Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Land Use Committee 20240712

Welcome to rules committee. With me is the vice chair stefani and member gordon mar. We are joined this morning by supervisors. I would like to thank sfgovtv for thanking this meeting. Do you have any announcements . Due to the Health Emergency and to protect Board Members the board of Supervisors Chamber and Committee Room are closed. Members will participate in the meeting remotely. Community members will attend through video and participate as if they were physically present. Public comment is available on each item. Channel 26 and sfgovtv. Org are streaming the number on the screen. Comments or opportunities to speak during the Public Comment period are available via phone call 415 6550001. 4156550001. The meeting id1465300679. Press pound and pound again. When connected you will hear the discussions but you will be muted in listening mode only. When your item comes up dial star 33 to be added to the speaker line. Call from quiet location and speak clearly and turndown your television or radio. Submit Public Comment to myself, rules committee clerk. If you submit Public Comment before the supervisors are included in the official file. That completes my comments. Thank you so much. It looks like the representative from supervisor peskins office is having a hard time getting on. If we can have it help and call item 2 out of order. Hopefully we can figure that out while we hear item 2. A resolution supporting reparations plan to comprehen civil address inequalities in the Africanamerican Community as a result of slavery and Advisory Committee for the africanamerican committee. Supervisor walton would you like to make opening remarks . Thank you for hearing this this morning. Beforbefore the murder of george floyd to bring attention to the plight of black people in america in San Francisco we introduced resolution for reparations. We have known injustices for the black community in San Francisco and across the country. We unanimously introduced the resolution in support of reparations plan at the board of supervisors. First, i want to thank all of my cosponsors, the entire board of supervisors. I think that says something to the communities of color and black people in San Francisco. I thank each and every one of my colleagues. Today we are here to hear the resolution on reparations for the black community as introduced during black history month. I would like to acknowledge the work of Human Rights Commission director and her chief of staff, Human Rights Commissioner jones and also james bail from the Burns Institute from working with us around some of the equity focus work. Our nest step when this is passed will be to complete a series of Community Input sessions that we started precovid19 pandemic. We will introduce the legislation for the working group to develop and implement the reparations plan for the black community in San Francisco. It is important to note that we stand on land that was taken from the nativeamerican Community Members where families were torn apart and children sent to boarding school from 1619 to 1865 from a recording standpoint when slavery ended with the 13th amendment and soon after the chinese communities were excluded from entering the countries due to the chinese exclusion act of 1882. In rent history the black community was red lined to the out skirts of the city. Japanese americans were sent to internment camps. They have been targeted and most recently the newly latin students. The trauma continues to exist in our communities today. This is not the america we envisioned but this can be the San Francisco that we need to correct the wrongs of history. We cannot forget the pain and suffering of aning of ancestors. We are the wildest dreams of ancestors whose voices were silenced. Here i stand before you to open the conversation on reparations to lead to a plan with a reparations package for black people in this city. The institution of slavery broke up families and matched away the opportunity to create wealth and build opportunitying from our families from generation and generation. We are excited to work along with black Community Leaders in San Francisco, city partners, organizations, faithbased organizations, Community Allies and the office of Racial Equity to create the Advisory Committee to help develop the true reparations plan. It is time for the city and county of San Francisco to honor the commitment to the africanamerican population in the city. The city has acknowledged the wrongs through chapter 12y now it is time for compensation for slavery that playing that p. L. A. This is one of the first steps towards true reparation for the black community in San Francisco. We will hear from the director of the Human Rights Commission this morning as well as the Human Rights Commissioner jones and mr. James bail from the Burns Institute. Chair ronen, if it is appropriate i would love to call up director davis at this time. Please do. Thank you. Director davis, you have the floor. Thank you. Hello, happy monday to everyone. Thank you supervisors for this opportunity. Thank you supervisor walton for your leadership and the work on behalf of the Africanamerican Community and the city of county of San Francisco as a whole. I am grateful to share a quick update of the work we have been doing. As i was looking over the announcement i am grateful so many of the supervisors signed on and made the commitment. They are helping to address some of the wrongs that have happened not just nationally but locally. Redevelopment as well as what we saw with imminent do main a lot of people suffered. I am going to share my screen and go through this presentation. Can you see my screen . Yes. Great. Again, really grateful for this opportunity to be part of this work. Part of this conversation around reparations is repairing the impact of broken promises and system failures. We want to give money to people. We want to talk about the system failures and promises and what has contributed to the inequity on black people in the city and county of San Francisco in criminal justice, health, income or achievement gaps that we see. We know that black people comprise less than 6 of the San Francisco population yet they represent 38 of the unhoused, 46 of the people incarcerated in jails. 