Transcripts For SFGTV 20240622

Not doing that. It is important to start the discussion about creating tools of measuring our Affordable Housing and creating tools to enforce that. I grew up in new york city, one to my parents who had immigrated here to the u. S. Actually, i started really becoming active in working with the community when i was in high school. Came out to california for college, went to stanford. I was always politically involved. When i was a college student, i worked on the initiative to get rid of affirmative action in our public government system. Currently we have 3 legislative items that are pending. The first is going to be coming to a final vote on tuesday, our midmarket uptown Tenderloin Task exemption legislation. It is basically an incentive to encourage businesses to come to midmarket. In particular where we have the highest commercial vacancy. And then when i graduated moved out to San Francisco about 12 years ago. I always loved Sanford Cisco in college, and i just wanted to try it out. I started working in Economic Development policy. I was a Community Organizer for six years. I worked with young people parents, and families around issues that concern our neighborhoods, whether it was improving muni lines Affordable Housing, Public Schools or just Planning Issues in neighborhoods. We just had a hearing last week, and we are trying to do some work around bedbug enforcement, which is a major issue in the tenderloin and of hill and 63. A hearing will actually be on thursday, april 7, 10 30. Were doing our first hearing on pedestrian safety. I think Public Safety is a huge concern. It ranges from both lowlevel crimes to pedestrian safety, and so that is a really important issue to me. We are probably more than double what every other district has. And that are preventable. And we can do better. District 6 is one home to one of the most diverse constituencies. We have the poorest residents in San Francisco. We have lgbt. We have immigrants people of color youth, and a high proportion of seniors in the city as well. We heard that people want to see more jobs, want to see access to more jobs for our residents. We want to see more preventive instead of just reactive. We want to see afterschool programs versus the Police Picking them up because they are out on the street, which i think our chief agrees with. I actually ran for the board of education in San Francisco and got to serve a term on our school board. What really surprised me was how much i enjoyed it. I loved it. I love meeting with families, meeting with youth, meeting with teachers, visiting schools, and getting a deeper understanding of what it means to make our system work better. The one thing i really enjoyed was i got to run within a district instead of citywide was that i really got to know voters and residents. I actually enjoy campaigning more because i had time to knock on doors and the voters individually. Id love it. I actually really enjoyed being out on the field. So i spent a lot of time doing it because i got to really get a deeper understanding of what people care about and what peoples concerns are and also what people loved about the district and the city. I was talking with the mayor yesterday. He was very interested in seeing how the good work with our office how he could work with our office. I would love to see how we could support Small Businesses because they are the heart at San Francisco. They provide 60 07 of the jobs in Sanford Cisco, and they provide it locally, and they are not going to offshore their jobs any time. I am not an opponent of cleaning up the tenderloin. I love the tenderloin. I love what is right now. I recognize we have a diversity of books that live there and people do not want to see open drug dealing. I do not have a problem with people lit think people out on the street socializing. I think that is good. That to me is more you know it is part of the character of the neighborhood. I get to represent one of the most exciting and dynamic districts in the city. It is where change is happening, so i think it is exciting in terms of how we can model what it means to be a smart growth neighborhood, how we can use transit and housing effectively to serve our city and also to do a lot of the new green policies that we have developed over the last 10 years. Hello, welcome to meet your District Supervisor. Im Nona Melkonian and were here with supervisor london breed from district 5 which includes the inner sunset, haight ashbury, lower haight, western addition, japantown, and part of hayes valley. Supervisor breed is one of two new supervisors elected in 2012. Today well get to know her and talk about the toughest issues facing the city. Welcome, supervisor. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you is for having me. Lets Start Talking a little about your background, where you drogue up, went to school and what kind of jobs you had in the past. Well, i grew up in the heart of the western addition. I grew up in Public Housing in the western addition. My grandmother raised me and my brothers and i went to Public Schools here in the city. Ended up at u. C. Davis and graduated and immediately returned back to the community and started working for the Mayors Office of neighborhood services, and worked on treasure island, and eventually became the executive director of the africanamerican art and culture complex located in the western addition, a place i participated in programs in the arts as a kid. So, it was really an honor to be able to work directly in the community, to impact so many lives. And i really thoroughly enjoyed that experience. Youve lived most of your life in San Francisco. Why did you choose to live in the city . I chose because its my home. Its just a place i love the most. I pretty much only lived outside the city when i went to college and i came home almost every weekend on the greyhound bus. And i just love San Francisco. Its an amazing place, its a beautiful city. Its nothing like coming across that bridge and seeing the city and feeling like, im home, or coming from any part of anywhere, whether youre on a plane, whether youre on a bus, whether youre in a car, just to see the skyline of the city, its just always made me feel at peace. And, so, i cant imagine myself living anyplace else. What motivated you to get involved in politics . Well, as i said, i grew up in Public Housing and i experienced a lot of sad times as some people are still experiencing, whether its crime and violence, issues of despair, issues of hopelessness. I mean, that still continues to plague many of our Public Housing residents today. And, so, its really challenging when this is the way that i pretty much spent most of my life. And when i think about the challenges people still are going through, i know that the only way to make changes to those types of issues is to actually be a part of the Decision Making body of this city. And, so, what motivated me in the past has always been about making sure that i wasnt the only one that had an Incredible Opportunity to participate in the city, to have a great life in the city. I felt like there were too many of my peers that should have had this same opportunity. And, so, its a big reason why i decided to participate in politics. You mentioned you were the executive director of the africanamerican arts and culture complex. How has that experience as well as the experience of serving on two commissions prepared you for the board of supervisors . Well, i did serve on the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency commission and the Fire Commission and i was really fortunate to run this great center. And all of those experiences, running a nonprofit, being on a commission, working for the city, responding to constituents, doing the kind of things many folks are doing every single day to make our city better i mean, i dont see a better preparation than that for becoming a city supervisor. The nonprofit world is a very challenging community to work in because of the fundraising involved, because of the need for such great programs. So, to be in the middle of that and to advocate for an Incredible Community asset, to work with City Departments, to attain funding, i mean the list goes on and on. So, over the years ive been fortunate to develop some incredible relationships with City Department heads and other city commissioners who helped me to do some of the great work ive been able to do in the community. So, its somewhat of a natural progression and i think all of that entails really helped me to be its going to help me in my role as supervisor and it actually helped me get here. The district 5 race for supervisor was an especially eventful one this time around. What did you learn amidst all that controversy and all that competition . I think that what i learned is that we have an incredible district of people who can see whats genuine, who can see when someone really cares and has a heart for the community. And i think thats that was demonstrated in who they decided to elect. I mean, regardless of personalities or ideology, what have you, people know when you really care. And i think that came across in my campaign. And, so, what i learned is to respect the voters and respect how they feel about candidates, whether its me or anyone else. I want to make sure that they are given the options and they are able to make the choice that they choose, and that once the election is over, we move on and do what we need to do to make our city better. Where do you place yourself on the political spectrum . Are you more progressive, centrist, or more on the conservative side . Thats a really challenging question because, i mean, throughout the campaign i made sure that i didnt define myself as either because i think that what it does is in a lot of ways, it divides our city. I think clearly when you have a desire to run, you have a desire to serve. You really care about what happens in San Francisco. You just have a different way of which you believe we should go about doing that. And i just think that i dont necessarily see myself in one particular category because i have different feelings about different situations based on my various experiences of growing up in the city. And, so, my, my, my commitment to San Francisco trumps any ideaology i might have. I mean, im going to need to make decisions that impact peoples lives. I have to make sure that im being responsible in those decisions and i cant let ideology get in the way of that. It seems the city is dealing with complicated issues. What do you feel are the issues facing San Francisco right now . I think there are a few big issues in particular. My priority is Public Housing. The fact that its a neglected community is really a problem for me. The fact that theyre still dealing with rodent infest asian and some of the challenges of Job Opportunities, i think this city is a wealthy city. We spend a lot of money