Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Budget And Finance Sub-Committee 20240713

From the sfpuc two days ago which clearly shows that theres not an adequate planning process for integrated renewables in San Francisco. And a follow buildout plan like the one in sydney, australia. With respect, we have heard for the last 10 years or so from the sfpuc repeatedly, oh, the next report we put out is going to address your concerns. Weve been hearing that for 10 years. The sfpuc, for very good reasons again, i dont want to im not bashing on them, they have to behave as theyre behaving, theyre not the wheelhouse for a buildout plan. This is excellent information but we need to go beyond that. So i cant emphasize in Strong Enough terms that what we need to you do now that weve seen this report, which is not going to get us where we need to go, where the ipcc demands that we go within 10 years, to get 100 locally developed renewables. We must have the lafco direct the sciewptiv executive officere directive for proposals with the top item on the list is that consultants need to prepare a local buildout plan on the style of sydney, australia, but with Battery Storage instead of biomass. And maybe hydrogen, which is becoming economical. Thats got to be the top priority. And its going to take more funding than youve got and you need the board of supervisors to give you a few hundred thousand dollars to get that done. Thank you. Chair fewer thank you very much, mr. Brooks. Hi again, commissioners, jedd holtsom from 350 bay area. I want to second everything that mr. Brooks said. You know, we work with a lot of boards and commissions around the region, to do a lot of work at the bay area Quality Management district. And, you know, we hear a lot about 2030 goals and weve been talking about 2030 goals for a long time now. Now we have officially entered the period where 2030 is one 10year capital plan away. Were talking by 2030, combustion engines need to x, y and z. And by 2030 we need to stop our use of fossil fuels or emissions from fossil fuels. We have how many e. V. S will be on the road and so many different plans for 2030. And weve been kicking the can down the road for so long and were now at the point where were literally one 10year capital plan away from this huge milestone. These things are going to take time, putting together a buildout plan that is comprehensive and systematic and then implementing that, probably going to take over 10 years. So where are we going to be by 2030 . So i think that the democratic policy of this city and county expects its representatives to solve this problem. And so i think that means that the board of supervisors and the lafco as the representatives of the democratic policy of this city really need to be heard on this. Pilot installation for Solar Storage is important. And i think that in 2000 that might have been a good plan. There is a 70 chance that a magnitude 6. 7 or higher earthquake will strike San Francisco bay area before 2030 before 2030. Thats last years figure, thats not an old figure. Were entering the end of the timeline that weve been talking about since 1992. And we simply cannot continue to have this magnitude of response. Thank you. Chair fewer thank you very much. Commissioner singh. First of all, i wanted to thank winston for his amazing work here. I had a couple points that i just wanted to make for the future. Mr. Goebel if you want to address it. For recommendation 4, determining gas in a Clean Energy Workforce realm, i think that its great that well survey the communitybased organizations. Are there any plans to talk to organized labor . They will be consulting. Fantastic. And my second point, i would love to actually see some geographics or the Community Map for all of these disconnection disparities. Is there mapping available for that . There is and its contained in winstons report and wed be happy to go over it with you. That would be lovely. Thank you. Chair fewer any other comments or questions . So i want to first address the Public Comment speakers is that it is you are correct that it would be a whole new body of work actually for lafco. And it would require an increased budget. And we are going to get a budget proposed lafco budget presentation during this meeting, which is already an increase to the lafco budget. So i think that would take if lafco were to take on that work that would be an analysis that wed have to do a fiscal and financial analysis, considering the capacity that we would have to do that. So what weve been presented with today is actually i think a plan that is a scope of work that we should be addressing also. So i get that it should be the top of the list, but i think that actually launching from what mr. Parsons research showed us i think that theres huge inwe inequity in this cityd disparities. And a lot of it is racial and economic. And that shouldnt happen with energy in general. I think that so i understand that is a whole other body of work but i think this body of work is really important. Its not what we deliver, but how we deliver and to whom we deliver also. And as a city and county of San Francisco, when we see these gaps we cannot ignore them, especially for populations that arent able to come up today and to advocate for themselves, but it is their moral and social responsibility to ensure they have adequate access and equitable access also. So i i just want to say that i agree with these recommendations and i actually think that many of these recommendations are very, very timely considering that we look at were looking at our Affordable Housing bond that we just passed, a 600 million housing bond and 150 million to senior, 100 affordable senior housing. So completely timely that we explore recommendation number 3, quite frankly. And also recommendation number 4. We are in the middle of a third or fourth industrial revolution. People are not losing their jobs because of immigrants, people are losing their jobs because of technology. This is a pipeline, quite frankly, to have the living wage jobs that we could be producing with around the clean energy and the industry behind that. So i think all of these things are very timely also. And so i just want to say that i to give you direction myself as the chair of lafco, i think that this is the direction that we should be going. I think that there is a possibility. I think that we should have a discussion about additional work around this buildout plan to get us to 2030, 100 Renewable Energy. I dont know that work lands in the lafco lap, but i think that this work does, quite frankly. And so i want to just say, i know this is not a vote but id like to give my personal opinion that i think this is the direction that we need to go. I think that we owe it to the people of San Francisco. And especially because we have such disparities and these disparities arent ju just aroud this, its mirroring the disparities in other aspects of the City Government whom we serve. So, again, mr. Parsons, thank you so much for this work that has really opened up our eyes to the inequities happening and also delving deeper and a call to our moral and social conscience that we must respond to as a government agency. Commissioner mar. Thank you, chair, chair fewer. I just had a question about the recommendation number two and its going on the Public Comments from mr. Brooks and the need for the city to have a comprehensive plan to reach our ambitious goal of 100 Renewable Energy by 2030. And the suggestion that lafco could and really should play a role in getting that comprehensive plan developed. So recommendation number two is just about bringing on a consultant with a more limited sort of role its not to support lafco or to help to get the city to develop the comprehensive plan to meet the goal, but can you explain what what at least what youre proposing for the consultant to focus on . So, thank you, commissioner mar for the question. So i think that the goal here is to strengthen lafcos role Oversight Authority over cleanpowersf by adding expertise that would allow us to provide better feedback to the p. U. C. On their proposed projects. To basically to more deeply examine the proposals that are coming from the p. U. C. With regard to cleanpowersf. But i think that this consultant role could also be allencompassing. So if a local buildout is the direction that the commission chooses to take, i think that consultant could play a role in helping us to go about that wo work. Thank you. Chair fewer thank you. Any other comments or questions from my colleagues . None. This does not require action from lafco today. Thank you very much. And so madam clerk, call item number 5. Clerk item 5 is a presentation and discussion on lafcos fiscal year 20202021 budget. Chair fewer thank you very much. Mr. Goebel. Thank you, madam chair and commissioners. Today we bring you a preview of our 20202021 budget, and its earlier than normal. I usually come before you in april, but this year is going to be an exciting year for last co. We lafco. We are hoping to take on more work and add more resources. I want to start with just a brief history about our lafco, just to add context. As you know, our lafco is unique. Most lafcos and other california counties oversee special districts. That is huge because special districts are the most common form of local government. But the types of special districts overseen by lafco are often in unincorporated areas and in San Francisco we have no unincorporated land. Our lafco was formed in 2000 when a group of advocates wanted to create a municipal utility district and the City Attorney said that couldnt be done without a lafco because it requires lafco review under california law. Voters did not approve a new utility district. In fact, San Francisco voters shut down that idea like a dozen times. But lafco continued to work on public power and energy issues. And in 2007, the board of supervisors gave lafco Oversight Authority to help to form our local community choice, Energy Program cleanpowersf. Lafco was instrumental in getting cleanpowersf up and running. Because our lafco is unique, it has focus on its special studies authority over the yea years. That authority is under the hertzberg act that says simply lafco may initiate and make studies of existing Government Agencies or more broadly lafco can study issues that impact Municipal Services. Basically, it allows us to assist and to support the city in assessing its Municipal Service needs. And i just want to point out that when we pursue special studies that we make an effort not to duplicate what other departments are studying, but to fill gaps on issues that theyre not examining. Issues that are often beyond the purview of those departments. Lafco does not implement policy. We come up with policy recommendation. So some examples over the years, lafco did a number of studies that led to the establishment of cleanpowersf. It did a study on increasing voter participation. It did a study on title energy and Energy Services as far back as 2002. In 2020, we are starting and finishing up some exciting projects. We are leading the countrys largest and most representative survey of ondemand workers. The final report will offer a slate of recommendations on how to improve working conditions in the sector. Were also examining what avenues the city can take to curtail labor abuses in the gig economy. And as i just