s.f. gov tv san francisco television

. >> good afternoon everyone. welcome to the february 25th, 2025 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors . >> madam clerk, will you please call the roll? thank you, mr. president. supervisor chen chen present supervisor chen chen present supervisor dorsey dorsey present supervisor engardio and engardio present supervisor fielder fielder present supervisor mahmood mahmood president supervisor mandolin president mandolin president supervisor melgar melgar present supervisor sadr sadr present supervisor sherril sheryl present and supervisor walton walton present mr. president all members are present. >> thank you madam clerk. the san francisco board of supervisors acknowledges that

we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the rahmatullah aloni who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions the raw materials saloni have never ceded lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. as guests we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homelands. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledge acknowledging the ancestors, elders and relatives of the romita aloni community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. colleagues, will you join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america the republic which stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

>> on behalf of our board of supervisors i want to acknowledge the staff at s.f. gov tv and especially today jaime echevarria who record each of our meetings and make the transcript transcripts available to the public. madam clerk, are there any communications? >> thank you, mr. president. san francisco board of supervisors welcomes your attendance at this meeting today here in the board's legislative chamber room 250 within city hall on the second floor or you may also watch the proceeding on s.f. gop tv's channel 26 or view the live stream at w w w dot s.f. geo v tv.org. you also can submit your public comment in writing. you can use email send it to boss at as f gov dawg or use the postal service to the san francisco board of supervisors the number one dr. carlton b goodlatte place city hall room

244 san francisco california 94102. and finally if you need to make a reasonable accommodation request under the americans with disabilities act or if you need language assistance, please contact the clerk's office at least two business days in advance. please call (415) 554-5184. >> thank you. thank you, mr. president. thank you, madam clerk. >> let's go to approval of the meeting minutes. this is the approval of the january 14th, 2025 board meeting minutes. >> all right. colleagues, are there any changes to these meeting minutes? seeing none. can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented moved by walton and seconded by sherril. madam clerk, will you please call the roll on the minutes supervisor mahmood mahmood eyes supervisor randleman i mendelson i supervisor melgar melgar i supervisor sartor sartor eyes supervisor sherril sherril eyes supervisor walton

walton eyes supervisor chan chin eyes supervisor chin chin eyes supervisor dorsey dorsey eyes supervisor and engardio and engardio i and supervisor fielder fielder i there are 11 eyes thank you madam clerk without objection the minutes will be approved after public comment as presented let's go to our consent agenda items one and two items one through two are on consent. these items are considered routine if a member objects an item may be removed and considered separately. colleagues does anyone want to sever any items from the consent agenda seeing no one madam clerk, can you please call the roll on items one through two supervisor mahmood mahmood eyes supervisor randleman mandel men eyes supervisor melgar melgar eyes supervisor sauder sorter eyes

supervisor sherril sherril i supervisor walton walton i supervisor chan chin eyes supervisor chin chin eyes supervisor dorsey dorsey eyes supervisor and gaudio and gaudio eye and supervisor fielder fielder either or 11 eyes without objection these ordinances are finally passed madam clerk can you take us to our regular agenda unfinished business item three item three is an ordinance to amend the planning code to permit the use of california debt limit allocation committee tax exempt bond financing and tax credits for certain affordable housing projects that provide additional affordable units or deeper affordability levels than required by the inclusionary housing ordinance and to require the mayor's office of housing and community development to report on such projects to amend the health code to exempt such affordable housing projects from

compliance with the requirement that new buildings be construct and operated and maintained using alternate water sources for non-potable uses to affirm the secret determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> all right. i think we can take this item same house, same call without objection this ordinance is finally passed. >> madam clerk, can you please call item number four? >> item four. this is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to modify the waivers of specified contract related requirements in the administrative labor and employment and environment codes for electricity and related product transactions to authorize binding arbitration and to increase the annual expenditure limit for energy procurements from 200 million to 300 million and the revenue collection limit from 10 million to 300 million and we'll take this item same house, same call without objection. this ordinance is passed on

first reading madame clerk, can you please call item five item five this resolution approves a lease terminate an agreement for the harvey milk terminal one retail concession lease eight at the san francisco international airport between minute suites travelers retreat sfo llc as tenant and the city and we can take this item same house same call without objection this resolution is adopted. >> madam clerk, can you please call item six? >> item six is a resolution to approve the specialty retail minimum annual guarantee rent reduction program for certain specialty retail concession tenants to allow the airport to do a one time adjustment of the minimum annual guarantee due under the leases and changing the method for future adjustments of the minimum annual guarantees. >> and we'll take this same house same call without objection the resolution is adopted. >> madam clerk, can you please call item seven? item seven this is a resolution

to authorize the department of technology to enter into a first amendment to the enterprise agreement with ssp data inc to purchase palo alto software products. to extend the term for three years for a new total term june 1st 2023 through may 31st 2029 for 40 million and we'll take this item same house, same call without objection the resolution is adopted. >> madame clerk, can you please call item eight? item eight this is a resolution that approves and authorizes the sale to the city of san bruno approximately 68,000ft2 of real property for 5000 and to affirm the secret determination and to make the appropriate findings and we can take this item same house, same call without objection the resolution is adopted. madam clerk, please call item nine. >> item nine resolution to authorize the office of the treasurer and tax collector to sell at public auction and sealed bid auction certain

parcels of tax defaulted real property and we'll take this item same house, same call. >> without objection this resolution is adopted. madam clerk, please call item ten. >> item ten resolution to approve the ninth amendment to a contract between the municipal transportation agency and tags co llc for services related to the towing, storage and disposal of abandoned and illegally parked vehicles. to approve a $15.3 million increase and for a new total contract amount of 136.7 million the balance of the second year in the last three years of the five year extension with no changes to the term through march 31st 2026. okay. and we'll take this item same house, same call without objection the resolution is adopted. madam clerk, can you please call item 11? >> item 11 this is a resolution to retroactive approve a

contract agreement between the city of san francisco and the department of state hospitals for early access and stabilization services for a three year term through december 31st, 2027 and for an amount of approximately 3.3 million. >> and we'll take this item the same house, same call without objection the resolution is adopted. >> madam clerk, can you please call our next item item 12 this is a resolution to retroactively authorize the department of public health to accept and expend an approximate $829,000 grant from the department of justice through the san francisco general hospital foundation for a program entitled children and adolescents support advocacy and resources through september 30th, 2026 and will take this item same house, same call without objection the resolutions adopted. >> madam clerk, can you please call our next item item 13 this is a resolution to retroactively authorize the mayor's office of housing and community development to execute and submit a

certification of acceptance of allocation requirements to the california department of social services and to take all action in compliance with the certification to authorize the city to accept and expend the $250,000 grant under the special programs appropriated through the budget act of 2024 section 195 for the term july first 2024 through june 30th 2027 for the center of immigrant protection to provide supportive services and programing for the immigrant community in san francisco. we can take this item same house, same call. without objection the resolution is adopted. madam clerk, can you please call our next item? >> item 14 was referred without recommendation from the budget and finance committee. it's a resolution to approve the sixth amendment sixth amendment to a grant agreement between the office of economic and workforce development and mid-market foundation for the management of the mid-market tenderloin community based safety program to increase the

grant amount by 4 million for a new total of approximately 69.8 million excuse me that is 68.8 million through june 30th 2025. >> chair chan thank you present amendment colleagues and i rise to speak to why this item was forwarded out of committee without recommendation. i think many of you already know that in the past that to up to date the city is still facing a looming budget deficit of $1 billion layer on top of that even a greater challenge that in a prior fiscal year with now we have the trump administration injecting greater chaos and uncertainty into our state and local budgets. we already spent more than $68 million on this contract since 2018 without clear result and matrix for success.

and now for this fiscal year alone with this amendment additional $4 million we will have spent about $25 million in this fiscal year just for this contract alone. in this one year i want to give you sort of a context of what that means. >> the same $25 million is also approximately the same amount that that mayor breed has held up for this very same fiscal year. and these including funding for dental care and health care at our public school sites. and in fact supervisor souder has a resolution for us to vote on later today is to make sure that we have celebrate and recognize children. dental health care day or in. and so with that also the very same $25 million our transitional age youth outpatient rates and behavioral health support workforce

development women and victim services tenants counseling services, rental subsidies, violence interventions services and a 24 hour pit stop program which you know that in the mission and many other neighborhoods really, really need. so knowing that there are a lot of people and services are competing for the very same $25 million that this contract represents, i want to articulate why i will be voting against this contract amendment today. how do we deliver equity or equitable city services in this coming year is is something that we need to start talking about right now not until june . >> we should know that a dollar is a dollar a dollar spent on one thing is a dollar missing for another city services that we now have to identify another dollar or worse that we now have to cut and reduce.

i wish we're not where we're at today that i can actually say let's move forward with all the dollars that we needed to support everything that need our support when it comes to city services and neighborhoods. but it is one of those moments that we have to face the financial reality i leave to you colleagues i am not here to urging you to support or against this contract. i am here to simply remind you as your budget committee chair that when we spend this money it's actually being taking out from somewhere else. it's a tradeoff conversation that we must make and but today i am going to be voting against this very $4 million additional $4 million for this contract being aware that it's coming from somewhere else including the list i just provided to you. thank you. >> thank you. chair and supervisor mahmud.

>> colleagues, i'd like to speak out in support of this item which is requesting an increase of grant funding for community based safety programs to june 30th, 20 25. >> i think all of us can agree it would be an understatement to say these programs have been critical for the neighborhoods in district five especially in the tenderloin as well as in district six and so and so may as well if you walked into work today and walked through u.n. plaza or grabbed a coffee at phil's and golden gate, you were likely greeted with a warm good morning and have a lovely rest of your day by someone smiling in a vest whose work is funded by this grant. these kind words that brighten your morning are just a small part of the work done by community ambassadors who do so much of the important work our city departments cannot do. and i have heard repeatedly from s.f. pd that this is work that they cannot do. >> these are men and women who were once incarcerated but have been given a second chance at life, a second chance at being

part of our community and who possess a unique life experience which allows them to connect with others who are struggling in our streets from addiction, homelessness, mental health issues or a combination of the three. these ambassador programs at this money will fund where deployed have been shown to reduce crime in areas by as much as 52% and drug crimes by 80%. as a tenderloin resident i know i appreciate seeing them in my neighborhood and but i've heard from neighbors who reached out on this particular item extremely concerned about what might happen next if they were cut because community ambassadors have become just that a part of our community. i've heard from s.f. pd and dpw how instrumental these community ambassadors are for complimenting their work, not replacing it to keep our streets safe and clean. at the same time i hear my colleague's concerns about the need to review contracting for accountability and for change. and i'm looking forward to going through that process during this budget cycle.

but we need to make sure that any replacement or anything that happens is done in a way that doesn't result in an immediate reduction oervice that would have disastrous effects for the neighborhoods that have seen that double digit reduction in crime and drug dealing where these ambassadors are placed in the interim this program is driving positive results and if we are to make changes we need to do it in a regulated fashion that we have something to replace over time. >> but overall these are positive results for our residents that you simply cannot put a price on community massive programs like those funded in mid-market and tenderloin make our streets safer for families and children who live here and for those on transit commuting to work and for those visiting us from far away to take in to our great city. so i urge my colleagues to vote in support of this item. thank you. supervisor mahmud. madam clerk, could you please call the roll on this item on item 14. >> supervisor mahmood mahmood i supervisor mandolin. all right.

mendelssohn i supervisor melgar i melgar i supervisor sadr sadr i supervisor sherril sherrell i supervisor walton walton i supervisor chin chin no supervisor chin chin i supervisor dorsey dorsey i supervisor and gaudio and gaudio i and supervisor fielder fielder i there are ten eyes and one no with supervisor chan voting no. >> all right without objection this resolution is adopted. >> madam clerk, could you please call item 15? >> item 15 this is an ordinance to amend the planning code to exempt certain types of projects in the downtown area that replace nonresidential uses with residential uses from development impact fees and requirements to include the inclusionary housing fee. remove the application deadline from the commercial to residential adaptive reuse program and to require periodic

reporting to the inclusionary housing technical advisory committee to affirm the second determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> all right. supervisor dorsey thank you president melbourne. colleagues, i am pleased to be among those bringing this item to you today together with mayor laurie and supervisor sartor. amendments were circulated earlier i believe you have them before you and i am happy to support them. i represent communities in the east cut in mission bay that are really blueprints for what a vibrant mixed vice because. >> can you hold on a second? could we lower signs i guess are all right but the request is that they be lowered so that you're not blocking the view of the people behind you. >> there's a board rule that indicates they should not be blocking view and be essentially in your lap. >> so there we go. okay. all right. take it away, supervisor. >> thanks, president mandolin. thank you. audience. i represent communities like the east cut in mission bay that are really blueprints for

what a vibrant mix of uses can mean to fulfill the promise of 21st century urbanism underutilized and vacant office buildings offer us an incredible opportunity to unlock more units of housing and to welcome new neighbors downtown. in many ways this legislation seeks to correct the errors of 20th century planning wch w relian on oce onl towns and which n' serving our city well today. office to residential projects not only contribute to our ing goals, they also reduce the supply of vacant offices which helps to stabilize the office market and by extension our property and business tax base that supports everything our city does. however, we are not currently seeing these projects move forward at the scale or the pace we need. this ordinance would help to lower those costs by waiving impact fees including inclusionary housing requirements for targeted and narrow set of downtown office to housing conversion projects in the c-3 and c-2 zoning districts and i believe it is a reasonable tradeoff to make when we are currently not

getting the impact fee revenue or inclusionary units from all these projects that aren't getting built because of high costs. this ordinance is about stimulating housing development in downtown. both these conversion projects and new housing projects downtown and citywide. and with that i want to thank all the staff of the office of office of economic and workforce development for their work on this the mayor's office and of course our land use chair supervisor melgar. thanks also to supervisor chen for your engagement and questions throughout this process. i'm looking forward to passing this today and i hope to have your support. >> supervisor chan thank you president randleman. i also want to thank supervisor chen for her work and trying to figure this out in in and really to look at this not just for a short term growth but really the long term impact when you waive any type of impact fees and in this case

the inclusionary impact fees for any type of development and project. i would again put my hat on when we think about the future of our city, when we think about budget. thinking about where do we contain you'll be able to identify funding to build affordable housing. >> those are real challenges that we have to face. and while i do understand that you know, creating a waiver which we have done about many things for small business, we typically didn't do these type of for exemptions and waivers with a sunset date because with the understanding that you know ,once we do something a waiver to be able to enact a fee or enact a tax measure or increase certain fees, it will be it will be tremendously challenging for the board to take on. >> and so principally i am

against fee waiver especially those without some kind of a sunset date or some kind of condition and cap. >> so i just want to thank the mayor and thank supervisor dorsey and thank supervisor souder for coming really to the table and to say yes, let's figure out ways to boost long term growth to boost the growth of a space that really need that growth for housing and meeting that demands. but thank you supervisor chen for really thinking about then what do we do to also make sure that it doesn't create a long term fiscal burden for the city that we now end up losing money for building more affordable affordable housing and inclusionary housing on site. >> so with that i am today in support of you've amended and successfully we capping this to a $7 million

