Announcer sfgov tv. San francisco government television. [gavel] chair peskin good morning and welcome to the San Francisco county Transportation Authority meeting for today, may 19th, 2020. Our clerk is ms. Angela tsao. If you could please call the roll. Clerk commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer present. Clerk commissioner haney . Commissioner haney present. Clerk commissioner mandelman . Commissioner mandelman present. Clerk commissioner mar . Commissioner mar present. Clerk commissioner peskin . Commissioner peskin present. Hold on. Clerk commissioner preston . Commissioner preston present. Clerk commissioner ronen . Commissioner ronen present. Clerk commissioner safai . Safai absents. Commissioner walton . Walton absent. Commissioner yee . Commissioner yee present. Clerk we have quorum. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. Do you have any announcements . Clerk yes, i do. Thank you. Public comment will be available for each item on the agenda via telephone by calling 888 2045987, enter access code 2858465. As seen on the screen. Then follow the system prompts. Once you join, youll be able to listen to the meeting as a participant. When you wish to speak on an item, dial 1, 0 to be added to the queue to speak. Each caller will be allowed two minutes to speak. When two miles per hours are up, well move on to the next call caller. Best practices are to speak slowly, clearly, and turn down the volume on your television. Please allow for audio visual delays and a 30second lag time during the course of the meeting. Announcer your conference is now in questionandanswer mode. To summon a question, please one then zero. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. I will move on to the chairs report. Colleagues, im quite pleased to recognize some incredible work by caltrans, which earlier this month completed the u. S. 101 alemany deck replacement project smoothly, safely and remarkably quickly, ahead of its already expedited tenday schedule. We were briefed on this last year. And this was a critical safety project to rebuild about 800 feet of the elevated freeway deck over alemany circle, right at the juncture with interstate 280. I want to publicly thank and acknowledge caltrans district director tony tavares and his team for this outstanding achievement, as well as the contractor c. C. Meyers. We appreciate the decision to accelerate this project by over two months, take advantage of reduced traffic levels during shelterinplace. And for successfully managing noise and dust throughout this intense 24houraday, sevenday a week work period. The sfmta and california Highway Patrol also provided excellent support could teen crews safe and traffic flowing. So i want to thank them as well. And, finally, i want to thank commissioner ronen and walton and their offices for working to keep everybody informed and involved. And appreciate all nearby residents and businesses for their patience throughout this recordspeed project. And we now have a safe and sturdy new facility, which is maybe the only Silver Lining of this pandemic. In other positive news during this time has been the evolution of the sfmtas slow streets program, which supports resident wellness bi koasing neighborhood streets to through traffic to provide more space for walking, cycling and recreation. And after admittedly what was a bumpy start in april, without adequate consultation of the public and our offices, which i know i think virtually every Single Member of the board was displeased about, im pleased see a thoughtful rollout of 13 streets this past weekend, including in my district o. Lon bard and stockton, bringing the total number of corridors to 20. Actually this last weekend i joined former supervisors katie tang and jane kim and we went and walked the slow street and supervisor fewers district on lake street and we were very pleased with what we saw. These streets are providing muchneeded open space and access for essential trips. And i think were all hearing from our constituents how pleasant it is to replace the noise of traffic with the sound of chirping birds. In addition to these slow streets, weve had the closure of great highway and three cities within our great San Francisco park, j. F. K. Drive and golden gate drive and twin peaks boulevard eastern loop. Thank you to the sfmta and rec and park for working in consultation with our offices, as well as with u. T. H. , to provide more space for social distancing and active recreation during the covid19 pandemic. I look forward to supporting Small Businesses next during the recovery period, as we enter the next phase of reopening our economy and making room at the curb and in streets to support pickup and dropoff and needs for outside seating for neighborhood retail, business and cafes. I want to acknowledge the north Beach Business Association and the telegraph hill, who have been at the forefront of an experiment to close several blocks of upper grant avenue in north beach. And thank my staff lee heckner for working with the residents and merchants and the m. T. A. With their interest on that project. I want to work with the sfmta to see how the Transportation Authority can further support these citywide initiatives. Thank you, colleagues, and with that i conclude my remarks. Is there any Public Comment on the chairs report . Clerk chair, there is no Public Comment. Chair peskin okay. Public comment is closed. [gavel] well move on to the executive directors report. Ms. Chang. Thank you so much, chair peskin, commissioners good morning. I i begin my who were with an update from washington, d. C. Tuesday, earlier this week last week, excuse me. U. S. House released the 3 trillion covid19 relief package called the heroes act. Thank you to Speaker Pelosi and the house for doing so. The bill would provide more than 15 billion in additional transit funding to help back fill the lost transportation revenue, that continues to mount for agencies across the nation. M. T. A. Anticipates the region would receive 780 million additionally in formula funds, on top of the 1. 3 billion it did receive through the earlier cares act. The heroes act also includes 1. 4 million from the federal Highway Administration for the state of california for caltrans, which is also facing significant budget shortfalls. However, of course, we have heard that the senate and the administration and others are still having concerns about this plan and the potential funding sources. And the need for the package at this time, so we continue to track that work with our partners across the region. And we would want to ensure that we have the essential services, of course, and Public Safety measures and the ability to support our transportation workforce going forward. So well continue to advocate for all of those things. Turning to the state, Governor Newsom revised the fiscal 21 budget, sets forth the plan for dealing with 54 billion state deficit, budget deficit that has emerged. His approach would close the gap as we understand it by canceling the budget proposals made in january and reducing spending on a portion of those ending fiscal year and perhaps mark can update us on a later item today on those measures. While the governors proposal provides little detail and specific impact to Transportation Programs, it does indicate that caltrans will maintain current planning and engineering efforts and accelerate projects to look at soft savings and maintain the jobs in the transportation sector. Again as we saw with the alemany deck project, this is a great opportunity to step up projects, particularly those that benefit safety and access. So now coming to the region, m. T. C. In april, of course, approved the first portion of the 1. 3 billion federal funding from the cares act, for transit, as weve mentioned earlier. 