Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Govt Audits And Oversight Committee 20240713

Sfgovtv test test test test test test test test test test is good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the thursday, april 16th meeting of the government audit and Oversight Committee. I am the chair of the committee joined by aaron peskin and Committee Member matt haney. Thank you to the clerk, john carroll. I would like to thank sfgovtv for staffing the meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements. Yes, due to the covid19 Health Emergency and to protect Board Members the board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. Members will be participating in this meeting remotely as if they were physically present. Comments will be available for each item on the agenda cable channel 26 and sfgovtv are streaming the number on the screen. Each speaker is allowed two minutes to speak. Comments or opportunities to speak during the Public Comment period are available by calling 888 2045984. Use the access code. That is 3501008. After you have entered the access code you will press the pound symbol and the pound symbol a second time. When you are connected, and then zero to be added to the order in which you dial. While you are waiting the system will be silent. The call in system will notify you when you are in line waiting. All callers will be in mute until open for comment. You must allow for time delays between live coverage and streaming. Call from a quiet location, speak clearly and turn down the television or radio or streaming device. You may submit your Public Comment in either of the following way also. Email john carroll, clerk of the government audit and Oversight Committee john. Carroll at sfgovtv. Org. If you submit Public Comment by email, it will be included in the file and brought to the attention of the members of the board of supervisors. Written comments bab may be seno city hall at room 244 in San Francisco. Items acted upon today will appear on the board of supervisors agenda of april 28 unless otherwise stated. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Please call items one and two together. 1. Resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of special tax bonds for the Community Facilities district 20141 related to the Transbay Transit Center in the amount not to exceed 90 million. Approving related documents including the statement and the supplement. Bond Purchase Agreement and continuing disclosure and determining other matters in connection there with. Agenda item two is resolution approving the issuance of Transbay Joint Powers Authority not to exceed 315 million in Principal Amount of tax allocation bonds to finance costs relating to the transbay terminal project as defined within the resolution. Members of the public to comment on these items call the Public Comment number 888 2045984 and Center Access code 3501008. Press pound twice and press 1 and 0 to speak. Mr. Chair. Thank you. I would like to welcome the director of the office of Public Finance and the chief Financial Officer of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority here to present on these items this morning. Thank you. I am anna from the Controllers Office of Public Finance. I am here today to talk about the two related transbay bond resolutions. The Transbay Transit Center Community Facilities district special tax bond and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority tax allocation bond. Due to technical constraints, i will present on both items. The cfo is available to address any questions you may have. Also, my colleague bridgett and mark from the City Attorneys Office are on the line. Before i get into detail on the financing, i will provide background on the project. Tjpa was established in 2001 to fund the Transbay Program. Current members of the jpa include the city, ag transit. Cal tran and california highspeed rail authority. Tjpa manages the Transbay Program which includes construction of the Transit Center and extension of the caltrain rail tracks to the center to accommodate california highspeed rail and caltrain. The project over the past two decades includes in 2005 the redevelopment project area was formed. In 2009tjpa secured the loan to fund the project. In 2015, the city approved the formation of Community Facilities district and the levee of special taxes to support 1. 4 billion of debt. In 2016 after they identified the funding gap, the city provided bridge financing to close the gap which included the general fund. The takeout for the financing wasnt visioned to be the tax allocation bond proceeds which i will talk about in a minute. Funding for the project was provided by a variety of federal state and local sources including special taxes on the tax bond. Tax increment generated Redevelopment Area which paid debt service on the city bridge loan. Again, the two bond resolutions before you today would authorize the issuance of up to 90 million of Transit Center special tax bonds and related financing documents including disclosure on the city which we have been updating to include the Current Crisis. The second resolution would authorize the issuance up to 315 million worth of tax allocation bonds. Proceeds from the financing would be used to payoff the full Outstanding Balance of the city bridge loan which is 76 million. Refinance the loan for debt service savings, fund project costs including costs for design, construction and related obligations as well as tenant improvements and Program Capital reserves. Here we have provided more detail on the anticipated use of proceeds. The cfd proceedings and jtpa proceeds will be used to pay off the city bridge loan financing. The tjpa proceeds will be used to refinance the federal loan to achieve approximately 20 million in debt service savings. It will Fund Capital Improvement program reserves and capital replacement reserve. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds of both financings will be used to fund bond issuance costs in debt service funds. These final slides show the estimated financing costs for each transaction. For the bonds we estimate 158 million over the 30 year term of the bond. This includes interest of 4. 4 . The bonds will be structured as taxable debt which carry a higher interest cost but offsetting the higher interest cost is the strong expected rating of aaa plus for the bonds which is due to the cfd participation in the citys tr plan. The debt service 587 million for the jtpa tax allocation bonds assumes interest cost of 3. 86 . The lower cost is anticipated because they will be structured primarily as taxexempt debt. This last slide outlines the anticipated financing schedule. I would note that given recent volatility in the Municipal Market we are allowing more time for marketing and sale of the bonds before the closing in may and june. With that, i would be happy to answer any questions as would my colleagues. That you for the presentation. Before we go to Public Comment, colleagues do you have questions or comments . I do, mr. Chairman. There is aaron peskin. Maybe this is a question for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, but in item 2 why does the city and county of San Francisco need to authorize . Why cant the tj pa do its own financing . I would be happy to answer that question. This is chief Financial Officer at jtpa. The resolution is in front of you because we are joint Powers Authority and all financings have to go in front of the board in which we are doing the construction, the physical construction within or the financing will take place. It is part of state statute for jpa law. We are required to come to the San Francisco board of supervisors so the board can find Public Benefit to the financing. That would be defined as demonstrated savings or economic benefit in terms of job growth. There is another faceto that. That would be so you can find Public Benefit to the financing for jtpa. Thank you for that answer. With regard to the 115 million portion of the tax allocation bonds, that references payments of judgment or settlement obligations. Is that sufficient funds for any and all outstanding payments of judgments or settlement obligations . Yes, it is. So that would be in part what this committee will be discussing later as well as other outstanding claims presumably the web core litigation . Any web core litigation, any litigation between any of our main contractors and subcontractors would be encompassed in any sort of litigation proceeds. The 115 rate is sufficient funds to settle any and all outstanding judgments and claims . Yes, correct. Thank you. Supervisor peskin, if we can move to Public Comment. Mr. Clerk are there any callers on the line . We will check. Are there any callers . I have one caller waiting in the queue. I will call him up. Good morning. You have two minutes. Good morning. My Public Comment was for item 4. I will wait. That sounds good we will ask you enter into the queue for item 4 when we call item 4. Do you have comments for agenda items 1 and 2 . No. Thank you. Are there any other callers . There are no other callers in the queue. Thank you. Hearing no further callers, Public Comment is now closed. I would like to move that we send these items to the full board with positive recommendation. Mr. Clerk please call the roll. On the motion to send the items one and two to full board with positive recommendation. Vice chair peskin. Aye. Member haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. Mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Please call item number 3. Agenda item 3. Resolution approving the levy on the secured roll of add valour rum and special taxes on subproject areas g2 through g4 and subproject areas i1 through i13 for city and county of San Francisco infrastructure district 2. 20192 for pier 70 leased property and city and county San Francisco special tax district 20201 for mission rock facilities and services and making findings in connection there with. Members who wish to comment on this item agenda item 3 should call the Public Comment number 888 2045984. Enter the access code 3501008. Enter the pound symbol twice. Then press one and zero to be entered to speak when Public Comment is called for this item. Mr. Chair. Thank you, mr. Clerk. We have the finance team to present on this item. We have rebecca, the port water director available for questions as needed. The floor is yours. Thank you. I am Wyatt Donnelly on behalf of director forbes who is a Disaster Service worker in response to covid19 emergency. I will present on this item. I will pull up the presenttation. Can you see that okay . Yes. Excellent. I will get started. Again, this item number 3 is to levy the taxes. I would like to thank the Assessors Office for work on this item. We have been working closely with them and they are in full support of this item. I will give background on the project. This affects both projects. I will go through the financing structure and why this is a key component and i will talk about the action taken today and impacts on the financing for the project and talk about the requested action and some next steps. The two sites it impacts are mission rock and the pier 70 only. You can see chase center is the reference. Mission rock is the giant parking lot. Pier 70 is a shipping district that has been vacant for several decades. They will be mixed use neighborhoods. We are here because the board of supervisors has the ability under the state revenue and taxation code to direct the assessor to levy taxes on the secured and unsecured role. I will talk about those. Project background. Mission rock is a 28acre site serving as the giants parking lot. At completion over four phases of construction it will create 1200 units of housing, 1 million square feet of office space and 8acres of parks and open space. Housing includes 40 on site affordable. There is a local component. Transportation management program, rehabilitation and historic pier 48 which is on the map to the right, one of the historic piers. We are looking at potential options for that. Ongoing revenue stream for Sea Level Rise protection, planning for the year 2100 and on site child care. Pier 70 is a 35acre site. It will include 1600 to 3,000 units of residential. 