7,000,000ft2 which i calculated roughly probably about 7000 units of two bedrooms of housing. my assumption i don't know but that's my assumption of that and perhaps then that makes sense for our area that not only need the grove but the city that actually needs it to meet the demands of housing elements. >> so thank you supervisors for working on this. >> i do want to two centers if i may thought through our president and man domain to the land use committee at this moment that i do hope that this conversation can be really discussed in the committee as president mendo men have talked about last last week you know regarding another legislation i think that some of these can actually provide a longer conversation and allow some of these conversation to take place. >> it's not just because where

the committee is is is delegated to do so but also the stand will allow public comment. >> it will allow public comments, allow the community to have feedback about the legislation and whether this is something that we can learn more about and perhaps there are more things that can be done. so not just really an afterthought of of adding to today's and to the land use committee and thank you so much again to the land use committee for your work but i truly hope that we can actually have this conversation took place in the committee level allowing community feedback instead of full bore with that thank you. >> thank you chair chan supervisor sauder thank you chair. >> i first want to thank mayor lori and supervisor dorsey for their partnership on this important piece of legislation that will bring more housing downtown and make use of our city's excess vacant office spaces. thank you to to chair melgar for helping move this legislation forward and land

use committee and of course to supervisor chen for working with us to craft today's amendments in the committee we added language to refer this waiver to the inclusionary technical advisory committee tac as part of the feasibility review that occurs every three years. in discussions with supervisor chen we have agreed to go further to add a clear boundary on this program. i'm glad we could come to this compromise that responds to the concerns raised by many community organizations about making this waiver indefinite. so today i am introducing an amendment to place a 7,000,000 square foot cap on the total square footage subject to this development fee waiver in addition to two small technical amendments that accommodate the cap in the legislation. the reason being is by setting a cap on square footage we ensure that we do not prematurely short circuit these conversions at an arbitrary date since we of course do not know what the economy will look like in the years ahead. instead the square footage cap translates to about 7000

converted units. that is roughly half of the high end estimate made by spurned agent gensler. of the number of converted units that downtown could currently accommodate. so we're setting the stage for this program to get us halfway there and if and when it is successful we can bring it back to the board to revisit as needed. a copy of these amendments were circulated before today's meetings and have been passed out as a hard copy for your review with the amendments highlighted in yellow. this is a forward thinking policy that will help us revitalize downtown while ensuring our city meets its long term housing needs. and i want to just pause to remind us of the context that we're doing this within a 35% downtown office vacancy. many of those that we want to return to office use but many that we know in the 510 years ahead will not have that office demand and we need to think creatively, creatively to make sure that these can be homes for residents. we are behind other cities

in this effort far behind in fact, new york city has 8310 units underway for office to residential conversion at the moment. and it's not just our large metros cincinnati 1753 units cleveland 1690 and pittsburgh 1250. san francisco does not make the list of the top 20 cities that have these conversions. and with your support i think we can get on that list. most importantly, we can work to accelerate our downtown recovery and accommodate new homes for residents. >> thank you. thank you. >> supervisor sauder, supervisor walton thank you and thank you president amendment and i just want to start my statements by saying i'm completely all for these conversions but i do think that we are setting a trend here. we've been fighting extremely hard to be responsible about development and at the same

time meet housing goals in this city. we have certain communities that are suffering from indigenous population flight and on the brink of complete extinction which goes even beyond gentrification priority equity neighborhoods such as south of market and of course bayview and district ten are to be protected and growth must be responsible and these communities are critical to true districts are in place for a specific reason and that is to protect these communities from complete annihilation. the rhetoric is that we need housing all over san francisco and that may be true but the practice is we do not build all over san francisco except in neighborhoods with less voice and most disenfranchize us and in most cases that is to be true and by the way we build in district ten so this is not

someone who is against building and against growth. the original agreed upon sunset date for inclusionary decreases and fee waivers protects affordable housing and aligns with the goal to make san francisco more affordable. >> i know that there are people who want san francisco to be completely devoid of black people and they don't want to see a decrease in the wealth gap but to blatantly disregard community voice is ridiculous and indicative of guaranteeing that the democratic process is almost nonexistent here in san francisco we are on the brink of setting some horrible trends in this city and i hope that at some point we start to listen to community voice particularly when it comes to growth and building housing. this coming from the supervisor who actually builds housing.

>> thank you, mr. president. >> thank you. supervisor walton our clerk has reminded me that there is a motion that has been made by supervisor sauder and i should ask if there's a second for that seconded by melgar. >> thank you. supervisor melgar supervisor fielder thank you, president. i first want to thank supervisor chen and the 33 community organizations including our culture districts that appealed to mary leary and my colleagues to amend the legislation that was originally introduced by the former mayor that would exempt nonresidential two residential conversions from any inclusionary housing requirements affordable housing fees and childcare fees. >> the proposed legislation will eliminate impact fees for projects that convert office space to housing in the soma tenderloin, chinatown, north beach and surrounding neighborhoods during a time

when we absolutely need more affordable housing the projects that this legislation will incentivize will be market rate with no one side affordable housing and will provide zero funding for affordable housing impact fees, zero funding for child care impact fees that goes towards child care facilities. >> the impetus for this legislation doesn't emerge from vacuum or even from the recent past. there is a long tragic history upon which this legislation builds and tries to solve for between the 50s, late 40s and the 70s the san francisco redevelopment agency as we know ,demolished 14,000 housing units in san francisco including in these priority equity geographies under the auspices of slum removal. >> this involved a complete overhaul of soma. >> it was in this time that our

s.f. development redevelopment agency director justin herman said about soma this land is too valuable to permit poor people to park on it. >> since then massive actions followed the demolition of thousands of housing units a district court ruled in favor of those poor and working class tenants and a substantial portion of the area has been transformed into office and convention space. >> which brings us to our present predicament of not just an oversupply of office space and a deep need for affordable housing but also a budget precariously tied to the ever unpredictable booms and busts of the exact downtown the city created when it cleared human beings and destroyed housing to make way for big business. and so with my vote i am acknowledging that we need housing in this area much more than we need office space. and i'm also warning that we need affordable housing much more than we need empty homes. thank you supervisor field or supervisor chen thank you

president colleagues over the last few days i have worked very hard to find common grounds on this legislation. >> i want to appreciate the mayor's office for creating space to meet with our community leaders and also here are their concerns throughout this process the north star has been now too we support our downtown recovery. >> why also ensuring a just recovery for the working class community in the downtown in the downtown area. i have urge our mayor's office to ensure that cultural and working class community share that in this in the prosperity and have a seat at the table. the amendments proposed it in this legislation by supervisor salter establish a limit to the number of conversion of office buildings to residential that are exempt from community impact fee to fund childcare, open space, affordable housing, transit

schools and other community infrastructures. >> this legislation does as a working class community to make a sacrifice in the service of our downtown recovery efforts. i have worked with the mayor's office to urge them to really see our working class community in this in our city wide recovery and also our budget investments and that we also prioritize the needs of our children seniors, working class families and our most vulnerable. >> the 33 organization that advocates throughout this process have made a very strong case that they have uplifted the community needs and solutions that pointed to the need for added protection to our priority equity geographies and our cultural district. for example the transgender district, the soma filipinas cultural district that lines and within the scope of this legislation these are geographies that have borne the burden of displacement not only

in the past but in the present day. i really hope that we would be able to leave out this community in the scope of this legislation and when the market kicks in and more office to residential conversion occur, we are ensuring that affordable housing investment and impact fees continue to flow to these communities. >> i am disappointed that we couldn't go further to achieve this carve out but however i also want to say that is this is only a month and three weeks in file mayor's office and i have heard repeatedly that and we also have heard repeatedly from our mayor that it is a new day. >> we are still finding ways to work collaboratively with our mayor's office and with each other. >> now it's the time for a more comprehensive and proactive planning that include community and all impacted stakeholders. the mayor's office has informed me that they are willing to continue to meet with our

community leaders to discuss strategies to advance affordable housing and community stabilization goals and i am putting a lot of trust in the mayor's office and i'm hoping that we can continue to learn from this experience and continue to build strong partnership together if we are taking away then we must find a way to replenish the resources that we're at for our working class community that is needed and deserve. thank you to all the neighborhood leaders you all have done a beautiful job of educating our members of the board and stepping forward to represent the needs of our community of your communities. and again i want to thank the mayor's office for hearing our community and committed to work towards solutions and thank you. and i also will vote today to support supervisor salter's amendment and the legislation. >> thank you. thank you supervisor chan thank you for all of your work on this item. all right. so an amendment has been made

by supervisor sartor. it has been seconded by supervisor melgar and i believe that we probably can take that amendment without objection. >> okay. is that a gavel of all thing, madam clerk yes, i'm gaveling. >> all right. and then madam clerk can you please call the roll on the amended item on item 15 as amended supervisor muhammad mahmood i supervisor randleman i middleman i supervisor melgar i melgar i supervisor sartor i sartor i supervisor sherril sherril i supervisor walton no walton no supervisor chin chin i supervisor chin chin i supervisor dorsey dorsey i supervisor engardio and engardio i and supervisor fielder fielder no there are nine eyes and two nose with supervisors walter and fielder voting no. >> all right without objection

. >> pardon me, mr. president. supervisor one suggestion this with objection this ordinance is passed on first reading madam clerk let's go to our 230 special order yes, the 230 special order is the recognition of commendations for meritorious service to the city and county of san francisco. >> oh. oh. we're looking for cedric spencer. can we okay. okay. so could we get district heads ? great

. you should bring the rest of them in the chamber now we're

going to call it you know what would okay, we we got district ten in the room. >> all right? so for this final tuesday of black history month, we will begin with supervisor walton, district ten. thank you so much, president madam in colleagues today during black history month and the entire month we've been honoring individuals whose leadership and commitment to equity uplift our communities and pave the way for future generations. today i am proud to recognize cedric spencer, a distinguished leader and advocate whose work bridges the corporate, legislative and community spheres to drive meaningful change. and mr. spencer, could you come stand up at the podium please?

>> as vice president of relations at paramount, cedric has dedicated his career to advancing policies that shape the entertainment industry and beyond. with 25 years of experience working to improve legislative outcomes for community and corporate relations, his impact is both broad and profound. but beyond his professional achievements, cedric's passion lies in fostering equity, ensuring that education and innovation thrive in spaces that have historically been underserved. cedric's commitment to service is reflected in his leadership roles across numerous organizations including his board presidency at young community developers leading their growth through a major pandemic. his stewardship as treasurer of

the california state university alumni council and his advocacy as vice chair of the american network for action. his contributions to the naacp california hawaii state conference further underscore his dedication to justice and empowerment. cedric spencer is not only a leader he is a bridge builder, a visionary and an inspiration to those who strive to create a better future. >> on a personal note, i would like to add that i learned so much from cedric about how to become an elected official. he not only mentored me in fraternal roles and positions but laid the foundation and taught me what was needed to successfully get elected. he helped me flesh out my values, set an example and gave me examples of how to be strategic and keep the true essence of yourself. importantly he taught me that

to be in a leadership role requires you to set and live by a certain example. as we honor him today, i want to make sure that he knows and everyone knows how important it is to have examples of leadership that stay true to their values. on behalf of district ten here in the chamber i extend my deepest gratitude for his unwavering dedication and tireless efforts. his work reminds us all of the power of advocacy collaboration and the courage to dream boldly . >> thank you, supervisor walton and board members. it is a privilege to represent why cd the family here this afternoon. today we are honored. today we are honored to have our board members with this we have ms. tatum, ms. and mr.

spencer. forgive my interruption. can you bring that microphone closer so we can hear you better? >> so we have our board members with us today ms. tatum ms.. andrew and ms.. doyle as well as we have our ceo and his executive staff ms. brianna blackwood jordan and ms. rock allowing. since 1973 the mission of white cd has been to serve the community of one point and bayview and we still do that today. it is an honor to serve the community and we will continue to do so with that. again, thank you supervisor walton and have a great day

. >> next up from district four supervisor and guardian, i had the honor of meeting your honoree this weekend. >> thank you dorothy louthan for any want to come on up to the podium, dorothy? >> i so this black history month it's my honor to recognize sunset resident dorothy lathan. >> dorothy is one of the first black people allowed to buy a home in the outer sunset. yes. >> yes, it is true. for many decades nonwhite people were not allowed to be homeowners throughout much of san francisco's west side. baseball hero willie mays tried to buy a house on the west side in 1957 and was denied three

years later in 1960, dorothy and her husband arthur were able to buy their home on 48th avenue. >> she is still living in that home with an ocean view at age 92. >> dorothy has had quite the trailblazing life from arkansas to san francisco. today we honor her contributions to our city and community. dorothy made history with the purchase of her outer sunset home and she made history again with her job. she had to fight to become the first black teacher at an inner sunset elementary school until dorothy came along. black teachers were only assigned to majority black schools and dorothy would eventually become a school principal and dorothy served

our city in many other ways. >> she was appointed by mayor dianne feinstein to serve. yes, she was appointed by mayor feinstein to serve on the commission on the status of women. she also joined mayor feinstein's delegation to abidjan when it was named a sister city to san francisco. and dorothy was a founding member of the museum of the african diaspora and she served on its board of directors. >> all right. >> daughter was born in arkansas and attended lincoln university in missouri where she met and married art lathan. art joined the army which moved the couple to san francisco and art was sent to korea and dorothy stayed in san francisco. now when art returned they left their rental in hunters point and found the house they could afford and the outer sunset next to the ocean.

and they raised three kids in that house. sadly, art passed away in 2022 after 69 years of marriage. they had a joyous partnership. they danced every day and they traveled to every continent. >> yes, including antarctica. and today dorothy enjoys time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. she is loved by her neighbors. dorothy has many lessons to teach us. i love her zest for life and her forward looking perspective. despite having to endure many challenges in the past. now here is one scene that sums up dorothy at one of our recent night markets in the sunset. i saw dorothy with a cane in one hand and a margarita in the other hand and she was bopping to the music, right? yes, she was. so thank you, dorothy. >> thank you, dorothy, for being such an inspiration for san francisco.

>> and now let's hear from you. well, all i can say is you're going to kill an old woman with all this joy. >> this is so overwhelming for me. it's just unbelievable. i have been on cloud nine ever since i heard that this honor was coming down the pad. >> i just let me formally say good afternoon. good afternoon to the board of supervisors and to the president. but i've been just unable to sleep. >> unable to function. i'm unable to write anything. i'm glad this day has come and i'm glad this day is going to end. >> it's just been too much excitement for an old woman. >> but what i'd like to do is give a tribute to my husband. >> my husband made me aware of the value of feel at the therapy and service. and we have had so many

interesting functions that we've performed in the city that have brought us so many rewards and so many friends. >> and i'm just so happy to be able to say that i have a room full of friends back here with me. thank you. i'm happy to be there in my family and just so thrilled to have been a part of the development and growth of this wonderful city. thank you so very much. she's right. oh, it's right outside the me.