780 million was made available for immediate relief. And as a condition of that action at m. T. C. , they directed staff to establish a Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task force to guide and inform the distribution of the second trench of that funding, as well as what types of services and Transit System should be refashioned to provide, in order to support essential trips and essential workers. Were pleased that a commissioner and the m. T. A. Director will be serving on that Blue Ribbon Task force and well continue to support all of the commissioners in that effort. Theres a 30member group of stakeholders that has been convened and they will meet three times over the next few months to do that work. M. T. C. Has also at its special joint executive and abag Administrative Committee meeting yesterday presented findings of a privately funded poll, regarding the potential housing measure that was considered for placement on the November Ballot. However, the committee after hearing the poll results, has decided not to recommend placement of that housing bond on the ballot in november. As youll recall, assembly 1487 gave them the sport to put the Regional Housing measure on the ballot. And the two agencies have been discussing a general Obligation Bond to raise up to 10 billion over ten years for Affordable Housing and production and preservation. However, again as the polling showed that 40 of the reasons that regions residents reported an impact on their household finances, due to covid19 and the polling also showed an increase of the taxation and only 60 or so residents said they would support a Regional Housing bond, when initially polled with those numbers falling steeply with negative messaging. So it looks like to many, anyway, have not recommended to place that ballot on the November Ballot. And so instead the staff will develop a proposal for alternate strategies to enhance the regions work. Finally, as far as regional measures, to date on the caltrain sales tax, this is sb797, the sales tax of the November Ballot for caltrain. The board of supervisors voted to support placement of that board measure, to enable us agencies to consider that same action. And, of course, our final decision is not required until august. The remaining agencies have so far pending further regional discussions. We understand that caltrain is consulting also with private parties, which may also conduct a poll in the timeframe, june july timeframe, which helps inform pending actions. This would be at the sfmta and m. T. A. And board of supervisors here in San Francisco. Lets see. My next item to update would be about the outreach work that we continue to try to do. Its, of course, a different arrangement now and our staff have been participating in a citywide Public Engagement network. And particularly trying to ensure that we adopt best practices and reach out creatively to ensure similar studies and connect s. F. And condition pricing, any number of other projects are able to continue to benefit from and being informed by consultations with the public. We are trying to reach out to communitybased organizations in multiple ways, ensuring equitybased approach via phone and mail as well as placement of ads in multiple languages, multiple media formats, including tv and radio. So we welcome your ideas and suggestions there as well and look forward to participating this saturday with commissioner mar at his virtual town hall, just want to mention. There will be a virtual town hall this saturday, may 23rd at 10 00 a. M. For the study that commissioner mar requested last year. Staff have been looking to look at Sustainable Transportation options for the district. And we will be presenting the goals of the project, as well as initial data about travel patterns this weekend, as well as part of our effort to Seek Community input on needs and desires for improving the walking, transit and cycling modes in particular, that folks are enjoying and weve been enjoying in the pandemic in new ways. Please see the directors report for more information. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you, madam executive director. Are there any questions or comments on the executive directors report . Seeing none, is there any Public Comment on the executive directors report . Clerk yes, chair, there is Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have two questioning remaining. Clerk welcome, caller, your two minutes begins now. Caller and ive been listening to the directors report. And what i find missing is that no orientation you know, like guidance is given on the pandemic itself. Its very difficult during the pandemic to address issues like how to come to city hall and talk to you facetoface. So what i see missing, and i say this every time, is we do not have a seasoned professional incident management commander. And because we dont have this, all the departments, including the San Francisco county Transportation Authority, all over the place, because weve got to have a sense of purpose. Youve got to have a sense of doing a needs assessment. And then you talk in generalities that theyre not able to address the real issues that face the people in the pandemic. Theyre not able to do that. Youre all over the place making general statements, but not feeling the pain of the people of San Francisco. So the meetings, or whatever they are. You all need an orientation on what a pandemic is. So in another two months, were going to get a greater wave. Its going to impact a lot of people. Ill stop there. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you, caller. Chair peskin next speaker. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk good morning, callinger, your two minutes begins now. Caller thank you. Good morning, supervisor. I would like to address you on the caltrain 18, that was suppose to bring in 100 million a year. And im going to ask that you defer your support for this for two reasons. The first one is that there is absolutely no way that this measure will be put on the ballot in november, for the same reason that the housing measure was not put on the ballot. The second is that further to caltrans quite frankly dysfunctional response to covid so far, i would like you to revisit the governments issue and reach out to the mayor in san jose and make it a condition that you want a change in your management before you approve this ballot measure. Thank you very much. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Lebrun. Are there any other members of the public for the chairs Public Comment on the chairs report . Clerk that is it. Chair peskin okay. Public comment is closed. Madam clerk, could you please read the consent agenda. Clerk consent agenda. Items 4 to 7 comprise the consent agenda. The items 5 to 7 were approved at the may 12th Board Meeting and now considered for final approval. The remaining items are considered routine. Staff is not planning to present on these items, but are prepared to present if desired. If a member objects any of the consent items may be removed and considered separately. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. I understand that commissioner walton is having trouble getting into the meeting. I dont see commissioner walton in the meeting. Commissioner walton, can you call in . I know that you are watching as a nonparticipant. Can you hear me . Chair peskin i can hear you. With that, is there any Public Comment on item number 4, the minutes of the may 12th meeting . Clerk theres no Public Comment. Chair peskin Public Comment is closed. On the consent agenda, is there a motion to move the consent agenda, made by . Moved. Chair peskin a second not motion . Commissioner mandelman mandelman. Chair peskin the motion made and seconded. A roll call, please. Clerk commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. [roll call] clerk we have approval. Chair peskin okay. So those items were finally approved. And madam executive director, i will make arrangements to come and sign all of those hopefully later today, if they are prepared. If not, tomorrow. Madam clerk, could you please read the next item. Clerk item 8, seeking final approval on the first appearance, allocate 250,000 in prop k funds, with conditions, to San Francisco department of the environments Emergency Ride Home Program. This is an action item. Chair peskin and, colleagues, this is familiar to all of us insofar as we discussed this at our last meeting with regard to the 197,000 that we previously allocated. If we approve this, this will be approved on the first appearance and will not require two readings. Miss laforte, the floor is yours. Good morning, commissioners. Anna laforte, Deputy Director for policy and programming at the Transportation Authority. Im going to pull up my brief presentation. Okay. Okay. So the Transportation Authority has long supported the Emergency Ride Home Program. And at the april 14th meeting, of the board of the Transportation Authority, commissioner haney had requested that staff explore ways to help essential workers who are facing challenges getting home from their jobs, especially at night, during the recent transit reduction due to covid19. So between the first and second april Board Meetings, we worked with the department of the environment, runs the Emergency Ride Home Program, and the sfmta to develop a proposal to expand the existing Emergency Ride Home Program to provide additional rides to these essential workers, who cant take transit home, its not available due to the service reductions. At your april 28th meeting, the board approved transportation funds for clean air funds, from a prior clean fuel taxi grant, to the sfmta, that wasnt needed. Theres still left 250,000 available to sfmta and to taxi owners for that purpose. And the funds were we programmed to expand the Emergency Ride Home Program. And this provides reimbursements for essential workers for ride homes as defined by the city and county of San Francisco, who commute to work via sustainable modes such as transit or walking or biking, while the covid19related service transit cuts are in effect. So in addition to aiding essential workers, the expanded program is an effective way to preserve and emission reductions, as theyre advised to stay on transit and not drive to work. As you can imagine, demand for the program has been high. The program started on may 1st. And so to better match available resources to demand, we recommend supplementing the Program Budget with an additional 250,000 in prop k sales tax funds. This will allow for the program to nearly double the number of essential workers that it is able to provide rides for. And it would extend the program from 12 weeks to 16 weeks. So instead of going through jul. Prior to arriving at the recommendation to allocate prop k funds, we explored options for reprogramming additional transportation funds for clean air funds from other projects. But we, along with project sponsors, including the sfmta, concluded we wouldnt be able to do this without significantly impacting those projects or creating challenges for those projects to maintain cost effectiveness and eligibility for those tfca funds for the project. We worked with sfmta and identified prop k funds to supplement the tfca funds. This requires an amendment to the fiveyear program of projects for the category and the prop k expenditure plan called the Transportation Demand Management Parking management category. And were going we are recommending to redirect funds from the tourist and residential Transportation Demand management program, administered by sfmta, and to redirect those funds from the programs to the Emergency Ride Home Program. This would bring the Program Budget, as you can see, to 447,500. And still leave 610,000 available for allocation in fiscal year 2021 to sfmtas Transportation Demand management programs. Sfmta is supportive of the request, given the high priority for funding the Emergency Ride Home Program. And also that that Program Supports the taxi industry and its essential workers. And so with that, i am happy to invite joseph from the department of the environment. He is the policy and communication officer of the agency to give some details on the program itself and how its been operating since its inception. Joseph. Chair peskin mr. Slice, good morning. Good morning. Can you hear me . Chair peskin we can. Great. Let me go ahead and share screen, so you can see our presentation. All right. Is that working okay . Chair peskin it is. Thank you, anna. Thank you, chairman. Its nice to see you again. Thank you, commissioners and sfcta for the opportunity to present today. And thanks for the opportunity to wear a tie again. My name is joseph slice. Im with the San Francisco department of the environment. Anna did hit a lot of these major components, but im going to briefly talk about the current status of our essential worker ride home program. As you know, on april 28th, this board approved to the Emergency Ride Home Program, after identifying that certain essential workers in San Francisco had trouble getting home at night when Public Transportation was significantly disrupted. Since then weve worked to launch and ensure that our citywide outreach was comprehensive and inclusive to those who need us most. Id like to thank alex and minoh for administering the program and anna laforte with sfmta for their collaboration. As of last friday, we received 258 applications. As anticipated, weve prioritized this high demand to accept essential workers communitying home between the hours of 9 00 p. M. And 830 aramburu, because this is when transit reductions and safety concerns are undoubtedly highest. 84 of the total applications fit within these parameters and, of course, this number will likely increase as we continue to analyze incoming applications. So lets look a little bit more into the application pool. Of these 258 total applications from friday, 161 live in San Francisco. Their essential Job Functions vary, with over 70 in the Health Care Field and over 20 in the social services. So it looks like maybe my screen shifted a little bit. Are we still on the power point . Chair peskin no. No, youre sharing the screen of the meeting. All right. Just a moment. How is this . Chair peskin there you go. There you go. All right. Not sure what happened there. But we are looking at the applicant pool. So 161 like i said live in San Francisco. And they work varies from 70 plus in the Health Care Field and over 20 in social services such as shelter workers. Just to give you a couple examples, the applications included a front desk clerk at mercy housing, who works a swing shift until 11 00 p. M. , but because of bart closures, theyve had to wait for the 800 bus at 1 00 a. M. In order to return home to east bay by 2 30 a. M. Another example is a shelter worker at st. Vincent defall who ends at 12 30 midnight and struggles to find a ride home to richmond, again due to bart closures. The list goes on. Thats why in collaboration with the sfcta and as anna explained, to continue supporting our essential workers, were requesting 250,000 of prop k funds to expand this program. With the additional funds, wed still recommend keeping the existing program parameters, which as a reminder, is ten reimbursed cab rides home per month, per person, with a cap of 70 per trip. However, with the proposed new Program Budget, we can support an estimated 121 to 188 essential workers per week and extend the program to august 31st. So this would extend the program by four weeks and nearly double the number of essential workers the program is able to serve. You can see here that, along with doubling the number of workers served by the program, the expanded budget would fund our staff hours and direct costs to administer and manage the higher volume of users, including our language assistance services. Depending on further analysis of the incoming pool of applications, we could even consider expanding the commuting parameters beyond the late hours of 9 00 p. M. To 8 30 a. M. Sfcta staff have been wonderful in helping establish and advise on these recommendations. And we would certainly continue collaborating with staff after further analysis to discuss the best path forward for the program. And