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 order 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 work of building consensus across differences. true leadership means assembling a team of rivals practicing diplomacy and governing the entire city not just with the people who agree with your point of view. at the national level we face an existential crisis. trump's executive orders amount to a coup with mass firings of federal workers and the empowerment of public funds being used to extort state and local governments into submission. san francisco must decide whether it will stand firm or fall in line. we will start practice the same kind of leadership as supervisors. you are often forced into false choices. sometimes it feels like a ton

of bricks hangs over your head. but this vote is a voluntary one and one that one. it's not one of those town of brick moments. you shouldn't have to vote on this at all if it is a forced vote then our city has already stumbled under new leadership. supervisors the public needs the best of you. we hope you can provide us with transparency and operate with the highest ethical standards and not just toe the line of what is acceptable. if the mayor has truly shared with you the reason he wishes to remove mac's commissioner max carter oberstar then and you agree with it the public deserves to hear it and understand it. if not, this vote will be seen for what it is a course of political act and stumbled unaccountable leadership at a time when compliance with the federal means storing immigrants and transgender family members under the bus. we should not be practicing that kind of leadership in the city of st francis. i urge you to reject the removal of congressional

commissioner carter oberstar oberstar. thank you. >> thank you for your comments ,mr. toronto. >> hi. good afternoon, mr. barry toronto. i came here on another matter but i felt after watching everything. >> i'm concerned about the precedent being setting here. >> first the clerk's office taught me how to say his name. max carter overtown. so that took a while to figure out. so now you figure out that this is a precedent you're setting by by removing a commissioner who is appointed to serve out a term and hasn't committed a crime and hasn't done anything that that requires this type of level of attention. so you're bringing attention to yourselves. you're bringing attention to the fact that that the that the disenfranchized communities of color and lower income communities are not really fairly represented in certain city commissions. and you've already given the

the mayor a lot of of of of leeway and on certain topics and certain areas to solve certain problems. >> so now you want to remove somebody who actually feels represented in judaism. so the social justice aspect of it is tikkun olam, tikkun olam. look it up and i feel that by not by bye bye. by accepting the mayor's decision here you are actually going the opposite of tikkun olam and you are going to create more turmoil and in these communities by by already the mayor bombarded by the mayor's request at this point i'm saying there there is a request for you to appoint alphonso felder to the to the mta board and he's a good guy. i worked with him when they planned out that they have traffic and transportation around oracle park which was which was pac bell at the time . he's a good guy. but the thing is is that is

that is replacing a vacancy and we're not replacing a vacancy here. we're letting someone serve out their term who represents people who don't feel represented. >> thank you. thank you barry for all right, everyone hold your comments. >> welcome. >> good afternoon everyone. my name is chemistry. my office and i pretty much consider myself resigned from public speaking in public life . but i was at home in the middle of a final exam and because i love education and listening to this meeting and i had to get up and do a few things number one just put on some different clothes. and number two, going print out something and look up a date november 5th, 2003 when the citizens of san francisco passed proposition eight the police reform measure which

really targeted the idea that the mayor could just remove someone on the police commission because somehow the way they were deciding things didn't go as supposedly planned or the board of supervisors could just remove someone from a commission, particularly the police commission without any justification. >> citizens of san francisco for that reason they became so such a big deal because there was also this thing called fajita gate. you can go look that up and there was also the thurgood marshall police riot and i was the ptsa president of that high school when that happened and it was tragic and there are many things that have been tragic but we made certain that we passed that so these kinds of things wouldn't happen. and i came to speak to you just

to remind you if you didn't know that there is still an audience for this city now so somehow maybe you didn't read it but it was specific. >> so this couldn't happen. and so if you're doing this it goes against that ordinance that exists here in san francisco and i don't think you want to do that not as duly elected folks over the last thing i did i didn't e thank you, kim sheriff's office. >> nice to see you. thank you. >> welcome to our next speaker . hi, isha humphrey. i wasn't planning to speak today but i felt compelled to express my gratitude to commissioner carter ober stone for being a leader with such

principle and integrity. i think that we have been lucky to have someone with his expertise who has been willing to lend that to us to serve this city. he's been a pillar for civil rights and the community and i think it's very telling how many people have come out today to speak on behalf of the commissioner. i think that he's been an excellent advocate for the community and i'm grateful for the opportunity to stand with him. i sincerely hope that this board stands with him as well and i urge you to vote no on this motion. >> thank you. thank you for your comments. welcome. >> hello i'm from quadruple a another of ac's army of associates always hyphenated american. has there been some overstatements here? yes i. i can't see how this voting to sustain this would not be a

step towards losing chief scott you've got to figure he's on a pretty thin rope as it is and you know i actually think maybe you know i've been watching the news a little bit and i actually think this kind of dynamic between public and bill scott, you know, it could be a good thing you got one of them's a local guy and other one was hired nationally you know different races i think it could be very dynamic and depending on how long bill scott's willing to put up with it, you know, heck, you know, i don't see bill scott as not being a person willing to you know, go with anything that's rational and reasonable. i just don't see it. i think that a vote to sustain this i can't see how it's not a vote to get rid of bill scott and i that's all about i want to stay about overstatements about the attempt to remove the overturn the removal of overtone thank you otto duffy

