Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Budget FinanceBudget Appropriations Committee 20240712

Announcer sfgov tv, San Francisco government television. Good morning, everyone, everyone. The meeting will come to order. This is the june 10th, 2020, regular budget and Appropriations Committee meeting. Im sandra lee fewer, chair of the budget and Appropriations Committee. Im joined by Committee Members, supervisor shamann walton, and rafael mandelman, Hillary Ronen and northerlienorman yee. Clerk yes, madam clerk. Due to the Health Emergency and to protect board members, and the public, the board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. However, members will be participating in the meeting remotely. This caution is taken pursuant to the various local, state and federal orders, declaration and directives, Committee Members attending the meet through Video Conferencing and participate in the meeting to the same extend as if they were physically present. Public comment will be available on each item on this agenda, both channel 26 and sfgovtv. Org. Each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. Comments are an opportunity to speak during Public Comment period are available via phone call by calling 415 655000 4. Again 415 6550001. Access code 145 736 9773. Again 145 736 9773. You will hear the meeting discussion and you will be muted and in listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up, dial star 3 to be added to the speaker line. Best practices are to call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turn down your television or radio. Alternatively, you may submit Public Comment in either of the following ways, email to myself, the budget and finance committee clerk, lindawong sfgog. Org, if you mitt Public Comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors. And will be included as part of the file. Finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors agenda of june 16th, unless otherwise stated. Supervisor fewer thank you very much, clerk. Can you please read item number 1. Clerk review the budget process and related updates for fiscal year 20202021 and 20212022 and requesting the controllers office, Mayors Office of Public Policy and finance and the budget and legislative analyst to report. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item, should call 415 6550001, access code 145 736 9773. Then press pound and then press pound again. If you have not already done so, please dial star 3 to line up to speak. A system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. Please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you may begin your comments. Supervisor fewer thank you very much, madam clerk. Today the mayors Budget Office and our city controller. Hi. Good afternoon, supervisors. So ben and i are going to share the floor here. Im going to provide you all with a brief update on the state budget. I will share my screen. Okay. Is everyone able to see that . Supervisor fewer yes. Wonderful. Okay. Provide the committee with a brief update on happenings at the state level with their budget. So the governor issued his may revise on may 14th. And typically the may revise includes very minor changes to the budget proposed in january. But this year the may revise included significant reductions in response to the significant budget shortfalls, that were projected at the state level. So the state is projecting a 54 billion shortfall over two years. And thats compared to a 6 billion projected surplus from january. The total budget is 203 billion, and that is 19 billion less than the budget proposed in january. And a 9. 3 decrease from the states 1920 budget. The key contributor to that are, of course, high employment rates, increased participation in social safety net programs. In order to balance the significant shortfall, the governor proposed to spend the entirety of the states rainy day reserve over three years. He proposes to utilize cares act funding to access covid expenditures, proposes relies heavily on federal funding and outlines 15 billion worth of onetime and ongoing reductions, that would be triggered in the absence of additional federal funding. And it also makes technical changes to business tax collections, which yield about 4 billion for the state. Key expenditure changes included in the governors budget includes distributing 1. 3 billion of cares act revenues to counties. We estimate that San Francisco could receive about 20 million of that, which would be help us offset the response costs that weve brought to you and outlined in our may budget outlook report, that we expect to arrange next year between 100 million and 500 million. The governors budget also provides additional funding for project room key, which provides for isolation units and hotels for homeless individuals. It spends about 8. 6 million on covid expenditures, eliminates the California Division of juvenile justice, and also makes some reductions in Public Safety realignment revenues, that we get back at pushout to counties, due to declining sales tax revenue. And now the budget has kicked over to the legislature for approval by june 15th. At issue are a number of key areas, including the amount of covid spending, cuts to schools and safety net programs, there was a proposal to expand medical to individuals, that is now proposed to be delayed. Notably the legislature is grappling with alternatives for those 15 billion worth of trigger cuts that i spoke of earlier. The legislature is proposing to reduce those to 7 billion and delay them to october. And then, of course, of particular interest to us and the mayors Budget Office and those of us on the committee, there are many discussions happening around s. F. And the future of that. And how that will be calculated. The controller has been very looped into those conversations and can provide an update, if anyone has questions about that. But we will know in short order what will happen at the state level in just a few short days. And, of course, my team is tracking impacts of the state budget locally. Happy to take any questions, if folks have them. Supervisor fewer yes. Any questions from my colleagues . Yes, president yee. Supervisor yee the slides that indicated some of the 20 million and other funding. Can we sure. Ill go back. One second. Which slide . Oh, uhhuh. Supervisor yee so these amounts that were looking at, is the only amount thats going to possibly impact San Francisco is the 20 million . And i dont know about these other funds. Yeah. Thanks. Thats a great question. So in the governors may revise, they are reallocating a portion of their cares act revenue out to counties. And our initial estimates for that it could be 20 million. As you know, cares act revenue is really restricted in how it can be used. And it must be used on, you know, direct Covid Response activities. The 750 million for project room key, we had already received a portion of that of about 7. 4 million in an initial tranche of project roomkey. Were unsure how much San Francisco could receive, if this proposal is maintained in the final state budget. But well certainly be tracking that, because as you know, we are we have many, you know, a lot of costs at the local level related to hotels. So those are two big areas, you know, still some uncertainty the things were tracking. And then, of course, there are many other impacts in departments that they are well, you know, theyll incorporate into departmental budget submission and well do our best to incorporate into the august budget. Supervisor yee at least the 20 million, has not been accounted for yet . No. Supervisor yee sort of a rebalancing . Yes. This would be for next year, is our understanding. So it is not it would not help us rebalance in the current fiscal year. Its very restricted to cares act sorry, covid expenditures. So it would not offset any loss of local revenue. Supervisor yee okay. But if we had to spend local revenues on some of the things that were doing right now, thats related to the pandemic, this would offset that, right . Yeah. So in our may 13th report, that we issued, we laid out what we expect to spend related to covid and the current year. At the time we had anticipated about 375 million. We note that we expect that much of that will be offset through fema reimbursement and cares act revenue. But that the expenditures in the current year will largely deplete any cares act funding, leaving very little for the upcoming year. So, you know, this 20 million will just be an additional source for us in next fiscal year, as we continue to spend on Covid Response. Supervisor yee okay. Thank you. That helps. Youre welcome. Of course. Supervisor ronen. Supervisor ronen yes, thank you. Ashley, can we go back to slide five . Sure. Supervisor ronen make sure thats the right one. State Legislature Budget . Supervisor ronen i think so. Yes. So this so can you get into a little bit more about what the trigger cuts are. Sure. Supervisor ronen and following up on president yees question, how they filter down to San Francisco. Sure. Yeah. I can give you a few examples. There are many cuts that are included here in various degrees of impact on the city. So one cut that is assumed in the trigger reductions to state employees wages, 10 cut for state employees. There are also cuts to let me see. Checking my notes. There is reduction to education spending in here as well, at all levels k12 and at University Level as well. I can provide you additional detail. I dont have it all off hand. Supervisor ronen that would be great. Yeah. Supervisor ronen i would love to see specifically anything educational related. But any of those trigger cuts that will impact San Francisco and how it would be great to understand that. Yep. Absolutely. Supervisor ronen and then you asked deliberations. Has there been a place a call to the governor about the eraf, excess eraf . I mean, our team, our office is working incredibly closely with our state delegation. I cant speak specifically. Im not sure if she has. But i know that we are in Constant Contact with our state partners about this. So it is, of course, very important to us. And we are doing everything we can to preserve it. Supervisor ronen because, you know, yesterday the board of supervisors passed an imperative item unanimously with unanimous cosponsorship, you know, voicing opposition to the trailer bill, that would eliminate the excess eraf, not only, you know, Going Forward but the current bill before us would apply retroactively. And make our budget deficit over the next several years significantly worse. And so im just if you i have talked to ben, who i know is working on this. But im just on the political side of this, i want to make sure that every city official is doing everything in our power to stop this. But its pretty outaimous. And im just wondering how much youve talked to our state delegation to to senator wiener, budget chair phil ting and what theyre doing in their stance on this. The impact to San Francisco is significant. Yeah. Ben, go ahead, thank you. I can answer some of these questions. Obviously this is the most significant financial implication, single implication in the state budget for San Francisco, the city and county. We have been work on this issue for the better part of two weeks now. I can say ive been on the phone multiple times a day with my peers in the affected counties with the state department of finance. And i have talked, as has the mayors chief of staff, other members of the Mayors Office, with every member of our delegation multiple times on this topic. So we are pushing it as hard as we can. We have additional calls scheduled over the next couple of days, prior to the state budget going to print. We dont yet have a sense of where this bill will land. I concur with supervisor ronen and the mayor understands it as well, the financial implications here are very, very significant. Its 180 million, when we account for the retro activity bill in the bill. And then approximately 60 million Going Forward there an after. Annually. Annually. So i can assure you that it is the highest possible priority for everyone. Supervisor ronen no. On the virtual second floor. Supervisor ronen and i know that you are doing an extraordinary job. I cannot thank you enough, pen ben, for your advocacy. As far as i can tell its been pretty quiet from our state delegation on this. And i did get a chance to talk to state you know, Assembly Member Budget Committee director phil ting or chair phil ting. But it wasnt clear to me that theres an organized effort on the part of our representatives in State Government to prevent the most significant budget impact to San Francisco. And i just want to voice you dont have to respond. Because thats not your role. I just want to voice that as a supervisor, that i would really hope that our state delegation would step up here, because this is incredibly serious and will directly result in Significant Impact on the services that we are providing to the most Vulnerable People during this most difficult time. Its bothersome to me that we havent heard more, you know, from our state elected officials on this matter. And i would expect them to be fighting tooth and nail for San Francisco. I can just add for flavor, its there have been regular gettogethers of just not our delegation in San Francisco, but the delegates from the other four counties as well. So the bay area delegation speaking together. This has been a top of the agenda for each of those meetings for the last several weeks. Supervisor ronen okay. Thank you. And just to both of you, you know, im sure all of my colleagues would agree with this. We are happy to help in any way that we possibly can, given, you know, ben that youre sort of taking the lead on behalf of the city, on bush pushing on this. Please know you can come to me and im sure all of my colleagues feel this way, to help you in any way we can. Thank you. Thank you, supervisor. Supervisor fewer supervisor mandelman. Supervisor mandelman thank you, madam chair. I guess i would just, you know, pile on with the eraf. It is such an extraordinarily obnoxious proposal to take future funding away from San Francisco, but past funding that we have received and already spent on a set of worthy projects. And now ask us, you know, years later to come up with, you know, with the money to pay after the rules have changed. Its just its super, extraordinarily annoying. And it seems so unfair that even, you know, outnumbered as those of us counties that have been impacted by eraf in this particular way, just a fairness argument seems like i would hope it would have some sway in the legislature. But i dont know. I would also just point out is eraf itself is an obnoxious measure going back to prior recessions and the states inability to fund its obligations to fund education. And so deciding that it would take those funds away from local governments and pay for its fate obviously state obligations. Eraf starts as a just really awful piece of Public Policy and then to have this additional hit at San Francisco and other places, retroactively taking money from us that we had already in good faith and under assurances from the state spent as we would any other money that we receive to the city. So thank you, supervisor ronen, for your leadership on this. And, you know, our delegation is trying to make this case. Could we go back to the governors may revise slide . Yes. Let me pull it up. Which one . Theres three. Supervisor mandelman that one. Now its actually the next one. Okay. [laughter] all right. I want to i have questions on a few of these bullets. Sure. Supervisor mandelman so when the state of california eliminates the California Division of juvenile justice, that saves the state money in cost money, right . That is an excellent question. I dont our department of juvenile probation has reached out to us with the impacts of this on them. It is not a cost savings for us. I think it pushes costs on to us. But i will need to confirm that with juvenile probation. I dont want to say the wrong thing. Supervisor mandelman yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, thats thats a thing for us to better understand. But, for example, realignment was generally, you know, a way of saving. In addition to the good state policy around getting folks out of the state prisons, also about pushing obligations down on to counties. And so the bullet about reduction in Public Safety realignment revenues, does that mean that after pushing the obligation down on to the counties, the state is now going to be giving us less money to bear those burdens, that have been passed on to us . Thats right. Thats right. Supervisor mandelman and do we have a sense of the scale of that . I believe its about 100 million of reduced revenues statewide. Supervisor mandelman right. Or is it sorry. It could be the impact i would want to be extra sure about that. Supervisor mandelman 100 m that doesnt seem like a lot. Also obnoxious in one recession the state passes a whole bunch of obligations on to local governments. In the next recession, takes away the funding for the local governments to carry those obligations. Okay. And then this is going to be a several months of being annoyed all the time. [laughter] and then i noticed i mean, i dont know how much you know about the 750 million of project roomkey. But i have heard that it can some of this is money that could be used for acquisition, not on the shortterm of hotel rooms, but of hotels. Yes, i believe that is correct. Supervisor mandelman but we dont know how much of it would come to San Francisco . No, not yet. So the state had issued i believe an initial tranche of this of about 100 million, of which San Francisco got 7. 4 million. Were still unsure about future allocations to San Francisco. Supervisor mandelman and what do we do with our 7. 4 million, for our existing Hotel Program . Yes. I believe that was used to offset our existing costs. Supervisor mandelman all right. So thats not hotels pot of money. Okay. Or has not been. I think those are my questions for now. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Supervisor fewer thank you very much. And then mr. Rosenstiel, i think that youre up next. I think so, madam chair. Chair fewer asked our office to produce a summary with some information on prior recessions. To provide some context as you begin this season. I want to kind of briefly walk through that presentation, and take questions you might have. This email was emailed this presentation was emailed to all of you earlier today. This is showing you unemployment in the u. S. And San Francisco over the last 30 years or so. And you can kind of you see here in gray bars the recession has occurred since 1990 in the u. S. San francisco is the orange bar here. You can see that the recession in the early 90s and then significantly in the dot com bust in the early 2000s, unemployment in San Francisco surged above the country. While the most recent recession, we actually remained less harmed than the country has a whole. So ill focus on the last two recessions for some of this discussion. And while we call it the Great Recession, in terms of financial impacts to the city and county of San Francisco, the dot com bust was actually more significant. You can see that play out here in the unemployment rate, which spiked above the nation and carried for longer than the recession that followed. So, first, touching on some of the experiences in the dot com bust. This is showing our major tax revenues in 2001 and 2002. And then through the period after that, which is really the period over which the citys finances stabilized it. The recession did take this recession did take a long time to recover from. You can see the loss of about 3. 6 of our general Fund Revenues in 0102. Similar to this time actually. It was heavily concentrated in some of our most sensitive hospitalityrelated revenues. So hotel tax, sales tax, property transfer tax, taking the biggest hits in that year, because, of course, this is the dot com is combined with september 11th in that year. So we had very steep dropoffs in revenue, similar to the dropoffs were seeing today. Then you can see that this is really kind of a ushaped recession here. And San Francisco. Meaning that we fell in the first year of the recession. We basically dragged through 0203 with 1. 1 growth off of that lower floor. Then we began to see a recovery in 0304 and saw significant snap back in 04 and 05. This is the story of a ushaped recession. Ill highlight trends similar to what we talked about, really the current experience as well. You can see here that the property tax really held up well initially. And actually grew during every year of this recession. We really lost a significant amount of growth, but not immediately, in the second and third year of the recession, before bouncing back in the final year. This is some of our revenue experience in the dot com bust. That played through projected shortfalls that really carried for a period in the potrero. We had shortfalls in the preliminary years of the and they flew grew as we worked through it. That was related to two things. Why would a recession that started in 0102 see the most projected shortfalls in 0304. The lagging tax revenues, getting us in later years, onetime solutions used a bridge the gaps in the first years of the shortfall being exhausted, being left with kind of cliffs in later years. Then lastlier a very significant labor concession in early years of this recession. That expired in 0304. The fourth factor during this potrero, at play throughout it, which is similar to the last conversation, related to state budget impacts, lingering throughout this. They were deferred until the second and third year of the recession. The same was occurring at the state level. The most significant cuts we saw from the State Government were actually not in the first year, but in the second year. In terms of one of the questions that came to us was what did the mayors budget instructions look like in that period of time . So kind of two things to highlight here i think. One is that mid year cuts were required in three out of these four years. So budgets were balanced, conditions changed, state budget changed and three rounds of midyear cut instructions issued to departments, to manage the budget during this period. In terms of preparing standard fiscal year budgets, you can see the targets here. 5 in 01 hand and beginning to kind of curtail in 0304 in in all years, similar to the mayors request this year, contingency plans were requested from departments by the Mayors Office. In terms of some of the a couple of other highlights during this period, so the city did draw down heavily on the reserves during that period, off of a much lower reserve base. So the city drew about 48 million down on reserves during the dot com bust, or depleting about 40 of the balance of them. Obviously a much smaller number than we have today. In total fund balker which is immeasurable to reserves, but then also i think importantly here, Capital Project balances, that roll from one year to the next, are part of fund balance. And so you can see we had a very significant reduction in total fund balance, which is kind of a combination of that draw on reserves. Also significantly reduced investments in capital during the dot com. The general fund workforce reduction during this period of time came to 8. 