Afternoon. Welcome to the december 17, 2019 regular meeting of the San Francisco board of supervisors. Madame clerk, please call the roll. Clerk thank you, mr. President. Supervisor fewer . Fewer not present. Supervisor haney . Haney present. Supervisor mandelman . Mandelman present. Supervisor mar. Mar present. Supervisor peskin . Peskin present. Supervisor preston. Preston present. Ronen present. Safai present. Supervisor stefani present. Supervisor walton present. Supervisor yee . President. Mr. President , you have a quorum. President yee thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. President yee okay. On behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge the staff at sfgovtv. Lawrence and michael. Who record each of our meetings and make the transcripts available to the public online. Madame clerk, are there any communications . Clerk yes, we received and processed mayor breeds legislation declaring the results of the 2015 election and as required the certificate of election and oath of office has been provided to the newest member of the board of supervisors representing district 5, dean preston. Lastly, pursuant to the administrative code, the surety bond requirements have been met for supervisor preston to conduct his official duties. President yee thank you. Supervisor, welcome to your first Board Meeting and congratulations on your election to the seat representing district 5. You had quite a swearing in ceremony in this chambers last night. So we all welcome you. Would you like to take 20 seconds to share words to begin . Thank you so much, and thank you, everyone, for the very, very warm welcome. And thank you to the clerk and the Clerks Office in particular for helping us get oriented to the new role and really looking forward to serving with everyone. Thank you, president yee and my colleagues and i look forward to working with you all. President yee thank you. We all look forward to working with you this coming year. So because were talking about this coming year, 2020, colleagues, before we proceed with our regular business, i would like to take this opportunity to share the updated Committee Assignments that will take effect immediately. So, some of the committees have not been changed, but some have. And i will read them off anyway. For the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services committee i will have supervisor mandelman as chair, supervisor stefani as vice chair. And supervisor walton as a member. The Government Audit Oversight Committee will have supervisor mar as chair. Supervisor peskin as vice chair. And supervisor haney as member. For the rules committee, supervisor ronen as chair. Supervisor stefani as vice chair. And supervisor mar as member. For the land use and transportation committee, we will have supervisor peskin as chair. Supervisor safai as vice chair. And supervisor preston as a member. For the budget and finance committee, well have supervisor fewer as chair, supervisor walton as vice chair, supervisor mandelman as member. For the extended committee, budget and appropriations committee, it will be supervisor ronen as a member and myself as a member. So those are the Committee Assignments starting effective immediately. And even though its immediate, i dont think well have any Committee Meetings for the rest of the week. But i want to urge that each of the chairs reach out to if you have new members, to reach out to the new members and make sure that everybodys schedule is compatible, so that we wont have people missing their meetings, okay . Lets see. I want to thank the colleagues for all your work. Lets move on to the Meeting Minutes. Yes, Meeting Minutes. Clerk yes, on the agenda today, we have the Meeting Minutes for items november 25, 2019 and november 12, 2019. Both Board Meeting minutes. President yee any changes to these Meeting Minutes . Seeing none, can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented . Motion by supervisor fewer, seconded by supervisor safai. And without objection, these will be approved after Public Comment today. Madame clerk. Please call the Consent Agenda. Clerk items 1 through 12 on consent. These items are considered to be routine. In a member objects, an item may be removed and considered separately. President yee okay. Would anyone like to sever items from the Consent Agenda . Seeing none. Madame clerk, please call the roll. Clerk on items 1 through 12, supervisor mar aye. Peskin aye. Preston aye. Ronen aye. Safai aye. Stefani aye. Walton aye. Yee aye. Fewer aye. Haney aye. Mandelman aye. There are 11 ayes. President yee thank you. Without objection the ordinances are finally passed unanimously. Madame clerk, lets go to our regular agenda. Item 13 is ordinance to amend the administrative and public works codes to create an office of emerging technology, to require a permit to construct the public rightofway within public works jurisdiction. President yee colleagues have spoken on this item quite a few times. Im proud to have all of you not everybody has signed on, since we have a new board of supervisors, sign on as cosponsors for this newly formed office of emerging technology. So i see supervisor preston . Yes. We submitted items we wanted to be added on to cosponsor right before the hearing and would like to be added as cosponsor. President yee appreciate it. That makes it unanimous. Colleagues, can we take this same house, same call . Okay. Without objection, this ordinance is finally passed unanimously. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Item 14 is ordinance to amend the health and administrative codes to require the department of Public Health to maintain and operate at full capacity, and to establish the adult residential Facility Working Group to advise the board and mayor pertaining to resident care, training, workplace conditions and staffing at the facility. President yee can we take this same house same call . Without objection, this ordinance is finally passed unanimously. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Item 15 is ordinance to amend the planning code to require half of the educator housing projects residential units to have two or more bedrooms to eliminate three bedroom requirements to affirm the ceqa determination and make the appropriate findings. President yee colleagues, same house, same call . Without objection, the ordinance is finally passed unanimously. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Item 16 is ordinance to amend chapter 19b of the administrative code governing the citys acquisition, retention and use of Surveillance Technology and to allow the use under certain conditions to preclude legal relief for alleged violations that the city timely cured following notice of the violation and to authorize the city administrator to adopt implementing standards and restrictions that guide the departments in compliance. President yee same house, same call . Without objection, this ordinance is finally passed unanimously. Madame clerk, please call item 17. Item 17 is ordinance to amend the administrative code that governs the process implemented by various departments. President yee colleagues, same house, same call . Without objection, this ordinance is finally passed unanimously. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Item 18 is resolution to approve updated Emergency Declaration by the San FranciscoPublic Utilities commission to repair the southeast plant for a total estimated cost not to exceed 5. 5 million. President yee colleagues, same house, same call . Without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. Madame clerk, call item 19. Item 19 is a resolution to authorize the department of technology to accept and inkind gift of Consulting Services from google, inc. , for a term of six months to commence upon board approval, valued at 750,000. President yee same house, same call . Without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. Madame clerk, next item . Item 20 is a resolution to oppose California State Senate bill number 50 authored by senator scott wiener unless its further amended from undermining the Community Participation in planning of the wellbeing of the public environment and well good, preventing the public from recapturing a portion of the economic benefits conferred to private interests and restricts San Franciscoses ability to protect vulnerable communities from displacement and gentrification. Supervisor mar thank you. Im grateful for the opportunity to continue our important discussion on senate bill 50 and implications for our city and our approach to solving Housing Affordability crisis. I would like to remind you this is not a second resolution on sb50, but amended duplicated file. Opposing sb50 unless amended is still the official position of the city and county of San Francisco since passing the original legislation in april. Since senator wiener is making another go in january, i felt it timely and necessary for to clarify the specific changes to sb50 we would need to see for the county and city of San Francisco to support it. Thank you to my cosponsors, mandelman, yee, fewer, ronen, peskin. The contentious debate over sb50 is over what housing we build and for whom. As data from the first housing report highlights, we arent simply in a housing crisis, were in a Housing Affordability crisis and our unique challenges in San Francisco require thought. Datadriven solutions. Not broad stroke mandate based on a mentality or blind faith or even mitigate our affordability crisis. Last week the g. A. O. Committee approved my proposed amendments to the boards original resolution. The amendments clearly state the need for sb50 to ensure that existing area plans are respected and allow the community to engage in planning to increase housing density giving communities a seat at the table. Number two, capture more of the value conferred to developers when we upzone and direct it to Affordable Housing and community benefits. Number three, provide meaningful funded and enforceable protections against displacement and gentrification. And number 4, ensure there is adequate Transportation Resources to go alongside housing development. I went to work in good faith with the state representatives as we work on our local efficients on Community Planning and Affordable Housing development. Including our accomplishments with eraf, housing bond, jobs housing linkage fees, prop e and budget wins, both local and state, for planning and development, particularly on the west