outlined in my last presentation, well pursue a number of studies and reports around cleanpowersf. So to pursue special studies at least in this fiscal year, weve had to do some of our own fundraisfundraising. It is the first time in our lafcos history that we raised and received private foundation money. Im happy to report that it was successful. We raised a total of 330,000 for our labor study. And i say we because i had help from the members of our survey team, our interns, dan rail and leah trove, and our colleagues at the association. It was a team effort. We diversified our Fundraising Services in this fiscal year, doubling our budget. So every year we get 300,000 from the city of San Francisco. Last year or in the current fiscal year we had raised 330,000 from private foundations and we have a little under 200,000 left in our m. O. U. Fund with the p. U. C. , which i will be proposing that we spend on the work outlined in the previous presentation. We do have some exciting things on tap in 2020. The survey team will complete the labor study and offer a number of recommendations. We hope to begin another round of research on this sector following up on research that we werent able to get to in the current study. Well get the consultants to work on cleanpowersf. And we will provide Staff Support to the Public Bank Task force pending approval of that legislation from the chair of the board. And i just want to say that were working with the chairs office in the office of the treasurer and Tax Collector as well as doing Market Research to determine the exact cost and resources that well need to effectively to manage and accomplish the goals that were tasked with in the legislation. And because well have an increasing profile, we wanted to develop a Communications Plan to enhance and to encourage and enhance the Public Participation at lafco as we take on these exciting new initiatives. So, again, to accomplish everything that we hope to do in the coming fiscal year, lafco will need additional resources. Every year lafco receives 297,342 from the city and county. That number has not increased in more than 10 years. Iit funds our basic operations. This year given the increase in the workload we are requesting an additional 486,000 from the city and county. So the total request would be almost 784,000. This would fund two fulltime positions, a public bank consultant, and, again, were still working on that exact number and trying to figure out what kind of resources well need. Some funds to continue our Labor Research which would be leveraged with additional funds from private foundations, assuming that our fundraising is successful. And im also asking for additional funds, a modest request, i think, for a communication plan. Here are the line items. I know that this chart is probably hard to read but theyre also in your packets and available on the lafco website. Again, we are asking for about 784,000 to fund lafcos work in the coming fiscal year. I think that its not that big of an increase, actually, when you take into account how much outside money we raised last year, which roughly doubled our budget. So ill be coming back in april to ask for your approval of our draft budget and then to bring a final budget for your consideration and approval in may. And im happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Chair fewer thank you, mr. Goebel. Lets open up for Public Comment. Any members of the public like to comment on this item . Eric brooks, californians for Energy Choice and our city San Francisco. I think that its incredibly impressive. I mean, we have never seen in the whole history of lafco a doubling in the budget simply because the executive officer had the wherewithal to go out and to identify funding sources. I have a feeling that the executive officers are doing the same thing with regard to clean energy, and i greatly encourage that. I encourage that of him. I do think that the stuff that we talked about in the previous items will still require a board of supervisors allocations, but if if your staff can come up with 100,000 or 200,000 to go into that buildout process, thats great. And i have confidence that bryan is able to do that. Not to put you on the spot, man, but thats where i think that we need to get a new source of funds. I think that its just awesome that your executive officer has been able to bring in that kind of funding and i look forward to the same thing happening with clean energy. Thanks. Chair fewer thank you very much. Any other Public Comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is now closed. Id like to also mention that at the budget and finance committee the board of supervisors that we approved this budget also to go forward throughout the budget season. I think that well need to recognize, quite frankly, that our lafco budget hasnt had an increase in the last 10 years and its taking on significantly more work than it has in the past. And also that mr. Goebel is on our payroll as a consultant. It is time that he became part of the city family and that we reinstate that position as a Civil Service position with all of its benefits and protections. So i although this is does not need yes, it does, it needs an action. So i it doesnt need an action . Oh, no action needed today. But does anyone have comments or questions about it . Seeing none, just to let you know that well fight hard for this budget, lafco, at the board of supervisors. Okay . Madam clerk, call item number 6. Clerk item 6 is the approval of the resolution accepting a grant from the annie e. Casey foundation for the ondemand labor survey and study in the amount of 50,000. Chair fewer thank you. Thank you, madam chair and commissioners. And this site authorize us to accept a grant from the anniee. Casey foundation for our ondemand labor survey for a total of 50,000. This funding will pay mostly for the survey teams time to analyze the data and it will also include an analysis of the 18 to 24 demographic. I want to thank bob golloth and irene lee and the foundation, they have been wonderful and they really believe in the value of this study. I also want to thank our intern dan rail who helped with the pitch, and i recommend that you approve this item. Chair fewer thank you very much. Lets open this up for Public Comment. Any members of the public to comment on item number 6 seeing none, its now closed. Commissioner mar. Thank you, chair fewer. Congratulations on this latest outside funding that you secured for this important study. I just was wondering where were at or where is lafco at as far as raising the full budget that was really needed to do this study as originally envisioned . So we were originally seeking thank you for the question, commissioner mar. We were originally seeking 450,000 and we raised 330,000. So before you today and later in the agenda is an amended contract that allows a survey team to work within the budget. I was going to explain more about this later but we originally and chris benner, the lead researcher is here to do a presentation where were going to further explain that. But we have reduced the number of platforms that wil well be targeting so that it makes it less expensive and it working within our current budget. Great, thank you. Thank for all of the great work. Chair fewer yes, congratulations. I would like to make a motion to approve the resolution accepting a grant from the annie casey foundation. A second . Second. Chair fewer taken without objection. Thank you very much, because we have to recess at 11 20, i think we have time for one more item. Mr. Goebel, would you be able to do the executive officers report . Okay. So, madam clerk read item 9. Clerk item 9, the executive officers report. Chair fewer mr. Goebel, you have no report today. Thank you very much. Any members of the public that would like to comment on item 9 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And item 11, please call item 11. Clerk the future agenda items. Chair fewer any suggestions for future agenda items . Seeing none, lets open it up for Public Comment. Hello again, one last time, commissioners. Eric brooks, californians for Energy Source and our city San Francisco. So for future agenda items, i think that first of all that i would respectfully differ with the chair. I think that its absolutely clear that its the lafco role to spearhead the buildout plan. I want to remind folks on the commission because you werent on the commission in 2004, that in 2004 that they directed the, tits commission to Utilities Commission to plan for sfpuc. And as i said before, and its enterprise role didnt want to do that. And basically refused. And maybe that was a little bit too far for them but we could understand the resistance as an enterprise agency. So the lafco commissioned the Implementation Plan and it was drawn up through a lafco contracted contractor. So we and i i must a an advocate representing a coalition here in San Francisco and california absolutely insist that on the next lafco agenda that we have an action item to direct your executive officer to make one of the jobs of the Clean Energy Contractors that are hired within the next couple of months to be to identify what it would take to put together a comprehensive Renewable Energy buildout plan for San Francisco and how much that would cost. Figure out maybe some preliminaries on where some Grant Funding might come, but find out about drafting an item for the board of supervisors that will get us the full amount. Which will probably be a few hundred thousand dollars. Chair fewer thanks. Next speaker, please. Thank you, and one last time, jedd holtsom. And i wanted to second those comments. You know, im stressed out today that the conversations that weve had with sfpuc, both in front of the commission and with the staff and in this body havent advanced further. And i think that the clock turning over to 2020 really puts into stark reality what we have to accomplish within 10 years. So i really think that, you know, if the house is on fire, then coming to work and doing your best and going home, you know, that cant be enough for any of us anymore. It cant be enough for your executive officer and it cant be enough for any city staff. We should be running around like headless chickens if we really think this is a stringent severe emergency. And i can tell you that our 25,000 plus members are running around like headless chickens, like it is a severe freaking emergency. And theyre freaking out. And, you know, youth are blockading blackrock, you know, and people are kind of in their own ways doing what they can. They are not in positions of power. They dont have expertise. They are looking at the people here and the people in room 400 to step up a lot. And i think that for a long time we heard that we have to wait for cleanpowersf to reach full citywide enrollment and then that was low walked. And now that its reached that, its to wait for this planning process. Now that planning process has happened and theyre like wait for the next planning process because that will include no, we need to really take the bull by the horns. Thank you. Chair fewer thank you very much. So i think that we thank you for these suggestions, Public Comment. I think that the discussion of the possibility of putting this on our next agenda item. Lets see, we have 11 17. Okay, i think that i will recess now because i dont want to start our presentation