>> it's good to see you. judge dearman. >> oh my god. look at, uh, barbara from district five supervisor mahmud . >> thank you, president. i'd like to call mike carter and the gas field services team

from virginia up front. we should cfl board members and audience. we've all heard the news of devastating wildfires that broke out and threatened los angeles last month becoming some of the most destructive in our state's history. and our thoughts are with those who are dealing still with that an unimaginable loss in a situation where many were fleeing. amidst that crisis there were 51 brave workers from the gas and fleet members of pge and from the bay area who volunteered to go towards the fire to help our neighbors in southern california. >> and jan, these gas and electric crews went to support southern california edison. los angeles department of power and water and southern california gas customers who were affected by the unprecedented wildfires. pge also lent two of its

blackhawk helicopters to assist cal fire in aerial firefighting to help contain the flames. providing this mutual assistance is a hallmark that we should be celebrating. and my partner and his team want to would love to command and accept have you accept this on behalf of your colleagues? there are over 30 folks here today from this gas and fleet team. i'd like to commend their bravery, hard work and dedicated service to others you've demonstrated in your courageous mutual assistance work. your actions have restored a sense of normalcy for many going through some of their worst times. and we are proud of your work and hope you're proud to represent the bay area and all the good work that you do as well. >> so i'll say a few words. yeah. >> oh first. >> first i would like to say thank you on behalf of pge for the city of san francisco for recognizing honoring the pge employees that went down to l.a. to support the restoration effort. second, i would definitely like to recognize people from the bay area that came from san francisco and peninsula area specifically to go out there

and support for over a few weeks to make sure that we were able to provide the customers in l.a. the support they needed to get their gas and electric restored. so thank you so much for the honor and we really appreciate it. and then as easy that we help help on district six supervisor matt dorsey. >> thank you president mandolin you want to come on up?

so today i am honored to recognize a man whose dedication has left an indelible mark on six district six neighborhoods i represent in san francisco citywide. we today celebrate someone whose leadership and service have transformed our streets, uplifted our neighborhoods and restored community pride. ladies and gentlemen, christian martin, executive director of the soho community benefit district and step up for with with more than a decade of experience managing community benefit districts. christian has worked tirelessly to make west soma streets and sidewalks cleaner, safer and more welcoming. his leadership in launching the summer west cbd in march 2020 was a defining moment establishing the operational and financial structures needed to support businesses, residents and visitors. we know the challenges facing san francisco streets public

drug use, graffiti, illegal dumping and myriad safety concerns. these are complex but christian has never shied away from them. he has met each challenge with innovation, collaboration and an unwavering commitment to progress. under his leadership somewhere cbd has become a driving force in street cleaning, public safety and community engagement. his work is evident in thousands of pounds of trash removed in countless graffiti abatement tags. in proactive and compassionate outreach to unhoused individuals. but christian's impact goes far beyond cleaning up the streets . he has improved city response times integrated technology into service delivery and championed policies that strengthen our urban infrastructure and contribute to a high quality public realm . his leadership was instrumental in expanding the city's connected worker app pilot, allowing real time referrals for cleaning and maintenance requests, setting a new standard for managing public spaces.

christians dedication extends beyond soma west as the leader of the ocean avenue association, he is ensuring yet another part of our city benefits from his leadership. his service on the board of the episcopal community services of san francisco too reflects his deep commitment to addressing the root causes of poverty and homelessness. this kind of selfless long term dedication is rare. it is the kind of leadership that inspires action, builds trust and fosters true progress. the kind of leadership our city needs. christian's work is isn't always easy nor is it always glamorous. but it is really necessary. it is impactful. it is transformative. so christian, on behalf of my own neighbors and district six residents i represent business owners advocates who have benefited from your tireless work and leadership. thank you. thank you for your leadership, for your vision and for showing us what it means to have a community with heart integrity and dedication.

>> please join me in giving a warm welcome to two christian martin and brody. >> let's say a few words up and then i think after this we've got a couple of my colleagues who also want to say some nice words about you. >> okay. we'll brief resident supervisors. >> tall, handsome god, good skin. got all his teeth. now that's a superhero. i met anybody who can help out the soma or san francisco is a true superhero. >> but when he asked us to jump matt, guess what we're going to jump. with or without a parachute. >> when he says bring the army down we come in and we're going to come for a fight. >> those firemen because of a brother who is a leader and who has integrity, who is humble

but is down for the people. and so christian, congratulations, brother. >> that's my brother from another mother. >> from the same father. yeah. you hear me though? yeah. god, that is a real player. >> randy, i got to give it to you the way i give it to you, right? i don't even know i was going to speak today. >> but i'm honored to share you know, share what i feel about you. i think about you, christian. you are real. thank you, man. for what you do for the people because it's not only for the people you do it with the people. >> god bless you. king. and now we'll bring up chris garcia. >> thank you, rudy supervisor chan. hi. i want to echo i want to echo

that the west side is incredibly lucky to share you christian, with soma just to say a little thing that was very touching. he is officially still on maternity leave but he still goes in person. >> joy's meeting so i appreciate you. i appreciate your dedication to serving the corridor business corridor on ocean avenue. >> thank you. so i want to continue to remind that your vision and your tenacity have has so many positive positive impacts on the ocean avenue corridor. we have the best version of the corridor going back decades. >> our streets are cleaner and we have street activation and large community events like the last weekend's lunar new year celebration in large enlarge. >> i want to make sure that i thank you and thank you and your leadership at oira and i'm looking forward to continue to work closely together with you. so then we can continue to bring positive attention and

prosperity to ocean avenue and thank you for all you do, chris thank you. supervisor melgar thank you. >> so people made me wondering you know this is the so my supervisor in how come you know district 11 is district seven. so in fact you know when i became supervisor with her at the ocean avenue association was going through some leadership difficulties. >> we have an organization that had been around for a while. people were not believing in the mission. things were a little bit tired and with a collaboration and long coordination with chris gorga that you would then i insisted that we help the to lean into who they are and hire a professional executive director. >> but you know being poor as

we are it was a tall order because you know we couldn't pay you know who we needed but we found that unicorn. and that is creation and who we share with district six and soma. and you are one of a kind because not only do you bring all of the professional experience expertise, you know what you're doing but you are also one of the gentlest, kindest, most intelligent and emotionally intelligent people that i've seen do this kind of work. >> and that's what we needed. we needed people to believe again in what we are doing. so i share my colleague supervisor chen's great words about you. i am so grateful that you're there that you wanted to take this up and to make such a large part of san francisco. so my and the oh, am i better for your work? so thank you so much and thank you supervisor dorsey for recognizing christian's great work.

thank you. supervisor melgar chris caucus thank you president mandolin good afternoon members of the board chris corgi step you the director of the community economic development development division at i would say that five times fast. i'm here today. i'm just so thrilled and honored to hear about christian martin receiving this honor. i cannot think of a better person for this. when i first met him we started around the same time he was over at the lower pork cbd which i think at the time may have been in district three possibly district. >> i don't know how district lines work anymore but i got to see his work up close and personal and when we formed the western soma cbd back in 2019 finding an executive director for that was a tall order for the community and they found what i believe to be one of the best in the country not only the city but the country. this is somebody who is a strategic thinker thinks outside of the box and you

heard it from other folks who say it much more eloquently than i. his empathy knows no bounds during the pandemic he opened up the soma west cbd to help other cbd with their pandemic response. you could call him at any time of day and i mean we had some really, really late night calls . christian you are an amazing individual and we in san francisco are so lucky to have you and thank you supervisor dorsey's supervisor chen and supervisor melgar for your kind words about christian. without further ado, mr. martin thank you chris rudy supervisor dorsey supervisor melgar, supervisor chen all the supervisors. wow. what an incredible honor to hear such kind words. this is one of those jobs where you could do 100 things in a day and someone will come along

and point to the first thing and say you didn't do. but excuse my language but you've heard words. i just want to thank my my team as some of west if you could just stand up because this honor is your honor this is this is a team responsible. this is a team responsible for picking up over hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash needles, feces, you name it from the public realm you make it possible for kids to go to school without having to deal with that, for seniors to get past the sidewalk. >> and i'm so proud of you and the work that we strive and the work that we've been able to do over the past five years. i just want to thank you all.

mom, i want to thank you for instilling the work ethic and values that you did in me and we've been through a lot. >> we've been through a lot. >> we're going to get through the rest and just the some community district six urban alchemy united players all all of ambassadors and practitioners out here doing the dirty work and making this city livable. i just can't thank you all enough and i work for you and i'm honored to continue this work with you at my side. >> thank you. >> thank you very much.

thank you. you're welcome. thank you very much. thank you very much. all right. well, thank you very much. >> all right. up next i believe district seven supervisor melgar, you are sharing a combination with some of your colleagues proudly. all right. thank you, president. gentlemen, colleagues, it is my distinct honor today to join supervisors chen and walton in commending the incomparable reverend roland gordon for as we like to call him in the neighborhood rev g.

>> of the ingleside presbyterian church. reggie just celebrated his 80 first birthday on february 13th declared we are going to be voting later to honor resolutions occurring that day as reverend roland gordon day in the city and county of san francisco. >> reggie was born in greenwood, mississippi before moving with his family to gary, indiana, where he was a captain and star player in his high school basketball team. >> former supervisor jairo sandoval from district 11 once quipped that michael jordan owes his place as the greatest pro basketball player in history only because reb g decided to choose ministry rather than basketball professionally. >> reggie completed his master of divinity degree in 1983 and was ordained as ingleside presbyterian church's full time

pastor. after that and he's been there ever since seeing the church's immense potential. >> reggie organized the ingleside church basketball league inside the church's gymnasium providing a positive space for local youth to learn and play his life's work has always revolved around building up and empowering young people to achieve their greatest potential and moreover to develop young people to become leaders and mentors. and a few of them are right here today and many of them are not here because they are busy at the church or running the afterschool program. reggie positioned his church as a nexus for the ocean. >> richard ingleside community facilitating local organizing, providing meeting space for community events inviting we now artists to address the community and rehabilitating the dilapidated feel and loop

hole which is now known as city college station into a beautiful community space that you've all been to at where many community events are held. he's also well known for the massive mosaic he has created on the walls of the church. his gym and lobby called the great cloud of witnesses which is a celebration of black leadership and black excellence and is an official historic landmark of the city and county of san francisco. reggie has been widely recognized for his outstanding dedication to his church and the community, including receiving the 1995 commercial and award for his community service. the 2003 distinguished alumni award from the san francisco theological seminary the 2004 alumni merit a word from his alma mater baldwin wallace college and the 2023 national jackie kennedy onassis award for outstanding public service

benefiting local communities. this is quite a man. reggie has left an indelible mark on the ingleside neighborhood and the wider san francisco community and countless generations of young people who are now leaders and mentors to others. it demonstrates his immense creativity, his talent for revitalizing a struggling spiritual community, his undeniable passion for developing new opportunities for youth in his humble leadership as a champion of san francisco's african-american community. i am forever grateful to reggie for his compassion and his reminder that every person on this living earth can do something small to contribute to humanity. i will remember always the first two that i time that i met you that you gave me the little cards with saint francis prayer and i keep him in my office and i give them to people. >> thank you for everything you do. and with that i'm going to turn

it over to supervisors chan and walton to say a few word. >> thank you, supervisor melgar. and first of all i just want to take you will take the time, reverend g. >> to wish you a happy 81st birthday and let you know that february is most definitely a great month. >> but thank you for dedicating your life to uplifting the community through faith, through education and of course through the arts. >> you've been a force for positive change from your early days as a basketball star in indiana and ohio to your transformative leadership at ingleside presbyterian church right here in san francisco. whether founding the ingleside community center mentoring youth through basketball or creating a breathtaking great cloud of witness black history collage reverend g your impact is immeasurable and will

continue to inspire generations to come. you are a true living legend and i am proud you are receiving your flowers today here at the board of supervisors. and the last thing i would just say is there are very few more mature people who can still connect with young folks in our community. and i am forever grateful of you for having that ability. thank you for your continued commitment and dedication. >> good afternoon reverend g. >> today i also would like to recognize and celebrate you on your 81st birthday. >> reverend g has been serving the community for decades through the ingleside presbyterian church. he has been a force for change and an inspiration to countless

youth. >> and it's really my honor to set the it it's really my honor to declare alongside supervisor malka supervisor walton. february 13th, 2025 as reverend monarch raven rono gordon day in san francisco. >> congratulation. >> and i would also like to take a moment to highlight a few of your project that i admire and have gratitude for reverend g has done so much to build cross-racial solidarity to nurture our black and asian unity and also to advocate for restorative justice for communities of color. in 2019 the first ever lunar new year celebration on ocean was hosted in your church. >> why this event has now been moved to the unity plaza with a stage and booths. but i want to continue to make sure that we recognize the hard work the work that you have put in reverend g to did it that you kicked off you take the

community to kick off this event. >> thank you. and i also remember that you welcomed me to have a lunar new year presentation with the kids in the afternoons in the afterschool program last year. >> and i also appreciate and i really enjoyed it. i enjoyed it and i really enjoyed it. the celebration with the children's in the program. and thank you again for continue to bridging that cultural and celebrating with us and also found the ingleside community center in 1986 and afterschool program that foster youth and community development for predominantly black and brown kids which i witnessed that and today. >> this is really a space for black and asian kids to build relationship friendship and solidarity. thank you for that. i also want to commend your contribution to the food pantry and assisting our most vulnerable community members

especially during pandemic. >> reverend g has left an incredible mark on the ingleside neighborhood as well as the city in general. >> he is an inspiration open and fierce advocates especially for the youth. >> for all your hard work we recognize and celebrate and honor reverend g. for your 80th first birthday. happy birthday and congratulate and thank you and and i believe the supervisor melgar has some additional i just wanted to add one more thing and that is that in addition to the resolution that we will be passing today on your birthday and the commendation to you, our mayor daniel lurie was kind enough to also provide our recognition for you as well which i will be handing over after your award. so if you could come up reb g and say a few words that would be great.

