Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Govt Audits And Oversight Committee 20240712

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. Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the thursday, july 16 meeting of the government oversight and audit committee. Im joined by vice chair aaron peskin and Committee Member matt haney. Thank you to john carol and i would like to thank sfgovtv. Mr. Clerk, any announcements . Yes, thank you, mr. Chair. In order to protect board members, City Employees and the public during the covid19 health emergency, the rooms are closed. This is taken pursuant to various local state and federal orders. Committee members will attend the meeting through video conference. Public comment will be available for each item on the agenda. Cable channel 26 and sfgovtv are streaming a public calling comment number. Its available by phone calling the number on your screen, th entering the i. D. When connected, you will hear the meeting discussions and muted and in listening mode only. When the item of interest comes up, dial star followed by 3 to be added to the queue. Turn down your television, radio, streaming device. Everyone must account for potential time delays and speaking discrepancies between the live coverage and screening. You may submit Public Comment in the following ways. You may email me, john carroll. If you submit Public Comment via email, it will be included in legislative file as part of the matter. Your written comments may be sent to me by u. S. Postal service in city hall, 1 dr. Carlton b. Goodlett place, San Francisco, california. Mr. Chair, those are my announcements. Supervisor mar thank you, mr. Clerk. Can you please call item number 1. Hearing on the grand jury report entitled act now before it is too late, aggressively expand and enhance our High Pressure firefighting water system. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call the Public Comment number, it is 415 to enter the queue to speak. Colleagues, much has happened since this item was last before us. So nothing has happened or removed or substantially reduced the risk of city faces in the event of a catastrophic fire caused by earthquake or otherwise. As were reminded by the fact were conducting this hearing remotely due to historic pandemic, disasters or unexpected are not only possible but ininevitable. Were holding this hearing today because its better to expect them, anticipate them and do all in our power to prepare for them. Since we last heard the item and gave our responses to the civil grand jury on the recommendation, i authored an additional resolution on the topic that was enacted on november 27 of last year. Among other things, resolution 48419 urged the department of emergency management, sfpuc, the Fire Department to provide consolidated report to the board of supervisors on the state of the citys preparedness for major earthquake and fire, including planned funding for efws. These are due by june 30th and the first such report was issued within that deadline. So as a reminder for the public, there are four related documents relevant for this discussion. The 2019 civil grand jury report act now before its too late, aggressively expand and enhance our firefighting water system, resolution 42219, the original resolution the board of supervisors prepared responding to the findings in that report, resolution 48419, the additional board resolution urging, among other things, the completion of the report being presented today and, of course, the report were really here about today. The fiscal year 20192020 emergency firefighting water system report. Finally, before i invite our presenters, i just want to say this can sound dry and bureaucratic and technical, but what were talking about today is that as our city burns, as it has and will again, that we have fire to put out the fire. Its that simple, but it is never that simple of course. As a policy making body we declared a state of emergency to rapidly expand the firefighting water system to protect all neighborhoods in the event of a major earthquake and fire. So what i hope were all looking for today is that sense of urgency and that shared commitment to a rapid expansion. Colleagues, as we begin this hearing, know that there are additional staff in attendance and available for questions from the Fire Department, office of resiliency and Capital Planning and sfpuc. Id like to welcome our presenter, manager of policy and Government Affairs and the Capital Planning director and resiliency officer. The floor is yours. Thank you so much, chair mar. We are happy to be here. Im going to share my screen so everyone can see our presentation. Give me a second. Can everybody see my screen . Yes, we can. Excellent. Good morning, supervisors. This is john here with the sfpuc, im joined by heather green from the office of resilience and Capital Planning and colleagues from the puc and Fire Department to assist with questions the committee may have. Thank you for calling this hearing and allowing us to report out on our first ever annual report which we submitted on june 30th to the board. The report was written by the Fire Department, the puc, and the office of resilience and Capital Planning. I will begin the presentation and pass it to heather to close out the presentation. Before i get started on the report, id like to provide a brief description of the emergency firefighting water system, which ill refer to as the efws. For those tuning in, who are not familiar. The efws is a High Pressure water system built after the 1906 earthquake, mostly in the northern, central and eastern portions of the city as that is where the city existed at that time. The primary source of water for the system is the hetch hetchy system, with the bay water as a second source via two pump stations. The ownership of the efws transferred to puc in 2010 and its been a Great Partnership with San Francisco Fire Department being the end user of the system. As such, system improvements and expansion must be approved by the Management Oversight Committee consisting as the chief of the Fire Department, the director of public works, the general manager of the puc and the assistant general manager of water for the puc prior to the implementation of any project. Finally, we use robust hydraulic modelling to inform the decisionmaking of the oversight committee. The last fiscal year, the grand jury prepared a report on the efws. That report subsequently helped to inform resolution 48419, which was referenced and that was unanimously passed with supervisor mar sponsoring the item. That resolution urged the following. Complete a study analyzing efws Water Supplies with the folks on the west side by june 30, 2021. Were making Good Progress on that item and look forward to discussing it with the board, the puc cac and the public once it is further along. Were not quite at this point yet to have a detailed discussion on it, but we look forward to doing so in the future. Item 2. Complete a more Detailed Analysis of neighborhood firefighting water demands by june 30, 2021. Were working closely with a professor on this item and looking at neighborhood demand out to the year 2050. Were for the first time including the parks, like Golden Gate Park and mclaren park. Item 3, complete a plan by december 31, 2021. We continue to work on this as well. And obviously integrate findings and make revisions to the plan based on the two aforementioned studies. Finally, the resolution urged the creation of an annual report to be submitted each june 30th detailing the efws work the city agents completed over the fiscal year. This report is the focus of my presentation today. Ill begin by discussing the fires that utilize the efws this past fiscal year. There were two fires that utilized it. Fire number one, occurred on february 29, a fouralarm fire in the bayview in district 10. The Fire Department utilized the efws for ladder pipe operation. On may 23 at a fouralarm fire at pier 45 in district 3, the Fire Department utilized the efws for ladder pipe operations and connected it to five inch hose for a hose tender. The fire boat was utilized. The staff can add more details about these fires as needed by the Committee Members. We also had a busy year completing Capital Projects for the systems. We do recognize and agree with the urgency to implement Capital Projects. We completed four Capital Projects this past fiscal year including finishing critical upgrades to see station number one. Weve upgraded pump station number 2 which is the base of van ness. Were also gearing up for another big construction year this year and anticipate breaking ground on three projects in the near future. We also continue to complete planning and design for a westside project. That potential project is undergoing Environmental Review, a state requirement. We want to thank supervisor fewer for her leadership in this project and all the collaboration from supervisor mar and yees office on it as well. Were excited for this project. Finally, we are also currently bidding on a project to continue motorizing efsw around the city. This adds resiliency to the system. In addition, the puc and San Francisco Fire Department also work with Development Projects in San Francisco to ensure that they, too, install efws infrastructure within their boundaries and adjacent neighborhoods. The pier 70 and hope sunnydale projects installed infrastructure. Additionally, the board approved Development Agreements with efws Infrastructure Requirements for the potrero fire station. Feignly, the pending approval agreement, requires installation at efws infrastructure as well. The puc in coordination with the San Francisco Fire Department completed over 27,000 hours of maintenance on the citys firefighting water structure this past fiscal year. Our report includes the details on all of these maintenance activities, but id like to provide highlights. In partnership with the Fire Department, hydrant inspections were completed as well as corrective actions on those hydrants based on what we found. Additionally our two agencies cistern, reservoir