for your comments. welcome to the next speaker i, i just wanted to just introduce myself. >> my name's obama. i was born and raised here in the city. i'm also on the sheriff's oversight board. i by no means am speaking on behalf of that board. speaking specifically as a citizen myself i think carolyn gossip from the public defender's office mentioned this earlier about how collaborative max overseeing was and i just wanted to add to that in support of him he came along with the human rights commission and the somewhat community development center to speak on behalf of to speak to the pacific islander community which is where i'm from and i thought it was very helpful to to kind of share out the pretextual policy and i just wanted to add my support on behalf of keeping max on the board to the commission. >> thank you. thank you for your comments

before the next speaker you're welcome to come up sir. >> before you begin though, just want to invite any other members of the public who are here to address this item the consideration of the removal of commissioner obra stone please come on up if you're ready to speak otherwise this may be our last speaker welcome sir. i am lord justice and i want to give all praise and glory to my creator oh i to like a few of the last speakers were compelled to speak. it's evident that there are no criminal charges. there's no question of ethics or professionalism or else will be in a different venue so people such as myself will dig deeper and investigate to see what is the root of this problem and it also enables us to see who's on law is payroll. so with that being said, it's been evident that you hold a seat, you hold a position to listen to the people we have

opened up and we have held a long dialog. we have said what we want, what we desire and with evidence so it is now up to you as our own you to do what you ought to do. you hold no alliance to no one but the truth so let it be done. >> thank you sir, for your comments. mr. president and with with that public comment is closed and i will declare item 21 to have been heard and filed and now supervisor dorsey thank you, president mandolin colleagues, i think it's important to frame dispassionately and accurately what is before us in this hearing because charter section 4.19 provides that members of our police commission generally

serve at the pleasure of their appointing authority. in other words, they may be removed without cause except that mayoral appointments and removals are also subject to board approval. now this is very different from the approximately two dozen for cause commissions whose appointees are genuinely independent and by design beyond the reach of their appointing authorities once they're appointed these for cause appointees may only be removed for official misconduct and examples of those commissions include the airport commission, the board of appeals, elections commission, ethics commission, health commission, mta board among many others. by my count there is about 23 for cause commissions. the police commission is not one of them. >> the reason that distinction is important is that it shows that our city charter thoughtfully contemplate dates that some commissions are intended to have independently empowered appointees and some other commissions including the police commission are not designed that way. police commissioners are generally accountable to their

appointing authority and that is by design. the narrow role we play here in this hearing is akin to an advice and consent role. it isn't necessary for us to reach any factual conclusion or to make any finding to consent to the mayor's removal of his own appointee or his appointment for that matter. and so for me it's a very simple analysis that comes down to whether we should honor the committee necessary for the two co-equal branches of our local the legislative and the executive to govern effectively and well and that's especially important at a time when we frankly have more urgent priority is facing our city than this one. we have a newly elected executive and mayor lurie who has earned the right to seek his own appointment where their authorized as they are here absent some extraordinary circumstance, some grievous error that we are losing a once in a generation talent the lone bulwark against fascism itself which i haven't seen there is

no legitimate basis i have seen to dissent from the mayor's removal here now i have worked for various offices in city hall for nearly 20 years and it has been my observation that most conscientious public servants who are at will employee appointees usually offer to step aside voluntarily when there's a new mayor and yes to do the classy thing so that other worthy san franciscans may have their own opportunity to serve our city. so to the extent there's anything unusual here, it's that this appointee doesn't want to step aside and that's fine. that's his right. but neither does it cause me to look favorably on his retention . >> now i assume i reflect the perspective of all my colleagues here when i express my appreciation to mr. carter oberstar and for his service to our city. i thank him for his work on a commission that is known for a lot of hard work often thankless and in fact i'm writing legislation to expand opportunities for rewards

in homicide cases based on the resolution. mr. carter oberstar authored and i applaud his good work. >> there's certainly no hard feelings intended for me but at the end of the day i don't believe this is about mr. carter over stone. >> i believe it is about what the city charter says about mayoral authority over mayoral appointments. in my view mayor lurie has earned by virtue of his election the right to make an appointment of his choosing exactly as the city charter intends for mayoral appointees to this commission and i've seen no rationale in this hearing to dissent on that removal. neither do i think it's a bid to remove chief bill scott who i will say i do consider a once in a generation talent and an extraordinary leader who has led our police department through 21st century police reforms that led the nation. however, on item two i would move that this board consent to the mayor's removal of max carter ober stone from the san francisco police commission. >> thank you supervisor dorsey there is a motion to change the