>> but first i'd like to give honor to god for my beautiful mother and i have to mention her mrs. shirley lee wilson gordon before i knew the hyde pa i knew my mother and i know that i receive in life i owe it to my mother and then i met jesus and it was understood why the mother was so beautiful and so i went on to her now praise like god and i'm thankful for that. i love children and dedicated my journey especially to young american boys. many who don't think they're anything think that our race has done nothing. i was inspired to put muhammad ali on the wall when i arrived

at ingleside in 1978. i don't know what city been in crises at that time and the late mayor died and fine shine helped me out senior citizen it wouldn't even go to the bathrooms. the building was so dilapidated i was first refused help in that area and then i think it was mrs. johnson he came out and he said you got it right back to the mayor and they they came through for us and improved the bathrooms. so in 1906 and many don't know the history of ingleside that ingleside the people in the neighborhood began to formulate the ministry as a result of earthquake of 1906 1907 they were doing various bible study groups and stuff for people though they hated it help those

living in tents at the racetrack and out in ingleside and and 1917 formalized everything when i saw that history of service of people service to god through service humanity became our thing because we inherited serving people. that's the bottom line and especially the young boys i noticed the boys on ali and put another picture up. i had no idea all that these years later that i could fill up a whole gym in most of the church and they thought i was crazy. but just as i was called to preach the gospel i was called to do that wall been i'll be gone into glory but that wall would still have value and inspire young people of all races and all people to that you get to give god his dues and no matter who you are as a human being we all are the

same. we all have the same opportunities. we're not all of the same here but you got to make your way. >> it's the bottom line you can't give up on anything when you got god on your side. >> i want to put this short because i want to i want to say this that we really feel moved to say this that this city was named after saint francis of assisi and you heard nelda miller talk about what she looks at every day. i want to take the time to honor saint francis. what i do is i have their parents have children to rehab. they some as they have a child to read this first thing and every morning lasting every night because the children are being program for violence just by being born in this world and saint francis asked god to make him an instant of peace and i was inspired to to take those words and make it into an affirmation which says i am an instrument of peace where there's hatred i shall promote love.

well there's injury. pardon? well there's doubt faith where there's despair, hope where there's darkness light and where there is sadness joy oh i shall not so much because seek to be console as to console to be understood as you understand to be loved as to love for it is in giving that i receive and it is in pardoning that i have pardoned and i've had parents to tell me to teach their children correct type of thinking. you see the children all they get the games they play they're killing and to learn how to love each other is what the what the good books talked about and what my mother trained us to do and and

hopefully it will make a difference with people all over the world reading in their own language the same thing and i'm going to get them a little book together and eventually get to move in on that project. in the meantime, for the last 20 years i've been passing these cards out and a lot of young guys and our grandfathers and i started it all along and san francisco has been good to me. i love san francisco. my wife loves to travel. she go she gets on a ship and go where i say goodbye. everything you see in the world read in san francisco and mayor brown has a room and they talk about the collage that i was able to accomplish at this church mere brown has a room when and he comes he enjoys the room this is one of his favorite spots tells other people about it and i just want to mention this also i'm sorry. i'm sorry i'm taking so long but there's a group called the

who bus that travels all over this country and many guys a country if they come here, they go around their countries, those with you who bus has the one in front whoopin the back they just pull up whoever they pull up at and the kids just flock to play basketball. basketball teaches life teamwork and we all know the importance of that. all the athletes and okay i'll shut up my wife say i talk too much but god is good and i give them all the glory. >> here's the bottom line. thank you so much, supervisor. each of you i have this young man who was one of our kids and now the head of our community center and he's taking the lead. we will be taking over when i move on or whatever but this guy who to try i'm sorry for

taking up so much time along with so thank you for having me . i. for you to district nine supervisor fielder thank you

president today i would like to honor miss jean harrell also known as miss jean. unfortunately she is unable to attend today's board his supervisor riser meeting due to health reasons but we will be making a trip out to her shop in the portola to present this commendation to her in person. i understand we also have some slides or photos but miss jean is the owner of ruth's uniform shop and we're commending her for her service to the poor community for many years this commendation is all the more specialized machine is planning to retire at the end of this month at the age of 80 six. >> ms. jean has been running her uniform shop at 2469 san bruno avenue for 44 years and for decades has lovingly provided children in the community with school uniforms including multiple generations of families who live there. working at her shop is in her

words a dream come true to miss jean. working with children and providing them with school uniforms is the joy of her life. ms. jean and legacy businesses like hers represent the multifaceted fabric of san francisco neighborhoods and lend their charm and character to our portola neighborhood the garden district she calls the port of la heaven on earth where people and neighbors look out for each other. local artist arthur coke has honored ms.. jean with a mural in the portola and hundreds of people in the district walk by it every day to see miss jean doing what she has done best for so many years serving the children who will become san francisco's future. miss jean truly exemplifies what makes san francisco great. what makes district nine great are hard working multiracial, multi-ethnic communities and it is my privilege to honor her for black history month because it is so important that we uplift black residents and

black owned businesses like hers and pay tribute to their legacy as part of san francisco history. >> thank you. >> all right, rodney jackson, come on up. >> the trouble with being the board presidents honoree is you have to go last so colleagues, today it is my great honor to offer a special commendation to rodney earl jackson jr the artistic director and co-founder of the san francisco bay area theater company also known as s.f. that come rodney is a san francisco native and a graduate of the roots of ruth asawa school of the arts. he's an alumnus of carnegie mellon university, a broadway actor and director, board member of the american

conservatory theater and san francisco arts education project and a district eight resident through his work at s.f. basco. rodney creates spaces and opportunities for bipoc and marginalized storytellers to share their stories. >> he's built a community that mentors young artists and builds pathways for historically excluded communities to thrive in theater. rodney has used his platform to ensure that black voices are heard in all aspects of theater from performance to leadership . he's shaping the future of the arts in the bay area by cultivating and showcasing unique talent. today one of his productions this year the day the sky turned orange is a time capsule of san francisco from the middle of the pandemic a time when the end of the world seemed to be coming into view. >> in dark times we turned to the arts to calm our fears and stave off despair. when the going gets tough we rely on artists and creators

like rodney to help get us through. >> we thank you rodney. your city loves you and the floor is yours. >> oh, their floor is not yours . supervisor walton as a reminder. thank you, president amendment and i did not know you were being honored today. rodney but i just want everyone in here to know that this is truly a young living legend. >> if you want to be proud of something in san francisco you'll be proud of rodney. >> there is not another person in san francisco in arguably the world that is more talented and more altruistic than this young person. so thank you so much supervisor malcolm and president malcolm for acknowledging me. thank you. >> wow. thank you all so much. i feel like i'm standing on the shoulders of all the company of people i was honored with. it's incredible. i'm only 34 years old, born and raised in this city. but thank you all so much for

this honor. i stand on the shoulders of those who came before me the activists, the storyteller leaders, community builders, artistic leaders who made space for voices like mine my voice of a young poor kid growing up in the fillmore with big dreams to sing, dance and act and wound up somehow on broadway running a theater company in our city a city that has always promoted originality and challenge the status quo isn't just about producing shows. it's about creating space for people to feel seen and to be valued amplifying untold stories and ensuring the next generation of bipoc and born and raised san francisco artists know they have a home through s.f. baca we walk the walk supporting hundreds of local artists developing new work that reflects our diverse communities and bringing people together to understand the things that make us different while finding commonality.

we need that so much in america right now and in san francisco . >> this is how we revive and reimagine our city. this is how we keep san francisco vibrant, great and thriving. i support any adminis straits investors these values a vision that believes in investing in the arts in our people and making s.f. a place where everyone can flourish. >> and i look forward to being called upon by this body as a voice for artists and for nonprofit organizations because art isn't just entertainment y'all. i mean it's entertaining but it's what gives san francisco its incredible soul. and lastly we had said barco we would not have been able to grow nor make the huge impact we have over the past four years without the dream keepers initiative. thank you for supporting dji

and i hope you continue to support initiatives that invest in people of color, people and artists. >> thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart. god bless you all. >> i got flowers all right. i know that's yours.

>> all right. >> well, i think that completes our 230 special order. >> and now, madam clerk, can you take us to our 3 p.m. special order items? >> 21 and 22. yes. >> the special ord at 3 p.m. scheduled pursuant to the president's assignment of this file to the full board of supervisors for a public hearing and appropriate consideration by the entire membership of the board of supervisors. item 21 is to consider a motion consenting or dissenting in the mayor's removal of max carter over stone from the police commission item 22 when the board reconvenes is a motion to well it's the same motion, mr. president to consent or dissent in the mayor's removal of max carter ober stone from the police commission. >> all right. thank you, madam clerk.

so again, colleagues, section 4.109 of the charter provides that the mayor with the consent of the board of supervisors may remove a member of the police commission that the mayor has appointed. on february 4th, mayor lori sent a letter to the clerk of the board of supervisors removing commissioner marks carter over stone effective on this board's approval of a motion consenting to their removal and a motion consenting or dissenting from that action is what is before us today unless anyone has any introductory comments or remarks i intend to provide commissioner carter ober stone up to ten minutes to address us then if we did so if there is a desire on the body we can talk or we can go straight to public comment and then after public comment additional opportunity for deliberation and or voting . so with that colleagues i will invite mr. clerk commissioner carter over stone to come on up

. madam. >> not at this time, mr. president, before the speaker begins i'll just indicate that 230 commendations are over. >> that is the appropriate time to have your applause at this point if you do support commissioner oprah stone and you want to show that please do so silently just as such. >> thank you so much. >> please continue. thank you. president mandel men, supervisors board staff,

members of the public and thank you again president mandell man as i struggle with this microphone for allowing me time to speak i appreciate that late one evening when i was about seven years old i was abruptly woken up in the middle of the night i woke to the rustle of the covers being yanked off of me and my mother's voice snapping at me to get up. she disappeared into the next room and i heard the muffled sounds of adults arguing at the time she was renting a room from a family in concord, california. i blinked an almost like magic she had whisked my younger sister and i into the back of a car and we were off driving to an unknown destination on desolate streets on a cold cloudless night after nearly an hour we parked outside of what i would now recognize as a crack house. my mother told us she would be right back and disappeared

inside leaving my younger sister and i in the car. i don't know exactly when it happened but at a certain point the mix of disagree and tension, panic fright and the sheer discomfort of being in the cold car and our thin cotton pajamas bubbled over and i remember seeing tears flood my little sister's eyes and pour down her face and i remember thinking that i couldn't cry because i had to be strong for her after what seemed like forever, my mother finally emerged from the house and drove us home as the sun was coming up. experiences like these and others like it have made me realize how incredibly lucky i've been because they highlight how my life could have ended up so differently. if so many things hadn't broken

just my way including having a father who raised my sister and i all by himself with so much love. this instilled in me an enormous drive to make something of myself so as to not let this luck go to waste. and it also gave rise to a deep sense of obligation to help others who had been less lucky than me. so when the opportunity arose to join the police commission and serve my hometown the city that i love i couldn't say no. i threw myself into this job. i approached it with a care devotion and seriousness that it requires from the start i was also acutely aware that police commissioners occupy a special place in san francisco's system of. over 20 years ago the people amended the city's charter to

take power away from the mayor and make police commissioners independent from the political branches. in my three years on this commission i've taken the responsibility to be independent very seriously. i have cast every vote knowing that my first and only obligation is to the people of san francisco not to any politician or political cause. >> that means that when s.f. pd engaged in unlawful, unethical and unlawful conduct i asked the hard questions that needed to be asked. the questions that the public deserved answers to. that's what i did when it came to light that s.f. pd was using rape victim dna to investigate the victims of sexual assault rather than the suspects and also secretly storing the dna of innocent people for indefinite periods. that's what i did when s.f. pd purchased drones without seeking board approval in violation of state law.

that is what i did when s.f. pd gave away millions of taxpayer dollars to be spent on luxury vacations and gift boxes. these efforts to hold s.f. pd accountable have not endeared me to the leadership of our police department. a lot of politicians don't like it either. they told me that that's just not how things are done in this city. >> but my job is not to become popular with the agency i'm supposed to be overseeing. it is to serve the public and protect and defend the rule of law. >> mayor lurie never bothered to meet with me and he hasn't bothered to justify why he is removing me. but he apparently has a different vision of the police commission than the one set out in the charter. he would prefer commissioners who follow orders and do as

they're told. >> he's not alone in this view dismantling independent oversight agencies in the name of efficiency is certainly in vogue these days. i'm sure many in washington would applaud daniel lurie's course political desire for more executive power. but i know that san francisco stands for something different and i imagine many of you do too when the people amended the charter 20 years ago they envisioned that mayors would want to exert undue control over the commission in precisely the way that mayor lurie is attempting to do now. and one thing they did to prevent that was to force mayors to get approval from the board before they could remove any commissioner today this board will have a chance to live up to this legal obligation to exercise its independent judgment about whether i deserve to finish my term or not. >> but how you vote today will

have much broader implications in this one removal effort it will reveal whether the board is willing to defend the public's right to honest and independent oversight of the police department or whether it will succumb to the mayor's relentless political pressure and shirk this obligation a failure to stand up to daniel lurie's unprecedented power grab will call into question the independence of every charter commission and i fear inflexibility writing harm on our institutions and our system of. i would like to address head on a comment made by one supervisor who said that my failure to resign showed that i was not classy in his words. let let me be clear there is nothing classy about quitting there is nothing classy about abandoning my commitment to the people of san francisco to serve out my term with integrity and independence and

there is nothing classy about bending the knee to a mayor who would rather have a rubber stamp in my place. >> yeah, i will continue to fight for an independent police commission free from undue political influence and i hope that you will too. finally, everything i've done on this commission is for my son everett with the hope that one day he might grow up in a better, safer and freer san francisco. >> there's been so many times on this commission where i've had to make a choice between doing what is easy and doing what is right. i've made every choice with the hope that one day when everett is old enough to understand he might be proud of me. >> appearing before this board today to advocate for the public's right to independent citizen oversight wasn't the easiest choice i could have made. but it is the right thing to do

. my hope is that you will all do what you feel is right today. >> yeah. thank you president mandolin. thank you for seeing no names on the roster. >> we will go to public comment . i'm going to ask folks to line up your folks to line up over on your right our left of westfield there on the fielder was on the roster oops do you

undo that after okay i did not i apologize okay well i apparently feel there was on the roster and i didn't see her do we want to hear from supervisors first or public comment first supervisors first public comment first come public comment first any. all right. well we got two folks dorsey and chan. do you it's your call i don't tell you do this with it all okay. >> all right. public comment. okay. i'm going to be superficial. please try to do this then because we don't want to spend all day here. i just told max i used to call him man max over there is just steady soul. he just did he saved his soul. i hope you're going to do this then because you are. >> your soul is under arrest, understand? you just did it saved his soul. no is good. he has nothing to fear. thank you for your comments.

