President mccarthy today is wednesday, march 18, 2020. This is the regular meeting of the building inspection committee. I remind everyone to turn off Electronic Devices and the first item on the agenda is roll call. President mccarthy . President mccarthy here. Clerk commissioner moss . Commissioner clinch. Commissioner jacobo. Commissioner tam. Commissioner alexandertut. We have a quorum and our item is item 2. President s announcements. President mccarthy good morning, everybody. Just moving everything is moving parts here. I just wanted to have a few words to read into the comments and to my president s announcements. Im confident and dedicated i am confident that the dedicated and hardworking staff throughout the department of building inspection are aware of the response to the people of San Francisco and will continue to do their duty and uphold the public trust which theyve been doing in the last week. As you know were dealing with, you know, a Public Health emergency in our city. And our state and country, that we have never, never had to encounter before. On behalf of the commission, i urge all d. B. I. Staff and customers to follow the instructions under Public Health officials and to do their part to prevent the spread of covid19. I applaud the department for taking steps to limit the virus spread such as increase social distancing between the customers and d. B. I. Staff, and the more frequent cleaning of commonly shared public services. Continue to Pay Attention to all of the Public Health instructions and take all of the possible precautions for your own health and your loved ones. Be proactive and help to keep each other safe. And that concludes, madam secretary, my comments. Clerk is there any Public Comment on the president s announcement . Seeing none, our next item, item 3, general Public Comment. Matters within the commission that are not part of this agen agenda. Good morning, my name is jerry grantler. The resignation of tom huey in the march 12th stories about the citys expanding probe of former president and instructial engineer rodrigo santaz are clear indicators that an outside investigation of the department is long overdue. My interest in d. B. I. Began in 2012 when i served on the civil grand jury that wrote a very unfavorable report on the department. I have attended b. I. C. Meetings for the last seven years. Its difficult to monitor projects like the rodrigo santaz prctses mentioned in the citys lawsuit. This lack of transparency is by design. An outside investigation needs to focus on the departments lack of internal controls and weak Building Code enforcement process. Current Code Enforcement penalties are not a deterrent. 98 of the penalties issued are below 1,000. 1,000 is the cost of doing business. D. B. I. s weak internal controls are present by design, not by accident or lack of funding. D. B. I. Has sabotaged the installation of new Computer Systems that would have made the departments practice of favoring a few individuals more difficult and visible. D. B. I. Failed to implement a system that would have eliminated the current process where contractors, expeditors and instructional engineers get to select the d. B. I. Engineer to review and issue their Building Permit. If you had the choice, would you pick your buddy . Humadic is similar to the process by the california d. M. V. To randomly assign customers to counter employees. D. B. I. Also sabotaged the implementation of asela. When you drill down into mr. Santos projects you find that it was the same small group of d. B. I. Employees who should not have approved his Building Permit ove overthecounter and field inspectors who should not have approved the final inspections. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you. So president mccarthy, i believe that there needs to be president mccarthy so because of the nature of this meeting today, were going to remove some items from the calendar, if thats acceptable to all commissioners, please speak up if you have any concerns. Do we do just a point of order do we still have to do the commissioners issues and matters, do we still do that, or just items on the calendar. Looking for clarification . You asked whether its required that we do. President mccarthy that we remove that. You can move to remove it for todays meeting. President mccarthy commissioners, do you want that to remain on the calendar to weigh in indiscernible okay. Number five, i have a request to leave number five on and i wondered what you might have thought about that as a quick discussion and move that forward because of the calendar thats on. And then we can if im correct we could do Public Comment on this again if we needed to though we have moved it out of our commission, is that correct . City attorney rob capla. If you feel that you have enough time to move it forward, the board of supervisors, where there would be more process, you could do that. And you can also schedule a time to take Public Comment on it in the future but you wouldnt be able to rescind the recommendation to move the item forward. President mccarthy okay. So, obviously, 6 well take off the calendar and move to the next available hearing. And then, obviously, we would keep the closed session which we would do