5 . So almost 1400f. T. E. S reduced from the peak of the recession. Many of those were vacant positions. But not all of them. Layoffs occurred in both of the last two recessions. One of the questions we were asked is what have labor contracts looked like during the last two recessions . And so in the dot com bust, there were really there were no wage increases in later yea years. The most significant labor concession, though, was that City Employees at the beginning of the recession began to pay for their retirement pickup, which is 7. 5 retirement contributions the city was formally paying on their behalf. And that continues to this day. That translates to about a 6. 9 reduction in pay the cost of a city. It feels like a 6. 9 wage decrease. The city permitted more holidays during that time as part of the give. At the end of the recession, wage was restored to offset that really threeyear giveback of the 7. 5 . This is a simple table. And we have one at a later table just showing the level of board of supervisors add backs during the recession. The 0304 records have escaped our files. But for other years, these represent the general fund and Nongeneral Fund addback totals that the board of supervisors moved. Lower amounts weve seen in both better times and in more recent years. So flipping to the Great Recession briefly. This is that same view of how tax revenues performed from 20082009 to 20092010, this is a shorter period for this recession to kind of get back to trend line. The first year of the recession really transfer tax was the most significant loss that the city felt with losses in some of our major tax sales, hotel, business. You can see those same taxes again follow that pattern of actually getting worse in the second year of the recession. And with basically no growth for two fiscal years, followed by return to kind of more normal growth rates of about 4 . Recessions. Projected shortfalls during this period of time, again lagging the beginning of the recession, in a trend that you see across the dot com bust, the most recently is true of this recession as well. There was significant cuts to straight and state funding to local governments during this period of time. A lot of the larger numbers you see from 2009, 2010 and beyond relate to state proposed budget cuts, many of which were ultimately adopted, some of which werent. Again in terms of midyear budget cuts were required in all three years, to manage the budget, not to the level that we recently experienced and not to the level of the dot com bust, but targets range from a low of 7. 5 in the last year, basically of the recovery to a high of 12. 5 0910. Again the Mayors Office requested contingency plans in all years. Similar percentages on this page to the dot com bust. A little bit over half of reserves drawn, during this recession. Again a significant reduction in total fund balance. Predominantly again being driven by reserves and slowing Capital Investment. 6. 8 reduction in general fund f. T. E. S during this period of time. Most of which were vacant, but as i recall, a couple of hundred actual layoffs. Layoff occurred. And the labor concession during the most recent recession amounted to basically a 4. 6 twoyear Wage Reduction, versus what had been previously negotiated. And in return, the city provided 12 days off unpaid furloughs basically. These are the addback values in the fiscal year. You can see that the numbers are obviously fire than they were in the dot com bust. In particular, in the heart of the recession, 0910 and 1011. A couple of just quick observations, from my perspective and our perspective, basically that recession, both of the prior two recessions, took city finances approximately three to four years to get back to equilibrium, back to the trend line that had been expected prior to the recession or dot com bust being a little bit longer, the Great Recession a little bit shorter. Repeated midyear adjustments have been required almost every year during recessions in recent past for the city. And i think that is likely to play out this time as well, given the level of uncertainty we have. The revenue decline, as we have experienced in the current fiscal year, are much sharper and more rapid than even during the dot com bust. Held tax losses in the month of shelterinplace were much more significant than they were in the month after september 11th, for example. And we see that across our major revenues as well. The other thing i think thats true this time, we have talked about the shape of the recovery, which is never certain at the beginning of a recession. But the shape of this recovery is motably less certain. Notably less certain. If there is good news, its that were better prepared this time than we were for either of the last two recessions that i have been through, working for the city. Our reserves are in a substantially improved place. That was deliberate steps taken by mayors and board of supervisors, following our experience in these two recessions to be prepared and built reserves. We have done that. Onetime programs, Capital Investment and i. T. Investments are also much higher heading into this recession. And so that will help us through this. And we certainly are in a better position than we were in the last two. Similar to the last few recessions as well, though, we enter a recession with multipleyear closed labor contracts in front of us. And that certainly means less flexibility. Those labor contracts in this recession and the prior two were negotiated at a better moment in time financially. And then extended into the future. In each of the last two recessions, labor partnered with the city to restructure those contracts. And we will see what this time holds. But certainly having closed labor contracts, leaves less flexibility during that period. The average workforce reduction, during the last two recessions was about 7. 5 . You can see that across the two recessions on average. If thats our experience this time, that would translate to a 1200f. T. E. Reduction, against our current general fund workload. Workforce. I think similar will be the this time is likely to be the state budget, which was a very significant driver of city deficits in the dot com bust, in the Great Recession, and as we have talked about in the previous moment. It is significantly worse as well in the states, over a long period of time that almost inevitably leads to reductions in local government revenue available from the state. Probably somewhat new, though, is just the level of importance of continued federal support during this recession. We certainly relied very heavily on stimulus funds during the last recession. Than president obama and congress adopted funds to support local government. But the value of that support is much less than the risk we are talking about today, related to the requirement for really the city to have continued access to fema, cares funds and other federal stimulus programs to carry these significant new costs that we have heading into this recession. So thank you for indulging me with that presentation. And i would be happy to take any questions. Supervisor fewer yes. President yee. Supervisor yee thanks for the preparation. When you talked about it seems that one thing you didnt talk about in your presentation, and maybe there was nothing to talk about, there was deficits and there were reductions in revenues. Were they were not in that situation right now. But actually before the pandemic, many of us started talking on revenue measures, in november. And, you know, so this is a possibility that things would go on the November Ballot and maybe win. So did any of that happen during these other two recessions, where it helped or not help . Yeah. I may get this fiscal year wrong, hopefully ill get the recession right. In the dot com bust, there was a significant tax proposal, upon which a budget was balanced actually. Which was two taxes actually. Sales tax and a business tax increase, that was taken to the voters in the midyears of that program. Those taxes failed. And one of those rounds of midyear reductions that i mentioned was to offset the loss of that, that was assumed in the state budget. That was so the dot com bust we had limited success with voteradopted tax increases in. In the last recession, there were several tax increases adopted over several years, that contributed to help. And i think as i recall, the most significant of those were two increases to the commercial property transfer tax in the city, that was placed before the voters and both were approved. So as the recovery began, and we saw commercial real estate activity began, those were a source. Supervisor yee were those permanent increases at the time . Yeah. Those were those transfer tax increases are in perpetuity. Theres no subset on them. Supervisor yee okay. Thats helpful. Of course. Supervisor fewer okay. Supervisor walton. Supervisor walton thank you so much, chair fewer. Thank you so much for the presentation controller, rosenstiel. I have a question and you may have answered this and my apologies if you did. On slide 19 you start showing the average workforce reduction for prior recessions was 7. 5 . And it looks like 1200f. T. E. To date. Youre saying that was how many were lost or a number of 7. 5 today . That would be if we took if we had the same experience this time through. That is not what we have lost today. Supervisor walton got it. Order of magnitude kind of. Supervisor walton thank you. Supervisor fewer okay. Any more comments or questions at all . So i have a few questions. And really just for clarification. It seems as though in the last two recessions, the dot com and also the Great Recession, is that we actually were able to help balance this whole budget by a combination of reserves and capital fund projec projects. It seems like those were the big pockets, is that right, that helps us to balance this a little . Yes. The furloughs and everything else, right . I mean, of course, you know, i could be wrong. That helps us actually to get out of the recession. Because it seems as though the dot com one actually we bounced back, yes, in a couple of years. But we bounced back pretty big. And were Pretty Healthy afterwards. When looking at what our deficit is going to be this year, compared to the deficit of the dot com and the Great Recession, actually we have our reserves proportionately more. Does that is that a correct assessment . I think thats right. Chair fewer, the kind of big pieces of the solution in both the dot com bust and the Great Recession really were, as you mentioned, they were kind of depletion of onetime Resources Available to us, like reserves or capital programs in both of those recessions, labor concessions were a significant part of the balancing solutions. And then really lastly, at least in the dot com bust, Service Reductions and workforce reductions. So expenditure side reductions. We were left successful with revenue in that cycle. In the dot com bust or in the Great Recession, those three legs of that were paired with additional revenue, transfer tax and other increases that the voters adopted that helped greatly as well. And we did have some assistance in the Great Recession, in the form of federal stimulus revenue. But i think at the high level, those are kind of the big components. And then i think youre right. This time we are we are better prepared in terms of our reserve position. I think we will still face the same sorts of budget pressures from the state, that we felt in each of those prior recessions, and we can expect to be feeling cuts in that one out of every 5 that we spend in the general fund that comes from d. C. Or sacramento. And then at the end of the day, what the other legs of the stool are choices still to come from both the mayor and the board of supervisors. Supervisor fewer the f. T. E. S that we had, i think that was in the Great Recession. And then also there was a block of f. T. E. S also in the dot com. And you said that a lot of those were Unfilled Positions. Could we get any more accounting about the percentages of Unfilled Positions versus actual layoffs of people . During the prior recessions, we having looked back for records related to layoffs. I can certainly get you detailed record about kind of changes in positions in the budget. Records regarding layoffs are harder to come by. The system that the city was using at that time was largely paper. As i recall, were talking in the hundreds in each of those recessions. Actually a lot of the negotiations and discussion with labor was basically larger wage concessions, in exchange for basically buying back layoffs, in particularly the dot com bust. That was very much the kind of the discussion. Supervisor fewer yeah. Keeping jobs. Keeping people in the jobs, first priority. And then later in the Great Recession. Yeah. Okay. Got it. Any more questions or comments at all from my colleagues . Lets open this up for Public Comment. Madam clerk, can you please call for Public Comment on item number 1. Clerk yes, madam chair. Operation is checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. Operations, please let us know if any callers are ready. If you have not done so, please press star 3 to be added to the queue. If youre on hold, please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. Please let us know if there are any callers who wish to speak on the item. Yes, madam chair, i have two callers in the queue. I will queue the first caller. Hello, callers. My name is francisco da costa. What i see in the deliberations is that very little is said about the taxpayer. So the federal government did do something that yall did not Pay Attention to, didnt mention it at all. And thats what i call the bridge plan or the stimulus moneys that were infused into the economy. And you supervisors, and that includes the mayor and especially the Mayors Office of economic development, talk a lot about the stimulus money that was suppose to go to the Small Businesses. But let them down very badly. So we had two rounds. We havent had any updates from the controller. How much or how many of our Small Businesses were helped. And we have no clue right now what exactly is happening. Having said that, the federal government, through the capital Emergency Management agency, fema, is accommodating us. And from some of the comments i hear in general is like we really want to get the maximum from fema. And that shouldnt be our mentality. Our mentality should be to work hard and to be selfsufficient. The other thing i see is that we have too many upper management making too much. Nobody should be making 400,000 a year. Not even 250,000 a year. Finally, let me remind you the disparity of San Francisco has been compared to rwanda, a thirdworld country. Rwanda. So we have to look at things very co good controller. Thank you thank you for your comment next speaker. Hello, speaker . Hello. Can you hear me. Clerk yes. Please begin. Hi, its david. Several comments. First to the Mayors Office. The revised budgeter outlook and department instructions, that was presented to committee on may 20th, along with todays presentation and for that matter the june 1st submittal, none of those documents are on the mayors website. If you could arrange to put them there. Perhaps under sfmayor. Org documents. That would be helpful. And to the linda, the committee clerk, when presentations like todays come in before the meeting, if those can be attached in registrar, that would allow the public to review them, as much as we would with a handout at the meeting. But because were doing it in this crazy way, its difficult for a member of the public, like myself, to refer to page 21 or whatever of the presentation when we dont have access to it in the way that members apparently do. And just finally on this as to the schedule, i note that the m. T. A. Budget isnt up for discussion until august 14th, since they adopted their budget in april, although there was press Coverage Today of an agreement to not increase fares. It seems to me that you could have the hearing on the m. T. A. Budget prior to august. And for once allow the budget and legislative analyst to review the m. T. A. Budget in detail, in a way they havent done in 20 years and perhaps find some things and make some policy recommendations, since prop e passed in 1999. We havent had that kind of detailed review of the m. T. A. And perhaps with this threemonth delay in the process, we could take some time and look at the m. T. A. More carefully and have both the budget and policy discussions. Clerk thank you for your comments. Supervisor fewer okay. Madam clerk, that completes the queue. Supervisor fewer thank you very much. Public comment is now closed for item number 1. Id like to make a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair. Could i have a second, please . Ronen, second. Supervisor fewer thanks, supervisor ronen. Roll call vote, please, madam clerk. Clerk yes. On the motion to consider this item to the call of the chair. Supervisor walton . Aye. Supervisor mandelman. Aye. Supervisor yee . Aye. Supervisor ronen. Aye. Chair fewer aye. Clerk there are five ayes. Supervisor fewer thank you very much. Madam clerk, can you please call item number 2, 3 and 4 together. Clerk proposed interim budget and appropriation ordinance and estimated expenditures for departments of the city and county of San Francisco as of june 1st, 2020 for the fiscal years ending jun, 2022. Item number 3, proposed interim annual salary ordinances enumerating position in the annual budget and promise ordinance for the fiscal years ending june 30th, 2021 and june 30, 2022, continuing, creating or establishing these positions. And item number 4, approving the fiscal year proposed interim budgets of the office of Community Investment and infrastructure. Operating as a special agency for the San Francisco redevelopment agency. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on these items should call 415 6550001 and access code 145 736 9773. Then press and again. Please dial star three line up to speak. A system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. You may begin your comments after you have been unmuted. Supervisor fewer yes. So we have again ashley from the mayors Budget Office and ben rosenstiel. I can start briefly, mariah carey, with a brief description of what an interim budget is for the members of the committee and the public. And then we can talk through the details of whats in front of you today. As you know, the citys fiscal year runs begins each year on july 1st. But each year the charter calls on the payer and the board to adopt a budget by no later than august 1st. We have a onemonth period where we need approval to continue to spend money and operate the government. Amp, employees, vendors, its everything else. Thats the purpose of the interim budget. Each june the mayor adopt an interim budget for the onemonth period, typically of just july. That terms us to carry over and continue operations during that onemonth period. This year is atypical. We have a longer interim period, because of the delay in the citys budget process. So the interim budgets in front of you will carry the city spending forward from july 1st through october 1st. So the whole First Quarter of the fiscal year. I think with the exceptions that well note a minute, generally speaking these interim budgets are status quo budgets. They reflect changes that are already been adopted by the mayor and the board in the previous year. They reflect changes in wages, benefits and other costs. And a more technical issues and those sorts of things. With that ill turn it over to ashley. Thank you, ben. Thank you, members of the committee. As ben noted, this is metropolitan to be a continuity budget, to allow those essential allow essential city spending and operations to continue, until the final budget is adopted by the mayor and the board in october. The exceptions that the controller referenced, the interim budget assumes wage delays for City Employees, as triggered by the march joint report, and consistent with the language in our negotiated m. O. U. S, with our labor unions. It does not include the appropriation for the hourly increase for ihss and on july 1st. Thats the ability to fund that wage increase in the upcoming fiscal year will be determined with the august budget deliberations. And similarly, the interim budget does not assume a july 1st implementation of the 2. 5 cost of doing business increase for nonprofit providers. And any ability to fund that cost of doing business increase in the upcoming fiscal year will be contemplated during the august budget process. Supervisor fewer are you finished . Oh, because now id like to call for the b. L. A. , please, to have their presentation on items 2 and 3. Thank you. Good afternoon, chair fewer, members of the committee. Im dan, im here to present our summary of review of the mayors threemonth interim budget. Im going to share some slides that i have. Okay. Can everyone see the slides now . We cant, dan. Oh, im sorry. Supervisor fewer no. We cant. Sorry. Okay. Sorry, about that. Supervisor fewer we saw it briefly. There we go. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. So just as a preface, we focused our review on the general fund portion of the budget. So as previously discussed, the charter and admin code did establish the citys budget timetable, including the approval of a onemonth salary ordinance, to be approved no later than june 30th by the board each year. As ben had spoken about, the interim budget allows for city budgets to condition, with certain exceptions until the board of supervisors and mayor are able to adopt the annual appropriation ordinance and the annual salary ordinance by july 31st every year. And, of course, as we all know, due to the significant revenue and budgetary impacts of the covid19 pandemic, the interim budget has been expanded from one month, which is typically july, to three months this year, july, august and september. To allow more time to assess the revenue impacts of the covid19 pandemic and make the difficult policy choices to balance the twoyear budget. As ashley had mentioned, the proposed interim budget serves as a continuity budget to allow essential city spending and operations to continue on july 1st, until the final budget is adopted by the mayor and board of supervisors by october 1st. The mayors interim transmittal letter, the interim budget has three changes from the previously adopted budget. And these include the wage delays for City Employees, as triggered by the march joint report. A and negotiated memorandums of understanding. Second, no inclusion of appropriation for the gross hourly increase for the inhome supportive services, minimum compensation ordinance on july 1st. We did note that the mayors transmittal letter is funding the wage increase, will be determined with the august budget deliberations and subject to the october appropriation levels. And, third, that there would be no july 1st implementation of the 2. 