inspections and took action based on these inspections. We fixed pipeline leaks, which not only saves water, but ensures the water pressure the Fire Department needs to fight fires. And finally, we completed inspections and repairs of pumps, generators and valves. This year the San Francisco Fire Department in partnership with multiple agencies including the puc undertook important drills, special projects and hosted key meetings. The Fire Department, including their fire boat crew, and the puc completed a pier 90 drill. During this drill, the fire belt pushes water into the efws pipelines. For the First Time Ever the Fire Department and puc completed the bay bridge pump station and pipe drill. This simulated a large fire on the western span of the bay bridge. Based on this drill, the Fire Department has developed new procedures for combating fires on the bay bridge. Its a very key drill and im sure the Fire Department can provide significantly more detail on it. The Fire Department completed hose tender drills and they completed planning for a joint hose tender drill that will occur this fiscal year. The Fire Department is working with the port to schedule dredging adjacent to the seawater inlets located on the piers. This is to ensure that they have adequate draft through a 24hour tide cycle. They have to be able to draft. So its low tide, high tide, and everywhere in between. The Fire Department has also requested that the area near the pump station number 1 inlet tunnel also be included in the ports dredging boundary to ensure that inlet tunnel is kept clear and seawater can flow as needed. Finally, there are key discussions with rec, park and the Fire Department. As stated early, rec parks are now going to be included in professors post earthquake fire dema demand calculation. Those look at the earthquakes and the fires that break out in the city and then determine the water demand to fight the fires. For the first time, parks are going to be included in the demand. One of the places where this has large implications is Golden Gate Park. So discussions have begun regarding additional hydrants within the park. The potential proposed efws westside project has two new highpressure lines that go through Golden Gate Park. Also, at discussions between puc and the Fire Department occurred, our two agencies agreed that interagency efws drills will be conducted on a quarterly basis going forward. Finally, the puc and Fire Department are currently working with the City Attorneys Office to update the 2015 memorandum of understanding between our two agencies that details the operations and maintenance of the emergency firefighting water system. Were doing so to better detail and memorialize exercises and drills our two agencies will complete together. We were aiming to have this done by june 30, 2020, but the schedule slipped due to the pandemic, however the memorandum of understanding should be updated and well share it publicly. We have landed on quarterly interagency drills and that will be noted in the under to the memorandum of understanding. At this point, i will pass it over to heather green for her to close out the presentation. Thank you. Good morning, supervisors. Thank you for having me. Pleasure to be here. I just want to echo johns remarks about the civil grand jury. Thank you to all members for all your work. It was a pleasure. I have a few notes on where weve come in fiscal 20. So youll recall in march, the bond passed. The ballot with 82 of the vote. You can see here the history of the geo bond program over the last 20 years or so with the three historical bond, 2010, 2014, 2020. Our most recent bond at the end. And this is a reminder of the programming included in the bond. So it was 628. 5 million, our largest bond to date. 153. 5 million of that was estimated and marked for the emergency firefighting water systems. Among other Public Safety priorities, but that one came to the fore during the planning process and with the leadership of supervisor fewer and all the support from supervisors mar and yee and everyone, we were able to pass this historically large package for our Public Safety improvements. Next slide. And then the last slide i have here is just an excerpt from our bond report about the of eser 2020. It shows the projects will be guided by the Technical Steering Committee as well as the Management Oversight Committee, which is the fire chief, public works director and the puc and the assistant general manage over the water enterprise and the puc. That is the Decision Making body for the project and i just wanted to make that clear. Sometimes its not always. And that is it. We are excited about the prospect of having all these resources to invest in the system and following the good planning work that is currently under way, we expect to see real improvements in safety, especially on the west side which is where the investments are going to be dedicated. Thank you. Supervisor mar thank you so much for the presentation. Do you have anything else to present . Great. Thanks again. I just have a few questions on the report and your presentation. Just on the ms. Green, on the 2020 eser bond and the 153. 5 million that is allocated to the upgrading and expanding the efws, can you just state a little more about the time line and the process for determining what which projects will be funded with that 153. 5 million . Yes, so our office doesnt implement so much, so if i can, ill kick it over to john to talk about the decisionmaking ahead. Of course. Puc. The way it works, we have developed clearly weve done a Needs Assessment, but that Needs Assessment continues to be updated obviously. And based on the Needs Assessment, we select potential projects to move forward. We present those to the Management Oversight Committee. We have really focused on potential projects for the west side along with projects along the piers in the north and eastern side of the city for this particular bond. Those projects, potential projects, then need to go through ceqa, so basically Environmental Review. It is hard to say how long ceqa takes for each project. With that said, we are moving forward through as quickly as we can and i hope we can break ground, if not this fiscal year, early next fiscal year. But its hard to predict how long the Environmental Review will take, but were moving quickly as we can. Supervisor mar great. Thank you. And i had another question. Actually a few questions. Maybe there is more for the Fire Department folks to respond to, but i had a question about the hose tenders. In the board resolution i think it was also in the civil grand jury report we urged the purchase of new hose tenders and apparatus and equipment for so so we could expand the interim sort of firefighting capacity in the unprotected neighborhoods. I know there were some funding for the purchase of new hose tenders even in the past years budget. I just wanted to get an update on the expansion of the hose tender apparatus. There is chief velo. Ill pass it over to him. Thank you. Good morning, supervisors, chair. The update on the hose tenders is theyre now out to bid. This is their brand new vehicle that is not commonly built in the fire service industry, so it will require a lot of time to bid. So were waiting for the manufactures to come back with the bids and move forward with that. Thats where we are right now. Supervisor mar how many i guess, how many hose tenders additional hose tenders are being yeah, is it planned to purchase in this year, in the coming years . So, that is going to depend on the bid, what the price of the vehicles come up with. Our plan was to buy five for this year. We know there are budget reductions that happened, but were waiting for the bids to get the number of hose tenders we need. Our goal is to get more in the future years. And obviously the budget concerns we have is going to put obstacles on that, but were going to proceed and move forward. Chief velo, is it correct, i remember when we were doing this, the idea was to procure one to check the design and confirm that it was okay, because it was an unusual vehicle. One to work out the kinks and secure more in the future. Thats correct. We do that for any apparatus. Any apparatus we bid out, we buy one, bring it to the city, make sure it works fine, the hills and demands here. Then a brand new apparatus, were going to do the same process. Once you get one built, its faster to get the next one built. Yes, heather, that is the process were going through. Thank you. Supervisor mar thank you. Just another question for the Fire Department. I know in the report actually even in the news reports for the pier 45 fire, the efws system was used to help put out that fire. And my question is in your professional opinion what would have happened if that same fire happened in a different part of the city where efws isnt available, for instance, in my district . Well, obviously, the Emergency Water supply system help a lot in the fire. As did the fire boat which saved part of that structure there, too. Im not making assumptions here, but not having that system, we always have backup system, so that is a backup system for us to have it there. Its on the end of the line for that particular branch of the system, so we had to augment it with the tank. We have three tanks to supply the system and we had to amend the pressure. But not having that system with that kind of fire, were resilient. We overcome and adapt to all the needs and the structures, its hard to predict what would happen, but it helps to have that system in place to augment our lowpressure system to fight fires. But we always able to overcome and fight fires if we need to. Supervisor mar thank you. I just have one more question. More for john. I was hoping that you could speak a little more about the progress that has been made on the key priorities identified in the board resolution declaring a state of urgency to rapidly expand the efws and the priority to complete a study for adding an efws water pumping station on the west side of San Francisco and the priority to complete a more