Often faces a being too positive and overly optimistic. I have to say, this is a brand of journalism that should be celebrated at a time when most headlines can sink readers into a perpetual state of depression. I also find that positivity quite impressive for someone who has been described as being perpetually on deadline. Leah joins the ranks of great San Francisco news folk such as a hurricane, stanton della plane , charles mccabe, and others, all of whom she knew and worked with. She has managed to capture the quintessential San Francisco moments in words, in vignettes that bring our daily lives and city identity into truly lovely focus. She has been she has a full list of favorite columns over the years, but a couple stand out for me based on their ties to the corner of the safety that city that i live in. There are many. I had my interns scrubbed them. One of them that i remember, and this is from, i dont know if you remember this, but this is from almost 15 years ago, she describes the eclectic chaos of larry coffeys barbershop, watering hole, a top russian hill by swims ands a screen, with vivid recall in a touching obituary and tribute to larry that also highlighted the things that i personally love most about this city and its archipelago of villages. That is how the neighbors that check in on one another and take care of one another, and how leah managed to boil that down by writing about the neighbor that found him with his lights on after he had a heart attack, because it really is about the Larger Network of community and friends and family, which leah quite ably expressed by saying that larry was as messy as his address book, and the word spread, and he was honored in high fashion by the Italian Athletic Club after her column was published. You have celebrated the literary genius of Lawrence Getty on occasion of his 100th birthday , not long ago, and even reported on my official request to city administrator kelly at the behest of my staff to illuminate city hall in royal purple tribute to the memory of the one and only prints after his passing. But it was your last column that both broke my heart and restored my faith in the powers of journalism, storytelling, and community correspondence. You reflected upon your readers or genuine love and gratitude and affection for the invitation , as you pointed, to break bread with us at breakfast you havent just been a storyteller engaged in a oneway discourse, you have been a confidant and trusted penpal, engaging us all in a real conversation about our city. What a special and intimate relationship that we have two thank you for. On behalf of the board of supervisors, leah, thank you, and i also want to say thank you to jury, your loving husband, who has supported you for all of these many years. You two are both mentioned is, and i know that all of my colleagues share in that. On behalf of the board of supervisors, i wanted to give you the opportunity to say a few words and present you with this highest commendation. Thank you, leah garchick. [applause] i am absolutely thrilled and touched. I have never been here to see anybody else, so i am honored. I had no idea what to expect. This is such a detailed remark and your poor Office Workers being asked to hunch over my scribblings, as though they were doing readings. I am very touched. I am kind of dazzled to be in this beautiful room where i dont think, in all these years in San Francisco, i have ever been, and im not sure about this library. I cant help sitting there and being both the honoree and a citizen of San Francisco. I never i tried not to wax poetic about the city of San Francisco, but i live here, as all of you do, and i am proud and happy to be a citizen of this complicated and deliriously happy and blissful he said city at the same time. Thank you. It can bailey sends his regards. Okay. Supervisor peskin, before you go, supervisor brown i just wanted to also give my comments. You are a district five resident , so leah, thank you very much, both you and jury. I always enjoyed talking to you, especially your street fair at the d. M. V. Heights, as you call your neighborhood, which i think is hysterical and very appropriate, but, you know, you also admired youre admired in the city not only for women journalists and writers, but for all women. You hit a Glass Ceiling and push through it. I just want to say thank you. All of us are looking forward to your next gig because you told me you would still be writing. Oh, yes,. Absolutely. Well be waiting for that book, but thank you so much and i appreciate all your work as a writer and as a Community Person , also. Thank you. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you. So i would like the next person i will call up to Say Something is not doing a commendation, but he wants to recognize somebody special in the room. Supervisor safai. Thank you. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize my son and daughter and mother and motherinlaw. Thank you for coming today and thank you for joining us. [laughter]. Thank you, president e. [applause] dont worry, i will make sure that your dad behaves. [laughter] so next up for commendation will be supervisor fewer. Colleagues, please join me in welcoming director ed ruskin to the podium. [applause] ed has been a true and tireless Public Servant for the residents of San Francisco for the past 12 years. He has always had an open door policy and has been present and accessible in the community. I have seen him on early mornings, on a walk to work day, meeting me an Elementary School at 7 00 a. M. I have seen him warmly and humbly greet bus riders it during transit riders week. I have seen him out at Community Meetings at 7 00 p. M. , thoughtfully answering questions from neighbors. He is the picture of a hardworking Public Servant. Directing an agency like the sfmta is nothing short of absolutely demanding. I have seen him bleed with