>> welcome, mr. chairman. thank you, angela. real and the woman next to you . how do you spell i say alyssa you okay? >> i didn't i last time was here two weeks ago. >> i didn't recognize mr. ahmed. forgive me. this is not general public comment. >> i am because i want to let the full board thank you for working on affordable housing but i need to make a little adjustment there. nimbys low income housing and section eight affordable housing is market rate housing we have enough for that low income and section eight. i want to thank matt dorsey for going to manny's cafe and supervisory ralph amendment addressing anti sentiments and the ceo of jewish community relations council anti sentiments has been around i don't know how long but many

throughout the centuries and i hope it will be addressed well it is addressed by know schwarzenegger and i hope it will get better everywhere somehow you've come a long way baby. >> you supervisor alfred benjamin yes. there's another thing in my neighborhood present shops and in my neighborhood everything was right. >> you're a strong neighborhood, mr. allman. >> excuse me. there's no mr. ormond this is not general public comment. this is very specific public comment on the well, i'm going to read all of you paid a ticket a parking ticket out of my own pocket. so power to the people. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your comments. welcome to the next speaker, mr. washington okay. >> so listen, supervisors i guess is going to be more your

first big decisions here again . so our current mayor he was just in the fillmore and you did a tour up and down fillmore got a chance to meet him. he seems like a pretty reasonable guy. he's the mayor. he's a millionaire or he's here. >> but the way people was talking back there comparing him to a trump type of administration now the police department i was i'm known for going to the police department commissioners for years. i never met this commissioner but he seems like a people's person and i'm not clear understanding why the mayor wants to remove this jim and it must be some politics behind the politics are full of tricks. makes you turn to a lunatic but i don't know what's going on. but the mayor i wish you would consider is you're removing because you got so much support for this gentleman here. it seems like we team you up against trump and i know you're not a trump sister but you a

millionaire. but i do believe you have passion in your heart so i would suggest that you recommend and suggest that you repass this and just turn it back over to him and let the man stay in his position. i think he's doing a wonderful job now i haven't been to the police commissioners so far but i do know when they set the this new president for some of the police department 20 years ago, that's when i was going to the police commissioners often so i got to visit it. but i'm here supporting the young man. he seems to be an upright person to me so mayor, you better check yourself before you be by yourself. >> thank you, mr. washington. all right. welcome, miss brown. >> i like to use the overhead. i'm here in support of max carter always. don't you see this? he has made a resolution for to show that unsolved homicides

i'm a mother who've lost a child to murder and i've been at the police commission every wednesday i've been there longer and some of them that have come come and go come and go but none none of them have never done what max carter has done. you see this resolution for two paid tipsters to to come forth for four homicides, cold cases who has never no one has never done this and i commend him and i'm really sad that that they're going to get rid of them. >> look at these unsolved homicides. >> tell me how many mothers are going to are going to be happy when our cases get solved. >> look at them. look at these unsolved homicides, all of them look at them. look at what i have to deal with march quarter over stone

has given me some some hope hope this is what they left me of my son. look at all the unsolved homicides so you can put the camera back on me. >> but i just want to say to laurie please let him finish his year. let him finish. you just he just read you something about his family and his mother. i'm pretty sure you have children. i've been around you and i seen you seem to be a nice mayor. please give this young man a chance. he has done great things and there's no misconduct from him. >> so please give him another chance. >> as a mother i need people like him. i'm asking the board of supervisors my district, my supervisor but lab to help lead . >> thank you, miss berry for

their help. >> you just saw the pictures. >> thank you, paula. tell me tell me just a sad this is really sad but we have to say that every year we i'm a big thank you for your comments ,laurie. you thank you. >> welcome gloria barry gloria barry, district ten citizen. first i want to thank you max. thank you for all your hard work in i hope after today you will be continue in the hard work. >> i apply for the police commission twice. >> i never was so happy that i never got a position in my life because now that i see after

the years of watching work mr. i don't want to put your name but just say max all the work he's done in the work that those folks had to do without getting paid. >> i didn't have the capacity at that time to do all that hard work and we ought to be grateful. >> i say i wasn't going to come down here in a while after the land use committee kicked the black asian community in the face on the safe way issue then i'm watching this mayor and he hasn't did a formal meeting with the black fillmore alliance. he hasn't done a formal meeting with the black employee. i don't want to say their title wrong but that's two three times in a row where it's like forget black and brown people. but now i'm here because a vote to remove someone at a hearing

and there's no reason why where is the suits? >> that's usually sit at a hearing to present evidence of why you should vote a certain way. where is that information? i've been waiting on it but i do not see it. >> so for anybody who needs the cozy up to the mayor and vote his way so you can get a deal or walk in a video i'll take talk with him or in your future endeavors to climb the ladder so you need that billionaire money we see you. >> we see you. >> thank you. gloria berry, welcome to the next speaker. >> i really don't think that i need that much announcement but i'm retired captain yolanda williams, the president for a long time of the officers for justice and you know that i was a victim of tax gate. >> the racist text messages

sent by police officers. the motivation behind the un warranted removal of commissioner carter. >> oprah stone is becoming increasingly clear to me. >> it appears that this action is intended to consolidate the support within the commission to eventually remove chief william scott and to facilitate the appointment of chief of public safety. >> paul yep. san francisco has had enough of the backdoor dealings and the pay to play politics. >> are we striving for a new era in our city? unfortunately this situation reflects the same old patterns discussions may behind closed doors while the public is left with the mere facade. consider the legacy you wish to leave behind. do you want to be associated with such trump like divisive tactics? or do you want to be part of the new s.f. trump collector's

club you set? this was going to be a new san francisco mayor daniel laurie even ray charles could see through this if he was alive. >> thank you for your attention to this troubling passing pressing issue during black history month. >> oh and by the way, there is no other acceptable black american to replace over stone. and while you are doing all of this during black history month, i want you to know this is my 69 years of living and i am born also in february. this is the most shameful black history month in 2025 that i have ever ever witnessed. and san francisco. you should be ashamed of yourself. shame on you. thank you for your comments. >> welcome to the next speaker. good afternoon. my name is rosario cervantes and i'm a concerned citizen

that lives in district 11. >> i believe i'm going to thank max carter ulverstone for his work. >> he's he is really conscientious. he has integrity. he's a lawyer. i mean he knows the practices. he we need him here. he's done nothing wrong. and i'm looking at some of the supervisors that want to remove him. >> and it's just a shame because it is black history month. i want to say he's a leader. let's honor him. it's black history month today and why did we bypass the rules committee and come to this board of supervisors meeting? it's really a shame. i think it's all about oversight. >> it's about human rights. it's also about civil rights. >> thank you. thank you. please vote against removing him. >> welcome to our next speaker . >> hello, i'm here to speak for max carter over stone. >> i think he has done an incredible job. he has stood up against the forces of fascism that are obviously eating the entire

country including and especially this board of supervisors. >> we have decided that our police don't need any limits. we've decided that our police should beat the daylights out of anyone that's convenient for our city to maybe prosper. >> i don't believe that that's a sane decision. i want rights. >> now this is clearly not the intention of the vast portion of our mechanized abusive bureaucracy. and we have someone standing up for our rights. and so what is that person gotten for it? single out specifically and bro under the boot of our fascism under your fascism. >> you want to stand here today and say that one single voice on the police commission is too much. we can't have one single voice of oversight. we can't have a voice of stability standing up for our people. >> instead instead the boot must grow larger.

the boot must grind harder. the boot is ineffective. the boot has never worked. the reliable resolve of the boot is more overdoses and more violence in our community every time we've tried it and we've tried it for 60 years over and over again we've tried the same drug war and the result of the same drug war has been an escalation from opium to heroin ,from heroin to fentanyl and from fentanyl design design in our streets which is thousands of times more potent as fentanyl. now why is it on our streets? why are the homeless in our communities flesh rotting from their bones? because of your failure to do your jobs, your failure to do the oversight that is so desperately called for over our unprecedented and unaccountable police state? >> thank you for your comments

. thank you. welcome to our next speaker. please. hello. my name is magic. i've been an activist since i was 14 years old and worked on proposition 14 which was to make black people be able to buy homes like that person who was awarded earlier. >> i've been doing this activism and i have considered san francisco to be the greatest city in the world and meant to lead us has they have over and over again in civil rights in gay rights, in police activism, in stopping police brutality. >> and you sit here and you will allow a mayor who bought his way into this position who doesn't even have the courtesy to speak to our police commissioner who has given his honest devotion.

>> i have been to hundreds of police commission meetings. i have been at the sit ins and the marches and trying to stop the murder of our people by the police. i've been through 272 rulings that the department of justice made against our police department. and the slow pace at which they've gone through this. now we are dealing with a fascist coup, a christian nationalist coup. >> and you haven't said anything. you're not leading the public. where is your voice? where where's sherman walton? >> for black history month. >> come on, walton. come out here. you're black history month and we need to see you now. can you please direct your comments to the board as a whole? >> yes, but i really wonder about that ruling because i

need to be able to talk sometimes specifically to people. >> so i think that rule is wrong. >> you're welcome to set up an appointment in his office to speak directly to him or speak whatever she wants to. thank you for your comments. my comments for the public were blurry. >> thank you for your comments. time's expired. yes, ma'am. shame on this for this takeover . >> >> thank you for your comments. >> are you? let's hear from our next speaker please. >> welcome. >> good afternoon. my name is valerie. i am a fifth generation san franciscan born and raised in the sunset mr. and garcia. >> i think today's vote is actually a very easy vote for all of you because whether you're going to vote pragmatic or principled vote it should be to keep commissioner max carter

ober stone. >> he's an exemplary public servant confirmed by this body to serve out his term. and i don't want you to be worried about the political pressure that you're feeling at this very moment from the new mayor laurie. i'm sure he will have something that you can support tomorrow that will not have the same life or death consequences. i'm here because it's not just independent police oversight is not just a political issue and i wish that you weren't also distracted at the moment. >> this is a personal issue in 1998 when some of you were maybe just san francisco curious san francisco police department shot and killed my friend, classmate and teammate since first grade. sheila de toy i don't know if you know her name but i'll put her up here so everyone can see on the on the screen. >> so in 1998 sheila was friends with a young man a

young black man who police wanted in suspicion for suspicion of drugs of all things. >> and they staked out the place where they were staying surrounded their car when they were trying to leave, were wearing plain clothes, did not identify themselves as police officers and shot and killed sheila for doing it for no wrongdoing and then went on a spokesperson from the san francisco police department went on to smear her and say that she was trying to live the hip hop lifestyle which was clearly a racist remark. anyhow, long story short, they covered up the misconduct as they had of the police shooter. many times before the police chief dragged his feet to file administrative charges and it was too late because there was a one year limit of there's never been justice for sheila. >> you know, thank you for your comments, commissioner. commissioners thank you.

and so i thank you for your comments and not necessarily this one. >> thank you for your comments and everyone so we can get through all of these individuals who each get two minutes if you wouldn't mind holding your applause if you want to show your support, do so as such. >> welcome to our next speaker. hello my name is amy bunn and i live in bernal heights district nine. i urge you to vote no on the motion to remove max carter ober stone from the police commission. the commission is meant to be an independent body, not an accessory to the mayor yet commissioner carter ober stone exposed unethical behavior on the part of our previous mayor. is mayor lurie concerned about anything? >> i don't know. >> commissioner carter ober stone has demonstrated his willingness to act independ

ently and with integrity rather than protecting his own interests via fealty to the mayor. lurie's office has not given a good reason for this removal. they just say they want someone who will collaborate to make our city safer. >> that's a dog whistle we can all agree san francisco needs to be safer. our whole country and our whole world needs to be safer but safer for whom and by what means public safety does not come by way of less oversight, less transparency or less accountability. public safety grows when citizens trust their lawmakers and when those entrusted to enforce the laws do so fairly and ethically despite meaningful police reforms over the past several years, we know that there is still a massive racial disparity in the use of force. commissioner carter ober stone acknowledges this reality and rather than sweep it under the rug he continues to champion appropriate and necessary

police reform in a city that does need greater safety for all its citizens. >> removing commissioner carter ober stone before the end of his term is a politically motivated move against a man who rather than being bought is keeping his eyes on the prize and i urge you to vote no. >> you're here and i am a member of indivisible s.f. and served showing up for racial justice. those of you who want to be allies look it up and get on board. >> thank you for your comments. >> next speaker please welcome good afternoon supervisors. my name is erica wang and i'm a constituent of district 11 and a member of the indivisible self. >> i come to you today deeply disturbed by a national trend i see being played out here in our city recently mayor lurie reaffirmed san francisco's status as a sanctuary city protecting vulnerable residents from systemic inequalities an unjust law enforcement actions a move

seen as courageous in the face of an autocratic. around the same time the mayor began his police overhaul plan by asking an award winning independent commissioner to resign before the end of his term. >> only two other commissioners in s.f. history have left before their terms of office both mired in scandal. >> this is not the case here something doesn't add up. the only reason the public has been given for this move is that the commissioner isn't collaborative but isn't an independent commission meant to ensure checks and balances a core function of democracy? >> independence means making decisions based on principles, not political agendas. so what are we supposed to think it is mayor lurie saying he doesn't want an independent commission to ensure checks and balances. >> perhaps the call for this vote today is a political favor for sam altman, ceo of open eye ,co-chair of the transition team and technology expert and the police overhaul project who has a reputation for silencing whistleblowers supervisors.

>> your decision today will echo far beyond this chamber. do we want to uphold a democratic institution or do we allow political maneuvering to enrich the pockets of the tech billionaire without oversight? i urge you to vote no on this motion. >> protect the people of san francisco. thank you. thank you for your comments. >> welcome. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is paul wormer. >> i'm district two and i'm really concerned at this effort to remove the commissioner. >> and largely it's a factor of trust and building trust which is sadly lacking in this city and it is affecting everything from funding for transit to how we deal with homelessness to how we provide health care for the indigent, how we provide mental health services we need independent commissioners. it's great that the mayor gets to appoint someone who has a political alignment with them

but then they need to be independent or the commission serves no purpose when there are four appointees from the mayor on most commissions a commission that serves no purpose is a betrayal of the citizens. >> the country is different than a business. >> the city is different than a business a ceo has significant authority to make decisions. there is employment at will in california. >> it is up to the boss to decide who goes. this is not the way it works in a city where one needs to develop compromise political solutions that solve problems but that listen to the people who are being impacted by actions. >> and i will say in my 37 years in san francisco we've heard a lot about police act inappropriate police activity.

i am two words two phases or three phrases come to mind. fahey two great cool new tools. >> some of you may remember those some of you may not. but the history of the police department not subject to independent oversight is not good and i urge you strongly to reject the mayor's request. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. >> let's hear from our next speaker. please welcome. hello. my name is sammy and it was mine and i'm the relations manager for secure justice and i'm speaking today to strongly oppose the removal of police commissioner max carter over his work on policies like limiting pretextual stops demonstrates his commitment to evidence based policing and racial justice. the california doj may have ended its oversight of s.f. pd but racial disparities in policing still persist. we need strong independent commissioners who hold law enforcement accountable not a

rubber stamp commission controlled by the mayor. >> san francisco voters already have made their stance clear they've rejected measure d which would have given the mayor unchecked power over police oversight and they passed measure c to strengthen accountability and ignoring this public mandate would be a disservice to the people you represent. commissioner carter aubuchon is precisely the kind of leader that we need in this critical role and his removal would weaken public trust and roll back progress toward true oversight. >> and so i urge you to stand with your constituents and vote no on this unjust removal. >> thank you so much. thank you for your comments. welcome. >> good afternoon. my name is earl hale. i'm the director of the criminal justice team at aclu of northern california. the aclu and our 11,000 members in san francisco urge you to reject the mayors effort to remove commissioner carter overton from the police commission.

before you cast your vote on this important matter, we urge you to ask yourself why does mayor lori want to take this virtually unprecedented step to remove this police commissioner from the police commission? and if this is really about the mayor wanting his own appointees on the police commission, why isn't he asking the rest of the mayoral appointees to resign? or why he's and he asking you to remove them from the police commission? it's worth noting that commissioner lary, for example, was reappointed in 2022 and has a term that expires at the same time as commissioner carter roberston. however, the key difference between those two mayoral appointed commissioners is that while commissioner oberstar on carried and championed the effort to limit pretext stops and through the san francisco police commission commissioner larry carried his appointing mayor wishes and opposed that policy. removing a black commissioner

during black history month who is a policing subject matter expert and has advanced impactful policies to hold sfpd accountable and prohibit them from their current racist traffic enforcement is a dire indication of things to come. do not let the police commission become a rubber stamp commission that fails to hold sfpd accountable and to the point about collaboration. >> commissioner almost on led the most collaborative policy in the history of the police commission when he led the effort to limit pretext stops. and this was done because sfpd was a department that was six times more likely to stop black people, ten times more likely to stop to search black people for consent searches and 21 times more likely than white people to use force on black residents and only make five. thank you for commissioner. >> thank you for your comments . >> welcome to the next speaker.