5 cost of doing business increase for nonprofit providers. And again the transmittal letter states that would be contemplated with the august budget deliberations. So in our report, we just had a couple of sections, in addition to that summary. One was to talk about other nonpersonnel changes that we noticed in the budget. These are kind of major changes that we were able to pick up. And then non and then personnel changes. First, nonpersonnel changes. Our review of the proposed interim nonpersonnel budget found that it largely does serve as the continuity budget as described in the mayors transmittal letter. A review found that relative to the 20202021 budget be adopted on august 1st of last year, eight payments for Inhome Services program are declining by 4. 7 million or 3 , due to a decrease in services, rumming in decreases to the Human Service agencys budget, as discussed in the may budget report. In addition, general fund support is declining for some baselines and reserves. The contribution to the general reserve is declining by 12. 4 million, due to declines in general Fund Revenues, as permitted under admin code section 10. 60b. Contributions to the recreation and parks baseline are declining by approximately 3 million, due to the charter provision, section 16. 107. That allows suspension of growth in general fund support, when the budget deficit exceeds 200 million. This is reflected in decreased department overhead expenditures in the rec and parks budget. And contributions to the Mission Bay Transportation Improvement Fund are declining by 1. 8 million, due to declines in anticipated revenue associated with the Golden State Warriors stadium, resulting in corresponding reductions to expenditures to the mission Bay Transportation improvement project. As far as the personnel changes that wed like to note, we found that general Fund Spending on salaries is declining by 35. 3 million or 1. 4 , due to the sixmonth delay in wage increases for City Employees. And consistent with the projected budget deficit in the march joint report and the language in the negotiated memorandum of understanding. General Fund Spending on Fringe Benefits is increasing by 1. 1 , largely due to increases in retirement and Health Benefit costs, as projected in the january joint report. As well as the may budget outlook report. Increases to retirement and Health Benefit costs are partially offset by 8 million in reductions to unfunded liability payments, as the city will not make an additional payment for the unfunded liability in fiscal year 20202021. The mayors proposed interim budget contains no net increase in the fulltime positions from the fiscal year 20202021 baseline budget adopted on august 1st, 2019. So the number of f. T. E. S approved was 20,039. And that same amount remains in the bugs. And one other thing that we did notice, while we were reviewing the personnel budget is that there is a 0941 manager six position, that is was approved in the budget last year, as an interim sorry, as a technical adjustment. And it is being reassigned from general City Administration to the city administratives budget. The position has a total proposed fiscal year 20202021 budget of 280,214. Thats salary costs and 78,153 in Fringe Benefits. And our understanding was it was assigned to general city responsibility, pending further decision on where to assign the position. So in our report, we do state that given the mayors policy to freeze all nonessential hiring and the position has not been previously approved as part of the city administrators budget, we recommend the board either delete the position or put the salary and Fringe Benefits for this position on reserve, until it can be reviewed as part of the twoyear fiscal year 20212022 proposal. We also noted in our report that the deputy city administrator has informed our office, as of monday, that the position has not been filled. And its understanding that the City Administrators Office has identified a candidate, but no formal offer has been made. We also note that a previous analysis conducted by our office, to implement the privacy first policy, was subsequently withdrawn, found that the proposed activities of the office of data privacy and the chief privacy officer are closely aligned with existing activities of the cybersecurity office, data s. F. , committee on information technologien and the chief data officer, with responsibility for coordinating the citys data policy. Our analysis found that the department of technology, cybersecurity office, data s. F. And the Mayors Office and the City Administrators Office have policies and procedures in place for protecting privacy related to city information resources. And that a combined 22 fulltime authorized personnel are employed in these offices. And just for reference, this chief privatcy officer the idea was to establish it to respond to the a Charter Amendment that was approved by voters on november 6th, 2018, to establish the citys privacy first policy, which laid out Guiding Principles for the adoption of privacy protective laws, regulations, policies and practices that relate to the collection, storage and share and use of personal information. And our final slide just again has this a recommendation on that the board should consider either deleting the position for total general fund savings of 280,214 or place the appropriation for that amount on reserve, so that it can be reviewed as part of the fiscal year 20212022 twoyear Budget Proposal, so that we can better determine if the position is needed. Or whether this classification is still appropriate. To carry out the responsibilities of this position. And that concludes my presentation. Im available for questions, if there are any. Supervisor fewer thank you very much. Supervisor ronen, i see you in the queue. Supervisor ronen yes. Thank you very much. So i, you know, supervisor or chair fewer and i several years ago worked very hard with the ihss workers to gain the salary wages over time. And while i recognize that everyone is foregoing raises, because of how difficult this time is, im just wondering, given that theres almost not quite, but almost an equal amount that the amount of Service Reductions for ihss equals almost the amount of the increase in wages over the next three months. And im just wondering if, given that we could make an exception and find another place to cut. I know chair fewer cares deeply about this and has been working on finding an alternative. So id love to hear from her on this, as well as ashley and dan and ben. Sure. Go ahead, chair fewer. I was just going to note that the 4. 7 million in reductions, thats noted in the b. L. A. Report, that is the reflection of that delay in the wage for the workers. Is there a question . Sorry. You froze, sorry. That is that amount. The b. L. A. Reflected is the amount of the full years worth of that 1 wage increase. Supervisor ronen im sorry. Surface reduction. I thought it meant that there were just less people using the system . No. No. Supervisor ronen i see. Yeah. Just a correction to what the b. L. A. Put in their report. That is that reduction is equal to the wage delay. Sorry for that confusion. Supervisor ronen no problem. Supervisor fewer so the total Wage Reduction is i mean, because of the salary increase, would be 4. 7. So we were to actually take the m. C. O. Off the table, that would be an additional 4. 7 million that we would have to find somewhere else, is that correct . Thats correct. Thats the full years worth of that amount. Supervisor fewer got it. To my colleagues, i think that i would like to continue i have a lot to say about this. And im wondering if any of my other colleagues, before i speak on this, have a comment about this reduction in the by the m. C. O. . Thank you so much. Supervisor ronen so, sorry. So the 4. 7 is over the entire fiscal year . Thats right. Yeah. And maybe the controller could speak. The interim budget technically covers the whole year. Although we only anticipate needing this version of it for the next three months. Im sure the controller could more eloquently complain that nuance. Supervisor ronen so, for example, if we were to say that we would like until we figure out the longterm budget, that we would like to meet our commitment to the ihss workers for the next three months, what would be the cost of that . And is that the only amount that we would have to find, you know, reduce in the budget somewhere else. Or the whole 4. 7 . I can speak to that, because its its related to the legislation itself. The board adopted. The way the language works in that ordinance, it says that the wage increase would proceed on this schedule, unless theres not an appropriation for it. In which case it does not proceed. It says that if the budget includes an amount less than the full value of the year, it will directs my office to prorate the wage increase down. And so unfortunately i understand your question, supervisor ronen. But if you appropriate only the First Quarter for the year, it will mean that one quarter of the wage increase would go into effect. Not the full wage increase for one quarter of the year. Does that make sense . Supervisor ronen i see. Well, could we amend the legislation . Im just curious supervisor ronen so its a quarter of 4. 7 million, is the cost . Right . Supervisor fewer supervisor ronen, we want to assume if we give the wage increase for a quarter of the year, that we would not actually consider taking away that quarter i mean, the wage increase. And so i think we should assume that for the full amount of 4. 7 million. And so i think thats my conversation, right after you spoke, is that, you know, i just have to say that i am frustrated that we are withholding ihss m. C. O. Increases. Because actually they are the lowestpaid workers in San Francisco. Theyre making 16. 50 an hour. And so to have us say were not going to give the wage increase and well look at this with the full budget in mind. I actually dont think that they will get their fair share of the money. I think thats what we have seen before, is that the people that they take care of, actually have the lowest political clout in this city. And i think they would get lost in this whole shuffle of, you know, with labor, how much the increases are, this labor union and that labor union. Actually think because we are trying to do things in an equitable way, to preserve i think the livelihood of those people who are the most marginalized and these people, during covid19 also weve relied on them heavily to serve these people in their homes, so they could actually shelterinplace. And when im thinking so i am uncomfortable with actually postponing this wage increase. Im not comfortable with the other postponements actually, too. This in particular particularly seems to ring at a different tome. Its a more inequitable way of balancing our budget. So im wondering if there are other places that we could draw from, so that we are not rebalancing our, you know, the budget on the backs of our lowestwage workers. And i know that we have an opportunity actually to continue in the current budget and allow us a little bit more time to be discussing maybe where we could be finding this money. So anyway. Id like to open this up to my colleagues if they any questions or comments about this at all. So we can go back to this before we close out this meeting. And so lets hold this conversation and are there any members of this committee that would like to speak at this time or have any questions . Supervisor ronen chair fewer, if i could just say you said way more articulately than i did. Exactly what i wanted to say. I just wanted to say that i could not agree with you more. I would be happy to partner with you to try to find alternative places to find savings. So thank you. Supervisor fewer i actually think im wondering if we could put some other things on reserve. Can we look at some other supplies and materials budgets that we can put on reserve. I just think that this group of people are the lowestwage workers in San Francisco. They already are struggling. Most of them, as when we did our m. C. O. Ordinances, we realized that, you know, 88 of these people are women of color. And they are one step from homelessness themselves. A dollar wage increase to them is significant. And i just especially during this time. So id like us to reconsider it. Before we go to that, i have other comments about some other things. I want to thank the b. L. A. For giving us the suggestion of putting the new chief privacy officer position on reserve during the interim budget period, which is a good compromise quite frankly, considering this was an issue going on by a Charter Amendment. And also i wanted to know that i wanted to ask ben and ashley also. Can you talk about any assumptions regarding setasides and business lines in the interim budget. I know that youre reducing the rec and park baseline. Is there any other baseline that is that the ordinances actually allows us to take from the baselines . I can speak to that, chair fewer. Actually in the budget in front you, it reflects our revenue. Its reflected in the report. And with that revenue reflected, we adjusted all baselines, that are keyed off of those revenues. Those baseline reductions have occurred in whats in front of you. Supervisor fewer thank you very much. Can you explain in the m. T. A. Budget. Going through this, page 174 it shows 22 million in if you parking meters. Quite frankly, 240 million budget, thats 10 of the budget are parking meters temperature can you speak to this . Th i dont know that i can spk to the specifics of it. So the m. T. A. Board adopted a budget in early days of shelterinplace. And thats whats in front of you with a couple of items stripped out, given the delayed interim process. Whats been delayed from the budget, given that this is a confy newt of government budget for the threemonth period, is the fare increase. And thats been offset with reductions, reductions in b. M. G. Has proposed it for the theemonth period. That will be included in the full budget that comes to you in september. But that has been stripped out. Otherwise this reflects the m. T. A. s Budget Proposal from that february meeting. Supervisor fewer precovid . Very early days of covid. I think the m. T. A. Board is likely to revisit the budget in front of you, prior to submitting their final proposal for your consideration in the kind of policy window in september perfor in septembe. What you have in front of you, will be replaced by the m. T. A. , prior to your action on the final budget. Supervisor fewer okay. I think that if m. T. A. Is listening, i just want to say that, you know, at this time 22 million on parking meters, new, paing meters similarities a little ridiculous. Quite frankly. And i just heard that the department of children and youth and families is reducing all grants during the interim budget. Shouldnt that be part of the longer budget process . And are other departments also pulling back on contracts starting july 1st . I think i can try to speak to this. I think unless ashley would like to. Theres a communication that went from dcyf thats in conflict with our citywide guidance regarding how to handle contracts during this period. It implies it implies that the cost of doing business increases awarded last year are being dis rolled back and additionally an 8 reduction is being rolled through. Thats inconsistent with citywide guidance. I know weve sent the note to dcyf to follow up on that. Thats not the intent. Its certainly not reflected in the budget you have in front of you, which does not make those assumptions. So we node to close that loop to ensure that citywide guidance is adhered to by dcyf. Supervisor fewer we could get an update on that next. Apparently perhaps its just a mistake. And i saw i just i want to talk a little bit more about the m. T. O. Before i do that, i want to open this up for Public Comment. Any members of the public that would like to comment on items 2, 3 and 4. Madam clerk, can you please see if anyone is in the queue. Clerk yes, madam chair. Operation is checking to see if anyone is in the queue. Operation, pleateplease let us y callers want to comment on items 2, 3 and 4. Yes, madam clerk. There are two callers in the queue. I will queue the first caller. Supervisor fewer thank you, mr. Coon. Clerk hello, caller. Supervisors, i want to talk about the inhome care folks that yall are having some problems giving them a raise. And ive done some research on the type of work that they do. And i can see that we can easily get some financing from the federal government, linked to the covid19 virus. And we need to put ourselves in the shoes of these workers, who are laying down their lives, mostly helping seniors and those most vulnerable situations. I think our controller can figure out a way to get some assistance from the federal government. This is not impossible. Other states are doing it. The other thing is we are the fifth largest economy, california. And we have to look at it if we can get some funding in some other way, rather than always put the most vulnerable population in a very difficult position. I was listening a little bit to how funding is given to the nonprofits. And im not satisfied with that. But i dont want to talk about it here for all the world to hear. I can address that those gimmicks in an article on my blog. Thank you very much. Supervisor fewer thank you. Clerk please queue the next speaker. Can you hear me now . Supervisor fewer yes. Hi. Its david again. Several points here. Looking at the a. A. O. Page 28, the funded positions summary by m. S. A. And department. I note in there for 20202021 for both the police and m. T. A. , there are relatively significant increases in headcount. 173 and 153 or so. I assume that thats authorized positions during the interim period. But that that should be taken with the mayors letter of june 1st, where it says that departments are instructed to continue to freeze nonessential hiring. So its position authorization, but not approval. I appreciate the b. L. A. Analysis and summary of all of this. Moving on to m. T. A. For a second, im not sure if the way this is all being presented is consistent with the seventh supplement to the mayors declaration, dated march 31st, in particular paragraph 6c about the m. T. A. Interim budget that the board shall review and reject the interim budget within 30 days of receipt. You dont have a separate item to consider and review the m. T. A. Interim budget, although ben just discussed some changes that apparently have been made and buried in here since the m. T. A. Board approved. And just finally, on all of this, both the a. A. O. And the a. S. O. , in my review in the last few days, i have not found for the last any number of years that i have looked at a signature page reflecting approval as informed by the City Attorney. I have called back to a couple of people. Clerk thank you for your comments. Supervisor fewer thank you. Madam chair, that completes the queue. Supervisor fewer okay. Thank you very much. Public comment is now closed on items 2, 3 and 4. Let us get back to, first, the assistance from the well, no. Lets talk about the m. C. O. First and ihss. I think we have a little time on this. And i think what i would like to do, and its my understanding and the City Attorney could probably give me some advice here, is that we could continue this for another week, without jeopardizing the timeline for the passage of this interim budget. And we can still keep the lights on, beginning july 1st. Deputy City Attorney, is that correct . Yes, madam chair. We have advised that you could continue this item until next week. And then send the two ordinances to the full board the following week. And for a second read on the 30th, in compliance with the mayoral supplement. And i would just want to add, madam chair, i think legally you have that authority. Administrative it cuts it very close for us. The board of supervisors approves on that day, it still needs to be signed by the mayor and then we need to interface that budget, so that its available to spend against the next morning. And so it is tight. We can make it work. But it will mean it will need to be early on the board agenda that day. So just to highlight theres a legal hand and implementation question here as well. Supervisor fewer all right. Thank you. I appreciate the consideration of the accommodation. And it would have to be, as youre saying, it would have to be on the full boards agenda early on in the agenda, is that correct . Okay. I think we have president yee present with us. And lets get his opinion, president yee. Is that something that could be possibly done at our full Board Meeting . Supervisor yee it could be done, if we are afraid of how close it might become. We have a t. A. Meeting in the morning. We have a special meeting in the morning also. Supervisor fewer okay. Thank you very much. So i would like to say that i would like to give it some more time to give i a look. You put a lot of effort and time into this. And i know balancing the budget and we are on an incredible timeline. And also an incredible time in San Francisco. However, i would like to give us one more last shot at this. I just dont feel right about balancing this budget on the backs of our lowest, lowest workers. And so i would appreciate that we would continue this item. But before i make a motion to continue this item, id like to make a motion to actually adopt the recommendation from the b. L. A. , putting the chief privacy officer position on reserve. And so id like to make a motion to adopt the recommendations from the b. L. A. To put the chief privacy officer position on reserve, during this interim budget period. Clerk is there a second . Supervisor ronen ronen second. Supervisor fewer could i have a roll call, vote, please. Clerk supervisor fewer. Aye. Clerk supervisor walton . Supervisor walton . Supervisor mandelman . Aye. Clerk supervisor yee. Aye. Clerk supervisor ronen. Aye. Clerk supervisor walton . Supervisor