including legal services related to racial equity initiatives. >> all non. not withstanding the bested pavement ordinance. >> madam chair. thank you, mr. clerk. and today we are joined by miss holly long who is representing the assessor recorder's office
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and will be presenting on this item. ms. lang, welcome and please go ahead. >> good morning supervisors holly long from the office of assessor recorders. thank you so much for your time over the past month and as we just seen in the last item we have seen direct attacks on the values san franciscans hold most dear. the item before you eases the requirements around be has debt payments for six months allowing the assessor some breathing room to fundraise for vital services and programs in response to the federal actions the freezes, the firings, crackdowns on immigrant and lgbtq plus communities as well as efforts advancing racial, racial and social justice during the pandemic. assessor joaquin torres played a key role in securing donations for critical initiatives proving the impact of his efforts when the city faced urgent needs. our office upholds strong ethical standards and does not
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intend to actively solicit from interested parties. this resolution then offers legal clarity allowing us to respond quickly and effectively without the risk of violating state payment rules. we understand you might have some amendments to introduce including additional public reporting requirements to ensure full transparency in limiting the number of individuals who could solicit these payments to for. we appreciate your input and sharing them with us in advance. we fully support the proposed amendments. our solicitation is in donations will be disclosed to the board monthly. thank you for your time and consideration and i'm happy to answer any questions. >> thank you so much ms. long. colleagues, do you have any questions or remarks? all right. seeing none i have some. just given the increase in the hazard payments waivers that the go committee is receiving and given the precedent that we've set by previous waivers requested by the mayor's office
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and city departments and in an effort to increase transparency, i would like to introduce the following amendments to the item. firstly amending all instances where the waiver would apply to the assessor recorder and employees to the assessor recorder. the director of policy and government affairs and the two deputy assessors. secondly on page four lines seven through 14 require reporting to the board of supervisors on a monthly basis. >> the reports will identify the parties solicited or the party who made a donation. the amount of the solicitation or donation and the interested relationship the party who was solicited or the party who made a donation has with the assessor recorder's office. i want to thank assessor recorder joaquin torres for working with my office on these amendments. >> colleagues, my team should have distributed soft copies via email of the specific
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language of the amendment and you can also find harder copies in front of you. >> are there any questions? >> all right. seeing no other questions, mr. clerk, let's take public comment. >> yes. if we have any members of the public who have joined us today who wish to address this committee regarding this item number two and that was your opportunity. >> madam chair, we have no speakers. thank you. >> sing no one else making public comment. public comment is now closed. >> i now move to amend this item as presented and on the motion to amend. >> mr. clerk please call the roll. >> yes on that motion to amend as i read into the record vice chair sartor. sartor i member cheryl cheryl i chair filled her i filled your eye. >> we have three eyes. thank you. the motion passes. i now move to send this item to the full board of supervisors with positive recommendation mr. clerk please call the roll and on that motion the forward to the full board with a
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positive recommendation as amended. vice chair sutter sutter i member cheryl cheryl i chair fielder i feel your i we have three eyes. >> thank you. the motion passes mr. clerk please call item number three. >> yes. item number three is a resolution authorizing the mayor, officers and employees of the office of the mayor and officers and employees of the recreation and parks department to solicit donations for the renovation of embarcadero plaza and sue parks from individuals, nonprofits, private organizations, grant makers and foundations for six months effective upon approval of this resolution not withstanding the behest and payment ordinance. >> madam chair. thank you, mr. clerk. ms. lisa branson, director of partnerships at the rec and parks department, will be presenting this item i believe . okay. i'm going to pass it on to supervisor sartor for comment.
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>> thank you. chair fielder this is a project that i am very excited about, very committed to this embarcadero plaza sitting at the foot of the ferry building i think will be critical to our downtown revitalization and our city's recovery. so i'm very committed to this project. that being said, a wish to continue this item today we are working with my colleagues particularly supervisor chan. we're very close to getting the scope of this payment waiver correct and so we're asking for a little bit more time to continue that work to make sure that we understand the scope of this particularly around the mayor's office involvement rec parks involvement. so i wish to continue this item to have that work finalized. >> thank you and i support continuing this seems like there's some things to iron out still and in particular how broad this gets because as as i mentioned before we're getting a lot of requests for basic
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payments waiver and you know in the ones that have come before us i have moved to amend them to to narrow them to just the directors and the mayor himself when it came to other waivers. >> so i definitely support figuring this out and continuing it so i see no other questions. mr. clerk let's take public comment. >> yes, members of the public who wish to address this committee regarding the continuing of this resolution and that was her opportunities. >> the lectern madam chair, we have no speakers so no one else make public comment. public comment is now closed. >> okay. i like to make a motion to continue this item to our next meeting. >> mr. clerk on motion please call the roll. >> yes and on that motion by vice chair sartor that this
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item be continued to the march 6th meeting of this committee. vice chair sartor. sartor i remember cheryl cheryl i chair fielder i feel your i we have three eyes thank you. >> the motion passes. >> um mr. clerk please call items four 215 items fourth or 15 our ordinances and resolutions authorizing settlement of lawsuits filed against the city and county ranging in the amounts of 30,000 through approximately 2.9 million. >> madam chair, thank you, mr. clerk. >> um, let's open up public comment for the closed session . >> oh, yes. if we have any members of the public wish to address this committee regarding the items in the litigation calendar, now is your opportunity.
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>> madam chair. we have no speakers so no speakers? yes, let's public comment is now closed. >> i want to move i move that the committee now convene in closed session and on this motion mr. clerk, please call the roll and on the motion that this committee enter a closed session and vice chair sartor. >> sartor i member cheryl cheryl i chair fielder i filled your eye. >> we have three eyes. thank you. we will now convene in closed session
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and so go to the san francisco government television
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opportunity
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and an opportunity to meet with
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look up
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you guys thank all good what
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the performance let's give another round of applause for lions dance me and all the high school stu
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okay we are now back in open session. thank you for your patience, mr. clerk. please report on the deliberations. no actions are taken on the agenda items in it discussed in closed session and so now we do need to take a motion whether we'll disclose or not disclose information discussed i now move that the committee not disclose the discussions during the closed session. mr. clerk on the motion please call the roll and on that motion not to disclose the discussion held on any of the items in closed session vice chair slaughter i saw i member cheryl cheryl i chair field your i feel your i have three
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eyes thank you the motion passes and now we need to move to approve these correct? >> yes i move to approve items four through 15 and mr. clerk please call the roll in on that motion to forward the items four through 15 to the full board and vice chair sartor hi sartor i member cheryl cheryl i chair fielder i feel i have three eyes thank you. >> the motion passes mr. clerk is there any other business before us today? >> i madam chair that concludes our business. see no other business. we are adjourned
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the city of offer a program that presides one by one financial counseling. financial counseling is on to anyone who guess so or work or receives serves in san francisco are you looking to build our credit reduce students loans or open a safe and volleyball bathing one-on-one counseling could be a good fit for you meet with a cloubt through preview your explore to help chief our goals throat that financials counsels can provide in english or spanish and can access interpretation services for my
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oat language use the service regardless of great recession good evening stated to get starting vital our >> come shop dine and play. taraval street is open for business. >> my name is mark recollect the owner of lou's cafe on taraval street. since 2010, my brother and tj and vince and mom [indiscernible] we used to sandwiches all the time. we said why not us. geary boulevard in 2010. i figured i might to start in another location and when i opened the location in 2015. we treat each customer as family and we make our food with love and make sure everyone is happy. i recommend everyone come out to the sunset. >> take time for teraival bingo, supporting small business, anyone can participate. it is easy, collect stickers on
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a bingo style game board and enter for a chance to win awesome prizes. for >> the height of my addiction i was homeless. i was isolatesed from my family. i had lost everything. my spirit was completely broken. methadone gave me my recovery. it gave me my life back. the impacted relationships with my family in the most mir aculous way. i'm living proof that trea [music] right here.