side. Its not enough to say what were against. We need to say what were for. To imagine a future that includes a middle class and working class in San Francisco that prioritizes Community Needs overdevelope overdevel ov overdevelopers bottom lines. We need to build that future. I urge you to support this amended resolution on sb50 today. Thank you. President yee okay. Thank you. Supervisor preston. Thank you, president yee. Colleagues, its no secret that i think that the sb50 is bad for our city as drafted, the bill would make our Housing Market less affordable. The bill gives away valuable rights in San Francisco, enriching developers at the expense of our community. Notably, as supervisor mar has pointed out, the bill does not even require higher rates of Affordable Housing or transit investments in exchange for the Development Rights that it gives away. So i want to thank supervisor mar for introducing this resolution, working so closely with advocates to call for essential amendments to sb50. I also want to recognize and thank the Affordable Housing advocates and residents here in San Francisco and in gentrifying communities all around the state who have worked hard to expose the problems with asb 50. I think its a shame that so much of their time and ours must be spent challenging the latest developer bill, rather than focussing on Real Solutions to our Affordable Housing crisis here in San Francisco. Ill be supporting the resolution and thank you, supervisor mar, for moving it forward. President yee supervisor peskin. Supervisor peskin thank you, president yee. I actually that supervisor preston on his first day took the words out of my mouth. I want to thank all of you in your incarnation as members of the sfcta for your vote earlier today, particularly supervisor mar. I also want to say what i said in committee, which is that the hope that my former colleague and now state senator wiener will heed this. I think this is this is not a measure that says opposed. This is a measure that actually says if you take a few commonsense amendments and you actually stop working with the developers and work with with everyone in the state of california this could move toward housing density that could be equitable and just. I wanted to sound that note and associate with the comments of supervisor preston. President yee supervisor safai. Supervisor safai thank you, president yee. I think this is a really important debate for our city to have. I think that certainly weaver weve had Uncomfortable Conversations in policy areas. One in particular recently i know supervisor haney that pushed forward out balancing out the number of Navigation Centers in the city. I think thats an important conversation to have. And i appreciate that. We recently christened and opened the first safe parking in district 11, the balboa bart station. This is something that has been talked about in San Francisco for over a decade or more. But we actually stepped up and were very proud to be the first neighborhood in the city to do that. And so im not shy to have Uncomfortable Conversations. I think this is one that is very uncomfortable conversation. I think you can approach it from many different angles. You can say this is developer giveaway. You can say its not sensitive to lowincome communities. Or where this bill is today and where it started out, it has evolved significantly. I think the things pointed out, i appreciate what supervisor preston said, i think first and foremost, there has to be strong conversation about sensitive communities. Senator wiener has made amendments to say that any Community Working with equity, coalition, would have a fiveyear moratorium of having this implemented. Those conversations are ongoing. I appreciate that. Actually things that there should be a further conversation in particular about having lowincome communities in general probably left out of this conversation. I think that would put a lot more people at ease, if we had a clear definition of lowincome communities and how this bill would not impact lowincome communities. But the thing that gives me a good confidence in this piece of legislation is that the senator has pushed forward the conversation around having a local flexibility option. Hes been working with Planning Departments around the state. Hes worked with our own Planning Department. So places like San Francisco that have area plans, that have done density and upzoning, would get credit for those. And the impact of sb50 would be minimal to zero in those areas. There are areas already zoned for over 45 feet. Soma. I know chinatown is on the cusp of that. I know there are other parts of the downtown area and other neighborhoods that would have zero to minimal impact. The tenderloin and others. My neighborhood is zoned Single Family home. Lets have a conversation about where we can have more density around transit. I think this is a good start. I think that supervisor mar, i appreciate everything youve done, in terms of moving the conversation forward and saying what youre looking for, but at the end of the day i think there is a lot of negotiation going on. I think its very telling when the assemblyman from the west side of town is coauthor. He represents the west side of San