natoli. item even is the appointment of sharon lai to the mus any mall transportation agency board of directors ending march 1, 2021. >> thank you. is ms. natoli here? >> i am here. >> great. thank you so much for being here today and especially to ms. natoli for waiting so patiently for us to hear your nomination. we're going to conduct the hearing from ms. natoli, if there are any questions, and then ms. lai, and questions, and each public commenter will have two minutes to speak on either or both no, ma'am niece. we would love to hear your reason for serving in this capacity and experience, etc. whatever you would like to share with us. >> thank you. really appreciate the opportunity today and appreciate the consideration and i know it's been a while and appreciate all the hard work you are doing. i come to the advocacy for safe streets and that is how i got into this as a volunteer and organizer for infrastructure and better improvements to keep san franciscans safe and i served on the bi

natoli. item even is the appointment of sharon lai to the mus any mall transportation agency board of directors ending march 1, 2021. >> thank you. is ms. natoli here? >> i am here. >> great. thank you so much for being here today and especially to ms. natoli for waiting so patiently for us to hear your nomination. we're going to conduct the hearing from ms. natoli, if there are any questions, and then ms. lai, and questions, and each public commenter will have two minutes to speak on either or both no, ma'am niece. we would love to hear your reason for serving in this capacity and experience, etc. whatever you would like to share with us. >> thank you. really appreciate the opportunity today and appreciate the consideration and i know it's been a while and appreciate all the hard work you are doing. i come to the advocacy for safe streets and that is how i got into this as a volunteer and organizer for infrastructure and better improvements to keep san franciscans safe and i served on the bi

natoli on the phone last evening for nearly a half an hour.nd i have to say candidly, unfortunately, that after that lengthy conversation, i left feeling no more comfortable with miss natoli's understanding of transportation-dependent communities and being on this body, that being the sfmta. for those reasons -- i could go on longer, but i will leave it at that -- i will vote in the negative. thank you, mr. president and colleagues. >> president yee: supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: yes. thanks, colleagues. i've been struggling tremendously with this appointment and came into the board meeting today in one of those rare votes not knowing exactly what i was going to do, and i was looking forward to hearing from my colleagues about their opinions. at the -- at the board -- at the rules committee meeting, which i chair, none of the groups that had sent letters, with the exception of one individual who's a member of at least one of those groups, called in to express any of their concerns about miss natoli. so we did hear from a number of her

and denise natoli u.s. department of state. and the secretary from the bureau of western hemisphere affairs at the state department and the president of ivi consultants and atlantic council author. 2020 has been quite a challenging and tumultuous year across the globe. especially, we've seen some devastating effects. coronavirus across the world and in our region in latin america and in venezuela. in venezuela, as well, we have an internationally recognized interim government that marked its first year, we have a growing humanitarian crisis that entered a new phase and the pandemic with a crippling health care system that has already been unable to provide even the most basic medicine to venezuelan people and at the same time an economy that's in hyper inflationary collapse and social unrest across the country. and we also have, as we look to the end of this year, an election in venezuela, in december, that they're all set to be a sham parliamentary election among increasing opposition. a top priority for international allies o

natoli here? >> i am here. >> great. thank you so much for being here today and especially to ms.

natoli when we met three months ago i didn't feel the breadth of experience was there. that is the difference of three months. i was impressed with what i feel has you have done a lot of studying and growth, in my opinion, over the last three months. i am inclined to support your nomination as well. what i would say is that i did receive a letter from the club and the save the mission who have two groups that oppose your nomination. i have not talked to them directly. i hope to have time to do so before your nomination comes up at the full board just to understand where they are coming from. it is hard to tell from a letter. it is much easier to talk one-on-one. maybe you will have a chance to have those conversations, too. as of today, i can tell that my colleagues support your nomination. i am prepared to go along with that today with the one caveat i will check in with those two groups this week. if i have additional questions is it okay to reach out to you and talk to you during this? >> of course, you have my contact information. feel free to reach out. >> thank yo

and denise natoli u.s. department of state. and the secretary from the bureau of western hemisphere affairs at the state department and the president of ivi consultants and atlantic council author