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then put it and pull it. [music] it is an important part of the work that mission cultural center for well tino arts does. steb in the 1977. as part of the graphic's department. >> mission graphica created block print. cut, screen printing, t-shirts to support social causes. and also the studio inhabited emerging and established artists from all over the world. [music] so the name of this exhibit this is installed at the hall is public voice. and the exhibition is in
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partnership with mission cultural center and archives. [music] this installation is 5 decades of the work that they have been doing since the upon upon 70s. it is a chronicle of san francisco's history. >> mission graphica part of latino image makers, educators. activists and memory keepers through the art this body is important it preserves the people's history. >> these are our new historical arsigh files >> every artist donated a piece of art work and so that collection is over 8,000 piece of latino created art work. >> it was exciting to see their incredible archives and what has been great to see for us is how they work in community. in the ways this community has
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been in partnership with other communities throughout the last 6-7 dkdzs and longer in the bay area and the nation. political, we grapple with today has been part of our history and part of the print making history of mission graphica. this was the place everybody would come and get their prints med for free or at low cost. >> it will be successful for the area:may be work >> mission graphica is still the most accessible, low cost studios for emerging and established artists. people can come here to clean screens, expose them, learn the art form at a low cost. we offer studio rental space as well as classes, low cost
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classes and free workshops and collectives. >> this is like history and contemporary coming together for us. and thinking about how the things that have changed and the things we still need to work on and support. >> i hope the people will recognize the transformtive power of art. and the impact that posters have in a community. posters are accessible they other people's art. anyone can do it. it is a strong tool of communication and social change. the posters have not only mobilized community they have also raised money for communities. and they have raised social consciousness. which is something this goes well beyond any art exhibit. [latino music] ♪♪♪♪
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>> [indiscernible] it was something i remembered learning in middle school, but it was a far away concept. >> i go to the beach a lot. a lot of plastic on the shoreline and it made be sad to see what is going on and wanted to make a change. >> i have many [indiscernible] and i would say it is hard to change the mind. especially of those who do not believe in climate change. >> i feel learning about the environment through my a p
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science courses and i think that made me to not only have the [indiscernible] also help the community. >> hello everybody. >> many interested in the climate action fellowship, i care for the environment and want to make a difference. >> when i had the opportunity joining the climate action fellowship, what made the program special is i could collaborate work with a small group of high schoolers and on sfusd and they are all passionate about certain topics. >> i decided to join the climate fellowship. i wanted to build my project on my own and contribute to the environment. >> a project is called reducing food waste and school cafeterias, accept not
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only focusing on food waste, we are focus on the package the food come in and what makes it appealing to students and what doesn't and why kids are throwing it out. so, we are trying to figure out a way to number one, reduce food waste, and figure out ways to reduce plastic coming in, so it doesn't end up in landfills and the ocean which again is very harmful to the environment. >> my project focuses on water conversation. in the design i'll introduce about water resources in san francisco bay area. also suggest ways to protect our water resources, not only at home, but outside the house and with our community. >> our project called the bridging cultural generational divides and this refers to sort of the knowledge gap between the asian american community and the environmentalism
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movement. >> what made we want to work on the project is our personal experiences >> we come from a chinese household and found it deaf cult to talk about--i felt relatable what we are trying to do with this project. >> i would like to see reasonable materials, like a set of plastic forks, forks you can bring back and they wash it and you can use it again, and food that hopefully isn't moldy and soggy. something fresh and vegetables for sure, because a lot of food is very unhealthy, which is bad for the students. >> i would say we should [indiscernible] education and raise public awareness. >> i want people to know maybe your actions can have a impact on those not interested and help get interested in the topic.
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>> i think we should use a more hands on approach when we want to draw in youth. >> if we bring it to their attention and show the entire picture, maybe they'll start to figure out what they are doing is wrong and one less person is already a change, so maybe everyone will follow them, which is what we hope would happen. >> we have certificates for everyone. >> my favorite part about the program is making a change in the world. i am saying to others and doing something about it. >> i think i was surprised the connection after the program. i have to realize that i actually can have a impact. >> we really do bring perspectives to this group. >> my parents they would
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like--i feel happy because they are adopting sustainable lifestyle with me. yes! [cheers] >> my name is marta i'm the management here with public works. it is found in the upon 1997. it is the only public access glass studio in san francisco. we give access to everybody. you don't have to be an
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experienced artist to take classes we offer beginning level programming. events. fund raisers, it is about giving everyone who is interested in the opportunity to try glass to work with glass and experience mediums. >> i'm linda i'm part owner and manager of the paper tree in japantownful i'm hope to create a destination. not only do we have our huge selection of origami paper and book but a museum everybody can enjoy that and see what can be done by folding paper >> good to see amazing origami. a selection of paper. got wonderful gifts from japan and great customer service. >> i'm holly and i am the owner of [inaudible] in san francisco. >> we offer classes. and open studio access.
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workshops lead by local artists that you can see here we have a [inaudible]. and people should expect to join the community and just learn about local bay area artists in the process. sheriff and live we are ready to begin. >> thank you. >> would you mind just to say one more thing?
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the audio came through a little weird terrified that we were ready to begin. i can hear you but it's a little muffled but i think we're good. >> welcome to the february 7th, 2025 regular meeting of the san francisco ethics commission. today's meeting is live cable cast on s.f. gov tv and live streamed online at s.f. gov keyboard forward slash ethics live for public comment members of the public met in person or may participate by phone or the webex platform as explained in our agenda document. mr. clerk, will you explain would you please explain how remote public comment will be handled? >> public comment will be available on each item on this agenda. each member of the public will be allowed three minutes to speak. for those attending in-person opportunities to speak during the public comment period will be made available here in room 408 city hall for those attending remotely public comment period public comment period can also be provided via phone by calling at 14156550001
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access code is 26612892579 followed by the pound sign and then press pound again to join as an attendee when your item of interest comes up. please press star three to raise your hand to be added to the public comment line. public comment is also available via the webex client application. use the webex link on the agenda to connect and press the raise hand button to be added to the public comment line. for detailed instructions about how to interact with the telephone system or webex client please refer to the public comment section of the agenda document for this meeting. public comment may also be submitted in writing and will be shared with the commission after this meeting has concluded and will be included as part of the official meeting file. written comments should be sent to ethics commission at s.f. gov dot org. members of the public who attend commission meetings including remote attendance are also expected to behave
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responsibly and respectfully. during the public comment please address your comments to the commission as a whole and not to an individual members. persons who engage in name calling, shouting interruptions, foul language or other distracting behavior may be excluded from participation . >> thank you, mr. clerk. i now call the meeting to order . >> the clerk will you please call roll under item one turf and live here? commissioner florus feng here. commissioner salahi here. commissioner. so are your staff in love with the former? yeah. with former members present and accounted for you have a quorum. >> thank you. that i call agenda item number two. general public comment. does anyone in the room wish to make general public comment? >> seeing none. mr. clarke, will you check if there are any remote callers please? >> chair felt that we were checking to see if there are callers in the queue. chair live there are no callers in the queue. >> thank you.
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hearing no further members of the public wishing to speak. general public comment on item two is now closed. i now call the consent calendar . >> colleagues as noted in the agenda unless one of us wants to discuss an item on the consent calendar or a member of the public wants to. we will not discuss them separately anyway. >> i'm sorry. go ahead. commissioner, i can say there's nothing that i want to add substantively but i did just want to offer a welcome to everybody who we recently hired and also thank everybody whose positions have been vacated for their service to the commission. so i just want to acknowledge welcome and thank you. >> thank you. is anyone in the public wish to call an item from the consent calendar? >> seeing none mr. clerk, would you check if any remote callers chair friendly if there are no callers in the queue.
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thank you. >> i move to adopt the consent calendar. well, i did that last hour kind of clunky as checking if there were folks who want to call someone inside. you check if there's any public comment on the remote sorry on the consent calendar. >> seeing none in the room. mr. clerk, would you check if there are any callers? chair if there are no callers in the queue. >> great. thank you. so with that i move to adopt the items and then consent calendar. >> second thank you. >> on the motion to adopt the consent calendar. >> turf and love i wish her flowers fang. commissioner salahi. >> hi. commissioner. so i chair live with four votes in the affirmative. the motion is approved unanimously. >> thank you, mr. clerk. we're now going to go a little bit out of order. we're going to save it.