motion to say confirm is there a second seconded by sherril supervisor fielder thank you, president. >> thank you commissioner carter roberson for being here today to president gentleman for allowing him to speak. i also want to thank public defender mino raja, everyone who came out today to make your voice heard. >> take time off work to be here, watch the meeting unfold and drive all the way here to be here. thank you to third street youth center san francisco bicycle coalition. san francisco gray panthers as a rising tenants as a tenants union small business forward the acp chapter san francisco harvey milk lgbtq democratic club league of women voters and dozens of other committee organization ones that come from all corners of san francisco and for riding us

in these past couple of weeks it is absolute the right of the mayor to put forward this motion and it is also our right to reject that. >> public safety is among my top priorities as district nine supervisor representing mission berlin portola because during my two year campaign i talked to thousands of constituents at their doors a significant proportion of whom talked about wanting to feel safe walking to school to work and just living their daily lives that safety was put at risk for a police practice that commissioner carter aubuchon had exactly warned about and i was i'm talking about the crash involving a as a vehicle on super bowl sunday. i've said before in this chamber that when i got the call that six people were sent to the hospital including a mom

and child, i didn't know what scene i was going to arrive at and i want to address the misconception that pretext stops prevent officers from pursuing want to vehicles pretext stops did not stop as if pd from pursuing a wanted vehicle for miles from stone's town all the way to the mission crashing specifically this wanted car crashing into a light pole at 20 for the mission another car that was parked and then eventually the parklet i saw the video for myself and i've said before it is a miracle no one died in this crash. >> these people are my constituents that were sent to the hospital. i've spoken with a couple of them who want accountability from us a pd as much as accountable for the suspects.

san franciscans have been told that if we abandon reform, if we abandon independent oversight and if we give law enforcement complete control over budgets, over how they use force, how they profile suspects, how they chase vehicles, how they spend their own time that everything regarding public safety will be solved and san franciscans have essentially been sold the story that an accountable police force is an ineffective police force and voters through their rejection of prop f in november and also prop d around commissions resoundingly sent the message that they want accountability as much as they want public safety. >> an accountable police force is one that is held to the highest standards of responsibility. >> an accountable police force is one that is responsible for

every dollar just as every other department is made to justify their expenses just as every nonprofit is made to justify their expenses, an accountable police force is one that uses resources wisely that ensures officers are not putting the public at do risk due to their own burnout. >> an accountable police force is one that knows its community members and makes meaningful progress on doj reforms. people coming up for public comment have talked about the various people that have died at the hands of the pd alex nieto. >> luis can go to pat mario woods so many more and we have made tremendous progress in the past handful of years on the doj reforms under an independent police commission, an accountable police force. >> i believe is possible and i

see glimmers of hope in a true community oriented police force every day in district nine. >> i mention all this because commissioner max carter robertson and i both know that his removal is bigger than him and that his removal is going to lend towards not just in unaccountable and less effective police force but also a chilling effect on any oversight whatsoever that will ultimately put members of the members of the public in danger . >> commissioner carter robertson has been a steadfast advocate for reforms and oversight. his leadership has been smart, principled and moral. >> his work revealing the corrupt practices of the last administration earned him a national award.

>> it is not anti-police to want oversight just as us politicians have to report on conflicts of interest just as we have to report to the ethics commission very regularly, it is on a principle that trust is earned and he represents the kind of principled, uncorrupt independent governance san franciscans want and he should be rewarded for his service not punished. >> and so i urge my colleagues to vote against the removal of commissioner carter over stone and allow him to continue his critical work to hold as a party to the highest standards of responsible and accountability and serve the public with the highest standards of trust. >> thank you. thank you supervisor i was pleased fielder supervisor chan thank you. >> i first want to express my gratitude to commissioner

mascara over stone for all your work that you have done your advocacy for police accountability and advancing racial equity has allowed us to meet significant milestones on critical reforms to our policies on pretext stops, excessive force and more. and those are the policy that i am in agreement with strongly. so thank you, commissioner. >> this is why it does pains me greatly that we're here today. san francisco is facing unprecedented threats on many front more than ever it means that we have to work strategically put aside our own egos to ensure that we not only protect the progress we have made but contain the incredibly important work to protect our vulnerable and marginalized communities. >> i really do believe that

many of us especially right now in this city hall are committed to ensure that our police department is held accountable to the community and continue to advance criminal justice but to sustain like this meaningful accountability in police reform, i think we must recognize that it does not hinge on any one person but collective work that all of us have to do to push for structural change an independent one independent commissioner does not equate to an independent commission. >> for the past few years i think many of us have talked about what can we do to make not just our police commission but really all our commission to be independent and with accountability and delivering results for san franciscans. >> we've been working on many

different legislations and policy discussions including one that i will be introducing to really create a split commission that allow the equal appointments equal number of point means from the executive branch and legislative branch to advance the work already started by the proposition eight commission reform so that we can continue to build and dependency to the san francisco commission structure. >> with that said again it's to recognize that commission you know we i'm just really grateful for your work and for the role that you have played since you're a first term and continuing into your second term. it is with great regret that we are here and that it's we're now questioning whether you are able to finish out the remaining of the one year. but that does not mean the work should stop i think hopefully not for you and not for this body and not for those that are here in city hall.

