Chair ronen the meeting will come to order. This is the december 9, 2019 meeting of the rules committee. I am hillary ronen, chair of the committee. To my right is supervisor shamann walton, and supervisor gordon mar will shortly join me. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Clerk yes. Please silence all phones and electronic devices. Items acted on will appear on the december 19 board of supervisors agenda. Chair ronen just a quick note. Im going to call items out of order, so ill call item 1, and then 3 and 4, and end with 2 because its our longest item of the day. Mr. Clerk, will you please call item 1. Clerk item 1 is a hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending march 31, 2020, to the commission on ageing Advisory Council. Chair ronen thank you. Is mr. Cooper here . My background, you have aha a recesume and summary to look over. I went to harvard, and my last clinical environment was with liver disease. I wasnt a fulltime clinician, but liver liver disease. And about half of people are liver disease, about half on our transplant list had issues with Substance Abuse, and i often was tasked on having to give lectures on alcoholism and alcoholic liver disease, so i was familiar with that subject. And i took early retirement when i was 70 because they gave me money to get out and decided after a year off traveling that i wanted to work in that area, work in safety net medicine. I had been an activist when i was quite young, kind of let or not so young, through college and medical school, and in residency, i let that go, but i wanted to go back to that and work in safety medicine. So i went over to the haightashbury clinic, which was the epicenter, the start of addiction medicine, and they didnt have a job there, but they got me a job the atreasat island, working with the trainees in the job corps a. Many of them had issues with homelessness, many of them had issues with Substance Abuse in their past, and they were trying to get their lives in order and learn a trade. Then, there was an opening at haightashbury, and i worked there for a while. I had to stop for some personal health reasons, and as i was recovering from some of those, i got to walking the neighborhood and got to know some of the homeless people, and that led me to get involved with that issue, and you did and i can that a couple of different ways. I joined d. S. A. , with you. Worked on proposition c with jennifer, and d, and jessica, and i decided to join her action. I volunteer a couple of nights a month at the m. S. E. South shelter. Its run by the medical students, and we kind of help with medical problems and referrals for residents of the shelter who want to, also parenthetically involved with the beds for babies, so im sure you hear from our colleague who runs the rounds quite regularly. Were her colleague. At m. S. C. , i became interested in and all this stuff that was going on about the neediest and who are they and focusing on drug abuse and abuse and mental health, but there are a lot of seniors who have medical issues, who have other issues who i think im not challenging anyone. I think we need to take care of everybody, frankly, but theyre equally vulnerable, if not more so. And when this came up, it was my wife who noticed the opening i think as a way to get out of the house oh, thisll be good for you. I wont see you wednesday nights, so thatll be good, i applied for the position. My interests have gotten fairly broad, but they remain i know that the housing stuff has gone over to h. S. H. For elderly, but i think we still need to make sure that commission and that department is supervising it, making sure that their needs are being met, that theyre not being pushed aside because of another group whos politically in favor, so thats the main thing. My main job in the first months will be obviously to learn about what they do and how they do it, and then see areas where i might be able to make contributions, like contributions tend to be focused from the point of medicine and medical issues, and i would hope to continue doing that. Right now, i know at s. D. A. , were working on an issue around wheelchairs, and hopefully, youll be hearing about that as we as we begin to refine it and come forward with some proposals for the city. Thats about all i can say. If you want another pain in the neck, approve my appointment, and im happy to answer any questions that you might have. Chair ronen well, i would love a pain in the neck like you not just any pain in the neck, but a pain in the neck like you. I want to thank you so much not only for everything that you do but for being willing to take on this role, as well, and i highly, highly recommend and am excited about your appointment. Supervisor fewer . Supervisor fewer yes, thank you very much. Sorry. I just entered the conversation, but i have been watching it, actually, on the screen, and my question to you is in my neighborhood, we are planning the first senior playground in San Francisco, an exercise area specifically with equipment that is targeted towards flexibility and mobility for seniors, so ageappropriate equipment, those type of things on public land. Wanted to know how do you feel about that . I think thats terrific. I hope the city will put enough money into it so that it becomes effective, and be delighted to watch it and follow up on it. Supervisor