November , and thats satisfied. I think this, mr. Chairman, ought to be on the january calendar, and the way that miss pelham is scheduling these matters, its for discussion and or vote, correct. Yes. Again, its up to the commissioner direction as to what you would like to see. So i have a process direction to the city attorney. As this item is agendaized, is it and i think staff is asking for policy direction, so could we discuss im assuming the answer is yes, but i wanted to clarify. Could we discuss, as a body, whether or not as a policy matter we wanted to pursue this item now . We dont have to wait until the january meeting to discuss it . Well, i mean, it sounds like the questions are sort of how you want to proceed from a priority perspective, so you know, i think you could give advice about how how you wanted staff to, you know, to prioritize the different item. , and i think also, just some substantive discussion, as well. Thank you. So if we could, you know, on this item you know, commissioner kopp, im not sure what the genesis of this proposal is. Well, ill tell you what it is. Its a duplicate agency. Its a reason the city has a record budget of 10, 600,000000, and it cams some five years after the voters established this commission because of the then supervisor didnt trust the Ethics Commission, he told me, which is not a strong reason to create another bureaucracy. So thank you for that. So in considering this, however, i think that the Sunshine Ordinance Task force conducts a body of work which i think is very important to the city in hearing the issues raised by the citizens. And that the removal or the abolition of the task force doesnt make that work go away, and i dont think our staff is equipped with the resources to be able to take on that work. And to go to the voters, so ask them to amend is this a Charter Amendment or would this be just a ballot measure. It would be an administrative code. Okay. So it would be a ballot measure to address the the duplicative nature of bureaucracy. I dont know that that is the highest and best use of our good will, if you will. Well, then, prepare the legislation. Its responsibility is the same as one of our responsibilities, which was enforcement of the government code of the state of california al california, and enforcement of the ordinances of the city and county of San Francisco. What do you need more agencies for . So if more staff is needed, thats part of the budget for the fiscal year 2019. I think that given the other matters before us as a commission and a staff, this is the lowest priority in my in my in my view, and i wouldnt support putting time and resources into it because i dont know, like, what what would it accomplish if we did this . Commissioner kopp it would allow this commission to vote on whether to submit abolition to the voters of San Francisco with some of the reasons that i just set out and others. I think that as a practical matter, i dont think that you can that it would be wise to submit something to the voters and say lets take it away without providing something in in commissioner kopp yeah, you can have a sentence saying all duties performed by this commission or whatever its called, task force, shall continue to be enforced by the Ethics Commission of the city and county. President keane commissioner, commissioner kopp, with all due respect, i think i have to agree with commissioner chiu for other reasons, and that is, im no fan of the Sunshine Ordinance Task force. I think having seen it in action, i think its pretty dreadful up close and personal, and i agree with you that many of the things that it does are probably duplicative of what were doing. At the same time much of the stuff that from what weve heard that it does take on is stuff that if they were done away with, we would wind up getting it. And to be as polite as possible about what ive seen about the things that they have on their plate for the most part, its 90 of it is burepure thats a legal term. President keane yeah, thats a legal term, and i would hate to try and have to impose that on our staff, no matter how much the city is unfortunate to have this this creature that would this hydro headed creature that was created back in the 90s by a couple of your former colleagues. Commissioner kopp no, no. It came after me. President keane after. Commissioner kopp related to a former mayor of San Francisco. President keane so i find myself agreeing with commissioner chiu on this, that thats not something that really, we should get into or take on. And thats not a place id want to go, any way, and im commissioner kopp all right president keane you want to put it on a vote. Commissioner kopp all right. I read the tea leaves, and i will subside. President keane thank you. Commissioner kopp for now. President keane all right. Thats all i have. I guess if theres any other points of sort of direction or or orders of priority that youd like to see addressed, as far as [ inaudible ] yes, so i guess we would suggest that you adopt the recommendations as we have in here, i guess, if youre going to take a vote on the matter, the recommendations that weve provided, just in terms what well move forward with. [ inaudible ] yeah, with the amendments that have been proposed, just because of regarding the meeting times. [ inaudible ] so just to my fellow commissioners and to the staff and to the public, for me, i think that the social media and Election Integrity policy item is is, i think, really important because supervisor kim talked today about the importance of not looking backwards but looking forwards, and this was the scene in the conversations that we