so with that thank you so much, commissioner and thank you president mendelsohn. >> thank you supervisor chen supervisor melgar, thank you to all the members of the public who took the time and made the effort to provide public comment today i do not believe in removing commissioners or supervisors before their term is up when there has been no malfeasance or illegal conduct. >> i had a respectful conversation with mayor lurie yesterday and explained in answer to his request for my vote that his reasons for introducing his motion this motion that this georgetown university and stanford law school educated legal scholar who clerked for two different justices at the ninth circuit court of appeals in at the u.s. district court for the northern district that mayor lurie's reasons that commissioner

carter ober stone's manner has been needlessly confrontational and difficult to work with do not rise to my standard for removal and i will be voting against it. >> it is the same reason. >> it is the same reason that i have not supported and do not currently support any recall efforts without opining on the assessment of commissioner carter opus. so it is difficult for our mayor to work with. i must point out that all of our jobs in leadership here in san francisco are in fact characterized by having to deal with different people that we disagree with. we all ran for these jobs and knew that coming in the police commission should be a place for debate and a variety of viewpoints should be allowed. >> we live still thankfully though at peril in a diverse representative democracy in our city has always prided itself

in doing this the best being the first to move forward on social justice moving through our disagreements despite controversy and disagreement, sometimes even violent disagreement. >> and as a former planning commissioner myself i would say that you don't have to agree with your colleagues all the time but that doesn't mean that they aren't adding something valuable to the conversation and that they don't represent viewpoints that members of our community have. >> there is no question that commissioner carter ober stone was selected because he has the background to be qualified to serve. in fact he is eminently qualified and whether you agree with his viewpoints or not he has served with distinction. the charter is clear the mayor quote the mayor with the consent of the board of supervisors with the consent of the board of supervisors may remove a member. the mayor has nominated the board of supervisors may remove

a member of the rules that the rules committee has nominated. while i acknowledge that the charter gives the mayor the ability to do this if the intention of the charter were for commissioners to follow the policy of the current mayor and not the mayor who appointed them or the appointing board for that matter the terms of the police commissioners would be coterminous with their appointing authority. there are 429 days until april 30th when commissioner roger stone term expires. we all as elected officials have to live with restraints to our power. this is unprecedented and unusual and i cannot put my name in favor of this motion and i have to say commissioner carter over stone thank you very much for your service to our city. thank you. supervisor melgar we have an amendment before us which is made by supervisor dorsey and

seconded by supervisor sherril to modify item 22 to provide that the board will consent to the mayor's removal of max carter stone from the police commission and on that motion madam clerk, can you please call the roll supervisor mahmood mahmood i supervisor randleman my amendment i supervisor melgar no melgar no supervisor sadr sadr i supervisor sherril sherril i supervisor walton walton i supervisor chin chin i supervisor chin chin i supervise supervisor dorsey dorsey i supervisor engardio and engardio i and supervisor fielder no fielder no there are eight eyes and three nose with supervisors melgar chan and fielder voting no. >> all right so the motion to amend is approved and on the motion as amended madam oh i my

apologies mr. president. just to correct my vote there were a supervisor chan said i my apologies. i recorded you as a no my apologies but regardless supervisor mr. president's conclusion stands there are nine eyes and two nos with supervisors melgar and fielder voting no supervisor melgar forgive me president i think some of us thought we were voting on the motion not the amendment. so do you want to rescind the vote on the or a motion to rescind? does anyone need to okay. >> no, i guess it doesn't matter. okay. okay so the motion to amend is approved and then on the motion madam clerk madam clerk, can you please call the roll on item 22 as amended supervisor

mahmood mahmood i supervisor mandolin hi randleman i supervisor melgar no melgar no supervisor sadr sadr i supervisor sherril sherril i supervisor walton walton eyes supervisor chin chin eyes supervisor chin chin eyes supervisor dorsey dorsey eyes supervisor and engardio and engardio i and supervisor fielder no fielder no there are nine eyes and two nose with supervisors melgar and fielder voting no and the motion and the item passes as amended. >> all right madam clerk, i believe that that takes us back to item 16. okay. still public on the action item 16 is an ordinance to amend the building administrative and

public works codes to remove the local requirement for existing buildings with a place of public accommodation to have all primary entries and paths of travel into the building accessible to persons with disabilities or to receive a determination of equivalent facilitation, technical and feasibility or unreasonable hardship to affirm the square determination and to make the appropriate findings. madam clerk, can you please call the roll on this item on item 16 supervisor mahmood mahmood i on item 16 mahmood i supervisor randleman i mendelson i supervisor melgar i melgar i supervisor sadr sadr i supervisor sherril sherril eyes supervisor walton walton i supervisor chan chen i supervisor chen chen i my