55 of juveniles on probation and 30 live below the poverty level. The School District students make up less than 7 of the San Francisco unified they are more than a third of suspensions in high school and middle school. What we want to do is have a commitment to restoration. Bigger conversation around reparation. This idea of what does it look like to begin healing . What does it look like to fix the system . Just giving money is not going to address the systematic failures and challenges that continue to perpetuate inequities we see. What we are talking about in the framework we have been working on is to recognize anding knowledge the harm done. The city has done and take accountability for decisions of policies that predate you. My family didnt own slaves or i didnt own lives or this doesnt apply to me. We have to own the history and systems that have impacted and contributed to this before we were on the scene. We want to honor the contribution of the black community beyond slavery or civil rights. We want to understand the full history of black people, respect and understand that black people hold multiple intersecting identities. Reject policy violence. Understanding that sometimes the policies that we create actually contribute to this and cause harm on black communities instead of the benefits or the things we hope they will create. Part of what we did with supervisor walton and mayor breed was to really center, to listen and center lived experiences of black Community Members. They were much more involved in participating in the process. Reparations should be a conversation with data as wishes of community. We want to respect what we hear. We want to prioritize investment. The slide that didnt load was the one that highlighted the fact that we had over 600 people participate in our community meetings, 200 were folks in multiple meetings, 400 unique, 398 participated in the survey. 250 young people participated in the survey. Meeting with hope sf with 72 people in that meeting. Meeting with the core group of young people with 40 young people in that meeting. We hosted several meetings with mega black focused on black Community Stakeholders and we had 152 participate in those meetings. During 13 weeks as part of the engagement around reallocating sfpd dollars we engaged 1,000 people in two weeks do help us develop the communitys priorities. Some of what we heard in terms of allocating funding, economic justice, justice reform, health and wellness, housing. Again, looking at the big buckets, what we want to do is talk about the priorities identified by community. We know the Mayors Office has in this initial budget allocated 60 million to support the black community. These are the drafts. I have had initial conversation with mega black. These are buc buckets where it d go. 36 million to department of Public Health. That is a big place holder for very specific ideas and programming. We have healing centered practices. Communities didnt want to stick with health and wellness or Mental Health. They felt that was europeancentered language. They wanted to get away from additional strategies and think about healing cente center heald practices. This is where it would go. You can see some of the buckets. You can see in both department of Public Health and in oewd there is a line item for lbgq plus. To seniors calling out that we are not monolithic. Lbgq plus would be able to benefit there. Are special needs in the community we want to make sure to address. You can see here more specific some of the ideas in the buckets around what we heard from community in terms of priorities, college scholarships. If there are 200 africanamerican students why dont they each get 25,000 toward college . One of the biggest investments researchers found is investment in early education. That has been seen to make an impact in success in school and life and reduces social cost. This will do with community as we continue the conversation. To show big buckets what some of the work looks like. Here in the slide when we share it later you would click on the link. We have a 12 page supplemental from partners in the lbgq plus community where they did research to help us understand the need to drill down and support them with specific set asides for this work. Justice reform, homelessness. Housing, home ownership. The support for down payment assistance. The accountability and system change building out models built from the world bank to increase accountability across systems and in community. We heard clearly Community Members didnt want us to just hold the city accountability but make sure the agencies funded to do this work are also held accountable. Ultimately, we are looking for commitment to reparations to create formal body to interrogate the San Francisco past, identify opportunities for repair, build framework and lead the effort and compensate participants for their time in that committee. All of the slides didnt load but that is ultimately the general learnings that we got from the Community Engagement process, the plan is that as part of this there will be monthly meetings that will continue. As we build out to think where the money is allocated we can continue to hear from community. There will be quarterly meetings more about where the money was allocated and whether the community is seeing the impact. There is huge concern saying we are giving money to dcyf or School District where we have seen not the best outcomes. The Community Wants the ability to say this is not working and the city will be responsive to those concerns. Really trying to build out. Monthly as well as quarterly. Hoping as the task force or Advisory Committee for reparations is committed we will be able to partner and leverage that to advance the work. I think that is it for me. Just really grateful to play part in this work. I would have to say over the last month, although it is a lot, being able to hear from people, engage in that process and hear from folks that are happy to sit in the room and listen or participate or share my thoughts, we have over 700 recommendations through the process that will be shared in this kay. In this way. They want to be part of the process and that it wasnt given to five people to make a decision for them. Thank you so much, director davis and chair ronen, for, again, allowing us to present todays resolution. I want to apologize for my mistake earlier. I know that commissioner jones is not going to be able to make it this morning. There is a conflict. I dont see mr. Bail listed as presenter. He just came in, supervisor walton. I am on the phone. I couldnt get in on the zoom link. I am on the phone. Thank you. We are excited to have you. Mr. Bail is here. He has been working with us on our equity work in the city over the past year plus we want to give him time to also talk about reparations and some of the work we have been doing together. We have just been working on, as cheryl suggested, getting information from the community and looking at data that we can get from various departments. Looking at how it is that we might be more equitable and think about away that is distribution and redistribution of current funds in a way that actually provides a fair start and head start to people in the city traditionally dispossessed, especially