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item six election of commission officers until the end of the agenda. so instead called item number seven. discussion i propose possible action regarding proposed regulation decision and order in the matter of labor and working families. slate and daniel anderson mr. demicco. >> good morning. i have a note to congratulate the new chair so i'll just scratch that out since we saw the order. >> so this case involves respondents, labor and working families. slate which is a general purpose committee and their consultant daniel anderson. it's a case involving coordinated spending too. as a reminder. so basically in this case coordinated spending with this staff of the general purpose committee being their consultant and the staff of a supervisor campaign for
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supervisor dean preston turned out what was otherwise an independent expenditure into a contribution under law and that led to violations including a contribution over the limit and inappropriate reporting of the contribution as an expenditure. >> so i'm going to basically break this into three parts and briefly talk about the coordination and then the communication that was funded by the expenditure and then the calculation of the benefit that went to supervisor president's campaign. >> so so as a reminder under law if an independent expenditure funds a communication that benefits a candidate and it was coordinated with that candidate then the expenditure is not independent and it should have been considered a contribution. the law has various tests. one of those tests is that if the communication was made after an agreement on timing location or mode of
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dissemination was come to between the funder of the communication and the beneficiary at then that is considered coordinated. so in this case again daniel anderson who is a consultant for labor and working families slate the general purpose committee who funded this communication he texted with a staff member of supervisor preston's campaign who benefited in part from the communication and they texted about the timing, location and mode of dissemination agreeing on language for an invite for the event and agreeing on it that they could that the general purpose committee could put fires and literature in at the event. there was also a parallel language from the two committees in terms of how they talked about various things and we thought there is also a text message that shows that the communications in this case were printed specifically for this event.
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so they were printed after an agreement had been after an agreement had been made on timing location and and and mode of dissemination. so that's the coordination in this case and then moving to the communication that it funded the cases are sort of complicated because it involves numerous campaign. i'll try to walk through it as best as i can briefly but it involves campaigns for both the democratic county central committee in assembly district 17 and 19 and the campaign for supervisor in district five. district five encompasses all of assembly districts 17 and 19 or of and in this case bilal mahmood was running in both assembly district 17 for democratic county central committee and in district five supervisor race against supervisor preston. >> so essentially in this case
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the general purpose committee paid for fliers which on one side had essentially the candidates for that assembly districts democratic county central committee that they supported. and on the other side it just said, you know, vote no on bilal mahmood for democratic party. >> now this brought a benefit to supervisor preston for two reasons one, the side of the fire that just said vote no on bilal mahmood for the democratic party was vague and could have been talking about his candidacy against supervisor preston. >> but two half of those fliers were focused on assembly district 17 and half of them were focused on assembly district 19. so for the ones on 19 on the opposite side it had a list of the candidates supported by the committee running in assembly district 19 democratic county
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central committee. and so for those fires the only race that bilal mahmood is running in in assembly district 19 is supervisor. he was only running for the triple c race in assembly district 17 so for someone district 19 it only could have been interpreted as talking about vote no for him in the supervisor race. >> so this caused a benefit to accrue to supervisor preston's campaign and because the communication was made after the coordination and it should have been a contribution at least in part and that's where we get to the final part of this case which is just briefly how we dealt with the calculations here to put■+ it again quickly the the respondents in this case paid $6,968 for all fires. they coded half of that. >> the sides that had the
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candidates for d triple c as contributions split amongst those candidates. so we're not dealing with that side. we're only dealing with the side that said vote no on ballot mahmood. so half of that was coded as an independent expenditure against bilal mahmood $3,484 half of that was dealing with assembly district 17 and half with 19. >> so the half that was dealing with 19 that entire thing should have been a contribution since there was no other way to interpret no one. bilal mahmood except for in the supervisors race for that half for the other half we split that once again in half because half of the benefit was toward bill was against mahmood in his supervisor race and half in his d triple c race. >> so that led to a total of $2,613 that of spending that benefited the preston campaign after coordination. obviously the contribution limit is $500 so that was 2113
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over the limit and that is the first violation in this case a contribution over the limit. second violation is just the incorrect reporting of the spending as an independent expenditure instead of a contribution that penalty was set at 15% of the spending which is $400 for a total of 2513. and just i'll wrap up by noting sort of the importance of these laws essentially if supervisor preston was running you know, if any supervisor is running low on money and they want to get a certain message out or they want to get a message out at a certain time in a certain place, they can coordinate spending with a group that then spends independently and they have no limit on contributions they can accept and then spending that they can make. and so that's sort of an end run around a contribution limit by coordinating the spending. and so it's important that we,
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you know, identify instances where spending is coordinated and it should be treated as a contribution so that the playing field is level across all candidates and everyone's abiding by the same restrictions and limitation on their fundraising and spending . thank you for that. i have a couple of questions but i'll see any my colleagues want to jump in now. go ahead. so thank you. that i think is a really good case and important to highlight the coordination issues. i have one question about so the last paragraph of the substance explains why there are not charges against the preston khan candidate campaign because i think as the memo articulates, the law kind of goes both ways. it prohibits excess contributions but making them and receiving them. >> so i was hoping you could kind of flesh out a little more what that last paragraph talks about and i want you to go beyond what's in the public record here but maybe you can kind of synthesize it and the gist that i'm getting is that
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you all thought it was appropriate to not focus on the present campaign because there's no indication that his campaign knew about the substance of the the coordinated communication. but i'd like you to flesh that out if you can a little bit. >> yeah, that's exactly right. and so there's no indication that in this case if the respondents had shown up to this event after coordinating on the timing and mode of communication and their spending funded a communication that very clearly opposed bilal mahmood for d triple c and it was only you know, distribute did it in a way that focused on assembly district 17 where he was running and not on the district where he was not running and it very clearly identified what it was opposing him for then that spending would not have benefitted supervisor preston's campaign in any meaningful way and there wouldn't have been any violation like any violation whatsoever. so it was the content of the communication that created the violation not not necessarily
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the coordination alone. and in this case there was no indication no evidence that we could find that the staff of supervisor preston had any knowledge or input into the substance of the communication. got it? yeah. thank you for that. i think at the same time highlights kind of the the concerns that if campaigns are talking to other campaigns that there may be lines you're crossing. >> so it's a good thing to folks to be aware. any questions for my colleagues ? >> yeah. yeah. just one quick question. i mean i do think that the penalty up here is fair given the circumstances that you described. >> i'm wondering if in speaking with the respondents they highlighted, you know, any part of the law that they found confusing or they kind of expressed what it was that led them astray here or what they wish they would have seen in order to kind of avoid. >> it's a good question. also allows me to note so most of the credit in this case should go actually to our now
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audit manager armond who used to be an investigator with the enforcement team and he did a lot of the investigation in this case before he changed roles that also maybe a question that he knows the answer to. they never expressed confusion around the law to me but again i came on later so i don't sorry almond price or so just briefly, the consultant in this case was aware of the coordination law in general. he knew the location where it's laid out all these different factors that might lead to coordination. so it was i think there was a bit of confusion that it wasn't only about the content of the communication itself but also the dissemination. so that might have slipped by but generally there was understanding that it also applied to the dissemination and it was just i think an oversight. and with this case i don't know
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that we've necessarily had a coordination case about dissemination where there also wasn't agreement on coordination. so with this opportunity we can make that known to our regulated community. thank you. the questions. let's take a second. thank you, mr. d'amico. with that let's take public comment. does anyone in the room in the gallery wish to make public comment on this item? seeing none. mr. clarke, will you check if there's any one on the line? >> chairman there are no callers in the queue. with that i move to adopt staff's recommendation on item number seven seconded.