Francisco. Senator wiener is the main author that represents the whole city. I feel confident in the leadership of assemblyman tinge and wiener to get this right. There is strong antidemolition intended protections that could be more robust to your point. But theyve already started. If a tenant has lived in any property for the past seven years, sb50 is not applicable. Thats on top of all of the like to say for San Franciscos purposes all of our own ceqa, cu, discretionary review, all of the Historic Preservation requirements, all of the antidemolitions we have in place and all the tenant protections we have in place. So im not saying there is not more work that needs to be done. I guess its just a particular approach in terms of stating whether were in opposition without these amendments, or if were going to allow this bill to have more time. So i will not be voting in support of the resolution today. But appreciate the spirit of it and what its trying to do. And the need to protect our sensitive communities and lowincome xhujts of communities in particular. President yee senior ronen. Supervisor ronen thank you, i will be supporting the resolution and i wanted to thank you, supervisor mar, for your work and nuanced work on this. I want to echo supervisor peskin and say, this is not about opposing the bill, this is about changing the bill so it recognizes that not every single neighborhood, not every single city, not every Single Community is the same. That we have done very careful Community Plans in many neighborhoods. And there is a miss out there, ive been getting the lot of, if you have criticism of sb50 you dont support Affordable Housing and housing density. Which is not true. I support both of those things. The executive director is here of Economic Development agency, that actually used the first citywide density bonus in 100 affordable project in the city in order to build as tall and dense as possible for an affordable building for seniors. Its not about opposing housing or nimbyism, but wanting to maximize the benefits that height and density bring and recapture that back into the community for the benefit of the working class, the middle class families. I want to thank you for your resolution, supervisor mar. I think the amendments that you suggest are absolutely the right ones. And i understand senator wieners desire to push, you know, some suburbs that are truly antihousing and antidevelopment by trying to create these solutions, but the tool has been too blunt all along. And it needs refining. And im really excited to support this resolution today. President yee supervisor haney. Supervisor haney thank you, president yee, and thank you to all of you for your comments. I agree and i want to appreciate supervisor mar for your leadership in really putting forward what would really make sb50 much more informed and grounded in what the needs of our communities are here in San Francisco. I agree with supervisor ronen that there is maybe a set of suburban communities of which a tool like this would be needed. For San Francisco, what i think that what ive heard from all of you, is that we really need to double down on our own Community Planning processes. I know that supervisor mar has started that and will be kicking off a process in the sunset for a community plan. I know supervisor fewer as well has been leading on that. And what we did with prop e is relevant, in demonstrating that we want to build more Affordable Housing and want to see that happen all over the city. Sb50 wouldnt have that much of a direct impact on district 6, but what i can say, because there is so much housing that is being built in district 6, i do hope that we can build more housing of all types across the city. So i really appreciate the commitment that you all have made to look at areas where we can upzone or become more dense and do it also in way that specifically recognizes the affordability needs that we have. And uses it as an opportunity to address those affordability needs as we grow our city and do it in way that invests in infrastructure and transportation, and does it in a way that is sustainable and equitable. Im sure well have another opportunity to talk about this bill. And also most importantly, the principles that underline it in terms of how we build more housing in a way that addresses the growth of our city, but most importantly the affordability of our city. So thank you, all, for your work on it and especially, supervisor mar, ill be supporting it. President yee supervisor mandelman. Supervisor mandelman thank you, president yee. I have been and remain opposed to sb50. I was cosponsor of this resolution when we considered an earlier version of it earlier this year and ill be voting for it today. From my perspective, the right way to solve the regime i would prefer to resolve this would be for regional allocations of necessary housing to be distributed around the state. And for local communities to then have the opportunity to plan appropriately to develop the housing that is needed in those regions and in those communities. The only problem with that, it is an approach weve tried for several decades and we just have not been able to get local communities to produce. So i think senator wiener is to be