Detailed Analysis of the emergency firefighters water needs by neighborhood. Im going to ask my colleague, dave mireson, who i believe is on the call to give a highlevel overview. Ill start and then pass it to dave with a little more detail. Ill start with the neighborhood analysis. The professor is deep in the works of looking at the upgrades to fire demands within those neighborhoods and dave and his team has updated modelling, which dave can talk about. Theyre moving along on the pump water station study. I will pass it over to dave. Are you on the call . Yes, can you hear me okay . Supervisor mar yes. Very good. Yes, the professor has been working on the postseismic water demands for early months. Well be wrapped up this fall. Were looking at demands over the next decades, the current situation, 2030, 2040 and 2050. Were trying to figure out how much water will be needed in each parts of the city. The other feature of the studies is to have where we need water piping. Well be considering that as we look at the overall expansion plans for the efws, which will also well be reporting back on. On the seawater sources, its not just the west side, but for the entire city. We have a proposal from ae. Com and they brought together people to work on these types of facilities across the world. So were trying to get the cask order in place to begin the work. This wont have all the answers for us. Its more of a general overview and description of what issues need to be resolved if we were to try to move forward with seawater pumping stations. Supervisor mar thank you. Just a followup question to that last point. Is that the study on the seawater pumping station, does it specifically include im looking at the salt water pumping station on the west side because that is what we called for in the board resolution. Yes. Yes. We will look at the west coast of San Francisco as well as the northern and eastern areas to see what other options we might have. Supervisor mar okay. Thank you u. Thank you. Thanks for all the responses. I dont have any additional questions. Colleagues, any questions . Before we go to Public Comment . No. Why dont we go to Public Comment. Mr. Clerk, are there any callers on the line for Public Comment . Thank you, mr. Chair. Operations is checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. Let us know if we have callers that are ready. For those already connected to the meeting by phone, press star followed by 3 to be added to the queue. For those already on hold in the queue, continue to wait until youre prompted to begin. The system will tell you the line has been unmuted. For those watching, if you wish to speak on the item call in following the instructions on the screen. 415 6550001. 1463183499 meeting i. D. Press the pound symbol twice and then enter the queue to speak. Do we have any callers . Mr. Chair, there are no callers in the queue. Supervisor mar great. So thank you. Hearing no callers, Public Comment is closed. So i would like to make a motion to just continue this item to the call of the chair and i also wanted to say that intend to call for a followup hearing in approximately six months on this item. And at that time, we can hear a little more progress on the key priorities that were identified in the board resolution, particularly on the study to look at a potential salt water pumping station on the west side of the city and also the analysis the more Detailed Analysis of the emergency firefighting water needs by neighborhood. And additionally, i did call for a budget and legislative Analyst Report on this issue which we expect to receive some time this fall. So i think a hearing in about six months would be good timing. Thank you, supervisor. That would be fantastic. I think by that time well have a robust conversation on those two reports prior to them being finalized for the june 30th deadlines. Thats great timing. Thank you. Supervisor mar great. Supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin thank you, chair mar. I just want to appreciate the fact that you have really taken up the mantle of awss, which is something i did in my first many years on the board of supervisors as it was transitioning out of the Fire Department into the puc. And when i came back to the board in 2015, i identified some infirmities and i want to thank you for taking that up. Having redundant capacity on the west side of the city is exactly what we need when we had the fouralarm fire at pier 45, we once again remembered why our offshore apparatus, the phoenix, and the as the francis, are Saint Francis are so important. We live in a seismically challenged area. I really appreciate your attention to that. I want to thank the advocates, mr. Morton and ms. Wurfle and other members of the Fire Department who have been a constant voice for expansion of the auxiliary water supply system. I really want to thank the puc who have stepped up and are taking this very seriously and look forward to our next hearing in six months. Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor peskin. Supervisor haney . Okay. Supervisor haney im okay, thank you. Supervisor mar can you please call roll . On the motion offered by chair martha the hearing mar that the the hearing about to the call of the chair. Peskin aye. Haney aye. Mar aye. There are three ayes. Supervisor mar thank you. Mr. Clerk, any further business . There is no further business before the committee for today. Supervisor mar this is adjourned. Bye. Im nicole and lindsey, i like the fresh air. When we sign up, its always so gratifying. We want to be here. So im very excite ied to be here today. Your volunteerism is appreciated most definitely. Last year we were able to do 6,000 hours volunteering. Without that we cant survive. Volunteering is really important because we cant do this. Its important to understand and a concept of learning how to take care of this park. We have almost a 160 acres in the district 10 area. Its fun to come out here. We have a park. Its better to take some of the stuff off the fences so people can look at the park. The street, every time, our friends. I think everybody should give back. We are very fortunate. We are successful with the company and its time to give back. Its a great place for us. The weather is nice. No rain. Beautiful San Francisco. Its a great way to be able to have fun and give back and walk away with a great feeling. For more opportunities we have volunteering every single day of the week. Get in touch with the parks and Recreation Center as a woman of color who grew up in San Francisco i understand how institutions can have an impact on communities of color. I think having my voice was important. That is where my passion lies when the opportunity to lead an office in such a new space came up. I couldnt turn it down. I was with the district Attorneys Office for a little over nine years, if you include the time as an intern as well as volunteer da, all most 13 years. During the time with the das office i had an opportunity to serve the community not only as the assistant District Attorney but as director of community relations. That afforded the opportunity to have impact on the community in an immediate way. It is one thing to work to serve the rights of those without rights, victims. It is really rewarding to work to to further the goals of our office and the commitment we have as City Employees and advocates for people who dont have a voice. I dont know of anyone surprised to see me in this role. Maybe people have an impression what the director of the office of cannabis should be like, what their beliefs should be. I smash all of that. You grew up in the inner city of San Francisco. My career path is not traditional. I dont think a person should limit themselves to reach full potential. I say that to young women and girls. That is important. You want to see leadership that looks diverse because your path is not predetermined. I didnt wake up thinking i was going to be a prosecutor in my life. The city administrator reached out and wanted to have a conversation and gave me interest in the new role. I thought you must not know what i do for a living. It was the opposite. She had foresight in realizing it would be helpful for somebody not only a former prosecutor but interested in shaping criminal Justice Reform for the city would be the right person for the space. I appreciate the foresight of the mayor to be open how we can be leaders in San Francisco. I was able to transition to the policy space. Here i was able to work on legislation, community relations, communication and start to shape the ways our office was going to reform the criminal Justice System. It is fulfilling for me. I could create programs and see those impact peoples lives. I am the change. It took truants youth to meet with Civil Rights Movement leaders who fought to have access to education. Being a young person to understand that helped the young people realize this was an important thing to give up. What we find is that young people who are truanted have a really high homicide rate in our city, which is a sad statistic. We want to change that. Coming from a community we are black and brown. I dont reach out to other people. I dont think they feel the same way. I had the great opportunity to work on Prison Reform issues and criminal Justice Reform issues. We created a program at san quentin where we brought district opportunities t to lifs and talk about how we are all impacted by the criminal Justice System. We brought over 40 elected das to san quentin for the situation. Now we are inviting the Police Department. Our formerly incarcerated group born out of this programming asked for the opportunity to work on a project where we could bring the men in blue on the outside to come speak to the men on blue inside to start the healing dialogue around how the criminal Justice System specifically in San Francisco impacts the community. I was attracted to the role. There was a component of equity that was part of this process. The Equity Community here in San Francisco is a community that i had already worked with. Before i took