in the neighborhoods where that occurs. We have been looking at a variety of sources. Through this process, which has been going quickly. It is a lot going on. We are in the process of coming up with something that we think is strong and doable. At this point i will just leave it at that. As we try to gain more and more consensus how it is we should proceed. I will leave it at that. Thank you so much, mr. Bail. As you know, this work is very time heavy, and we have a lot of folks that we need to hear from and participating. It is important to have people on board to help us guide and facilitate the different conversations happening at many different level. I am excited we are to this point that we are acknowledging the wrongs and injustices and working together to come up with tangible opportunities and outcomes for the black community. Chair ronen, i am going to pass this back to you. I know there may be questions. I have an amendment. You can tell me if you want it presented now or wait until after we hear from everyone. Can we hear that now so the public can comment on the amendment. It is minor. It was sent out to you as well. Page 3 line 17 instead of the San Francisco board of supervisors will create an adviser re. It will be the San Francisco board of supervisors intend to create an adviser re. We will have legislation to create the committee. Can i ask. I know that james bell wasnt able to get online. Would it be okay for the deputy to share the slides that he had . I would love that, chair ronen. Is that all right with you . Of course. Thank you. Thank you, brittany. No problem. Let me share me screen quickly. Good morning, everyone. I am going to talk through a few slides about mega black sf, a collective of black voices here in San Francisco representing different sectors so folks who work in San Francisco or who serve the black san franciscans in some capacity, and we are a new collective that began in march of 2020. Really we are fighting for visibility and justice for black san franciscans. The framework is built around the following we are fighting for economic power, investments in Public Education for black students who have the worst test performances in the state of california, land for businesses, cultural events, wealth building. It is important to get a history of black Economic Opportunities, consequences for discrimination on the job, housing is targeted displacement of back people from displacement of black people. Diverse body of experiencing people who have been displaced from San Francisco but still work in the city. Folks who spend 80 to 90 of the waking hours in San Francisco at least prepandemic. I work here and my aunts and grandma and cousinses live in the city. A quick capture of some of the participant organizations of mega black. We want to highlight those organizations. Housing collective, bmagic, a range of expertise in representation. The structure looks like it is not unlike the Latino Task Force. We are supported by the Human Rights Commission. Mega black hosting multiple Monthly Community meetings to share information and opportunities foreign gagement with the public. We are creating a safe base for black civic participation. It is between a Clearing House and hub for folks with black identity to get better involved in San Francisco advocacy. I would like to highlight the first meeting in may. We started developing learning collaboratives for Distance Learning and still pushing on that topic. We launched working groups in june. A number of subcommittees that are the pillars that i discussed. Ththe letter to mayor breed. That passed the human rights and health commission. That will be before this board tomorrow at the meeting of the board of supervisors. We launched a wellness fund, money for black Economic Opportunities in San Francisco. We sent a letter this morning regarding the Budget Allocation exclusively for black people which you should have received. Here is a highlight of the meetings that we posted and the different ways to get Community Members. The strategy for the framework in moving the mega black work forward. We are advocating resources for the black community. I will be explicit. We dont want to be lumped as people of color we want attention to the disparities that disproportionately affect black people. We are trying to visualize the atrocious disparities the black people in San Francisco experience. That is breaking down in our working groups, policies and implementing strategies for those improved outcomes. Then updates that we began that are across neighborhoods. Mega black is engaging with diverse communities, represents, workshops to increase participation and to ensure we are all doing a lot of ground setting and foundational work to make sure we are on the same page and unite in how we move forward. Visibility of black people. Moving forward we are focused on interagency and organizational collaboration and increasing the black peoples voice politically in San Francisco. This is james bail. The process is everything now that you can see how we are structured. As you said they are labor and communityintensive in terms of getting voices in to get consensus. We are looking at other practices from around the country and also having deliberations amongst ourselves to the best way forward. Thank you, brittany and director davis for being able to be more specific about the process we are going through. We havent arrived at a place yet, but you can see this is the process we are going through to get there. Thank you so much for the presentation. Again, i want to say that the importance of mega black in terms of us achieving reparations and the equity we have been fighting for in San Francisco is very important. You heard the talk about is not being too dissimilar from the formulation of the Latino Task Force and their work and it is exciting to see everyone come together and focus on what we need in the black community. Thank you for the presentation and thank you, mr. Bail, and back to you, chair ronen. Thank you so much. I am peach less. This is incredible, absolutely incredible. I want to thank you so much, supervisor walton and director davis and all of the leaders inn maygininmega black. It is similar to the Latino Task Force in many ways, it has some news innovative components that i have never seen. I am just so excited about this work. I think it could be a model for the nation of reparations structure that is centuries overdue. I just feel so proud to be watching you invent and unfold this work and to be an ally in supporting you every step of the way. I dont know how you are doing everything you are doing, director davis, because you are many places that i have been. You are doing an extraordinary job. I dont know how you do it all at the same time. Thank you so much. You