apologies it's very hard to hear supervisor dorsey dorsey eyes supervisor and gaudio and gaudio i and supervisor fielder fielder i there are 11 eyes. >> all right without objection this ordinance is passed on first reading madam clerk can you please call item 17 and 18 together? >> item 17 and 18 are two resolutions that pertain to liquor licenses. item 17 is a resolution that determines that a person to person premise to premise transfer of a type 21 off sale general beer wine and distilled spirits liquor license to dapper hill llc doing business as dapper located at 1198 pacific avenue will serve the public convenience item 18 is a resolution that revises the type of liquor license referenced in resolution number 5 to 7 dash 24 from transfer to an issuance and determines that the issuance of this type 90 on sale general music venue liquor

license to urban life inc doing business as neck of the woods located at 406 clements street and to request that the california department of alcoholic beverage control impose conditions on the issuance of the license. >> okay i think we can take these items same house, same call without objection these resolutions are adopted. >> madam clerk, can you please call item 19? >> item 19 is a motion to appoint sabrina hernandez burt hill, liam devlin and gregory michael hardiman. terms ending january 31st, 2027 to the golden gate bridge highway and transportation district board of directors. i think we can take this item. same house, same call without objection this motion is approved. >> madam clerk can you please call him to item 20? this is a motion to approve the mayor's nomination for the appointment of w.e. wilson leone to the police commission for a term ending april 30th 2028.

and i think we can take this item same house, same call without objection the motion is approved. >> and then i think we can go to our committee reports. >> yes. items 23 and 24 were considered by the land use and transportation committee at a regular meeting on monday february 24th, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. and were forwarded as committee reports. item 23 is an ordinance to amend the planning code to create an exception for certain distilleries, wineries and breweries to establish on sale liquor establishments in the bayview neighborhood commercial district subject to a conditional use authorization to affirm the second determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> all right. i think we can take this item same house, same call without objection the ordinance is passed on first reading and madam clerk, can you please call item 24? >> item 24 this is an ordinance to amend the planning code to

establish the leland avenue neighborhood commercial district and to make various technical amendments to incorporate the ncd into the planning code to amend the zoning map to rezone all parcels fronting leland avenue between bayshore boulevard and cora street from a small scale neighborhood commercial district to leland avenue and cd to affirm the secret determination and to make the appropriate findings. >> and we will take this item same house, same call without objection the ordinance is passed on first reading madam clerk let's go to a roll call supervisor mahmood first to introduce new business. >> thank you. clerk thank you, president colleagues san francisco remains in the midst of a deadly fentanyl crisis with 633 fatal overdoses reported in 2024 down from 810 in 2020 three but far above pre-pandemic levels. >> fentanyl itself accounts for approximately 80% of overdose deaths in the recent years with even trace amounts proving

fatal exacerbating public health and safety concerns with open air drug markets in san francisco contributing to the growing fentanyl crisis resulting in overdoses, mass shootings, reduced public safety and lower quality of life for residents. >> the impact on our communities is disheartening. >> that's why today i'm introducing a resolution with co-sponsorship from supervisor matt dorsey and president rafael randleman for the implementation of a drug market intervention or dmi strategy to address our city's fentanyl crisis. >> i believe this is necessary because what we are seeing in our streets is not normal. >> for too long our communities have been told to just accept an open air drug market outside their doorstep as the new normal. >> but it's not normal for 3000 500 children and their families who live in our neighborhood to walk past drug dealers every day. and it's not normal for people to suffer on our streets and be exploited by dealers. >> but this resolution calls for the implementation of a

three step model based on a drug market intervention strategy a framework of incapacitation deterrence, prevention of open air drug markets and partnership contracting. a professor of criminal justice david kennedy, who pioneered the program and expanded its use during the obama administration to curb violent crime and drug traffic trafficking nationwide. >> in fact, demise rooted in proven methodologies that have successfully curbed open air drug markets by nearly 50% in the cities that has operated in and is undergoing pilots in other cities today professor kennedy has spent his life creating new strategies to stop gun violence and close open air drug markets often through non carceral methods. by contracting with david kennedy we would essentially contract a specialist to assess the unique aspects of open air drug markets in san francisco to diagnose the problem and not only prescribe a solution but work with our city departments on a path towards implementation through the drug market agency coordination center. >> we already have an interagency task force which brings s.f. pd and dpw together

in a concerted effort to address this ecosystem that contributes to the markets and in implementing dmi this resolution would expand on demak operations allowing for us live pd to hold drug dealers accountable while increasing support for workforce and youth development and strengthening community based drug market disruption initiatives. and all of this gets back to good governance because residents often will say why haven't we made progress on this issue? why is it getting worse? >> and it's not for lack of effort because we have not been we've tried. we need to be working more methodically and tailoring this approach specifically to our city and that's why this approach we are pushing forward it has unanimous support from the department some chicago democratic county central committee including the speaker emerita nancy pelosi who endorsed this framework last year. and we're tackling an evolving crisis that has gone on for too long. as a board we voted in favor of the mayor's fentanyl emergency ordinance and using the fundraising abilities of his office. >> i believe this can be funded without using our budgets. >> so let me be clear this is a