steps to visit cannabis businesses i thought it was important my team have a chance to go inside and speak to men who ha had been impacted. That conversation needed to happen so we know how we are making an impact with the work that we are doing. The das office as we were leading up to the legalization of marijuana in the state we started having conversations on the policy team what that could look like. The District Attorney was really focused on the right side of history for this. We realized it would be quite a heavy lift for individuals who have been negatively impacted by the war on drugs to expunge the record. It was important to figure out the framework to make it seamless and easy. They put their minds to it after some time and many conversations the data analysts and other policy walk throughs on the team came up with the idea to engage the Tech Community in this process. Code for america helped us developed the rhythm to be used for any jurisdiction across the state that was important to create a solution to be used to assist all jurisdictions dealing with this matter. The office of cannabis is the first office to have a completely digital application process. We worked with the digital team to develop the online application. There are going to be hiccups. We are first to do it. It is one of the most rewarding parts to offer a seamless to offer a seamless approach. That is how they can find solutions to solve many of the community challenges. The best way to respond to prop 64 was to retroactively expunge 9,000 cannabis related records for San Francisco. It feels like justice full circle for my personal experience. In the past i was furthering the war on drugs just as my directive. Really coming from a place of Public Safety. That was the mandate and understanding. It is nice to see that pass a society we are able to look at some of our laws and say, you know what . We got it wrong. Lets get this right. I had the privilege of being in the existing framework. My predecessor Nicole Elliott did an incredible job bringing together the individuals superpassionate about cannabis. The office was created in july of 2017. I came in early 2018. I have been able to see the Offices Development over time which is nice. It is exciting to be in the space, stickily in thinking about her leadership. Looking for the office it is always we might be before my time when i was working for the board oforboard of supervisors. I learn new things every day it is challenging and rewarding for me. We get the privilege to work in an office tha that is innova. We get to spearhead the robust exprogram. I am excited she came on board to leverage experience as a prosecutor 10 years as we contemplate enforcements but approaching it without replicating the war on drugs. I was hired by cam laharris. I havent seen a District Attorney that looked kind of like me. That could be a path in my life. I might not have considered it. It is important that women and certainly women of color and spaces of leadership really do their part to bring on and mentor as many young people as they can. It is superimportant to take advantage of as many opportunities a as they can when they can intern because the doors are wide open. Plans change and that is okay. The way this was shaped because i took a risk to try something new and explore something and show that i was capable. You are capable, right . It was about leaning in and being at the table to say my voice matters. You find your passion, the sky everything is done inhouse. I think it is done. I have always been passionate about gelato. Every single slaver has its own recipe. We have our own we move on from there. So you have every time a unique experience because that slaver is the flavored we want to make. Union street is unique because of the neighbors and the location itself. The people that live around here i love to see when the street is full of people. It is a little bit of italy that is happening around you can walk around and enjoy shopping with gelato in your hand. This is the move we are happy to provide to the people. I always love union street because its not like another commercial street where you have big chains. Here you have the neighbors. There is a lot of stories and the neighborhoods are essential. People have they enjoy having their daily or weekly gelato. I love this street itself. We created a move of an area where we will be visiting. We want to make sure that the area has the gelato that you like. What we give back as a shop owner is creating an ambient lifestyle. If you do it in your area and if you like it, then you can do it on the streets you like. Ever wonder about programs the city it working think to make San Francisco the best place to work and will we bring shine to the programs and the people making them happen join us inside that edition of whats next sf sprech of Market Street between 6th is having a Cinderella Movement with the office of Economic Workforce Development is its fairy godmother Telegraph Hill engaged in the program and providing the reason to pass through the corridor and better reason to stay office of Economic Workforce Development work to support the economic vital of all of San Francisco we have 3 distinctions workforce and neighborhood investment i work in the tenderloin that has been the focus resulting in tax chgsz and 9 arts group totally around 2 hundred thousand square feet of office space as fits great as its moved forward it is some of the place businesses engaged for the people that have living there for a long time and people that are coming into to work in the the item you have before you companies and the Affordable Housing in general people want a safe and Clean Community they see did changed coming is excited for every. Oewd proits provides permits progress resulting in the growth of mid businesses hocking beggar has doubled in size. When we were just Getting Started we were a new Business People never saturday a Small Business owner and been in the bike industry a long needed help in finding at space and sxug the that is a oewd and others agencies were a huge helped walked us through the process we couldnt have done it without you this is sloped to be your grand boulevard if so typically a way to get one way to the other it is supposed to be a beautiful boulevard and fellowship it is started to look like that. We have one goal that was the night to the neighborhood while the bigger project of developments as underway and also to bring bring a sense of Community Back to the neighborhood. We wanted to use the says that a a gathering space for people to have experience whether watching movies or a yoga or coming to lecture. That sb caliber shift on the street is awarding walking down the street and seeing people sitting outside address this building has been vacate and seeing this change is inspiringing. Weve created a space where people walk in and have fun and it is great that as changed the neighborhood. Oewd is oak on aortas a driver for San Francisco. Weve got to 23ri7b9 market and sun setting piano and it was on the street weve seen companies we say used to have to accompanying come out and recruit now theyre coming to us. Today, we learned about the office of Economic Workforce Development and its effort to Foster Community and make the buyer Market Street corridor something that be proud of thanks to much for watching and tune in next time for the hon. London breed good morning, everyone, and thank you so much for joining us. As civic demonstrations continue around the world, we are emboldened by the protests and the calls for action to address the racial injustices and inequities in policing and Law Enforcement. These protests come at a time when our communities have been struggling even more because of the coronavirus. For too long, black people have been subjected to abuse at the hands of those in power. Now is the time that we can make sure that the demonstrations that we see are translated into real action. As has sadly been demonstrated by the death of george floyd, black communities are also disproportionately represented in our criminal Justice System, so reforms go hand and hand both around Police Reforms and criminal Justice Reforms, as well. Weve seen in San Francisco a lot of real change but also knowing that we have a lot more to do. So we are really excited with this panel here today to talk about the work that San Francisco has already done but also our commitment to doing even more, including using the police in response to noncriminal activities, addressing police biases and strengthening our ability, and promoting economic justice. If were going to make real change, we need to fundamentally change the nature of policing itself. Here is an incredible opportunity, and so todays conversation will discuss other paths, criminal Justice Reforms that have been made in San Francisco, and joining us today, i am so excited to have van jones here. Now people know about his work around criminal Justice Reform, environment justice, and other things, but i remember when i was living in public housing, that was a time when African Americans would not always standup to the police. You would see this black man, van jones, on the news whenever there was an injustice, calling it out and pushing for a change. Hes been doing this work for over 25 years, and just imagine, at a time when it was not popular, that he especially as an African American man was a target, he had the courage to step up to fight, and hes still fighting. Thank you so much to van jones for joining us today. We also have board of equalization chair malia cohen, who when she and i were on the board of supervisors, we led so many Police Reforms. She was instrumental in banning the chokehold and other policies that we are now implementing in San Francisco even when others attacked her, when they came after her, she stood strong, she stood tall, and now, as a result of her work, we have a separate office of Police Accountability that she brought to the ballot, and we worked together to do some Amazing Things in our Police Department. Welcome, malia cohen, and