have been there for the latino community, you have been there for women that are surviving sexual assault, you have been there for every community that is fighting to finally get their due in San Francisco. You are doing an extra job. I want to publicly recognize that and thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. Thank you. You all are an amazing board of supervisors making it the community voice. I am grateful to not get caught up in politics and focus on people. Thank you all so much for the work that you do. With that i want to give a chance for my colleagues on the rules committee to make a couple comments before we open up to Public Comment. Supervisor stefani. Thank you, chair ronen. I echo what you said in your comments. I am thrilled to be on the board of supervisors at this time when we consider this work, which is some of the most important work we will do. I want to thank you, supervisor walton for leading the charge and director davis, you and your efforts and everything that you do since i have looked up to you for so long, and i am so happy that you are helping to lead the charge. With mega black sf and the presentation, i feel this is suchness work. It is centuries overdue. I listened to the 1619 podcast with Nicole Hannah jones. I loved it. Not loved it. I learned a lot from it. I loved her attitude. I didnt own slaves, what does this have to do with me . It is not about that. It is about the discrimination that has long existing for centuries in housing policies, education, criminal Justice System, health care, and reparations for that. When i was in february. It seems like years ago. I was in washington, d. C. With my 10yearold daughter and went to the African Museum of history and culture. Learning more and more and more, you know, feeling you are an educated person and understanding there is so much more to learn. Then from that education so much healing to be done. How we participate in that together i think that it is just incredible that we are all on the same page here is a unanimous effort in the city and county of San Francisco. Like chair ronen said we can lead the nation in ther in this. I than thank you all for your leadership and i want to help however i can. Thank you very much for this work. Thank you, supervisor mar. Thank you. I want to double echo your comments and supervisor stefanis deep appreciation and amazements to the leadership of supervisor walton and director davis and mayor breed on this important and long overdue work. That is more important right now in this historic moment of reckoning. Extreme injustice in the Africanamerican Community and i am excited that we are unified in supporting this resolution and moving forward with the creation of Advisory Committee on reparations. I thank you for doing it in a communitydriven way. Thank you. With that we will open this up for Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment should call 4156550001. The meeting id is 146 5300679. Press pound and pound again. If you havent done so, please dial star 3 to line up to speak. The system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. Wait until you are unmuted to begin your comments. We have 19 callers on the line with three in line to speak. Do we have the first peopleker, first speaker, please. Caller good morning. Thank you for this incredible work. Your comments echo many of my thoughts. Thank you for your words and brilliance. Thank you for supporting this work. I am a proud resident of San Francisco and member of mega sf and the director located in belleview. The entire block and member of the wellness and Mental Health committee and Public Health committees, i want to touch on a couple of quick homes. The racial trauma our black and africanamerican communities are suffering deeply. Inferiority from the system of white supremacy. The existing Mental Health system failed our communities. We need Mental Health services. We really need to do some additional work around the work that mayor breed started around antiblack racism. I look forward to continuing to support those and being present at this amazing opportunity to create a model for the United States and truth and reconciliation for black and africanamerican folks in this country. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller i am isabel. Sf resident. Calling to support jane matollly for the s. F. M. T. A. Board. We are not on that item at this time. We are taking Public Comment on item 2. So sorry. Please press star 3 and when we get to your item press star 3 again. I apologize. Next caller. Caller i am jeffrey morris, member of sf black wall street and community advocate. I will be in the tenderloin housing block. I want to thank supervisor walton, mayor breed as well as this board of putting black people first. San francisco has a black problem. I want to highlight some other horrible numbers we see. San francisco has the highest number of black children in child welfare, disparities in child welfare. Black women 1839 are the highest for Domestic Violence in the city. The status of women has not budgeted a black focus Domestic Violence training. I would like to talk about predatory relaws. This is a long time waiting. I see our allocations. Our commission, status of women and so many departments for the black struggle. This makes black people struggle. They do not about us. They whitewash it and wonder why the problem is not solved. This committee is wonderful. We have to continue with the 10 to 20 year plan to fund this to get rid of this black problem. Thank you all. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller thank you, Committee Members and supervisor walton and everybody working on this. I am bruce wolf. On behalf of the Affordable Housing community and advocacy groups i work with. Keep up the excellent work. This is a long time coming. Congratulations. Next caller, please. Caller i am cliff barger. I grew up the suburbs of boston and in my Public Education i heard about all of the ways African Americans were oppressed and into the 1800s. It wasnt until i moved to the bay area 8 years ago and became involved in Housing Advocacy i learned about the injustices that were continuously perpetuated into the last septembethethe lastcentury. I want to thank the board of supervisors, particularly my representativetive walton for moving this forward. It is clear this is necessary and i hope we can all Work Together to fix these injustices. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller good morning, everyo. I am calling in as director for the office of Racial Equity and i am excited to support the work of supervisor walton as we move forward to this tremendous opportunity in seeking and securing reparations on behalf of the black community. Thank you, chair ronen and supervisor stefani and supervisor mar. We have never we can see that in the outcomes. In every sector from education, health, housing, homelessness, and the criminal Justice System and right now we have a tremendous opportunity for justice. We have a tremendous opportunity for reparations and i will walk alongside you to do this work. I ask the allies step up. Injustice to one is injustice to all. As we move forward to reparations and making this opportunity realized we want to make sure we have everyone at our side. When we say black lives matter, black policies matter, black Leadership Matters and black people matter. I look forward to working with you on this journey. Next caller, please. Caller good morning. I am glenn brown. I am here to support reparations recommendations brought forth by director davis and supervisor walton. I want be to thank the board of supervisors forgetting us this space. I am here on behalf of mega black, sf black as well as black wall street. I am in the omi reparations for the black community in San Francisco and in lake view is long overdue. I appreciate you guys providing this space for us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next caller. Caller i am executive director of the leadership counseldation in support of reparations. I want to thank supervisor walton and director davis of the Human Rights Commission for work in getting this to this point. It is very fitting the board of supervisors is pushing the effort. It was the board of supervisors that allowed and approved the renewal from the federal and state level to operate in the city. It is the board of supervisors through the federal and state entity to implement this and our board of supervisors that allowed for freeway projects to happen in our community. I know most of you were not born when the board of supervisors was makes these initiatives, but it being carried through is happening to this day. I want to commend supervisor walton. That is why we are here today. I commends him and thank supervisor fewer and brown for implementing the office of Racial Equity. Through this crisis if it were not for the office of Racial Equity, the black community would be in a much worse commission. They rolled up their sleeves and have done amazing work. I wanted to go for that position. I am glad i didnt because what they are doing is mindboggling. I thank you for all your hard work. Next caller, please. Karl. That completes the queue. Thank you. With that does someone want to make a motion to incorporate the amendment and then motion to send it to the full board . Speaker mar . I would like to move that we add the amendment presented by supervisor walton today. Roll call. On that motion to accept the amendments. Supervisor stefani. Aye. Speaker mar. Aye. Chair ronen. Aye. The motion passes. Supervisor mar. I would move we send this item as amended to the full board with a positive recommendation. On that motion supervisor stefani. Aye. Supervisor mar. Aye. Chair ronen. Aye. The motion passes without objection. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Chair roman, i do want to thank the entire rules committee and director davis. I want to say for us on the board of supervisors we are at the point be where we have an opportunity to continue to make history and everybody is stepping up in so many ways and we are able to do that because of our focus on equity. I want to thank the committee again. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a good day. I know you are busy. Can you please read item 1. The ordinance amending the administrative code to the society of professional journalist as nominating body to hold the seat on the Sunshine Ordinance Task force needed for journalists from racially ethnic minority owned news organization. Thank you so much. Sorry that you had a hard time getting on. It is good to see you here. Thank you very much. Sorry for the technological difficulties. Thank you to the Clerks Office for helping with that. Good morning. The legislation before you this morning is straightforward. In 2017 an Organization Called new American Media which had for about 20 years been the nominating authority for a seat on the Sunshine Ordinance Task force dissolved in 2017. At the time their executive director did tremendous work around making sure that the media landscape was diverse body and had representation at all level. Submitted a letter to the board of supervisors advocating authority to nominate to the seat. Subsequent the society of journalists and task force submitted a letter requesting that seat assignment be moved to the society of professional journalists bringing the authority from two to three seats on the task force with 11 members. Keeping with the Mission Statement of new American Media, this legislation assigned that seat to be nominated by the society of professional journalists making sure we are still nominating somebody who is representative of a racially or ethnic leoned institution. We are expanding to ensure we are also inclusive of journalists whose work focuses on issues of minorities or working with the public whose audience is minority or racial or ethnic community. The reason is in changing the landscape we have the consolidation of ownership and it is more difficult to track ownership. If we are making sure this is a body diverse and representative. Ownership is not the best. I have submitted amendments to that effect to bring in the eligibility. They adopt a broader version of the definition of a journalist appropriate for the 21st century freelancers, individua individue should think what the journalist is. I have submitted amendments to that effect on pages 3 and 4 of the document that i submitted. I am happy to read to the record. I explained them. It is fine. You have explained well enough. Wonderful. I would respectfully request those be moved. I understand those are substantive to require a one week continuance before they go to the full board. Thank you very much. The American Media with something we took very hard making perfect sense to be assigning this to someone who would have fit the qualifications of a new American Media appointee. Thank you for taking this on. If there are no comments from colleagues i will open up for Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call 4156550001. The meeting id i is 146 57306. A testimony will indicate you have raised your line. Can we have the first speaker, please. Caller good morning chair ronen, members marand stefani, and mr. Hefner. I am pass president of the league of women voters. I also held seats on the task force for eight years. I was the chair of the task force for two years. I am currently chair of the Steering Committee of san franciscans for sunshine. I would like to say that we strongly support this amendment to the sunshine ordinance that originally nominated members for has long been empty. I believe fpj is most appropriate to appoint to that seat. We support this and we hope you will pass this on to the full board. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller good morning. I am richard knee. I am active in a number of sunshine advocacy organizations including the society of professional journalists, and San Francisco for sunshine. I also served on the Sunshine Ordinance Task force from 2002 to 2014, chairing for two of those years. I stronstrongly support the tase seat for the Minority Community journalist. Legislation would make it easier for the task force and committees for quorums. Spj norcal has won numerous awards for leadership on sunshine and Media Diversity pan is suited to succeed new America Media as nominatetor for the task force seat in question. I urge this for favorable consideration from the rules committee and full board of supervisors. I would like to note for the record we have 16 caller on the line with seven lined up to speak at this time. Next caller, please. Caller david. Good morning. It seems like reunion of former task force members. Several comments. New California Media and new America Media no longer resist. Replacing with similar journalist would provide intended representation on the task force in common sense way without changing current structure. A larger discussion was needed before the virus emergency about the structure and the functions of the task force and sunshine ordinance and i think that discussion is needed even more now during and props following the virus emergency, if it ever ends. I look forward to being part of that discussion. Four, thanks to supervisor peskin and lee hepner for your work on this. Five, i have not seen the amendment and i intend to do so when it is available to the public. Thanks very much. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller good morning. Matt dreams. It is my fellow colleague rick mentioned our organization has a lot of experience with nominating other seats on the task force. I want to thank lee and supervisor peskin for working with us on this to transfer this additional seat to us. Really to strongly support this change getting the task force back up to the full 11 members, which it hasnt been for quite some time now and diversifying in the process is critical. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller good morning. I am christine peak, attorney, one of the cochairs of the freedom of Information Committee. I am speaking in favor of the new amendments. I would like to thank the supervisors for considering these amendments. Thanks, supervisor peskin for sponsoring. Thank you, staff, for working on them. I know our predecessors did a lot of work to make these changes to happen so the task force can be filled and can continue to carryout its important mission. We urge the committee to support the recommendations of supervisor peskin and his staff, mr. Hepner, this newly amended language we agree this would be consistent with the purpose and intent of sunshine ordinance and vital. If these arent acted we would be honored to accept this and stay true to the new american. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller hello. I am a journalist in San Francisco for the past 13 years. I am a resident of the mission district. I serve as cochair of the freedom of Information Committee along with christine, who just spoke. Thank you for considering this today. We support the language suggested by hepner and supervisor peskin and thank you for attentio attention to this. The media is good for telling stories about diversity. We want to keep this seat for a journalist to bring this to to task force. We are able and willing to pack sent the nominating powers for the seat. The committee has a long tradition for nominating strong task force members. We would be honored to search for the candidate as well continuing the new America Media leg dassey. I hope u we hope you will supt this. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller good morning, supervisors. Bruce wolf, chair of the Sunshine Ordinance Task force. Thank you for supervisor peskin and lee hepner for moving this forward and for you all to share this today. This is a long time coming, this amendment, the Sunshine Ordinance Task force signed a resolution that is specific and important to the amendment. It is the lifeblood of democracy and our work. We urge you support and to forward this to the board of supervisors urging the same. Thank you again. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller good morning. I am a member of the society of professional journalists. Our organization has been worried about this vacancy on the Sunshine Task force for several years, and i am calling to appreciate lee hepners effort goes to get this situation rectified. I hope that the supervisors vote in favor of this amendment. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller this is bruce. I am a longtime member of spj, cofounder of the original spj task force many, many years ago. Largely responsible through the bay guardian for getting the task force going and the original initiative passed here in San Francisco. I am delighted to be here today in this unique experiment sitting here at home watching on television and being able to pitch in to say this is a longneeded amendment. We are delighted that lee hepner and aaron peskin put this forward and that the spj leadership has taken this on and we have a lot of speakers who want to make this happen. There is no better time in the world to have a Sunshine Ordinance Task force working even in this odd way than right now. We can all be proud of the fact that the ordinance and the task force is the first and still the best of its kind in the country, if not the world. Now is the time to bring it in and make this amendment work, give us a full task force, make it easier to get a working number and move on. Thanks very much to everybody. I am happy to participate in this unique experiment. Thanks very much, thanks to the board. Next caller, please. Madam chair, that completes the queue. Thank you so much. With that i am happy to make a motion to accept the amendment if we can have a roll call vote. On the motion to accept the proposed andment. Supervisor stefani. Aye. Supervisor mar. Aye. Chair ronen. Aye. The motion passes without objection. If i can make a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair just in case with the intention of putting it on the next agenda. On the motion to continue to the call of the chair as amended. Supervisor stefani. Aye. Supervisor mar. Aye. Chair ronen. Aye. The motion passes without objection. Thank you, mr. Hepner. Appreciate your work. Take care. Mr. Clerk now read items 3, 4, 5 together. [please stand by]. If