on the ondemand workers and i think that we just want to give it ample time and also consideration. So we will recess now until 12 00 noon. And i want to thank everyone for their patience. Clerk madam chair to confirm for the record that theres no action taken on this item. Chair fewer yes, no action thank you very much. We are reconvening the meeting of january 17, 2020. Thank you for your patience. Madam clerk can you please read item 7. The presentation and update on the survey and study on demand workers in San Francisco. Thank you. I just want to provide a brief update on the funding situation, which i didnt mention in my budget. The last time i was before you on this item, we were really frantically trying to raise the rest of the money. We are receiving a 150,000 grant from the ford foundation, who really believes in the study and work that we are doing. I want to thank everyone who helped secure that. It was a team effort. Folks on the team assisted with that, and ford came through. That is the brief update i wanted to provide. I am very pleased to welcome chris benner, lead researcher of survey of on demand be workers who will present the findings and talk about next steps. Welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to present to you. This is really presenting work in progress. As you know and trying to set recommendations for the final stage of the survey and where we are going for the final study and as bryan mentioned thi thiss the collective work of the partners on the research team. This is a powerpoint you have in your packet and on the Public Record for this meeting. Just to summarize what i hope to get across today is that in the pilot phase of the study we were exploring two survey methods to make sure they work and exploring the use of a mobile app to gather more detailed information about drivers, patterns, particularly in the ride hailing portion of the on demand Mobility Service work. We discovered the preferred method works. It is more expensive than we originally anticipated. We were able to demonstrate the data gathered from the mobile app is extremely valuable but more complicated to collect as in research projects. Was the currently available funding we recommend going ahead with the survey for six of the largest platforms in the city. Two in the ride hailing sector, uber and lyft, two in prepared delivery and then two in the grocery delivery business. Ence take cart and shift. To supplement that survey work within depth quality interviews to give us more in depth understanding of the conditions workers in this sector face. Then some medical gathering of data from the mobile app that would help give us useful information and demonstrate the value of that Going Forward that is what i will present. I will try to do that in 10 to 15 minutes so make sure we have time for your questions and comments. The pilot survey is designed to be a representative sample of the work being done in the city. Reminder it is the 80 20 rule. 80 of the work is done by 20 of the people. It is not a representative of the actual work in the city. Data gathered in september to october. 15 3com pleated surveys across the platforms represented there. This preferred method had a very high Response Rate, 68 , from those in the ride hailing sector. It was harder to get response from Meal Delivery 15 . Grocery delivery was a little higher. We thought we would get survey responses from alcohol delivery, it is a smaller portion of the industry. We are recommending not moving ahead at the moment on that. What i went to present now is really just a taste of the findings from the survey itself. This is very much work in progress. What i am showing should not be quoted or shared in any way as formal findings from the survey,anticly any of the differences between the platforms. They are not statistically significant at the moment. They will be when we finish the survey. Work in progress, not to be quoted. To orient you to the charts i am showing now, they are looking at the different platforms that we have data on from left to right. Ride hailing, then the Meal Delivery platforms from door dash through t to instacart and shift. Far right is the average across all surveys. That is the one that is most important at the moment. The other ones show some level of patterns across the survey. It gathers demographic data. We can see that the average age of the work force is about 36, 37. I am not putting specific numbers on the bars to emphasize this is work in progress and not to be quoted. One of the things to see is in the ride hailing sector seems to be older than the work force in the Meal Delivery sector. Some of the other data shows people working in the ride hailing sector have been doing that for a longer period of time, two or three years more. It is more established part of the industry. Predominantly male work force, 75 were men. We also had a question about other categories. About 77 were men. Somewhat less in did grocery delivery, instacart and shift. We can imagine some reasons for other research we have and hope to gather more information about the safety concerns that exist when you are isolated in a separate car. That is not true for grocery delivery. Predominantly immigrant work force. Over 50 were born in another country, 55 . Not dramatic across the differs frenplant forms. We did find that Meal Delivery workers seemed to have a higher proportion of limited English Speaking ability. You can imagine why. The passenger in the car may be more important to talk to people. If you are delivering food, it is easier to get into the work with limited english. The survey is in four other languages, spanish. Chinese, portuguese and arabic. We asked the set of questions to get at how much people earn and we can do that on estimates of an average Weekly Earnings basis. This gives you the top level figure what they say they earn a week. 800 on average across all survey respondents. The most important figure is what is the real earnings once you subtract the expenses of operating your vehicle and the costs that are part of that. You can calculate that in two ways. One ask people about the real expenses they have had in the last month of operating the vehicle. If they are leasing it, service charges, cleaning costs and other things. This gives you a sense of monthly not Weekly Earnings after they subtracted the expenses they named. It is 2700 per month on average. Tough to live on that in San Francisco. Often we know that people underestimate the true expenses involved in operating a vehicle. Longterm wear and tear and maintenance. One way to measure that is to use the irs mileage deduction rate, which is a rough estimate of the true cost of operating the vehicle. It shows dramatically lower earnings. The average mileage in the last month and when you use that, significantly lower down to 1,700 per month on average earnings. When you use that figure, a significant portion, maybe 5 or 10 of workers are earning almost zero when you subtract the cost of operating the vehicle. Based on the preliminary findings. May i ask a question on the earnings . Yes. Were the drivers that were surveyed working fulltime . I dont have that slide. We asked what portion of their earnings were from platform work. More than 75 , 50 to 75 . My people reis half of the people surveyed it was fulltime work or more. One thing when we asked the number of typical hours per week we had 40 hours or more. It was a large portion that said 40 hours or more. In the revised survey we added another category of 50 hours or more. We expect some significant people will do that as well. This is the difference of doing a survey representative of the work being done. Some might do this a small number of hours per week. They are not the majority of the work being done in the city. Does that answer your question . Yes. We have a series of questions about benefits. This shows access to Health Insurance, and that top category is that they do not have any Health Insurance whatsoever. It is almost 30 of this work force has no Health Insurance. Most people do get Health Insurance, 70 through some other combination of partner, state or federal insurance program, maybe through another job. 30 have no Health Insurance whatsoever. Then we asked people if they currently receive Public Benefits of the variety of food stamps, housing assistance. Over 20 of the respondent get some form of sub pick assistance. We will do a breakdown of this figure by the number of hours per week they are working. That will give us a sense of the fulltime workers dependent on public assistance. That is to give you the taste of the findings from the survey. Final version will have a lot more detail. I want to point to the implications of the differently Response Rates for the different platforms. The implication if you have a low Response Rate, you have to contact more of the delivery workers to be able to get the survey response. That means a higher cost per platform. You can see for the uber and lyft 11,000 in data gathering to get 200 survey responses. In the prepared food delivery channel it is close to 31, 32,000 to get our targeted response. That is why we are recommending to prioritize those two Largest Companies in each of the broad categories. That will cover we dont know the exact figures you are. Somewhere between 80 to 95 are in the Largest Companies in that sector. I wanted to talk a little bit about the mobile act, drivers seat cooperative. The data from the survey is peoples own estimates of earnings, and we know when you ask people about an hourly rate in this type of work, it is very hard for people to have a sense what that is and to be able to act for that. With the drivers seat cooperative we can measure in realtime based on being able to track earnings but also based on them having to enter in information when they are picking up a passenger, dropping off a passenger. You can use that to measure actual working time versus wait time. In our pilot, we discovered that it is harder to get people to download the app, install it and to report on it regularly on a daytoday basesis. Ultimately to fully get the information from this, not only do they have to enter the information about picking up and dropping off passengers, also, at the end of the week sending a screen capture of Earnings Statement so that we can check what we are capturing from the data with what they are earning to be able to do calculations of hourly rates. Despite the challenges, we were able to get a total of 10 activated drivers, recording three or more trips each day, with five drivers submitting that information. It came to a total of 49 driver days with three or more trips. You can see the additional figures in terms of the number of trips, 540. Over 600,000 different data observations related to that. It is a small number of drivers you get tremendously rich data to see the geography where people are moving, it allows you to calculate as well paid and unpaid time, utilization rate and using estimated expenses, irs mileage deduction calculates the hourly payment rates to understand that. That can be looked at by different driver data by time of day, days of the week. You can also look at it by different geography to see how much work is done in San Francisco versus other parts of the bay area. We have information both from the survey and from the mobile app where people are living by zip code and actually