national strategy to begin to make progress on this crisis. dema has saved countless lives across the city. it's past time to bring it to san francisco as well and i wanted to acknowledge against supervisor dorsey who has been advocating for this infrastructure and this initiative for years and excited to co-sponsor this with him as well. >> i'd also like to introduce and in memoriam in memoriam an adjournment for a betty may cooke's colleagues asked that we adjourn her memory who passed away after nearly five decades of shaping and serving the fillmore and western edition communities. >> there was a beautiful service held in community for her this past weekend full of love and appreciation from those whose lives she touched in speaking with her daughter tanisha, it's evident that betty lived fully in that her spirit lives and through her impact. >> betty was born in 1940 three in prichard, alabama and moved to san francisco in 1951. >> she's graduated mission high school. she met and married the love of her life. james cooks in 1964 and

together they raised four children faith patrick, tanisha and antonio building a family grounded in love and resilience in 19 76 betty opened jp beauty boutique, a business that became a cornerstone of the fillmore for 48 years she kept her doors open through economic shifts and neighborhood changes, remaining a steadfast presence just last year her contributions were officially recognized when jp beauty boutique was added to the san francisco legacy business registry ensuring her name and impact would be enshrined in our city's history. betty's influence extended far beyond her business. she was a mentor, a trailblazer for black entrepreneurs and a symbol of perseverance. she touched countless lives customers, employees and community members alike thanks to the efforts of brothers for change and the broader community, betty was able to receive her flowers while she was still with us. >> she is survived by her husband of 60 years james her sister barbara, her children,

her grandchildren and an extended family that goes beyond blood ties. her presence will be felt in every stylist she inspired, every customer she welcomed and in the fillmore community she helped preserve. >> we extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends and all who were touched by her kindness and unwavering dedication. san francisco has lost a giant but her spirit remains woven into the city's fabric. >> rest in peace, betty cooks. may your memory be a blessing. >> thank you. supervisor mahmood supervisor mendelson. thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, i have two ordinances a drafting request, a letter of inquiry and an in memoriam. >> so get out a book. >> the first item is on the open for business contracts streamlining act of 2025 a sent a set of sensible contract reforms to simplify the city's procurement processes reduce the burden of contracting regulations on small businesses, nonprofits and the city and encourage more

competition for city contracts. the city and county of san francisco contracts for many necessary goods programs and services from office supplies to the installation of a new subway line. contracts ranged from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars every single city department engages in contracting. but the way we currently do things is cumbersome, complex and costly over time and for good reasons. san francisco has added numerous contract related ordinances that seek to use the city's market participant powers to advance various social policy priorities. often these have come without much or any consideration of how the new requirements interact with existing laws or impact the efficiency of the city's procurement process and such such ordinances are rarely if ever repealed or even reviewed for effectiveness or cost. >> admit administrative code 12 x was an example and in some ways a counterexample. in 2016, in response to the proliferation of laws in states across the country that discriminated against the lgbtq

community, the city enacted 12 acts which prohibited the city from contracting with businesses based in states with such laws. between 2016 and 2023 the board of supervisors and mayor expanded the reach of 12 acts to include businesses in states with restrictive reproductive rights and voting rights laws, bringing the total number of banned states to 30. >> reports by the budget and legislative analyst found that the 12 x was creating significant administrative burdens for city departments and reducing competition and driving up costs for city contracts without any discernable impact on the behavior of state legislatures and bound states. in 2023 we repealed 12 acts but in the process it had become clear to me that 12 x was just the tip of the iceberg and that our procurement processes could benefit from additional pruning . in 2022 i submitted a letter of inquiry to the city administrator asking her office to provide recommendations for a more transparent, streamlined and less costly procurement process for low dollar

contracts to encourage greater competition and support the city's small businesses. in may of 2024, city administrator carmen chiu released her report which found the following one low dollar contracts are subject to the same contracting requirements generally as higher value contracts making executing a $10,000 contract just as difficult as executing a $10 million contract in the prior five years the city had awarded thousands of contracts for $200,000 or less accounting for 59% of the city's contract volume but only 1.8% of the city's total contract spending meant that city staff and suppliers were spending disproportionate time energy and effort on a relatively small share of the city's spending. >> third, the city's current contracting processes and requirements create a high level of administrative burden for both city staff and suppliers, making it more difficult for the city to serve the public. fourth, the city's contract requirements make doing

business with the city confusing and cost prohibitive for some suppliers and small and local businesses and nonprofits are especially impacted by high barriers to entry which can run counter to the city's goals of local investment and equitable contracting. and fifth, the complexity of the city's contracting processes may also be limiting competition to provide the city goods and services. for example, in fiscal year 2023 nearly half the solicitations that the office of contract administration issued received just a single response or no response at all. that's not a competitive process designed to get us the best product at the best price. so the city administrator's report made five recommendation to help address these problems. one of these challenges one improve the informal procurement process which refers to procurements under the city's minimum competitive amount currently $230,000 but reset every five years to simplify the city's contract. standard contract terms and conditions which are significantly longer than those in other city cities and

municipalities. three. amend the city's procurement requirements, update and reconcile inconsistencies in processes thresholds and triggers for standardized future procurement legislation . and five increase inter-departmental coordination in contracting and align policy and administrative processes across departments so the open for business contract streamlining act of 2025 builds on the recommendations of the city administrators report to begin lessening the burden of contracting regulations on small businesses. nonprofits and the city encourage more equity and competition for city contracts and ensure improved service delivery for san franciscans. and when i say begin lessening i mean that i hope and trust that over the next several years we will together find many more opportunities to go further than this legislation to move our out of its own way and to create more opportunities for more businesses and especially local small businesses to compete for our work.