1. 1 and 1. 7 million square feet of commercial and 9acres of open space. The range for both projects is flex parcels residential or commercial, depending on what ends up being constructed. Public benefit for the pier 70 project. 30 of the housing on site affordable. It has local labor, prevailing wages, transportation, historic rehabilitation of the entire site including buildings 12 and 21. Similar Sea Level Rise protection facilities. Looking at the year 2100 and ongoing revenue stream for Sea Level Rise protection. 90,000 square foot facility and on site child care. The structure is very similar for both projects. Initial funds is through developer import equity, which is repaid with a return through the land value at the site, and the two tax sources, special taxes or cfd Community Facilities district and i. F. D. Infrastructure financing. Those are the ultimately repayment. The item today is all about maximizing our bond proceeds which will reduce the use of developer capital which is more expensive for the project and preserves the portland value to allow the port to fund other projects on the waterfront. Just four terms to talk about a lot. Possessory interest tax is property tax on the value of the lease use or other private possession of publiclyowned property. Because the port is publicly owned it is taxexempt. When the port leases to private entities for private use, it is taxed by the assessor under the possessory interest. The ad valorem. That is on the assessd value of the property. The property tax is a common form. That is one of the two taxes as sessioned on the secured role. The other is a special Community Facilities district tax which is currently in the process of being formed for mission rock and was formed in january for pier 70. The secured role is more secure including taxes on land and structures. Unsecured role has an insufficient security for the assessor to deem that there is a secure payment of taxes, and the difference between these two roles has bond implications. That is why we are requesting both taxes be assessed on the secured role. What happens is the possessory interests are typically assessed on the unsecured role. However, the board of supervisors can direct the assessor to levee these all on the secured role. This would place the i. F. D. Property taxes and the cfd special taxes on the secured role. The key thing is it has a priority lien which inproofs the bond holders view and will receive better Interest Rates. Pier 70 and mission rock where we issue hundreds of millions of dollars of debt this can mean 10s of millions of dollars over the life of the project. As i mentioned before more bonds will increase the project funding and the portland value and reduce the need for developer capital. Once this is approved, the assessor will place all of these taxes on the secured role for next fiscal year and we will be able to issue bonds with that additional security and receive better Interest Rates in the coming year and we will be coming back with those bond issuance at a later time with more details and a better understanding of the market. That is pretty much everything. I would request positive recommendation for the resolution at hand. I am available and my colleague rebecca, the Waterfront Development director as well as the City Attorney and Public Finance attorney are available for any questions. Thank you so much for the presentation. Before we go to Public Comment, are there any further comments or questions from my colleagues . Mr. Clerk, are there any callers on the line for Public Comment . Thank you, mr. Chair. We will check to see if there are any callers in the queue. I have one caller in the queue. Allow me to call him up. I am francisco lacosta. What i want to say is that the presenter talks about this property in a very general way. It comes on the public trust land. Every californian has a right to express their opinion. This land that we are talking about pier 70 and mission rock is contaminated land. On pier 70 i had brought it to your attention before. There is a Million Pounds of coal tar that has to be mitigated. You didnt talk about that. There are two huge areas of a field. You dont want to talk about that. This matter came before another committee and a gentleman, i was not allowed to get in because of this mickey mouse operation that you have with this communication. Another gentleman got in and explained in detail how contaminated the mission rock area was. How can you agree to pass a bond measure on contaminated land and adversely impact the lives of innocent people . This is happening on other areas. The supervisors please represent the people. Thank you. Do we have any more speakers on the line . No other callers in the queue. Thank you. Hearing no further callers, Public Comment is now closed. I would like to move that we send this item to the board with positive recommendations. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. On the motion to recommend agenda item 3 to the full board of supervisors made by supervisor mar. Vice chair peskin. Aye. Member haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. There are three ayes. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Please calm item 4. Emergency ordinance to temporary require grocery store, drugstore and restaurant and on demand Delivery Service employers to provide health, scheduling and hours protections to employees during the public Health Emergency related to covid19. I have received request to schedule this as Committee Report. Members of the public should call 888 2045984 and enter access code 3501008. Press the pound symbol twice. Then press one and zero to enter the queue to speak for agenda item 4. Mr. Chair. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Supervisor haney thank you for sponsoring this and your work on this important ordinance. The floor is yours, supervisor haney. Thank you, chair mar, for your partnership and all you have been doing to make sure essential workers have access to sick leave and other protections during this time. It has been a pleasure to partner with you on this. Colleagues for your consideration is an emergency ordinance for increased employee protections for grocery store, drug store, restaurant and on demand delivery employees of the emergency legislation we are introducing. Hearing it is cosponsors by supervisors and addresses the needs of this Critical Group of workers who are not yet receiving the level of employee protection to safely do their jobs during this pandemic. I want to thank City Attorney lisa powell, jim from the usc w local 5, usc w648. Rudy and kim at the San Francisco labor council, with jobs with justice and also to the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and office of Small Business for reaching out to my office and for making sure that we take into act the needs of Small Businesses and grocers. This is a chair scary time fs and they make sure we have access to food, medicine and essential goods. They need protected so they do not get sick or get anyone else sick. They should never face retaliation. Requiring personal protective equipment, no Contact Delivery, paid time for following health and safety protocols and no retaliation during the covid19 pricesis is essential for us to get through this pandemic. They are out there interacting with others and putting themselves at risk and dont have the option of staying home. We have to make sure these workers and customers are protected. The legislation strengthens the protections covered by the Health Officers order and gives additional protection and mechanism to file a complaint with the office of labor standards. The legislation does five thinks. One requires employers to provide workers with gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, soap and water in the workplace. Additionally on demand Delivery Service employers must be reimbursed for purchasing the item. On demand Delivery Service employees must be paid for time spent cleaning vehicles or driving to hand washing facilities during their shift. On demand delivery platforms must offer drivers and shoppers the no Contact Delivery of anytime. Four Service Employers must keep employees uptodate with latest social distancing protocols and inform them how to comply. Employers cannot discharge any person for exercising rights under this emergency ordinance. We need emergency legislation because we cannot wait knowing the personal safety of the worker l put then dire Public Health of the community at risk. We have three amendments for the legislation to consider as well. The first appears on page 4 of starting at line 17. This amendment makes it more explicit what on demand Delivery Service means. We are saying a thirdparty online or mobile application or other Internet Service offering or arranging for same day or scheduled delivery of Food Products or goods from Grocery Stores and drugstores. Second appears on page 6. Parttime employees we have stricken this out entirely. We have addressed the concerns voiced by the office of Small Business and please note in striking section 6, the office of Small Business regina said we are no longer need to change covered employer to apply only to businesses with 350 employees and also alleviates request to change work hours from two hours to eight hours which she requested in a letter that was send. Final amendment on page 8 section 8. Implementation and enforcement. We added language to say a individual may report a potential violation of this emergency ordinance by calling 311. The agency may investigate potential violations. This reflects the way that people are able to immediately and easily report Health Violations and labor violations during this crisis. We also have executive director regina who is from the office of Small Business who is available to make comment about the changes we made. I want to thank everyone who worked with us on this legislation. It puts in place critical protection to protect workers and their customers. I want to say thank you, supervisor haney, for this important measure to make sure the front line essential workers have adequate protections they need to continue to fulfill the Important Role during the shelterinplace ordinance. I appreciate your work. Your staffs work in addressing the concerns raised by our Small Businesses in how this might impact them. I know in my district i have heard from many Small Businesses. It is a small market and the restaurants that they absolutely want to protect employees and they have been asking for help in accessing personal protective equipment. I appreciate your work in addressing their concerns and the challenges they faced in accessing p performe ppe to proe employee. From the Small Business office were you going to offer some comments . Yes. This is regina, director of the office of Small Business. I want