walton is absent. There are farrierses. There are four ayes. Id like to continue this item, as amended, to the next meeting of the budget and Appropriations Committee. Could i have a second, please. Second. Chair fewer . Supervisor fewer yes. Supervisor yee can i get the date i want clarification on which date it would come to the Board Meeting. The full Board Meeting. Supervisor fewer do you have that . I have that, madam chair, to the president. So the First Reading you were looking for this, because this is an ordinance, june 23rd. The important meeting to have it near the top of the agenda would be on the second read on june 30th. Supervisor yee okay. And we do not have a t. A. Meeting. So just supervisor fewer okay. Thank you. Supervisor fewer thank you, president yee. I believe that it was i have a motion on the floor to continue this item to the next budget and Appropriations Committee. And as amended. Could i have a second, please. I thought it was seconded by president yee. I seconded it. Supervisor fewer he did. So sorry, president yee. Roll call vote, please. Clerk on that motion, supervisor walton . Supervisor walton absents. Supervisor mandelman. Supervisor mandelman aye. Clerk supervisor yee . Supervisor yee aye. Clerk supervisor ronen . Supervisor ronen aye. Clerk chair fewer. Supervisor fewer aye. Clerk there are four ayes. Any more business before us today, madam clerk . Theres no further business. Supervisor fewer we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone. [ ] [ ] so i grew up in cambridge, massachusetts and i was very fortunate to meet my future wife, now my wife while we were both attending graduate school at m. I. T. , studying urban planning. So this is her hometown. So, we fell in love and moved to her city. [ ] [ ] i was introduced to this part of town while working on a campaign for gavin, who is running for mayor. I was one of the organizers out here and i met the people and i fell in love with them in the neighborhood. So it also was a place in the city that at the time that i could afford to buy a home and i wanted to own my own home. This is where we laid down our roots like many people in this neighborhood and we started our family and this is where we are going to be. I mean we are the part of San Francisco. Its the two neighborhoods with the most children under the age of 18. Everybody likes to talk about how San Francisco is not familyfriendly, there are not a lot of children and families. We have predominately Single Family homes. As i said, people move here to buy their first home, maybe with multiple family members or multiple families in the same home and they laid down their roots. [ ] its different because again, we have little small storefronts. We dont have Light Industrial space or space where you can build highrises or large Office Buildings. So the tech boom will never hit our neighborhood in that way when it comes to jobs. Turkey, cheddar, avocado, lettuce and mayo, and little bit of mustard. Thats my usual. Mike is the owner, born and bred in the neighborhood. He worked in the drugstore forever. He saved his money and opened up his own spot. Were always going to support home grown businesses and he spent generations living in this part of town, focusing on the family, and the vibe is great and people feel at home. Its like a Little Community gathering spot. This is the part of the city with a small town feel. A lot of mom and pop businesses, a lot of family run businesses. There is a conversation on whether starbucks would come in. I think there are some people that would embrace that. I think there are others that would prefer that not to be. I think we moved beyond that conversation. I think where we are now, we really want to enhance and embrace and encourage the businesses and Small Businesses that we have here. In fact, its more of a mom and pop style business. I think at the end of the day, what were really trying to do is encourage and embrace the diversity and enhance that diversity of businesses we already have. Were the only supervisor in the city that has a permanent district office. A lot of folks use cafes or use offices or different places, but i want out and was able to raise money and open up a spot that we could pay for. Im very fortunate to have that. Hi, good to see you. Just wanted to say hi, hi to the owner, see how hes doing. Everything okay . Yeah. Good. We spend the entire day in the district so we can talk to constituents and talk to Small Businesses. We put money in the budget so you guys could be out here. This is like a commercial corridor, so they focus on cleaning the streets and it made a Significant Impact as you can see. What an improvement it has made to have you guys out here. For sure. We have a significantly diverse neighborhood and population. So i think thats the richness of the mission and it always has been. Its what made me fall in love with this neighborhood and why i love it so much. What were trying to approach is bringing more diversity to our food. Its not just the old european style food. We are seeing a lot of influences, and all of this is because of our students. All we ask is make it flavorful. [ ] we are the first twoyear Culinary Hospitality School in the united states. The first year was 1936, and it was started by two graduates from cornell. Im a graduate of this program, and very proud of that. So students can expect to learn under the three degrees. Culinary Arts Management degree, Food Service Management degree, and Hotel Management degree. Were not a cooking school. Even though were not teaching you how to cook, were teaching you how to manage, how to supervise employees, how to manage a hotel, and plus youre getting an associate of science degree. My name is vince, and im a faculty member of the hospitality arts and Culinary School here in San Francisco. This is my 11th year. The policemrogram is very, ver in what this industry demands. Cooking, health, safety, and sanitation issues are included in it. Its quite a complete program to prepare them for whats happening out in the real world. The first time i heard about this program, i was working in a restaurant, and the sous chef had graduated from this program. He was very young to be a sous chef, and i want to be like him, basically, in the future. This program, its awesome. Its another world when youre here. Its another world. You get to be who you are, a person get to be who they are. You get to explore different things, and then, you get to explore and they encourage you to bring your background to the kitchen, too. Ive been in the program for about a year. Twoyear program, and im about halfway through. Before, i was studying behavioral genetics and dance. I had few injuries, and i couldnt pursue the things that i needed to to dance, so i pursued my other passion, cooking. When i stopped dance, i was deprived of my creative outlet, and cooking has been that for me, specifically pastry. The good thing is we have students everywhere from places like the ritz to we have kids from every area. Facebook and google. Kids from everywhere. They are all over the bay area, and theyre thriving. My name is jeff, and im a coowner of nopa restaurant, nopalito restaurant in San Francisco. I attended city college of San Francisco, the culinary arts program, where it was called hotel and restaurant back then in the early 90s. Nopalito on broderick street, its based on no specific region in mexico. All our masa is hand made. We cook our own corn in house. Everything is pretty much hand made on a daily basis, so day and night, were making hand made tortillas, carnitas, salsas. A lot of love put into this. [ ] used to be very easy to define casual dining, fine dining, quick service. Now, its shades of gray, and were trying to define that experience through that spectrum of service. Fine dining calls into white table cloths. The cafeteria is Large Production kitchen, understanding vast production kitchens, the googles and the facebooks of the world that have those kitypes of kitchens. And the ideas that change every year, again, its the notion and the venue. One of the things i love about vince is one of our outlets is a concept restaurant, and he changes the concept every year to show students how to do a startup restaurant. Its been a pizzeria, a taco bar. Its been a mediterranean bar, its been a noodle bar. People choose ccsf over other hospitality programs because the industry recognizes that we instill the work ethic. We, again, serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other culinary hospitality programs may open two days a week for breakfast service. Were open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week. The menus always interesting. They change it every semester, maybe more. Theres always a good variety of foods. The preparation is always beautiful. The students are really sincere, and they work so hard here, and theyre so proud of their work. Ive had people coming in to town, and i, like, bring them here for a special treat, so its more, like, not so much every day, but as often as i can for a special treat. When i have my interns in their final semester of the program go out in the industry, 80 to 90 of the students get hired in the industry, well above the industry average in the culinary program. We do have internals continually coming into our restaurants from city college of San Francisco, and most of the time that people doing internships with us realize this is what they want to do for a living. We hired many interns into employees from our restaurants. My partner is also a graduate of city college. So my goal is actually to travel and try to do some pastry in maybe italy or france, along those lines. I actually have developed a few connections through this program in italy, which i am excited to support. Im thinking about going to go work on a cruise ship for about two, three year so i can save some money and then hopefully venture out on my own. Yeah, i want to go back to china. I want to bring something that i learned here, the french cooking, the western system, back to china. So we want them to have a full toolkit. Were trying to make them ready for the world out there. Announcer youre watching coping with covid19. Todays special guest is lindsey holmes. Hi, im chris manus and youre watching coping with covid19. Today my guest is founder and c. E. O. Of dispatch goods and former clinical profusionist at ucsf. She start add new initiative called project clean to provide alcoholbased cleaning products and Hand Sanitizers to atrisk bay area communities. Lindsey, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Its lovely to see you. Tell us a little about your background and how dispatched goods of San Franciscos restaurant community. Sure. We launched, in october, weve been working on this for a little over a year. And we partnered with restaurants to provide them with a free reusable container system that could replace singleuse products. We partnered with yelp headquarters in downtown San Francisco and 10 Restaurant Partners as of february before covid19 hit and employees at our Corporate Partners could request the reusable containers when they were getting their lunch for takeout or if they were getting it delivered to their office. We then handled the pickup and dish washing. So, obviously the virus pandemic has hit and now youve had to pivot your company and i understand you lunched a new initiative called project clean. Can you let us know what the program is all about . Sure. So we basically when this hit, we asked ok, what we do we have and how can we help . We also noticed there was a gap in the supply for Hand Sanitizers to Certain Community members and individuals and we talked to a distillery about making Hand Sanitizer and, in true form to our mission, we decided i bet we could collect enough containers from the community that we wouldnt have to supply more singleuse plastic containers and we launched project clean and with that, we collected over 200 containers. Theyre spray squeeze bottles and working on supplying the cleaning products. What has the response been from the community atlarge and how have peopled help . Were donationbased and selffunded right now. We are buying basically the products at cost and is not charging us much for that. Theyre also just trying to cover our expenses and we had a little bit of donations coming in. But if you go to our website, you can either donate containers that you have, well come do pickup. Were doing it twice a week now. Or if you yourself need any of the cleaning products, you can fill out the form and request those as well. And then there is also a place to make a donation. So, where are you handing out the Hand Sanitizer right now . Were doing it in the same route as the dropoff route. So, the Hand Sanitizer will be finished today. So, tomorrow well be doing our first round of dropoffs and weve been contacted by Health Care Professionals who after they come home have nothing on their hands there. We have been contacted by retirement communities and contacted by physicians in their offices that they dont have anything and a individuals that just werent able to get the supplies because they were sold out so quickly. Basically during our normal pickup routes now, we will be doing the dropoff as well. That is fantastic. You know, i think that is a Wonderful Service you are providing, lindsey. Thank you so much for coming on the show and keep up the good work. Thank you so much, chris i really appreciate it. And that is it for this episode. Well be back with more stories shortly. Youve been watching coping with covid19. Im chris manus, thank you for watching. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like us i once was lost but now im found was blind but now i see twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved how precious did that grace appear the hour that i first believed good afternoon, everyone, and happy pride. Thank you for joining me today. Im caroline weisinger with San Francisco pride. I am Claire Farley and were so happy to have you with us here today to celebrate pride at home. The official lgbtq kickoff. You heard from breanna sinclaire, world renowned opera singer. Shes such an inspiration. Thank you so much, breanna for joining us. Yes, she was so incredible and we have great performances today by the gay mens chorus and the lesbian and gay and freedom band. We are here in San Francisco but streaming live around the world so we have viewers from everywhere. And we hope that youll share with us on how youre honouring pride this year. Post that youre watching by sharing the prideathome and lgbtqpride, month. We thank our cohosts for partnering on this special event and mayor london breed. San francisco pride. The office of Transgender Initiative. And sf clear night life fund. And the s. F. Coalition. We know that San Francisco is home to the largest pride celebration in the country. And in june its always a time to come together and to honour our history and celebrate pride in ourselves and our community and including trans march and the Pink Triangle which will be lit up this year with l. E. D. Lights and so many more events. So we encourage you to visit www. Sfpride. Org for all of the events happening in june. And as president of the board of pride, i know how important it is that we celebrate pride and that were having a milestone this year, this is our 50th anniversary. So even in a pandemic were honouring the history of this organization and what we both celebrate and fight for in our communities. And in this particular moment were really focused on making sure that were centring the voices of black lgbtq folks and theres a lot of unrest in our community, but one thing that we want to remind folks is that our lgbtq members face some of the most harshest criticisms and scrutinies of anyone in our community. This is a time that we could come together and demand that muchneeded change. This is where we come together and support each other. But in this event and for our organization right now it is important for us to amplify our black lgbtq voices. This is an opportunity to look at our deep history of resilience and those who have paved the way for us and to take action. Yeah, thank you, carolyn for that. I agree this is a time for us to forward the work of our ancestors and our trancestors. And were all coming together to share pride at home and sharing our love and support for each other. And were all doing our part to stop the spread of covid19 and to make sure that our Health Care Workers and essential workers are safe and healthy. Later in the programme well also have a special Panel Discussion on the s. F. Area covid relief effort so we hope that youll get involved. We have a very, very important discussion with clear and transblack leaders on the current moment that we are in and how communities are showing up to address our countrys long history of racism and violence against black lives. But, clair, i am proud to bring our special cohost who may love pride more than me, i doubt that, but the first black mayor of San Francisco and continues to show up for our community. She continues to have San Francisco lead the country in responding to covid19. Black and brown communities are most impacted by covid19 and this is especially true for our trans and queer communities and seniors and adults with disabilities. Yeah, were so excited to have mayor breed with us and with her work which has contributed a contribution of 75,000 to support lgbtq food relief. And, furthermore, those dollars are critical to support the community through this pandemic. Also im so grateful to work with her every day to support the incredible initiatives for our Trans Community from housing to rental assistance, to our lgbtq Senior Services and to support our local organization, our arts and working to fight for lgbtq rights across the country. Welcome, mayor breed, were so honoured to have you join with us today. You know, for us i know that, you know, for us that my work is really focused as the director of the Transgender Initiative and working firsthand to fight discrimination both in San Francisco as well as across the country. One of the bills that we worked on recently with the attack on health care and the access to health care. So for us we really see this as an opportunity to encourage and to welcome, you know, such a fierce ally. And i have had the chance to march with her during pride last year and it was such a fun time. Dont you think, carolyn. Im sad that we wont see what float shed have this year but i am happy to welcome mayor breed to the programme. Welcome, mayor breed. Mayor london breed thank you so much and thank you so much for having me here today. And carolyn, i dont know, we may have to battle over who enjoys pride the most. Im ready to battle. [laughter] mayor london breed but i will say that im so happy to be here with you all. It has been a really challenging time in our city and our country. And especially many of us as African Americans who, sadly, have had to live with this hurt and this pain for so long. And i know that especially African Americans who are part of our Transgender Community have had it really worse than so many other people as it relates to discrimination, housing and a number of other issues. And i will say that the ability to come together with all of you to celebrate pride, but to also call attention to the injustices that exist in our society, it means a lot because this community has really been leaders in fighting for rights, and for so many people, not just folks who are part of the Lgbtq Community, but when we have continued to go out there and to advocate and push for reform, youre standing right by our side. So, carolyn, im so excited about your leadership with pride. It is so needed at this time more than ever. And i am i am so grateful that clair is part of my administration and pushing the Transgender Initiatives and you know that San Francisco has been a leader on these initiatives. It does have everything to do with clair working with the community to advocate for the resources that are needed. And so as we celebrate pride its a little different this year. I know that you are all feeling it. Its not just because of covid19 and the fact that we cant get together. And i actually had a new outfit so im so mad. Ill have to wear it on one of these calls because i have been waiting for this for the longest. But its not that we cant just get together and celebrate and be around each other and feel the positive vibes and energy, its also a lot of whats happening in the country. And it goes back to when i think about San Francisco and its history and my own personal history with pride, and my first pride parade, in fact, was when i was in high school. And i remember watching pride. It was in front you guys remember woolworths was actually where the gap is. And so i was watching the parade and i just was so inspired and so excited. I never felt so good about how the energy in the air and the fun and the excitement and the celebration, it just made me so happy. It made me feel so good. And thats what i always thought that pride was about. It always brings people together to support and to uplift one another. Even though even though we know that the Lgbtq Community continues to get disrespected and discriminated against, even with the person, sadly, who is occupying the white house. It is a disgrace. And it means as far as we have come with having the first office of Transgender Initiatives and all of the things that we need to push for in San Francisco, we have such a long way to go. And i want to say to all of you, thank you so much for your courage. Thank you all for continuing to speak out and to fight for your ability to just know who you are and to love who you want to love and to do anything that you deserve to be able to do in life. We have as you know here in our country, a really horrible history around discrimination. If someone is not of a certain look, a certain race, of a certain attitude, oftentimes they encounter discrimination in ways that people who never have to encounter that can never really fully understand. They can empathize but you can never understand. That people who are African American, those who are targeted because theyre transgender and attacked physically, because of who they are, it is so tough. And so i think that what i appreciate about now is that there are others who may not completely understand it. But they empathize and they want to be a part of pushing for change. And i never have seen it to this capacity before. And i know what i was also excited about is the fact that pride was the committee said, you know what, we cant celebrate together, come together in the same way, but were still going to celebrate. And were going to still appreciate this. This event has been around