>> thank you. my name's good afternoon president randleman and members of the board of supervisors. >> i'm barbara attard. i'm a second generation san franciscan. my granddaughters are fourth generation. >> i've worked in oversight in san francisco since 1983 when we established the office of citizen complaints. >> i'm a past president of nikole the national association for civilian oversight of law enforcement. >> having worked with the police commission for many years, i'm i know how important it is to have commissioners who are independent and are concerned about the importance of policies and setting policies that are within national guidelines. >> max carter over seven has shown his serious commitment to ensuring our police department policies are developed to keep

all san franciscans safe and by limiting discretionary stops and passing legislation and opposing legislation that we voted last year to allow more police chases. >> we all saw the impact of that nip add new policy with the super bowl accident that caused many, many people to go to san francisco general general hospital. >> i've been told that this shortsighted and wrong minded removal of max carter over stone is about the selection of a new police chief when it's time to appoint a new chief. san francisco must do a nationwide search and choose the strongest chief for for our city. >> i implore you to do the right thing to stand up to mayor lori's self-serving, highly unusual political gamesmanship pushing the board of supervisors to back him.

>> stand up and vote no. keep max carter over sloan on the police commission. >> thank you. thank you, barbara starr for your comments. now welcome to our next speaker . >> good afternoon. my name is rick girling. >> i'm a resident of bernal heights, a teacher for 30 years and i serve usd a member of ucsf. >> and i want to say that living in bernal heights every time i walk around the hill i go past a memorial to alex nieto who was killed by police. >> and you know, this was a young man who was a security guard killed by police for standing on a bench protecting himself from a dog that was attacking him. >> this is crazy. and i want people like max to watch over the police so that things like that don't continue to get done and unfortunately

in my district, district nine just right around the corner is a lady was saying we just the average a&e just got its parklet run down in a police chase for i think stealing was what i heard. and i just find this really appalling. >> i would expect the removal of people who do oversight from trump, from vance, from musk i don't expect it from the mayor of san francisco. and this is really beyond my belief. >> and i, i we need to support this young man for what he does and stop you know, the kind of harassment of oversight. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. >> welcome. good afternoon. i worked on some of your campaigns. let me remind you.

>> my name is wendy porter. i am a retired teacher from san francisco after 40 years. i'm an immigrant. i'm a parent. >> i'm a grandparent. and i'm just outraged. i'm totally outraged that we even have to be here to do this. >> mrs. stir remember her name? >> melissa sardo. in 1990 she was murdered by a san francisco cop. >> and what i went through was just outrageous also. >> my sister was put on trial. i wish there had been a max ober stone carter for her. >> yeah. if you do this it will set a precedent. >> he what else is lori going to do if he wins this one? >> then you're sending him a message that it's he can do whatever he wants because this is really, really, really bad. >> i just i can't believe that any of you any of you

especially some of you that are being recalled would even consider would even consider voting yes on this do the right thing. >> have some done us have some go on this. do the right thing. thank you. >> thank you. any porter. >> speaker welcome. good afternoon. hi everybody. >> i as president of the police commission sorry marie ravioli. i am an eighth generation san franciscan married to an immigrant so since we're all sharing that information i thought i'd let you know as president of the commission max carter over stone went far beyond the very laudable goal of police reform and accountability and overstepped with a very clearly clear and

strong anti-police agenda that has impacted public safety for the last several years and has restricted officers from enforcing our laws. >> hold on one second. >> the mayor has the right to have his picks. any mayor has the right to have their picks. >> mayor breed had the right to have her picks. he does not have to and no mayor has to honor the previous administration just because it does not sit well with some does not mean it is wrong. it is completely procedural and it is completely within the bounds of the law. at the end of the day the mayor is empowered by the charter to have four picks on the commission. if the current mayor believes that this particular pick does not reflect the goals of his administration, it is well within his rights to request to

to remove him and to request approval from this body. >> thank you. >> let's hear from our next speaker please. >> thank you very much, kevin benedict. thank you president randleman and supervisors. i have the privilege to serve alongside commissioner carter ober stone on the police commission and i'm here to ask that he be allowed to complete his term the while as vice president of police commission. i've gotten to work closely and it's nothing you haven't heard that commissioner carter ober stone has been a fearless and tireless advocate of independent police reform values which i think all of us share in san francisco. we've worked closely together on a number of issues we've not agreed on every single issue but he is someone that can be worked with. i think i want to address something head on that's been the subject of a lot of discussion which is whether or not commissioner cartier-bresson is collaborative and i can tell each i remember the board supervisors to look past the

talking points. >> i can tell you that he is collaborative and i have a couple of specific examples. one is you heard that the vice president spearheaded the effort to limit pre-check stops here in san francisco and in that process undertook the most open, most collaborative general order writing process in the department's modern history. it included town halls, closed door office town halls, multiple focus groups and a truly comprehensive process that was collaborative in every stage and every step of the way. another specific example i'd like to share with the board is with respect to what's called the preemptive deployment of tire deflation devices commonly known as spike strips. >> last year the department issued an order believing that their use of them might be outside of existing procedures and stop that use. in response to that and in response to hearing from rank and file officers, the vice president moved swiftly to implement an order to accelerate the return of those to allow them to be used on the streets because data showed those were effective tools. and finally just recently with

a body worn camera policy, it was the vice president that pushed us to revert back to an earlier draft. and in the end the final version of the body worn camera policy passed unanimously. in large part thanks to the tremendous work of the vice president, he is collaborative. he is a supporter of an independent police reform and should be allowed to finish his term. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. welcome. >> hello. my name is jordan neal, district four representing the electoral board of the democratic socialists of america san francisco chapter. the members of our chapter have asked us to provide public comment opposing the removal of commissioner max carter over stone. we're thankful to supervisor jackie fielder for committing to oppose his removal and hope that her fellow supervisors will follow her leadership considering the commissioner's record, it's clear why the members of dsa staff hold max in such high regard. he's been a tireless advocate for reform and transparent civilian oversight. the commissioner refused an illegal order from the former mayor to sign an undated resignation letter. in 2023 he overturned the spd's attempt to circumvent the

police commission's oversight by issuing two secret orders without the commission's approval. >> he fought for critical reforms against racist policing practices in the form of pretextual traffic stops by voting for general order 9.07. >> in short, it's clear that the commissioner had a history of taking firm principled stances against illegal orders, against racial injustice and against abuses of power that would harm everyday san franciscans. >> the mayor has asked the board of supervisors to force the resignation of this principled reformer. >> why? >> why? the mayor has no argument in favor of this ask. there is no cited malfeasance. there's no cited misconduct. >> san francisco's voters have repeatedly voted in favor of independent transparent oversight of the city's police department. they did not vote for a police commission that simply serves the interest of the mayor's office. removing a commissioner who has demonstrated independence and integrity undermines public trust in both the police commission and in the board of supervisors. >> today i urge you to take a

page from commissioner carter over stone's playbook and take a principled stance. refuse mayor lurie's political interference in the police commission. >> thank you for your time. thank you for your comments. >> you welcome. perfect. hey there. i'm demar abe randy in district three resident and a representative home middle club. like many here, i'm here to speak in support of allowing mr. carter over stone to finish the last year of his term. i will say i find it profoundly ironic that we just spent the last hour and a half two hours recognizing and honoring black and brown leaders and visionaries who dedicated themselves to uplifting their communities only to hear a resolute resolution aimed at tearing down another immediately after. i find it shameful then when mr. carter over stone was addressing you. many of you didn't even have enough respect to look him in the eyes though you're deciding his fate. i moved here from the south in hopes of escaping miscarriages of justice such as what i'm seeing today and hopes of finally being somewhere where i can feel safe in my own

skin only to find myself surrounded by pseudo conservatives and neo liberals hiding behind a thin veil of liberalism spouting hateful rhetoric akin to mcconnell of my home state of kentucky. i found san francisco is not an anti-racist city and instead a city with a sordid history of displacing black and latino communities repeatedly a history of racially biased policies that unfairly targeted black latino and arab communities and a city in support of anti vagrancy laws that are reminiscent of the jim crow south. >> i found that when an experienced, competent individual comes forward to say we should end the policies that everyone in this room has mentioned he is persecuted as being disagreeable. which only leads me to wonder what it is that this new administration's plans are when it comes to policing especially when its head was recently quoted in fox news as being inspired by a former republican known for supporting policies that terrorized black communities for over a decade. we're facing an antagonistic federal administration

trampling civil rights. we know overpolicing doesn't work and we know we need a multifaith city approach aimed at solving the underlying issues of substance abuse and homelessness. max understands this and we should lead by example and retain him because he will fight for what we need. >> thank you for your comments. >> welcome to the next speaker . >> hi everyone. i'm on your world. zimmerman. i'm here in my capacity on the electoral board of the democratic socialists of america as of chapter and i'm in district three resident and i'm also here to speak on behalf of my own experiences. >> why is the mayor removing max carter oppression? >> why is a critical question and it remains deliberately and disrespectfully unanswered. why would an independent police commissioner be a roadblock to mayor lurie's plans? it's extremely concerning. i expect you to dwell on this and scrutinize what comes next from the police commission. >> if this isn't your fight on public safety, we ask you what is what is your fight on public

safety? >> i had a whole tactful statement but bear with me as i'm inspired by everybody who has shared to share what public safety is to me. >> i cannot express how many times i've hovered over a phone dialed 2911 and never called. i never would ever think to call because of policies like the s.f. pd's policy of keeping the dna of rape victims. >> that is violence. that is violence perpetrated by the s.f. pd. >> we can't just sit here and talk about the police department as if they are not committing deliberate violence. >> when you talk about public safety, i expect you to know that public safety is not the cops. >> i pray that none of you ever experience what it's like to be afraid of the police and what they are going to do to you. >> but i encourage you to listen to those who are to know that violence is in our homes

and domestic violence in sexual violence and these answers are not met by the cops. they are so often not met by the cops. i ask you what public safety really is and i tell you that public safety is not the cops public safety as max carter oliver stone who has fought for public safety from the s.f. pd . >> he has stopped the violence coming from within our own halls of justice. there is nothing more safe than police oversight. it is not a blank check to the police. you will see me here again and again as we demand over and over again. >> and we thank you supervisor melgar and supervisor fielder, thank you for your courageous justice on this. >> thank you for your comments ,mike. >> welcome to our next speaker. >> hi my name is gloria massachusetts. i'm coming here as a d9 mother and a public educator for many years with s.f. unified for those supervisors that may not have lived in this city back

when my child my children were younger. i learned about the killing of alex nieto by the police officers with 49 empty shell cases up at the top of bernal hill at the carnival because someone put a table up there to inform the public. the police went to his home and did not tell his parents that they had murdered their their child and ransacked through their house and his car. amilcar perez lopez was killed a block around right around the corner from our home. in that same time frame. louis pat gongora was shot while sitting on the ground a block from my house as i brought my four year old home that day. >> i went to walk my dog to see what had happened and police officers all they had top brass were there and that family was settled with. this is a matter of life and death oversight does keep the community safe. i can't even add to what these amazing speakers have said to you today. but i'd really like you to be off your phones and maybe listening a little bit because there's been murders in this

city by the police and we don't need to we don't need to repeat this. >> it is a matter of life and death. thank you. thank you for your comments. >> it's just unbelievable. tanisha carlos of fillmore district resident i'm here today to express my disgust with the mayor's attempt to remove police commissioner ultrasound. what exactly does the mayor mean when he seeks someone who works collaboratively? because from where i stand, commissioner oliver stone has collaborated extensively with community stakeholders department leadership and fellow fellow commissioners. he simply hasn't shied away from difficult questions. i question whether the mayor's definition of collaboration might actually mean compliance with a predetermined agenda. >> is a stab is challenging established practices and advocating for historically

marginal marginalized communities. consider it uncooperative. how does removing commissioner oliver stone advance public safety in black and brown communities? what specific examples can be provided where commissioner oliver stone has been uncooperative in a way that hindered rather than enhance public safety? >> i strongly urge you to base the decision making process on facts versus personal opinions publicly stating that commissioner obra stone is not classy for his decision to not resign but rather fight for those who need him. says more about the lack of class in the person making the statement than it does about the person. the failed insult was half bad. if you want to understand any problem in america you need to focus on who profits from the problem not who suffers from the problem. what is the profit to harming

and killing black bodies to this body of of constituents and to the mayor? >> thank you. thank you for your comments. >> welcome. >> my name is christopher mica . i'm coming to this discussion today. i think about my friend in new york who i found has been recently made homeless since the beginning of the year and were was beat brutally by the police in new york city a few weeks ago to within an inch of their life. and i just found this out last night and i talked to them. i don't think i'll be as articulate as folks who have spoken already. i think it's really great commentary and but i'm struck by the richness of all their comments.

the citizens in san francisco see clearly the politicking behind this attempt to remove a police commissioner. we simply need independent accountability and oversight for the police removal of max carter over stone who has no ethical violations and has done nothing wrong and pressuring him to resign shows incredible hubris. >> and why why if this removal is truly about making san francisco safer, why is the mayor targeting a commissioner who has worked to prevent police discrimination and misconduct? we need oversight that protects all residents not just those with political power or those who can organize millions in campaign donations. i strongly urge the board to vote no on this removal of mask cover over stone. and i want to thank jackie fielder and myrna for their support on this. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. >> oh no. welcome to the next speaker. good afternoon. i'm janelle caywood. i'm a 30 year resident of

district district three. >> i'm an attorney for almost as long and i'm here in my personal capacity. i've had the pleasure of working with max carter over stone for a number of years. he is brilliant, truthful, courageous and deeply kind. >> max's only so-called sin is that he doesn't politic nor should he. >> he's a family man and a volunteer. he has no political aspirations. he doesn't glad handle schmooze kiss rings or brown nose. he is collaborative collaborative with people from all walks of life. >> when he's approached with good intent but if you come at him with cover ups bad data or gaslighting, max doesn't play as a commissioner. he has taken bold and swift action to protect the public and to ensure that our policing strategies are effective evidence based and don't impermissibly target people of color. >> max's bold action and truthful criticism hasn't always made him popular with

police brass. but in the words of dwayne wade big time players make big time plays. >> we as a community owe max a debt of gratitude for volunteering his time. his rock solid ethical core and his intention to do right even when attacked in unfairly demonized. >> i am aware that max has met with police officers off duty in his own time who are suffering in this trump era. women and officers of color who don't feel supported by their superiors. he's compassionate and my phone is full of these compliments. max's existence has made us all who know him more ethical and more courageous. he is to be commended for prioritizing truth, justice and true safety over politics. working with him has been an honor of a lifetime. whatever happens today, max, thank you for who you are and for being in the arena daring greatly. >> thank you for your comments. welcome nick. speaker.