on social services in our city. ~ but why are these social services not impacting peoples lives the way its changing peoples lives for the better . I want to make sure that we work with residents and we work to help them grow within Public Housing and to not be plitioned out of the city as a result. I think thats one of the big issues. The other issue is connecting people to Job Opportunities. Longterm employment, stable employment, employment that gives people dignity, that gives them pride. I mean, Everyone Wants to take care of their family. And sadly, people are sometimes pushed into a life of crime because thats the easy route to obtaining money. I mean, it was really easy for me as a kid to choose to sell drugs because everyone around me was selling drugs. Wasnt easy for me to get a job because i didnt have a lot of examples of people working other than my grandmother who was working as a maid, or other folks i saw working at the grocery store. So, for me i just felt like, okay, drugs is easier, you can easily go out on the corner and stand and sell drugs. But luckily, because of the mayors Youth Employment and training program, i got a job at age 14, started working at the family store, working with some incredible people. And because of that opportunity im here today. And i think we need to make these opportunities more readily available to folks in Public Housing. You mentioned working on the Redevelopment Commission for five years. Now that the state has eliminated redevelopment agencies, do you think that the board of supervisors and the mayor is really doing enough to serve the citys Housing Needs . Well, i think you can never do enough. I mean, theres still a lot of folks that are homeless. But i do think that San Francisco is leading the way to innovative policies that can really help change things for the better post redevelopment. I think that the Affordable Housing trust fund is a step in the right direction and is something that no one else is doing all over the state. I think that the fact that San Francisco is so committed to Affordable Housing, we already had resources where we were invested in Affordable Housing in the city. But more importantly, were looking at revamping Public Housing and how that is a Bigger Picture of Affordable Housing long term for San Francisco. Were looking at publicprivate partnerships. I just think San Francisco is really leading the way. And could we do enough . You know, i mean, you can never do enough until everyone has a decent, clean, respectable place to live. I think San Francisco is clearly leading the way to it that. Oftentimes city issues and district issues are not one and the same. What are some of the biggest issues you feel are impacting your district . Well, the challenges of homelessness, of folks that are in the kind of upper haight community, making sure that we are providing resources to this population, more aggressively than we have, making sure that we are cracking down on folks who might be breaking the law and making it really challenging for not just other homeless people, but for folk who live in the community, making sure were activating that area so that families feel safe and being a part of that community. I think thats a huge challenge. The other challenge, one that i dealt with even before i became supervisor, are the access to Job Opportunities, access to longterm Job Opportunities, and how do we prepare people who have never worked a job before in their entire life for longterm Job Opportunities . What does it mean to show up on time . What does it mean to keep your pants pulled up and take off your hat and not talk back to your boss, what does all that mean . I think what we have done as a city is focus too much on, okay, where the opportunities, local hire, which are all great programs. But the part thats missing is how do we get people prepared and how do we keep them employed. What are the longterm plan of Job Opportunities in San Francisco look like for local san franciscans . So, i think those are probably two of the most pressing issues and the city overall of course is housing and its one that weve all taken a lot of steps to try and deal with. The city just recently enacted a twoyear budget and itals seems the city is dealing with a lot of complicated issues including whether or not to raise fees and taxes and where to make cuts. How would you approach these tough choices . Well, fortunately ive been in the nonprofit world. Ive been actively engaged in the community. I know the programs that are actually effective in serving residents. I understand what the need is from firsthand experience. And, so, i just would want to make sure that im paying very close attention to detail, knowing exactly what these programs provide, knowing exactly whats to be the partners, where the wasteful spending, how we can cutback so we can make sure we are funding the programs and the departments that need the money the most. So, its going to be a really delicate balance. I know i have a really challenging job ahead of me. But fortunately there are other supervisors on the Budget Committee that also have a firsthand experience. So, i think its going to be a tough budget process, but i think working together and looking at everything, whether it be site visits to programs or digging deep into folks budget and talking to their the people that they serve and a number of other things, its going to take a wellrounded approach at making these kinds of