for 50 years. Calling attention to the need for the push for equality. The continued push for equality. And so were not going to just sit silently by and wait for something to happen. We are going to do something about it. Were going to be a part of the solution, were going to lift our voices in solidarity to the injustices that we know that have plagued our city and our country for far too long. So this is why im so excited about what pride will represent this year. A celebration of hope. A celebration of optimism for a better future. Because i cant even imagine what it feels like to travel somewhere in the country and to be basically turned away because of who you are or who you love. And the reason why i fight so hard for what we need to do to change things is because i want San Francisco to continue to be the model, to continue to push forward the kinds of policies that are going to correct the systemic racism that have plagued us for far too long. We are in this together. We are better when we support each other, when we have one anothers back, when we lift each other up. We are better. No more excuses and no more pointing the fingers and telling them what they need to do. We have to do it. We have to roll up our sleeves and do what is necessary in order to move things forward. I want to say to the pride committee, thank you for your work and your advocacy and all that you continue to do, despite, i know, the criticism. And the disrespect that you get with the work that you are trying to do in order to support the community. I want to say thank you for hanging in there and doing everything that you can to make pride a success in San Francisco. I want to really appreciate and thank the office of Transgender Initiatives who are continuing to push the envelope. So many of the folks and the advocates out there and the investments that we have made, we know that its making a difference. And i want to congratulate the grand marshal who will represent at the pride parade that may be a virtual or a protest, im not sure what it will be. But in the back end were going to lift up our voices and make sure that were heard. So i want to thank you all so much for everything that you do to really uplift the Lgbtq Community. I will always be there with you, right by your side, push wag we need to push in order to get the job done. Thank you all and happy pride. Thank you so much, mayor breed. Its such an honour. And i know that you had a special proclamation for today mayor london breed yes, see, thats why i love clair. I do have a special proclamation that i want to present with Carolyn Wysinger for all that you continue to do are you able to pull that proclamation up, clair. Yeah, its on the screen. Mayor london breed its on the screen . Great. What were going to do is to declare it pride month in the city and county of San Francisco. Let the festivities and the advocacy begin. Well, thank you so much, mayor breed, on behalf of the s. F. Pride board, i want to thank you for always be a great ally and always being a Good Community partner. And always standing in the gap and ready to work with us when we need your help or clairs help or anyone in the office. And thank you for planning pride month and being an advocate for the community. Mayor london breed thank you. And i cant wait to hear breanna sing. Yes, she has an amazing voice. Now were going to kick it off to the official band of San Francisco, the gay and lesbian freedom band. [instrumental music playing] [instrumental music playing] [instrumental music playing] i left my heart in San Francisco high on a hill it calls to me to be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars the morning fog may chill the air i dont care my love wait there is in San Francisco above the blue and windy sea when i come home to you San Francisco your golden sun will shine for me thank you. So now well go on to our incredible panelists who are doing so much vital work in the community and, mayor breed, i know that you have to go and continue to save us from corona, but i wanted to get in one question with you with our panel today. And to check in with black folks in this pandemic and the demonstrations and Racial Injustices that its important to check in with how were feeling and coping. So, mayor breed, what is one thing that gives you hope and one thing that is giving you joy in this moment . Mayor london breed i think that what is giving me hope is that there are people who are not African Americans who are fighting for change like never before. Now i want to just also Say Something about that. Part of it is that we appreciate folks who are allies, but what we what i want to caution people against is check your privilege. Because its not about you. Its about what African Americans have had to deal with for our entire lives. And so be careful about how you come at black people right now. Because we appreciate the support, we are grateful because we want we are all in this together and we want people to be there right with us. But the reason that it is the way that it is is because this whole thing and whats been happening in San Francisco, while i appreciate the protests, it makes me very uncomfortable when nonblack people try to tell me what to do for black people. Its offensive. So just, look, im mayor and call me out, you know, protest, do whatever, but be very careful about how you talk to me when it comes to the people that ive worked for and lived with my entire life. It gives me hope that so many people are finally woke and paying attention. And care about Racial Injustice like never before. Especially if you are someone who, unfortunately, has experienced it your entire life. This is an opportunity for us to change. But make sure that you remember that its not about you. Its about all of us and its about real change. And so lets get rid of the negativity and lets focus on what were going to be able to change and how were going to make a difference. How were going to come together like never before. Thats what gives me hope. And watching the new generation step up and to be advocates and push and fight because they want a better future. Thats what were doing this for. And we will go through this very, very difficult time. And what my hope is that a blessing will emerge from it. That we will emerge stronger, better, more resilient than ever, and rid our country, our city of this racism, transphobia, of all of these things that have torn us apart for far too long. We will have an opportunity now to rid our country of this once and for all. This is our moment. All right, mayor breed, i am used to having you have one sentence answers. One thing that gives you joy in this moment . Mayor london breed well, like it gives me joy that i see so many people out there really genuinely hurt and upset and willing to help fight. And i hope that they are consistently in this for the long haul. And it gives me hope that people are finally paying attention and there could be change. I mean, think about it. In the past with george floyd, people have said elected officials, even police officers, have said that the murder of george floyd. Do you think that would have happened before . Because thats what it was. And folks are finally calling it out for what it is. And what gives me hope is that people are changing. People are changing. Theyre changing their hearts. They see george floyd in that moment where he cried out for his mother everybody in the black Community Know that mama the way that he called out for his mom. If im in trouble, thats how im going to call out for my grandmother who i called mama. When i was in trouble, mama you call that call. And i know that his mom is not alive, but everyone knows that call. And when you think about it, you start to look at him like your son, like your brother, and you everyone in this country knows that if he was white that would have never happened. And thats the problem. And it gives me hope that people are finally woke on this issue. All right, well, thank you so much, mayor breed, for always being a great advocate. I know that you have to go but we thank you again for joining us here today. Mayor london breed thank you. And thank you everyone for your work and your advocacy. All right. Lets go on to our next panelist, the new executive director of the National Centre for lesbian rights. Im so excited to finally to emeet you. You know black folks, we meet somebody before we meet them because somebody knew them. Hello, and so what is one thing that has give you joy and one thing that is giving you hope . My goodness. I would say that joy and hope. Im not sure if you can hear right now but i was in oakland and right now im listening to car horns. And i think that its beautiful right now that folks every day were hearing that there are folks out here doing something and thats giving me a great deal of hope and a great deal of joy. Im also really proud of looking at what our community is doing because we have an opportunity here to change something. You know, black folks have contributed a great deal to this country. And we havent always been able to benefit from it and we are finding ways to make that happen. And that gives me a lot of pride, a lot of joy, and a lot of hope. Im thrilled to be part of this movement and to be one of us. Thank you. And next we have tuquan harris on, a member of the San Francisco human rights commission. And, tuquan, i love your blazer. What is one thing that is giving you hope and one thing giving you joy . Smelling all of the flowers. Dreaming and taking care of myself. And, you know, revelling in it all, celebrating pride and the legacy of this. And so one thing that is giving me hope right now is the coalitionbuilding work that ive been able to lead and to also to be a part of, with our black Trans Organization in San Francisco and the greater state area, the larger Coalition Work that the Trans Initiative has been leading here in San Francisco. So thats been thats been an excellent opportunity. What has been giving me joy is our youth. Our young folks who are putting so much energy and fierceness out into the world. Our young queer folks of colour and our young trans folks of colour who ive had the pleasure to work with through my fellowship at h. R. C. And i feel like theyre the ones who are giving us hope and inspiration of how to really, you know, to challenge antiblackness and challenge oppression. I think that theres been a lot of intergenerational dialogue and support between the community that has been great. So those are all of the things that are kind of keeping me sane. And hopeful during these challenging times as a black queer many, so thank you man, so thank you. Next we have aria with the transgender cultural district here in San Francisco. Hey, aria, what is something that is giving you hope and something that is giving you joy . Hi, thank you for having me. Um. One thing that is giving me joy at the moment is seeing people support the leadership of black trans women, in particular now. And ive been getting tweeted from different celebrities and influencers. And different media sort of covering our work. And i think that for those of us who have been black before it was popular, l. O. L. [laughter] and have been outspoken about the leadership of black people, it is amazing to see that cultural shift. And i think that it gives me hope that more of our efforts, specifically with queer and trans communities will be three times more effective because now black people will be in it. Okay, thank you so much. And i just like i said wanted to check in with the wellness because i think that right now in this moment that wellness for black folks is so very important. And we mentioned a bit earlier about the nexus and where we are at this moment, right between the pandemic and basically an explosion in i would say feelings in regard to Racial Injustice. I think that one thing that has kind of triggered me a little bit is that im a person that is 41 years old and i have lived through so many different murders and the beating of rodney king. And through so many people who have not received justice, and to see people who are just now waking up. Im thank half that were seeing more allies on the front lines but it triggers you just a little bit. My question is, how does this moment affect you as an Lgbtq Community leader, specifically, you know, that you see people, nonblack folks, who are saying that we shouldnt celebrate pride and this should be about black bodies. First of all, black queer people are real and pride started as a black body and we have seen the white washing essentially of pride. How does it effect you as a black Community Leader . What are the connections or the differences that you see with the violence with black colour and other communities of colour and trans and lgbtq folks . Ill start back with aria. What are the connections that youre seeing and how it affects you as a leader . I think that, if im to be quite honest, pride has not always included us. And i dont mean the institution of pride, i mean, sort of the annual once a year, everybody is coming together and they wear their rainbowcoloured outfits and celebrate and get drunk. And party and celebrate their freedom. That opportunity has not been for black people has not been the greatest. In this country and around the world. So i think for me, as a black trans woman leader, im experiencing more hope than i ever have because people are highlighting our experience and specifically showing how not only do we face murder by the state as all black people do, but we also experience murder from other black people. And we also experience incidents of violence and systemic oppression and institutional violence. So i think for me im carrying that weight. But i feel like at the end of the tunnel that theres a light for us to finally to be liberated as people are actually talking not just about our pronouns, but evolving that conversation. And moving past what is trans and into pronouns and moving to something a bit more inclusive of trans people. Okay. The same question to you, imani. I know that your work is more on the legal battle, but at the same time you all do a lot to support creating policy or upholding policy for lgbtq folks. And, of course, im sure that its a little bit different to be a black leader of such an organization. So what are the connections or the differences that you are seeing in your work . Sure. So we see how at every turn that black people and people of colour, lgbtq people, are disproportionately and negatively impacted. Were seeing that because we are in a Global Pandemic and were seeing that play out there. But i also thought that it was a really important part of the question. Aria did a wonderful job talking about it. You know, we talk about pride and we talk about cancelling pride. Theres ownership there that i think that we really need to reevaluate. Like, pride was started by black trans women. This is a movement that we shouldnt be saying that there isnt, you know, we can cancel pride now to concentrate on Racial Justice when some of us every way that we can celebrate pride is concentrating on Racial Justice. So even that question, even that phrase is showing just how we lack an intersectional analysis in the ways that we celebrate pride. Pride that was started by black and brown trans women. So i think is something that we need to consider when were thinking about how it can be more intersectional. And this is i think that im happy that the conversation is happening because, you know, were going to get better when we get better. And the more people that are part of this conversation, the better. I think that it can be a bit triggering for folks that are always aware of this dynamic. But, i think that now is a time to think about, you know, while this is going on, we are also in the midst of a Global Pandemic. And who are the people that we are treating like essential . And how are we treating them as essential . You know, are we putting them in the line of fire . Or are we taking care of folks . You know, the fact that this is happening during pride month or pride season, there are a lot of ways that we can look at this and to look at how disproportionately the most underrepresented folks are being treated during this time. Were seeing how we know that in a time that were looking at violence by the state that people of colour and queer and trans people are dispro portionately disproportionately likely to be harmed and to be killed, to be murdered. And there wouldnt be any justice for that. So an intersectional analysis is incredibly important during this time. And thinking of having that during pride, i mean, this is the time to do it. This is what pride should be. Okay. And, i have been a human rights commissioner in the city of richmond, and sometimes people go, what do you guys do. What are some of the things that youre seeing that may be different or affecting your work or things that the commission would be proposing or working on in regards to black lgbtq communities in this time . Hello, everyone. First off, i want to start off by saying that if the movement isnt intersectional, i dont want to be part of it. All of our movement and work needs to be intersectional and h. R. C. Has always been a leader and have always been the champion. I dont think that people really Pay Attention to our work. H. R. C. s funds, 1. 5 million to transled organizations, black transled organizations and organizations in San Francisco, we have been doing this work and we have been part of it. So, hello, world, welcome, were here. And weve also been centring and having antiblack conversations. Last year we partnered with the transgender district and other black leaders in the community to talk about antiblackness and antiblack sentiment within the government and we have been doing this work for a really long time. I have only been here for a year but my work speaks for itself. And as covid9, you know started, and h. R. C. In 2014, we actually supported a lot of the black trans and trans work through a Needs Assessment and i was able to get 1. 5 million to those organizations. H. R. C. Have always partnered with the communitybased partners to make sure that their leadership and their work is done. So when covid happened, h. R. C. Made sure that we funded the justice to work with formerly incarcerated trans women of colour to make sure that those folks have housing, stable housing, supportive housing. You know, like covid didnt really change anything. It just made everything worse. All of these things you know, the disproportionate of homelessness with trans and lgbtq folks was already there. I have been centering and having a lot of Community Conversations around how to support for nonprofits, and supporting health and wellness of our Diverse Communities here in San Francisco. And our Advisory Committee still is committed and our commission is still committed to doing this work. So h. R. C. Has been doing a lot of intersectional work and i welcome folks to, you know, to meet with our organization and to partner with us with this work. Because its important to recognize too that im a black man and i have a privilege and i work with government. Were here to partner with folks and not to lead them and were in community and were in partnership. Thats the important thing that i want folks to know. Okay, well, i want combine a couple of these questions and really talk about black lgbtq folks in the concept of a larger demonstrations, these larger protests around violence against black bodies and how sometimes it leads to the erasure or ignoring the death of our black lgbtq folk. One thing that a lot of folk are not talking about is tony mcday who was a black transgender man who was killed in florida, i believe the same week as george floyd. I think may 27th. And you can see a lot of protests around george floyd and mentioning bree ana taylor, but what i have seen on the whole is that people are ignoring tony mcday. You saw the last week there was a video where a group of transgender men attacked dianna dior, who was a black transwoman, in the centre of the george floyd protest. So can we talk a little bit about how sometimes not sometime its theres never enough fervour around black transness as around others and how dangerous it sometimes is for black lgbtq folks in these movements when there is rage. I want to start that with tuquan. What do you see in regards to the way that were treated both in this and when were also standing with our heterosexual brothers and sisters . I would say that just black and queer is like being invisible in the world. In the larger mustment and within movement and in the black community. And not to say that everyone in the black community demonize it is the black community. And so i want to lead with that. And that theres work to be done in the black community. But sometimes, yes, being queer, i am ignored. But i also have a lot of privilege too as being here. And when it comes to folks theres a deafening silence that permeates within our, you know, our black community, throughout the world. Which is, you know, tiring. Its depressing. And its stressful. Its disempowering. And i think that we need to do a better job at the community to uplift and to center our black transand folks in conversations around violence and sanctioned violence and interior communal violence and violence from just those different nuanced things. So i think that theres a lot more work that needs to be done. I think that is really sad that we still have to, you know, to beat the drums. You know, to talk to people about recognizing our livelihoods livelihoods and that we are important people. So i think theres a lot of work to do within the black community and the Lgbtq Community to really center black folks. Im happy that we have been able to lead a lot of that talk here in San Francisco. All right. I know that you post a lot about, you know, violence against black trans women from black folks. I know that our good friend ebony in sacramento, i believe this was a bit after george floyd, and i was talking about the death of nina and how there wasnt as much rage around that. So what are your feelings around the ignoring of black lgbtq folks, specifically black trans. And the violence that we sometimes face within the movement . Yeah. I think that a huge part is when we are murdered as trans people, that people find a way to mentally to justify why we are being murdered or why were being attacked. So even with the situation with this and folks are having a conversation around that video where 12, 15 grown men were beating on this girl, obviously trying to kill her. This is not the reason that she survived is because the cornerstore owner let her and into the back and told everyone to get out, right . I think that whats important to know is that there is