kindness, a steady hand, and a combination of heart and determination in delivering transportation improvements for the city, and especially our most transit dependent and low income communities in the city. A humble, gentle man, he has always been wanting to listen, not just to my opinion as a supervisor, but to the thoughts and feedback from my residents. Real conversations about transportation policy and how decisions impact the everyday experiences of my residents. Under his leadership, we increased Service Levels by more than 10 . We launched free Transit Service for approximately 115,000 low to moderate income youth, seniors, and people with disabilities, which began as a Grassroots Community campaign. The Service Equity strategy is taking into consideration the needs of equity neighborhoods and addressing the gap in performance between equity neighborhood routes and roots and the transit system. The network made transit a priority on our streets. As a result, ridership continues to grow on rapid routes. Bucking national trends, even through this political streetscape amidst a sea of ride chairs and emerging abilities. In 2014, we adopted vision zero to create an aggressive and Strategic Plan to court nate efforts toward eliminating serious injuries and fatalities. Until recently, munimobile operated the oldest transit fleet in the united states, today, hours is one of the newest and is the greenest fleet in north america. The city passed a 500 milliondollar bond measure to support transportation infrastructure investment. Today, the sfmta holds the highest Credit Rating of any Transportation Agency in the united states. And, thank you for all that you have done for the city and our residence and i wish you all the best in your future endeavours. I want to open the floor to my colleagues who would like a few words to say a few words as well supervisor walton . Thank you. I just want to commend you on taking the helm of one of the most difficult organizations here in San Francisco and i know when something happens on our streets in regards to munimobile , you take all the blame, none of the praise when things are actually going well in some instances, but i wasnt always a member of the board of supervisors, but you were always very responsive as a leader and always willing to have conversations and talk about some of the difficult things that we need to address with munimobile. So i just want to say thank you for your service, commend you for that. I will end with these three words. Munimobile is complicated. [laughter] supervisor brown . Thank you. Director ruskin, ed, like i said at the m. T. A. Board meeting earlier when we were discussing you and your career, i mean, i have to say, when chief scott said that you always stay calm, that is completely true and i have seen you people rattle your chains when you were the public works director, whether the street was dirty, trees werent trimmed, you name it, we were complaining. And then as m. T. A. Director, whether the trains are two fuller we cant get on, or a protected bike lane, and it was really interesting because i was at the Bicycle Coalition last night talking and we were talking about, you know, protected bike lanes and Pedestrian Safety and even though we need to do more and we have to push for it, i remember a time when we were talking about the wiggle, the idea of the wiggle and how, you know, people were talking about, we will have to take a parking space away for daylighting. Were talking about masonic boulevard instead of making it a mini freeway, were also going to ask the state to lower the speed limit. And so when i was talking about this last night, i was thinking of all of the improvements and all of the advancements that we have done and i have just, as a city, and you as a leader, i just want to thank you. Yes, we have to do more, but i just want to thank you for your service and your kind way of handling a lot of us in distress when we are trying to get things done. Thank you, ed. Supervisor safai . Thank you. Director ruskin, ed, i remember, part of my career in the city, you were my boss, working a public works. You have truly worked your way through this city, but i like to tell people the last job youll ever have in the city is the director of the sfmta. So we knew this was going to come, but i have to say that the seven years plus that you let that agency, you let it with gumption. You let it in an even keeled manner. I know you took a lot of heat. Is a very difficult job to have. I have to say it was always, always, whether it was 311, public works or sfmta, it was always truly a pleasure to work with you. I think your style of returning phone calls immediately, meeting with people, opening your doors up, always making yourself available, i think it is an admirable style in a way to lead i thank you can walk away thinking back on the seven years that you have led this agency and looking at all the accomplishments, the bike lanes, the vision zero advancements. I know there will always be people that you are not going to fulfil theyre overall demand, but the truth is, i have said this over and over again, the progress that has been made in the past seven years, for some people, not fast enough, but the truth is we have made a significant amount of progress under your leadership and you have brought stability to an agency that was in complete and utter disarray when you took over. There was a series of changes that had happened. I have been one of the biggest critics, you know that, and i still think theres a lot more work than needs to be done. I thank you would agree with that, but i think the fact that you were always open, you always have your ears open and talk less, i think that is a hard lesson for a lot of us to learn, but you really do a good job at it. At the end of the day, i thank you can walk away proud of what you have accomplished in the city and how much time you