this legislation would create a model template to standardize future contracting ordinances require the city administrator to review any new potential ordinances that significantly affect procurement processes. update out of section out-of-date sections of the municipal code repeal sections of the municipal code that are no longer in use or are duplicative of state law and standardize thresholds across a number of sections of the code. there's certainly more much more to be done and i look forward to working with you colleagues to do it. i want to thank the many people that have worked hard on this legislation and reform effort over a couple of years. that is first our city administrator carmen chu and her exceptional staff especially sophie hayward. rachel zukerman say a corella and angela yip as well as molly peterson and on torn on the gov ops team. i want to thank our drafting attorney gus schreiber and thank the many departments and stakeholders with whom we've conferred along the way and who've been generous in sharing their time. finally i want to thank henry

de ruff and melanie matheson in my office as well as our choral fellow mave skelly for all of their work. and i want to thank my early co-sponsors matt dorsey and bilal mahmood. >> all right. the drafting request that i am submitting to the city attorney to raise the threshold for board approval of acceptance and expenditure of grants from $100,000 to $1 million and and the letter of inquiry i am sending is to the comptroller to request that he prepare and provide within 90 days suggested accounting protocols and procedures to make this change without compromising necessary financial controls by the comptroller's office. securing board approval of grant accepted expense is time consuming although at almost invariably results in the board's approval of the grant. and while board oversight is important for many functions of city i do not believe our pre review and approval of grants less than $1 million is necessary or desirable in most cases there are excess grants

with local matching requirements and grants requiring new hires have implications for our general fund but for most grants under $1 million the controllers review should be enough. i want to thank the department of the environment and specifically leo chief for responding to what was originally my request to help us understand ways for the city to more effectively and quickly pull down federal environmental grants. those were the days. thanks as well to sophie hayward and the city administrator's office comptroller greg wagner and his accounting team for their initial feedback on this proposal and henry trf and melanie matheson again on my team for their work on this initiative. >> the other ordinance i am introducing today is an ordinance is a law a measure, an ordinance to provide relief to scores of property owners who were unwittingly and through no fault of their own swept up in the sad and sorry saga of bernie curren and rodrigo santos. in january 2023 rodrigo santos a building and construction

engineer who had done extensive work in san francisco and served on the city's building inspection commission and city college board of trustees was found guilty of leading multiple fraud schemes tax evasion and providing falsified documents to the federal bureau of investigations. santos had defrauded his clients, submitted false plans to the department of building inspection and worked beyond the scope of his permits and dozens more than that often times. >> he also stole money from his clients by misrepresenting the fees that were owed to gbi and keeping the difference. that same year former gbi inspector bernie kern was found guilty of accepting illegal gratuities for personal gain in connection with building inspections he had performed on those santos properties. santos had made payments to current to approve illegal work including unauthorized demolitions and unpermitted construction. >> the convictions, however, were not the end of the story for the city or for the owners of properties that santos and

curran had touched. in may 2021, gbi had initiated an internal review of properties that were associated with either man. gbi identified nearly 5500 such properties to be audited. the internal quality control audit looked for evidence of work done beyond the scope of a permit, unpermitted work, missing inspections and other violations. it was completed this past january and the good news is that no imminent life safety hazards were found. >> however, a roughly 2% of audited profit properties were found to have unauthorized work that would need to be brought up to current code requirements. of course the vast majority of these owners had purchased their properties without knowing that either santos or kern had done and had been involved in unpermitted permitted work on them. they had no way of knowing they would be hit with notices of violation requiring them to undertake potentially costly corrective work on the properties that could require payment of tens of thousands of dollars in unanticipated

payment and architectural fees. >> one owner learned that their staircase was illegal and they would have to and they had to pay $21,000 to cover diva fees, legal fees and the hiring of an architect to draw up new drawings and permits and secure permit sets to rebuild the staircase consistent with current code requirements. another owner learned they had to redo a driveway because it was not permeable and renovate their front doorway because they did not have the right transom. a third owner learned that their home had not gotten its required permits and therefore among other problems now required a conditional use permit to comply with my large luxury home legislation. that particular case cost this poor owner more than $50,000 in planning permit and legal fees. the ordinance i'm introducing will establish an amnesty program that will waive local planning code violations for this discrete set of properties that were subject to dba as internal quality control audit . the legislation will further waive fees that would otherwise be required to remedy such