>> good afternoon supervisors on musc with care at the council on american-islamic relations and i stand before you today in step with our allies in opposing the unjust removal of police commissioner max carter over stone. >> commissioner carter over stone has been a persistent reliable advocate for police accountability and data driven independent oversight. under his leadership he limited abuse of pretexts, traffic stops, expose corruption and fought police brutality. his removal would mean the city of san francisco sanctioning further police misconduct and abuse abuse that includes racist text messages, unlawful use of force and misconduct disproportionately harming black and brown individuals. >> the people of san francisco have consistently voted in favor of independent oversight and against the consolidation of power. the city does not need a police commission stacked with rubber stamp appointees that erase police oversight. it needs commissioners like commissioner carter over stone to who rely on hard data, listen to the community and

push for substantial reform. his removal would weaken the already diminished public trust and erode the oversight that the san francisco community has repeatedly demanded and voted for. >> the board must push for real cultural change within the san francisco police department and city hall not dismantling oversight and transparency at the expense of public safety. so once again we strongly urge you to vote against the removal of commissioner carter over stone and to let him finish his term and deliver justice. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. your next speaker. >> good afternoon. president benjamin supervisors. my name is lawrence lee. i'm a san francisco native and a former member of a civil grand jury. and today i'm speaking as one of the board members of the advancement of victims and the association for the advancement of asians. >> we are a new group that does report cards on mayors and supervisors and super candidates on their votes. and one of the key topics of

our group is public safety. so this was a tough one for our board to consider. we really appreciate all the efforts that commissioner cordova stone has been doing. we support his efforts at independence accountability, reform and oversight. and in the end we agree with mayor lori that we need a commissioner that is for collaboration and communication for asian-americans in san francisco from the richmond district to visitation valley. have clearly stated over and over again they want to be safe for the grandparents and for the sons and daughters of san francisco not just asian-american. we would love to have a city that's better, that's safer and that's freer. and so we encourage you supervise others to support this motion. >> thank you. can we hear from our next speaker please? >> hey there. good afternoon, supervisors.

i'm caleb karam, a district eight resident here in support of max carter over stone. >> as important as his many accomplishments are, i've got limited time. you heard them from him when he came up here and from the community. and the thing is i hope you are paying attention because our is designed to put y'all. this board is supervisors. the people have been trusted for terms by the people of their distinct neighborhoods in charge of final say over the removal of someone from the police commission. your constituents are here. i know they've written in. >> please listen to them. and i've heard there's a rumor of this excuse. the reason it's it's an excuse it's not a particularly good one. it's not one that laurie saw fit to tell the press to make formal accusations about to bring up before a couple of weeks ago.

neither mayor breed and i'd frankly like saying he's on collaborative or difficult is heresy to all folks who have worked with him or talked to him or attended his commission . i would encourage you to let max carter over stone serve the rest of his term. florrie would like to have more influence over the commission. he is welcome to appoint someone when max his term is over. >> thank you very much. thank you for your comments. next speakers. hi my name is lawrence berlin. i'm a long time mission resident, a labor organizer in the tech industry and a member of the harvey milk lgbtq club board. i'm here to speak today in favor of max carter over stone and more specifically to lay out an alternative path for the board of supervisors from a political perspective. i believe people have already spoken at length about mr. over stone's carter over stone's many positive traits and why he should remain on this board.

>> people have spoken about the legal authority of the mayor to remove people and to make this request that's absolutely legal. there's a reason that this board has to vote for or against that request and i urge this board to delay that vote that it can discuss a larger move towards an independent police commission whose majority members are not appointed by the mayor. it is within this board's power to remake the nature of these commissions fundamentally so that san francisco so that san francisco can have the independent police commission that it deserves. i urge you to keep max carter over stone on the police commission until such time as you can make that change because i assume it will take time to work that out. and his presence is the only thing ensuring that the commission has any independence at this time. >> you can delay your vote. you can discuss this. you can consider the political ramifications of that. i know that there is a lot of quotes in the media from many members of this board about

political capital, about classiness, about collaboration. >> i believe that those are things that you can work on. >> i don't think that this is the place to waste your political capital with the people. and i would take note of an article from mission local analyzing the election results last fall that indicated that the most leftist groups in this city including the one that i'm a board member of had the most success in their endorsement in votes in both propositions and candidates. >> and consider how people will be voting on all of your future political careers should your decisions not align with the people on independence of the police commission. >> thank you for your time. thank you for your comments. >> welcome to our next speaker. thank you. good afternoon. my name you are welcome to pull the microphone close. there you go. >> my name is alexi folger. i'm a 31 year resident of district eight. >> good afternoon, president mendelsohn. i'm here as a supporter of the aclu and an appreciation for the work they do to promote

genuine community safety and police accountability. i'm not sure i have anything terribly new to say but i think there's an argument for quantity as well as quantity just to reinforce the point. what san francisco needs right now is not to emulate what's going on in the federal. >> what we do need is independent principled oversight of the police department and protection of our civil rights, the independence of the police commission is more important than the mayor's desire to politicize it. >> just today he got to fill an empty seat. >> did you know? so that's his right in the charter and that's enough. the independence of the police commission is paramount. the recent police chase fiasco is a clear indication that the s.f. pd needs clear and

continual careful oversight by commissioners beholden as he himself said only to the people of san francisco and not to the new administra ation. >> removing a member of the police commission or any other independent commission for no cause when they still have significant time left on their term will send a very bad doge worthy message. >> okay. if san francisco goes the way of doge where else can we go? >> there will be no safe place in the united states. >> so as a white anti-racist san franciscan my job is solidarity. >> i'm showing that today by taking the afternoon off of work to be with you. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. next speaker welcome.

>> please. >> good afternoon. my name's richard ivanhoe. i belong to a number of organizations but these comments are as an individual. first off, statistics show that san francisco crime is down. its safe was safer in 2024 than 2023. but more importantly i'm here to talk about timing. others have pointed out that this is black history month. this is the wrong time to remove an african-american commissioner but even more so we are sending a message. if we remove commissioner carter over stone that we are aligned with what's going on

in the federal. not a message we want to send to the rest of the nation that service is subject to the whims and pleasure of the chief executive officer and the billionaire donors behind them . >> so supervisors, if you can't find the courage to vote no, i'm asking you to at least find the courage to postpone this vote until things are a little bit different in the nation. >> thank you. thank you, mr. avenue. >> next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i'm tab buckner. i'm on the board of the haight-ashbury neighborhood council. i'm going to speak briefly on behalf of the board in recognition of the passage of bro both prop c and the rejection of prop d last november. >> clearly your constituents want to see less mayoral

overreach and more accountability and independence on our commissions which is how our city charter is designed. >> clearly we recognize also the incredible work that mr. carter opus stone has done his diligence, his dedication, his not worrying about who's who appointed him but what was the right thing. working very successfully in a collaborative manner with individuals and different departments in the city. it makes absolutely no sense to remove him at this time. the mayor did not give him any courtesy at all to meet with him or explain in detail why this is going on. so first of all, i want to say thank you, commissioner, for all of your incredible work and just on a final note, i feel this is an embarrassment we're having this going on right now. an incredible waste of time considering all that's on the plate of this city. and as others have mentioned, we i'll bet every single one of

us is horrified as we listen to the radio every day about what's going on in washington about executive overreach, about complete disintegration of checks and balances before our very eyes. if you really feel differently, show that san francisco can do it differently. and just on a final note, this vote that you're going to cast is going to be with you for the rest of your lives. >> it's going to be a prominent vote and it's going to follow you everywhere. >> so don't think you're going to close the door on it today because it's not going to happen. >> thank you. thank you. tam buckner. >> next speaker please vote in afternoon. >> my name is ping huang and i moved to san francisco in 1979. i lived in the sunset district and currently live in district one in outer richmond. i speak against you guys authorizing the removal of the commissioner. many things have been said about the commissioner and i'm very impressed with what he has done. i wonder if if his real is his

real issue or the issue that the mayor has with him is that he is he's a known dissenter and i say dissent is good the right kind of dissent on behalf of the right kinds of you know, civil rights. those are those are important dissents. we have had many people in our history who have who go down in history because of dissent. >> so if he is a dissenter, more power to him. i also want to note that i have worked in the software industry for many years and actually in my most recent ten years or so i've worked on collaboration ,software and collaboration is his warm fuzzy word. >> and i'm very disappointed when it gets used in politics like this. people don't really know what they want to say so they say oh collaboration we want more collaboration.

more collaboration is good. i say dissent is the right thing from people especially people on an independent commission who is supposed to hold oversight over a powerful source force like the police. >> i also want to point out that if you were in world war two france to be a collaborator is not exactly a compliment. so i ask what kind of collaboration is mayor lori looking for? what kind of collaboration is he looking for from you guys as a board of supervisors? what kind of collaborator do you want to be? >> thank you. thank you for your comments. >> next speaker welcome. >> hi, my name is norman dahlmann and i'm a long time resident of san francisco. i support max carter opus stone and i believe he is a very important independent voice on the commission. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. >> welcome.

hello. >> my name is sherril thornton and i'm the co-chair of the harriet tubman african-american democratic club, the only black democratic club here in san francisco. that's charter. i strongly oppose the removal of police commissioner max aubusson a move that threatens the independence and accountability of police commission. commissioner carter aubusson has led critical reforms including any pretext stops that disproportionately target black and brown communities. he's worked on. he's worked to hold san francisco speedy accountable way advancing policies that improve public safety. his removal is not about better governance. it's about silencing independents in oversight. >> quote supervisor matt dorsey recently stated that the police commission served at the pleasure of the mayor. >> but that is not how independent oversight should work. this police commission exists

to hold law enforcement accountable to the people not to act as an extension of the mayor's political agenda. if commissioners are removed for doing their jobs for too well, police accountability becomes nothing more than a political tool. >> and let's be clear this is trump style politics. silencing reform can consolidating power and weakening oversight. it's shameful that this is happening during black history month at a time when we should be honoring the fight for justice and not rolling it back . i also want to uplift supervisors jackie fielder and myrna melgar for standing strong on this issue. their leadership reflects the values that san francisco must protect. this is not about mayor lori. it's about the people. san francisco must remain committed to justice, fairness and real public safety. vote no. i'm matt carter. i was still in the removal.

>> thank you. and power to the people. >> thank you. sherril thornton. >> next week is your history. you're doomed to repeat it. hello, supervisors. some of you i have met with in my advocacy work. hello. matt dorsey. hello, shimon waltz in and hello miss connie shine the rest of you i would love to me some of you may or may not know my story. my name is christiana porter, a very recent victim of excessive force and police brutality in san francisco. as i stand here today, my right arm is going down and tingling with pain in the back of my head due to that incident on july 29th. however, it's very important for me to be here as i am a resilient black mother of five who needs her voice to be heard. >> it is very disrespectful and a slap to my face that san francisco not only is trying to remove mr. max carter from

creating the police seat that caused me to get brutalized which is that pretextual their pretextual stop a.k.a. stop and frisk need i remind the room at the central park five sandra bland victims are pretextual stops that should never have happened. >> with that being said, mr. max carter is being asked to resign simply for having an opposition oppositional personality. isn't it a beautiful thing to agree to disagree and come to terms in middle ground? that is the beauty of freedom of speech. that is why we are all able to be here today and say our piece right? >> so in particular i won't take up too much time. however, i will say and end on this note. my people please understand this and please be discerned and watch body language. they do not care about us. it is time for us to care about us.

i have been saying this and i will continue saying this. it's time for us to heal one another, protect one another, uplift one another. i am outside every day a victim of police brutality by myself and my family. >> thank you for your comments . all right. thank you for your comments. >> so let's hear from our next speaker. you ready to go? >> come on up. >> i'm joel franco and i'm not a resident here in san francisco but i am a supporter of the residents here in san francisco and i'm here to oppose the removal of max carter overton. i am here to stand by him. >> and from what i'm hearing from these people, he seemed to be a man with good leadership, great morals and values.

and i have to say though that he's the kind of person that the people here need and then if you're going to remove somebody, remove somebody who keeps proving over and over again that he chooses they choose themselves over the people and who keeps continuing to say eh, the people don't matter. i do. and also somebody who's apparently too scared to take accountability for their own wrongdoings. >> but max apparently is here and he's going to continue to be here. so i will have to say don't remove max at all. >> please at least have the decency see the courage and the common sense to vote no and stand against the things that will continue to cause a lot of harm so that communities here from all walks of life.

>> that's all i have to say. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. welcome to our next speaker tonight. >> so with my son i wish he was my son. >> sir, my name is frank noto. i'm here on behalf of stop crime action and our 4500 members. and i am here to support the removal of the commissioner because his failure to serve the public and to protect the public safety san francisco has a shortage of five 200 to 600 police officers. >> and there's a reason for that. and that reason is partially because of the attitude of the police commission. >> i don't question the commissioner's intelligence or his dedication. but we need to have a police commission that will enforce the law fairly. the commissioner failed to do that when he required the san

francisco police department to ignore california laws on traffic safety. we need accountability. i also question his independence and his collaborative attitude. he's not independent of special interests. he failed to engage with citizens across the city, especially on the on the west side. again, we need accountability. you have the legal authority to remove him. i urge you to do so and do the right thing. >> thank you. i thank you for coming down this afternoon. >> let's hear from our next speaker. welcome carolyn. >> thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is carolyn goosen and i work with the public defender's office as their san francisco policy director. and in this capacity i've had the honor of working closely with commissioner carter over stone over the past three years on the policy to limit racially biased stops. >> and i wanted to come today to share my support and appreciation for his tireless work to make our city safer for all san franciscans.