to thank supervisor haney and all of the supervisors that are supporting the legislation. Understanding the concerns of our Small Businesses and making that amendment. One thing i did not highlight in my letter to you which supports the effort under 4a is that in my conversation with the local grocers, many have put in placetic protocols for on demand delivery shoppers to require protective gear. They have been having not always but many times have to provide that gear for them to allow them to shop. This is important because our Small Businesses should not be subsidizing the paid protective gear for these workers. Thank you. Thank you. Colleagues, are there questions or comments before we move to Public Comment . I am pleased to be a co cosponsor. Chair mar, i know there were a lot of Small Businesses who had raised concerns and some may be calling in for Public Comment, which is great. I did just want to underscore that i believe we were able to address most if not all of those concerns with these amendments. I do appreciate the partnership every gina to make that happen. Also to my chief of staff who worked hard on these amendments to address these concerns. As she underlined, regina underlined, there is also a lot of this will help Small Businesses and protect Small Businesses requiring the Delivery Companies themselves to provide that equipment. When people are coming in and out of the stores or restaurants they will be protected. I really see this as a measure that is intended to support and protect Small Businesses as well. Thank you, supervisor haney. Why dont we move to Public Comment. Any callers on the line . Thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Coo will check to see if we have callers in the queue. First caller. You have two minutes. I would like to thank you, supervisors, and staff for your hard work. Speaking in support of this legislation, the health and safety of the workers are at stake. They are providing essential services which means their health is essential to us. Not only for the value of the work they perform to serve the public at this critical time but just on principal. Workers should be protected not only for the value of the work. These are parents, partners, siblings and loved ones and they deserve to go to work and return at the end of the day healthy and safe to their families. Thank you for that. Next caller, please. Good morning. I am here on behalf of the states council. We represent 160,000 members in california, 120,000 work in the Grocery Retail industry. I would like to thank you for taking bold action to protect the thousands of front line workers who stepped up in the crisis. They show up every day to ensure we can feed families and strong protections to ensure they are safe during the peak of this crisis and the months after when we open up our communities. Before you today is the first in the nation emergency ordinance to provide protection to the deliveries. We would like to thank supervisor haney and cosponsors and urge all members to adopt this ordinance in whole. Thank you. Hello, supervisors. I am adam woods, City Resident and San Francisco firefighter for almost 25 years. As a fire fighter, i want to say these front line food workers are putting health ablives on the line to a far greater extent than i am. I would like to explain what i mean by that. When we go out to respond to toa covid19 call we are given full personal protective equipment and training on how to safely interact with an infected patient. If anything goes wrong and there is a suspected exposure we are given administrative leave to quarantine. If we develop symptoms we are moved to the front of line for testing. That is firefighters. Front line food workers have a far greater number of person to person interactions than we are. They have no idea about the Health Status of the customers. They dont have the same level of personal protective equipment that we do, and if they do become infected, many of them are basically left on their own to deal with the consequences. Especially those workers working directly for the on demand delivery App Companies whose owner ignore California Law andyny protections they deserve as employees. Speaking as a fire fighter, these workers are feeding us, keeping us alive, heroes of this crisis andy serve the protections contained in this ordinance. I urge you to support it. Thank you for your comments. Is there another caller . This is jessie money from sciu101, deputy executive director we stand along with the i aff and every union in strong support of this legislation. As you know, 101 that organized thousands of uber and lift drivers that moved to delivery for lack of work. We stand with the fastfood workers in the fight for 15 which we are happy to stand in solidarity with for many years. It is wonderful the fastfood workers are also included in this legislation. We appreciate that this addresses significant issues of equity, health and safety for a group of workers on the front lines without any protection, no ppe or even broad labor union protections regarding health and safety and sick leave and the other items in our contracts. We stand in strong solidarity. Thanks, supervisor haney and the cosponsors. We will do what you need to do to make sure this is supported and executed. Thank you very much. Is there another caller . I am representing ufcw local 5. I want to thank supervisor haney and the cosponsors of the legislation. We have deemed front line food workers as essential to our lively hood and the business is essential to our society. I believe that we should treat their health and welfare and their employment as essential as well. I think this legislation does a lot to ensure that these workers not only are able to do their job in a safe and timely manner but