Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240714

So what were really doing here is going after what voters know. And as was said, the Supreme Court within the bounds of Citizens United said transparency and disclosure, fine. I have a few examples. This was a district 6 mailer, and the video at the bottom of an internet mailer ad, paid for by a committee, clean and sunset. Major funding by progress San Francisco. And the district 6 version said paid for by san franciscans for change, major funding by progress San Francisco. I think all of us in this room know who are behind that committee, but most regular people would have no reason to know. Two big things. Number one, it will require the dollar amount of the donors to be listed, so that voters get more than a name and an actual piece of data that they can use to say to ask if they wish, whos really behind this and whats their agenda. And more importantly, it pierces the shell of fake name committees like that by requiring that progress San Francisco in this example, the top two donors to that committee would also have to be listed, and the amount of money they gave to that committee. In addition, the font will have to be bigger and some other cleanup things that make it easier for voters to know. Again, were trying to give voters information and ensuring they really know whos behind the Shell Committee and how much they gave. Only other thing ill say on that component and ill get to the last one is some may ask, well, arent the clever election lawyers going to find some other way to hide, and im sure they will. And to that i would say, were going to do that the same way you would eat an elephant, one bite at a time. And i think this will become the strongest in the country and a model for other cities. So at the end, i want to submit some materials, and supervisor mar has the same if you wish to share, is the paytoplay division, which prohibits not just the developer, which is already prohibited, but the top executives associated with that developer from giving to any city official running for the board of supervisors, mayor, or City Attorney or sitting in those offices for the entire time that the measure is pending or for 12 months its approved or after its done. We tried to narrowly craft it, so were talking about big projects, not someone renovating their house. Big developments, 5 million or more. What i submitted for the record in terms of the basis for this is a series of articles. You all are well familiar with the f. B. I. Sting on a couple of former city officials and employees, one of whom said we pay to play in San Francisco. Were the best in the biz to an f. B. I. Informant who posed as a developer, what were trying to prevent, and a series of related documents. I would ask the clerk, if you would, to pass around these three i gave you a copy for the record, but give it to the supervisors. So and ive come across this over the years, and then, over the weekend this is what i do with my weekend, i went and downloaded and organized for presentation from the Ethics Commission theres one specific developer who stands out i think its a really good flash bad example about how theyve done an end run around the corporate ban with a myriad of city officials at city hall. T. M. G. Officials is a big office developer. Theyve been one of the lead developers at 88 bluxome. So for the last 13 years, t. M. G. , top executives of t. M. G. , the same mostly dozen ten to 12 people have given on the same day, in the same amount, to the same person, Campaign Contributions to people running for mayor, supervisor, City Attorney. And ive got, what, 11 pages of this because it started in 2006, and the last data i have it for this last he is for this last election. This is about the interest, this is not about the politicians. There are other laws and other things, but certainly about the developers attempt to curry favor and make it look like their project should get approved, and they should have the inside track. So t. M. G. Partners in the last dozen years, their executives gave 327 contributions to 37 campaigns totaling over 199,000. This would ensure that t. M. G. And their executives cant give money, that the projects are approved on their merits and not based on money. So with that, i have given you my testimony on the three components of the initiatives. Again, i really agree, i really encourage everyone to read it for themselves, and really thank your support for the measure. Supervisor mar thank you, peter, and for all of your work and these important issues protecting our democracy for so many years. I think that concludes the presentation. Chair ronen fantastic. And if supervisor walton has no comments, well open it up for Public Comment. Please come forward. Vice chair kopp good morning, members of the committee. Im quentin kopp, a former member of the board of supervisors, and id like to divide my remarks in procedural and substantive categories. This has been a long, long process which began in San Francisco in 1973. The trivia question before the committee this morning is what is the first municipality in california to adopt an ordinance to control