fewer oh, great because id love to work with the commission on this. Thank you very much. Great. Chair ronen i think thats all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Chair ronen thanks for your testimony. Ill now open this item up for Public Comment. Any member of the public wish to speak, come on up. Youll have two minutes. David Elliott Lewis here. Through my volunteer work with senior disability action, ive gotten to know dr. Cooper over the past year plus as we continued to Work Together under voluntary services plus. And ive just been immensely impressed with his work on our voluntary first coalition, on other senior disability action committees. Hes been a measured and quiet voice. Hes not the troublemaker in the room like he describes himself. Hes actually been sort of a voice of reason and intelligence and wisdom in the room, and were, like, grateful to have him. He provides a great perspective with his background in medicine, Substance Abuse medicine, and anybody would be lucky to have him. I strongly support his nomination and support. Chair ronen thank you. Anybody else like to speak on this item . Yes. And if anybody would like to speak on this item, please lineup on this side of the room. Hi. Im here for probably a different reason than a lot of people that come here are. They usually have a lot of very real letters after their name or experience with a lot of different organizations in town or Therapeutic Centers or whatever. My experience has more to do with the street in a way and with International Experience with the drug culture allaround the world. Im from San Francisco. Ive lived allaround the world. I speak spanish fluently. I think that thats important chair ronen im sorry. Im pausing your time. Are you considering item number 1, which is the appointment to the commission on the ageing Advisory Council . Im 66. I thought there was some program of reducing drug dealing on the street. Chair ronen thats the next item. Okay. Sorry. But i am a senior. What does this program involve . Chair ronen sorry. This is the appointment of allen cooper on the commission to the commission on ageing Advisory Council. Okay. Well, if you need somebody, let me know. Chair ronen okay. Is there any other Public Comment on this item, item number 1 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel]. Chair ronen would you like to make a motion . Supervisor walton i move that we move item 1 forward with a positive recommendation to the full board. Chair ronen without objection, that item passes. Clerk itll be the recommendation of allen cooper to seat number 2. Chair ronen thats right. Congratulations, mr. Cooper. [applause] chair ronen and as i aunited stat announced at the beginning of the meeting, were going to be calling items 3 and 4 next just because item 2 is going to take a long time and items 3 and 4 are going to be relatively quick. Mr. Clerk, can you read items 3 and 4. Clerk item 3 it to item number 3 is a motion amending the board of supervisors rules of order to rename the fivemember budget and finance committee as the budget and appropriations committee, and to require that the committee to hold special hearings regarding the mayors budget instructions and Budget Priorities. And item 4 is an ordinance amending the administrative code to modify the process for the citys adoption of the annual budget by requiring city agencies to hold public hearings prior to submission of their proposed budgets to the controller and the mayor, requiring the mayor to submit to the board of supervisors a description of the mayors Budget Priorities after holding a public hearing regarding these priorities, and requiring the controller to maintain a public website with information about the citys budget process. Chair ronen thank you. Supervisor fewer . Supervisor fewer thank you. Colleagu colleagues, thank you to each member of the budget and finance committee for going through the process, and thank you to each of our cosponsors, supervisors mandelman and stefani, and that makes the entire Budget Committee, supervisors ronen, yee, and walton. But truly, thank you to the Community Advocates and the budget justice coalition. This legislation will make changes at every phase of the budget process to ensure transparency and community engagement. Departments will submit the proposed budgets both to the mayor and to the board which will help us as a body better understand how departments are allocating funds and for what purposes prior to the june budget process. The mayor will also solicit input on Budget Priorities through a Public Meeting format and submit Budget Priorities to the board. And for the board of supervisors, this legislation will change the name of the fivemember committee to budget and appropriations, and struck the budget chair each year introduce a motion outlining the budget process. Chair ronen thank you so much. Supervisor mar . Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor ronen. First, i wanted to thank supervisor fewer for her outstanding leadership as understanding budget issues and her term on the board. When i began my term in office, i made a commitment to a robust and transparent budget process, so im really proud to have worked really closely with supervisor fewer on a comprehensive budget reform legislative package which are just a couple that we of wh were going to be introducing over the next year. I specifically want to thank the budget Reform Working Group members, Debbie Lerman of the Human Services network. Joe wilson of hospitality house, and jennie friedenbach of the department of homelessness. I became even more concerned about upon learning about the invitation only closeddoor meetings held by the Mayors Office in every district without input from the District Supervisor or notice to the public. With with this legislation, the public will have more opportunities to engage early in the process when so many crucial decisions are already being made. I am eager to hear what my constituents have to say even before the budget comes to the board board of supervisors, and i will be engaging with departments and the Mayors Office to ensure the public knows about these opportunities created by this reform. Democracy is one of our core values, and it does not begin or end at the ballot box but should be part of the processes with which we govern ourselves with every facet of our lives. I look forward to moving this legislation forward with positive recommendation to the full board, but this is only the beginning. We will continue to work with Community Advocates on subsequent budget reform legislation to address the structural equities of this process, one which will allow the city to tackle the biggest issues of our time, wealth equality and its ability to tackle homelessness. Thank you. Chair ronen supervisor walton . Supervisor walton thank you, chair ronen. This last budget process was my first as a member of the board of supervisors, but i certainly participated over several processes over the years, and i appreciate the job that you did during the last process, but even more so that you want to continue to make the process more efficient and particularly more transparent for everyone to get involved in the budget process. So thats why im happily supporting this and appreciate all the work that has gone into this. Chair ronen thank you. I want to echo you, supervisor walton, as an extended member of the Budget Committee. I want to congratulate and thank supervisor fewer for running probably the best process that ive ever seen as city hall, and ive been here ten years, running through these processes. This is no small feat, and i want to also thank you for these changes. I want to tell you about the one that i think im most excited about and i think is goes to be more helpful that we in a twomonth process have the herculesan task of submitting budgets to the board at the same time that they submit them to the mayor. That will let people understand in detail before the budget gets to the board. Its something that ive often behind the scenes tried to request but havent had very much success in and only requesting those from the departments that im focused on. We should be receiving those as a matter of course from all departments. I want to tell you how excited i am with that particular part of the legislation. With that, if theres no further comment from my colleagues, ill open this up for Public Comment. Anyone wishing to speak, please lineup to my right, your left, and anyone wishing to speak please start us off. Debra . Good morning, supervisors, and i share your excitement. I am Debbie Lehrman from the budget justice coalition, and first i want to thank supervisors fewer and mar, chelsea and daisy, and all of the cosponsors who have signed on, along with the Mayors Office and the Budget Office. The budget is the singlemost important piece of legislation that this board takes on every year, and this will improve transparency and civic trust in government. The budget negotiations often happen behind closed doors. There are boards that dont hold meetings at all, and those that do, some of them dont have a meeting until late in the process, just before it goes to the mayor. Its hard to get budget information from departments. Its either buried on their websites or not on there at all. This legislation addresses that through public hearings, and a centralized website where people can go to one website and find out about the budgets and about upcoming hearings. This will ensure that the budget reflects Community Values and priorities through a more open process, and i cannot express enough or appreciation for your support and your vote. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you. Mr. Mornino. Supervisors, matthi matthias mormino. We look through peoples budget and annuals, and we find usual suspects like chelsea boillard, who authored a piece around how we should reform our budget. I remember we were talking with supervisor fewer and supervisor mar and saying yeah, we might do that. But there has been a lot of fighting there. I think its important that we increase transparency and access. Too many times, we ask our constituents, our folks to come out to a hearing, stand in line for hours and hours to get two minutes to speak on something that theyre passionate about. And then, as you sit there with them or as they leave the room, theyre like what happened . What are they going to say . How is this question that i had a burning question for the Police Departments budget or the Sheriffs Department budget, why is it not being answered . You know, i think with this legislation, we start seeing more information come to our constituents so that really the budget process is anchored in