had last week or the week before with ann revell, who the the former s. E. C. Director. I really believe with the advent of social media and the targeting and the specificity with which campaigns or hackers or you know, others can send out inform and send out messages and influence, and that we have no idea that its happening, that we have no record of such of those communications or of those ads, and i think that this is a problem that we have just recently discovered in as an issue for our our national election. But i believe that it is only going to grow, and i feel like we as a commission are very uniquely positioned to study this issue to invite Public Comment to invite, you know, stakeholders because i think we all have a stake in this, all of us who vote. Because the information that we get is only as clear and transparent as the disclosure that comes with it. We know where its coming from and whos paying for it, and the immediacy of social media it powerful, and it doesnt take a lot of money to reach a lot of people. So to me, i think this is kind of a Burning House that i would i think we should turn or attention to, you know, with with all deliberate speed, as the saying goes. So i would, you know, just ask for your consideration that we do proceed with the recommendation on item number c1 for an update at the december meeting, in addition to the balance of the recommendations of staff. So i think, just to reclarify it, the motion would be all the recommendations with the amendment to section c, item 5, and moving that item back to january , correct, commissioner . President keane thats right. Commissioner chiu yes. President keane okay. Is that that seems to be the sense of the commission, so thats what well do. The commission isnt required to act. I think were looking for your policy direction. Youve been clear on it, so theres no need to take objection. Take Public Comments . President keane yeah, well take Public Comment now. Id say just lastly because supervisor kim is also considering social mediatype regulation, i also dont want that train to leave the station without our input. Larry bush, friends of ethics. A comment on the Sunshine Task force, one of the things thats going to have to happen is a rewriting of the sunshine ordinance because it calls for one of the appointees of the task force to come from the new american media, and youve just seen in the paper today, theyve gone out of business, so theyre going to have to have a new formula. Well, they wont even notice. Well, i can say about that that i worked a year and a half ago with supervisor campos and several others on a rewrite of the Sunshine Ordinance Task force, because even the people who proposed it released at the its did its defunct in the way its operating. Commissioner kopp it also has to filter out a lot of the stuff it does because its essentially assist essentially its a meeting thats besieged by every screw ball in San Francisco. Thats because thats the way its setup now. My point is the commission has the thofrt to setup committees, and you can setup a two Person Committee to look at that, since its going to have to come back one way or other about who is the makeup of the Sunshine Task force, and what are the duties, so im just suggesting that since the charter and the or the nance for the Ethics Commission allowed you to setup a committee, rather than as you say take up all five members in the time that you have, designate a committee to look at that one issue, because it is timely. Thank you. Commissioner kopp thank you. Commissioners, ray hart, strikers of San Francisco. Im going to address several things. One is the efficacy in the ethics and sunshine training. You had the city librarian, lew lewis luis herrera sepg thousands of dollars of gift and filing statements under penalty of perjury where he said he got nothing, and we presented you with evidence, and you did jack. We took it to the state, and the only reason they were restricted is because of the statute of limitations, so i think youre confusing activity with achievement. Yes, you can have everybody fill out the dam form, but if they lie on the form, and then, you ignore the fact that they lie on the form, what darn difference does it make . And as far as the Sunshine Ordinance Task force. Theres why commissioner kopp doesnt like it. They dared to find him in violation of the sunshine ordinance. Thats the same thing that happened to the board of supervisors. They didnt like the fact that they found against the board of supervisors, so they left seats four seats vacant for two years, so when a complainant went in, they had to have a majority, they had to get six out of seven votes, or six out of six if they just had a quorum, and the reason commissioner keane doesnt like it is because he doesnt want to answer to anybody. He doesnt want to go before somebody like the task force where they ask him a question and he has to actually explain itself. He likes it the way it is right now. The public asks the questions, and you ignore them deaf, dumb, blind, mute. You look at what you want to look at, and the idea that you would get rid of the task force is only because you wont enforce it. And youre tired of people coming here and pointing out the fact you wont enforce it, so what do you do . You just get rid of it altogether. Two thirds of the citizens, when that vote came up, passed that, and i have to say that the will of the voters seems to me pretty clear that they wanted that ordinance. Fixing it one thing, getting rid of its something else, but it serves your purposes, doesnt it . You dont like to have to answer to anybody, and you like