Campaign Contributions and expenditures. Its not San Francisco. We were second. San diego was first. After san diego adopted an ordinance, i telephoned the City Attorney, obtained a copy of it, introduced it in 1973, and it was enacted my memory fails as to whether it was unanimously enacted by the board of supervisors, and it had both spending and donation limits in it. And those spending limits remained in effect until one of the cases John Gollinger referred to, buckley versus vallejo was decided by the United States Supreme Court which held that the First Amendment was violated by a spending limitation. And so american government, local, state, and national, has been struggling ever since to control a campaigns spending through laws addressing [inaudible] chair ronen judge kopp, can you continue with the point that youre making, please. Oh, did you have a time limit on testimony . Chair ronen i wanted to hear both. All rig. Vice chair kopp all right. Let me see how fast i can say i wa want i was appointed to the commission by the board of supervisors until i resigned out of a feeling of futility. And i know that peter keen isnt dramatic in his presentations or public pronouncements, but he was understandably dramatic, and if he isnt dramatic enough, i know my friend, mr. Ammiano will be dramatic because that was once his profession. And we should have done this two years ago in the Ethics Commission of the city and county of San Francisco. And the record which mr. Gollinger amassed is absolutely persuasive to anybody who doubts what happens underneath the spotlights and out of the public sunshine, and i am pleased that the board of supervisors has adopted what otherwise would have cost much time, money, and effort to put before voters, a. And i know this is just informational, but i believe it will be successful with a combined effort of all those who believe in trying to present voters with honest choices of people with integrity who are not the minions of vested wealthy developers or other professions in San Francisco. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you. Assembly member ammiano, would you like to speak . Drama queen. Good morning. If you dont mind, mr. Young, i just wanted to say hi, its been a long, long time, and its nice to see you. I think the eloquence that youve heard today, as an elected, i think you all know you get that swearing in ceremony, and youre just so happy, and were going to take on the world. And then, the kind of offers that come in because you won not because they necessarily agree with you when you were running are somewhat astounding. When i was first elected, i was approached by an entity who said they might be able to raise 25,000 for me. I dont want to embarrass anybody, but ill give you its initials, which is pg e. Needless to say, stopped in the hole by a prominent member of the community, mentioned his name, and presented me with an envelope of cash. This is how blatant it was. And i think the senator can relate to sacramento, things are bad here. In sacramento, they are amazingly tricky, and theres so much stealth that goes on. I was walking to work one day and was approached by a lobbyist. Wanted to know if i wanted to stop at starbucks. And i said no, and she said here, heres a check. And i said no. And she was actually hurt because its been so inured into the system, and in the system, its things that are wrong. So im very happy to have the sponsorship and i thank you, supervisor mar, for your leadership, and i look forward to a victory. And just one kind of caveat, a spoiler, but i cant help as a citizen [inaudible] chair ronen thank you so much. Mr. Bush . Thank you very much. Im larry bush. Im a member of friends of ethics. In 2016 and 2018, both times, we paid for professional polling to find out what the public sentiment was on contributions coming from developers and those with land use issues, and ive provided you copies with that, but it was shown that 70 of the people felt we needed to go further than we had. With charlie marstellar, we did a review of lobbying in San Francisco city hall and found that 90 of the lobbying is about development, but our law only addresses contracts, not developers per se. This will close one of those loopholes. Theres been a lot of talk about what examples we have, and i would point your attention to an article i provided from San Francisco public press, which was about allies of the mayor who were called in by the mayor and his top aides, as well as some officials from the board of supervisors and told that their applications for development hinged on whether or not they gave contributions. It was very explicit, and there was a billionaire who was present who said if you dont want to give directly, i will give money in your name to someone so that it will still be covered and the money will still be raised. It was then raised by commissioner kopp for investigation by the Ethics Commission, and while there was some interviews that took place from the City Attorneys office, the City Attorneys office decided not to seek subpoenas and put anybody under oath about what had happened, so this is something thats very real and very much influences how decisions are made in San Francisco. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you so much. Is there any other member of the public who wishes to speak on this item . Good morning, jordan. Thank you. You know, i was not here for is this item. I was here i was not here for this item. I was here for another item, but i wanted to speak on this item. I am a district 6 resident. I did a lot of volunteering on supervisor haneys campaign, and he won, which im really glad he did, but a lot of dark money came in to his opponents. Funny story. You know in district 6, theres a lot of concern about the fate of the streets. Well, our streets were littered with all these glossy mailers funded by god knows who. Im, like, whats going on here, and i would often take pictures of it and postit on facebook, saying, you know, if youre going to litter our streets, youre automatically not fit to be supervisor. And of course, like, there was the other things, like, you know being like, influenced by diagnosed like, who knows, ron conway or whatever . But you know, i kind of, like, took the opportunity to troll some people. I said send some pictures of glossy fliers with bad color schemes. And said pick up your trash. And i want to know where that fucking trash is coming from. This proposition is so fucking necessary. We need to get it on the ballot and get rid of this shit, and if we cant get rid of this shit, we need to know whats littering our streets with it. Chair ronen good morning. My name is vivian torelli. I have been a Campaign Worker since 1985, for art agnos. I carefully choose my candidates in terms of what they can bring to my city in terms of values, organization, and insight, and then, their chances of getting elected are threatened when their opponents have huge war chests to slam us. These are not only designed to affect the outcome of the election but are designed to exert undue influences on the policies of our opponents. A striking example was mayor breed, who in obvious deference to her donors who would be taxed under prop c did not support this strong source of revenue that was the antithesis of what her donors wanted. Yet, then she turned around and said her priority was Homeless Services and lamented that we need money for that. Donations have a loud voice and can shout down candidates who have the moral integrity who refuse to do the same in return. We need your support for the package of Public Financing Campaign Reform to give admirab admirable candidates a fighting chance against elections seeking control and elected officials. Chair ronen thank you. Next speaker, please. Eileen boken. Coalition for San Francisco. And San Francisco education and action committee. Here on my behalf here in support of the sun light on dark money initiative. This initiative would take steps to level the Playing Field by increased disclosure, limiting contributions, and enforcement to ensure compliance. It would take steps to control some of the excesses created by Citizens United. It would repeal the board of supervisors ordinance from 2015 eliminating certain Disclosure Requirements for independent expenditure committees. It would implement safeguards against paytoplay for that appearance on development decisions. I would like to acknowledge each of the supervisors who have sponsored this initiative. It would move the election process in a better and more equitiable direction. It would make elections more competitive even for those candidates without deep pocket donor base. It would encourage more candidates to run who might not otherwise because of the daunting task of competing with candidates connected to super p. A. C. S, and hopefully this will reign in the endless reporting in the media about which candidate has raised the most money. Thank you. Good morning, supervisors. My name is holda garofalo, and i have served on two grand jurys. The Ethics Commission was one of our topics, but that led us to looking into how nonprofits and super p. A. C. S really prevent present a huge problem in our city. We always here about the swamp hear about the swamp in washington, d. C. San francisco has a pretty murky swamp of their own, and its time we tie up all those loopholes, have a city for the people, not for the lobbyists, the politicians who benefit because theyre totally selfinterested. Its time to start serving San Francisco. Oftentimes, our Public Servants forget Public Servant means serving the people. You work for us. Its time to start doing that without the slime and murk attach tod attached to it. Thank you. Good morning, supervisors. Im charles marstellar, formerly with common cause and certainly now with friends of ethics. I do want to say that at one time, we had a very robust investigative press, and like the rest of the country, weve seen a terrible decline in the ability of the press to fund that type of investigative reporting. Were working our way through that, but right now, theres a deficit that we really need to makeup for, and i think it goes to the law. We need to adjust our law accordingly and now to take action to make sure on this side of the law, we rewrite our laws to deal with