decisions and so im up for the challenge. Speaking of well rounded approaches, how will you attempt to balance the needs of the district versus the needs of the city as a whole . For me thats easy because San Francisco, the entire city, is my home. I grew up here. I know i went to galileo in the marina, my family lives all over the city. I cant do something that positively impacts district 5, but i can make it impact San Francisco as a whole. So, whatever decisions i make, its a nobrainer. I have to make sure that its going to positively impact the city as a whole. And thats just how i view every decision that i make through that particular lens. Lets talk a little about your district in particular. What do you hear about transportation from your constituents . Is there adequate muni service . Well, its funny that you mention muni. [laughter] and let me just say this. As someone who caught i mean, we caught muni when i was growing up in the city, i mean, thats how you got around. And there were some real problems with muni. Ive talking about just i mean, the buses were always dirty, they were always packed. There was just always some challenges and the city is growing clearly. And we need to look at all modes of transportation and how we allow people to move around the city safely. And part of that is making sure that muni is running well. And i know in particular the m judah has been a real challenge. And we have come very close to securing revenue for an additional m judah train, as well as looking at express options and place where the most heavily used bus stops are. So, looking at express trains and other alternatives to make sure that were moving people around in a more efficient way so that they feel comfortable with using Public Transportation as their source of transportation. I think everyone in the city is prepared to bike, to use Public Transportation, to walk, to ride share, but we have to make it a lot more convenient for people. And its going to be an ongoing improvement process because were building more housing units. Were bringing more people into the city for Job Opportunities. But were not increasing the needs around Public Transportation and transportation in general as significantly as we are doing those other things. So, were going to have to take a really hard look at our priorities around transportation and really aggressively deal with those things. And speaking of safety, what do you hear about crime in your district and are you happy with what the Police Department is doing and how the city is dealing with crime . Well, fortunately because of the new academy classes, we actually got a number of additional off certificates in district 5. That has definitely had its had a big impact on the district. I mean, we are way past the point of what we used to be, and that is a place where homicides were happening regularly, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly. And sadly, weve lost a lot of young people not only to that sort of violence, but to the criminal justice system. And its a different district. Now were dealing with iphone thefts and other quality of life issues, home invasions and things like that. And i think with the Additional Police officers and also the foot patrols and some of the things that seem to be happening, especially in the highcrime areas like the lower haight, its really changed things. Its more of a deterrent when you see Police Officers walking around, engaged with residents, engaged with business owners. It really helps to change the environment overall. So, yes, we do have issues of crime just like any part any other part of the city. Im just really happy that its not what it used to be and i think its a manageable thing. And we just have to deal with it more and add some more academy classes, but also look at programs like sf faith which helps people learn to take care of themselves and each other as neighbors. We have to make sure were providing opportunities to perpetrators of these crimes and making sure were prosecuting people who are committing crimes. But more importantly, that we provide these opportunities before they get to the point where they are committing crimes. You mentioned the issue of homelessness as a big issue in your district. How will you deal with the folks that hang out on haight street and the issue of homelessness . Well, i think thats a real i mean, its a citywide issue. And i think part of what we have to do is Work Together to deal with it, just like Public Safety. Its a work in progress. Its not something that you fix and then you move on. Its something that you continue to work with. I mean, San Francisco is an attractive place to people in general so were going to get folks from all over, homeless, nonhomeless. And i think part of the balance is making sure that social Service Agencies that provide support to Homeless Individuals are available, that they have the resources they need, that they are held accountable to be out there and working and talking to folks who are interested in services. And the other issue is that, you know, we do have sadly an increase in crime and the area as a result of an increase in the homeless population. So, having a Police Presence which weve had, park station has been really active and not only being out there and enforcing the law, but doing what police are not required to do, offering opportunities for services. And, so, i think San Francisco is an incredibly compassionate city. And i think