a way in which people are very much attracted to marginalizing and justifying violence against trans people as if we are doing something wrong. We have seen this in it correlates part of why black lives matter was birthed and by others is because there was a way in which black men were murdered by the state that it was sanctioned, right, because people were like, oh, well, they had a knife or they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They looked suspicious. They shouldnt have worn a hoodie and they shouldnt have done this or done that and they shouldnt have been jogging at the construction site. Like, theres always a defense. And i think that especially happens with black trans people. Especially when were murdered by men. The idea that were tricking people, that were deceiving, that were lying, that were and all of these things. And that we brought it upon ourselves. And im hoping that, you know, that justice is brought for tony mcday who was murdered by police. And i dont think i think that there is a tendency in our world, our world is still very patriarchal and so when a man is murdered, right, no matter what, its always going to have more sort of significance in the media than if youre a woman or a trans person or gender nonconforming. Were seeing that in our own movement with black lives where, you know, Brianna Taylor was murdered in her own home and so was a black woman murdered in the ambulance, right . Those kind of, unfortunately, those moments and those incidences dont bring us together the same way as when a black man is murdered and thats partly because one of the origins of White Supremacy is patriarchy, right . And so whether were dismantling White Supremacy we have to evaluate ways in which were activated and we give value to different bodies as part of that. And, yeah leave it there. I could go on. [laughter]. No, no worries. So i want to go over to imani and ask, you know, a lot of this as aria mentioned rests, on White Supremacy. And we as a country have not really acknowledged the original sin of slavery. What would it take to finally fully acknowledge that original sin but to make reparations for it. And what does that look like, especially for black and queer people . Its something that we have never seen done before, but i think that a lot of us have put some thought into this. And when i think that when a lot of people hear reparations what they go to is that, oh, this isnt fair, that things are okay. But theyre ignoring the fact that there are repercussions. Slavery happened, but there are things that have followed that. You know, talking with someone yesterday about the g. I. Bill and the ways that some of our policies were instituted. So there have been so racism is built into the fabric of our institutions. And so the people that were able to benefit from slavery have continued to be able to benefit through generations in ways that brake people and people of color just havent been able to do that. And this would make it possible to even the Playing Field for folks. Because when we think about what institutional or institutional racism and how that has made it more difficult for black people to develop generational wealth and how we have seen that, how we have seen that play out in having negative Health Outcomes and not having economic security, and not having a resource allocations in our neighborhood, not being able to own property and then to not have equity in the homes that we own. This is a direct result of the way that our racist institutions have been instituted, but that continue to build on each other. And so reparations dont come out of nowhere. And its important to look at were talking about systems here. Because i think that immediately what people point to are individual black folks that are doing okay. And we have to look at this in a different way. Because when we look at black folks as a group we know that were disproportionately and negatively impacted by any by every system that we have. So reparations would be a way to even the Playing Field. Because right now, you know, its just too its difficult for black people. Its unfair for black people. And we see that playing out. Okay, well, i want to stick with you here with this then, imani. What are the culture and behavioral shifts that you want to see happen this this moment . We have the whole world protesting and plus london and other countries. And what should we look for to start evening the Playing Field . Sure. So, you know, right now this just like what we have right now just isnt working. And thats what we need to move for. You know, theres talk about defunding police. We also see that when any other institution doesnt work that we do put an end to that. And thats something that we need to think about and how were taking care of our communities. Because theres many, many instance where is our communities have been able to take care of ourselves without this institution of policing. And i want to talk about that again. Were not talking about individual police officers. Were talking about an entire system of policing that includes incarceration, that dispro portionately is impacting black and brown folks and lgbtq folks and lowincome folks. All of these things together. So we need to we need to do something so that were leveling the Playing Field for folks. But also just making making access to resources more accessible to the people that need them the most. And that can look a lot of ways. You know, i love seeing that were looking at protesting, what that looks like, and organizing in sort of a larger context that is often able to include more people. But also, you know, seeing from our leaders and seeing what it looked like to have leaders like our mayor show up during a time like this, we havent always had support of our leaders. Were seeing some of that now. So i feel really hopeful thats something that well see something change. But, lastly, i want to also say that we want to see what happens next. We want to make sure that the next thing that happens is actually getting us closer to liberation. You know, its imperative that the results of this is going to end and seeing fewer of black and brown People Killed in the hands of the people sworn to protect us. That well see fewer people being incarcerated and wrapped up in systems that are black and brown folks and lgbtq folks. That this actually has to get us to a better place. We dont want to see the same things that weve always had when we have someone as a liaison and someone speaking on behalf of someone. And we want to see the systems change, not pinpointing one individual person about how their life is better. Well, aria, imani brought it up and we talked about it yesterday, brought it up to defund the police. What are the culture behavioral shifts that you would like to see, policy, behavior shifts . What do you think that is going to be or needed to come out of this moment that were in right now as far as seeing equity and assets change . Sure. So carolyn and i were on the commonwealth and i said that mayor breed does need to work towards defunding police. I got an update last night that she did a tweet that shes working in partnership with supervisor shiman and walton on legislation that will move funding take something funding from the San Francisco Police Department to African American communitybased organizations. And alternative forms of Restorative Justice in our own communities. Which i think that is amazing. I think that its incremental. I think that theres obviously that more can be done. But, yes, i think that is a step in the right direction, especially in San Francisco. I think that in context of movement, what can be done around the world, obviously, supporting black transled efforts in the community. You know, were celebrating pride and we make this reference quite often but i want to make it very plain. The reason why many of you tuning in have the liberty and freedom that you do is because of the labor of black trans people and black queer people. And it was black queer and trans people who led the riots at stonewall and led the riots in l. A. , and we have always been a part of the fabric for the movement for black lives long before there was a term for it. Because we are our experiences of being black and trans or queer and woman or male compounded, right . So thats how we see the world. And i think that oftentimes in the Queer Community that we glamorize rioting. And then we are heavily critical when black folks are rioting right now. The reality is that a riot is a riot and riots have been a huge reason why we are able to celebrate pride. And i think that should be acknowledged. And i think for those celebrating pride Going Forward that we have to center black, queer and trans people until we are no longer the most impacted. And stop erasing us. This is also something that has been very consistent. We are consistently erased from our labor, from our place and space in these rooms. And we are often not allowed to be these spaces even today. And we have to stop it. We have to move past this. Were not playing the oppression olympics. When we say that black lives matter and we say, you know, elevate the voices of black trans women, if you elevate the most impacted people then everyone will benefit. Its not a contest. So when i met with resistance from other people of color who are not black, it is it is inhibiting the work that we can be doing and coalition with each other. Thats my piece. Former San Francisco pride board member says that you go for black people you go for everybody. When you solve it for black and queer and trans people, you solve it for everybody. Tuquan, what are the key policy shifts that we would need to see coming out of this moment to increase equity and access . Yeah, i just want to lean into what is going on in San Francisco. I think that my director cheryl davis and walton have been doing a lot of Community Roundtable work, specifically for the bayview community, for sunnydale and for the Tenderloin Community and for philmore and i want to center a lot of the work, typically for black and overpoliced communities historically. I know that walton is working on a platform around Police Misconduct and hiring of police folk. I think that there needs to be work also around bias 311 calls. Those have been, you know, that has been a huge issue within the bay area. In particular i know that barbecue becky and other occurrences throughout the country that we need to speak to. And defunding police, of course. And i think that there needs to be a radical reenvisioning of what black policing is going to look like for the community and how to give sovereignty and autonomy to those communities to police themselves. Not even police themselves, but to be safe and to be well and, you know, together in community. I think that those are key platforms. And then also like for the general movement, i think that supporting and, you know, funding black lives matter and blackled organizations and efforts that are against antiblackness and antiracism and against overpolicing and police abuse and police brutality. I think that there needs to be a lot of training and education done for a lot of our staff and folks living and working in the city and county of San Francisco. I want to thank you all for joining us on this very important panel. We wanted to make sure that we were hearing the voice of black lgbtq folks. I want to make sure that in this moment that black lgbtq folks are seeing and are being heard and its our job to do that. Because we dont always get it in these spaces. So thank you tuquan and aria and imani, we will continue to do our best to amplify the organizations. So go to www. Sfpride. Org and you can donate, and for all of you nonblack and white folk i have a resource list of antiracist books and all of the things to help to break down this White Supremacy and antiblack racism within our community and within the larger community. So once again, thank you to all of you. Thank you. Happy pride happy pride yeah, thank you so much, carolyn, that was such an incredible panel and thank you all so much for joining us. As you mentioned, i really think that it is important, you know, as a white person that we take accountability that we have our own conversations with the community and other white allies to really do the work. And as you said to really look at how were funding and supporting blackled organizations. So, please check out the transgender website as well as the organizations organizationsn mentioned. Now its my honor to so were also going to be doing this really special recognition of our Health Care Workers who have been doing such incredible work on the front lines to keep our Community Safe during covid. We know that as we move through this new time, you know, it might feel that we could just go out and go back to usual, but we need to make sure that were continuing to wear our masks and to be mindful, especially for those Health Care Workers that are doing the work. So now its my pleasure to introduce the gay mens chorus. Thank you. [instrumental music playing] you with the sad eyes dont be discouraged oh, i realize its hard to take courage in a world full of people you can lose sight of it all and the darkness inside you can make you feel so small you can be the backlash of somebodys lack of love but i wonder what could happen but i see your true colors shining through i see your true colors and thats why i love you dont be afraid to let them show i want to see your true colors i want to see you i want to see you i want to see you be brave show me your smile dont be unhappy cant remember when i last saw you laughing if this world makes you crazy and youve taken all you can bear you call me up because you know ill be there ill be there say what you want to say and let the world fall out honestly i want to see you be brave say what you want to say and let the words fall out honestly i want to see you be brave dont be afraid to let them show your true colors your true colors your true colors youre beautiful and in your history of silence i cant remember i saw you laugh if the world can be anything your true colors shining through i see your true colors and thats why i love you so dont be afraid to let them show your true colors the colors are beautiful i want to see you i want to see you i want to see you be brave i just want to see you oh, i want to see you dont be afraid welcome back. Thank you so much. And now its our honor to welcome senator scott wiener to our special. Welcome, scott. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me and thanks for everyone who has made this virtual pride celebration a reality. And we have a saying in the jewish faith next year in jerusalem and i will send out next year in city hall because well get past this pandemic and well be able to celebrate pride together. I look forward to that. But in a way what we have learned from the new temporary Digital World that were living in is that even though were more distant in a lot of ways that it has allowed so many more people to participate. People who physically arent going to go to an event or whatever, can now still participate. So its an interesting dynamic where im hoping that as we come out of this that we have even more people engaged in our community and who will stay engaged, even though well be back in the physical plain. So i saying happy pride now is a little bit muted. This year has not been the happiest of years given the pandemic and the health and economic catastrophe that its created. And the disproportionate impact on people in communities of color. And then, of course, the mass mobilization, and the protests that are so important in responding to the violence. But beyond police violence, the broken criminal Justice System or the racist criminal Justice System. So these are not happy times. But they are going to be productive times. Because we will come out of this stronger. What were seeing in our community now and in the world is a spotlight, a very bright spotlight, on inequities and injustices that have been with us for a very, very long time. Health inequities and Health Disparities are not new. Denial of access to health care is not new. African American People going to the hospital and being treated less seriously in some instances than white people, thats not new. Its not new that people are being that particularly our black community is being mistreated and killed by the police. Its not new that we have mass incarceration that is tearing apart communities. Not all of these things are new. But the pandemic and the George Floyd Murder have allowed massive spotlights to be cast on these longstanding inequities and as we protest and organize, what we need to make sure is that as we come out of this difficult period, that we come out as a Better Society because we have the power to do that. Thats really what pride is about this year. Yes, weve come together and celebrate the progress that we have made as an Lgbtq Community. But understanding that so many are being left behind. And remembering and weve all been, you know, many of us have been guilty of this. You know, we celebrate every year on pride but we dont emphasize enough that pride grew from protests and riots, from stonewall and the pride is the end of the protest. Were getting back to our roots and thats important. Well continue our work in the legislature. We have passed some Aggressive Police reform measures and were going to continue in that direction. We are working hard to pass this year the legislation to ensure that trans people who are incarcerated can be held according to their gender identity and not forcibly held according to their birth gender which can be so dangerous, particularly for many transwomen. Well make sure that queer people dont get shoved on the sex offender registry for having consensual sex, which is happening in california today. And were going to continue our work to reduce mass and mass incarceration by shorting sentencing and by having more alternatives to incarceration and by focusing on root causes Like Mental Health and addiction. So we have a lot of work to do in the community, here in San Francisco, and a lot of work in sacramento. Its such an honor to represent this community and the california state senate. Thank you for that honor. I take it seriously. And it is such a public trust that i feel every minute of every day. And i look forward to the work ahead and well make some change. Happy pride, everyone. Thank you so much, scott. Were so glad that you could join us. In quick closing, if you could share what gives you hope, hope this season moving forward with what weve all been moving forward through . Great well, thank you all so much. And now were moving forward in our program. Carolyn, anything that you want to add just in terms of kind of where were at in this moment, and how youre planning how pride is planning to be different this year . I thank where we are in this moment is that partially what were doing right now is to amplify our black Lgbtq Community. And, you know, theres some things that were trying to work on at San Francisco pride and just how we can be a part of pushing forward for this change. So i encourage everyone to continue to watch our social media and watch our website and were giving every bit of information that we have as far as what were doing as an organization and well share with you as quickly as we can so you can join in and work with us in this. Great. And well, in speaking of pride and Lgbtq Community, we have our only out gay supervisor, supervisor Raphael Mandelman with us, representing district 8. Welcome, supervisor. Hi, clair, hi, carolyn. Let me go get my rainbow mask too. Right. I remind everyone as youre out this weekend to wear your masks, everybody. Yes, i ordered mine and its still being delivered, its a rainbow mask for pride. But a great tip. So we were hoping that you could share, you know, what are you hoping, or what are your hopes for how people celebrate or recognize pride this year . And what are the work that youre doing to support the communities during this really difficult time . Well, i do think that marching for justice is a great way to celebrate pride. And i wanted everyone to wear their masks and to stay six feet apart. But doing all of those things the best way to celebrate pride is to honor the spirit of all of those who have gone before us and to try to make this a perfect union. This is a very bittersweet pride. The senator talked about we are months into a pandemic that is claiming the lives of more than 100,000 americans. We have a disproportionately people of color, you know, i think that weve seen all of the inequities and the problems that have been lingering in our Society Coming to the fore through that pandemic. And then most recently, you know, the murder of george floyd has reminded us of the countless murders of so many people of color over centuries that continues unabated to this day. So its hard to be super happy with all of that. But but im being told that i need to wrap up. But i do think that it is sweet that theres been a collective rising up of americans of all orientations and all genders across this country, rising up. Theres an election this year. We can make change. We can make a difference. We have to give folks hope. The way to give folks hope is for us all to come together and to take back our country and to be in a more just place. Well have a happy pride next year if we do the work now. Thank you so much, supervisor. Were so glad that you could join us and we look forward to the work that youll continue to do for our city. So, thank you so much. Now its my honor to introduce our next panel really focused on the direct response to lgbtq covid relief. And this work has been led through the s. F. Lgbtq coalition, working to provide food, rental subsidies and tons of additional resources. So please go to bayarealgbtcovidrelief. Com to learn more and to get access to community resources. Now ill kick it over to michelle meow, and the michelle meow show and the Commonwealth Club for our great panel to talk about some of the work that local communities are doing to give back. Over to you, michelle. The michelle meow show here for the Commonwealth Club. And its az for the lgbtq, and everyone in between. Im also a member of the board of governors for the Commonwealth Club of california. Our program tonight is a special conversation around the San Francisco bay area covid19 relief fund in which a coalition of leaders and nonprofit organizations have come together to provide relief for our most vulnerable and marginalized communities. And so im proud to introduce to you some incredible people who are part of our community such as clair farley with the office of Transgender Initiatives, and angelina with the bay area, and nicole santa