you are calling in for more than one applicant, please make your comments collectively in the twominute period for each caller. And with that, good morning, everyone. Wed love to hear first from Eduardo Santacana and would love to hear about your interest and qualifications for this position. Thank you, chair ronen and members of the rules committee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I am honored to be nominated to continue to serve as a commissioner on the board of appeals and would like to thank the mayor and her staff for nominating me and supporting me through this process and the fellow commissioners on the board for their support, guidance, and amazing work on behalf of the people of San Francisco. And two of you over a year ago when i was first nominated to serve on the board of appeals so i will be brief and happy answer any questions you may have. I have been a residents of San Francisco for 10 years and with my wife and twoyearold daughter and motherinlaw in the inner parkside neighborhood. So the past five years i have work work as a trial lawyer in Jackson Square and before that i was in law court for judge taylor in the San Francisco federal court and a judge for the d. C. Circuit court of appeal. In my work i litigated a wide variety of cases including commercial and intellectuals prodisputes, but it does not include the type of cases that come before the board of appeals. So i am able to participate fully in the boards work without fear of conflict of interest. And that being said, i also devote a significant portion of my time to pro bono work, representing unaccompanied young minors seeking asylum and other forms of immigration relief in the United States. I am tleled to be nominated to continue to serve on the board of appeals. We are working through extraordinary times for a number of different reasons. I am just incredibly grateful and have been throughout the year that i have been on this board for the opportunity to serve my community. And i hope to do that for the next four years with the opportunity to have a full term. My work on the board i think has been fruitful, and i think my contribution as an attorney in particular has been appreciated by my fellow commissioners. And hopefully by at least some of the people who have appeared before us. Although not everybody always leaves happy. My goal as a commissioner in every case is to prepare diligently, to research the law when the law is unclear, to listen carefully to the parties and to insure that every party leaves the Committee Room or more recently the Video Conference with the confidence they were given a fair hearing. And that is what i would like to continue to do on the board of appeals. I also very much appreciate the opportunity to continue to do this work with my fellow commissioners, including commissioner swig and honda whose nominations are also before you today. So with that i will thank you for listening to me and if you have any questions, i would be very happy to answer them. Thank you so much. And again, thank you for all your hard work on this body. I wanted to see if either of my colleagues had any questions. Nope o kay, great. So now were going to move on to mr. Swig and we have the extremely interesting situation that i have never seen with a mayoral appointment and the board president appointment are switching. I have no idea why, but sound good to me. If you could do the same and tell us a little bit about the history and qualifications and interest in continuing to serve in this position. Thank you, supervisor ronen. Ask you ask that question of the upcoming fellow supervisor honda, but it has been a great honor to serve on the board of supervisors seat for the last six years and thank you today for all the supervisors for the opportunity to speak today about the enthusiastic desire to continue as a commissioner for the board of appeals. With well over a decade of experience as a commissioner for both the now Defunct Redevelopment Agency and then the board of appeals, it has been a great honor to serve the City Government and citizens of San Francisco. And to resolve permit disputes and govern the statutes with the rights and permissions and based on my experience and the rulings have the permit and with the same subject matter, so consistent and diligent Decision Making is always a deeply serious exercise. And sometimes as commissioners we are not entirely comfortable with the governing laws or statutes, we consistently have to remind ourselves that we must adhere to legal parameters even when we feel there may be an alternative to the not legal solution as well. And reached out to the board of supervisors for reviews of legislation. And most of the cases consider neighborhoods prodisputes where planning and regulations and also many items which have low impact on the citizenry including the urban forest, the installation of cellular communication towers and monument removal. And legal guidance and jurisdiction combine with the views of Community Health and cultural social justice. These cases the commissioners often placed in a painful position of ruling according to the law even when there might be alternatives and consideration of Public Opinion evidence commentary and other social justice considerations. I have felt the communication for active dialogue with the public to establish empathy, understanding and dispute resolution. And the tough part is as commissioner santacana noticed and not everybody walks away happy because theres only one side always does not realize their intent. And my dedication and experience and tenure would support the affirmation for another term as a commissioner to enable and insure that the public gets the best possible solution to permit disputes and ask that you support are reappointments of the fellow commissioners honda and santacana and toward the commissioners. A thank you so much for your hard work over the years and checking with my colleagues and any questions or comments . And last but not least, mr. Honda, do you want to explain the switch . And first of all, good morning, madam chair ronen, supervisor stefani and mar. I was appointed in 2012 by the late, great mayor and reappointed by him in 2016. This time around i felt the beliefs were a little more aligned with the supervisor norman yee and that is why he graciously and humbled that he nominated me for this appointment. First of all, may name is darryl honda and i would like to thank you for the community to speak and with the long agenda and president norman yee has nominated me to come back to the San Francisco board of appeals as the commissioner. And with the definitely need it and often the appeals are the process of 5 to 10 years. The what they are going through and the approach is to read a brief and listening to the horizontal