last. And then pretty much remove all of the business off the calendar, if the commissioners today have any comments . Clerk do we have a second . Second . So theres a motion and a second to remove all of the items or president mccarthy except for 5, we will leave 5 in which we discussed now and number where am i 5 and 9. Thank you, commissioner. Clerk so theres a motion and a second to remove except for items 5 and 9. Do a roll call vote. President mccarthy. Vice president moss. Commissioner alexandertut. Commissioner clinch. Commissioner jacobo. Commissioner tam. That motion carries unanimously. Im going to read item 5 just for the record. I initially thought that the item would be continued. But all of you have received all of the correspondence and there was additional Public Comment that you have received as well. Okay, so item 5, discussion and possible action regarding a proposed ordinance, repealing ordinance numbers 3817 and 10219, and reenacting certain provisions by amending the administrative code to update the Hotel Conversion ordinance including adding a redefining of definitions of lowincome household and procedures to convert units and harmonizing the fees in addition to other requirements. This is continued from the meeting. President mccarthy do we need to discuss. I want to thank the commission for tabling it until today or continuing it to today. I talked to the Community Group whose appreciated having time to review this and theyre all in agreement with moving forward. Thank you. President mccarthy if i see no more comment on it, City Attorney rob capla. Theres a request to be read into the record. President mccarthy is that the letter from mr. Zach friedman . Yeah, okay. This letter is from Zach Friedman and patterson, a Public Comment, dear president mccarthy and honorable members of the Building Inspection Commission, our office represents the s. R. O. Hotel coalition, hotels, and other individual owners of s. R. O. S who will be affected by this proposed ordinance. In light of yesterdays shelter in place order and the serious Public Health risk of covid19 we reject to this hearing taking place without Public Participation as required by the ralph m. Brown act. Neither my clients nor attorneys or other concerned members of the public can violate the order and risk their health to attend this hearing. This hearing must be pro postponed. And including reacting the record in realtime and the statements by city staff and other members of the public. This is not an imminent matter. And this could be accomplished without the proposed new amendments contained within this ordinance. These amendments are not urgent and do not affect any government function as defined by the order. We respectfully request that this hearing be postponed until the shelter in place order is lifted and we reserve the right to have additional arguments and materials in advance of the final hearing on this matter. Thank you, for your krrs, very truly yours. So that was the Public Comment. And is there any additional Public Comment here . Seeing none. Is there a motion on this item . President mccarthy we do need to make a motion to approve. I move to approve. Clerk a second . Second. Clerk there is a motion and a second. Ill do a roll call vote. President mccarthy. Yes. Vice president moss. Yes. Commissioner alexandertut. Yes. Commissioner clinch. Yes. Commissioner jacobo. Yes. Commissioner tam. Yes. The motion carries unanimously. Our next item is item 9, Public Employee appointment. Director of building inspection. Discussion and possible action to appoint director of building inspection. 9a, Public Comment on all matters pertaining to the closed session. Good morning, my name is dray grantler. If the commissioner is looking for an interim d. B. I. Director my suggestion is the former Deputy Director rosemary vosk who is an attorney. And who is thoughtful and has good leadership skills and knows the department. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you. There was also additional Public Comments submitted via email by last name of mr. White, mrs. White and i have submitted that to all of the commissioners. So they have all received it as well. Our next item is item b, possible action to convene a closed session. Is there a motion to convene closed session . Id like to make a motion to convene closed session. Second. Clerk are all commissioners in favor . Any opposed . We are now in closed session. It is 10 24 we should be back. Hello, this is Building Inspection Commission meeting resuming. We are on item 9 d , reconvened in open session to vote on whether to disclose any or all discussions held in closed sessi sessi session. There is a motion to reconvene. I move to reconvene. Second. There is a motion and a second to reconvene in open session. We are now in open session. All in favour . Aye. Our next item, is there anything to disclose . Absolutely. Thanks for everybodys patience here. We had a really good discussion here and a lot of commissioners thoughts for the future were brought up and whats going to be needed, particularly for this department, which i concur for everything. Obviously, mr. Weir, we unanimously approved you to step in as acting director through this difficult period. As a