community, and so that people that want to get information about the budget process dont have to go through proxies like ourselves or the coalition but can actually find that information directly on the citys website, which seems a really simple task, but i know that our friends at the Controllers Office and the city attorneys office, thats not an easy task. So i want to thank everybody at the Mayors Office, the Budget Office and staff, and everybody that helped. Thank you. Chair ronen hello, again. Good morning again. David Elliott Lewis. One of the great frustrations in dealing with city hall at times is lack of opacity and transparency. I think this is a big step forward. The public hearings are immensely helpful, but the website especially will make it make the information useful. I think this should be a best practice for all city hall processes. I know you do it with Commission Hearings and minutes, but all processes should be as public and transparent as this, so thank you for considering it. Thank you for your time. Good morning, supervisors. I just wanted to echo what the other folks have said. The budget and im sarah shore with Community Housing partnership, and im with the budget housing coalition. With the folks that ive been working with in coalition, folks who have masters degrees, and in some cases, doctorates, it is incredibly difficult to find out where the money is going. Thats the most important piece of this is, where the moneys going, and what are the Funding Priorities of the city . Whos being left out and whos, you know, maybe being disproportionately served . We as advocates for folks who are the most vulnerable in the city deserve and need to know about those things, and we need to know the details so we can advocate in the right way. So i really appreciate this legislation. I think this is going to bring tremendous transparency to the process. The remember site is wonderful website is wonderful, but also the fact that the board gets a lot of information and therefore a say in this process is incredibly important, and it actually helps power the district members, constituents, to be able to speak to that, as well. So we just wholeheartedly support this. I have to say that i was, back in the day, a member of what was called the peoples budget, so thats just so thai that the community has been working on this for a very long time and has to put together whole big coalitions and long, lengthy processes just to do the work of understanding the budget and watchdogging it and getting that money going to the right groups, and it should [inaudible] chair ronen thank you. Are there any other speakers on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel]. Chair ronen supervisor fewer . Supervisor fewer yes. I was remiss in saying that the inclusion of supervisor mandelman and supervisor stefani, that means the entire Budget Committee. I meant to say that supervisor mar and supervisor yee are sponsors. I want to thank chelsea boillard. I think she has a much deeper understanding of the budget than i do as the budget chair, so i just want to give her a thanks. Shes been working on the budget as a Community Organizer for a really long time. I feel that we are so honored to be able to be in this position that as budget chair and on the Budget Committee to be able to drive these things, and thank you to my cosponsors. Thanks. Chair ronen we are the lucky ones. Is there a motion you want to do the honors, supervisor mar . Supervisor mar i would like to move that we move this forward to the both items, items number 3 and 4, to the full board with a positive recommendation. Clerk Committee Report . Chair ronen as a Committee Report . Supervisor mar as a Committee Report. Thanks. Chair ronen without objection, those motions pass. Clerk item number 3 and 4 will be recommended as a neigh. The task force will identify the underlying causes of the increase in streetlevel drug dealing and implement immediately coordinated, evidencebased solutions to urgently tackle this problem. The task force will look at crime prevention, Law Enforcement, recidivism, longterm employment and alternatives to incarceration. It will have the power to solicit data and Research Best practices from around the country. The task force will prepare and submit to the board of supervisors and the mayor a plan which will contain a review of the best practices. The goal of this task force is to start in the next couple of months. Small businesses right now are suffering and residents are suffering and need a seat at the table where these critical decisions will be made about the future of their neighborhoods and their wellbeing. We need to come up with strategies beyond solely policing and incarcerated low level offenders. There needs to be a comprehensive and strategic approach. For those who have applied, if you are not selected to sit on this task force, i hope that you will continue your commitment to the community and will still engage in the task force by attending future hearings and meetings that the task force will have. Thank you, and im looking forward to getting to work. Thank you so much. Chair ronen thank you. Do any of my other colleagues have any questions . Okay. So we have 25 applicants for nine seats. I think its testament to how important this this task force is that we have so many applicants for for to play a role in fixing