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>> with that you have a clerk at your at your leisure on the motion to adopt staff's recommendation on item number seven. chair high commissioner flora fang commissioner salahi i. commissioner so i can live with four votes in the affirmative. >> the motion is approved unanimously. >> thank you sir. that closes item number seven now call item number eight presentation and public hearing and possible action on ethics commission budget proposal for the fiscal year 20 2526 and fiscal year 2627. mr. director thank you chair for lot of good morning commissioners i may have brought up a slide deck for you real quickly
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. great. you should be able to see that now. i think we only have this one screen in this room that faces away from you so hopefully you can kind of see it on your small screens. if not, feel free to stop me and i can read this anything that's on the slides if you need of assistance with that. >> so this is the commission's second required budget hearing. you remember from the last meeting that city law requires each department to have two public hearings on its budget each year so so that there's an opportunity for the public to give input on the budget proposal for you to have a discussion amongst yourselves and to give me direction as to what budget we should propose that complies with the mayor's
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budget instructions and perhaps what proposals we want to make that doesn't comply with those instructions we can make that request. >> so this is the second opportunity to discuss that. you'll see some of the slides here are the same from the last time. i'm not going to go through them in that same level of detail since you've already heard that content but they're here in case you want to have a discussion we can go to that slide, look at that content so you'll see me kind of skipping some of this but there is some new content in here. i do have a budget proposal that i want to get your feedback on and then i also have a budget request that i suggest we make to the mayor's office that would not involve a cut to the ethics commission. so i'd be eager to hear your feedback on that. i think it's always good to make both kinds of proposals to the mayor's office that they can evaluate that. >> this slide just reiterates what the strategic priorities are right now for the
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commission. i think these are things that we've talked about together at many meetings. i think they're in alignment with our basic charter mandates . they align with our program areas and the basic programs that we do. so this would be kind of a flavor of what will go into the proposal, how will be portraying the work that we do at the commission? and again this just gives a snapshot of what our current fy 25 budget is and what our baseline would be if that were carried forward into the next two fiscal years. and again you can see at the bottom that we are about 87% salary and benefits. we are primarily a organization of people. we are not an organization that engages in a lot of contracting or grantmaking or owns a lot of physical assets. >> we are a group of people doing this work. >> we also have the election
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campaign fund which is the fund that pays out grants to supervisor oriel and mayoral candidates that qualify for public financing under that program. that's separate from our operating budget. this is our current org chart and this actually is different from last month because unfortunately we did have a staff member move on to another city department so there was a promotion opportunity for her, very happy for her but unfortunately we do have a vacancy now. so there was one very brief moment when we had zero vacancies which was really exciting and first time we'd have that but we're back now to having a vacancy. and of course there's a hiring freeze in the city right now that's going to prevent us from filling that. so we are going to go into this budget with a vacancy if we can talk about that in a moment. but you can see that it's under the engagement and compliance division. it's one of the 1823 senior program administrator positions . >> and to recap, these are some
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of the mayor's priorities that he will be trying to carry out through this budget. i believe that these are the same are very similar to what mayor reed had iterated while she was still the mayor. so this budget process kind of will span to mayoral administrations and these are the instructions that carry out those priorities. so of course it's a 15% cut. that's what we must propose. we have to come up with a way to meet that. >> we do not grant to community based organizations so that's not an issue for us. >> we have very few contracts but we of course did review that and try and find savings. like i mentioned, there is a hiring freeze. and then some other instructions that are relevant. the mayor has told departments to cut our least effective programs in order to find savings and to try to allocate resources in the most impactful and most effective programs also to improve operational
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efficiency in how we deliver services and how we report and especially to maintain public facing services and operations. so where possible to reduce things that are internal to the city so that the public in san francisco does not feel as much of a reduction in the services that they're receiving from city. and that's very important to us . we are a very public facing agency. we provide critical accountability and transparency and information to the public. so that's something that i've tried to do in creating this proposal is to make sure that we are not rolling back on that core mandate that we have in any way. >> so this slide gets into the proposal that i would like to make to the mayor's office as to how to meet that 15% cut that would involve a cut of $1.1 million. >> and like i mentioned, mostly we are a salary budget.
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>> so that cut would involve a reduction in staff. it would involve reducing our funded positions by four. so going down from 29 to 25 positions. as i mentioned, we have a vacant position that we won't be able to fill. so i would propose that we allocate a cut there since that position is already vacant. it's a very important position but at least we could minimize the impact on the staff by allocating a cut on that position. but other than that we will have to choose three filled positions which is a very difficult thing to do but that is the position we are in. the three positions that i've identified are the training design specialist position within engagement and compliance division. the personnel clerk that's within the operations division and the 1840 policy research
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specialists within the policy division. i'll go into a little more detail on the next couple of slides about what the impact would be if that were to happen. but just to reiterate that's a 14% cut to our budgeted staff so that will mean we will have to dial back some of our work. we won't be able to keep doing everything we're doing but we're going to try to be strategic if we have to endure that and try to keep doing as much as possible. >> before i talk about those staff positions, i do want to highlight some of the non staff cuts that we were able to find. these are things related to materials and supplies. some of the services that we contract for our work order with the comptroller's office for accounting services we can dial that back a little bit. also our maintenance costs within that file. we found some savings there and
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that's not enough to meet the 15% but at least will help. and what's most helpful is that we were able to in discussions with the mayor's office find a way to use some of the election campaign fund to help fund staff spending. the reason we can do that is that city law provides for 15% of that fund to be used for administration of the public financing program. and since the audits division is responsible for administering that program, we found a way to allocate some of our staff expenditures to that fund. not a ton but enough to reduce how much we're going to be impacted on our staffing. so that was a really good and positive development. >> this is what the org chart would look like basically you can see the positions, the positions that are identified
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here so you can see where they fall in the chart. there would be two within the engage in a compliance division . one of them is vacant. one of them is not one within the policy division and one within operations. you can see that at the top. >> so to talk a bit about what the impacts would be if we were to lose those positions, i'll talk first about engagement and compliance. so of course this is our division that is responsible for giving guidance, delivering trainings, creating our compliance materials, answering advice questions. it's a really important function. it's how the people we regulate can get in touch with us and you know, make sure that they know how to comply with the lots. >> i am foreseeing that if we were to lose both of those positions and also in the spirit of cutting our least effective programs and trying to minimize any impacts on our public facing services so the
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service people would get if they reach out to us and ask for compliance assistance, i would want us to take a close look at the major developers program and the campaign consultants program and consider whether or not we have the capacity to continue administering those. those are not very high value programs in a lot of ways they the campaign consultant program provides information that largely already appears within campaigns for 60 campaign statements. this is kind of an extra layer of reporting. so i think it could be a place where there's some duplicative information that we might consider whether we could save some time and money by not administering that program any further. the major developer program has to do with companies that are developing real estate projects in the city that make donations to nonprofit organizations. i can tell you that this has not been a very effective program in terms of people engaging with it and filing
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disclosures through it. we have a handful of disclosures that have been filed and it's something i think we should take a close look at and see if it's worth continuing to spend staff time to administer that program. >> well, mr. ford, those are not the only programs that those positions are responsible for, right? >> correct. and you're raising a good point which is it's very difficult in such a small office to point to one particular type of work that one position is responsible for and say if we lose this position we can't do this work but we can still do everything else. everybody in the office has lots of different roles. they touch many different programs. so if we were to lose any of the positions that we're talking about today, there would be a much larger reshuffling of work programs would have to be changed and tweaked. everybody is basically going to have to take on some different roles which would make it manageable but people would have to be working more across
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divisions to try to get the work done. so what i'm looking at is where can we just reduce the overall level of work that right now the department is doing roughly dialing that back about 14%. if we're losing 14% of our staff, i'd want to look for about 14% of the work we're doing because i will tell you everybody is very busy. there's not there's not really a lot of places where i can just have people do more work. >> so that's what i'm looking at is where can we just eliminate programs that are either not effective or not efficient with the understanding that then we'll take those 25 positions that we still have after this budget and we'll find ways to make that remaining workload doable. i think the staff are very ready to do that. >> and is it fair to say that with respect to the first and third bullet points the main impacted parties or communities would be city employees who
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have to get the guidance on how to comply with ethics regulations and also the board of supervisors in the mayor's office with respect to those custom forms. >> no, i don't think so. i would really want to try to make the the impact focused on these programs, particularly the major developer campaign consultant program. but i also would want to try to to find other ways to save time and energy. so for example, not supporting the customized workflow that we've created implemented and have continued to support and maintain for the mayor's office and for the board of supervisors for the last seven years. i think that's something that those offices ought to take ownership of at this point and if they need to establish a work order with the department of technology to make sure that they have the technological expertise to do that, i think that they ought to do that rather than us do that through our budget. this is separate and apart from the standard disclosure process that all the other elected officials use. i think what has been difficult