have given to us all. Thank you for all that you have done and i appreciate the time i had to work with you as a member of the board, as an employee, and as a citizen of San Francisco. Supervisor ronen . Thank you. I will miss you very much. You have always been one of my favorite civil Civil Servants and Department Heads in the city it is because of your kindness and your true dedication to equity that i dont thank you are often recognized enough. It is very genuine and real and hardfought. I know you have always done that im very excited for you and what ever you will do next, getting a little break after so many years of this crazy place. Congratulations and thank you for everything. Supervisor mandelman . Thank you. You have had these last eight years probably possibly the hardest job in city government, maybe maybe an impossible job, and yet you have heard some accomplishments. The tough work that you have done is going to bear fruit over a period of years that will expend expand beyond your term. We will be benefiting from the work that you did to buy additional buses, trains, fixed infrastructure, over many, many years. I wanted to thank you for that and was she will. Supervisor haney . Thank you. I havent been here in this role that long, but i have been here long enough to see that you probably have the hardest job in the city. There are so many demands on you and challenges on our streets. And the breath of your responsibilities is really incredible. I have been impressed during my time here with the way that you have done your job, your responsiveness, your humility, which everyone has talked about, and i thank you have this commitment to Public Service in our city and it is really commendable. Because ive seen how hard your job is, im grateful that you are here. Hopefully youll get some time to relax. I hope you know that we are very appreciative of everything you have done. Supervisor stefani . Thank you. Director ruskin, it is so sad to see you go. I have worked with you over these last eight years as a legislative aide mostly and as a supervisor. I have to say, you have always been so responsive and respectful. And given aids your complete attention, as well. Not just the supervisors. I cant thank you enough for that. When everyone was talking, i was writing down the words, client, responsive, and respectful. That is you to a tee, always. You are all of those things and people are not kind to you and people are not respectful to you and people do not remain calm and i think this is a testament to who you are. I was just thinking of you as st. Francis and our patent patron saint of San Francisco. I think the fact that you embody those things when a lot of people dont, really i think you are our patron saint and im sad to see you go. Supervisor peskin . Thank you. Everything has been said, but not everybody has said it. I will not reiterate what i said at the m. T. A. Board a few minutes ago, but i do want to say thank you for putting up with all of us, and particularly , supervisor safai. [laughter] director peskin, i guess i will have the last words here before you speak, but i really want to appreciate and let you know i have appreciated my time working with you on the board of supervisors in the last six and a half years, and as you know, improving the safety of our streets is one of my highest priorities. And with the passage of our vision zero policy, you have been such a champion with in your department to get us there, even though we have a long ways to go, i have seen a lot of improvements, and i know that i probably drive you crazy with my Participatory Budgeting Program where each year, unexpectedly you have 510 more projects to do in regards to Safety Measures , and, you know, these are important things for our residents to understand. That when they point out these unsafe conditions that our city will respond to it and i thank you have done such a fabulous job. And even when we have projects where we are trying to improve it and we point out from, you know, what the residents tell us that, you know, it would be better if you had done it a different way, and you listen and instead of defending whats there, you look at the situation with your staff, and you say, you are absolutely right. I think we ought to spend a little bit more money to change the condition and actually improve the situation. For that alone, i really am going to miss you at the home because when it comes to Pedestrian Safety measures. This job at the sfmta is one of one of the hardest positions in San Francisco. Within your own department you have to balance the different demands and make it go faster, make it go slower, make it safer , give me more parking spaces, no, take away parking spaces, and so i know that is really a difficult situation. Even when we are talking about daylighting our corners, it is a balancing of, well, will we make it safer or not . Do we care about safety . And we knew it was going to be difficult, a difficult dialogue, but at the end of the day, we all agree it will be safe for people. We will lose a few parking spaces, but hopefully we will save a few lives. What i will really miss about you, actually is maybe that is why, you know, you are nervous that i am drawing the end line. I was hoping you would be around to see that actually happen. Maybe it will be the start of something in regards to making it more efficient for people and growing the capacity of the trains coming from the downtown area into the west side by allowing not only two cars, but four cars to be hooked up together. [please stand by]. Director rahaim certain hoping that every day, my family and i can get around the city safely and benefit from all the services that you helped deliver. Maybe ill show up in Public Comment, and i can start grilling you guys in exchange, but i just want to thank you all for the partnership and the work and the High Expectations youve