working in San Francisco as well. So this data is tremendously valuable for understanding real hourly pay and paid and unpaid time. Because of the lower on boarding to that app and using the app correctly to a more complicated to get that data. What we are recommending going ahead is to do this representative sample of work done 250 people working in each of those six different platforms that i mentioned. That would come to a total of targeted 1500 total surveys. To supplement that within depth interviews with 30 to 50 of those delivery workers that would give us a deeper understanding of their experience with the different algorithms, how that changed over time, the factors that is important that shapes waiting time and work time, fears about de activation. One of the Big Questions is if they exercise autonomy to refuse a job offered through the app does it punish them . It is a critical question to understand that as well as trying to understand other policy implications that might be important and their attitudes towards collective representation to represent their interests. With the drivers seat recommendation, our recommendation is that we would target a smaller number of drivers than we originally anticipated. But be able to provide support work to make sure they are providing the data and submitting the screen shots of earnings. If we can get 25 drivers that will turn into 250 or 300 driver days to be representative of the sector to give us insights into that work. We are aware our partners in the cooperative are in conversations with the county Transportation Agency about funding a more in depth study to get larger data about travel patterns to allow us to abilityize the data for labor issues, earnings and paid and unpaid time. That is our proposal we can do within the existing yo budget of 380,000 that is the proposal and we still have a final report target release date of early june. With that, that completes my presentation. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Lets open up for Public Comment. Any members of the public to comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Commissioner. I have a few questions. Have you seen changes . It is interesting that the study is conducted as we are seeing the implementation or rather the ignoring of ab5. That has, you know, led to some notable changes, not just in pricing but in app design and stuff like that. Any uber user, i try to avoid it, they can note changes. There are also other issues with door dash acquiring caviar. Have will bennotable shifts you have have then been any notable shifts that are related to this . I would love it if we had a full survey before and after ab5. We have some before and the rest is afterwards. It might be interesting to compare that. This is part of why we want the in depth interviews to get at the question for drivers working before 85 and now. How have they experienced that change . You say we know specifically some of the things that uber and lyft have done in response to that legislation. We expect that shifting. This sector is changing so fast and they are cons stability leo constantly experimenting. From focus groups and studies is the lack of transparency about how those algorithms are driven and what are the consequences of not accepting a particular job andy laying a job. People have preferences where they would like to drive or the work they would like to do but have very little autonomy in doing that on the app. That is what we hope to get at in the interviews. Ubers black boxal go rhythms have chad made made changes to change the prices in a way to semi comply. I am not sure of the strategy. That is why i wanted to ask. One more question. In terms of the issues we have in terms of app usage and retention, has there been a consideration of maybe bringing on some sort of contractor who has like maybe Product Management or some sort of user design . Do you think that bringing someone on board or having someone to consult with or improve usage . Are you asking about bringing on board to the study or companies . No, no to the study. Have you been having app design issues or people dont have the time and energy to use it . It could be either or both . I am not sure i fully understand the question. In terms of filling out the survey . Have there been other structural difficulties in using the app . Drivers seat app. No, the main problem, two things. In the pilot we would run through the survey with people. Then at the end of the survey asking them to download the app and put it on. By that point they are tired of talking with us. Actually i should have mentioned this. Going ahead we are going to have targeted recruiting of people specifically for downloading the app so they wouldnt have necessarily done the survey first. We think that will increase Response Rate as well. This is getting into the weeds a bit. The app is a bit in development to actually use it on the apple platform you have to first download another app that allows you to access apps that havent been fully approved. It is now to the point where it is improved on the apple platform. That should lower that barrier as well. The final thing is having a personal relationship because we found being able to check in with someone daily did you drive today, turn that in. That makes a difference. We will try to link the surveys with people filling in the app so the person doing the qualitative interviews would be building a relationship with someone as they do the interviews, and then would have that relationship to follow up with the drivers seat app as well. Thanks again. This is vital and frankly overdue. Thank you. Any other comments . Also, i wanted to echo thank you so much for your work on this as well as this is so important at this moment, the study. Not just for us having a better understanding of the drivers, the tens of thousands of drivers in San Francisco and their needs. As you are aware it will have broader impact statewide and nationally. I guess i had a question more how this connects to some other big issues we are struggling with the pushout of the working Class Population of the city. The homelessness crisis here in a recent uber ride the driver told me that he lived in sacramento and comes to drive here on the weekends, and then i was also recently speaking to a person in my district, in the sunset district living in his vehicle like so many in the city. He is a delivery driver. It seems like what you are studying or this population has connections to other Critical Issues we are grappling with as a city. Do you have any thoughts about the intersection with this and displacement and homelessness . I think it very much intersects with the issues that you are raising, and part of why i highlighted the earnings is to point to how precarious this work is in our high cost area. We have a number of specific questions about peoples economic circumstances including how many people they support on their earnings. A question is drawn from the Federal Reserve bank designed to measure peoples access to savings in the event of emergency. You may have heard 42 of the u. S. Population couldnt access 400 in an emergency. We asked that same question. Our finding higher figures in San Francisco compared to the National Figures as well. We dont ask in the survey questions about housing. That could turn the survey into a longer survey. We will get at those in the in depth interviews to tr try to understand those circumstances. We will have the information how many people are commuting in here to work but living in farflung places. At santa cruz the students come up for the weekend, work 16 hours, sleep in the car, work 16 hours straight and then come back to school. That is tough to be living in this housing cost with these labor market conditions. I want to say thank you. This is fascinating. I also have it helps itself these preliminary findings about the impact that the economy has on our income and wealth gap. I ask every time on a slide i ask more questions. What is the earning gap to meet basic needs for these people . Also, just about the whole economy and what it has done about the wealth and income gap and how has that either perpetuated it or, aspirated it or is it helping at all . We hear that it is helping the income gap because people are able to make extra money. It is their fulltime job. We see that on a lot of home shares, with the economy. You can supplement your regular job. Why is it always people who are lower or moderate wage earners why is it okay to work two or three jobs while we build the playground for those with leisure time. This brings up so many questions. Thank you so much. I wish we had three Million Dollars to dig into it. The labor force the delivery is if we can capture them as organized labor workers and how we can then offset move with this 21st century economy of delivery but offer protections, employment protections, living wage job, benefits as we move into we understand more delivery. What are the mechanisms to bridge, i think, the gap of this income cap knowing that income gap. I meet with the restaurant industry. Food delivery is killing them. They cant exist without it. They are paying them so much. This whole gig economy about who the money really is flowing to and how they are so i think part of it is work. I am worried about the workers. Even though it is about the work. My main concern is about the workers. The work is important because this type of work is branching out to create so many more inequities and pressures on our small businesses, on Grocery Stores that hire organized labor workers. People are trying to do the right thing and undermining this basic needs of people to survive and undercutting them. I dont understand how uber or lyft works. If you are paid instantly i can see how you would not know how much you were being paid. I was a cocktail waitress at fairmont hotel. I would get the tips. I was bringing home money. I wasnt accounting for declaring the taxes and tiping the bartender and the busboys. How much do you get . When you get the lump of money every day you are thinking i am making money. When you look at the other expenses you dont account for that. You dont know how much you are really making. I know that when i was a cocktail waitress for about a year that i would, you know, think i was making a lot of money. When you break it down, you are not making that much money. When you tell people working 60 hours a week, i think that you are not compensated for the wear and tear on your physician your physical health. You are not exercising when you are in the drivers seat. It is a crazy economy, a loophole to bypass paying people a living wage. I wish we had zillions of dollars. I look forward to the full report and other foundations will look and have the same questions as me. I think this is a first start. It is also mindboggling and some of it is heartbreaking. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you for your comments. Part of what you are pointing to, this is one step in a way to fully understand the implications of the growth of this work for the workers and the industry. There are people trying to study this. This will inform many people around the country as well at the same time as we are learning from them. I am involved in a number of studies looking precisely at those issues, particularly the grocery industry and how that is affecting Grocery Stores. I look forward to engaging with you further as we get more data from the survey. It plays out in a larger question about our values here in the united states, how we value workers and humans, quite frankly. We have created this economy, a permanent under class with permission of consciences. It is sold to us they need to make extra dollars to pay rent here or to feed families. We are exploiting their need to their lack of funds. The position they are in. Do you want to eat . Then you have to drive 60 hours a week at 10 bucks an hour. It is a crazy circle. Thank you very much. There is no action needed on this item today. We want to thank you very much. Madam clerk can you please call item 8. K and aptravel of the contract amendment for the survey of on demand workers in San Francisco. Thank you. Commissioners this is amendment to the original contract to the survey of on demand workers. It isvey viced to revised to the budget so the teamworks within the budget of 380,000. Also, leaving the door open for Additional Research and funding. Specifically the contract changes the scope to six platforms. It extends the contract to august 31st of this year with an option to extend for an additional year. If that happens we would come back for your approval. It changes the timeline to reflect the final report is due june 8th. It increases the total amount of the contract to 500,000 in case we get additional funding. We have pending requests with foundations that have expressed interest but the timing wasnt right in this fiscal year. The recommendation is to approve the contract amendment. Thank you very much. We need action on this, is that correct . Lets open up for Public Comment. Any members of the public like to comment on item 8 . Seeing none, it is closed. I would like to have a motion to approval 8. Second. Thank you very much. Please call ry item 10. Public comment. Public comment is closed. Madam clerk any other business before us today . That concludes our business for today. We are adjourned. Thank you very much. When i open up the paper every day im just amazed at how many different Environmental Issues keep popping up. When i think about the planet i want to leave for my children and other generation, i think of what contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. Clean power sf is San Franciscos key way of fighting Climate Change by Renewable Energy and offering it to San Francisco customers. Im from the San Francisco public Utilities Commission. The program came about with state wide legislation in 2002 to enable people to take more control over supplies. I first heard of the program when the organization was advocating to launch clean power sf. What im most excited about, its going to bring 100 Renewable Energy to my home and reinvest into Renewable Energy infrastructure and jobs. I had gone to a lot of street fairs and heard from the staff at the San Francisco public Utilities Commission to sign up for clean power sf even before it launched. We learned about clean power sf because our Sustainability Team is always looking for clean operations. Linkedin is the Largest Online network. There are about 530 million members using our site. In this San Francisco office theres about 1400 employees working in roughly 400,000 square feet. After signing up for the program we heard about the San Francisco program and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. Im the coowner of the new wheel electric bike shop. We opened this store in 2012 and the new wheel sells and services electric bikes. 11 people work here in San Francisco and our store is about 2,000 square feet. Electric bikes are fantastic for transportation in the city, theyre clean and green and you get places faster than any other form of transportation. It amplifies the power, it doesnt replace it. It makes it easier to get places by bicycle and its so enjoyable and environmentally friendly way to go and more convenient in San Francisco. Clean power sf requires two products, green, 40 renewable and competitively priced with pg and e. For those who want to fight Climate Change more, 100 renewable at 0. 02 per kilawatt. I decided to go with the super greens, after finding it only to cost about 5 more a month to have super green, thats a nobrainer, i can do that. We were pleased that clean power sf offers the super green 100 for commercial entities like ours and residents for the city of San Francisco. We were pleased with the package of services for linkedin and now encouraging our employees who have a residence in San Francisco to sign on as well. Clean power sf buys its power from renewable plants that feed the energy directly into the grid. Theres a commitment to sustainability throughout the entire organization and this clean power opportunity reflects that. One of the wind farms we use is the shilo wind farm and that is large enough to be able to provide energy for up to 200,000 homes. Our mission is sustainability, even though our bikes are Minimal Energy use, it Still Matters where the energy comes from and part of our mission in sustainability is how we run everything run our business. Having the lights come on with clean energy is very important. The Sunset Reservoir has solar panels that take up about four city blocks covering the reservoir and the solar power generates energy for city resources and clean power sf for residents participating in the program. It was easy to sign up for the program, i went online to cleanpowersf. Org and i started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going to be switched over and it just happened. When i pay my bill, i still go to pg and e and i dont see any difference between now and a year ago. Sign up online, just have your account number ready and it takes about two minutes and theres nothing to install. No lines are getting connected to your home. All the power goes through the existed power grid. We havent had any problems with the switch over to clean power. Its super easy to sign up. Our book keeper signed up online, it took about 15 minutes. Nothing changed but now we have cleaner energy. We see clean power sf as a key strategy to meet Renewable Energy goal, we have a goal of 50 Renewable Energy by 2020. Currently we have enrolled about 86,000 customers across the city. About 20 of what we hope to serve in the future and in the next two years well offer service to all San Francisco electricity customers. An easy way to align your environmental responsibilities and goals around Climate Change and its so easy that its hard to not want to do it and it doesnt really add anything to the bill. Joining clean power sf is one of the easiest ways to fight Climate Change, receiving cleaner energy at low and stable rates, youre helping to support a not for profit that helps influence the energy grid and produce more production. I would encourage any business to seriously convert to the clean sf service. Its good for environment, business and the community. You can sign up online our call and the great thing is, youll have the peace of mind that youre doing your part in your household to help the environment. Good morning, im c. E. O. Of pier 39 and i want to welcome you to our anniversary of the arrival of the sea lions. [applause] first i would like to take a moment to recognize a few special guests today. The executive director for the water emergency transportation authority, the executive director for Fishermans Wharf benefit district, the director for the ports real estate division, the director of california traveling association, senior waterfront planner for the port, president of the local 16, president of San Francisco travel, president of the Port Commission and commissioner of the Port Commission. Thank you all for being here. [applause] thank you for braveing weather to be here to join us. Its been my Great Fortune to work at pier 39 for the past 41 years and i remember the dark days that followed the october 1989 earthquake. Visitor traffic on the pier dried up to a trickle in the months following the quake, and they were quite bleak. I remember dan rather leading the evening news for what seemed like weeks on end with images of the collapsed bay bridge and freeway. He certainly did not help the citys recovery efforts. By january the city was busy rebuilding but visitors continued to stay away. It was at this time the pier began receiving complaints about a small group of sea lions. The number of sea lions grew quickly and pier 39 realized it had a real problem on its hands. After conferring with regulators and experts who advised they were federally protected animals a decision was made to relocate the boat owners and let the sea lions continue to use the dock with the hope they would find a new home and leave. Fortunately for us, they did not. [applause] we then noticed that the few visitors who were here were gathering and watching these fascinating animals frolic and play. Our pr team decided to send out a press release about this new natural attraction and word began spreading that Something Wonderful was happening at pier 39. Within weeks, the sea lion story was covered by the today show, good morning, america, the new york times, the london times and dozens of other news out lets. One thing was crystal clear, the sea lions were big news with a capital b. Pier 39s management congratulated itself of being Public Relations geniuses and the rest is history. [laughter] for three decades, this herd of sea lions have made it their home. Over that time, over 250 Million People have watched the sea lions bark, roughhouse and play king of the mountain on the docks below. We are so proud to have been stewards of this Amazing Group of benefits and for the work of our partners at the bay and sea lion center. I want to thank all of you for coming today to help us celebrate these amazing animals. I would like to invite president and ceo of aquarium of the bay to the podium. George. [applause] a quick twominute video on how we got here in the last 18 months. This is a truly compelling example of how they intersect to create one of the bay areas most vibrant, visual, engaging and educational public artwork. Introducing sea lions of San Francisco. Our celebration of 30 years of sea lions in the bay. Sea lions are fascinating and muchloved Marine Mammals. They have a unique gift for San Francisco. In 1989, they mysteriously began a arriving at the bay. They set up permanent residence and were soon making a big splash. The aquarium of the bay provides programs to educate and engage thousands of people around the world. Despite being covered under the Marine Protection act, our muchloved neighbors are under threat. They are currently classified as endangered. We want to generate awareness of the largest threat to our planet. No blue, no green. We selected 30 bay area artists to paint these sea lions, one to commemorate each year of their presence on pier 39. Visit the sea lions today. Follow the trail to discover each stunning artwork and learn about the animal, the artists and their messages. Join us in celebrating the 30th anniversary of our cherished marine friends. [applause] i know that time is pretty tight. Excess nitrogen creates an al ash algae bloom that affects the sea lions. Stories like these, im really happy to see the artists today. The youngest is nine years old. And please scan your qr codes, and you can learn about sea lions. They can hit speeds of up to 25 