>> he has not only provided critical, unwavering oversight of our city's armed police force but he has also fought for s.f. pd to engage in policing that does not rely on racial bias and police violence. >> as you are all well aware supervisors, we give enormous power to the police. they can as part of their legal duties carry weapons, detain people even children lie to coerce information. >> and they can even legally take someone's life. with this amount of power we need to ensure that there's strong independent civilian oversight. and this is what commissioner carter stone exemplifies. i've had a chance to witness personally max's policing policy expertise and his measured, thoughtful style. >> time and time again everything he has done on this commission he has done using data research and is done in collaboration with s.f. pd staff, with expert and with diverse san franciscans.

>> as was mentioned, he led on the most collaborative policy process the commissioner the commission has ever seen. >> we are very fortunate to have someone like commissioner carter ober stone sit as a volunteer commissioner in the city. and i hope you will allow him to continue in this role. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. >> welcome liam mcgeever hello. >> so i woke up in 2020. >> did you or were you just faking it? >> you know what i learned in 2020 from the murder of george floyd? >> you always film the cops, right? >> i'm just going to film my supervisor a little longer because he's a big cop. >> when you're being filmed, when you're you know, having someone look over your shoulder, does that make you feel a little different?

like maybe you should behave a little better. >> we need that for the cops. it is life and death and there's a lot of death that has gone on here. and why aren't you interested in stopping it? >> i live in the heart of the open air drug market. i've lived there as a homeowner for the past three years. >> i have felt the ramp up of policing in my neighborhood on my front step. >> and it's only gotten worse. >> i am here to testify your speedy answers don't work. >> i want to defund the police still i want to abolish the police still okay. >> i don't know what happens to

that sentiment. it's only five years since 2020, right? was there a time machine? >> are we like 100 years? 2020? like what the happened? i'm glad people are realizing a blue billionaire is just as horrible as a red billionaire. okay. there's no benevolent billionaires. why does this billionaire ever want to control us for a dollar a year? what is the rush to get rid of police oversight? i have seen what's happening on six and ten. >> thank you, leah and. thank you, leah. welcome to the next speaker. as a frequent attendee of police commission meetings i have witnessed the commission's operations firsthand and i have often seen a routine pattern of pushing personal agendas over public will. >> therefore i do support mayor

laurie's decision to remove commissioner over stone. independence is good. oversight is necessary but after sb 50 failed this commissioners aggressive push for digital 9.7 was right or wrong. in terms of pretext stops right or wrong was his personal crusade to implement restrictions that both california legislators and voters have explicitly rejected. when state lawmakers declined to enact something into law, it is not appropriate for an unelected commissioner to try to force it through locally. >> the city attorney's failure to check these overreaches does not make them legitimate. it simply turns them into costly litigation and future ballot measures. san francisco voters have already attempted to course correct this by voting overwhelmingly by passing proposition e because they recognized how far the commission's actions have strayed from the parameters of their charter commission over stones removal is a crucial step in realigning the police commission with its intended purpose by removing a commissioner who consistently pursued his personal agenda

over voter and legislative intent. this board acknowledges the public's frustration with rogue public officials and signals its commitment to governing by honest and democratic principles. >> when commissioners lose sight of their role, disregard voter will and attempt to circumvent state law removal is essential and appropriate. it is incumbent upon this board to do it. removing max carter over stone from his seat that he is using for his own personal agenda and i go to all the meetings is a tremendous cause correction towards public safety and reestablishing trust in our commission. >> thank you. i'd like the members of the public please allow each speaker to have their two minutes please. no interrupting. please. please proceed, ma'am. >> hello? members of the board of supervisors. my name is angela chan. i'm an assistant chief attorney at the san francisco public defender's office. >> i'm also a former member of the police commission. today you'll make a decision

that impacts public safety for san franciscans. >> no other entity in san francisco has the same power as law enforcement to build a wield state violence to take away your freedom and even your life. with that power i hope we can all agree there has to be rigorous independent oversight by civilians to ensure that police do not abuse it. that is a system that san francisco voters installed decades ago and this is a system that voters have recently reaffirmed by rejecting a ballot measure that would have gutted this police commission. >> as a former member of the commission who has seen the inner workings of the police department including the serious and in some cases violent misconduct committed by some officers, i know what is at stake. we do not need more commissioners. >> commissioners who are former or current prosecute ers who are already too close to the police to be independent. >> we don't need more commissioners who rubber stamp and look the other way when there's racial disparity, misconduct and excessive force. >> i've seen that too much on

the police commission but we need our commissioners like max carter overton who who's unlike any mayor appointee i've ever met and i mean that i've met a lot. >> he provides painstaking, unbiased and thoughtful oversight. he deeply cares about community safety and ensuring that police are not disproportionately stopping and traumatizing black and brown communities. >> he's a subject matter expert. there are not that many subject matter experts i've seen on this commission who's worked on police reform prior to joining the commission and most importantly he is not afraid to speak truth to power. he's not afraid to whistle blowing. he knows something is wrong and something is unjust with black and brown lives on the line her the most vulnerable, the policeman's conduct we need more serious smart and caring commissioners like carter over stone. you heard his story. he does this from his heart. >> yeah. thank you. dedication.

i urge you to try to do the right thing and save filner. >> it's hard to know. thank you for your comments. >> all right. we're asking you to hold your applause, everyone. next speaker, please. supervisors. my name is zach dillon. i'm a policy analyst for public defender's office. and i worry your minds are already made up. so most of my comments are to be addressed to the people who came out in support today. >> i want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting. >> i think it's important not only to show our support to the work that max did while he was a commissioner and while he has been a question and hopefully will continue to be a commissioner but to anyone who's appointed to this commission the future should also know that the community members and advocates will have their back and will support them when they're doing the work that needs to get done. >> max didn't always do what i wanted him to do. i have a public defenders lens on things just as i know he didn't always do what the chief of police or former mayor wanted but he always explained his thinking publicly and got

consensus on the commission for some pretty contentious issues . the pretext policy he shepherded along did not include everything i advocated for in the working group meetings. it didn't even include everything from the first published draft. >> but the compromise he reached was based on the information available and it is why it ended up passing unanimously from the commission and with the support of more than 100 organization in the city. >> i do worry about the future of the department without the doj oversight and now with the threat of losing a key voice asking questions and probing the edges of policies, will we return to an era of police setting their own policy on car chases, police shootings, racial profiling no knock warrants at times going to have to tell. >> i was hoping that the mayor would actually reappoint max to a new term next april which whether he wants that or not i don't know. but if he doesn't, this board should appoint max to a term. the next time a commissioner's seat comes up from this board. >> thank you.

>> thank you for your comments. hold your applause, everyone please. >> next speaker. hello, board. my name is griffin lee d2 resident and i'm here to support their larry and the removal and firing of max carter over stone master as a leader to the 9.07 which limited our ability meaning the police department's ability to to do traffic enforcement since diego 9.7 was accepted and if negatively affected morale of the police department because it's another dojo to think about when they're behind a car that may have expired tags no front license plate and stuff of that nature in my and their observation and this is coming from a police officer i met yesterday because of this confusion. cops do way less traffic enforcement which led to more unsafe driving from the general public. additionally, the acceptance of

the dijo has discouraged proactive police work meaning there is less traffic stop traffic for someone over and sees guns and drugs that are killing us on our streets today and people with arrest warrants and cool stuff like that. >> again i'm in support of mayor lori and i highly encourage you to vote on the removal of max carter over stone thank you. >> thank you for your comments. nick speaker please. >> hi, my name is brad chapman. i'm one of the vice presidents of the harvey milk democratic club. i want to thank supervisor fielder and melgar for your courage and i'm really feeling anxious about this because i know some folks on this board and i don't really like to put myself out there when i was reading i mean i do i've done it too much in the past and i kind of want to get away from that. but when i was reading this to my boyfriend he was like do you want to put a target on your back? >> and here i go.

so here's some quotes. a system that rewards corruption that's what we have. it's time to turn the page on corruption in san francisco. our residents and taxpayers deserve accountable effective leadership. no more backroom deals, conflicts of interests or broken promises. we cannot continue to do the things the same way they've been done because we're going to get the same results. you can't solve the problem when you are part of the problem. >> those are all daniel lurie we all know we all know that this vote is at its core about taking power from someone who put truth to power by a board that is afraid to hold its mayor accountable after so many bridges were burnt with the last one. we all know that most of our supervisors made up their minds about how they'll vote on this hearing before they heard us speak today. are you going to be a part of the problem or are you going to be a part of the solution and do our voices matter when politicians and leaders oversimplify, deny or exploit public health crises? dorsey in the name of public

safety for personal gain everyone loses. you're a former spokesman in dorsey for a police department protected by the power that unlimited power and absolute immunity for police officers should you recuse yourself from this for comments to the board as a whole as well? okay. well harry to those folks on this board who knew him believed that tepid liberalism kept those who are powerful satisfied with the status quo and that none of us should rest until there is a fundamental transfer of that power to and people power and thank you thank you for your comments. >> if you'd like to provide is a copy of that we can include it in the minutes. >> welcome to the next speaker . >> good afternoon everybody. my name is justice doom la. i'm here on behalf of treatment on demand and safer inside coalitions. i'm here to ensure that you all here once again march quarter

over sound deserves to stay and finish this term on the police commission. >> i don't think i need to reiterate all of his incredible accomplishments and attitude and work that he does on the commission. >> but might i remind you all that most of you voted to give more power to the mayor? and it seems like you're ready to hand over yet again more power to this new mayor who has little to no bureaucratic experience. and so i just want to warn you all that you have a job to do. and i hope that you continue to do that. weakening the police commission is not going to help us solve any of the other issues in san francisco. we cannot arrest our way out of an overdose epidemic. >> please keep max carter over soon on the police commission. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. welcome to the next speaker.

>> thank you. my name is tyler. >> i live in district five. i usually hate to compare people to donald trump. i think it's kind of easy and lazy but like let's look at what's happening, right? we have an executive trying to get rid of someone who's in a key oversight role. he hasn't even really given a reason as far as i know. is anyone here from the mayor's office? i don't think so. right. he's not come to this meeting or sent someone to this meeting to justify this. and he's acting like we should just go along with it and that the board should just go along with it and just let him do it without asking any questions and he's acting like it's his commission, that it's the mayors police commission. it's not it's supposed to be an independent commission as commissioner cartier-bresson said at the beginning. >> so you tell me if the comparison with trump makes sense. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker welcome. >> thank you. good afternoon. board of supervisors.

my name is brian cox and i'm here with the public defender's office. s.f. has a long documented history of sidelining and silencing outspoken critics of the police whether they are outspoken policy advocates and those within the department itself or outspoken commissioners like max. outside legacy continues today with this sham vote to remove him. as i wrote in my letter last week opposing his removal, max is eminently qualified to continue his work at the commission. not only does he deserve to finish this term but he deserves another term. >> his resume is seriously impressive. his credentials are impeccable and his worth work ethic is relentless. no one has advanced any arguments in public to remove him only baseless speculation and obeisance supports this vote and that it is directed at a black commissioner during black history month is a stain on this spine institution. shame.

>> in his role max has relied on best practices, research data, community input and feedback from officers to form his opinions. that's what we want in a commissioner and his list of accomplishments in his short term or seriously impressive. and as others have noted i won't go through them again. but what strikes me as obvious is that he has been consistent and calling out the department when it overstepped its bounds. that's accountability. that's the job. and that's what he has done. his northstar has always been about asking the hard questions. the others are too afraid or too comfortable to ask. he's always followed his conscience and we need that. we need that from not just him but from every other commissioner to hold the department and its officers accountable. make no mistake what's at stake. this vote is really about the future of police accountability and transparency and oversight in san francisco. every action that happens that

weakens transparency and accountability and accountability moving forward because of this vote you'll have to live with that. >> thank you ryan dodson for your comments. next week please and afternoon supervisors. my name is tess wellborn. >> district five. i'd like to address i'd like to address two points. >> the police commission doesn't control the police department. >> if their closure rate is one of the lowest in the nation, almost every police department across the nation is short of officers. maybe it's time to think about some other approaches. >> i think that we are just incredibly lucky to have someone who with the expertise of carter over stone and i would think that we have to

keep him. let's see if you think that it is good to replace somebody for no good reason that has been given. no malfeasance. no other crime. >> no crime. i'd like you to think about the the parallels with trump. yes, but i'd also like you to think about okay, who will be next? who else will the mayor say? well, you were elected for a term but forget that. >> so what's the point of having terms? >> completely. it's time to say that whatever happens now could be a precedent for future mayors future and as well as the current mayor. and i think we've got to follow a little bit of the rule of law

here. you know, just a tiny bit and keep this great man. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. welcome to the next speaker. >> good afternoon, san francisco. my name is starchild. i'm chair of the libertarian party of san francisco and here on behalf of our over 3000 registered libertarians in san francisco to support keeping max carter over stone on the police commission. libertarians strongly believe in not only fiscal responsibility and limited but limited across the board civil liberties vitally important. i've been moved by many of the comments here today and it does just back my mind again and again how just five years ago in the wake of george floyd's murder by police, people are falling over themselves to talk about police accountability and the need to defund the police and some people even talking about the need to abolish the police which are not part of america's original heritage. there were no police back in the days of the founders and

we don't need an armed standing army that they were concerned about trying to control every aspect of our lives. and each one of you when you pass laws you have to realize what the law is. it's basically an authorization for those uniformed individuals carrying guns to use as much force as necessary to get people to comply with it up to and including shooting and killing them if they resist. so if you don't exercise proper control over the police in your oversight capacity including keeping a strong police commission which really should be elected not appointed, you will have blood on your hands the next time there's a sheila de toi or a mario woods or a pat on gore or an alex nieto or all the other victims of police abuse and killing that if seen here in our city.

and think about this and think about executive overreach. you see what's going on with donald trump rallies san francisco we have too much of a strong mayor system where the voters did say no to property and there are limits and the pendulum is going to swing back. and if you vote for his removal today, many of you will be. >> thank you, starchild. thank you. welcome to the next speaker. >> hi. my name is mario lemus. i am a long term resident of san francisco. i took the afternoon off. i hate politics. i mean the backdoor dealings and all that stuff is just something i see a lot of people glazing over here especially shaman. and you know for me as a resident and marching in act up in the 80s as a man to be here this is unprecedented. i mean it's it's kind of scary to see that somebody is being pushed out for no reason

whatsoever. and for it seems like some of you have already made up your minds and taking a lot of breaks and moving through. and it's really terrible to see it. so you know, it it it's disheartening to see so many people coming here taking their time off in in hopes that you would keep max here to stay on the commission. i urge you to think think properly because this is dangerous. it's going to be passed. >> thank you for your comments already. >> decision. welcome back. former member of the board john avalos good afternoon supervisors as a member of the board i actually rarely use talking points but i need to be more precise now this moment demands real leadership that unite san francisco for the good of all not by imposing a singular single point of view and conditioning goodwill to those of you who vote the right way. leadership is doing the hard