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for the board and mayor is that there's too much data entry involved. if they were to do the forms so we created a customized back end software solution that they could essentially have the departments fill that information out for them. so that's just not something that we'll be able to support under a 15% cut to our budget anymore. but no, my goal would be that when people come to our website and want to find information there would be no noticeable change in the level of information that's available. and when people call us or submit a ticket through our advice portal or when they send an email to our main inbox, they're not going to experience any kind of decrease in service or response time or quality. i see that as a core service that we provide. i think that's what we need to prioritize and focus our energy on not on other things that would distract us from that. >> thank you. >> so i'll move on and talk a bit about policy and operations. if we were to lose the 1840
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policy research specialist position, it will basically reduce the commission's ability to work through policy projects. that's a new position. you remember that we only hired for that position just about a month ago and the purpose of that position is to help increase our capacity to study our programs, to study the laws of study what's happening in other jurisdictions and to help us go through the policy process of refining those laws, implementing them. losing this position would just reduce our capacity to be able to do that for payroll. >> we would need to establish a work order through the city administrator's office. we do believe that that's feasible. we could do that. so that would cover that element of that position's responsibilities and the other administrative tasks that are performed by that position would essentially have to be absorbed into other commission staff and by our dhs, our
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analysts who's somebody that works with us through a work order that we have we pay the department of human resources for the analyst to work with us . so we would be relying on that work order of a new work order with the city administrator and our existing operations staff to absorb that. >> so the next slide to talk about our request that that i'd like to talk about but maybe before we move on to that, do you have any more questions or feedback about how we could meet the 15% cut? what our required proposal would be to the mayor's office ? i just had one question for you. we received a public comment from i think the clerk of the board of supervisors asking for reconsideration of that issue and i wonder if you had any response to that? >> definitely. yeah, i reached out to both the clerk of the board and the mayor's office to give them as
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much advance notice as possible that we may not be able to continue supporting the software solution for them. i wanted to let them know as early in the process as possible that that may be an effect of this 15% cut to our agency. >> i did that because i wanted them to have the opportunity to include a request in their own budget. so if they need to establish a work order with the department of technology in order for them to take over and support that software product that they would have the opportunity to do that. i thought it would not be fair for them to find out only later in the budget process when they had lost the opportunity to put that in their own budget proposal. so this is still something that may not happen. i just wanted to give them an advanced heads up that it could happen so that they could plan we could start having a conversation about it and talking about what an alternative approach might look like. we had a very productive meeting yesterday with the mayor's office, talked through what this would how this would impact them, what exactly the difference is between the
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custom workflow that we built and what the standard disclosure processes that other elected use the mayor's office seem to understand the issue we talked about. it's impossible alternatives. we have next steps plans that the mayor's office will help get us in touch with the department of technology to talk about whether or not they could be part of the solution to a different way to do this. i think that was very productive. thank you. is there anything more you can ask for from the mayor's office or for the board of supervisors in terms of technology support to make some of this more efficient and provide more resources to the employees and officials in terms of some of the work that your office is doing? >> absolutely. and that's part of our request that we want to make that would not involve a budget cut. some technology support is part of what we want to ask for. but certain things that you
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think can be improved though are things that you've looked at that you can ask for specifically? >> yes. >> and also steven massey, the director of technology services is here. so if we want to go deep into what that is, he he's available to talk about that. and also i should have mentioned that deputy director guy three tech on deal is not well but she's on the line. so if we want to get into any really specific numbers she's available to so we can do that as well. i think for now just go ahead. thanks you. okay. so the budget requests that i'm proposing that we make would not involve a cut to the ethics commission's budget and why i would like to request that would be first of all to fill the vacant 1823 senior program administrator position that was just vacated. as i mentioned, it's a very important position and it helps
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deliver trainings and respond to advice requests that come to our office very core to what we do. that would be a very important position to backfill and have on our team. i would also ask the mayor's office to reclassify the training design specialist position to also be an 1823 senior program administrator. they're very similar in terms of the pay scale. it's an analogous classification but the duties and responsibilities are different. so i would want to equip the engagement compliance division with as many programing administrators as we could people who can respond to advice questions, who can interpret and analyze the law, who can't help people who are trying to comply with the law as opposed to the training and design specialist position has been really critical as we implement proposition d and as we roll out the new mandatory ethics training module that now all forms of 100 filers have to take. but we have that module in
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place now. we've done a lot of the creation of the materials so the design role law has been incredibly important i think could benefit the agency more as a program administrator moving forward. so that's something that i would like to ask the mayor to consider. i would also like to ask to retain the 1840 policy research specialist position as it is. as i mentioned, this position is very important to helping us analyze and improve the laws also supports the advice program. so if there are questions that the engagement or compliance division needs assistance on for any reason, the policy division is there to help back them up. so having enough staff in that policy division also supports engagement. compliance supports our advice program as well. i would like to also make the same request that we made last year which was to reclassify three of the positions within the enforcement division. this is something that the mayor's office agreed to in the
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last budget and then the board took it back during the board's budget process. so we were close to getting this but it ended up not happening. the board had a general policy against what they call upward substitution reclassifying positions to a higher classification. so they rolled that back from the budget that we had approved but i would like to ask for it again. i think it remains just as important as it was last year. this would essentially be to reclassify to 1823 senior investigator positions that are essentially like administrative prosecutors. now you heard from mr. d'amico today would be his position and another position that's filled by a board attorney. these are people who lead the legal elements of our enforcement matters. they engage in settlement negotiations with respondents, councils and the political bar in san francisco. they draft charging documents, subpoenas. they present oral arguments to you, hearing briefs to you.
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these are very specialized and and nuanced skills that i want to make sure we're really breaking into our org chart that these are distinct from the other investigators who provide critical work in fact finding doing interviews, gathering documents but that those are different types of work investigating versus administrative prosecution for lack of a better word are different. i'd really like to break that in because it has been so effective and that's why in part why you have seen so many good cases come before you in the last couple of years. >> in order to do that we would also need to reclassify the director of enforcement under city civil service rules. certain classifications cannot supervise other classifications or 9 to 2 manager one cannot supervise an 1824 principal investigative analyst so we would need to reclassify that position to a 9 to 3 which i think also is appropriate given the sensitivity and expertise required for that position.
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>> similarly i would like to ask that the mayor's office allow us to reclassify the 1052 ice analyst position to a 1042 ice engineer. this is a position in the adult division or electronic disclosure and data analysis division. the reason is that the 1042 is part of the engineer series whereas the 1052 what we have now is an analyst's serious. there's similar but they are different in the kinds of work that they do and what we really need from this position is to provide engineering services engineering work to be creating things like our electron disclosure systems, our dashboards building custom software solutions inside the office to support automation especially within audits. we want to automate a lot of the manual audit work to try and make it more efficient. similarly with enforcement we want to automate as much as we
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can reviewing voluminous disclosures or documents. and so that position could be a very critical piece to that. i see that as something that would without adding an actual additional fte, it would really increase our capacity and our effectiveness quite a bit. part of this budget request would still be to not maintain the personnel clerk position but rather to support that through a work order and to otherwise absorb the roles of that position into our d our work order into our operations division to that would be to realize some operational efficiency. >> i also like to ask to have budget to help cover some net file licensing costs. right now we are essentially paying for all of the licensing for all of the city's forms of 100 filers and we're doing that through a project funded by
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court which is the committee on information technology. that's a city wide committee that essentially funds technology projects across the city. that's how we have been funding those licenses and that is running out that will be finishing up pretty soon early 2026. so we need to find an alternative funding solution to that. so that's something that i would like to ask for as well and also to support increases for net file systems maintenance and certain other software services. and this gets to your question commissioner, i stephen could talk in more detail if you want to but there are some particular products that if we are able to get funding for and we could procure them it would really give us the platform we need to explore more automation, more use of advanced technology to make our operations more effective and efficient. >> how much of those licensing costs right now has steven would have to answer that question is quite a bit. >> yeah. steven, do you want to talk about that?