lastly, if i could just have a couple more minutes to talk about my favorite part, which is our marketing and outreach efforts. From the onset and as commissioner fewer stated in the april 28th meeting, we were especially mindful that our outreach would be citywide, but targeted from an Equity Perspective to our underserved communities, so that our essential workers, who would benefit most from this program, to apply and connect with us. Especially lowerincome workers with limited access to Public Transportation. Thats why the time we took before processing applications was used to focus on comprehensive outreach. So to start all the program materials, such as the website, forms, social media have all been translated into a chinese and spanish and shared with our partners. Language disciplines 311 and s. F. E. Staff has also been available since the program launched. And the programs landing page is referenced on sfgov. Org. Our outreach included reaching more than 300c. B. O. S and Small Businesses, including the district merchants and air bab grocers association. We partnered with oewd to further reach our citys essential businesses. We connected with the Labor Council and critical unions, such as local 87, the janitors union. And we partnered with the human rights commission, office of racial equity, and the citys lgbt Advisory Community to expand to other underserved communities. This included h. R. C. S Weekly Community roundtable with community leaders, including representation from the latino task force, to help spread the word effectively to these communities. We, of course, notified t. I. O. In every department and also partnered with h. S. H. And h. S. A. To notify essential workers in these truly critical areas, like the onsite hotel Monitoring Program and made sure we shared the program with these departments nonprofit partners and service providers. Just a you few more. We reached Health Care Workers and staff at s. F. General, laguana honda and the hospital in chinatown. We had a platform to easily connect with our departments, local partners, including the Green Business network, outreach to other critical partners like the Interfaith Council and lastly we pitched to local media, resulting in some coverage in english and spanish on mission local, telemundo and a spot on k. L. W. Of course, were working to continue our Media Outreach and working on getting a publication. So this is a snapshot of our outreach. And, of course, we look forward to working with each of your offices to continue this work. With the supplemental funds, well continue working hard to ensure that this Program Continues to reach those who would benefit from the program. And explore Digital Marketing campaign or printed materials and high visibility areas. So with that i hope i didnt take too much time, but im happy to answer any questions and i know my colleague alex is also available as well. So ill get off the shared screen here. And see if we have any questions. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Slice, for that very thorough presentation. Thank you. Chair peskin i dont see any members, all of whom who are quite familiar with the earlier iteration of this from late april. Seeing no commissioners, are there any members of the public who would like to comment on item number 8. Commissioner mainy , ill swing around to you in just a second. Well open this up to Public Comment. Are there any members of the public who want to make Public Comment on this item . Clerk yes, chair, there is one Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk hello, speaker, your two minutes begins now. Caller okay. And i would like to ask the presenter if our essential workers could be provideed with over rather than sending them to places like richmond and the east bay, after their work. And i know we need to look at it in a holistic way. Mostly housing surely could provide a roof over the head of that one individual. So when we look at this situation in a pandemic, and when we see that you represent the department of the environment, you have to take into consideration the carbon footprint. You also have to take into consideration whether you have the ability to think outside the box. And now refer to the office of Economic Development and the other departments, because already for some reason, theyre not providing the necessary support to san franciscans. Just try going to city hall and trying to see where the point of contact. You dont even get a response back after leaving a message. So we need to provide the necessary help to our essential workers. But we also need to ask them, rather than after their work, to faroff places, where we can accommodate them, as im sure multihousing can. And there are vacant rooms in hotels. Thats just a suggestion. Clerk thank you, caller. Operator you have zero questions remaining. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Costa, for your Public Comment. Public comment is now closed. Commissioner haney. Commissioner haney i mostly just wanted to say thank you. Really appreciate how quickly you all have come back to expand this program. And how extensive the outreach has been. Its just been really impressive. And i know you all have literally been walking out there doortodoor to businesses letting them know in different languages. Its just really been impressive. One thing that i would say is also to if you havent been to work through some of the coalitions and groups that work with Housing Providers and homeless service, like hespa, making sure they really have this information and know that its going to be expanded. I think its really critical. But overall im just grateful that this was brought together. Thank you for everyone involved in the various departments for working together with us and making this happen. We really appreciate it. Chair peskin thank you for those comments. Yes, go ahead, joseph. I was just going to say thank you, commissioner, and to the whole board for thinking creatively about how we can evolve this ram. Certainly what were going to do is continue reaching out to staff in each of your offices and potentially we can share the list of c. B. O. S and organizations we reached out to. And if you notice we missed anyone and would like us to expand that outreach, well certainly go ahead and do that. So well double down and reach out to each office as well. Chair peskin thank you. Thank you to our staff and the staff in the department of the environment. Ands a you heard and as you heard, we can continue to scale this program up over time. With that, is there a motion to approve item number 8 . Commissioner haney . Commissioner haney move to approve. Chair peskin is there a second for that motion . Second. Chair peskin seconded by commissioner yee. Made and seconded, a roll call, please. Clerk commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. Clerk commissioner haney . Commissioner haney aye. Clerk commissioner mandelman . Commissioner mandelman aye. Clerk commissioner mar . Commissioner mar aye. Clerk commissioner peskin . Commissioner peskin aye. Clerk hi ronen commissioner ronen . Chair peskin commissioner ronen . Clerk im going to chair peskin well come back to commissioner ronen. She may be having technical difficulties. Clerk commissioner safai . Commissioner safai aye. Clerk commissioner stefani . Commissioner stefani aye. Clerk commissioner walton . Commissioner walton aye. Clerk commissioner yee . Commissioner yee aye. Clerk commissioner ronen . Commissioner ronen aye. Clerk we have approval. I will sign the document as soon as you prepare, so we can release the funds. Clerk item number 9, state and federal legislation update. This is an action item. Chair peskin mr. Bots. Good morning. Good morning, mr. Chairman and commissioners. Im trusting im visible or at least chair peskin we can hear you and see you. Thank you very much, sir. Very reassuring. Ill talk to you about the status of the legislature and the process going on here in sacramento is, where we are in the state budget