finally, we have police chief bill scott. Chief scott has also been a partner for pushing for these Police Reforms here in San Francisco, and we all know that change is not easy, but hes been committed to working with our communities and working for change because we want better not only for our Police Department, we want better for our community. So thank you all so much for joining us here today. Im really excited to get us started on this panel, and i want to really start with you, van. The fact is i mean, the fact is youre still here, doing this work, and now, you have more people who are doing this work. And when you were doing this work, you were criticized, you were discriminated, you were threatened. At that time, there were a lot of beatings because i remember seeing them my he have personally. There was no Police Accountability then. Tell me, what does it mean to see it right now . First of all, its a crazy experience. To see you the mayor, its just that, its a whole word. To be looking at you, malia, and to be looking at chief scott, i dont think people understand what it was like just in the 90s in San Francisco. I mean, we literally had a shoot first ask first, ask questions later policy. I look back to when i was a kid, and i thought, what was i doing . In San Francisco, we had a policy of shooting, pepper spraying, and beating African Americans to death. Sean williams beaten and pepper sprayed to death by a Police Officer named mark andaya. We finally rose up and said we had enough. I remember that. We would go to 850 bryant, and we would use that, we would use that Public Comment to turn the Police Commission meetings into public rallies, and we finally got rid of that Police Officer. That finally put me on the National Stage because no one had gotten a Police Officer fired in 30 years. I cannot tell you how important it is, what youre doing. It is very hard. People need Law Enforcement. We just want Law Enforcement. We want the police to obey the law, and we want them to play their lane and let the counselors play their lane, let the yoga instructors play their lane, let everybody play their lane. But when the Police Officers are given too many jobs to do, and too little oversight, thats what were going to have, were going to have homelessness is a police issue, drug addicts are a police issue. When kid throws an eraser, its a police issue. Everything is a police issue. I just want to say that i cannot tell you how important it is for you to create a model, a reinvented Police Presence in San Francisco, that that can license people across the country to do the same thing. I dont want to go down memory lane. Weve got too many problems right now, but at this time a trip, 25 years later, to see people like you and the chief talking about things we were talking about 25 years ago. The hon. London breed yeah, it is amazing. And when you think about it, 25 years, and sadly, we still see African American men, for the most part, losing their lives at the hands of Law Enforcement. The hon. London breed and the question i ask myself is, why is it always African American men . We have a lot of wonderful officers out there developing relationships, trying to work with the community. I grew up not trusting Police Officers, and to bridge that gap was important, but we also know that there are racist cops, there are cops that dont see African Americans as human beings, and thats at the core of what we need to dismantle. So its not just the policies, its how do we completely rid our departments of people who have a problem with black people, with lgbtq people, with chinese people, with folks who are different than they are . Im trying to figure out what to call you, chair cohen, because im used to calling you supervisor, but im so glad that you could join this conversation because you were so heroic. I was focused on police reform, but you took it to a whole nother level, and you just ran with it. As a member of the board of supervisors, you didnt have to attend Police Commission meetings, but you sat there for hours. And the time you invested in getting rid of the chokehold and the attacks on the Police Officers association, and all the stuff that you pushed for, you see what were implementing. As you support policies, we used to have seven officer involved shootings, and then, over the past two years, we have seen three officer involved shootings, which none have resulted in death. What do you think about the work youve done, and what do you think we have to do . Because we definitely have more to do. Good morning, chief and van and mayor. Its good to be with you on this panel and be part of this incredible moment in time. You know, mayor breed, i really its a mixed emotion, right . So in many ways, im proud that we have the foresight to start these processes. We used the board of supervisors, and we also used the Police Commission, two very, very important systems that are complementary to each other. But also, i feel like we still have a lot of work to do. I feel like we need to continue to roll up our sleeves and to better our best to continue to have thoughtful conversations on police matters. When we are talking about Law Enforcement, i want to focus on at least in our city, we focus on San Francisco Police Department, but we also need to focus on those in custody and the San Francisco sheriffs department. I think one of the entities that deserves the highest credit to our citys success really has to do with civilian oversight. Weve got a great Police Commission, and we need to continue to strengthen that commission. I am proud of the department of Police Accountability that we that got passed in 2016 that voters approved with over 70 . So there is a lot of things to be proud of. But looking forward, and looking into the future, theres still much work that needs to be done. So im delighted to be on this today with you and chief and van so that we can continue to talk about and make these changes. Im an instigator. You are, van. You are. And i appreciate these conversations. Theyre uncomfortable, and its time to be uncomfortable because now, were having an honest conversation about the changes that we need to make for black people in this country. I talk about this as mayor and when i was supervisor, and its not just because im black. African americans are less than 6 of the population in San Francisco, but almost 40 are homeless. And almost 50 are involved in the criminal Justice System. The kids are dropping out of high school. Everything you talk about, were disproportionately represented, and everything that we talked about, we cant congratulate ourselves until theyre a part of the success, and that success means a reform of policing. Chief scott, youve been a member of the department for a few years now. Youve been criticized about the implementation of the reform. The obama administration, in 2015, issued recommendations around 21 century policing, and we committed, in San Francisco back then, that we are going to implement those recommendations. There have been a lot of criticism because out of the 273 recommendations, San Francisco has only been able to implement 61. Now its not about checking a box. We want to make sure people understand when theyre doing antibias training, when theyre doing deescalation training, that they get it. So tell us why things are moving so slowly, and what can we expect moving forward, and how are we going to get to a better place around policing in our city . Yeah, thank you, mayor breed. Let me start off by answering your question about reform. 272 recommendations, that process was a longtime process in terms of what got us there. And really, what got us there are the officerinvolved shootings that san franciscans were outraged about. So of those 272 recommendations, 58 of them specifically deal with use of force, and i am happy to report to you all that we were in compliance with according to the department of justice on over half of our use of force revisions. Ill back up a step further in terms of the time that it takes. Reform is not like you just said in there, a checked box process, it is not that. Even with the 61 recommendations that we have completed, one of the things that we had to work on was whats the Continuous Improvement loop . So weve completed the recommendation, but what we had to put in place were systems of accountability so we dont rest on our successes and say were done. And when the california d. O. J. Looked at our work, you know, a lot of our work got kicked back for just that reason. We had cannot the work that we needed to do, but its whats next on the forefront. We had to go back like our officer involved shootings, we had town hauls. Its good for the communities to be transparent, to get the community have a say in letting us know what theyre thinking, feeling, but that recommendation, even though we were doing town hauls before i got here. What they found was we didnt have a feedback loop to converse with the community and each other after the town haul to say what can we do better . So we had to go back and institute a feedback loop to make sure that every time we have an incident, that we continue to look at it critically, and we continue to get better. Let me say this, and not to be too long winded, for all of you on the call, i and many of you applaud your leadership, because somebody had to step out and be the first one. Often times im not a biker, but i know a lot of bikers. They always talk about the first one in line, everybody goes behind them because its easier to follow. You were the first one in line, and strathat was instrumental get us to successes. Mayor breed, you had the same experiences in terms of being a leader. What youre trying to do in terms of redirecting our resources, thats leadership. Other people jumped behind you and said were going to do this, too. But what mr. Jones did back 25 years ago, thats not easy, but it makes it easier for people to stand behind you and push, so i just want to say, its a challenge, but were making progress, and we will continue to go. The hon. London breed chief, i just want to