it just the way it is, where you sit in these boards and commissions, and someone brings up a question, and you either dont respond at all or you make some sort of ignorant comment like 90 of what the task force does is b. S. Thats an ignorant comment. Thats the only time youve ever been there. How would you know . You dont, but that suits your narrative, so youll say it without a twinge of guilt or acknowledgement of the hypocrisy. Commissioner kopp well, allow f allow me for a moment to associate myself with the chairmans remarks. President keane thank you, commissioner. Any further Public Comment . All right. Well move onto the next agenda item, which is item 10, discussion of the executive director no, im sorry item 9, discussion of enforcement reports. Thank you, chair keane. Unfortunately our Deputy Director and director of enforcement of lela fairs, jessica blum is not here. She is under the weather, but it online and on your table for highlights of most recent enforcement statistics, a status of cases pending before bdr and related information on several matters that were pending before the Sunshine Task force. Also, just a quick note, this does update on a Stakeholder Engagement process for enforcing our advisement regulations. Jessica and i have been meeting with interested persons formally and informally to elicit information in providing draft language that will come back to you planned for the december meeting, and i realize as you note, chair keane, that you wont be at that meeting so if theres any interest in moving it to january , we can certainly do that, but well as scheduled, are preparing to bring those forward in december for an initial presentation and discussion, at this point. President keane and thats fine, and vice chair chiu will do a fine job in shepherding all that along. Commissioner chiu okay. No pressure. I actually have one comment, if i may. On page 5, i would like to convey my, i guess, thanks and would like to note that based on the numbers here, of 89 matters in preliminary matter, 68 are less than 12 months old, and 21 are more than 12 months old, so congratulations to the team for working through that ba backlog. I think with a full complement of investigators and auditors now, we can get start to make headway against these matters that have been pending for a long, long time, and im just really delighted to see that, so thank you for that hard work. President keane all right. Any Public Comment on. Commissioners, ray hart, spec tor San Francisco. Governors like to point out the one page that nobody seemed to mention, and i can understand why you dont want to mention it. Its the letter from the office of the District Attorney to miss pelham regarding what you neglected to act upon and had to go before the task force, and from what i read, the District Attorney said you did violate the brown act, and i admit. I was wrong, i kind of went in there and took up the bat for you and said well, i dont think they really did. Well, i got it wrong, too. So im not perfect. I never pretended to be, but the bottom line is, somebody held you in account and you dont like it. Thats one thing that ive found is very common on boards of this city, is if somebody says something to a board or commission, they just ignore it because they dont want to number one, they cant give a response. You never get a response, you get a reaction, and you ask why i behave the way i do . Its because you dont get a response from anybody. What you get is a reaction, and if getting a reaction is the only thing you can get, you become a provocateur. B. F. Skinner, the father of behavioral conditioning said any behavior that is rewarded will be repeated, so if i come here for Public Comment and cant get anybody to engage in dialogue, then, ill become a provocateur. But here, you have something that the District Attorney said you broke the law, and nobody mentions it. The executive director doesnt mention it. Shell say oh, because miss blum isnt here, some other bizarre excuse. The bottom line is you broke the law. The District Attorney said so, and now, you want to go back, and you want to hang it on the Sunshine Ordinance Task force, like theyre the problem. And you want to get rid of the Sunshine Ordinance Task force like theyre the problem. The problem is not with the task force, its with you, because the law says youre supposed to enforce what they find. The Good Government guide, as i pointed out to you earlier says youre supposed to make your decisions based on the evidence and the law, but when we had my hearing last month, you didnt even look at the law. The task force did. Thats why the task force ruled 11 times that in the minutes means in the minutes, because they read the law. But you dont want to read the law because it results in you doing something that you dont want to do. You dont like my comments, and the reason i fought for eight years to get the 150 word summaries is because i was tired of people who didnt like the comments just edit them out of the official record, which is what the library did for years. Its what this body did for years. If a citizen has an opinion you dont like, you just edit it out or you do what you did to mr. Petrellis did that one time. You said oh, you cant have a sign. City ordinance that was a lie, wasnt it . He and i had a meeting with the sheriff, and the sheriff said no, youre permitted to have a sign, and it cant be larger than a certain size. But no, you sat there with a straight face and set to his face, you cant have signs. Thats the rules. You talk a lot about stuff you absolutely no nothing about. You all took sunshine ordinance training . Ha i doubt if any of you has ever even read that law, and yet, you sign a statement every year saying you understand. Yeah, you understand it only to the point where you dont like it because it holds you accountable, and if theres one thing that nobody is able to do in this city is hold anybody accountable, and thats the way you like it. And thats why you dont bite the hand that feeds you; in other words, the body that appoints each and every one of you to this commission. President keane well go now to item 10, discussion of the executive directors report. I have a brief report for you, commissioners. We continue with our organizational or staffing updates. Well be working with the department of Human Resources through the new year to developing the positions with job postings. We expect three positions to be posted in december, but well be working closely with the department to be moving those closer to hiring completion. I also would note that the annual conference of the council on governmental ethics laws is taking this year in tlont. We are using salary savings to send two Staff Members three of them, actually. Two of the three will be participating in panels, jessica blum will be comoderating the panels discussion on monday. Kyle will be on a panel along with others from wash wash d. C. Talking about expanding conflict of interest laws in different areas and how elected officials raise funds, and i will be on a panel regarding measuring agencys success, so that should be an interesting discussion, as well, but we are looking forward to providing you with a full report. Its an extraordinary opportunity for our staff and to learn from our peers, so we look forward to reporting to you about that in december. Commissioner chiu if i may, so when you go, i hope that youll have the opportunity to ask questions about what other jurisdictions might be doing in regard to the social media and Election Integrity and if they have, you know, have any insights or ideas to share, that would be great. Thank you, well do that. President keane okay. Any Public Comment on agenda item 10 . Commissioner, ray hart, director of San Francisco open government, and id like the executive director to ask a question. What is the policy in most cities regarding open government laws . Are they enforced or are they not enforced . In this city, we have a body that functions, the Sunshine Ordinance Task force, that does its job, and you may think its all b. S. , but thats your opinion, and you may think all the people are a bunch of cranks. Thats your opinion. Commissioner kopp you use the term screwballs. Okay. Screwballs, but thats a personal opinion, and you know what . Everybody has one, so the bottom line is why dont you ask them when you have a law that the body that is supposed to enforce it refuses to enforce, what do they do . I seem to remember a confirmation hearing when commissioner kopp was nominated where supervisor fewer asked him whether he would enforce laws that he didnt agree with, and he went through a long, convoluted explanation, never really answering the question, but we have the answer right here. I dont like the sunshine ordinance, i dont like the task force, so i am not going to enforce the law. And i dislike it so much, i want to do away with it so that we can then shove it under the rug and dont have to go through the pretense of holding hearings. And thats all they are, isnt it . How does due process comport with the idea that you always come out with the same result the complainant loses and the respondent wins . The citizen loses, and the city wins . Well, ive said it before, its because number one, you cant enforce any of them, and you dont want anybody to know how impotent you really are. One ordinance referral you did pass against the city librarian, and you sent it to the mayor, and the mayor ignore it. Not only did he ignore it, he reappointed the person. Shows you how much the mayor thinks of you. You dont do anything except sit here, have meetings and shuffle paperwork. Ive asked time and time again for any member of this commission to tell the public what exactly you have done that has made this city a more ethical place. Never had a response. Its like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. You shuffle papers, you fill out the forms, and thats the end of the story. And a City Department head sepg 15,000 and then lying about it under penalty of perjury falls below your radar . Shows you how good you are at what you do. President keane theres two points id like to make from friends of ethics. If the measure that was passed today on anticorruption and accountablity is watered down at the board and that is what happens, then i want you to know that friend of ethics and our allies will mount a significant campaign and put on the ballot a robust version stronger than what youve passed tonight, and i dont have any doubts tonight whatsoever what the public will do with it since weve seen it in the past. It will pass with virtually no campaign at all. Thats one point. Second point in terms of the ethic commissions ability to enforce the Sunshine Ordinance Task force, is only someone in authority has the power to remove someone theyve appointed. Weve gone through this time and again. Thats the reason why the librarian didnt have anything done to her is because the mayor has the power. Only the appointing authority can remove a commissioner that theyve appointed. Thats how we ended up with mel murphy at the port board, even though the board of supervisors didnt vote unanimously for him. The president of the airport commission, who violated criminal laws trying to get a