created for me and my colleagues, the rest of the Department Heads and for all that you do for all of us who work here and live here and visit here. So thank you very much. Its a great honor, and i appreciate it. [applause] president yee director peskin, would you come into the chambers . [applause] president yee that concludes our special commendation for today. Madam clerk, lets go to our First Special 3 00 p. M. Orders, item 46 through 49. Clerk item 46 through 49, this is the appeal for the tentative map for 2146 through 2150 union street. Item 46 is the decision for persons interested in the decision of public works to approve a tentative map for a three unit subdivision. Item 47 is the motion to approve the tentative map for the union street project, and item 48 is the motion to conditionally disapprove the departments decision and to approve the appropriate finding. President yee okay. Colleagues, we have before us an appeal to the determination of the public works approving the tentative map for the project at 21462150 union street. For this hearing, we will be considering the final decision made by public works and approving the tentative map. The appellant or appellants representative will have up to ten minutes for presentation, up to two minutes per speaker in support of the appeal, up to ten minutes for presentations from the public works and Planning Department. Up to ten minutes for the project sponsor which will be represented by barbara hertzig, and two minutes in opposition to the appeal and in support of the project; and finally, a total of three minutes for the appellant or appellant representative to provide a rebuttal. Colleagues, are there any objections to proceeding this way . Seeing no objection, the hearing is now open. Supervisor stefani, do you have any remarks you would like to share before we get going . Supervisor stefani not at this time. President yee okay. Seeing no names on the roster, i will ask the appellant or their representative to come forward and present their case. You have up to a total of ten minutes. Hi. Thank you very much for giving the time for me and my wife to speak. Im adam zagoria, and i appreciate the opportunity to appeal this approval, the tentative map. We live nearby, very close to this building, and we recently got a letter telling us about this tentative map, and i realize that this has been is well under construction, but our first recognition that there was construction going on at this project was this opportunity to appeal the tentative map. Im objecting to the scope of this project in effect that they are adding an additional entire story to the existing building, which we never had any opportunity to approve the initial complication for the permits to build this building, and we feel it will lead to deterioration of that street and the buildings of this neighborhood. Its a very nice street, and we love living there, but there is a dramatic addition to the existing building that we were never able to comment on, so thats why im hoping youll give us the opportunity right now to appeal the original permitting of this building. I have no opposition to the number of occupants in the building or the number of units. President yee is that it . Thats it. President yee okay. As you can see, this is not a dialogue unless we have questions. Okay. President yee i dont see any comments, so what id like to do is open this up to the board for supervisor peskin i do have one question. President yee supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin so separate and apart what youre appe appealing today, which is a tentative subdivision map, if looking at 2146 union street, it appears that in 2018, the actual project which included vertical and hortizontal additions was approved by the Planning Department. I assume under the section of the planning code that you received a neighborhood notification if you are within 300 feet of that. Do you know if you did or did not . I know i did not, and none of our neighbors did, either. We are very close. We might be within 150 feet of that project, but this was the first notification that we received of this to appeal the map. I think this process was not handled correctly. Supervisor peskin i will ask these questions at the appropriate time of the appropriate departments. Although what is before us in this peappeal is a tangible ise of the subdivision map, not the project. I understand that, but this is a very important decision thats been made about this property, and im angry that we didnt get the opportunity to appeal this at the appropriate time, so im appealing it now, and i think its important that this be properly vetted by the people it affects, the neighbors to this property, and none of us along in our area were notified of this. Supervisor peskin i will ask the Planning Department at the appropriate time. Thank you. President yee okay. I dont see anybody else. I will hope it up for open it up for Public Comment for those who would like to support the appeal. Thank you. Im dr. George susans. I live in a property overlooking this project, and i have two issues i would like to bring to this board. Number one, when i submitted a letter my wife and i submitted a letter about this. The lawyer who represents the construction of this building said that, well, we ignored our notification of the construction. Well, to paraphrase what dr. Zagoria just said, we never received a letter that was supposed to come out two years ago from the Planning Department, and we did not receive it. We did receive one three weeks ago. And my second complaint is that the lawyer who represented that individual said that we had no grounds to stand on because we received a letter three years ago. Well, i want to reiterate that no one on green street received a letter about this construction. Thank you. President yee any other speakers . Seeing none, then this part of the Public