commended for looking for ways to get communities other than San Francisco to step up, and it is my hope that in the next year, he and his staff in the legislature will find ways to preserve some of the elements of local planning that really are essential and also make a contribution to solving the statewide housing crisis. But for the moment, i still cannot support sb50 and i will be supporting the resolution. Supervisor fewer thank you, president yee. I just want to mention, thank you to supervisor mar and that i am proud to have worked on these amendments with his office. As we share the west side concern of the defamation of our neighborhoods and displacement of our residents as well as the lack of commitment of transit resources to meet our current and future needs. These amendments i think are commonsense and urges the state to recognize that protections are needed before we embark on giving developers a massive gentrification, the ability to in the name of profits. I want to talk about prop e, really opens up the opportunity to build 100 Affordable Housing on so many more pieces of property in San Francisco. On lots that are actually 10,000 square feet or more, and this is for Affordable Housing. I think this planning, allowing us to plan for neighborhoods planning for this is a smart way to go. I want to thank supervisor mar for taking the lead on this. President yee okay. I also want to thank supervisor mar for bringing this forth. And by the way, your comments around transportation as infrastructure need before you build even more density, that you made this morning, was very elegant and articulate, i wont repeat that. But certainly its something to consider, especially for the districts out on the west side where the transportation available is maximized already. And if you try to catch it, catch the morning commute or evening commute, youre going to be standing waiting for the trains to stop at your stop. Because generally, you have to wait for several trains to pass by before there is any capacity to allow you to get in. You know, first of all, i want to say that San Francisco maybe could do better in terms of increasing our Housing Stock. Certainly we can. But to sit here and pretend were not doing anything is misnomer and certainly when people talk about the west side of the city, and talk as if we dont build anything there, again, ive given examples of the west side, especially in my district, in district 7, where basically were going to be building a good 1015,000 more units in the next few years. Including along awaited units that were anticipated for the park apartments. And i mentioned San Francisco state more recently wanting to expand their capacity from to house 4,000 students to 12,000 students. And now we have stone talking about developments there. And, of course, i mentioned the balboa reservoir project, which would bring over a thousand more units in which 50 of it will be affordable. And im working on other projects that will increase several hundred more units in the district. But i make these statements not because i want to just brag about them, or creating housing out in district 7, but the fact is, when these developments, or projects are put up, the community have a say. Theyre part of the process. They give input to come up with projects that are acceptable to most of the people out there. And im afraid some of the things that we might lose is this localized planning to make San Francisco be sort of a onesizefitsall, and make it look like were all california. I would say that is the same thing for within San Francisco. I dont want to make everything fit and look like downtown. Im sorry. I mean, the beauty of San Francisco is our districts, is our neighborhoods. And the choices that we have, whether you want to live in convenient place in the downtown in the high rises, or you want to live in a duplex or triplex, four plex, or whatever theyre called, in which i grew up in. And people who want to have a singlefamily home for themselves and their family, we need to continue the value to have those choices. We need to have that. But weve got to find smart places where we can develop the growth. Its not about everything looking the same. Its about where to put anytime a smart way. I think that many of our districts we have proven that is the case, where we work with our Community Members to make sure that its something that is supported. And still provide the continue providing the character of whatever, whether its the neighborhood or the district or the city. And i strongly feel, as a native san franciscan, born here, that we need to somehow keep some of the character that makes San Francisco, San Francisco. We dont want to be manhattan. Well, i dont want it to be manhattan. Or wherever places people come from. They think thats a better choice. So again, i dont want to go on and on. But basically, wed like to see growth. We like to see area plans be accepted. The fact that none of us on the west side have been able to do area plans is mainly because we havent had any resources. All the resources in the city in the last few decades forever decades, have been concentrated in this area for good reasons, but still, you have to open up the purses to make sure we have resources