commission, we thank you for stepping up and doing that. To be clear, weve acted to appoint mr. Riddin interim director. We had a debate about interim and acting. Interim director. So if you are acceptable, you can come to the mic. Officially you could accept the position for us and that would satisfy us, correct. Thank you. Good morning again, commissioners. Thank you for appointing me as interim director. While i am deeply grateful for your expressed confidence in my leadership of d. B. I. During what can only be called extraordinary times, i want to assure you that ours will continue to be a team effort and will continue to involve indeed depend upon the supportive dedication, commitment of building safety and professionalism we are proud to have in our d. B. I. Employees. We have terrific staff who work enthusiastically every day to ensure building and safety codes are observed in the letter of the laws behind them. Thanks to our engineer reviewers and all the Code Enforcement inspectors. We know that structures are built to constantly improving standards. And thus as these construction methods can deliver for everyone who lives, works, and recreates inside these buildings. I take this responsibility youre giving me and i will do everything i can to fulfill your expectations and to provide the department with the leadership needed during these times of Public Health challenges. We will continue to do everything we can as a department to meet the mayor and board of supervisors ongoing leadership efforts to build more housing that is safely constructed for all, especially for our citys most vulnerable populations. Thank you again for the honor to serve as departments interim director. I will certainly do my best to work with the commission, all city departments, the mayor and board of supervisors and City Employees and continue to provide energy, leadership, and professionalism in all areas of building safety in the city of San Francisco. Thank you. Good luck. [ laughter ]. Commissioner, please. Just a quick thing here. I just want to thank our c. F. O. For stepping up to the plate in our time of need at that time as acting director. Big second on that. I move to adjourn. Second. Go home, everyone. All in favour. Aye. Were now adjourned. Its 11 46 a. M. Are we ready . You guys ready . Are you excited . All right. Who is going to help us out . A round of applause. applause . Top of the morning to you. Lets hear it from you. Top of the morning. Good morning, everybody. It looks great to see all of our not old friends but long time friends that have been with us since the early days of San Francisco and also, of course, with our sister city that is 36 years old today. [applause] now we are blessed to have so many Irish Americans that have made San Francisco what it is. We have one that is very special to us, and that is our in house Irish American. That is shawn, the chief of staff to the mayor, and we have something that is going to help you because you need help, right . A shot of whiskey . No, no shot of whiskey yet. There is an old tradition of an irish stick, thush shillelag. It was something that a welldressed man had as a walking stick. Then it became sort of a weapon because we only have weapons of love and not of fighting in San Francisco. Then it was a sporting vehicle to use. Now you can buy them with a flask at the top with christi. Whiskey. We thought you would need this. As you know this is march 6th. I always thought the irish day was the 17th, right . Our Irish Americans in San Francisco want to celebrate early. We thought that this irish stick, shillelagh, would be helpful to keep people in order. It is a stick of friendship. We cant shake hands. You are going to shake a stick. Then you are going to walk in the parade aphave your walking stick, and then when you do the irish jig, you will have it. Here is the presentation. applause . Look at this. Shape up. You are ready, right . Just in case, you know, the mayor is always in a good mood. In case she wants to talk about something serious, what you should do is bring this out. 500 best irish jokes and walk in and tell her one of these jokes. I am sure every day you walk in you have one joke after the other, right . Absolutely. You have got your stick, your jokes, now the floor is yours to present all of these wonderful things we have happening and the first of all, is going to be the best, right . Got it. Good morning. Welcome to my favorite day of the year at city hall. Charlotte, it is great to have you here. You have been doing this many years. We are lucky to have you as our hostess. Am i allowed to use this in my conversations with the board of supervisors . Okay. Speaking of the supervisor from the sunset district gordon mar is here today. From the marina, catherine stefani. Thank you both for being here. This is always dangerous. I have been told that i will be in trouble if i dont introduce the commissioner. Angus mccarthy from Building Inspections commission is here. Somewhere in this crowd is from the immigrant rights commission. I dont see her, but i know she is here. Our sheriff could not be here. Under sheriff free man is here somewhere. Our fire chief is here, jeanine nicholson. Golden gate bridge long time member john mow land