our Police Department has been compassionate. I think our Fire Department has been compassionate. But also we have to make sure that we are really aggressively making sure that folks are not breaking the law in terms of selling drugs, in terms of using drugs, in terms of just the kinds of things that happen when you break the law. I mean, people who are hanging out, theyre just hanging out. There is a. M. Nothing wrong with hanging out. I hung out a lot. Kids hang out. Young people hang out. Homeless people hang out. The question is when someone makes it, you know, more than just hanging out and it messes it up for everyone else. So, we have to make sure as a city that we deal with those things appropriately, but we also offer alternatives so that were not just pushing the homeless issue from one place to the next. But were actually making sure were taking care of people and offering them alternatives. So, its going to be a challenging issue and an ongoing issue and one that im committed to working with the Mayors Office to help address and manage. What are your thoughts on the citys Economic Development . Do you think were on the right track . I think were on the right track, but i think that unfortunately it allows the rich to get richer and it doesnt have a place for the middle class and the poor in our city. And i think that part of what we have to do as a city when people are interested in Economic Development opportunities in our city, they need to be a part of our city. And its not just about giving out free gifts or giving out free turkeys or giving out free anything. Its about what type of Job Opportunities, what type of internships, what type of commitment are you going to have to the most vulnerable residents of our city . How are we going to impact lives . Youre basically this is a great Economic Opportunity maybe for you and the city, but how does this directly impact residents of the city . So, i think we have to do a better job in making those connections. Lets talk a little about the issue of sports, the role of sports in the citys economic future. Are you supportive of the plans for the new warriors stadium . Im supportive of a plan that includes the residents of this city. Specifically, with the warrior stadium, i think it could be a great opportunity for San Francisco. But i want to make sure that in the agreement that there are some requirements that make sure that people are not just employed for construction opportunities. Theyre employed for management opportunities, theyre employed for concession opportunities, theyre employed with the warriors team. I mean, theres a whole nother franchise of opportunities that exists as a result of this particular team. And who are they going after, what folks are they mentoring, or what are who are the people that are going to be longterm working with the establishment . And, so, im more interested in what the longterm relationship is between the warriors and the community, and not just were going to build a stadium, were going to be here, were going to do our thing and everyone is going to go home. What does this mean longterm and how do the residents benefit and how are they connected to this great opportunity . So. To what degree do you feel the city should subsidize the team . I dont see the city subsidizing the team from my perspective, from what ive seen in terms of the deal. Other than potentially the land, which they will pay for eventually. Maybe not the entire amount, but i dont think there are any plans for the city to give up anything financially from my perspective. Other than potentially land that wasnt going to be used in the first place. But i appreciate the fact that the warriors are focusing on private fundraising and i prefer that they stick to that. I dont think the city should be with the situation were in now, we should be really investing in that and the warriors seem to be committed to privately fundraising for it and im happy that theyre stepping up to do that. Exciting change. Yes. Were almost out of time. But are there any other issues that concern you that we havent discussed or anything that you plan to concentrate on as your term of supervisor . I think one of the things that i really want to concentrate on is making sure that we are collaborating more. Because as a city, were growing. Resources are being stretched. And its going to be important that organizations collaborate. City departments collaborate. That we dont just operate in our own little departments, our own little sections of the city, but how do we come together to make sure that, for example, upper haight with a lot of great businesses, lot of great opportunities for internships for young people to grow and work in these particular businesses. So, my goal as supervisor is to begin the process of connecting people so that, you know, we have folks who are living in the community, working in the community, growing in the community, and supporting one another. Its one of the things i care about most and im really looking forward to bringing people together as supervisor. Great. Well, it looks like were out of time so were going to have to wrap up. But thank you so much for joining us today on sfgovtvs meet your District Supervisor. Thank you for having me. Weve been talking to supervisor london breed for district 5. Watch for the next episode of meet your District Supervisor when well be back with another round of our 11 city supervisors. For sfgovtv, im Nona Melkonian