that we can actually plan for these things on the west side. Im glad were starting a process of supervisor fewer and supervisor mar, were looking at those issues. And so given all that, you know, i would be supportive of senator wieners bill if he could make some of these amendments that gives us opportunity to make a choices, to figure out how to increase the Housing Stock for our areas. I dont see anybody else on the roster. Roll call. Clerk supervisor mar aye. Peskin aye. Preston aye. Ronen aye. Safai no. Stefani aye. Walton aye. Yee aye. Fewer aye. Haney aye. Mandelman aye. There are 10 ayes and one no with supervisor safai in the dissent. President yee so this resolution is adopted with a 101 vote. Lets go to the 2 30 item. There are six commendations offered by supervisor haney, yee, fewer, stefani, ronen and mandelman. President yee thank you, the first commendation is from supervisor haney. Please present your commendation. Supervisor haney thank you, president yee. Today i am proud to honor someone who has helped to make San Francisco the quirky dynamic creative place that it is. Someone who has helped a generation of young people in our city learn how to live as he has coined young broke and beautiful. A San Francisco cult hero, a journalist, a filmmaker, a publisher, district 6 resident, former mayoral candidate and underground legend, stuart sheffman. He eventually found himself working in a candy store in north beach. After years of learning how to get by in the city on free happy hour food and recycled clothes, he took his friends advice and brought his creative talents and penchant for thrift together creating how to be young, broke and beautiful in San Francisco. The 33page black and white zone was called a cheap to living cheaply in San Francisco and was printed on regular computer paper that he made copies of at kinkos. It was later published at a publisher he found through craigslist and sold out. He sold around 1,000 copies, earning him the award. It was updated and rereleased in 2005 and became a book in 2007. Following the success of his series, he landed himself his own television show. The show entitled, young broke and beautiful was created and hosted by stuart. It looked at visits to new orleans, detroit. He is famous for his blog where they have written over 10,000 articles on local news, politics. You may have remembered stuart for his run for mayor in 2015. And among other things, he made some pretty incredible viral videos about the need for more public toilets, which helped to inspire some of the changes that have been made, including some of the work that ive been able to do on that issue. At a time when San Francisco has become more and more expensive, and harder and harder for young people, artists, journalists and creative folks to be here and thrive, stuart has been an essential voice for the culture that is still here and even a guru and moral compass for the many dreamers and creatives that are here. Im proud to be honoring him today. And also, its his birthday this week. So, happy birthday, stuart. You want to come up and say a few words . You got all dressed up, too. [applause] what do i do now . Thank you. This is an honor. Ive been here for 17andahalf years now. This is my home. Im proud to be fight for it. And love it. And be with all of you doing the same thing. So thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Thank you. [applause] president yee thank you. Next, supervisor fewer. Supervisor fewer thank you, president yee. Colleagues, today i have the pleasure oh, id like to call out witty la bouncy. Colleagues, today had the pleasure of recognizing an individual who has worked for decades to document our citys history. Woody is a life long san franciscan and the founder of the western neighborhood projects, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the neighborhoods on the western side of San Francisco. As director of the western neighborhoods project, woody worked with an array of government, business and Community Stakeholders to build awareness of the history and Cultural Diversity of San Franciscos western neighborhoods. He conducted surveys, testified before commissions and elected boards and statements adopted by the city. He helped save a cottage built for refugees in the 1906 earthquake, that drew 15,000 visitors. He helped organize the free San Francisco history days weekend at the old mint, which draws 6,000 to 7,000 people each year. In addition to his work with the western neighborhood project, he is cofounder of open sf history, an online archive of over 41,000 historic images taken throughout San Francisco. Open sf history is a result of countless hours of archiving, cataloging, scanning and uploading and is a valuable resource for current and future generations. San francisco has become woodys life and our story would be incomplete without his hard work. Tens of thousands of people have visited Historic Sites that woody helped save and restore. The often overlooked western neighborhoods have preserved stories that may have been lost forever. It tells how histories shape their diverse makeup today, including the integral chineseamerican communities played in the culture and the economy of the west side. Woody partnered with