is here. Former grand marshall of the st. Patricks day parade. Good to have you here, john. The first person i get to bring up is our mayor. We will tell you she is having a difficult time today because she is now no longer grand marshall. Her term as grand marshall has ended. There have been moments when we had a number of long boring meetings in the office. She gets frustrated and tells us stop telling me mayor, i want to be called grand marshall. She pulls out the sash. Here she is for paps th perhe last time. Grand marshall london breed. Mayor breed my merchandising is once a grand marshall always a grand marshall, right, director . That is why i pulled it out today for this special occasion. I want to take this opportunity to also acknowledge the president of the university of San Francisco, paul fitzgerald. Thank you so much for being with us today. Also, just to say charlotte, that is an amazing outfit. Thank you so much for continuing to coordinate all of these incredible events to bring so many communities together. Many of you have known shawn for a long time. I work with him every day. I never hardly see him leave his office. I am glad you convinced him to be the mc today to welcome you all here. The fact you serve whiskey has something to do with it. Today we are celebrating what is just an amazing friendship that continues to exist between the Irish Community and San Francisco. In fact, we know that the legacy of this city has everything to do with our incredible Irish Community, many who i am grated here to San Francisco often running from discrimination in the east coast, and many settled here and started their businesses here, raised families here and created what we are so very proud of. Who has the best water anywhere . San francisco. It is because the dam and the water and power system created here many, many decades ago that we enjoy what is some of the best water anywhere in the world. We also know that many irish men served as mayors of this city. It is time for an irishwoman to step up for a change. We know that the rich history and legacy is why in 1984 then mayor Dianne Feinstein established the sister city relationship between San Francisco and cork, ireland. Thank you for continuing your leadership as one of the cochairs for that sister city relationship. So much history and so many incredible people, and, yes, i have the privilege of serving as the grand marshall. When i committed to being the grand marshall of the parade last year, i committed to showing up to every event, mr. Lions, now that you are the grand marshall, if i as mayor can show up to all of the events and do all of the vo volunteer k required to wear the sash, i want to be sure you are filling my footsteps with pride. Congratulations. We know that you immigrated here to San Francisco, met your wife on geary street, raised four Incredible Church and have a rich history and legacy in San Francisco. Thank you so much for being with us today. Congratulations. We are going to see you at the parade for sure. With that i just want to take this opportunity to recognize our treasurer jose who is here as well. And finally to commemorate this moment, yes, the parade is amazing and all of the dance performances, all of the volunteer activities. This is a time of pride, celebration, a time of coming together, and part of that includes the friendship that continues between San Francisco and ireland, and in particular our sister city committee. I want to ask the Council General of ireland to come forward. Robert has been with us many years. He is incredible. On behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, i would like you to accept the certificate to honor our relationship and friendship for generations to come. Thank you. [applause] lets celebrate in San Francisco. Thank you. I would say happy st. Patricks day. That is the 17th. Happy early st. Patricks day. Thank you, mayor breed. To continue we will begin with a performance led by the amazing principal of saint phillips, marry mckee. We have both the adults and youth choir. Come on up. On your seats some of you may have the lyrics to a song that i would assume none of you need the lyrics to. You will all know this song. Welcome celtic voices. When irish eyes are smiling when irish eyes are smiling, they can steal your heart away when irish eyes are smiling, it is like a morn in spring it is the tilt of irish laughter you can hear the angels sing when irish hearts are happy, all the world seems bright and gay when irish eyes are smiling, they will steal your heart away applause thank you, celtic voices. I cant help myself. The beautiful young woman with the red hair is my goddaughter. Go job. Since they just arrived, San Francisco has a great history of a number of Department Heads of Irish American descent. I would like to recognize mickey callahan, department of human resources, and bill scott from the San Francisco police department, and his assistant chief mike redman over there. Thank you for being here, gentlemen. It is now my privilege to recognize the Council General of ireland Robert O Driscoll who has a tremendous connection to San Francisco because his son was born in San Francisco. No matthe matter where his cares him, San Francisco will always be his sons home. Thank you very much. I think he is here today. This is his first st. Patricks day event. I am excited. If you see a green ball, that is mine. Distinguished guests, mayor breed, and supervisors and Department Heads and everybody, very happy t to be here today. Looking back for this event wondering what to say. It is 169 years since the first st. Patricks day parade. 