say that San Francisco is one thing, and we still have our problems, but when you look at whats still happening and i try not to get emotional, but what i saw in the video with george floyd, and even mario woods here in San Francisco. And when i see these things happen, im thinking about my brother, im thinking about my cousin and others and even those that i helped raise in this community and the fillmore, all black men, right . And then, i feel like why . Why is it always us, and how this conversation now, what people saw, weve been forced to live with it. Weve had no choice. But now, others are starting to emerge and look at this incredible opportunity. So i wanted to hear from you, you know, what do you think is going on nationally as to why were here, and do you think its going to lead to national change with Law Enforcement in our country . I think it is, we have the opportunity here. Listen, in the past two weeks, youve seen the emergence of a conversation on race. Most of the time, were getting gaslit; people saying oh, well, he was running, the police had to make a quick decision, and so people were getting desensitized to what we are seeing. But this was a lynching, a lynching. A white man strangling a black man to death, and his face looking peaceful the whole time. The only threat was the cops. You have to watch it one minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, hes calling for his mother. His mothers been dead. Five minutes, urinating on himself. People screaming, youre killing him. Five times, he said he cant breathe. Weve been lynched for 400 years, but youve never seen it on a billion cell phones at the same time. Youve never seen it on 1 billion cell phones at the same time. In the 50s, a generation of black people, when they got to campus, campuses in the 50s, they took off. The picture, the Television Pictures of those dogs being sicced on children in birmingham in 63, the whole world moved. That young child who held that video camera put a shard of glass into every video camera in the planet, and so now, they are a part of that, they dont know what to do, and that creates an opportunity for people to say hey, we have ideas. Weve been trying to tell you, and we have a perfect video of a perfect murder in daylight with cell phone cameras and body cameras on. I know you get it now. What do we do . Im part of a National Movement matt haney your good friend matt haney and i created something called cut 50 several years to try to get some bipartisan support on that movement. We now have republicans and democrats trying to Work Together in congress right now to try to do something right now, to try to get a bill passed. All of these steps that weve been taking along the way have brought us to this point. I believe that you have 30 to 40 million white people in america right now who maybe believe three things. Number one, racism is real or more real than we thought, somethings wrong with the system when it comes to police and criminal justice, and what can i do . Im going to tell you, as an old guy, thats a miracle. Ive never seen that, and so i do think more is possible. We have to be very, very clear that at the end of the day, we have to reimagine and reinvent policing itself. The kids are saying defund the police, defund the police. Everybody is mad at the kids for saying that. But if you double click on that defund the Police Slogan i understand that people dont like that the ideas are about reinventing and reforming the police and giving them the right resources to social services and everything so the police dont have to do everything. So theres something now out there that can do that. But what i say to you is this no longer being gaslit every time we Say Something is happening thats racial, and having to climb a 1,000mile mountain of proof when we know what the hell is going on and everybody else. When nascar says you cant bring confederate flags anymore, when the nfl supports people kneeling, theres something happening. Y the hon. London breed you have people stepping down from boards, saying put a black person in my place. You have juneteenth celebrations, and a lot of folks dont even know what juneteenth is. Ive got to say, part of it is i pray that this is not a fad for people, you know . I want this to be real, and i also dont want people to keep treating this, you know, in some ways, like a joke. Theres a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that have gotten us to this moment, and so i want us to be active in this energy for getting change. Eric garcetti in los angeles was one of the first to say im going to redirect funding for the Police Department to programs in the African American community, im like, how did you do that . He said hed already been working on it. He already had an amount, hed already been working on it. Im, like, not trying to jump on the band wagon, but at the same time, when i look at the police budgets, and i look at the African American community, and weve been talking about reparations and the need to invest in the African American community in this city, this is a need. This is not about a fad, this is about we have to be deliberate. And were not saying the Police Department were not saying we dont need Police Officers. Thats exactly what youre talking about, reenvision, reenvision. So when barbecue becky is saying, im in the park, and youre not supposed to barbecue in the park, and theres some black people barbecuing in the park. Is it a dangerous situation . Are people getting hurt . Why should police have to go out there in the first place because that could escalate things. Because being theres a tension and a lack of understanding and a breakdown, and that could escalate to somebody black getting killed. It could. So we have to be mindful of these things and, you know, i want to go back to chair cohen because, you know, like i said, the policies some of the policies that weve been pushing for are now being implemented along with more that needs to be done. So, for example, one of the things that you pushed for was around, you know, antibias training and the goal of trying to make sure that people who have, you know, some sort of disciplinary issues around biases on their record and those who have certain complaints and other things, that were able to basically hold them accountable and we make sure that we hold people accountable in their department. Tell us about what you have worked on and also more that you want to see here in San Francisco which hopefully could translate to other departments in the country. Chair cohen so one of the things that i think San Francisco has done well has to do with crisis intervention training. I think c. I. T. Training is important for every single officer that is on the street, and i would even take it a step further, and in addition to kri s crisis intervention training, deescalation techniques to try to calm the situation down before tasers are drawn. Just knowing that the San Francisco Police Department does not have tasers, but thats always in the backdrop and always a discussion, whereas our sheriffs are armed with them. But when i think about bias training, bias training is really interesting, and i remember prior to chief scott serving, when the previous chief was serving, we had many conversations, and quite frankly, mayor lee would go round and round, there was an attitude that not everyone needed biasunbias training. The truth is we all have biases that shape every day how we all interact. And as government officials, i think its important for us to look at these biases and deconstruct them, not only from a Law Enforcement perspective but also you think about your department heads, how they allocate their budget. Which departments are receiving money and which are not . These are all critical pieces to the puzzle because the responsibility does not solely rest on Law Enforcement. What did you say, van . Im just over here having church because thats the basis for peaceful streets. Thats what we want, peaceful streets. Thats the ecosystem, peaceful streets. Go to the suburbs. You have a whole system that makes it happen, not just the cops, peaceful streets. Go ahead. Chair cohen thank you, van. Its a universal attitudinal change, and i applaud you for trying to make a policy change to pull out Law Enforcement officers in an educational setting. I also want to recognize that we talk about neighborhood response and neighborhood watch, being critical and mindful that weve got next door, and often times on next door weve got these successful neighborhood vigilante putting up racist profiles that cause problems. You talked about barbecue becky. We think of the bird watcher in central park about how police have been weaponized and called onto punish, quite honestly, when the person is African American and male. So we need to envision, maybe we dont need Police Response for every single problem. Perhaps we need to have a Crisis Intervention Team that is trained to respond to issues that take place at lake mary or issues that take place in places such az centrs central. These changes are not new, but theres a real commitment, and weve got fresh leadership think about it. These are changes that were discussing that you and i havent been able to discuss since weve been serving in office, and weve been serving for at least ten years. There was an issue in the legislature yesterday that got out of assembly for, and that was bill 209. It was around 25 years. It was the First Campaign that i worked on, works agained aga legislation to repeal. Now here we are, working to get it on the ballot. Now what does prop 209 have to do with police . Oh, it has to do with it. When youve got womenowned businesses, minorityowned businesses, theyre vested. Theyre making an investment in their families, making an investment in their communities, and have the ability to stand with an incredible sense of pride. Overall, how that relates to organizations, how that relates to businesses, were all interconnected. And i think the moment we stop realizing oh, this is a police issue, oh, this is a Mental Health issue, oh, this is a womens issue, thats the moment that we begin to move forward in a very thoughtful way. But i think about other reforms. If you want me to go on, i can. I mentioned Community Policing being incredibly important. We talk about foot patrols, what that looks like. We talk about increasing Mental Health organizations, funding for service providers. We think about luis gongora, unfortunate situation where he was a homeless man, shot and killed in the streets of San Francisco. Now another issue that may be controversial but i want to mention it, we are transparent about officers records, having transparency in two areas the collection of data and the analysis of data. So we understand that chief, i believe this is a is this in the administrative code, was it 90a . 