violations and will allow for refunds to property owners who have already paid such fees. i want to thank the city staff who worked with us on this legislation. they saw the problems in going after these property owners and were eager to help us find a way to provide relief and specifically i want to thank director patrick reardon at wbai as well as christine gasper tate, hannah patrick hannon and matthew green on in his department liz waddy and erin starr from planning austin yang, rob coppola, kristen jensen and peter million from the city attorney's office and calvin from my office. and lastly colleagues i am asking that we adjourn today's memory today's meeting in memory of joe chavez who died on february 1st at the age of 89. joe was born in redlands, california in 1935. at 18 he joined the navy after tours in japan and the philippines. he was stationed at treasure island, which is when his love of san francisco began. joe later moved to san francisco after leaving the navy and put down roots in the

castro. he was a founding partner of castro village wine company, a small boutique wine shop in the in the heart of the castro neighborhood. established in 1980 cv iwc specialized in the sale of fine californian wines. joe and his partner boyd swartz envisioned the store as more than just a business. they wanted to create a community space for and lesbians in the castro. joe and boyd were part of the lavender wave that swept through eureka valley in the 1970s and 80s establishing the castro as america's most important neighborhood. they repaired, rebuilt and invested in properties and they were known to be amazing landlords. yes, good landlords are a thing and joe and boyd were it. castro village wine company has been featured in local and national publications including the san francisco bay times wine enthusiast line s.f. est and the bay area reporter. there they were known for providing jobs, mentorship and professional development opportunities for women people of color and individuals interested in the wine and spirits industry.

and in 2012 former mayor ed lee declared may 12th castro village wine company day. boyd predeceased joe 13 years ago. joe was one of the very, very good ones and i'm going to miss running into him out about in the neighborhood. he always liked to chat about political gossips and city hall goings on. our deepest condolences go out to joe's friends, family and loved ones. rest in peace and power joe chavez. may your memory be a blessing and the rest i submit. >> thank you, mr. president. supervisor melgar submit. thank you. submit supervisor sartor. >> submit. thank you. supervisor sherril colleagues. last week president trump is issued a ridiculous executive order that targeted the presidio for dramatic cuts and i use the word dramatic because that is all this is drama reality tv style drama. >> so in response i'm introducing a resolution that firmly opposes this so-called executive order calls it out as the political stunt that it is and reaffirms the city and

county of san francisco support for a crown jewel. >> we need to clear some things up. the presidio trust is fully statutory so an executive order targeting non statutory spending is nothing but hot air to the 3000 residents of the presidio. do not fear to the 108 formerly homeless disabled veterans living in the presidio do not fear. to the nonprofits and businesses who by the way pay rent to fund the presidio do not fear to the seven million people. that's twice as many as yellowstone from across the economic spectrum who visit the presidio every year. do not fear this order does not threaten the operating budget of the presidio because it is fully funded by revenues generated within the presidio. the presidio is a model of efficiency. it is a shining example of public private partnership s we

need more treasurers more models like the presidio. and make no mistake it is a national treasure and it is a crown jewel of district two. and frankly this is a direct result of the stewardship and care delivered by the team the executive team and the board members of the presidio trust which brought this park to self-sufficiency almost a decade before it was acquired by federal law. if only we had more examples of things that reached their goals a decade before it was necessary. trump cannot erase the law. this executive order is again nothing but hot air. his bluster amounts to nothing. it just creates unnecessary fear for the 3000 people who live in the presidio and the countless others who rely on the park as a cherished public space. i hope to have all of your support in opposing this political theater and sending a strong message to washington that we will fight to ensure that the presidio that we know and love is not going anywhere . and should this president act up again, we will be here

standing strong to defend against terrible wildly misguided ideas. >> additionally, i want to thank you supervisor mahmud for introducing the resolution to urge the implementation of a comprehensive drug market intervention strategy. dmi establishes common sense collaboration prioritizes direct communication and ensures our resources are being effectively used to end the scourge of fentanyl once and for all. open air drug markets create a perception of instability and raise fear in our city. and recently in our two districts we have had to address the challenges at jefferson square park that have left nearby residents feeling deeply unsafe. we have to focus on continuously disrupting drug markets and restoring order in san francisco. i'm glad to be a partner on this issue and a co-sponsor to this resolution. the rest i submit. >> thank you. supervisor sheryl supervisor walton thank you, madam clerk. colleagues today i have a resolution and two in memoriam.

first i'm introducing a resolution to reaffirm san francisco's commitment to our local business enterprise program. we will also be hosting a rally next tuesday, march 4th at noon with our lbi and labor partners. our city's chapter 14 be local business enterprise program is all about keeping opportunities local and making sure small businesses especially those owned by minorities and women get a fair shot at city contracts. when we prioritize obies we're not just supporting businesses. we're creating jobs, strengthening communities and keeping money circulating in our local economy. these businesses are more likely to hire san franciscans, pay fair wages and contribute to the city's unique character by reaffirming our commitment to the hlb program. we're doubling down on economic equity and making sure all of our small businesses conti