nephew appointed to a position at the airport. Nothing is done, so if you are going to take a look at the Sunshine Ordinance Task force, one of the things that you ought to take a look at is who are the lines of responsibility, and how are things held accountable . Thank you. President keane thank you. Any further Public Comment on that . Thank you. Okay. Is there on item number 11, does anyone wish to have a closed session . Hearing none, well move to discussion and possible action on items for future meetings. We had a fair amount of discussion of that already. Does anyone have anything further to add to that . Initial opportunity for Public Comment on matters appearing or not appearing on agenda. Pursuant to Ethics Commission bylaws, article 8, section 2. Commissioners, ray hart, spec tor San Francisco open government. Sunshine Ordinance Task force ordinary determination in file number 16116, ray hart v. Commissioner quentin kopp and the Ethics Commission. Findings of law and conclusions of law. Based on the testimony and evidence presented the Sunshine Ordinance Task force found that commissioner quentin kopp and the Ethics Commission violated the sunshine Ordinance Section 67. 15. If a member of a commission wishes to unlawfully interrupt a member of the public, thats okay with you. Commissioner kopp did it, commissioner keane endorsed it, and the rest of you sat silent. But when a member of the public speaks out of turn, that is he thats a nono. What hypocrites you are. You would use the rules to maintain order because you dont like whats being said or you dont like the way people are saying it, so mr. Keanes comment last time about mr. Harts we had a democratic process, why dont you respect it, was b. S. It wasnt a democratic process, it was a show trial, a show hearing. It was a joke. Particularly hypocritical was chair keanes comments last time that i respect the democratic process. Frankly, i take quentin kopps referral to me as quote, that person, unquote, a badge of honor. Isnt it ironic that it comes from a person who has shown himself to be without honor . I mentioned the fact that under oath at the rules Committee Hearing for his nomination supervisor fewer asked commissioner kopp whether he would enforce laws with which he did not agree, and he assured her that he would. So whats with the sunshine ordinance . He doesnt like it so he wants to get rid of the Sunshine Task force and the ordinance, and to heck with it. So theres a vacuum there. Thats fine with him because all he wants it so get rid of it because it took him and called him on the carpet. So same thing the board of supervisors did when they found against them, they left four seats vacant for two years so that every person who went before the task force had to either get a six out of seven or six out of six vote to get a finding. And then, you portray it as being conflicting decisions. Thats bull. President keane well, ill entertain a motion to adjourn. Commissioner kopp so moved. Commissioner chiu second. President keane all those in favor . We are adjourned. The office of controllers Whistle Blower Program is how City Employees and recipient sound the alarm an fraud address wait in City Government charitable complaints results in investigation that improves the efficiency of City Government that. You can below the what if anything, by assess though the club Program Website arrest call 4147 or 311 and stating you wishing to file and complaint point Controllers Office the Charitable Program also accepts complaints by email or 0 folk you can file a complaint or provide Contact Information seen by whistle blower investigates some examples of issues to be recorded to the Whistle Blower Program face of misuse of City Government money equipment supplies or materials exposure activities by city clez deficiencies the quality and delivery of City GovernmentServices Waste and inefficient government practices when you submit a complaint to the charitable online complaint form youll receive a unique tracking number that inturgz to detector or determine in investigators need Additional Information by law the City Employee that provide information to the Whistle Blower Program are protected and an employer may not retaliate against an employee that is a whistle blower any employee that retaliates against another that employee is subjected up to including submittal employees that retaliate will personal be liable please visit the sf ethics. Org and information on reporting retaliation that when fraud is loudly to continue it jeopardizes the level of service that City Government can provide in you hear or see any dishelicopter behavior boy an employee please report it to say Whistle Blower Program more information and the whistle blower protections please seek www. Third thursdays at the commons is a monthly event series to really activate krisk centkrisk civic center, fulton mall, and other locations through social operation. In 2016, an initiative called the civic Center Progress initiative was launched, it was launched by a bunch of city agencies and community partners, so they really had to figure out how to program these places on a more frequent basis. Im with the Civic Center Community benefit district, and im Program Manager for the civic center commons. Also, third thursdays will have music. That was really important in the planning of these events. We wanted to have an artist that appeals to a wide range of tastes. Im the venue manager. Good music, good music systems, and real bands with guitar players and drummers. We turned uc center and fulton street into a place where people want to be to meet, to laugh, and its just