this longstanding entrenched problem in the neighborhood and in the district. So were going to call one by one those applicants thats true here today. Were that are here today. Were going to ask that you hold your comments to two minutes so we can get out in a timely manner. Im going to call three applicants at a time. Feel free to come up in any order and lineup to my right, your left. So i will start with lindsey maria richard, lindsay lasalle, and benjamin ambrogi. My name is lindsay lasalle. I am an attorney, and really, we work to remove drug use and drug sales to the maximum extent possible out of the criminal Justice System and instead into the Public Health and other social Services Systems that can better address the harms of drug use and drug sales and also can better address the harms of criminalization. If we dont want people selling on the street then saddling them with a criminal conviction and a criminal record where they cant enter the employment market and only leave them to enter an illicit market is counter productive. Our policies that we have, we intend to be based in science, compassion, health, and human rights. For my part, my portfolio largely focuses on crafting policy solutions in the space of health and Harm Reduction. My expertise really lies in translating lived experience, international practice, and the research and science to come up with effective solutions, policy proposals, and programs that can be implemented at the local, state, and federal level. So in the context of drug use, this has looked like access to naloxone, access to medication treatment like buprenorphine. Im very interested in translating those issues from drug usage and drug sales. We also have a broader report coming out on drug sales next week. For that, i interviewed dozens of people who sell drugs to try to remove the stigma and racism that largely informs who we think sells drugs, and that has a whole host of policy solutions that i would love to bring to the task force and start exploring, so thank you so much. Good morning. My names maria richard, and i am very experienced at using a multifaceted approach to addressing negative behaviors such as the street drug dealing. Ive worked for 20 years on the corner at turk and taylor, at 111 taylor as the director of a reentry program. We house over 100 men and women that are returning to the community from prison, and this is another alternative to prison. We have an 85 employment rate on individuals who have extensive criminal history. So i have an excellent relationship with our Law Enforcement family, with the sfpd, probation, state parole, federal probation, as well as working with just a plethora of agencies to assist our returning citizens in umm canning back into the community. Many of these individuals have had an extensive history of drug dealing charges. Not all of them, but many of them have. We strongly believe in a Restorative Justice model with our program. We have several agencies that are really working on the street that are dealing with this population kind of in a different way. We have given offices to both civic, pit stop, and Hunters Point family to work out of Taylor Street so they can be right there. I have worked directly with formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, friend. Although i have not personally been incarcerated, i have firsthand experience with the Substance Abuse issue as well as the arrests, so our main focus is helping to assist through cognitive Behavioral Changes and making better choices. We obviously deal with this issue, being on the corner of turk and taylor. Ive been doing this for 20 years, and i would apply the eight principles of evidencebased practice that any Agency Working with or any element working with the incarcerated should be using, and i would use my expertise to help educate other people, what Behavioral Changes, and what is the best practices to address this revolving door and just change. We definitely go by it takes a village and it takes relationships to address this issue. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you so much. Next speaker, and while benjamins coming up, if michael brinkofski, pedro florez, and david bercutt can lineup. Good morning. The more time i spend in these communities, the more i think i can be a valuable contribution to these communities and to the task force because ive seen the streetlevel drug deal issues from both sides. A decade ago i know the tenderloin a different way because when i was 20, i was using drugs from the streets of the tenderloin, and it was a daily process, and i observed Police Strategies that would curb drug sales and use ageaged i saw policies that completely failed. Although a lost a lot of my life, i am lucky that i was able to turned my life around and get an education. I work closely with a program called Second Chance and specifically a professor mobley who taught me about Restorative Justice. We watched people turn their lives around using new and alternative programs and staying out of prison. Today, i still work in education and also in the law. Im usually working at a college on post and taylor or im working at u. C. Hastings a few blocks away. This spring, i worked closely training pro bono attorneys and working with the homeless advocacy project, and i consider myself lucky not only have been able to turn my life