Comment is now closed. [gavel]. President yee now, we have up to ten minutes for representatives from the departments who will split the time from public works and the Planning Department. Good afternoon, supervisors. Bruce stores, city and county surveyor. I wont take much time. We received this application. Its for a fourunit new construction project in january 2019, deemed the application submitable that same day, issued tenantable approval on may 13 i beg your pardon. Issued tenantable approval on june 6. We dont have any objection to this going forward, and i wanted to give my colleagues at planning all the time they need. President yee supervisor peskin, did you want to ask him a question . Okay. Go ahead, mr. Starr. Thank you. The issues that the appellant brought up in the appeal deal with the proposed expansion of the building and not the subdivision of the new units, therefore, planning is compelled to respond. The subject is a mixed use building with ground floor retail and two units. It includes four new residential units at the rear of the building. The height of the building is increasing from 38 feet to 48 feet, including an additional three penthouses that will rise above the roof. As required by the planning code, a 30day neighborhood notice was sent out for the proposed building expansion on june 14, 2017 and expired on july 14, 2017. The poster describing the proposed addition was placed on the building during the 30day review period. There was no applications filed on this during the 30day notification period. The department understands that the appellant is not within 150 feet of the proposed site, therefore, Planning Department does not require they be included in the notice. The second is the proposed includes substantial height over the existing height of the building and that this height will diminish views. Discretionary review period is the time when those issues should be brought before the Planning Department. The time to appeal the permit based on impacts that the proposed project would have on adjacent properties has expired. Further, neither the planning code or the citys general plan protect private views. Even if the applicant filed a discretionary view, the Planning Department would not have taken discretionary view solely because of someones private view being obstructed. Finally, its keeping to the neighborhood context with regards to size, massing and scale, and that concludes my presentation and im happy to answer questions. President yee supervisor stefani . Supervisor stefani thank you for clearing that up and clearing up the issue of 150 feet. I think that is providing confusion here, and i do want you, if you can, explain the difference again between appealing the tentative man and appealing the project. What is the difference here . When someone is expanding a building in San Francisco in a neighborhood commercial district or a residential district, we do whats called a neighborhood notification. It requires us to send out a reduced side of the plans and project description to all residents and owners within 150 feet of the property. That goes out 30 days. Neighbors have 30 days to file whats called a investigationary review which takes the permit to the Planning Commission for their review, and if they find theres an exceptional extraordinary circumstance, they can then modify or deny the project. Once it has left planning, you can no longer file the discretionary review. However, prior to the Building Permit being issued, you can appeal the Building Permit to the board of appeals which then can review the permit to make sure that the city is issuing it properly. The applicant or the appellant could, if they wanted to, seek jurisdiction at the board of appeals now, but it would be up to the board of appeals whether or not they grant that jurisdiction and then hear the appeal. Supervisor stefani was there also notice on the building itself . Theres always a poster placed on the property itself for the 30day period. Its an 11by17 poster. Its usually bright orange, and it has the same information the mailed has. Supervisor stefani when did that go out . Same period as the mailed notice, so june 14 to july 14, 2017. Supervisor stefani that concludes my questioning at this point. President yee okay. Supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin and i just wanted to apologize for confusing the 311 notice at 150 feet with the c. U. And tentative map notice at 300 feet. I believe that one of the speakers who lives on the 22 2100 block of green street, i just checked on the map is outside of that 150foot radius and therefore would not have gotten that, so i dont know where the appellant lives, but if they are on that same block of green street, would not have gotten a notice, so its not that it wasnt mailed as represented i mean, the Planning Department representative represented that the notice was timely mailed, but the appellants are outside of that radius. President yee okay. So seeing no other names on the roster from my colleagues at this time, id like to invite members of the public who wish to speak in opposition of the appeal to please come forward. Youll have two minutes. Thank you. Im david stone, 2100 green street. Yeah, besides the questionable notice situation here, i just want to say a few things. This project exceeds the height limit president yee sir, sir, so if you are supporting the appeal or against the project, that opportunity had already passed to speak. Well, what are you asking for now . President yee so these are speakers that are basically speak in opposition of the appeal. In other words, youre for the project. Oh, okay. We get another chance to say a few words . President yee no. Let me just say, you guys are ruining union street. President yee okay. Any other comments . Seeing none, Public Comment is now closed. [gavel]. President yee okay. I think we are where i didnt give the