some of these loopholes that we hear about and no longer expect the press to address those through robust reporting. They do what they can, but its not enough. And i think the supervisors here saw that in the last election process season that brought them to this body. And i do want to thank them for their efforts and interest because they saw what that means, and the corruption in this town that the press could not pick up the story on. So nows the time to address the law, and i think youve done an excellent job with this bill, and i want to thank the sponsors, mr. Keen and John Gollinger and mr. Ammiano on this, and im glad that eight members of the board are supporting this, a Broad Spectrum of the board, as we are on this issue, a Broad Spectrum of america. Chair ronen thank you so much. Next speaker. Hello. My name is agatha vassilar, and im speaking to you as a regular constituent whose family has been here 30 years. Before the 2018 election, i travelled around the country doing a project called inside out book project, and you know the San Francisco mural thats on display in the sf moma, its the same project thats on the voter registration. I talked to hundreds, if not thousands of people, and the major reason i heard that people dont vote is in a system where a corporate machine drowns out our vote, its very easy to believe that our conversations with elected officials dont matter. This is it. Big money out of politics is that root cause issue, and its my greatest wish to revitalize the culture of democracy in San Francisco and the country, and i think this is such a great step towards enacting that movement, so thank you so much. Chair ronen is there any other member of the public who wishes to speak . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel]. Chair ronen i just want to say that its rare to see such a piece of common sense legislation. Its pretty straightforward. If corporations cant donate to candidates, then limited Liability Corporations shouldnt be able to donate to candidates. If people with contracts before the board or before a Decision Maker who is running for a particular office should not be allowed to donate, then developers with housing projects before that same body shouldnt be allowed to donate. And if a law exists to ensure that we know who pays for campaign propaganda, then we shouldnt allow those donors to hide behind fake names. I mean, thats the essence behind this really common sense lemgs latio legislation. I have shared your frustration, commissioners keen and kopp for the failure of the Ethics Commission to pass something so common sense. I want to thank all of the advocates, thank you so much for your relentless work in this matter for not getting so disenchanted that you stopped pushing and stopped trying and stopped using other methods to go directly before the voters who i agree with you, peter, are going to overwhelmingly pass this measure. And i really want to thank my colleague, gordon mar, for putting this being the leader behind this effort. Supervisor walton . Supervisor walton thank you, chair ronen. I just want to echo the terms of my fellow Committee Members in terms of the importance of knowing who is giving to whom. The Citizens United decision set us back in a lot of decisions in the Supreme Court. As you know, were going back in a time warp, so any time we have a chance to make a decision in good policy that is really going to disclose some of dark money and some of the things that are happening in our political system, we ought to be able to do that. And i want to thank supervisor mar for stepping up and all the colleagues that supported this initiative or ordinance because it is important for us to know who is giving money toward races, so we can shine a light on whats happening in our campaign. So thank you so much, and again, i appreciate all the Public Comment and everyone for coming out this morning. Chair ronen supervisor mar . Supervisor mar thank you, chair ronen. And i just wanted to thank everyone for being here today and actually for many years, as judge kopp mentioned, this work goes back to the 1970s, and really for standing up against dark money, standing up for transparency and democracy. This is all about us knowing about whos trying to buy our elected officials and votes. We need to ensure our leaders are accountable to the public, not to dark money donors, corporations, or big developers. And with this initiative, we will end corporate contributions. We will end paytoplay policy particulars. And our work doesnt end there, and the board of supervisors will have another public finances ordinance to vote on this coming fall, but this initiative is crucial and a Ground Breaking step forward, so thank you so much for everyone here for all of your work on it. Chair ronen thank you. And with that, i will make a motion to file this hearing. If i can take this without objection . Without objection, that motion passes. Thank you so much. [gavel]. Chair ronen mr. Clerk, can you please read item number 2. [agenda item read]. Chair ronen thank you so much. And weve been joined by supervisor haney. Hello, supervisor haney. You want to start us off . Supervisor haney well, thank you, chair ronen and our rules Committee Members for having me again. And this will be, as required by the when we amend a charter amendment, we have to come back a second time. I just want to reiterate what some of those amendments are which reflect feedback from the department, from the Mayors Office and from stakeholders to ensure better coordination moon the existing advisory bodies. We are also in the process of drafting trailing legislation that will enact legislation among the current advisory bodies. These amendments also ensure that the commission acts in partnership with the committees to comply with mandates from state and federal funding, and they reflect the need to exempt contracts procured under the shelter ordinance from commission approval. That was one of the concerns that the department put forward that we addressed in these amendments. It also changes one of the appointment seats from the board of education to the controller, and it gives us more time to see and start the commission in may instead of march. Im confident that these amendments make this an even better proposal and improvement and will help the city better serve people experiencing homelessness and living in supportive housing. I appreciate the support of this committee and look forward to the commission being on the ballot. I wont go into a lot of details about the commission itself because i think we heard that fully last time around, but im happy to address any questions that you all have about it and hopefully will have your support continued support. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you so much. If theres no comments from my colleagues, i want to open this item up for Public Comment. Any member of the public, if you wish to lineup to my right, your left, youll have two minutes each, and feel free to come on forward. Sean davis. And im speaking on my behalf, but for identification purposes, im in the tenancy, and im kind of a bull dog, and lets face it. Im some support of this. The s. R. O. Task force has had to get involved in a lot of things around the s. H. Portion of the h. S. H. I would say it took 14 days into my Hunger Strike for them to actually admit that the rent issue was a problem. I also had to bring h. S. H. Before the task force when this controversial Wellness Check approximately happened in november, and its just really we really, really, really need this oversight. And ive also just found out that that protocols around Adult Protective Services and the h. S. H. Buildings are kind of a very mixed, kind of very depends on from agency to agency, so theres just a lot of issues that need to be addressed here, and im glad the commission will do this. Im okay with the amendments but i did bring this before the democratic socialists of america homelessness working group, and i will say they are kind of concerned that seven seats are going to be flipped from the board of education to the controller because the controller is also appointed by the mayor, and its just while im still going to, like, support this, im still going to vote yes, im still going to do a lot of volunteering for this. But im worried if this was compromised too much, there may not be as many boots on the ground for it. I think we really need sun light on h. S. H. Hi. My names mallory lynn hill. Im speaking today on behalf of San Francisco Housing Action coalition. We appreciate the amendments and the Community Input that came with them, and were we want to create as much housing as possible and get as many folks into it as we can, and were concerned that this is going to be a wasteful measure. Thank you. Hello, supervisors. Paul monkay from San Francisco housing services. Last year, mayor breed said in response to proposition c, the city needs to you haudit the million that were spending on Homeless Services and that san franciscan deserve accountability for the money that weve already paid. Mayor breed recognized that the existing oversight structures are not sufficient, that there still needs work to be done on that end. This statement by the mayor is a call to action, and this proposal is a direct response to that call for action. Weve heard concerns that having a commission in place could slow down services, and believe me, we are the last people that want to see delays in contracting because it affects our ability to keep lights on and provide services, but in our community, there is a strong support for the commission because we believe there will identify delays in contracting and help us campaign for the most Critical Issues facing our city now. Good morning, supervisors, but thank you so much for the opportunity. My name is malia chavez, and im speaking in behalf of my role as director of hespa, the emergency providers association. I wanted to point out that this was an opportunity for us to really figure out what the budgetary process it for is for the department . There are a number of budgets that contribute to the overall budget of the department and its unclear what that separate set of budgets look like. And without going through a sunshine request or without asking for more details, the response from the department was that its a separate budget that doesnt actually appear through the board of supervisors process or the mayors budget . And so just again, one more better opportunity to under where all these resources are going . And so i know one of the requests here was around process and transparency and costs that might be able to go to service providers. It would be really great just to better understand what we currently have and be able to have oversight as well as an opportunity to provide feedback around prioritization or requests from a community standpoint, so thank you. Chair ronen thank you so much. Any other members of the public who would like to speak . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. I am happy, if my colleagues have no other comments, to make a motion to forward this to the full board as a committee report. Can i take that without objection . Without objection, that motion passes. [gavel]. Chair ronen thank you, supervisor haney. Mr. Clerk, can you please read item 3 . Clerk item 3 is a hearing appointing one member, term ending november 20, 2019 to the entertainment advisory committee. Okay. First, well hear from mr. Wells. Good morning. Hello. Good morning, chairwoman ronen, supervisor walton, supervisor mar. Very pleased to be here today to be reappointed by my supervisor to be the d10 rep for the bicycle advisory committee. Ive served for a couple of years. Im serving as the vice chair now, and in terms of what were working on, im very proud to say that the sfbac has become more of an active committee for the board. Were working more on being a watchdog on various issues for the city. Each of us are appointed by our supervisors for our districts to combine the needs in every district in terms of not just Bicycle Transportation but safety in regards to vision 2020 and how these pieces all work together. Bayview is underserved in a lot of ways and were looking for ways to take bicycle lanes that are suddenly disappeared, going nowhere and make a network of them so that its an easier trail. Plus the growth of Tech Companies down in Silicon Valley and down the peninsula has meant that theres now a shift of caltrain passengers, and a lot of them come from the potrero hill and Mission Bay Area that get on the caltrain and head to their jobs, so theres a much bigger need for better bike lanes. One of the things that we have done is were fully staffed for representatives for each districts. We come up with resolutions, we recently came up with a resolution that im quite happy with, Autonomous Vehicle and bike population. There was a push by a republican law maker from a state that doesnt have a high population, a push for auto nomous vehicles, so we made a push to have our own safety regulations. We are coming into a phase now where there are motorized vehicles and scooters, and we need to control that. And then, in the safety issues, in terms of what we have as a mission, the four parts of vision zero, education, engineering, enforcement, and evaluation. And evaluation is how are the things were doing working . How are they not working is just as important to know. Are we falling down or a plan that maybe engineering has to take another look and know that this right turn here or this left turn here is creating a dangerous situation. Im glad that were moving forward with protects bike lanes at a higher clip, and then also Education Needs to be stepped up for bicyclists as well as motorists as well as uberlyft drivers who need to feel the enforcement of the bike lanes so that they dont look at it as a passenger drop off and pickup lane, which often does. I was very happy to participate in bike to workday. I came off my bicycle at brannan and 9th and tore my rotator cuff, so i know how hard our streets can be. Ive been a resident of potrero hill since the 80s. Ive been a director of the San Francisco beautiful board of directors. Im on the vintage street cars, and im also on our events and outreach committee, so im very tied in with transportation in San Francisco with the health and future of the city, and in mobility permit harmonization, and im looking for ways we can continue to serve the city and bridge the gaps between different agencies and different committees, so thank you very much. Chair ronen supervisor walton, do you have any comments . Okay. Now for Public Comment. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your willingness to serve and your knowledge on the issue. Were going to open this up for Public Comment now. Okay. Chair ronen if any member of the public would like to speak on this item, please come forward now. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel]. Chair ronen supervisor walton . Supervisor walton thank you so much, chair ronen, and thank you for coming in, mr. Wells. I know it took a moment to make the nomination. I want my colleagues to know your excitement about the issues. You have a passion for safe biking across the city and you have a plethora of ideas making sure that bicyclists are safe while we have to deal with all forms of transportation here in San Francisco. And the last thing ill say is definitely appreciate your excitement for serving on the b. A. C. , and someone who is persistent in your vision and your goals for what we can do to envision a safer safer opportunity for people who want to cycle through our city. And so thank you so much for your dedication and commitment, and i was excited to make this nomination. Yes. And i would like to move item 3 for seat 10 for the bicycle advisory committee, i move the nomination of mr. Paul wells forward with a positive recommendation. Chair ronen without objection, that motion passes unanimously. Thank you, mr. Wells. Thank you. Chair ronen mr. Clerk, can you please read item 4. Clerk item 4 is a motion approving or rejecting the mayors nomination of the reappointment of ben bleiman to the Entertainment Commission for a term ending november 21, 2023. Chair ronen thank you. Mr. Bleiman, welcome. President bleiman thank you very much for having me. Ill try to make my comments brief here. My name is ben bleiman. Ive lived in San Francisco for almost 16 years now, and ive been a bar owner, a father to a toddler now in the outer richmond, and a passionate organizer around nightlife for at least the last ten years, if not more. I am currently the chairman of the california music and culture association, which is the trade association that represents night clubs and bars and Music Festivals and music concerts. And as i said, ive spent years advocating for night life. But before joining the Entertainment Commission, but joining the Entertainment Commission has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences ive had. Im now the president of the commission, which allows me kind of some extra input into the direction that the office goes and what we do. And i cant say how pleasurable it is and how rewarding it is to work with the commission staff. Theyre extraordinary competent and care deeply about San Francisco night life as i do. I think my root of love for night life is night life is for everyone and shouldnt just be for the wealthy. In some cases, it seems thats the case, and i dont think that should be the case here. My philosophy around the Entertainment Commission is we want to push inclusive options for night live so that everyone in San Francisco can feel represented in our night time world, our nighttime economy, etc. I did show you some of my accomplishments during my tenure there, and i wanted to highlight some of the things im specifically excited for going forward. These may be a little geeky, but im truly excited about them. The first is were digitizing all of our permitting processes, but putting it online and allowing access to it, not only improves our offices ability to enforce it, but it also ensures access for people especially who dont have incredible amounts of wealth to handle the bureaucracy that we have. And then, were about to move the office of 49 south vanness and be a part of the first permitting center maybe on the west coast . Its exciting and increases access of the ability of the little business owner, the person doing a smaller cultural event to very easily get their permit rather than have to run around at great cost, relative cost to themselves. There is a special Event Steering Committee thats just been announced by the mayor. This is another thing that im very passionate about. This kind of goes into the permitting side, but if we can make special events easier to permit and less hassle, were going to have more cultural events, which im very excited about. And last, im always thinking of ways to promote, promote, promote, promote night life in San Francisco. Last thing, we need to find ways to pay gigs for musicians and performers in San Francisco. Theyre leaving the city in mass numbers, and its really terrifying and sad, and we need to find ways as a government to get them paying gigs. And this is associated with that, strengthening small and large venues in town who actually pay the performers. And it may seem robust right now, but venues are an endangered species right now. I keep sounding the alarm, but its a very scary time, and we need to figure out how we can best support venues to promote night life in San Francisco. With that, im happy to answer any questions that you have, and happy to be up here and very honored and respectful. Thank you. Chair ronen any questions . No questions. Okay. Well now open this up for Public Comment. Any member of the public who would like to speak, please feel free to come forward. Good morning. My name is dracori donaldson. Ive been a resident of San Francisco for over 12 years now. I met ben at big brothers big sisters. Through each role, ben has led me by example, and if theres one characteristic that i have always admired, it was his passion. Everything ben has done has been with a passion to succeed, inspire or get a net quality change. This makes ben a fit for a position such as the president of the Entertainment Commission. Thanks. Good morning, good morning. How you all doing . Damian posey. Might be all familiar with me. Ben has been like a big brother to me, as well, even though i think im older than him. But all the night life stuff is cool and everything, but at the end of the day, man, ben