around, but to be able to have these two lives and two different experiences that i think put me in a unique position to be able to understand a Street Level Drug Dealing Task force. Id like to be able to use that experience to help the community. Chair ronen thank you so much. Hello again. Nows the right time. Yeah. I tried four times. So my names david bercutt, and rather than list take up too much time listing all the things ive done, i just would like to say that ive been involved in the drug world since i was a teenager, and im 66 now. Since 1998, ive been clean with the help of buprenorphine, which is a miraculous substance that can help the city very much. Ive been a salesman most of my life. I specialize in communications in helping people paint mental pictures of things, of helping people understand what is being attempted to accomplish, just all forms of communication between the task force and the people on the street requires somebody that knows who they are, where theyre from, has lived in their country as i have, that knows a lot of details that you people are probably not even aware of about the business on the street and how its run, and where its run, and where it works back to. Its all very surprising and not exactly what people think, but i believe theres somebody that can really mix with the people on the street whos not afraid of the people on the street and who has a lot of experience and expertise. Theres a book i wrote. Its about 220 pages long. Its called drug realities. Its available on the internet, so ive done a lot of communications work, historical work, all kinds of work that are sort of in the background but theyre very essential for making a bridge between what you people are trying to initiate and what their realities are on the street, which are so different. There has to be somebody that knows the two things and is able through communication to bridge that gap. I could name a lot of other things that ive done, but im not going to take the time. Chair ronen thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you. And i also wanted to call jessie james johnson, sam dennison, and portia diction sdiction dixson. Hello. My name is pedro florez. Ive worked with the National Council on alcoholism and ive led our prevention and diverse programs while working there, so working closely with many families in the tenderloin, which are immigrants and are forced to live there under the circumstances that were trying to remedy with the task force. What i would like to do is offer my service, both my insights professionally and my experience in Public Health and my listed experience as a resident to help support this work. Now i realize that this is coming from its not coming from one of your districts, but i hope that this can be an invitation for partnership, because although the tenderloin is burdened with this problem, it is not just in the tenderloin, it is a problem for all of San Francisco. Thank you. Hi. My name is jessie james johnson. Im a poet and a 20year resident of the tenderloin. I believe i qualify for seats 1, 2, and 3 and or 7 and 8. I have letters of support from several communitybased organizations, a business owner, one from a property owner, and my landlord. Theyre included because its not who i am that are important, but the people that are in my life. These are people who are part of my daily life, people who i have earned their trust and people who i work with. You might know that golden gate is the epicenter of the open air drug dealing. As different as we all are, we are the different people we must come together to address the crisis we find ourselves in. I believe i can help in reaching a consensus. Its heartbreaking to see the people of the tenderloin working against each other. The visual is an obstacle. I believe that anyone, if asked and given a clear path to follow will step forward to be a part of the solution. Some will be challenged to let go of our notion of being victims, and in being a victim, of having no responsibility tot larger community. We have a lot to work through. The solutions we seek will probably not be found in the deliberations of nine people. Who matter who is selected today, this task force must engage everyone in this room to be successful. We need to see ourselves as a community not just of people but with compassion to each other. Only then can we work towards the solution. Chair ronen thank you so much. What he said. Im sam dennison, and for the last nine months, ive been convening in my living room, a tenderloin committee dedicated to the harms of drug use in our community. Submit today mr. Haneys submitted to mr. Haneys office some of the legislation that were working on today. When i said what he said, i really mean it. I live in a place where one of the people that i treasure the most was shot in the back over a drug deal. Somebody living next door to me was shot through a window with somebody who was playing with a gun. Ive also seen people get out of jail trembling because theyve lost their home and everything. What we consistently do is the same thing over and over again, and im heartened to hear that there are a lot of people from the drug policy i lines group and policy Alliance Group and others who will bring to the table new ideas. Id like to foster the conversation that there are people who a as you know, ths is a very complex