project sponsor a chance to speak yet, so can you please come up . You have ten minutes. Im sorry. You have to speak into the mic. My name is barbara hurzig. Im here on behalf of the project sponsor. I really dont have much to add. Ive sent all of you a letter explaining the legal position. Notice proper notices were given at the proper time. The grounds for the appeal are not matters related to the tentative map approval. San francisco has an unusual subdivision mapping process because you cannot file for a subdivision application until you actually have permission from the Planning Department that you can go ahead with the project from a planning standpoint, so really, the only issue that is left for discussion at the tentative map approval level has to do with whether or not the subdivision itself is consistent with the general and specific plans. And that finding was already made. Theres been no opposition from the appellants that the findings of compliance from these plans was erroneous. Thats the only consideration today. By the way, the height limit has not been changed at all. The front of the building is a historic facade. It has not been touched. I was over today, i have a photo if anyone would like to see it. The height of the facade is exactly the same. All of the development because this is on a grade, all of the development you can see from the street. So none of the neighbors that are here today will be affected by the development themselves unless theyre objecting to the addition of additional dwelling units that are legally permitted, then i dont think thats a real valid ground for appeal. Obviously, housing and the addition of housing in San Francisco is a critical issue at this time. So im happy to take any questions you may have, but i see no grounds for supporting t the appeal. President yee okay. I dont see any questions. Then lastly, id like to invite the appellant or their representatives to present a rebuttal argument. You have up to three minutes. Thanks very much. I think you heard the crux of the issue with us is that the people on green street who are very close to this property feel that we should have been notified of the original permit. Im sorry that we were not aware of that and would have appealed that. They are in effect changing the height of that building with a roof deck at the original line, and then theyre adding a large deck for people to live on, to be present, with two eightfoot high stairwells that is adding an additional level of living to the existing building. I find it hard to believe were not in the 150 foot of that property line, if you go from the back of our property to the front of that property or other properties on our street are not closer. We have a neighbor three doors down that has a property that extends very close to union street. What at a minimum id like is it to be reexamined, go back in the process and appeal the original permits. We have absolutely no problem with the number of dwellings there. Its the height of the dwelling which will change the character of union street and set a precedent for additional buildings to add another level above the 40foot mark. Thats all i have to say. Are there any questions . President yee okay. Thank you. Okay. Then this this public hearing, item number 46, has been held and is now filed. [gavel]. President yee okay. We will now reconvene as the board of supervisors. Colleagues, we now have items 47, 48, and 49 before us. Supervisor stefani, you do have any final remarks . Supervisor stefani thank you, president yee. I want to start by saying when i moved into the cow hollow neighborhood 18 years ago, i immediately joined the cow hollow neighborhood association, was on the housing committee, was an activist. These are things that i went to the Planning Commission about, and i really feel its unfortunate that its gone this far and you havent been heard. And for that, im really sorry. For that, dr. Zagoria and peggy zagoria for coming out, and those who have, as well. I have reached out to some of my colleagues to see if we can fix some of the noticing issues so that neighbors do not receive a notice for the map change neighbors receive a notice for the map change and not for the project itself. We have to act on the merits of this actual appeal and the tentative map. With that said as we heard from public works and the Planning Department, the appeal before us today im not saying that the concerns arent valid at all, but the appeal before us on the tentative map approval does not rise to the standards to disapprove of the determination made by the public works on the map itself, and again. Im not saying that your concerns arent valid in a way, but what we have before us, were not able to act on it in that way. So in this case, i do believe the proper course of action would have been to appeal the permit rather than the tentative map, and i will be looking into consolidating those noticing requirements. So with that, president yee, i would like to make a motion to move item 47 forward and to table items 48 and 49. President yee okay. Is there a second . Supervisor peskin . Can we take these items same house same call . Without objection, item 47 is approved and items 48 and 49 are tabled. [gavel]. President yee colleagues, the tentative map is finally approved. Okay. Madam clerk, can you go to our next 3 00, item 50 and 51 . Clerk item 50 is the public hearing to consider item 51 which is the resolution to establish the property based Improvement District known as the Downtown Community benefit district to order the levy and collection of assessments against property located in that district for 15 years commencing with fiscal year 2019 through 2020 subject to conditions as specified and to affirm the ceqa determination. President yee okay. We are now sitting as a committee of the whole again. Colleagues, the purpose of this hearing is to take testimony on the opposed levy of assessments of the propertybased Improvement District named the Downtown Community business Improvement District pursuant to the resolution of intention we adopted on may 14, 2019. As described in the management district plan, the proposed district would be approximately 669 parcels. Details of the covered area are on are in the file. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the department of public elections will tabulate the votes and report to the board of supervisors. Voters can review the tabulation in the basement of city hall, room 59. The board of supervisors will neither levy assessments nora prove status of the districts without approval. We will first here from all in support of the assessment district. They will have two minutes, then, we will hear from all speakers in opposition to the assessment district. Each speaker will have two minutes. During the hearing, a Property Owner who has not voted yet or who wishes to change their vote may speak with Election Department staff. After the hearing closes, the ballots will be counted. Before i begin, i think i have supervisor peskin, would you like to make some remarks . Supervisor peskin thank you, president yee. Im going to reiterate the words that i said last week when we had the union square v. I. P. Renewal, which is to thank mr. Corgis, but also to thank individuals in the community who are willing to improve the safety and betterment of our downtown area. Thank you for your efforts. I hope there is a majority support for this and we will see that later today. This is democracy in action, so thank you one and all. President yee did you want to invite staff from oewd . Would you like to present . Thank you, president yee, board of supervisors. Chris corgis, office of economic and workforce development. As stated, this is the formation of the Downtown Community benefit district. This process started back in 2007. Id like to thank everyone who worked on this, particularly lee hefner and sonny angulo. Also would like to thank marco lemandry of new city america. I would like to thank the staff of oewd, the Clerks Office and the department of elections and city attorney. Marco from new city america will present on this new c. B. D. And its assessment rate. Thank you, mr. Corgis, and thank you for the kind words, supervisor peskin. So as supervisor peskin mentioned, we started this effort in 2007, and we had the recession in 2008 which really put a quick stop to our efforts to form at that time what was the financial benefits Community Benefit district. The effort picked up in 2015 when a lot of downtown and property Jackson Square owners needed more services than what the city was providing. So we gradually developed a great strong steering committee. So the why establish the c. B. D. In downtown . This is probably the longest attempt at a c. B. D. In the history of the city, but the need is great because this is one of the most significant districts if not in the city of San Francisco, on the west coast. The architecture, the history of the financial district in Jackson Square is uncomparable, really, anywhere, and we thought that it was deserving of the special benefits that would be funded by this benefit district. The purpose of the district would be to Fund Marketing promotion for the area, providing daily maintenance and Janitorial Services in the public rights of way, responding to homelessness and vagrants in the community, restoring the historic nature of the district to remain competitive with new and massive projects south of market, retaining staff to oversee the new services, ensure that the most efficient and effective practices are being implemented. The timeline, as i stated, in 2007, and it culminated with our mission in 2018 and ended in the early part of 2019. You can see before you the map of the district. In many ways, it reflects the districts that are currently in existence to the south, which is east cut to the west, which is union square, and to the north, which is the small top of broadway district. On the upper corner to the left, those parcels were included or were considered chinatown, and we wanted to ensure that chinatown would decide its own fate and not be included within the downtown c. B. D. The budget has brokendown where theres approximately 3 million or almost 77 of the budget is what we consider to be sidewalks. Ironically, the oldest Business District in the city of San Francisco, which is the Business District on jackson, does not have an active website, and its something we plan to deal with, to. The assessment formula is one of the most simple in the city. Its a flat fee on building square footage. Its 10 cents per square foot. It has two benefit zones. One benefit zone is for unimproved areas, empty lots, and theyre set at 8 cents per square foot, and then, Everything Else because its basically built out, and theres not a lot of room for additional height in the financial district and Jackson Square because of how many historic buildings. Those are all set at 10 cents per square foot. And 77 of the budget are related to sidewalks. When people are talking down the sidewalk, most people dont walk down the middle of the street. The city takes care of the street, and people take care of the sidewalk. We want to make the sidewalks dynamic, clean, orderly, and make sure that people work within the area, live within the area as well as Property Owners, Business Owners, and visitors have a pleasant experience in those public rights of way. The district will provide the special benefits on a daytoday basis provided by the Nonprofit Corporation made up of profit owners and Business Owners in the proposed district. Itll probably be a very large governing board as anticipated because we add 30 to 40 people participating in an ongoing basis in our district steering committee. How about the services be provided in the first task is cleaning