96a. Chair cohen thank you, 96a, which we both fought for when i was on the board of supervisors that would change the way that data is collected. One thing that i believe in, and it comes from my days at carnegiemellon, until we review the data, we really dont know what the hell is going on. We rely on somebody else to interpret the data for us, but we need to start collecting data nationally. How many black men are killed at the hands of police. We need data on who is stopped and how frequently, what is the badge number and stars of the officer. We are looking for patterns of misconduct, and we can glean that out when looking at the data. So pivoting back to president obamas 21st century policy on policing, we can do that. We had 272 recommendations made to us, and that takes time. Were talking about changing not only peoples hearts and minds, band believes, but their hearts and minds. I believe that people that serve in the Police Department, Law Enforcement, the Fire Department, we have a calling to do good in every day peoples lives, to protect their rights. So there are good people among them and their very bad people. You know, the code of silence, of protecting those that are bad, weve got to change that also because its making all of us in Public Service look poor and unresponsive, and i think that the protesters have really nailed it. I think new york just recently passed just yesterday some legislation to increase transparency on Law Enforcement officers on their background. If youre fired from the San Francisco Police Department, why the hell should you be hired in antioch, in the Police Department . Theres always loopholes, and theres gray areas. The hon. London breed and hell say, chair cohen, a lot of the things that you were talking about, the issues around, for example, their records and other things, those are things that were implementing, those are the next steps, along with the responsibility for an officer to intervene when they see Excessive Force being used. So when you think about it, the fact that those officers in George Floyds case, hey, man, get off his neck, and the fact that they were so cavalier and passive, i just it just baffles me. Theyre hopefully going to be prosecuted, theyre hopefully going to be held accountable because theyre just as much guilty for the death of george floyd. Heres my issue the fact that any Police Officer would think what they saw is okay because its a procedure, its all in their procedures is a problem, and so i think what we are getting people to understand is you can no longer hide behind procedure. Were changing procedure, we want to see change of hearts and minds, and so this is difficult. Chair cohen in addition to changing procedure, we need to change policy, because i think policy and procedure go hand and hand. If you remember, lawyers that are defending officers that are going through the the the process of their cases being heard hide behind laws, so we as policy makers need to be cognizant and aware of that and change that. Something that shirley webbers law was predicated on what we did in San Francisco, in that when you actually pull your weapon and actually fire. Were running out of time, and i dont know if the chief wants to Say Something before i do. Ive got a fourminute hard stop. Chief . Yeah, i was just going to talk about what chair cohen was saying about the reform. The part of our reform was to work with academic researchers and partners to take that data and run with it. You know, for a lot of people, who do we associate with crime and why . As a black man, i cant tell you how many times ive walked by a car and heard the door lock. And this is im not alone. I know many people but the point is rethinking policy and what the things that we are doing to add to that association of whos a criminal, whos not, whos dangerous, we need to rethink that, too. Ill tell you, with our Police Department, were doing just that. We heard a lot of people talk about our policy on releasing looking photos, and were looking at the policy probably in the next couple of weeks, well be changing our policy on releasing booking photos. This is the benefit of working with actual scientists who know what bias is and what feeds into stereotyping and all that. How do we perpetuate that, you know, when people are asking for booking photos of certain individuals, people start associating those individuals with being dangerous which changes the whole idea of Police Officers and society in general. We need to reel that back. Thats something in the next few weeks that well be doing. Ive got to tell you, my thinking has evolved based on the data involved and some of the scientists that were working with at ucsf and cal berkeley who are all telling us the same thing. Dont perpetuate the problem with your policies, so weve got to pull some of this stuff back. Its really basic to me. Im sure all of you have experienced those types of things, as well. But we associate certain people with certain stress. The hon. London breed yeah, and chief, we have to wrap it up, so i want to give van the last word. This has been a very insightful conversation. I appreciate all that youre bringing to the table, so i want to bring it over to van for the final word. I just want to say how important this conversation is. There might be people who might be watching this who feel that hey, San Francisco might be better than it was, they might be on the right path, but theyre not where they need to be. I have homeless issues, i have Mental Health issues, i have needs that arent being met. Be encouraged. Be encouraged because i think what youre seeing is a process by which were reimagining policing and maybe reinventing policing in San Francisco, and if we can continue to expand the circle, expand the listening, listen to everybody, theres going to what we want is peaceful streets. We dont want law and order. You think of law and order, wheres the disorder . I hope youre safe. Dude, wheres the threat . We just want peaceful streets, peaceful streets, and it takes a lot to get this. Were going to have to learn some things, unlearn some things, start doing some things, stop doing some things. But if you feel this conversation hasnt come to you yet, stay on the train. Its going to get this. All these different groups that are saying hey, we want reform, it is possible if we stick together. San francisco can lead the way, like we always have done. We got some little reforms, too, but more reforms are coming. Any way i can be helpful, let me know. Thank you. The hon. London breed thank you, chair cohen, van, and chief scott. Im mayor london breed. Lets take this opportunity at this moment to push for real change. I want to thank all of you who have been out there on the frontlines, doing everything you can to make sure that there is justice for all of us, that we are all seen, that we are all heard, and now is the time, more than ever, to make real change. We appreciate all of you for joining us again. More to come in some of our future conversations, and please stick with us on pushing for these reforms. It wont be easy, but its necessary, and it will change and save lives for the better. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Youre watching coping with covid19. Todays special guest is assessor carmen chu. Hi, im chris mannis and youre watching coping with covid19. And today my guest is carmen chu, the assessor for the city of San Francisco and was cochairing the Economic Recovery Task force. Shes here to talk how about how the task force is guiding the city through the Covid Recovery and reopening. Welcome to the show. Thank you very much, chris, for having me. We begin by talking about the creation of the economic recovery tack force and its purpose and role. Absolutely. So i think about our cities with that very first month of covid and the truth is that everything moved so quickly. And i can still remember when i was at the press conference that announced our state of emergency and not only that but very soon after we were in a shelterinplace scenario where many of us had never imagined that wed ever see in our lifetime, much less having to deal with a global pandemic. During that time there was a lot going on in peoples minds about how concerned and worried that meant for themselves and their families, but almost immediately i think that the city also began to feel what the Economic Impacts were of shelterinplace and business closure. Remember at the time that all but essential businesses were open so very quickly we saw a lot of businesses who were, frankly, worried about whether they could even come back and open at some point in time or how theyd make it through and we saw quickly a sharp amount of job loss that happened in the city as well. So we knew pretty soon thereafter that we needed to start doing a lot of work to plan ahead for what economic recovery would look like. So there, alongside with the president of the board, norman yee, had a task force to try to get a number of people together to be thinking about what is it that the city can be doing now to start planning for our economic recovery, to have it successful for the midterm but also for the long term going forward. So we have a group of people who are just amazing, people who are contributing to our communities. So weve had large and Small