maria, and jeff beck. Welcome, everyone, to the program. Your thoughts on the question as being a leader with the San Francisco bay area, and making sure that all voices, you know, come together for this, all folks are represented. Yes, thank you, again, for having us, michelle. I think that it only intensified and magnified the marginalization that happens. And particularly to people of color and particularly to trans. And so the Silver Lining is that it brought us together in a way, in a boundless world of zoom or whatever, for us to come together. So the coalition is from that mission that we can come together and do this together. And to center our efforts around those that are left within the margins and to be led by these who are usually on the margins. So thats how the coalition is able to stay effective and successful. Since covid as a whole has created a lot more disparity for the Lgbtq Community at large, and, you know, theres many instances where from an operation standpoint, whether its free food or Fund Allocation that the Lgbtq Community has been a namesake and has been getting bits and pieces. And our funding has been cut and asked to go to general resources, which could be a part of our indiscernible and they are asked to go to a particular center that supports lgbtq folks. But that doesnt mean that transfolks will feel comfortable and can access those. The same with trans latin x. So it seems seems that the dimec ally element is at play and its also brought us together, whether its the coalition or the Artist Coalition or the various things that happen. And were coming together to show the greater world that this is one community that we have. Anyone from the panel who would like to add to that . Jack . From our perspectives weve really had a front row seat to seeing how people in the Queer Community have really stepped up to meet this challenge. And it has been so inspiring to see people coming from all parts of the Queer Community to really step up and to support those who are most vulnerable. And we have seen people not only volunteering, but, you know, Financial Support was really slow moving at the beginning. So a lot of people who were volunteering to deliver food and to deliver medicine, they also stepped up to pay for those resources themselves out of their own pockets. And so its really been inspiring to see the Queer Community step up again after a long history of stepping up to create nonprofits to care for our most vulnerable when were hit in an epidemic. Or, you know, hit through systemic injustice. So its been really been inspiring to see that happen with covid19 as well. Nicole and aquira, we would like to hear from you on how covid has impacted our communities and views. Well start with nicole. Well, im going to recall what has been said. But one of the things that i really believe that is very important to mention is that we are trying to focus in not ordering our community. Because it is very important to perceive in being with our feet on the ground. That were all for that community. That we are part of the community that we are serving. So in that sense the way that for example, the latina x members that i belong and now that i have the opportunity to serve in this position they am now that it is also the story, my own story as well, are flecting reflecting or mirroring the Life Experience of my older trans folks and the intersex community. So on the community right now in this process of covid19 has been very challenging for us. So thats a very huge impact because there are many different ways that people can not access their resources that we are trying to serve. So, for example, and also it is for me covid19, one of the things that the impact has brought to us is that its denounced of our marginalization and this on the situations on underserved communities. And its also an allowance on how we can come together and how we can position ourselves in bringing as you mentioned before, the voices of us, you know. For me right now we are. And so in that sense i would like to highlight these new opportunities and this of covid19. Because were seeing people who are not Latina Community and who are not having access to, for example, the funds to rent, for example. Because they dont have documents. And many of our grants and many of our funds are very restricted in, for example, for not everybody in our community. Especially undocumented latina x community, it is having that paper to feel as united. So continue the challenge of being in all of these intersection uponnallities and all of the identities that we embrace as a community, it is important for me to highlight and to mention that this is a challenge that since stonewall that we have continued to see where black and latina trans women were leading these, you know, the efforts, this community effort, and were still in the margins and not navigating these challenges and these issues. So, yeah, it has been it has been based in other voices but those other voices, we are the mirror of them. So we are those voices. So we are trying to uplift it, you know, to come together really and to try to create a better response of all of the challenges that life can bring us. That have brought us in this. Just to i just think that the panel from the perspective and as well as bringing the coalition together. And for me its covid19 is just a reset button. Often times, often in research, we prioritize the most the least likely marginalized population first. And at this point, like, we have trans leadership and trans women that are leading and our trans women are leading and were more visible right now. I believe this is like a call to action for us to have the capacity and to have the skillsets and to have the connections with the community that is a part of the community to step up. And advocate for our community. You know, ive been hearing this thing about covid19 is like the new h. I. V. A lot of h. I. V. Services are being are has been tailored to include the onset of covid19. And subsequent issues that we are facing and which continues to marginalize us in our research programs. So at this point its like this is an opportunity that we have to step up and to be these leaders and to advocate for our community. And, you know, now we dont have to have a framework that was adapted from some other community that we can see that is not a representation of us. Yes, thank you, thank you so much for that. And these are the types of conversations and points that we could bring up, right, that are specific to our community. And to have San Francisco and that sometimes leaders can do a little more and we have to for our communities. Yeah, i know that is a really great point. And really speaks to what the panel has been sharing. You know, in San Francisco we have that more than any other city and more trans and lgbtq programs and were meeting the efforts in equality. But we always have more work to do. And, you know, this coalition really came about because we saw that gap. You know, we saw our lgbtq seniors not be heard, we saw many folks on the fringe that werent actively Getting Services and benefits. And so we really looked at how can we have a regional approach, both in terms of advocacy on the state level because most of the programs and the organizations are not funded outside of the city dollars or these general fund grants. So they dont have access to foundations or other funding that so many nonprofits are relying on. So we really looked at calling on the governor to support housing and employment. And the efforts. So when we think about how to keep people sheltered and in place when theyre living in an s. R. O. And dont have access to a place to refrigerate their food or theyre evicted and living on the streets, all of these things were already happening. You know, we know that trans folks are three times more likely than the general population to be unemployed and six times for trans women of color and 10 times more likely to be homeless in San Francisco. So these were all of the efforts that we were working to fight. Thats what happened with the last recession. I was in the middle of the economic work and i saw the impact of that recession. And so i think that what everyone has shared is that this is a reality that folks experience every day. We know that its going to just double. And so using our voices to lift up, that we have to have equity in the response, i think that it is so key because a onesizefitsall doesnt work for everyone. And so thats where these innovative approaches from, you know, our partnership with open house and monanique, to the efforts to make sure that we get groceries delivered by volunteers, to the work of making sure that we get housing subsidies to trans folks that are potentially going to be evicted, to the efforts around, okay, this needs to be a regional approach. We need to look at what are we doing as the bay area, and not just relying on what can San Francisco do. And then, you know, obviously, to nicoles work with ella to say, okay, how can all of these other programs, you know, the potential federal funds, those are not flowing in the community. So how are we making sure that when money comes in, whether its through our coalition or through other efforts, how are we centering with the color and latin x folks to make sure that those resource goes where theyre needed. Panel, please jump in, and lets talk about that. I mean, i think that its so important for people to understand that its not just another relief fund, you know, that is put out there because there are so many relief funds. But, you know, every single opportunity where youre supporting a member of your community, the lgbtqi community, especially with a fund like this. So anyone can jump in. Remi . Even if there is something to be recognized about the bountiful of the encourage and movement and organizing that kind of springs from the San Francisco world and into the rest of the world. But one of the reasons that we have kind of jumped into this is because we are outside of that. We are based in oakland. And the perception is that the bay area is covered by San Francisco. But one of my primary reasons to spearhead this is to get that inspiration from San Francisco. And to kind of have other city agencies support us as a community and not prioritize us. If not, at least tag us to get the funds and the resources that have traditionally been devoid of any of that. So i think that is to be recognized. And the other aspect of what we are going to need is a need for such a scale is because as nicole was touching on it, we have the trans and Queer Community, and the majority of the community is okay. Theyve been able to hang on to their jobs. Im not generalizing, but im saying that the need that we saw was in the greater community. So we march towards the greater good for the greater number of people. And the data as we look and i keep using the word data but i shouldnt generalize it that way, but we have seen all of the submissions and the comments, we have seen how Difficult People have been at getting through and still saying resilient and saying that i lost my job but still taking care of our kids. And the coalition came together to recognize not only the economic reality but the emotional priority to say and to show that youre not alone and that god knows that were all so isolated. This takes it to a different level. But this coalition had the spirit to say youre not isolated, here we are working together and trying to get what we can and balancing the reality of the world where everybody is trying to go for the same pot of gold to say actually this is what weve got and this is what well share. You know, and we might not fill our stomachs, but at least we can share and have a few morsels. I want to chime on that, and especially with the conversation we have talked. And just like like this year and like last year we Just Launched our trans home and when i hear rumors or things that people are thinking about deficits and, you know, trying to cut back stuff and i wonder if this is something in the deficit. And just judging from the fact that we are already marginalized and this is like a big victory for us. So my thing is that im worried about those things as well as that because of covid and the fact that everyone comes along on different parts of their journey, and like receiving Social Security benefits or rather is there, like, depending on the organizations to open and to stay open so they can actually get a 50 stipend or a 50 Gift Certificate to go get groceries and things. These are things that i worry about, as well as growing. We talk a lot about expansion, but to me its just like growth and expansion are two different things. Are we growing organically as a community . Are we coming together and we have resources and are we sharing these resources . And it just at this point it makes me wonder like do we have to, like, were fighting to just to maintain what we already have. And theres not a lot of growth. And i echo the words of jack in the sense of how the revenues, how challenging it is already with the pandemic impacting our organization specifically. And the only translatin X Organization in San Francisco and the bay area in general is really huge. You know, especially because this is the first time that a trans person it is leading this organization. It is in my case it is the first time experience of being on a committee. Ive a therapist so i have been doing therapist my entire professional life. So coming here to this space that had already challenges in, for example, in the funds related and now how that is impacting our organization that it actually is still under fiscal sponsorships, you know. And so because we dont have the amount that we need to have in order to be independent. So our organization, it is still under a fiscal responsive. And we are also struggling to continue to see how were going to continue to provide the services that we have been doing for 26 years. And they have already lost funds when it was not a project. So thats very difficult to sustain. And one of the other things that i have been noticing and also worries me in this situation is that, yeah, it is it is important to recognize the work that we have that we are doing and we have been doing. But not romanticize our resiliency in this pandemic. Because the organizations do the work based on the fwrants and the funds that we get. So it is important to think and thats why im saying that this pandemic is opportunities for some needs that we need to talk and put on the table. So we have to talk about undocumented people, people who are in prisons, people who are sex workers that it is very challenging if the organization, for example, like the ones that we are serving. People who are really invisible. But if we lost funds and we have this already happening. So im thinking how its going to be with this new challenge. The thing that they joined this coalition is because were unaware of our capacities. I think that joining capacities, it is also a thing that is actually giving resources and its better with what we can do in this moment that is a global emergency. But also it is coming to the reality of how our organization, how our organizations have been functioning until today. And how they can preserve after this pandemic with the grants or the funds cut, etc. So i dream that after covid that we can actually not only thrive but flourish after this. You know, because we with transexual women and intersex, it is the Asylum Seeker because i dont even have that status as other people, so it is not only coming to, oh, yeah, were a city and community. Yes, we are. But we need to have support and we need to come together as a community and we need to also uplift our voices to the city for all of the people who are given the funds. And this is for covid relief, but what happens with the organizations. So what happened with the people who are doing the work for the community. Who is going to do the job or the work or serve our communities if the programs are closing or they just get unfunded, you know. So those are the questions that im having. And thats something that covid brought to me. Yeah, yeah. I mean, talk about yeah, i mean, how we did things before and how well do things differently now during this pandemic. The coalition strategy, that was something that i thought that was such a great idea. I mean, how else are we going to be able to serve as many people as possible in our community . And, you know, especially folks who really need it. And we have been talking for so long in the movement on how we need to do a sincere reprioritization of the voices of who we serve in our community. So maybe remi if you want to talk about the coalition itself . I think that the coalition was aimed to serve everybody in the Lgbtq Community. We have different, you know, focuses, with the San Francisco bay area and the rest of the bay area. And california and not the bay area, and then we said not california, america. And not america, the world. And we want to tell everybody. And, you know, firstly my wish is that this can show and, you know, be a new effort to leading and organizing with such amazing leaders. I would say that this should give us a good sense of how we can Work Together and so the sustainability and the life of this coalition needs to continue. And i fully see it continuing. Hopefully we dont have to call it a covid coalition, but for the Lgbtq Community that continues. And so we have always operated like that and always kind of laid down our Guiding Principles where even within our community that we have to emerge beyond this, and we all recognize that. That when we are all fighting in our little pigeonholes that its impossible to kind of put everybody together and say, okay, in the great grander world these are the folks that need help. And it shouldnt matter where those funds coming from or which organization theyre affiliated or considered the Home Communities of. So i think we start with that approach. And, obviously, theres the whole feasability aspect of getting the funds and raising those funds. And, again, each organization that as nicole said is also trying to sustain and operate besides trying to support the community, right . So we kind of juxtapose juxtapod of came up with kind of a framework to say that we will still prioritize trans folks and perhaps kind of take our prioritization of what funds are available. And so as we started seeing the submissions, every submission is equally important and thats the way that weve looked at it. We received over 270 submissions in total, not including all of the streams of input that jack put out and monomi and many folks created. And we kind of decided to spread the wealth rather than not. And to support in different rounds and ways. But we are starting with round one which is focusing on trans folk. And theres no criteria were not looking to verify what their income status is and such. We have a little bit of a stipulation given that most of the funds are coming from the city put forth to kind of verify location and such. But as such we dont want to go down that path where its accessibility and awareness, which is is one of our other Guiding Principles that isnt lost. And then another aspect is the individual interests. We have to i mean, we have to understand that, again, we are i dont want to say that were in this in San Francisco, but there are folks who are isolated, even in the bay. And there are folks that dont have any affiliation with any organization given their own trans journeys or given their, you know, their need to be whoever they are and however they need to be. So our focus has also been individual. I can echo what was said. I think this coalition approach has been incredible and its created a lot of opportunities that wouldnt have been possible otherwise. Theres more than 20 organizations that are a part of this coalition. And each of them has deep roots in the community. It has a wage interface with folks who are most vulnerable and to channel those needs to the coalition. Then we can pool our resources and share our expertise and resources to make sure that people get what they need through the coalition. So thats really been an incredible thing to be a part of. Regarding the fundraising, yeah, weve you know, as remi mentioned, theres been incredible support from the city of San Francisco, but those are not the only folks that were getting requests from. So weve been doing our best to raise additional funds so that we can support folks in the east bay and other folks outside of San Francisco. And weve been doing that in a couple of ways. One, we have been reaching out to our Corporate Partners. You know, a lot of the nonprofits and in the coalition they have worked with Different Companies at different times to see if theyre able to provide any support. And we have gotten some support from Different Companies and corporate e. R. G. Groups which has been interesting. A lot of companies have been hit hard by this too. You know, companies that are either in hiring freezing or layoffs and the traditional funds they have available to support nonprofits are locked up. So thats its own challenge. But we also created a covid19 registry for lgbtq folks that are submitting needs through the needs form for the coalition. And so were pulling out individual items that people need. And putting them into a registry, almost like a wedding registry. So if someone needs hormone replacement therapy or clean needles or they need shoes or a feeding tube, you know, people can go to the registry and see how much that costs and make a donation to the registry and we can support that as well. Thats been a really effective way to engage folks who want to support this cause. Weve actually had all of the hormone replacement therapy that has been requested has been funded, which is so nice to be able to say. I want to add to that, i love i love the registry. And i cant wait to end the program. I cant believe that im saying that. But just because i want to go and support the fund. I think that you talk about making sure that some of the direct services and supports stay alive. What a great idea. Yeah, i just wanted to add and echo jack with what you have shared that as we come into pride, you know, really join a lot of other voices that are calling on organizations and corporate organizations specifically to spend thousands of dollars or more into the community and to look at how youre giving back to the lgbtq organizations and the covid relief efforts. Because we know that people are giving big amounts for the website. We have been fortunate enough in San Francisco to have the fund to support 75,000 in food relief. And remi and jack have raised an additional 15,000 to 20,000. And aquira is supporting housing relief. So were doing the work. But