is a great person. You know, i was blessed to be the lead case manager for united players for five years, and im blessed to be over at y. C. D. , but when i came home from prison and was getting my life together, man, he was one of the individuals who seen that i had made a change and took a chance to me and gave me opportunity for some employment so that i could help take care of my daughter. He took a risk on me, and im grateful to that, and i hope that, you know, ive proved his guessing right, cause ive been out of trouble, staying focused, and hes been there every step of the way. Not only just with that, but helping me create a Good Relationship with my father and my community. And as i did more things in the community, he was always there, always volunteering. I have a workshop called uncommon youth that volunteers with the city. I bring it in so kids in the community can see that all things are possible from all standpoints. Each and every time ive asked him to contribute his time, money, resources to help the community, hes done it effortlessly, no charge, no i just did an Application Party at y. C. D. To get the kids ready for summer. You know, cause sometimes they be slacking. He donated 300 chicken wings. I know its chicken wings, but he was like no problem, come get it. When do you want to pick it up . Everything hes trying to do, i support. Chair ronen thank you so much. Thank you. Hi, manny. Hi. I just wanted to voice my support for reappointing ben to the Entertainment Commission. Ben is on my Advisory Board for mannys, and hes been a friend and mentor throughout the process. I knew him before he had ever gotten to know what i was doing. He immediately wanted to get involved in the project because he liked the idea of combining food and a bar with social justice. I helped me through every stage of the process, from where i should put the gas lines to who my contractor should be. He spent his own time to make sure that a new Small Business owner had a setup that would be beneficial to what he was trying to do, so it really just shows what kind of person he is. He also walks the walk. He doesnt just talk the talk, and it is amazing to me that he can do so much, and he does it with grace and authenticity, and a real love of San Francisco. I had never really bar tended before, and so he put me in a catering event in fort mason and put me in his team so i can learn the ropes. Im proud to be a member of his team and to know him, and i join damian and dracori in supporting him. Chair ronen thank you. Is there any other Public Comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel]. Chair ronen supervisor walton . Supervisor walton i just want to say i support this nomination of ben bleiman. Ive known ben for years, and his focus on hiring locally, his focus on really supporting other businesses and making sure they have night liech success outside of his own, and you can see his night life success outside of his own. Its always good to see people excited about the roll that they have an opportunity to serve in. Chair ronen thank you so much. I couldnt agree more. This is one of those appointments where the mayor knocked it out of the park. Ben, i just want to thank you for everything you do for the community. I mean, the you know, the people who spoke during Public Comment said it best, so i dont think im going to be able to express myself more beautifully than you all did. But my experience with you has been exactly the same as everyone else. You make yourself available, youre so generous with your time and your vast knowledge about the entertainment world, about scity laws related to entertainment. I remember when i was a legislative aide, and i worked with you on a law, it was experience that i never had, where someone from the community came, asking for at the time supervisor campos to sponsor a law and was so prepared and just came with a broad knowledge. I think one of the hardest parts of the Entertainment Commission is simultaneously walking the line of being very supportive of Small Businesses and night life, and taking the concerns of the community seriously, and i think you do that with so much grace and thoughtfulness. Its hard, and its not easy, and i just want to express my own gratitude for that and say that i am so excited to be supporting you again today. So with that, no more comments. Do you want to do the pleasure . Supervisor walton yes. I make a motion that we amend item number 4, and eliminate rejecting, and we want to approve the nomination of ben bleiman for Entertainment Commission. Chair ronen thank you very much for that nomination. That motion passes unanimously. [gavel]. Chair ronen mr. Clerk, do we have any other items . Clerk i just want to confirm that item number 4 has been amended to approve the reappointment of ben bleiman and is recommended as amended, and that completes the agenda for today. Chair ronen fantastic. The meeting is adjourned. This is a regular meeting of the Small Business Commission Held on monday july 22, 2019. The meeting is being called to order at 2 02 p. M. The Small Business commission thanks Media Services for televising the meeting which can be