issue, and the piece that i have to bring to the table is that community parallel process where we have been engaging with these issues very deeply and thoughtfully. So my hope is that if i am to be part of this task force, that i can bring that element of listening clearly, speaking thoughtfully and encouraging others to really bring their better selfs to tves to the t. Thank you. Chair ronen and while portias coming up, ill call carol shanks, philip sabbagh, and thomas wolf. Hello. My name is portia dixson. Im here good morning oh, dang. Okay. I was a i was raised right here in the tenderloin on leavenworth. Actually, i was one of the peoples i started selling drugs out on the street corners at 13 years old. By the age of 34, lucky i had the support i had. I stopped selling. Now i started working for the gubio project. I work for hospitality house, i work for sort. Now i save lives, and i also help people get off the streets and get jobs now, but im not coming with the extensive background, but im one of the people, and im shy, i dont know what to say, oh, this is too much, whoa. Chair ronen youre doing great. Just just tell us who you are and what you want to do and speak from your heart. Im here to take people off the streets and not to jail because jail is not always the way. Im one of the people, and jail didnt help me. It didnt make me stop. I kept going. What worked was the support from other people, so ive got to go. Chair ronen just so you know, you did really, really well. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you, yall. Chair ronen thank you. Hi. My name is carol shanks. I work with food justice, community leader, Community Organizer. Im also a community activity, and i do a lot of work for different nonprofits in district 6. Im a native san franciscan. I am a i have experience in incarceration. I have dealt drugs. I am an addict in recovery. I have been out there on the street using. I also have a very, very good rapport with the people on the street, with the drug dealers and the users, which is very, very important, that they have a voice in this process. Its a lot its more complicated than than them just being out there, using drugs. Its much deeper, has to do with being homeless, mental issues, and all those issues have to be addressed. Its not only devastating to the community owners, but its also devastating to the people out there using and dealing drugs. I have been in meetings with sam in her living room for a few months now in dealing with solutions and helping with limth legislation for matt haneys office in this. I care. I really care, and i just would really, really like to have a seat and be a voice for the people, so i thank you. Namaste. Chair ronen thank you. Thank you. [applause] good morning. My name is thomas wolf. I used to be a heroin addict and homeless. I got clean about 18 months ago. I work with homeless veterans, many of which are dealing with Substance Abuse. I used to be a drive up buyer and then i was a walk up buyer. I know whats going on. Ive been out there. Now in recovery. What ive done is ive gotten some exposure on social media. Ive been on the news several times. What id like to do is bring some new ideas and solutions to the table for San Francisco. I am a native san franciscan, and i do still live in San Francisco, and i still live in the city, and i just want to help, so thank you very much. Chair ronen as philip comes up, if i could call janet ector, ibithaj hammond, and sew had a abdue agene, and soha abdu ajine and im sorry. [inaudible] all of this being said, im not indifferent to the struggles that people face. I have been volunteering at healthright 360, tutoring in g. E. D. Or in some cases, simply learning to read in the past four years, and i found that to be an incredibly rewarding experience. I believe people deserve sometimes second, third, fourth chances. At the same time, we cant enable people by turning a blind eye to their criminal activity. Im not going to pretend that i have the answer, im simply here as a concerned citizen. I have a strong background in analysis. I have a masters degree in business. Im real esta im retired, and im simply hoping i can help this task force achieve its goals. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you so much. Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to apply for a community on the task force. I have lived in San Francisco since 1976, frequently as a resident of the tenderloin. I was born to and raised in the same marginalized condition that currently plague our tenderloin community. I went through my own chaotic drug use, including dealing, and subsequently went through treatment at walden house. As a result, i went onto work at walden house for eight years. Im currently the manager of the Harm Reduction programs at glide, providing services to people who are actively engaged in drug use. In my current role, i also manage the Law Enforcement diversion program, working in collaboration with the sfpd, the sheriffs office, b. A. R. T. Police, the District Attorneys Office and several branchs of Public Health, so i have a lot of experience with the community and deep ties with the community, and i think i can bring a unique perspective to the task force thats grounded in the principles of Harm Reduction practices as well as being a voice for both reason and compassion. [please stand by]