a chinese Historic Society of america, for the chinese in richmond project, which documented the migration from chinatown to the richmond and elevated the story of Chinese Americans on the west side. This is essential to understanding the myriad ways of which the chinaamerican experience is woven into the fabric of our neighborhoods. This summer he transitioned to Vice President of advocacy and programs, a nonprofit working to preserve and enhance San Franciscos unique architectural and cultural identity. He is leading heritage advocacy and education programs, helping to advance a citywide preservation commission, commissioning registry, and nominations and much more. It seems fitting to tell San Francisco stories, today, were writing woody into that story. Woody, someone who was raised in richmond. Moved there in 1959. I raised my kids on the citys west side. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for illuminating the culture of the place i have called home for almost 60 years. As a small token of our appreciation, the City Planning Department has gifted our office the original plans that planning has for richmond district. I can think of no better keeper of this document than you. Woody, thank you very much. So proud to recognize you today. Thank you. [applause] is it okay president yee, if i say just a couple of words . Thank you. Thank you, supervisor fewer, i consider you a great friend to me and the richmond district. I appreciate the honor and see it as recognition of the importance of local history to the city we love. Conversations about our past are often mistakenly framed as divisive topics, but i have advocated that local history in particular is an opportunity for unification. We all share a deep love for San Francisco. Our architectural and cultural heritage, our buildings, neighborhoods, our doorways to understanding and mutuality. We understand the ground that others before us, that is resource to tap the future and the present of this great city. I know this board understands this from supervisor fewers support of western neighborhoods project and its chinese in the richmond program. President yee for finding funding for projects in west portal. Supervisor peskins tireless efficients to protect our architectural legacy. Supervisor ronen to preserve the cultural districts and each member of the board for nominating different institutions with nominations. I applaud your service and love of the city. I encourage you to keep it strong by using history as a tool. And never passing up a chance to ask for something, i want to encourage you to replenish and reviaing rate the Historic Fund and continue to restore the benefits by the popular business registry. San francisco heritage will be working in every corner of the city, particularly the excelsior and parkside districts. I look forward to partnering with you in the coming year. I wish the best Holiday Season to you and your loved ones. Thank you. President yee before you leave the podium, i also should have chimed in earlier that the work that you do to preserve history of the city, in particular on the west side, is just remarkable. Its benefitted different generations. My kids read your stuff. Ive read it. Its not even you talk about the whole west side. You have publications that are specific to the neighborhoods. The smaller neighborhoods. And its just amazing what ive learned just reading your material. For those who dont know his work, which are few of you that dont know, but if you dont know, really, look up the publications, if you really want to know about San Francisco. Supervisor peskin. Supervisor peskin thank you, president yee. And thank you, supervisor fewer, and everything has been said, but not everybody has said it. So i would like to associate myself with the previously stated comments and say that this is the first time ive ever seen woody without his hat on. All right. Go ahead. Supervisor fewer. President yee next up, supervisor stefani. Thank you, president yee. Colleagues, today, i am honoring barry and pearl. I read about them on the j. And i knew i had to meet them. Both are retired City Employees and Life Long Community acts kvists and public certificate activists and public servants. Barry spent 30 years in the Planning Department and tersa with the department of Public Health before spending 17 years as a medical secretary. But today, i am commending them for a courageous act of civil disobedience in our nations capital. In september of this year, barry and tersa flew to washington. She hid the banner under her dress and got through before a Capital Police officer stopped her and asked her why her dress appeared so thick. And tersa responded, oh, its in my underwear, and the officer let them through. I dont know how you did that, but its amazing. You look unassuming. So im sure that helped. Once all the senators were in the chamber for a vote, the pair unfurled the banner and shouted, how many more must die . The two yelled to the senators below, do your job. And what, of course, theyre doing is the senates inaction on gun reform. The senate has had a couple of bills on their desk now for at least 293 days. One of those being h. R. 8 which is a universal background check bill that would do background checks on all gun sales. 