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i'm guy three here. if needed i can also jump in or guy three sure go go for a guy three hello commissioner. are you asking specifically about the form 700 licenses or just our software licenses in general? >> both. okay. yeah. so the form 700 licenses that support about 6000 or so city employees and officials is currently funded by a court project which is what director ford is talking about. so we are estimating roughly about 10,000 or so in the first year that will need to be funded in a 526. that's because we have some partial funding left in that project but the following year and a 527 will have to fund
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that fully and then also moving forward that's around the time when the net file contract will also need to be renewed. so we only have an estimate. so we're currently estimating about 65,000 but it will also depend on the renewed contract negotiations. separately would we're also asking for increasing license costs that we fund on our own. these are tools that we use to support our office operations. we also use microsoft products adobe products that support our email services and other communication tools that department of technology supports. so we have certain costs related to that as well. so that's roughly in the first year at about 12,000 or so for those costs together and in
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year two it's something similar each to slightly less than a year to about 9000. so those are the software requests in our budget proposal. >> great. thank you. >> director ford i have a kind of broader question. so the proposed the second proposed budget with the reclassifications i think it all makes a ton of sense to me and i supported them i think about a year ago when we did it the first time around. but wouldn't that would that in fact increase the budget since you're upgrading some classifications? >> so this is what the budget totals would look like under the request. >> it would essentially keep us flat in the first year of this two year budget and there would be about a half percent increase in the second year. so it wouldn't increase our budget but it would it would keep us flat but there is a cost associated with it. yes, that's why it would be an
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ask to to actually fund us by keeping us the same but nothing that asks make 100% sense. this is the climate where and so is your idea to kind of present both budgets to the mayor's office one with cuts one. the second one we just discussed? >> exactly. we actually have two input the 15% cut scenario into the city's financial system. so we would have to in some numbers that add up to a 15% cut there's actually a dollar number that's at $1.1 million number. so we have to input that. we don't have the opportunity to input the requests but that's something that we would express to them through the budget memo to the memo lays out very similar to how this slide deck is organized first it would be here's what the 15% cut scenario is. here's what the impacts are, why we think that's bad. and then the second half is alternatively here's what we would ask that you do. and then there's typically a negotiation process where we meet with our budget analysts. we'll meet with the mayor's
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budget director, we'll talk about the impacts of the 15% cut. we'll talk about the opportunities and the costs associated with keeping us flat and hopefully we trend towards the request but that's the negotiated process and then that's not even the end of it. the mayor's proposal is only a proposal. the board ultimately approves the budget and as we saw last year they will make changes to it if they would like to. got it. thank you. no more questions for me. you can proceed. okay. >> so this is something that i'll be working on over the next couple of weeks with deputy director take on dale will be preparing that memo to go to the mayor's office and we'll be entering the submission into the system. so that's do i think we've got a slide right here with the deadlines.
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so if you have any further ideas or you want to talk in greater depth about any particular part of this, we do still have a couple of weeks that's in part why we changed the date and thank you again for your flexibility. we changed the date of the meeting from the second friday to the first friday so that we could have this conversation and then perhaps you might digest this information and have further thoughts you wanted to share and we could continue to talk so that opportunities is still there. this is our required second public hearing. it's not your last chance to be involved in this process and to work with us so i just wanted to put that out there. >> these are really hard questions by the way analyzing it and laying it out. it makes a lot of sense to me. so thanks for doing that work. any other comments? does that conclude your presentation? it does. thank you. all right. thank you. and i think even though it's not an action item we have to take public comment. great. anyone in the room wish to make public comment on this item? sir, thank you.
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a copy of the letter to the board of. >> good morning chair. honorable commissioners of the ethics commission. i'm edward diocese. i am the deputy director of administration of finance for the office of the clerk of the board. the board of supervisors and i am speaking on behalf of the office of the clerk of the board as well as madam clerk angela calvillo. >> i just passed out a copy of the letter that was submitted by the clerk of the board yesterday in case you need a copy for your review. at the meeting today i'm here to speak on behalf of the clerk of the board and urge you to continue maintenance of the current 126 form process and you sign as the letter spells out both ethics commission as
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well as the office of the clerk of the board. i've worked on this system since 2018. we really do appreciate that work that stephen massie and the ethics commission has done accommodating some of the business processes and the input from our office. i really am here to urge you to continue maintenance of form 126 and to continue responsibility over it for a couple of reasons. >> as you are all familiar with the form 126 there's a lot of data that is known only to departments not to the mayor's office, not to the board of supervisors including the nature of the contract and the contract amount. the board of directors. so there needs to be a system an online system available for departments to enter that data for the office of the clerk of the board, for the board of supervisors as well as the mayor's office. >> and as you know that data helps to meet the public's right to know. >> it's an important disclosure that the public needs to know so it promotes open and
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transparent. that alone is a reason why the system needs to be maintained by the ethics commission. >> the second reason is that the proposed discontinuance of that system actually will not save any budget for the city. so realize that the 15% general fund cuts that's been asked for of the departments are citywide cuts. they're not just cuts to single department. so whatever cut or savings that the ethics commission may realize is actually going to move over to other departments mainly who may need to hire another it specialists to maintain the system. >> and obviously the board and the mayor are going to be paying for this. >> so basically there will be no cuts or savings of the general fund from this particular proposed change. secondly, this change is going to inconvenience both the mayor and the board of supervisors as they will have to collect that data on behalf of the ethics
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commission. so there will be costs in terms of overtime as well as additional personnel, additional work, additional workload for the staffs of those two departments. so i'm here to urge in summary that the ethics commission continue to maintain the system on behalf of the city, on behalf of the mayor and on behalf of the board of supervisors. >> i am available for any questions if there are any. >> thank you. >> we don't generally i think respond to public comment but i'm happy to entertain questions as any of my colleagues have them. >> i have a question for director ford if that's okay. this just clarifying question is it right that the proposed halting of the that program is only if we our budget is cut by 15% correct. >> if we were to lose the staff positions we would have to dial back a number of things and reassign work throughout the
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office so we would not have the capacity to support that anymore. and just to be clear, also supporting the disclosure requirement that the code imposes on the board and on the mayor this is not the ethics commission's disclosure requirement. so those offices would be gathering the data for their own disclosure requirement not on behalf of the ethics commission and it's something we've been assisting them complying with their requirement. mm hmm. and if the mayor's office and the board of supervisors approve the larger budget proposal that you will present as an alternative, would the commission continue to service that program? yes. okay. thank you. >> thank you. thank you for your service. if i may also add also spelled out in the letter the last paragraph i mean there is a potential no change to the current system that could result in more efficiency, some more cost savings into the current process a single form 126 has to be submitted by both the mayor and the board which
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results in two submissions. so we propose that the current process be reworked to have the department submit the singular form to the board and then it goes to the mayor for approval. that could potentially reduce workloads for both the ethics commission on board of supervisors mayor's office as well as achieve some savings. >> thank you. we saw that in the letter and i think it will be added to the agenda as part of the public record. >> thank you, sir. thank you for being there. when else in the gallery wish to make public comment on this item? seeing none mr. clerk, would you check if there are any callers or if there are no callers in the queue? thank for that. no more callers. item number eight is now closed and i'll call item number nine. recognition of chair types for a live upon the end of a service on the ethics commission. >> so up mr. for standing up i'm going to start talking as