also able to go home and secure knowing that they are not bringing the virus to friends and family because of the nature of their employment. I want to thank everyone in support of this bill. Thank you for your comments. Operations is there another caller on the line . I am chris wright executive director on the committee on jobs and represent the largest private sector employers in the city. During this extraordinary time we are adapting to the health and landscape and at the same time there is a rise in demand for Home Delivery of groceries and medications. Businesses and delivery workers are playing a vital role to ensure the goods are delivered and their health and safety is important. I have heard them say many members are offering no contact deliveries, protective equipment and Financial Assistance to support delivery workers. Our concern is some parts may cause unintended harm to the process and ask you consider the detailed letter we sent your office this week. Section 4 a allows businesses to provide reimbursement for sanitizers and protective equipment. This would require extensive it and training changes during this relatively short time of the emergency order. We request you allow businesses to proactively offer workers a stipend to cover the cost of products. Sections 5 and 6. As you know many on demand Delivery Companies allow workers to set when and where they use their platform. These do not apply to on demand Delivery Services. We understand and applaud your efforts to address concerns. We are committed to achieve them. That is why we want to make sure it is done right and to everyones benefit. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you for your comments. Operations is there another caller . Welcome, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Can you hear us . I will will bring in the next caller. Welcome, your two minutes begins now. Hello. Good morning. I am mark. I am here. I want to thank everybody that is here today enforcing these rights for myself and my colleagues. I am here today. I have been a registered driver for five years. I switched up recently to food delivery and i am pretty alarmed how we dont have any safety in place. There is no where to wash your hands, there is no mask, no wipe. They said they were going to provide us with all of these safety things, and as of now they havent provided anything. We are still waiting. Something has to be done. We are not First Responders or nurses but we are definitely on the front lines in the community daybyday. We are exposing myself and my family as well and my community when i come back home. Definitely they passed 85, but it seems like nobody is enforcing it. This is being ignored which is unfortunate. They are leaving us pretty much out there to fend for ourselves. I plea for myself and my colleagues that something comes to play and has to be done immediately for us to continue operating safely and providing our services. That is pretty much it for me. I want to thank everybody once again for coming together and trying to make a change for my colleagues and myself. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Operations, is there another caller . Welcome caller. Your two minutes begins now. Thank you. There is michael lion. My wife and i are 80 years old and trapped at home. We depend on these services andy pend on the people who bravely bring us food and medicine. Our son is an rn at the emergency at kaiser. We are well aware of the issues of protective equipment. Workers are being pressed to return to work by trump. Even if the governors resist, it is the line when people have to return to work. It is being pushed nationally. Considering this National Pressure to get people back to work, the city needs to protect workers. That is why we are in favor of this. I personally look forward to the day when workers control society and this will happen automatically rather than having to go through the legislature. Given the conditions now, i really appreciate this. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Do we have another caller . Your two minutes begins now. I would like to read into the record a statement by a person who was not able to get off work. Hello, i work in mcdonalds at 1100 fillmore street in San Francisco. I am organizing with the fight for 15. I strongly support the emergency ordinance to protect the health of workers and public. I have three kids daughter 7 and son 3 and baby girl 11 months. I am afraid to get sick and bring it to my family. My husband works at mcdonalds. It would be good to feel protected. We have run out of hand sanitizer. There is not a plan to keep social distance with customers or between us. I understand there is not enough space in the kitchen. They have never provided masks for us only be to the managers. They allow more than 10 customers in the lobby. Workers went on strike to demand the company protect the workers and public. I am proud to be an essential worker but we deserve protection. Please help us get mcdonalds to do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Do we have another caller on the line . [please stand by] regardless if theyre in a brick and mortar store or if theyre working in a mobile app Delivery Service. Its an incredible tragedy to see that so many people are affected by this virus. I also want to appreciate that Small Business brick and Mortar Companies are already at a disadvantage. They should not be subsidizing these massive corporations, but they should be applauded for already taking measures in their stores. I think the actions theyve already taken are prudent, and we look forward to moving this legislation forward urgently. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Operator you have three questions remaining. Clerk welcome, caller. Your two minutes begins now. I want to thank supervisor haneys office for working on this with us, and ufcw. This legislation is so critical. The only reason why were so here and able to social distance is from frontline to delivery workers, they make this work, and they deserve these minimal protections. They deserve to be protected against this evil virus, and i really believe they need this. The fact that corporations would put health aprofits abov health and safety of their workers is absurd. They deserve this. They deserve gloves, they deserve masks, they deserve time to wash their hands. The fact that anyone would speak against it is who are identifying. A horrifying. I want to thank all of them every day for what they do, for making this shelter in place work, so thank you for all you do, and thank you to the supervisors. Clerk thank you for your comments. Operations, is there another caller . Operator you have two questions remaining. Clerk welcome, caller. You have two minutes. My name is connie ford, and i am a Vice President of the San Francisco labor counsel and an executive member of jobs with justice. I also am a part of that vulnerable age group that is worried constantly about the health and safety of my family, of me, of my husband who just had a recent stroke. I just cant tell you how the workers, providing the protections and services that they do are whats keeping our communities in San Francisco alive and doing well. We were out there with supervisor haney on the first day, when we were banging the pots in support of frontline workers, and today, to be in favor of this legislation with the meaningful amendments that have been added, is crucial for our survivor of residents of San Francisco and as residents of this country. So please protect continue to protect the workers, continue to provide these benefits, and keep enforcing them through the office of labor standards so that we can all rise above this horrible pandemic and move forward for the next steps. Thank you so much. Clerk thank you for your comments, miss ford. Operations, is there another caller . Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk caller, your two minutes begins now. Hi. My name is edan alba. Ive been a lyft supervisor for two years now, and im a member with workers rising. Drivers like me are exposed are the most vulnerable, the most exposed during these times. It can be that we are the least protected because Companies Like instacart, uber, lyft, have not offered protections that workers usually get, and functionalities, we are exposed during our work more than most others. When i started or when the Current Crisis started, i tried to get from lyft protection measures. They said they would try to provide them, but then, they shutdown all their field offices, so there was no one to talk to. So people like me, on a daily basis, are forced to choose between not working, which takes away our livelihood, and we dont have any savings because of how little we make during this crisis, and providing a risk to the public and to ourselves during this crisis. I strongly encourage this measure. Thank you. Clerk thank you. Mr. Qu, are there any other callers on the line . Operator you have zero questions remaining. Clerk there are no other callers. Supervisor mar thank you, mr. Clerk. Public comment is now closed. I want to thank everyone who spoke in Public Comments, but especially the frontline workers, the grocery workers, the frontline clerks, the fastfood and restaurant workers who spoke out here this morning just for all of the important work that youre providing and service youre providing for our communities right now in these really challenging times through your labor, so thank you so much. Supervisor haney. Supervisor haney thank you, chair mar. I did want to say just one more thing, which is we recognize that there is active litigation and disagreements about the definition of employees. We as the board of supervisors have been very clear about where we stand on that and have passed numerous resolutions that have clarified our stance as a city, as the board of supervisors, in support of 85 and other efforts. And so i do want to say that for the companies who read this and believe that it does not ally to them, i would, in the strongest terms, request that you comply with this. This iscy this is critical for our health and safety as a city during this time, and for folks who we believe that you employ, but you are referring to with another term, please make sure that they have access to this protection. Ive heard some folks say this is great, or some companies are saying they dont have to comply with this, and i believe that would be a terrible and dangerous mistake not to ensure the health of their drivers, of their shoppers, of their employees, and of their customers. Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor haney, for that important point, and thanks for all of your work on this important ordinance to protect our frontline essential workers right now. I believe you or you moved to amend the ordinance, which i will second. Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll on the motion to amend . Clerk on the motion to amend the ordinance [roll call] clerk mr. Chair, there are three ayes on the motion to amend. Supervisor mar thank you, mr. Clerk. I would now like to move that we send this as amended with positive recommendation as a Committee Report to the april 21 meeting of the board of supervisors. Mr. Clerk, please call call the roll. Clerk on the motion that the ordinance be recommended as a Committee Report to the april 21 board of supervisors meeting [roll call] clerk mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Supervisor mar thank you. As we move into the next items, i did want to state that, colleagues, you know, we have a closed session scheduled to consider these next two items, which are litigation matters. At this time, i dont believe its necessary for us to convene in closed session for us to consider either ordinance, so instead of asking for a motion to convene in closed session, i will ask our clerk to call these items in both sessions. Mr. Clerk, please call the two items. Clerk items 5 and 6 are ordinances authorizing the settlement of lawsuits filed by individuals against the city and county of San Francisco. Members of the public, if you wish to speak, dial 18882045984, and then enter the access code 3501008, then pound, then pound to queue up, then onezero to speak. Supervisor mar its hard for me to imagine a more misguided effort than this building sinking into the ground. Well likely have a retrofit for this, and we have reached this agreement for developers and millionaire condo owners before we provide shelter for homeless san franciscans to shelter in place. I hope we acknowledge the absurd disparities in wealth, privilege, and access that got us here, but i will be voting in support of these items today. Before we go to Public Comment, are there any further comments from my colleagues . Chair peskin . Supervisor peskin thank you, chair mar. I concur with your statement with regards to item 6, which in a normal circumstance, i wish we could actually discuss in closed session, but i understand that time is of the essence, and i know that all three of us have been individually briefed by the City Attorney, and i do want to acknowledge that the City Attorneys Office has really done the best they can in settling this ongoing litigation. And i was going to actually ask some questions, but i was able to do that in the previous items 1 and 2 with regard to pointing out that there are other unsettled claims and litigation that t. J. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority are doing, but they are not a party in this particular action, and that has been set forth in the answers that the tjpa gave earlier in todays meeting. With regard to item number 5, i do not think time is of the essence. Speaking only for myself, i would like to have a closed session on that, which we dont yet have the technology, apparently, to do, so i would respectfully ask that that item be continued until we can have a closed session. Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor peskin. Actually, i will support that motion your your motion to continue the item number 5. Mr. Clerk, are there any callers on the line for Public Comment . Clerk mr. Chair, mr. Qu will check to see if we have any callers in the queue. Operator mr. Chair, there is one caller in the queue. Please allow me a moment to queue them up. You have one question remaining. Clerk well come, caller. Your two minutes begins now. I appreciate the statements that you have made. Truly, when we were suffering during this pandemic, we see all these discrepancies and disparities with some of our supervisors commenting, but they dont want to really address the situation. Here we are, trying to give a lot of money in some settlement, because, you know, if you have the attorneys, you can get the money. But whos going to repair the poor . Whos going to represent when decisions are made to put the homeless, the indigent, in harms way . So i admire at least you are making a statement, telling everybody in this city and county of San Francisco, the hard working taxpayers that there is a disparity, where if you have lawyers or the machine on your side, you can get paid. But if you are poor or you dont have representation, you are left to die, slowly left to die. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you for your comments. Operations, is there another caller . Operator there are no other callers in the queue. Clerk thank you, operations, a operations. Supervisor mar thank you again, mr. Clerk. Hearing no further comments, Public Comment is now closed. Supervisor peskin made a motion to continue item number 5. I just want to check with deputy City Attorney ann pearson to see if theres any time sensitivity to decide that we should be aware of before we consider the motion to continue that way. Are you able to see and hear me . Oh, there i am. I trust our litigators would say that there is some time sensitivity to this, but there is no hardandfast deadline that im aware of that i could bring to your attention to influence your decision to move this forward as quickly as possible. Supervisor mar okay. Thank you for that, deputy City Attorney pearson. So supervisor peskin has moved that we continue item number 5. I will second that. Clerk would you like to specify the supervisor mar why dont we continue it to the supervisor peskin id like to continue to the call of the chair, and the moment that we can actually have a closed session, then i would ask that it be scheduled. Supervisor mar thank you, and i would second that. Mr. Clerk, can you please call roll . Clerk on the motion to continue agenda item number 5 to the call of the chair [roll call] clerk mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Supervisor mar thank you, mr. Clerk. And then, i move that we would send item number 6 to the full board with a positive recommendation. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Clerk on the motion from chair mar to recommend item number 6 to the full board of supervisors [roll call] clerk mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Supervisor mar thank you, mr. Clerk. There any further business . Clerk that concludes our business for today. Supervisor mar thank you. We are adjourned. Welcome to the april 13, 2020 meeting. I am joined by Video Conference with vice chair supervisor stephanie and supervisor gordon mar and id like to thank