97 of americans support it. 74 of nra members support background checks on all gun bills, yet mitch mcconnell, the majority leader will not call that up for a vote. So i commend you. You were handcuffed with zip ties, put into a police van and body searched. You spent the next five hours in the washington d. C. Jail before being released. Their arrest is just the latest in a long history of service. Theyve volunteered with american red cross. Rebuilding San Francisco. The San Francisco spca. The stern grove summer concert series. Safety monitors in the gay pride parade. I believe we all owe this couple a debt of gratitude for the love and dedication to the city and for speaking truth to power. As our former colleague supervisor brown reminded us last week, it is so easy to become numb to the gun violence in this country. I want to thank you both or standing up. We have manny scott, the head of the brady campaign, and i see rudy with united players. And to have you on board with all of us as we continue to fight is just wonderful. I know you joined in the gun buyback program, getting 318 guns off the street, 20 of them assault rifles. Thank you very much. And the fact that youve devoted your retirement to ending gun violence warms my heart beyond comprehensive. Thank you so much for comprehension. Thank you for being here. Thank you, supervisors. Were honored and humbled by the boards commendation for our efforts to prevent gun violence. The response weve received from friends, family and total strangers around the world has been overwhelming and encouraging that others may have been motivated to act to address the scourge that is affecting this country. In particular we want to thank supervisor stefani for your efforts to reduce gun violence in San Francisco. We will continue to encourage others to act in any way they can. Whether thats writing a check to support a gun violence organization, making sure that the guns they have in their possession are safe and secured in their home, looking for telltale signs that could lead to accidental death of children. Or intentional death of a domestic partner, or people crying out for help when considering suicide with a gun. Being willing to have a difficult conversation with friends and family about how lives are lost or changed by indiscriminate use of guns in this country, or by becoming an activist and changing the course of the gun debate. Thank you to the members of the board of supervisors for your efforts on behalf of gun control. And we, as members of the Leadership Team of the San Francisco chapter brady united against gun violence, members of moms demand action for moms demand action for gun sense in america, San Francisco chapter, and volunteers for the united players will continue to do all we can to move San Francisco, california, and the United States towards safe and sane use and possession of firearms. Thank you, all. Very much for this honor. [applause] president yee okay. Thank you. The next commendation is from supervisor ronen. Supervisor ronen thank you, president yee. If sam, ministria, luis and tracy could come up. I dont see tracy. If youre in your office, tracy there she is. Come on up to the mic. Many of you know this allstar team because they are leaders in our city and leaders in the mission district. Luis is the executive director of meta. Myrna is president of the Planning Commission and executive director of Jamestown Community services. Sam is director of Neighborhood Centers and tracy is the incredible staffer for our own colleague, supervisor walton as well as a Longtime Mission leader. What they did is when one of the most important historical institutions in the mission, [speaking spanish] was under threat because during the time of economic crisis the former executive director of mlvs had created an economic deal with a private partner to keep ownership of the building. That private partner then tried to take over the entire building. If he was able do that, we would have lost one of the most Important Community hubs and historical sites of, not only the latino, latin Mexican Community in the district, but also the labor history that mixes with the mission. It was such a complicated mess legally. It was caught up in the courts. We didnt have a lot of control over it. Everything was in the hands of a judge. [please stand by] i dont know how you did it to this day, but they did do it. They got together, they got a loan from the help of our mayor who gave 1 million to be able to provide the underlying financing so they could go and get a loan from the bank to purchase the whole building. They joined with other lawyers in the community, other latino leaders like Victor Marques who served as a lawyer, and they saved this building. I will never, for the rest of my life, forget what you did for this community. Forget the blood, sweat, and tears that you put in to making this happen because it was almost impossible. It truly was almost impossible. I couldnt find a way out and you did. That is why the people of district nine and the latin ex communities forever grateful to you four. You dont just do this every day of your lives creating miracles in your own organizations and for your community, but on top