170 years since the first mayor got appointed. How in the fliers year of a mayor was there not a st. Patricks day parade . The first mayor was appointed in may 1850. In january it would have been a parade that year, too. I have been reflected on my thoughts about the parade and first parade, and what were they doing . They were celebrating irish heritage. These are people who left under huge duress, typically in famine times and reached the east coast and no overly welcome home. California offered the promise of prosperity and good life for them and their family. They were celebrating they would never go back to ireland but never forget ireland. There is a grave yard from 1854. All of those had the names of people there and names from ireland but what county in ireland is listed. I thought that was in the last days when they were thinking how to be remembered. It wasnt enough to be from ireland. They had to be from cork and dublin. That connection to home was still as strong at the end of life as it was when they left. I am proud of that. I think the other thing they were doing that day, they were looking forward to what they would achieve because they had achieved a lot to get that far but they had a lot of work to do. The theme of this parade this year serving our communities, i think probably reflects the greatest achiev achievement of t community. That is what we do. That is the irish story in the city. The police in the city administration, politics, in the Fire Department, in the schools. Marry mckeever is here, principal of saint phillips, or all of the people who take leading roles. Our community serve. We should celebrate that for the next week over the course of the parade. Particularly they are so reflective of that. They are all some part of the story of service. As grand marshall you reflect the sense of community, that ethos. Look at the story. It is not just service to the community but the Irish American community through youth gaa. When we look back at your legacy, and i said this at the grand marshalls dinner in your honor. What a legacy for our culture to be passed to the next generation. It is very special. You have had a huge role in that. Everyone in the community here wants to celebrate on your special day. Please give him a huge round of applause. I want to thank shawn. I am scared of shawn with asia e shillelagh. Happy st. Patricks day. Thank you, Council General. I dont know if you saw what happened over there while he was speaking. The president of the Residential Builders was yelling that i hadnt introduced him. Shawn over there. Welcome. Glad you are here, shawn. I cant help. We also vointroduce supervisor matt haney. He has a great connection he studied at the university of galway, and he is the supervision or mar is the landlord of the center. He is the landlord of the krb. Supervisor haney on the mission street. We cant have a flag raising without dancing. It is a privilege to introduce the dancers from murphy school. Welcome. [applause]. I just want to introduce one of the dancers. This is mary who just this week received her irish citizenship. Congratulations. Welldone, murphy dancers. Thank you. All events celebrating st. Patricks day we could not do without the United Irish Society. They are doing all of the work. The president is not here today, but i would like to bring up john lynch, the Vice President to address everyone. Come on up, john. I hope i am half as exciting as the last performance. Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the 169th st. Patricks day season serving our communities. I am the Vice President of the United Irish Society of San Francisco and member of carpenters 22. Thank you to the mayor for hosting us today for hosting us. Welcome to the general of ireland and vice council. Thank you for coming today. I would like to thank the San Francisco irish pipers, murphies school of dance and the Dance Academy and the beautiful sounds of the voices. Thank you for your continued effort working with the mayor in coordinating this event. Thank you to the supervisors for hosting the post reception event, i think. A tremendous amount of work goes into the st. Patricks day season. Thank you to the United Irish Society board and volunteers and sponsors that make this all happen. Thank you. Also, thank you to the city agencies supporting the many events. The San Francisco parks and recreation, San FranciscoFire Department and paramedics, San Francisco police department, San Francisco sheriffs department, the San Francisco public works, and the San Francisco m. T. A. A round of applause for those agencies. Thank you. I would like to thank and congratulate our 2020 st. Patricks day grand marshall, mr. Con lions. Thank you, con. Also, the families of our honorrary grand marshalls. applause it is a tremendous honor to be selected as the grand marshall, as well as a lot of work