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well i was actually going to flip it around but i guess i'll wait until you've had your your time. i had to twist tice's arm to let him put this item on the agenda. so thank you for your cooperation. >> chair fin laughs we're very sad that you are not going to be with us anymore and whenever any commissioner but especially a chair leaves the commission it's very important to stop and recognize the work that that person's done. this is community service. you guys don't have to be here . you're not getting compensated like the staff are. you are volunteering and you're just serving the city that you live in and that you love and it's it's a tough job. it's a thankless job a lot of the time these are hard decisions, critical decisions. so i just want to take a moment to say thank you for your years of service. it's been a real pleasure to work with you. i think i speak for all the staff. we've learned a lot from you
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and you've had an incredible impact in your time here that you should be very proud of. i in particular i wanted to note a few projects that as we were talking in the office about you know what what's the what's the tice legacy? what is tice leaving behind the things that came to mind our prop d that was a major project that you were very heavily involved in. it's one of the most popular ballot measures the city's had the single most approved highly approved ballot measure in 30 years. so i think you were really tapping into something the public cared deeply about with that ballot measure. you were also the chair presiding over the first hearing on the merits enforcement hearing that the commission did in ten years that hearing was very smooth. it went well. so i think that that spoke to you a good competency with the gavel and working with the staff in advance on that enforcement hearing guidebook. we now have that document that will last into the future to help guide future enforcement
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actions. you brought great insight as a former assistant district attorney and also from the enforcement work that you do at the sec. you were just meeting this week with staff to you know, with the enforcement staff to help them still here in your last week think about how to deepen the impact of enforcement. so i think that program in particular really benefited from you. we've had very quick, efficient orderly commission meetings. we've trimmed down the time these things run like a swiss watch and i think everybody appreciates that very much in the last thing i'll mention is when you were chair the commission approved the e-filing regs and that allowed the staff to require e-filing for the final paper forms and we have now completed a 20 year project of converting all of the commission's disclosures to electronic filing 100% electronic filing, no paper, never again ever. >> not one paper. that's a huge milestone. >> so you know, we thank you
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for your leadership on that and we're very happy to be able to deliver that result during your tenure and that's that's definitely something we're all very happy about. so again, thank you so much. we hope that you'll keep in touch. you wish you the best son and what comes next for you in this next chapter. >> and don't don't be a stranger. yeah thank you for those kind of words. you should have framed the very last paper filing that came in. i don't know if it's public but thanks for that, director ford. i didn't want it to say a couple of things even though it's recognition of me, i really want to recognize the staff because i think the things you just gave me credit for, pat, are really frankly we just sit here and kind of go if we assess, we analyze, we review, we oversee but the staff does all the work. i've been in public service for most of my adult life whether that's for the or for nonprofits and i think really there's no higher calling and that's the same for commissioners who are sitting next to me. it's a little awkward positioning right here because i was putting right my way was established here in the room.
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i really, really want to know that i appreciate what you do. we all do. but i got to speak now as a public servant right now it's kind of a hard time to be in public service. i think we maybe feel a little bit differently here in san francisco. i work in the federal. it's not a great time and i think keeping your head down and doing the work is so important. so as a san francisco resident i really want to appreciate the work that you all do because we all benefit from it. you know, get thanked at least not in person i imagine from the work that you do. but it's so crucial and we all depend on it. we rely on it. so i thank you for that and thank you to my fellow commissioners who are really, really busy in our own lives taking the extra time to give back to the community by showing up here and doing what we can do to help advance the work that you all do. it's really gratifying. it's been great to be a part of it so thank you all and i know the commission is in good hands with the new director of the new commission we've got currently so that's it. thank you. and with that well even though you say i do not have any
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public comment but i think we have to take it because it's on the calendar. is that right? so okay. does anyone in the room wish to make public comment on this item seeing none. mr. clarke would you check the phone please in the there are no callers in the queue. >> all right. thank you. well, i think your fellow commissioners also if they want to say something i think just to take a quick second bucket you're not going to break my time record. >> i know. i know. i think today would be the day i mean where i think i speak for all of us when i say that we're honored and privileged to be in this position and to serve the san franciscans in this way. but i think it's always a special treat when you get to serve alongside people who you can learn from who are innovative, who are committed and very focused like you. and so it's been a pleasure and an honor to work alongside you and hopefully our orbits overlap soon but that's very quick. >> that's what i was going to say. that's it. that's it. i'm done. thank you. but i just wanted to echo that and express my gratitude for your guidance to me as a new
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commissioner when i joined the commission really appreciated the expertise that you brought to the table in campaign finance regulations and enforcement of ethics rules generally and the inclusive manner in which you ran an efficient manner which you ran all these meetings. >> so thank you. you're going to be sorely missed. thank you. thank you. >> i'd also like to echo that too. thank you so much for your service and for teaching us and guiding us in the right direction. thank you. thank you everyone. with that i close item nine and now call item six election of commission officers for the 2025 pre the ethics commission bylaws. director ford would you mind just briefly summarizing how we've done this in the past if i didn't expect that but for typically the way that it's worked is commissioners can nominate each other. they can nominate themselves if a commissioner nominates another commissioner, the nominated commissioner should
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say if they want to accept that or not. and i know in speaking with you that you thought it would be helpful if if the commissioner wants to accept a nomination perhaps they could speak a bit about what their priorities or their approach might be if the commissioner want to have some kind of conversation around it. in the past there hasn't been a ton of conversation about it. so if the commissioner wanted to have that that would help the nominated commissioner perhaps could initiate that and then each commissioner votes and you say the name of the commissioner that you want and i think we would just have kevin call a roll call vote and each commissioner would state the name of that commissioner they want to vote for i and do chair first vice chair second and basically as soon as one commissioner has three or more votes then that's that's it that commissioner wins. >> okay great. and i think from memory we
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complete that chair election in its entirety before we move on to the vice chair we don't take nominations for both at the same time. >> that's right. yeah right. yes. kathy just reminded me public comment before taking that roll call vote of course. so after the nomination but before the vote. yes. got it. okay, great. well as one of my last official acts it gives me great pleasure to nominate vice chair flores fang as chair. i think anyone who's paid attention to our meetings will speak for itself but i think her wise engagement with staff and with the issue is just show what kind of chair she'll be. so i hope that she will accept the nomination and if you want to say a few words go for it. but no nope no pressure like the second that thank you. >> thank you. i do accept i'll start with that and i mean i don't have a list of priorities right now. right now i'll say that this is going to be my third year on the commission and i've learned a lot and i think that a lot has changed and so i'd be happy
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to engage in a larger discussion about you know, this is very helpful discussing the budget. i think that we're in you've presented materials that i think help orient me if i were to create some sort of agenda for moving forward. but i'm happy to engage in a longer discussion and not out of confine myself to a list that i create today on the spot . great. so now we take public comment if i'm right do i have to nominate myself? >> i don't. thank you seeing no other nominations is there anyone in the room who like to make public comment on this nomination? seeing none. mr. clark would you check the new callers? >> chair i if there are no callers in the queue mr. clark at your convenience you can take roll to its right i can do
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i mean you want to yeah okay commissioners as i call your name please vote by stating the name of the individual for whom you cast your vote to serve as chair of the ethics commission for the coming year beginning march 1st. >> chair friend of vice chair floor saying vice chair flora's feng vice chair flora sitting commissioner salahi vice chair flora swing commissioners ii vice chair floor sitting chair by a vote of 4 to 0 the commission has elected commissioner for fang to serve as chair for a one year term beginning march 1st 2025. >> congratulations vice chair for saying thank you. >> thank you mr. clark congratulations on now open the floor for nominations for vice chai yeah. >> i'd like to nominate commissioner salahi as vice
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chair on that third. >> thank you all. i accept the nomination and my priority will primarily be to support the new chair and setting her agenda and supporting her agenda moving forward while working with director ford and other commission staff rate and i guess we have to take public comment on this as well. so does anyone the room wish to make public comment on this item seeing none. mr. clark would you check the new callers? >> griffin if there are no callers in the queue, great. mr. clark you can take the vote of your convenience commissioners as i call your name please vote by stating the name of the individual for whom you cast your vote to serve as vice chair of the ethics commission for the coming year beginning march 1st. chair finlay commissioner salahi vice chair flora's fang commissioner salahi. commissioner salahi. mr. salahi commissioners i wish just like chair by a vote of 4 to 0 the commission has elected
