i see two members of the board of appeals, the president of the board wanted to be here, frank fung, but he was not able to attend, but he wanted me to mention that when everyone was getting hot-blooded and tempers were flying, cynthia was cool, contentious, and efficient and treated the public with the same respect she gave staff. congratulations, cynthia. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] >> supervisor sheehy. >> the board of appeals is cynthia's second act. i cannot overstate her role in the equal benefits ordinance. so this bill that we brought 22 years ago, our clerk was in the office, tom was the principal sponsor that said that all businesses who do business with san francisco have to offer the same benefits to domestic partners of employees that they give to spouses. 8,000 companies complied, including some of the biggest multi nationals in the world, chevron, wells fargo, you know, bank of america had just been bought by nations bank, and when they complied, they became the first employer in charlotte, north carolina, to give domestic partner benefits, which i think set u

frank fung will preside, joined by rick swig, ann lazarus, bobby wilson and darryl honda. brad rusty, deputy city attorney, will provide the board with legal advice. at the controls, process clerk, alex longawan. and we'll be joined by departments. corey teague here representing planning commission and department. and we expect to be joined shortly by joseph duffy, representing the department of building inspection. the board requests that you turn off our silence all phones or electronic devices so they do not disturb the proceedings and you carry on conversations in the hallways. 7 minutes to present the case and 3 minutes for rebuttal. people affiliated with the parties must be contained in the 7 or 3 minutes. not affiliated parties have 3 minutes to address the board, no rebuttal. we ask that you speak into the microphone. to assist the board you are asked but not required to submit a speaker card or business card and we have speaker cards for your use the board welcomes your comments and suggestion and we have customer satisfaction surveys on the podium as well. if yo

frank fung will preside, joined by rick swig, ann lazarus, bobby wilson and darryl honda. rusty, deputy

the presiding officer this evening is board president frank fung.oined by our vice president, rick swig, commissioner ann lazarus, commissioner darryl honda, and commissioner bobbie wilson. to my left is deputy city attorney brad russi who will provide the board with any legal advice. i'm cynthia goldstein, the board's executive director. we will also be joined soon by the representatives from the city departments who have cases here tonight. we expect cory taeg here who will also be representing the

the presiding officer this evening is board president frank fung. he'll be joined by our vice president, rick swig, commissioner ann lazarus, commissioner darryl honda, and commissioner bobbie wilson. to my left is deputy city attorney brad russi who will provide the board with any legal advice. i'm cynthia goldstein, the board's executive director. we will also be joined soon by the representatives from the city departments who have cases here tonight. we expect cory taeg here who will also be representing the planning department and planning commission. joseph duffy will be here, and urban forester krichris buck. the board requests you turnoff or silence all phones or electronic devices so that they will be disturb the proceedings and that you carrie on conversations in the hallway. appellants, purchase mutt holders and respondents are each given seven minutes to present their case and three minutes for rebutt tall. members of the public who are not affiliated with the parties have up to three minutes each to address the board and no rebuttals. wi