with the may revise and how it affected Transportation Programs. As well comment on a few bills. And ill make this tight as i can do it. In terms of the overall schedule for whats been going on in sacramento, on may 4th, the assembly reconvened and started meeting in policy committees. The senate for itself, reconvened on may 11th. And they have their own separate schedule. Theyre not quite in synch yet. They the two houses will meet in synch in terms of their structure and their timing on july 13th, when both of their different recesses will end. And theyll be reconvening for the second half of the legislative session. In terms of legislation, the policy Committee Chairs were asked to work with the authors of bills that were present in the committees and to thin the bill load down to be focused entirely, as it can, on the covid response, homeless issues, housing issues and if there were some minor technical, but desperately needed items. Those were allowable. By that charge, many, many, many bills probably more than twothirds of the bills went by the wayside for this part of the for this year. Moving forward in terms of the budget the schedule first. The may revise came out last thursday. And ill be touching on that in a moment. In the meantime, the subcommittees of the two house budget committees have set out their schedules. And in terms of transportation budget items, may 21st would be the first one, that would be the assembly subcommittee. And theyve already posted their hearing date. The senate has their hearing date on the may revise issues on may 24th, sunday. So happy holiday weekend. It feel like the old days when we had Conference Committee on the weekend. And then the appropriations committees of the two houses are all that remain. At this point only the assembly has put forward their schedule for the appropriations committee, which is june 6th for their hearings. And then a june 7th hearing for appropriations to spend. The big looming date in sacramento is june 15th, which is the constitutional deadline for the budget to be moved to the governor, so he can go through it and enact whatever he decides to move forward with. The assembly recess will convene will convene june 19th and end on july 13th. And the Senate Recess will begin on july 2nd and end on july 13th. Moving on to the may revise, the i think the executive director did a good job of explaining the size of the problem. Were pleased that the governor and the legislature have been confronting and the governors responses or proposed responses, suspensionly a 6 billion surplus and a Rainy Day Fund was what was available for the state to address what is now known to be a budget deficit in excess of 50 billion. Without going into a lot of detail, the governors proposal draws down the reserves, cancels some of the new budget initiatives they proposed back in january, barring from some special funds and reducing some spending in the current year. Moving on to transportation funding and how this may revise affects that, we did learn, through the may revise, that they are projecting that gas tax receipts will be reduced by 1. 8 billion over the next five years. Interestingly, as we bore down into the numbers, turns out that probably a little over 1. 1 billion of that 1. 8 billion reduction is due to the lesser v. M. T. And lesser travel demand. 1. 1 billion is coming out of the current year remainder and next year. So the largest hit would be the remainder of this year and the fiscal year coming up. All three increments of the gas tax, that are in the Transportation Program base will. Are affect are affected. July 1st theres an acrosstheboard c. P. I. Adjustment. That partially offsets the effect of the pandemic. The transportation investment or improvement fee, which is the Registration Fee thats stratified based on value, is going to continue to raise money in excess of the previous year. How does this work out and what programs does it affect . Well, it turns out it will impact the shop program, which is the states heavy Maintenance Program by a little over half a billion dollars throughout the fouryear history of that program. Local streets and roads will see about 280 million reduction and what they had expected. And then the fiveyear sit program will see a reduction of about 91 million. One of the interesting final comments ill make about the budget, we also learned in a Budget Briefing on friday, there is a little bit of transfer of some of our we normally would consider transportation funds, but in this case its interest earnings, which are not particular to the constitution. And its about 130 million transfer, that will be transferred to the general fund. So weve examined it and feel very confident that we have no claim on those funds. They have been unfettered and are moving in accordance with state law. So the days of your, where were trying to protect transfers, against transfers, no longer with us. Finally, on legislation the staff on your table has recommended support for sb1291, which is one of the bills thats going to be moving forward this year. This bill is authored by senator bill, but the entire Transportation Committee has joined in authorship. And the key measure or the key provision within this legislation is relates to the safe rule, which is the federal change that they proposeed in efficiency standards. And theyve made one adjustment. And they may have made another adjustment that it works for california. But just in case it doesnt, this piece of legislation would give a little bit of relief by delaying the requirements that transportation agencies file ftip or stipump amendments in the fall. That has a positive affect on minimizing the impact of the safe rule in california. In addition, there are two bills that have been heard and are moving at this point, that in the assembly that deal with highspeed rail. Ab3278 by patterton and ab2313 by assemblywoman reeves. They deal with aspects of highspeed rail and the staff is saying at this point in time, they prefer to recommend a watch position until we see how these bills do through the process. Id like to note that the seamless bay area bill, that was invaded or going to be innovated in ab2057 is unmeasure thats been sidelined this year. Nevertheless, staff withins continue twos continues to work with the seamless bay folks to get prepared for the eventuality of having a return visit to the bill. Staff is also working with Assembly Member tang and supervisor stefani on aabout 2305 preparing for next year, to authorize a pilot for a nofee reservation system for the crooked street on lombard. Thats not going to move forward this year, but theyre going to continue to work and iron out and approach for the next session. The last two bills i would comment on are ab2824. This is this bill has been set aside for this year. But the underlying bill, that mr. Ponta was looking for, would make the bay bridge more efficient and m. T. C. And your Transportation Authority staff are working on planning for a suite of improvements, that could be implemented, prior to any bus lane changes. And, finally, the faster bay area legislation sb278 is not it looks like its going to move forward, but it will simply be an authorization for a measure at a future election. So with that, i draw my presentation to a close and prepare to answer questions. Pardon me for dropping my presentation. Chair peskin no worries, mr. Bots. Are there any members who have any questions or comments for mr. Bots or ms. Crab . Seeing none, is there any Public Comment on this item . Clerk yes, chair, there is Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk welcome, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Thank you, chair peskin. Alita dupree for the record. And let the record reflect my pronounces are she and her. In reading about the legislation, two bills of interest in me to me. 1286 about shared mobility. I do support the idea of insurance regulations. The main bill on ab is ab1112, offered by Assembly Member friedman and passed last year with near anonymity. And 1112 i believe is where the statewide support, because its about equity and leveling the playing field. It mains i do have a drivers license. Yes, it was issued in nevada. But im no less San Francisco. Ive been able to use that drivers license in other states, including california. And ive been able to rent automobiles in california, in one case i rented one in long beach and drove it to las vegas and dropped it off. So, too, i should be able to use these small scooters and mopeds and be able to rent them in one city or county and drive them to another. Because we are very densely populated area. And there are 88 municipalities in los angeles county. So i remember the acrimony of the scooter issue last year. I maintain just because people dont like things, doesnt make them wrong. I as a person of disabilities and nottest modest means, i do have a right to safe mobility anywhere in the united states. Just as i can park a car in any legal parking spot in the united states. I believe in the idea of full faith and credit. So i believe that theres a future in shared mobility. And i think this bill is essential in order for us to have consistent standards and expectations. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you, miss dupree. Any other members of the public who would like to speak to this item . Clerk there are no additional calls. Chair peskin okay. Public comment is closed. [gavel] i neglected to ask, ms. Crab, to give us an update on federal legislation and funding, ms. Crab, would you like to do that, my apologies. No worries. Thank you so much. Ill try to be brief, because executive director chang covered a lot of the federal goings on in her executive directors report. Basically wanted to give you an update now that the house has introduced its heroes relief package. We know that thats likely not going to move forward in the senate, as written. But there are ongoing negotiations happening, if and when the next relief package moves forward. So weve really been focusing ton kind of quantifying the need for state and local relief for backing local funding, that includes identifying transportation projects within the city and the region, that are relying on those funding to move forward next year. And we know, as the economy picks back up, and we need transportation funding, this is a great way to also get local jobs. So were working with sfmta and the metropolitan Transportation Commission and the mayor on that. At the same time, we also know that the existing federal transportation bill expires on september 30th. The last year weve been working with those same parties on advancing the San Francisco priorities in reauthorization. That may move forward. The house transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to release a version its version of the reauthorization bill this week. And that may either move forward really quickly, as part of an economic stimulus effort or it might wait until after the election. So thats another place where were looking to advance San Franciscos project and hopefully increase the amount of transportation funding available, given both partys interest in infrastructure. With that, im happy to answer any questions. Chair peskin thank you, ms. Crab. I see no questions for you. So is there a motion to approve the staffrecommended position on senate bill 1291. Motion made by . Commissioner mandelman mandelman. Chair peskin and seconded by . Going to die for a lack of a second. Second. Chair peskin seconded commissioner safai. On that item, madam clerk, a roll call please. Clerk commissioner fewer . Chair peskin commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. Clerk could you repeat that again, commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. Clerk commissioner haney . Commissioner haney aye. Clerk commissioner mandelman . Commissioner mandelman aye. Clerk commissioner mar . Commissioner mar aye. Clerk commissioner peskin . Commissioner peskin aye. Clerk commissioner preston . Commissioner preston aye. Clerk commissioner ronen . Commissioner ronen aye. Clerk commissioner safai . Commissioner safai aye. Clerk commissioner stefani . Commissioner stefani aye. Clerk commissioner walton . Commissioner walton aye. Clerk commissioner yee . Commissioner yee aye. Clerk the item is passed on its first read. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. Colleagues, is there any introduction of new items . Seeing none, is there any general Public Comment . Madam clerk . Clerk yes, chair, there is Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk hello, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Caller thank you, chairperson. Alita dupree for the record. My basic comments concerning sfmta. A good meeting today. We got to approve some important things, including the rail contract. I believe strongly in the San Francisco that needs to be mobility aware and have a diversity of option. Because really the elephant in the room is cars. Singleoccupancy cars, that burn gasoline, and cars will always be with us, but there are too many of them. And so i support programs that will help people to not have to take cars. And i live that myself by using muni and by using the small shared scooters, so that i dont have to get into an automobile. Though i do use rideshare on occasion, and its better than me having the responsibility of owning an automobile. I do support congestion pricing, automobiles do much wear and tear on our roads. And i do believe that all cars hopefully will be electric some day, like cell phones. But they, too, could even contribute to congestion. And so i think we have to ensure that we have a vision zero mindset, because the problem really isnt buses, its not bicycles, its not these little scooters, and i dont think its even rideshare. Its singleoccupancy obviouslies. I want us to have a focus on shared a mobility and transit oriented city. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you for your comments, miss dupree. Any other members of the public for Public Comment . Clerk yes, there is another caller. Chair peskin next speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk welcome caller. Your two minutes begins now. Caller i would like to remind the San Francisco county Transportation Authority, if they can address this issue. Its very important. Many a times on the routes, that go by the General Hospital, we have patients who are very sick, who take Public Transportation. I think, during this pandemic, the San Francisco General Hospital should provide them with transportation, much like ive been speaking about. Do not put the public in an adverse situation, because the patients are sick. And i dont know how theyre discharged. Theyre not given a clean bill for that discharge. I dont think so because i have witnessed once or twice that the patients are very sick. And im requesting the San Francisco county Transportation Authority to consider patients being given a ride home. Thank you very much. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Da costa. Seeing no other members of the public for general Public Comment, Public Comment is now closed. [gavel] and that will bring our Transportation Authority Commission Meeting to a close. We are adjourned. [gavel] 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. He is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. Brought this department together like never before. I am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the San Francisco Fire Department, ladies and gentlemen, lets welcome, Jeanine Nicholson. applause . I grew up total tomboy, athlete. I loved a good crisis, a good challenge. I grew up across the street from the fire station. My dad used to take me there to vote. I never saw any female firefighters because there werent any in the 1970s. I didnt know i could be a fire fighter. When i moved to San Francisco in 1990, some things opened up. I saw women doing things they hadnt been doing when i was growing up. One thing was firefighting. A woman recruited me at the gaypride parade in 1991. It was a perfect fit. I liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. In terms of coming in after another female chief, i dont think anybody says that about men. You are coming in after another man, chief, what is that like. I understand why it is asked. It is unusual to have a woman in this position. I think San Francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. Be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. I worked my way up. I came in january of 1994. I built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. Working out of firehouses. The Fire Department is a family. We live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. When i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. I didnt want to talk to any of my civilian friends. They couldnt understand what i was going through. The firefighters knew, they understood. They had been there. It is a different relationship. We have to rely on one another. In terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. That hasnt been there for a while. Part of the reason that i am getting along well with the field now is because i was there. I worked there. People know me and because i know what we need. I know what they need to be successful. I have known Jeanine Nicholson since we worked together at station 15. I have always held her in the highest regard. Since she is the chief she has infused the department with optimism. She is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. I appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the Fire Department today. There is a retired captain who started the Cancer Prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer. He started looking into it. In 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the San Francisco Fire Department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. It was a higher rate than the general population. We were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didnt have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. The turnout gear was covered with suit. It was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. The dirtier you were the harder you worked. That is a cancer causeser. It casser. It is not cancer causer. There islassic everywhere. We had to reduce our exposure. We washed our gear more often, we didnt take gear where we were eating or sleeping. We started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. Going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. I have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. It is not if or when. It is who is the next person. It is like a cancer sniper out there. Who is going to get it next. One of the things i love about the Fire Department. It is always a team effort. You are my family. I love the city and department and i love being of service. I vow to work hard to work hard to carry out the vision of the San Francisco Fire Department and to move us forward in a positive way. If i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. You never know what door is going to open next. You really dont. [cheers and shop dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their showing up and dining within the 49 square miles of San Francisco by supporting local Services Within the neighborhood we help San Francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop dine in the 49 San Francisco owes must of the charm to the unique characterization of each corridor has a distinction permanent our neighbors are the economic engine of the city. If we could a afford the lot by these well not to have the kind of store in the future the kids will eat from some restaurants chinatown has phobia one of the best the most unique neighborhood shopping areas of San Francisco. Chinatown is one of the oldest chinatown in the state we need to be able allergies the people and thats the reason chinatown is showing more of the people will the traditional thepg. North beach is i know one of the last little italian community. One of the last neighborhood that hadnt changed a whole lot and San Francisco community so strong and the sense of partnership with businesses as well and i just love north Beach Community Old School Italian comfort and love that is what italians are all about we need people to come here and shop here so we can keep this going not only us but, of course, Everything Else in the community i think local businesses the small ones and coffee shops are unique in their own way that is the characteristic of the neighborhood i peace officer prefer it is local character you have to support them. Really notice the port this community we really need to kind of really shop locally and support the communityly live in it is more economic for people to survive here. I came down to Treasure Island to look for a weve got a long ways to go. Ring i just got married and didnt want something on line ive met artists and local Business Owners they need money to go out and shop this is important to short them i think you get better things. Definitely supporting the local community always good is it interesting to find things i never knew existed or see that that way. I think that is really great that San Francisco seize the vails of Small Business and creates the shop dine in the 49 to support businesses make people all the residents and visitors realize had cool things are made and produced in san this is one place you can always count on to give you what you had before and remind you of what your San Francisco history used to be. We hear that all the time, people bring their kids here and their grandparents brought them here and down the line. Even though people move away, whenever they come back to the city, they make it here. And they tell us that. Youre going to get something made fresh, made by hand and made with quality products and something thats very, very good. The legacy bars and restaurants was something that was begun by San Francisco simply to recognize and draw attention to the establishments. It really provides for San Franciscos unique character. And that morphed into a request that we work with the city to develop a legacy business registration. Im Michael Cirocco and the owner of an area bakery. The bakery started in 191. My grandfather came over from italy and opened it up then. It is a small operation. Its not big. So everything is kind of quality that way. So i see every piece and cut every piece that comes in and out of that oven. Im leslie ciroccomitchell, a fourth generation baker here with my family. So we get up pretty early in the morning. I usually start baking around 5 00. And then you just start doing rounds of dough. Loaves. My mom and sister basically handle the front and then i have my nephew james helps and then my two daughters and my wife come in and we actually do the baking. After that, my mom and my sister stay and sell the product, retail it. You know, i dont really think about it. But then when i sometimes when i go places and i look and see places put up, oh this is our 50th anniversary and everything and weve been over 100 and that is when it kind of hits me. You know, that geez, weve been here a long time. [applause] a lot of people might ask why our legacy business is important. We all have our own stories to tell about our ancestry. Our lineage and ill use one example of tommys joint. Tommys joint is a place that my husband went to as a child and hes a fourth generation san franciscan. Its a place we can still go to today with our children or grandchildren and share the stories of what was San Francisco like back in the 1950s. Im the general manager at tommys joint. People mostly recognize tommys joint for its murals on the outside of the building. Very bright blue. You drive down and see what it is. They know the building. Tommys is a San Francisco hoffa, which is a germanstyle presenting food. We have five different carved meats and we carve it by hand at the station. You prefer it to be carved whether you like your brisket fatty or want