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commissioner salahi to serve as vice chair for a one year term beginning march first, 2025. and congratulations commissioner salahi thank you. >> thank you everyone. i think we've never had a not unanimous vote in my tenure in my tenure on elections. >> i did that to the list. >> so i think that closes item six and i'll call item number ten items for future meetings. any of my colleagues? >> yeah, i have an issue to raise. it may not necessarily need to go on an agenda but i wanted to disclose that i received a phone call from supervisor connie chen earlier this week. um at the board of supervisors the appointing authority for my supervision for my position and she had asked whether the commission has any guidance or view on how the board of supervisors exercises their authority under subsection 3.6
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20f of the code campaign code with respect to when waivers for the hazard payments prohibition is granted. so i just wanted to flag that that might be something that is worth engaging with members of the board of supervisors as well as other interested stakeholders on as to whether that would be useful for the public and for the board and we'd be more than happy to engage with supervisor chan or anybody else at the board and also with the mayor's office or any other electeds that may seek that kind of waiver. definitely be always happy to help inform any processes that are touchy in the campaign of governmental conduct code. >> absolutely. thank you. great. anything else from my fellow commissioners? seeing none does anyone the gallery wish to make public comment on this item? seeing none mr. clerk would you check if any callers driven
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live? >> there are no callers in the queue. >> adam tennis close to item 11 is additional opportunity for general public comment is there on the room wish to make public comment on item 11? seeing none mr. clerk would you check the phones if there are no callers in the queue? item 11 is now closed. item 12 adjournment and thank you. we're done
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>> my name is steve, i'm the executive director of hol hol city farmers market. i've been with the market for about 12 years this. market was started in 1991 by a couple of people that knew this was a food desert, there is a lot of liquor stores, and there was a need to be able to buy fresh food. we have a two-part mission. first part is to support small and medium size farmers. the founders had the foresight to put the farmers in charge. most markets are run by
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associations that make the decisions for the farmers. our farmers make the decisions for the markets and it's very unique to us. the second part is make produce affordable to the people that live in the community and this community as you know is one of the lower income communities in san francisco. you'll find that some of our farmers will sell their produce here than they do at other markets that they go to. it's special and the neighborhood needs that so much because we provide that service for them. i think rewarding part for me is when i started the market i start today do out reach in the community to try to convince them to eat healthier and visit our farmers market. i would go to the sros and give talks. some of the people that i initially spoke to, i got them to come to the market and i still see them today and it always warms my heart when i
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feel that i have done some good and affected some other people's lives positively. there is nothing more than reward than that. i want to thank city hall to produce food will come and join our market. this is a city for every one. we should treat each other with kindness and empathy and all of those great things. there is plenty of love, plenty of resource to see go around. come enjoy downtown. [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,
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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
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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.
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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 i grew up cuisine mixed with american cuisine, and grew up cooking with my grandmother. as i grew older, i really found a lot of joy and fulfillment in cooking and coming up with my own recipes. once i got into the fire department, it was a really easy
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transition to cooking on a daily basis. my mom said, if you love to eat, you will know problem learning how to cook. it's like cooking for your family especially since this is a blue collar job and regular people food. that is a lot of things that go on into preparing firehouse meals. we pay for our own meals. we go, we shop and we spend divided upon the amount of people in on the meal.
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in the morning, there is a sign up board and you can sign up for lunch and dinner. my name is figueroa and at station 5 is pillar. when we go in typically, we sort of span out in our meals situation and whoever is cooking dictates to what we are going to eat. we are going to take care of the pasta, bread, heavy cream, eggs, a pound of butter. three polish killbasa and onion and garlic. >> you have a lot of people hustling.
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>> we are doing this technique on the chicken where we are going to cook it in high heat for about 15 minutes and turn it down. we started at 425, and dropped the temperature at 375. >> my name is oj leonardo, a firefighter first, always, for the city and county of san francisco. >> it's unique. one of the few houses where the officers cook. they are on the cooking detail. so cooking is a big part of our tradition here in the fire department. when you cook for your folks, you are showing how much you care for them. you don't have to be an
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excellent cook, just show that you care. when you are at home, you put whatever you want together and people will eat it. there are no rules. in the firehouse, it's a different story. now, whoever is cooking, the first thing we ask is, no. 1, are there any diet restrictions because one of my firefighters is kosher and vegan. here at 12, we make sure that everyone eats. >> when i'm planning my meals, i tend to weigh it, i guess is the best way to describe it. i don't make a list, i don't typically go from recipes. i will sort of go into the rolodex in my mind and think of what possibilities i have depending on if it's cold outside, if it's hot, do you
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want to barbecue, do we want a soup, a salad, go light, heavy and decadent. when i first came in, i had some experience in cooking. i think the big difference for me was knowing how to cook for many people and how to shop. that was a pretty big deal because i had no idea how many chickens to get to make roast chicken for 11 guys. luckily, i had some really cool people help me along the way. when goaledberg, who was a staple here at station 5 was we me the first day that i cooked and he said, look here kid, you are going to be all right. we are getting this many salad, chicken, pasta and you will be
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all right. don't worry about it. he was throwing things in the shopping cart and i could barely keep up. i thought how is he going to turn all this for a meal for the guys. that's really where i had to wrap my behind around this is how we do it here. lloyd, and all the people here at 5, when i first came in were nothing but helpful when it came to that and everything and parting knowledge to the next person, the next generation is being part of being in this fire department. they for the most part know and every once in a while something new. >> when we get dispatched to a
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call, we'll put everything on hold and will do whatever duties we need to fulfill and then we'll come back finish cooking and go on with the day. >> the biggest challenge for me is to make sure that i have a meal that everyone likes. that's the biggest scare. if they don't like it, one guy is on the phone calling for pizzas and the rest are scraping their meal. that has happened. it's really important to pass on traditions. station 5 is famous for setting up the linen, the cloth and tradition. once you have caesar in the firehouse, you won't have it again outside the firehouse. >> i'm filipino and had my
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grandmother in the kitchen. we learned how to cook because we were always helping my mom in the kitchen. my mom never measured anything, neither my grandma and i had to always watch because when they turn their back, that is where they made their move. now with cooking, i use simple ingredient and let them speak for themselves. >> i think there is something to be said about coming together and sharing a meal. there is something that happens, some kind of magic that happens spinning across the table. you know, it's a moment where everybody has something in common. the next thing you know people are talking and engaging and there is a sense of community, and that's important whether it's in the firehouse or outside of the firehouse.
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that's why it's important in my family that we eat together. >> the biggest thing that the food that i cook for them and we do together is to show how much you love your fellow firefighter. that's our bond. we do it through food. it's more than just the food. i remember we had two of our firefighters pass away in a fire that turned into something. we were together at that moment, and we were able to talk about them and think about them before we started our meal and during our meal. and we would just sit there and just be together and have a moment. in the end, being a firefighter, is all about people. if you love people, this is the job for you. if you see people in need and
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respond to people in need, and then you are sharing meals with your fellow firefighters, it's a people business. so, that food just makes that bond even greater. if you are eating, you are paying. so all of you guys, i hope brought enough money to pony up. [ laughter ] oh, this is something. i told you, who needs to measure. [ laughter ] in the fire department, everyone
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is willing to help. you have to bring your a game. okay. okay. >> actually if you could give me one moment. for tv ion't see a video feed on webex. >> just get one minute. me contact them