Businesses. Businesses from a crosssection of Different Industries and services, from different neighborhoods. We had academia who are part of this task force as well as different foundations and Profit Service providers who are all part of the ecosystem that makes San Francisco special. So the task force is really meaning to pull together the thinking about how the city could help us to facilitate going back to a reopening scenario, but how to have different scenarios and policies to ensure that we can be successful during an interim period as long for the long term. Great. Now weve all heard about the Economic Impacts of the covid19 had across the country. Can you tell us about the experiences in San Francisco . I mean, i would say that just listening to the businesses and to the individuals and residents. Its been very dire. You can imagine for a business that has been open for quite some time, you know, and they are still continuing to have to other things but meanwhile they had absolutely no income for most businesses that are closed to help to offset that. Many of these businesses have taken loans out that they have actually secured with their own assets, like their home. They have secured it, you know, they cant repay loans, they have to potentially sell or do something with the other personal guarantees they have. Locally here in San Francisco we have also i tried to respond with the local programs that we thank would be helpful. Everything from the deferral of business taxes and business licenses, and the grants to support businesses and Different Community groups to support workers and so on, to try to help to transition. But that being said, its been significant hardships for individuals, as well as the business side or those unemployed or people who are not seeing that wealth in the sector. The particular areas that the task force are focusing on, can you talk about them specifically . Yeah, yeah. At some point we think about the larger economy. And its a wide and a big economy. We have so much entrepreneurship and different types of activities and things that we do. And also its really important parts of our economy that make San Francisco special, our arts and our culture, all of these things help to contribute to the vibrancy that i think is San Francisco. When we think of economic recovery, its broad and its also something that is going to be very different from sector to sector. So i think this is truly something that we keep in mind is that ultimately the ones that we are able to open, with the Economic Activity that is really tied to how we individually take responsibility to be sure that we keep safe. And so the way that were thinking about economic recovery is about, you know, how to make an interim period short of having a vaccine or a Health Breakthrough for an economy that is resilient. Theres a strong recognition that even before covid19 hit that the economy wasnt doing great for everyone, right . A lot of people were left behind, frankly, from the last economic cycle. We were not just faring very well. And so one of the things that were thinking about is how do we think about San Francisco with the emergency sectors and how to create more equity, how do we create more opportunities for all of our communities to be able to thrive going forward. So we really are intentional about wanting to think about policies that help to develop San Francisco better actually than the way that things were before. Some of the areas that we think that we want to put our efforts around are a few areas. So we want to see for jobs and businesses. We definitely to want to think about Economic Development and how it is that we allow for the right kind of growth in our economy. We want to make sure that were focusing on our vulnerable communities. So truly thinking about, you know, who has been most impacted, who you do we make sure that when we think about the investments for the future that that economy includes those individuals and communities as well. And finally we also want to think very intentionally about how we support the arts, hospitality, culture and entertainment. This is a big part of San Francisco. People come from all around the world to visit our beautiful city because they recognize not only the natural landscape is beautiful but also the vibrance and the warmth of our communities and the culture that were able to share here and the food that we can provide and the festivals and concerts, all of these things that makes San Francisco so special. And at the same time these are exactly the types of things that are probably not going to come back very quickly. And as we begin to reopen, what is the Task Force Helping for local businesses and employment . We really want to make sure that the ontheground experiences that businesses have and the common sense kind of things that they may be able to do, are able to be incorporated with our Public Health officials. Aside from that were working very hard to try to find just the solutions that allows the businesses to be able to populate more flexibly. So you have probably heard that the city is opening up outside dining and not only that but we have created and launched the shared spaces program. This really allows for the businesses to be able to utilize either the curbside space, the street space potentially and the sidewalk space, and allow a path of travel for their businesses. Yeah. And letting businesses use outside spaces is a great idea, especially since we learned that being outdoors is safer. So what is next after reopening . What are the lessons that we have learned and how can we create a better economic environment in the city . Yeah, i think is such a huge question because i think that all of us are very much thinking about social equity and i think that theres a lot of opportunity for us to be thinking about doing it better and more inclusive and create more opportunities for our communities who have been left behind. In particular for our black community in San Francisco. We know that this is something that we want to focus on and we want to make sure that were actually creating a better system going forward. Oh, i totally agree. So, finally, if somebody or a Small Business is interested in learning more about the Economic Recovery Task force, where would they be able to find Additional Information . Well, im glad that you said that. We definitely have heard from we have heard from so many people across the city. So first off i want to thank all of those toke folks who have reo us. But the place you want to go is our website at onesanfrancisco onesanfrancisco covid19recover y, that is a website with our information, including our meeting agendas and our minutes, a video reporting as well so they can keep uptodate. And theres an email and a survey that you can fill out there and you can see it. Thats great information and i really appreciate you coming on the show. And thank you for the time you have given me today. Thank you, chris. I really appreciate it. Stay safe. You too. Thats it for this episode and well be back with more pandemicrelated information shortly. You can been watching can the coping with ko covid19 for sfgovtv. Thank you for watching. Right before the game starts, if im still on the field, i look around, and i just take a deep breath because it is so exciting and magical, not knowing what the season holds holds is very, very exciting. It was fastpaced, stressful, but the good kind of stressful, high energy. There was a crowd to entertain, it was overwhelming in a good way, and i really, really enjoyed it. I continued working for the grizzlies for the 20122013 season, and out of happenstance, the same job opened up for the San Francisco giants. I applied, not knowing if i would get it, but i would kick myself if i didnt apply. I was so nervous, i never lived anywhere outside of fridays know, andfridays fresno, and i got an interview. And then, i got a second interview, and i got more nervous because know the thought of leaving fresno and my family and friends was scary, but this opportunity was on the other side. But i had to try, and lo and behold, i got the job, and my first day was january 14, 2014. Every game day was a puzzle, and i have to figure out how to put the pieces together. I have two features that are 30 seconds long or a minute and a 30 feature. Its fun to put that altogetl r together and then lay that out in a way that is entertaining for the fans. A lucky seat there and there, and then, some lucky games that include players. And then ill talk to lucille, can you take the shirt gun to the bleachers. I just organize it from top to bottom, and its just fun for me. Something, we dont know how its going to go, and it can be a huge hit, but youve got to try it. Or if it fails, you just wont do it again. Or you tweak it. When that all pans out, you go oh, we did that. We did that as a team. I have a great team. We all gel well together. It keeps the show going. The fans are here to see the teams, but also to be entertained, and thats our job. I have wonderful female role models that i look up to here at the giants, and theyve been great mentors for me, so i aspire to be like them one day. Renelle is the best. Shes all about women in the workforce, shes always in our corner. [applause] i enjoy how progressive the giants are. We have had the longer running until they secure day. Weve been doing lgbt night longer than most teams. I enjoy that i work for an organization who supports that and is all inclusive. That means a lot to me, and i wouldnt have it any other way. I wasnt sure i was going to get this job, but i went for it, and i got it, and my first season, we won a world series even if we hadnt have won or gone all the way, i still would have learned. Ive grown more in the past four years professionally than i think ive grown in my entire adult life, so its been eye opening and a wonderful learning meeting will come to order. This is the july 16, 2020, special budget and finance committee. Im sandra lee fewer joined by the Committee Members walton and mandelman. Our clerk is linda wong who is assisted by