an amazing place to be. Theres a number of different exhibits. Theres food, wine, cocktails, and the idea, again, is to give people an opportunity to enjoy what really is, you know, one of the great civic faces in america. When you look from the polk street steps, and you look all the way down the plaza, down market street, daniel burns design, this was meant to be this way. Its really special. The city approached us off the grid to provide food and beverages at the event as kind of the core anchor to encourage people who leave a reason to stay. Its really vibrant. Its really great, just people Walking Around having a good time. This formula is great food, interesting music, and then, we wanted to have something a little more, so we partnered with noise pop, and they brought in some really fun games. We have skeeball, we also have roller skating lessons, and weve got a roller skating rink. If youre a passion jail skeeball player like me, and youre deciding whether youre just going to roll the ball up the middle or take a bank shot. Our goal is to come out and have fun with their neighbors, but our goal is to really see in the comments that its a place where people want to hold their own public event. I think this is a perfect example of all these people working together. Everybodys kind of come together to provide this support and services that they can to activate this area. Theres no one agency or organization that really can make this space come alive on its own, and its really through the collective will, not just of the public sector, but both the public and our business partnerships, our nonprofits partnerships, you know, neighborhood activists. I really like it. Its, like, a great way to get people to find out about local things, cuisine, like, its really great. Its a really good environment, really welcoming. Like, were having a great time. We want to inspire other people to do this, just using a part of the plaza, and its also a good way to introduce people if theyre having a large scale event or small scale event, well direct you to the right people at the commons so you can get your event planned. Being a San Francisco based company, it was really important to connect and engage with san franciscans. How great is it to come out from city hall and enjoy great music, and be able to enjoy a comtail, maybe throw a bocci ball or skee ball. I find third thursdays to be really reinrig rat reinriggating for me. Whether youre in the city hall or financial district or anywhere, just come on down on third thursdays and enjoy the music, enjoy an adult beverage, enjoy the skee ball; enjoy an adult playground, if you good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to city haul. My name is london breed. Im president of the San Francisco board of supervisors, and i represent district 5, the amazing district that houses the incredible 3rd Baptist Church, which we plan to make official landmarking status today. Arent we excited . I just want to say one, praise god, right . Praise god, thank you for being here, thank you for supporting this ceremony. We are honored here to have the mayor here to perform the ceremony who will speak in just a little bit, but i want to thank my colleague, aaron pes k kin for sponsoring this legislation, and thank you for supervise cohen for joining us here today, as well as our city administrator, naomi kelley. This is a wonderful day today. Im so excited. Remember when we celebrated with reverend brown and lady jane brown at the celebration with bill clinton, and i told you we would make this happen, and we made it happen, and look how quickly we made it happen . Well, i didnt have a choiz because reverend brown was calling me every single day, every day fighting for this community, every day fighting for this community, and one thing i want to say about 3rd Baptist Church, which is my church, my home, thank you for welcoming me. Thank you for continuing to a beacon of light in this community, who need a place of sanctuarn, who need a place to call home, who need a place to feel welcome. 3rd baptist has been doing this longer than almost any other place in San Francisco. It is an unappreciated institution because of its advocacy for being on the front line for anything related to challenges with our community, the displacement of our community, the issues with our children in the public schools. Every single occasion when there has been an issue in the city and county of San Francisco related to our community, 3rd baptist is at the front lines, trying to make sure we speak truth to power and we change the city for the better, and so it is only fitting that we come here today in city hall, and we celebrate our community, our accomplishments, and all that we have done to make San Francisco a better place, but more importantly, we leave a Lasting Legacy with the changes in San Francisco making 3rd Baptist Church a landmark location, make sure that the next generation of young people, and the next generation know that we are still here, we have left a lasting impression. We have built this city, and we are not going anywhere. And so so with that, id like to turn it over to our mayor to speak a few words, and then, well get to a few other comments from some of the amazing members of 3rd Baptist Church. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome mayor ed lee. President london breed, you have already said and expressed a lot of my feelings about this legislation today, but let me welcome each and every one of you here to the peoples palace. This is your house, as well, and this whole city is all of yours because we want this city to continue the strong efforts of being inclusive, being the rainbow city, welcoming everybody, but also working for everybody, and i want to say thank you to each member of the board of supervisors that are here today, our city administrator, our commissioners, our Department Heads for all sharing this wonderful moment. But i also want to start out by saying thank you to reverend amos brown. Your leadership on so many issues, reverend, kind of defines what the 3rd Baptist Church is all about, especially on challenges that face people of color. Youve been consistent, youve been steady, and youve been guiding us with the greatest amount of integrity in whatever capacity that you have filled. And this is exactly why the supervisor and president breed said that when amos and his wife, mrs. Jane brown, celebrated their 40 years at 3rd Baptist Church a few months ago, they didnt celebrate by themselves, it wasnt just community, it was people from all over the country that came in here bill clinton, governor jerry brown, reverend jesse jackson, they all came out because they recognized the Historic Center that the 3rd Baptist Church represented, but they also know that the reverend not only speaks locally, he speaks nationally and internationally. So congratulations reverend on 40 years of your life here at 3rd Baptist Church and for the city and county of San Francisco. Thank you, reverend brown. 3rd Baptist Church has been around since 1855, ladies and gentlemen. 160 years 52 . 1852. Okay, my notes, my staff, go back to the history books, correct that history. Make sure we have the right history. Its important because, you know, when other parts of the country talk about their landmarks, and we get kind of embarrassed, what kind of history theyre embracing, i think were embracing the right history right here with a building that has housed people of African American descent and worship since 1852. And you know whats significant about the 3rd baptist . cause ive always felt welcomed, that it wasnt just African Americans, what the reverend, what everybody else did was make it a center for everybody to feel comfortable with. Thats the significance of 3rd Baptist Church. It was for everyone, and when you go there, and you do wrong things, youre going to be condemned. Ive been there when people are condemned. Sometimes i use the word, oh, looks like a crucifiction have been going on, but ive also been there with the greatest moment of blessings happen because people do the right thing. And you know, 3rd baptist does have that line, whats right and whats wrong. Thats what we have to do with our kids, help them figure out whats right and whats wrong, and when you go to 3rd baptist, you can help them gain the moral ground. Thats important to kids these days. They dont know the difference between right and wrong, were going to lose more folks. This is whats important to 3rd baptist, and this is why its been so welcoming to me and to so many others, so by making the 3rd Baptist Church a historic landmark today, were not only preserving the building, were sending a larger message to the San Francisco bay community, we respect all the people who have been here for generations, we respect you, we respect the community. We honored the work that you have done. Its hard work to allow people to recognize whats right and wrong and do the hard work. Its the hardest work that we have to do today, whether youre holding a public office, being a minute center or bei minister or community activist, its hard job, but it serves our community and our children, and we must try to do better. This has been an important home to gobs of community meetings, employment workshops, to incubators for employment opportunities, and its also been a place where sadly, weve also had to send people away, who died in violence or met an early death. All of those aspects of life that are challenging the city, its happening in a microcosm there at 3rd baptist in a collusive and collaborative way. So im just sharing thisome things, but ill also share with you some strong feelings with people that ive got to hire in the community, doing entertainment work, doing community work, doing leadership work, trying to save more people, trying to get them out of condemnation and into salvation. Were all trying to do it, and in a large part, a lot of what i have to do is save more lives and make sure people live more robust lives in the city, the city sometimes where people say there are a lot of inequities. 3rd baptist is about equity. Its n its about finding love and support. Thats why it deserves to be recognized in our hall of landmarks, so i say to the rest of our country, you ought to be embracing the right principles when youre endorsing landmarks. You ought not to be endorsing symbols of racism and oppregnano oppression. This role that our community has played, this building will be known for when we place the final signature of landmark status. This is our history. This is your history. Youve shared it with us. Its our history, its the nations history, right here in the middle of San Francisco, we celebrate 3rd Baptist Church and everybody associated with it. Thank you for being here, thank you for being witnesses to this wonderful important occasion for all of our citizens. Thank you. Thank you mr. Mayor, and i just want to again thank the cosponsors of this amazing legislation. Supervisor malia cohen, supervisor aaron peskin, and supervisor mark farrell, and with that, id like to bring up our leader to give us a history, abbreviated, reverend brown, we aint in church. We trying to sign this today. Amen . Amen. Amen congregation. Reverend brown, our leader, come on