if you look at the millions and millions of dollars going to other relief efforts we really need people to step up. Great point. Great point. And the website is bayarealgbtqcovidrelief. Com and our distribution partners. And as were winding down on time and its a question for all of you, and that is, you know, i heard a couple of you say in this and its not just about, you know, this pandemic or just about this specific time, but this could be an absolute reset for us in, you know, in our future and ensuring that we create sustainable models to support every one of us in the Lgbtq Community. So i would love to hear your final thoughts on as we, you know, look to the future of whatever that might be, the lgbtqi future. And we look at our community as a whole on how we all get through, you know, this pandemic. But, like, what do you envision, right . Like we are able to help each other and were all able to pitch in and help each other to be healthy. But what do you envision for a feature for the Lgbtq Community once this is over . And we may put that in air quotes because i think that this whole thing will change our lives forever. I will start. Go ahead, aquira. Okay, so, like, in previous, like, previous pandemics and epidemics and it just seems like lgbtqi population has been ostracized in a way that and also in some ways have like demonized us. So im just wondering, like, we talk about how like, the institutions and like our government, our providers, often they create programs or create like policies that is pushing us further into those margins. Im wondering if us having since we have this visibility, if we could start with the framework of looking at the most marginalized populations first and building out from there. Thats my own thing and im just really curious and see who will step up and do it. And, of course, we are the ones that are leading and stepping up and doing this work. But in terms of, like, certain types of city departments or Government Departments that have, you know, us in there as well as or as well as they are allies, how are they advocating for us . And, you know, and then also what is the impact of their voices to these people that are saying that they want to include us . I love that. I have always wanted to say, well, how about we start with not marginalizing anyone. And how about in the next pandemic that all of us have a cushion or a safety or a home or nicole . Im going to bring in equity. I think that it is very important to consider or to have that fresh in our minds. But more than in our minds and our hearts, you know, where the conscience comes from. In the general population and in the general community, you know, it is not only considered lgbtqi and community and just for the lgbtqi communities, its the general population that also i would like to see awaken, you know. People more aware and more compassion. And to be able to start healing journeys in our communities. Because it is for me important to be aware that one of the things that have been happening as the covid and the pandemic and even way before covid, its the need of our communities to heal from the eternal balance against us, against our communities. So how this pandemic can bring up the humanity in all of us and to see the responses that we can come together and to see this common horizon where as akita was saying, you know, that the most marginalized communities can come we all together can lift that mask and lift that mask up in order to prevent the harm and prevent all of these issues that are included and are more visible with this pandemic and this covid. So its a huge journey and it is a huge challenge. But i think that we are the people who are here and many people who are going to see this show are sharing this this horizon and are sharing this dream that we can come to more equity in society where all lives are intuitive. Where all worlds can fit in one world and we can come together not to have, like, you know, an internal crisis. Because in our communities we are always in a crisis. So how we can change that reality. But to put us in major risks and outside of the view of everybody. Because we are always continuing overriding people and ordering people. Oh, yeah, im not there and even in our own community, you know, this is an opportunity to check out our own selves to see the things that we need to change as well in us. But also as a community. This pandemic has changed already everything. So we also need to change within to make the possibility that also the Broader Community can also start a collective change. Thank you, nicole. Really, you have the final word and the final thoughts. Thank you all for being here. I do want to make sure that we recognize and to thank horizon foundation, San Francisco foundation and the prism foundation, formerly the gap foundation, for supporting us and for granting us the funds that we could directly give back to the community. And individuals who can fund and the corporate sponsors. And i think that its important to bring that up because i think to really start looking at nonprofit world in a more practical way, ultimately it comes down to being able to pay the bills, to have a roof over your head and to be able to have food to eat. So, yes, we have struggled for many, many years and decades. But this really brings out that we have to operationalize how we survive when we are marginalized. Of course we dont want to be marginalized. I think to jacks point, the world is in grief, everybody is going through that. So my sense with hope and what i have seen is that people in general are operating from a sense of wakefulness and from fatigue. And im seeing that in the community where someone who cannot they are trying to find a place to stay in a hotel and theyre saying, hey, i brought another bed in this room, does anybody else want it . And its the level of passion and care that we will see in this world, especially in our Lgbtq Community. We need 90,000 more to support everybodys need and we initially had started with a wish of giving at least 500 to everybody who reached out. At this time we have to cap to 20. But i hope 2000. 200. We need folks like clair in city agencies to say guess what im at the table and i dont need somebody to talk about me and i need the funds. 75,000 that clair secured took us to the next level to really say to the community, yes, we are here to support you. And then the aspect around that is resiliency and sustainability and then Truly Holding forward for accountability. Whether thats folks in the Lgbtq Community, white folks with black, brown, transblaze bodies. Or whether its the greater world with the Lgbtq Community, this is the time for folks to emerge and show, and its not necessarily on call, complementary, but its almost required to share the wealth that you have. And finally i would say this as an immigrant and a stranger from a different world and who just became an american, i believe in individualism that this country is based on. And every individual has the right to live the way they want to. With or without covid. And each one of our responsibilities to do that. And i sincerely hope that us being at home and loving ourselves and really have a selfdetermination that well support other individuals and to support. The first way is to donate to our gofundme which is posted. Thank you so much. So lets come together and lets help to raise the 90,000 plus plus, plus, plus, on top of the 90,000 that the bay area lgbtq covid relief dot com. And we want to be there definitely. Thank you so much, michelle and the incredible panel. We look forward to the work with the staff and the incredible coalition. Now its my honor to welcome again the gay mens chorus. [instrumental music] do you hear the message wherever you go from every woman and every man were the generation we cant afford to wait this started yesterday and were already late we have been looking for a place to sing prayer for a melody we have been looking for the world to say you feel the same and go out and say were out there come along with me youre out there im dying to believe that youre out there stand up and take a bow if youre out there broken promises no more cause for war peace and its truly what pride is for we can destroy hunger and we can conquer hate now we can join hands to say i was looking for a song to sing in search for a leader but the leader was me we were looking for the world to change we cant be heroes if youre out there sing along with me if youre out there if youre out there im trying to believe that youre out there stand up and say it loud if youre out there et . Youre out there strong if you believe that we can change the world believe again start to sing we dont have to pay for destiny we should be the change that we want to see if youre out thereet . If youre out there if youre out there and you are there now dream if youre out there if youre out there to believe that youre out there if youre out there now now. Now if youre out there if youre out there thank you so much for joining us for our special pride month kickoff, pride at home. And also thanks to our co history host and our crew and our panelists and performers and mayor breed for joining us. As a reminder we encourage you to continue to take care of yourself and each other. Please donate and take a stand against violence against black and brown women and black transwomen. We have a great list at www. Sfpride. Org that you can donate to. And also we want to remind everybody to stay healthy and safe and remember to wear your mask. And also remember to check out some of the Additional Community events that we have, that theyre working with big projects so make sure to follow them. And to stay informed. And check out the ourtowns. F. Expo in august 2020. And i want to take this opportunity, clair, were here normally at city hall and bring out the whole pride board so everyone can see and give them love. But since theyre not here i want to shout out our board. Our Vice President jake little and our secretary lynn sam, and our treasurer, suzanne ford, and ruth bodet, and nikki comma and elizabeth, and kirby lynch and manual perez and annie. Thank you so much as a board for doing all of the work for this entire year. We also want to make sure that you are supporting some of the amazing events going on prior to pride. Check out the so lovely on facebook. And support the amazing events at the funds with this quarantine dance this weekend. Visit the website to learn more. And i left off fred. Fred is going to kill me. Thank you to our executive director fred, who is as we speak is watching and working so hard to put together an amazing virtual pride event. Thank you, thank you, thank you, fred lopez. Thank you all so much. Take care and show your pride. So great to host with you, carolyn. Great to host with you. Happy pride. Thank you all. Bye. [ ] i just dont know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. It is an experience that you cant have anywhere else in San Francisco. [ ] [ ] district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. We have four neighborhoods that i represent. St. Marys park has a completely unique architecture. Very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in San Francisco. The Bernal Heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of San Francisco. There is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. It is as if you are swinging over the entire city. There are two unique aspects. It is considered the fourth chinatown in San Francisco. Sixty of the residents are of chinese ancestry. The second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the garden district. There is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. Not only for San Francisco but for the region. And of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the citys second biggest park after golden gate. Many people dont know the neighborhood in the first place if they havent been there. We call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. Every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. Where we are right now is the Mission District. The Mission District is a very special part of our city. You smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. They have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. And then you walk further down and you have sunrise cafe. It is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. Twentyfourth street is the birthplace of the movement. We have over 620 murals. It is the largest outdoor Public Gallery in the country and possibly the world. You can find so much Political Engagement park next to so much incredible art. Its another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [ ] it was formed in 2014. We had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. We worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. Most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. So the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. In the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the Mission District have been displaced from their community. We all know that the rising cost of living in San Francisco has led to many people being displaced. Lower and middle income all over the city. Because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. Its a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. There is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. There are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesnt completely erase the communities. We try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more Equitable Development in the area. You need to meet with and gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. The people on the businesses that came before you. You need to dialogue and show respect. And then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [ ] i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. So we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and workingclass. Back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. This is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. We created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. That is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. We have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [ ] todays special guest is claudia dume. Hi. Today, my guest is claudia gorham. Shes the deputy managing director of the real estate dri division at the city and county of San Francisco, and shes my special guest. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. I know that your department is the department for managing and renting properties, and also cleaning for the city. How has your department been preparing for the crisis . Well, because our citizens are sheltering in place and our buildings are closed to the general public, a substantial amount of city staff and city departments are still open and operating and doing city businesses. So we still have to do the cleaning and engineering on the portfolio and things that need to be service. And the other thing is all our workers are Disaster Service workers, so we have been providing the Emergency Operations center with various staffing needs such as drivers of trucks and accounting staff to assist them in this crisis. Have you obtained Additional Space for the city to use during this crisis . Yes. The crisis has actually required numerous transactions, and so we help basically the department of Public Health, the department of Human Services, and the department of homelessness determine where they can put the services that they need. So, for example, if they need a testing site or if they need a building a vacant building to put supplies or if they need to put some trucks, we will help them locate that Office Building or that property based on their factors that they need. We will then contact the landlord or the Property Owner of the space or the Building Owner decides they want, and then, we negotiate the terms that they need, whether its a permit or a lease, well help the City Attorney draft that agreement. Nice. So can you talk about how some of our iconic buildings, such address the palace of such as the palace of fine arts, has been repurposed during the pandemic . Certainly. The city needs as much space as it can use during this pandemic, and the department had to relocate to Moscone South Convention Center so that we could do social distancing as required by both the city and the state. We have hundreds and hundreds of staff people working on this covid19 crisis. All of the department of Public Health and the departments of homelessness and Human Services, including several other hundred people, they need several different sites. They need testing centers, they need shelters for the homeless, those with the covid19 virus, those who need a place to stay after they get out of the hospital. So weve been assisting them with places to stay. You mentioned the palace of fine arts. It has over 100,000 square feet of space. It could it we were going to use it as a shelter, but now, were going to use it for different needs. Were going to negotiate a different lease so that the city can use it for this crisis. Were using the bill graham Civic Auditorium and tfor the deployment of ambulances. The Fire Department needed additional supplies, so were using it for that service. Thats great. I also understand you have a staff of custodians, electricians, janitors and other support workers. How are they helping the city . We could not be more thankful for our civic and engineering staff under our real estate division. They have been working 247 since this crisis began, not only doing their daily responsibilities to keep the public buildings open and operating for the city staff continuing to go into the office but also because once the crisis started, several memos came down as to additional cleanings and how to do disinfecting, and we have to do the c. D. C. S recommendation does. So not only do they do recommendations. So not only do they do their regular cleaning, they are also doing deep cleaning and disinfecting in places like the Public Safety building and the haul of justice. But theyre also going in and doing a deep cleaning and disinfecting after we had a suspected case or a confirmed case of a person having the coronavirus. So theyre going in and doing this every night since this started. Our workers are continuing as laborers to make the buildings safe and secure and maintained. And however we help or however we can help the e. O. C. , we do that. Well, thanks for coming on the show, claudia. Id like to thank you and your entire team on behalf of all the residents of San Francisco for all the work you continue to do. Thank you very much. Its been a pleasure. Thats it for this episode. Well be back with another pandemicrelated episode shortly. This is coping with covid19. Im chris mathers. Thanks for watching. My name is alan schumer. I am a fourth generation san franciscan. In december, this building will be 103 years of age. It is an incredibly rich, rich history. [ ] my core responsibility as city hall historian is to keep the history of this building alive. I am also the tour program manager, and i chair the city advisory commission. I have two ways of looking at my life. I want it to be i wanted to be a Fashion Designer for the movies, and the other one, a political figure because i had some force from family members, so it was a constant battle between both. I ended up, for many years, doing the fashion, not for the movies, but for for san franciscan his and then in turn, big changes, and now i am here. The work that i do at city hall makes my life a broader, a richer, more fulfilling than if i was doing something in the Garment Industry. I had the opportunity to develop relationships with my docents. It is almost like an extended family. I have formed incredible relationships with them, and also some of the people that come to take a tour. She was a dressmaker of the first order. I would go visit her, and it was a special treat. I was a tiny little girl. I would go with my wool coat on and my special little dress because at that period in time, girls did not wear pants. The Garment Industry had the at the time that i was in it and i was a retailer, as well as the designer, was not particularly favourable to women. You will see the predominant designers, owners of huge complexes are huge stores were all male. Women were sort of relegated to a lesser position, so that, you reached a point where it was a difficult to survive and survive financially. There was a woman by the name of diana. She was editor of the bazaar, and evoke, and went on and she was a miraculous individual, but she had something that was a very unique. She classified it as a third i. Will lewis brown junior, who was mayor of San Francisco, and was the champion of reopening this building on january 5th of 1999. I believe he has not a third eye , but some kind of antenna attached to his head because he had the ability to go through this building almost on a daily basis during the restoration and corrects everything so that it would appear as it was when it opened in december of 1915. The board of supervisors approved that, i signed it into law. Jeffrey heller, the city and county of San Francisco oh, and and your band of architects a great thing, just a great thing. To impart to the history of this building is remarkable. To see a person who comes in with a gloomy look on their face , and all of a sudden you Start Talking about this building, the gloomy look disappears and a smile registers across their face. With children, and i do mainly all of the childrens tours, that is a totally different feeling because you are imparting knowledge that they have no idea where it came from, how it was developed, and you can Start Talking about how things were before we had computer screens, cell phones, lake in 1915, the mayor of San Francisco used to answer the telephone and he would say, good morning, this is the mayor. At times, my clothes make me feel powerful. Powerful in a different sense. I am not the biggest person in the world, so therefore, i have to have something that would draw your eye to me. Usually i do that through color, or just the simplicity of the look, or sometimes the complication of the look. I have had people say, do those shoes really match that outfit . Retirement to me is a very strange words. I dont really ever want to retire because i would like to be able to impart the knowledge that i have, the knowledge that i have learned and the ongoing honor of working in the peoples palace. You want a longterm career, and you truly want to give something to do whatever you do, so long as you know that you are giving to someone or something youre then yourself. Follow your passion and learn how to enrich the feelings along the way