it lean. You want your pastrami to be very lean. You can say i want that piece of corn beef and want it cut, you know, very thick and i want it with some sauerkraut. Tell the guys how you want to prepare it and they will do it right in front of you. San franciscos a place thats changing restaurants, except for tommys joint. Tommys joint has been the same since it opened and that is important. San francisco in general that we dont lose a grip of what San Franciscos came from. Tommys is a place that youll always recognize whenever you lock in the door. Youll see the same staff, the same bartender and have the same meal and that is great. Thats important. The service that San Francisco heritage offers to the legacy businesses is to help them with that application process, to make sure that they really recognize about them what it is that makes them so special here in San Francisco. So well help them with that application process if, in fact, the board of supervisors does recognize them as a legacy business, then that does entitle them to certain financial benefits from the city of San Francisco. But i say really, more importantly, it really brings them public recognition that this is a business in San Francisco that has history and that is unique to San Francisco. It started in june of 1953. And we make everything from scratch. Everything. We started a you we started a off with 12 flavors and mango fruits from the philippines and then started trying them one by one and the family had a whole new clientele. The business really boomed after that. I think that the flavors we make reflect the diversity of San Francisco. We were really surprised about the legacy project but we were thrilled to be a part of it. Businesses come and go in the city. Pretty tough for businesss to stay here because it is so expensive and theres so much competition. So for us who have been here all these years and still be popular and to be recognized by the city has been really a huge honor. We got a phone call from a woman who was 91 and she wanted to know if the mitchells still owned it and she was so happy that we were still involved, still the owners. She was our customer in 1953. And she still comes in. But she was just making sure that we were still around and it just makes us feel, you know, very proud that were carrying on our fathers legacy. And that we mean so much to so many people. It provides a perspective. And i think if you only looked at it in the here and now, youre missing the context. For me, legacy businesses, legacy bars and restaurants are really about setting the context for how we come to be where we are today. I just think its part of San Francisco. People like to see familiar stuff. At least i know i do. In the 1950s, you could see a picture of tommys joint and looks exactly the same. We havent change add thing. I remember one lady saying, you know, ive been eating this ice cream since before i was born. And i thought, wow we have, too. Roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip. The light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born. Working with kids in the ocean that arent familiar with this space is really special because youre dealing with a lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. When i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. Well get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the idea, who dont like the beach. Its too cold out, and its those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day. Over the last few years, i think weve had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. Surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. Weve start off with about two to four sessions in the pool before actually going out and surfing. Swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water and being calm and not being all not being anxious. So when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p. E. Credits. Just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year or two. But now that weve been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids thats consistent, and the word has spread, that its super fun, that you learn about the ocean. Starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. We usually go to linda mar, and then occasionally ocean beach. We once did a special trip. We were in capitola last year, and it was really fun. We get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. Once we go to the beach, i dont want to go home. I cant change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. Our program has definitely been a way for our students to find community and build friends. I dont really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know people more than i did before, and people that i didnt think id like, like, ended up being my best friends. Its a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close camaraderie, but everybodys doing it for themselves. Its great, surfing around, finding new people and making new friendships with people throughout surfing. It can be highly developmental for students to have this time where they can learn a lot about themselves while negotiating the waves. I feel significantly, like, calmer. It definitely helps if im, like, feeling really stressed or, like, feeling really anxious about surfing, and i go surfing, and then, i just feel, like, im going to be okay. It gives them resiliency skills and helps them build selfconfidence. And with that, they can use that in other parts of their lives. I went to bring amy family o the beach and tell them what i did. I saw kids open up in the ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. For some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a Mentorship Program like this, its they want to surf, and then later, theyll find out that theyve, like, made this community connection. I think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. For kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been willing to do on my own is really special. We go on 150 surf outings a year. Thats yearround programming. Weve seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has translated to growth in other facets of their lives. I just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something that is really cool, that theyre engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how theyre doing, like, in general. What i like best is they really care about me, like, im not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun. Were creating surfers, and were changing the face of surfing. The feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. Its definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but its definitely fun. It leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kids going to go out and do. I think its really magical almost. At least it was for me. It was really exciting when i caught my first wave. I felt like i was, like it was, like, magical, really. When they catch that first wave, and their first lights up, you know their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. I was on top of the world. Its amazing. I felt like i was on top of the world even though i was probably going two miles an hour. It was, like, the scariest thing id ever done, and i think it was when i got hooked mayor london breed good morning, everyone. I know that many of you have been tuning in to our press conferences for updates on how we have been responding to the coronavirus pandemic. But often those updates really dont give us a chance to talk indepth about some of the really complex issues that our city is facing. While everything continues to shift and change, we will continue to hold these press conferences. And update you all on the latest programs, services and resources as well as what were doing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But we also will hold talks like this and this is a first in a series of talks that we think that are important to make
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