knots. They can dive up to 900 feet. And they have hearing that can go up to 40kilo hertz. There are conditions in the bay in terms of mic microplastics. This would not be possible without our sponsors. I want to acknowledge a few other people. Dan from the port of San Francisco helped us with the permitting process. Thank you very much. Im delighted to have the president of the port and commission kimberly and our board member, our partners from s. F. Environment, s. F. Travel and golden gate parks, partners from the u. S. Army corps of engineers. And our friends from the media from b. B. C. To new york times, thank you for being here. And lastly but not least, our wonderful mayor, london breed. Thank you. [applause] thank you, george. And with that, i would like to introduce and thank the honorable london breed and have her join us at the podium. [applause] i was in high school during the 1989 earthquake. I went to the high school right up the street. I actually spent a lot of time at pier 39. In particular, sometimes we used to maybe leave class a little bit early and come and hang out in the arcade. But i also remember the time when one of my science teachers proposed it was like this period, it was right after lunch, and as an extra credit period said if we came down here to see the sea lions that we could get extra credit, we would all have to meet down here. He actually came down here as well. And we didnt understand the significance. We know they were loud and they were barking, and we were like doing the same thing. But then we started to study it. We had to write about it u we had to talk about it and its significance, and it was just odd that this didnt happen before until after this earthquake. And just understanding, really endangered species and really studying science in a different way and looking at the environment and the planet and animals and so on and so forth, thats the kind of thing that really sparked a lot of my interest in really changing how we address the challenges around the environment. In fact, i drove my grandmother crazy, because i came home and wanted to recycle everything. And we didnt have at that time the blue bins and green bins and all of that stuff. And there were places you had to go to take those things. But it was really an incredible experience. And pier 39 has been just really an institution for so many years, so many visitors from all over the world come here on a regular basis to just not only enjoy the incredible restaurants, the aquarium by the bay and many of the great stores and also the places that you can buy wonderful candy, including pink popcorn which im very excited. If if you know what pink popcorn is you are probably my age. It also, the sea lions really created a different kind of feeling, a different kind of warm. You see them, you watch them. And i dont know what it is about watching the sea lilyons and listening to them, but sometimes minutes go by, then sometimes even an hour can go by before you realize that you actually have to go. But it is so fascinating and great that for the past 30 years, they have continued time and time again to come back to pier 39. And people not only do the tourists who visit San Francisco look forward to coming here, san franciscans look forward to coming here during that time as well. So im really grateful to be here, excited about what this continues to do to really engage the community and really support the sea lions and call attention to what we need to continue to do to protect the bay, to protect our environment and to make sure that they do not become an endangered species. It is so critical we do a better job as stewarts of this earth. So i want to thank so many people here today including the pier 39 marina staff. The Marine Mammal center, the aquarium of the bay, marina operations, bay. Org and port of San Francisco. So Many Organizations continue to make sure that our port and our pier are attractive, are also economically vibrant but also stuarts of the environment. And i think thats so critical to the success and future of our city and of our planet. And so thank you all so much for being here. And i invited the sea lions love to get attention. I invited the king of the sea lions to come here today to accept this proclamation, making it sea lion day in San Francisco. [laughter] [applause] king herbert said you know what . King herbert couldnt lose the weight to come up the stairs this time around. As you know they weigh hundreds of pounds and its very challenging so instead, i want to ask who do i want to ask to accept this proclamation. Why dont you come up . And you can deliver the proclamation to the sea lions so they can know that today as we celebrate 30 years, it will always be remembered as sea lion day in the city and county of San Francisco. [applause] thank you. Thank you, mayor breed, that was wonderful. Next i would like to inshiite the director of marina to invite shina, the director of operations here. Thank you. Im not particularly used to doing public speaking. So here goes. When i heard our honorable mayor mentioned she was in high school when the sea lions first game to pier 39, i have to say i thought i had already been working here as master of pier 39 marina for four and a half years when that happened. So before you all do the math, im going to launch into this. So as taylor had mentioned, we had really been hit hard by the earthquake. I felt like i was working in camelot when i was working at pier 39. It was so marvelous. We hadnt sustained a lot of damage but getting the visitors back proved to be pretty challenging. So it was really a momentous event when this one animal that came up on to the end of j dock had some line around his neck so he got nicknameed sleek holder y some children. That he he he heralds the most e arrival. This didnt happen over a protacted period of time. This happened very quickly. We went from maybe ten or 20 animals to 1400 on k dock within a matter of months. So it was a very overwhelming and incredible event. And we didnt really know how we were going to deal with it or what we were going to do. And eventually the Marine Mammal center came out and they said you have to close down k dock. We have been trying to maneuver our way through hundreds of sea lions to allow our boaters that were there to get through it. And it was just proving a nightmare. So we closed it down, and we located our boaters to the east harbor. And thats when we started to talk about ways that we could accommodate them. Because by then, it was so obvious that this was a huge attraction, not just as taylor said, to our local community, but also to international and national visitors. What i want to share with you very briefly is my own experience of what those first few months were like, because it was incredibly bizarre and strange, all of a sudden we had gone from having no business on the pier to having 1400 sea lions and about the same number of press all converging on our property. And this turned out to be an incredibly happy and vibrant event that everybody wanted to record. And they wanted to make it humorous. And they wanted to make it something that everyone would enjoy. So every national, International News person came here and were filming. And we were treated to a burst of what i can only describe as ill literation. So there were headlines that trumpeted something fishy is going on, lion tamer sheila, the boys of blubber are back in town and so on. And my voice mail at my Office Actually it was a machine in those days, was full every morning with very miscohesive recordings. We didnt have a caller id so i never was able to track them down. But it was sea lion barking messages and lots of versions of i left my art in San Francisco. It was a humorous time, and it transformed our business. In addition to having to escort our boaters and then having to relocate them, we actually really just had to think about how could we make this, keep it a natural attraction. You dont want to make it some kind of artificial event. We had been blessed with this incredible opportunity, and we needed to manage it well. And we needed to manage it safely, and we needed to make sure that the public had safe access. So youve seen how thats evolved over the years, we have this beautiful overlook, the sea lion center. But at the time when i was making those decisions, along with the executive group at pier 39, there was some very helpful suggestions that were coming in from the more quirky and whimsical members of society, which was a truly terrifying insight at the time into some peoples minds. But those who thought we still maybe wanted to get rid of them would suggest things like detouring them by putting broken glass on the dock or some versions heavily designed cattle prods that would work and things like that. But on the fun side, some people designed all kinds of lovely attractionstyle floats. But what we ended up doing, of course, was building floats that looked just like the normal dock. So we tried to keep that very natural attraction. Anyway, its been a phenomenal ride for all of us. Its completely changed my job description. Because i never thought i would be an expert, if you like, in representing the sea lions. So i just want to say this last thing. Excuse me. We have a wonderful array of marine life from sea lions to dolphins, weve even had whales in the bay. We have pelicans. And its all showcased, a lot of it is showcase in our lovely aquarium here. But you can also go out on the end of the pier and see all of that. So while we enjoy this phenomenon, i want to reiterate what our mayor has said. Lets take this moment in history and continue that Environmental Stewardship and vigilance so they can thrive and keep coming back. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. To close the presentation, a couple of notes. As you leave pier 39, please make sure to look at the new sea lion taupe area that will be a permanent installation Going Forward, and we cant have a celebration without cake. So we invite you to stay. Here comes the sea lion cake. A couple photos and then we will all share it. So thank you all very much for coming. [applause] my name tom hewitt. First of all, i would like to welcome everyone to come to this fair. This safety fair, we trying to educate the public regarding how to prepare themselves during and after the earthquake and then to protect themselves for next 72 hours. Hi. My names ed sweeney. Im the director of services at department of building inspection, and we put together a great fair for the city of San Francisco to come down and meet all the experts. Weve got engineers, architects. We have builders, we have Government Agencies. Well, we have four specific workshops. We have the accessible business entrance. My name is leah, and i am the assistant manager with the department of small business. I am leading the new accessibility ordinance that helps existing owners better comply with existing access laws. So all buildings that have places of public accommodation in San Francisco, they must comply with this ordinance. The a. D. E. Was setup by the board of supervisors, and the ordinance was passed about a year ago. One of the biggest updates that we have is that the deadlines were extended, so all of the deadlines were extended by six months. And its really to help the public, the Business Community to be specific, to cut down on the amount of drive by lawsuits. So on this workshop, were going to be covering what the compliance looks like, what business examiand property owne need to know how to comply with the ordinance. Well also talk about the departments that are involved, including the office of small business, department of building inspection, Planning Department, as well as the Mayors Office on disability. Hi. Im marselle, and i manage a team at the building department. Today, well cover the meaning of a. D. U. S, more commonly known as accessory dwelling units. Well talk about the code and permitting processes, and well also talk about legalizing existing dwelling units that are currently unwarranted. This is the department of Building Inspections residential remodelling workshop. My name is senior electrical inspector cheryl rose, and at this workshop, were going to be answering questions such as do i need an electrical permit when im upgrading my dwelling, when do i need to have planning involved in a residential remodel, and whats involved with the coerce process . Were going to also be reviewing inspection process, and the permitting process for residential remodel in San Francisco. Theres always questions that need answers. Its a mystery to the general public what goes on in construction, and the more we can clarify the process, the more involved the consumer can be and feel comfortable with the contractors theyre working with and the product theyre getting in the results. If you have questions that arent addressed in this workshop, youre always welcome to come up to the third floor of 1660 mission street, and were happy to discuss it with you and find out what you need to do. The program is very successful. The last piece is already 60 in compliance. Well, we have a very important day coming up. Its sept 15. Last four has to be compliance, which means that the level four people that have to register with us and give us a basic indication of how theyre going to deal with their seismic issues on their building. Im francis zamora, and im with the San Francisco department of emergency management, and today we talked about how to prepare for emergencies in San Francisco. And so thats really importantiimportant. In San Francisco, its no secret. We live in earthquake country. Theres a big chance we will be involved in a major earthquake in the next 30 years, but we dont have to be afraid. These are going to be your First Responders outside of the police officers, paramedics, First Responders, these are going to be the people that come to your aid first. By getting to know your neighbors, youre going to know who needs help and who can help in case of an emergency. One of the great ways to do that is for signing7for nert, San Francisco neighborhood Emergency Response team. It teaches you how to take care of yourself, your loved ones, and your neighborhood in the case of an emergency. Information is just as important as water and food in an emergency. San francisco has an emergency text message alert system, called text sf. If theres some kind of an emergency happening in San Francisco or your neighborhood, it could be a police action, a big fire, a tsunami or an earthquake. All you have to do is text your citizenship code to 888777, and your mobile phone is automatically registered for alert sf. My name is fernando juarez, and im a fire captain with the San Francisco fire department. We have a hire extinguisher training system. You want to pull the pin, stand at least 8 feet away, aim it at the base. If youre too close, the conical laser that comes out, its too small, and the fire wont go out on the screen. If you step back, the conical shape on the screen is bigger, and it will take the fire go out faster. So it can tell when youre too close. My name is alicia wu, and im the director of a San Francisco based nonprofit. Since 2015, we go out to the public, to the community and provide training in different topics. Today were doing c. P. R. , controlling external feeding and how to do Perfect Communications in each topic, and also, i hope that they can bring it home and start gathering all the supplies for themselves to. On any given day in San Francisco, were very well resourced in terms of Public Safety professionals, but we all know in the event of a large scale disaster, it will be hours and days before the Public Safety professionals can get to you, so we encourage people to have that plan in place, be proactive. Theres websites. We have a wonderful website called 72hours. Org. It tells you how to prepare yourself, your family, your pets, your home, your workplace. We cant emphasize enough how important it is to be good mo. Today is wednesday, january, 15, 2020. This is a regular meeting of the abatement appeals board. I would like to remind everyone to turn off all electronic devices. The first item is roll call. Vice president lee here. Alexandertut here. Clinch here. Jacobo here. Mccarthy here. Moss here. Tam here. We have a quorum. Before we go further, id like to begin by welcoming three new commissioners. President mccarthy, well do a more formal welcoming when we convene as the building inspection commission. We also sit as the abatement appeals board where we hear appeals to the departments decision on issuing orders of abatement. And we hold this prior to the meeting. Okay, so back to you, sonya. Okay. Our next item is item b. The oath. All parties giving testimony before the board today, please rise and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony youre about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge. Thank you. You may be seated. Our next item, item c, approval of minutes. Discussion and possible action to adopt the minutes for meeting held on november 20, 2019. Vice president lee motion to approve . Second . Okay. We have a motion, is there a second . Thank you. Any Public Comment on the minutes . Seeing none, are all commissioners in favor . Any opposed . Approved. Our next item, item d, case number 6871, 3033 alemany boulevard. Owner of record, kung kay chin. Additional time to obtain a permit to resolve the violations. For the record, the way that the appeals work, the department presents their case first. They have seven minutes and then the appellant presents their case. There will be Public Comment for three minutes each and then the department will have three minutes rebuttal and then the appellant. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask the fellow commissioners or City Attorneys. Department, come forward. Good morning. Im chief building inspector for Code Enforcement. The subject property on 3033 alemany boulevard is a twostory building with a single story level of garage. The use is singlefamily dwelling. On february 7, 2018, a complaint was filed with dbi concerning work without permit, illegal change of use and kitchen and bathroom remodel. On february 8, it was assigned to complaint Investigation Team for vaerification. A note was left and the owners contacted the inspector to set up appointment. On february 13, inspector visited the site. The work was done, remodel of the kitchen on the second floor and installation of a kitchen on the ground floor. Notice of violation was issued for the owner to obtain two permits. One for the remodel on the second floor. And for the kitchen on the ground floor pursuant to ordinance 43. On june 22, a permit was performed and found that the owner had partially complied with the notice, obtaining one of the notice, but there was no inspection history for the permit. So the case was referred to Code Enforcement and hearing set up. On november 9, 2018, the case was put on hold for the process, so we gave time for the owner to go through the process. So on june 12, 2019, almost a year later, we reviewed the case and found that the notice of violation was still outstanding as the permit has not been issued yet. On july 16, an order of abatement was issued for the hearing officer. 60 days to obtain a final permit. Final inspection for both permits. And established condition to uphold the order of abatement. Throughout the process, dbi has worked with the owner and given him enough time to correct the violations, including holding the case for almost a year based on that ordinance. So were saying there hasnt been a final inspection . There hasnt been one inspection. No inspection. Vice president lee no inspection on item permits. Has the permits expired . No, not yet. Maybe i misunderstood, but reading the applicants form, it sounds like they havent received a permit because its held up in planning. Actually the permit was issued and it was issued back in september of 2019. Okay. So they have a permit they have two permits, one for the remodel on the second floor and one or the process. That gave them two options, remove the kitchen or legalize it. At this point, they havent had any inspection at all on both permits. Okay. Thank you. The appellant, you can come forward. Also, i need to submit the oath of office for you before you speak. Prior to you speaking, im going to hello. Hi. Hi. Im excuse me, i dont want to interrupt you, do you swear that the testimony youre about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge. Yes. Im can you think kay chin representing mary wong the owner. I want to make two points today for my appeal. First of all, the owner is not the one who did all those work. And secondly, we followed the instruction 2018 to resolve the problem. I asked the owner to they bought the house at 202 18 years ago and this was the announcement, the advertisement on the rental property that there is a down stair. Bathroom, things like that. That is not a major problem. The issue. I give you two copies. I have three copies. Okay. The owner received the complaint so in 2018, may, we filed a permit. And on starting from the second sheet, i colored it yellow, so you can tell, on august 5, 2019, thats four months ago. And i follow up with the planning. They have not even start doing it. If you would like, you can use our overhead. You can put it right here. Just put it if you want to show something, put it right here. Okay. Then people can see it. Yeah, okay. That was showing the advertisement at 2002 when they bought the property. This one tells about four months ago planning havent even started the filing 2018. Okay . So i followed up with them. And worked with them. And then the owner by that time is kind of tired, so they just say, lets remove it, the kitchen down stairs. So on the same day, august 13, i revise the plan. So it shows revision, okay . So we just simply not going to legalize the unit, just remove the kitchen. And so that permit was taken out on september 23rd. And since then, we look for contractor to removing it. Because in the San Francisco construction business, red hot right now. Hot for people. But we finally found them. And the work is continue on. And this is the job that shows work is progress and have been inspected and the inspector sign on the job card. Now we feel that all this time that the owner should not be fined, because she is doing what they tell you. 2018, we filed the permit, but the city is not moving on that. Until four months ago when we receive notice, then i follow up and find out what happened. Planning say they probably misplace or something. So i think its not her fault to get the fine. Okay. I think i finished my presentation. Vice president lee any questions. Any Public Comment on this item . No Public Comment with the Department Like to do a rebuttal . Would the Department Like to do a rebuttal . So dbi understands the concerns and the process with legalize process and thats why we gave two options. And we also broke down the complaining to multiple violations, including one for the remodel upstairs, which we even work with the owner to pull a permit over the counter for the remodel upstairs. And in good faith, the owner could have showed they were doing the work upstairs and then we can hold the case as much as weve done so far. And flying to comply with the trying to comply with the legalization process and understand its a lengthy process. We broke it down into multiple items, saying get a permit for upstairs and well work with you on the legalize process. Its taken almost two years to do one inspection, plumbing inspection. So the order of abatement is for both upstairs and down stairs combined into one order . Yes. The downstairs, so it sounds like the Property Owner is no longer proceeding to legalize the downstairs, is that correct . Is that your understanding, they pulled the permit to just remove the kitchen . Yes. Yes. And like i said, the way we wrote the notice of violation, we did permit research and we understand the rooms are legal. The bathroom. We have a 1977 permit. Thats why we focused on the kitchen itself. Does removing the kitchen downstairs require plannings review . Yes. It does . Yes. Through the chair, so we acknowledge that they cant remove the kitchen did the planning approve the removal of the kitchen . Yes. They did. Okay, so why are we still then equating the violation on the lower level and asking for fees . Because it would have been unfair to where two notices of violation and have two orders of abatement. We felt one notice of violation, giving them the opportunity to pull two permits, one for upstairs and the other legalizing it as a unit. Or removing it . Yeah. They made every effort to legalize it . Okay. And then rather than slow the process down further they took the step of saying, okay, were not going through this, lets remove it and get the permit issued, right . Yeah. That seems to be compliant, right . Im still having i know. Im having trouble why this is in front of us. I understand the top half. I do get that part. But if you if its in front of us as one, were trying to be fair about this, because there we asked for why you didnt perform. And theyve given us pretty much what weve been hearing a lot, weve done everything we can, but because of certain departments having to take different time frames, they dont gel. So why why . We understand that, the problem is even going back to 2018, in good faith we worked with the owner to pull an overthecounter permit for the Kitchen Remodel. We expected the owner to get inspections for that remodel that happened without a permit. We couldnt find any inspections on the upstairs. Instead of the owner saying its taking a long time to legalize or go through the process with planning, yet this was issued in 2018 for a complaint. Which we have to follow our protocol and process, and say were going to help you but inspector, youre making the assumption that, you know, there is going to be two different jobs. Theyre going to have to get two different contractors, break the job up. Why why . Not at all, its the same contractor can correct the work. You start one job, i get that. And youre trying do it all in one job. You have a right to do that. And for us to make the assumption, well wed like you to split the job up because its convenient for us, thats not fair. Commissioner, we never told them to split it up. We allowed them if they wanted to do that. Weve been here for 19 months. Its a simple job to legalize the kitchen upstairs that was remodelled without a permit. We could do that easily in a few days. Downstairs theyve elected to remove the kitchen, which is a small simple job. We waited for 19 months. Agreed, but if im approaching this job and they have the permits to do it im not arguing that point, deputy director, but im trying to put myself in the stakeholders if im going to do the job, im going to do it one time. Unfortunately, were part of the permit process here that has other departments that have to weigh in on it. Not anymore. Not anymore, i agree. But since september 23rd, theyve had a permit to do both jobs. And they are working on it. Its in motion. The kitchen is being removed. Whether he think its slow or fast, but it is being done. Im having trouble why, you know, were here on this one. I really do. The boxes to tick for me, are they being progressive and working and trying to do what theyre supposed to be doing. I get it took 18 months, but, unfortunately, unfortunately, Planning Department didnt get back to them. We did understand that process and thats why if you look at the whole description, this goes back to 2018. We gave 12 months for them to go through that process, to legalize the unit, but at the same time we allowed them we gave them the opportunity to say you want to break it down into two projects, remodel, show start worked on inspections, then we have justification to hold the case as much as we can, because at the end, we have to understand this complaint is not triggered by the department, its triggered by the public. So i have to we have to have some notice saying, yes, the owner is working on legalizing everything. The owner has obtained a permit and is going through the inspection for the kitchen model upstairs. There is no life safety issue here, is there . As a matter of fact, the Kitchen Remodel was done without any inspection. So gas inspection, electrical inspections, so i mean, we could prefer not to be here. Myself, i would prefer not to be here, but you know, i understand hes got one inspection so far. This year. We want at least one inspection after he got the overthecounter permit, to say, heres my contractor. It was 2018 when this whole matter started. One inspection, two inspections, saying were going to open up the walls, take a look at the electrical and then sign off and we have justification to hold off the case and not send it to director. Isnt it correct the permits are still active . They havent expired, right . Do you know when they expire . This permit expires. September 23, 2020. So i mean, legally, they can wait still to get their inspection, right . I mean, because the permit hasnt expired yet. But under the notice of violation, you have requirement to comply with the notice within a certain month of town. In good faith we allowed the owner to work through the permit process, but you have to work with the time line of the notice of violation. Youre telling us that the notice of violation requirements trump the permit . The notice of violation precedes that permit in question, unless in good faith theyre working with us and saying were getting inspections every month, or every three months, then, yes, we can work with them without going through a hearing. The hangup is the inspection . Yeah. And they put down a piece of paper saying there wasnt inspection . There was an inspection this year, plumbing. A few weeks ago. Are there tenants living in the building . When we do inspections for newer units we dont try to ask those type of questions. We know there is somebody living there, but we didnt ask if theyre tenants or family members. Does the appellant have rebuttal . First of all, the lady dont speak english, so there may be some misunderstanding for her. Thats one issue. Two her, its one problem. Shes having contractor right now to do the work. So we found out it was upstairs problem, but we didnt have the same contractors handle both case. Again, when she bought the building, those two upstairs and downstairs were like that already. And then she live in there. To her, they havent done any work. So anyway, thats all i need to say. But were working to try to get the whole thing resolved. And well have the same contractor, plumber, look at upstairs, too, the kitchen upstairs, which she hasnt done any work on that one. Okay . I have a question. I have a question. The issue with the department is the inspections. So how much i mean, you requested more time . So when do you think you can start scheduling the inspection with the department . Well, judging the work right now, because theyre not building, theyre removing things. So maybe one month . How much . One month, four weeks . One month. And then probably we close up the whole case. One month. Okay. Thank you. Any more questions . Commissioners, its in our hands. Motion to extend . I guess. Yep, i would be supportive. I dont know how the other fellow commissioners feel to extend it out another month. Im certainly not supportive of the fees that have been accrued to be collected. I feel i would deny that based on the history of this permit. I move a motion for that. Please. This is for commissioner walker, she was so good at making motions. Youve been duly appointed at the new motionmaker. [laughter] i make the motion to hold the order of abatement in abeyance for one month. And waive all fees . In order to were not talking about fees, were talking about the assessment of the departments cost for investigation of this case. And that the board would need to find that the department committed substantial error in accruing those fees, which i think in the packet, theyre 1300. Is there evidence before the board that the department committed substantial error in the assessment of costs . Their permits are still good until september, correct . Yep. So. So what is in front of us is to waive the fee, but the City Attorney is for us to deny collecting of the assessment of costs costs, the department would have had to do something wrong. Obviously, theyve done nothing wrong, but at what point when you have a situation where its clearly not the permitholders fault as to why that 1300 was accrued and based on the presentation here today, what options are then in resolving that . Im not putting any blame on the department. They were doing their job. They have guidelines to follow. So what are the options there of releasing that fee, or the assessment of costs . The code provides that the board would need to find substantial error. The department may have the ability to waive the fees on its own . Im not sure about that. For the sake of moving forward, i still move that we postpone extend the abatement for a month. And ask the department to look into waiving the fees. Second. Uphold the order of abatement and hold in abeyance for 30 days and hold the assessment of cost. Do a roll call vote on the vogues . Motion . Vice president lee yes. Alexandertut yes. Clinch yes. Jacobo yes. Mccarthy yes. Moss yes. Tam yes. The motion carries unanimously. Were all in agreement. Good start. [laughter] how long is that going to last . Okay. Next item is item e, general Public Comment. Is there any general Public Comment for the items that are not on the abatement appeals board agenda . Seeing none, item f, adjournment. Is there a motion . So moved. All commissioners in favor . Okay, we are now adjourned. It is 9 39 a. M. Well take a recess until 10 a. M. And then reconvene as the building inspection commission. Good morning. Today is wednesday, january 15, 2020. This is the regular meeting of the building inspection commission. I would like it remind everyone to please turn off all electronic devices. The first item, roll call. Presi