comments and to prepare each hearing with fresh eyes and knowing some of the processes have gone as long as they have and more importantly and resolve some of the matters prior to litigation and they will generally tend to go to litigation. As the fellow commissioners have mentioned, as well as you are aware of, trying to get different parties with different views often is a recipe for disaster. Sadly t decisions that i make as a commissioner after careful deliberation are not going to make everyone happy and sometimes the decisions are not that popular. I have lived in the city for over four years and dad lives in hawaii and woman in San Francisco and some school here and some school there. And i have been here with my wife for 33 years as of next week with two adult children. Im eduardos neighbor. So it is good for commuting when we have meetings. My main job other than as a commissioner is a realtor. I have been a realtor in San Francisco for over 22 years. I consider myself a responsible realtor in the over 600 transactions that i have completed and never had any arbitration or board litigation and i will not represent any owner from lsx nor have i. We discussed that the appointment with our late mayor ed lee and i am seeking the appointment from you, the board of supervisors. I have missed only six hearings in that time and as you are aware, birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, they all come up on days that we are supposed to be at city hall. That is a level of commitment that i have made and my honor to serve in the last seven years. And i will take your questions if know. Thank you for your consideration. Sorry a little nervous. Thank you so much. I have a couple of comments but wanted to see if my colleagues do first. I wanted to thank you, all. We have had an incredibly packed agenda in the rules committee because of the amount of ballot measures we have been reviewing and i am so impressed with your work and commitment on the committees on the hard job and the important job and role. And the time and dedication that you have put into this is so commendable. And to apologize for putting you on that agenda today. And to accommodate that to let the time lapse without a chance for the public to way in and wasnt right and i wanted to get you on as soon as possible and i want to recognize and thank how little time you got to come and give your presentation and why it was so important to have the hearings. Before the time lapsed and you were automatically reappointed. Thanks again and for your willingness to accommodate. And with that, i wanted to open this open for Public Comment. Did you want to say something, mr. Swig . And opening up for Public Comment. They will have two minutes to speak on any all or just two of the commissioners that you would like to comment on. Members should call 4156550001, meeting idea is 146 530 0679. And press pound and pound again. If you havent already done so, dial star 3 to line up to speak. The system prompt will indicate to begin the Public Comment. There are no speakers in the queue. Thank you. Then Public Comment is closed. Aam happy to make a motion to forward all three nominees to the full board with positive recommendations. Madam chair, i believe we need to amend the motions to delete the word rejecting throughout the legislation. An i knew you were going to tell me that. Xhe, i would like to amend the motion to make a motion for all three nominees to remove the word rejecting and send to the full board with positive recommendation. And if we can have a role call vote and to defer them to and recommend them to the full Board Meeting. On that motion, supervisor stefani. Aye. Stefani, aye. Supervisor supervisor mar . Mar, aye. Chair ronen . Aye. Ronen, aye. The motion is adopted without objection. Thank you so much. Thank you, supervisors, very much, for your support. Thank you so all three of you. Take good care. Thank you for your service. Have a good day. Mr. Clerk, can you please now read item six and seven together . Item six is a motion approving and rejecting the mayors nomination for the appointment of jane natoli. Item even is the appointment of sharon lai to the mus any mall Transportation Agency board of directors ending march 1, 2021. Thank you. Is ms. Natoli here . I am here. Great. Thank you so much for being here today and especially to ms. Natoli for waiting so patiently for us to hear your nomination. Were going to conduct the hearing from ms. Natoli, if there are any questions, and then ms. Lai, and questions, and each Public Commenter will have two minutes to speak on either or both no, maam niece. We would love to hear your reason for serving in this capacity and experience, etc. Whatever you would like to share with us. Thank you. Really appreciate the opportunity today and appreciate the consideration and i know its been a while and appreciate all the hard work you are doing. I come to the advocacy for safe streets and that is how i got into this as a volunteer and organizer for infrastructure and better improvements to keep san franciscans safe and i served on the Bicycle Coalition and was an elected member there. Unfortunately as we see 30 people were hit and killed each year on the streets and over 500 are seriously injured and we all want that number to go to zero, though, so that is far too many. I have been hit three times in the last five years on the streets. I have been fortunate to get up and walk away and not everyone is. This drives me to do the safe streets advocacy and i have been fortunate to serve as the mayoral area since 2018 and definitely gotten to learn more about the innering workings of a lot of what is going on in the city with general Obligation Bonds and Committee Work and served on other boards such as the sf lgbt experience with oversight, governance and phi fiduciary responsibilities. I have a lot of experience doing compliance work through the day job. But as i stated, i really come as someone who is an advocate who is Community Based and Community Engagement and i want to bring that same spirit and energy into serving in this. I am fully aware this is obviously not an easy time to join anything like this. This is the unprecedented moment with equitable and the significant Budget Constraints and will require more creativity than it ever has to figure out how to support sfmta and support san franciscans in that regard. And to bring to san franciscans and not seeing that quickly enough. And to figure out how to make it work. The advocacy is a complement in this moment. And eager to bike and walk with safety and dignity and do Cost Effective treatments to make that easier. Doesnt cost much to do a slow street or emergency transit lanes or emergency bike lanes. Huge impacts on how to get people around. That is what inspires me every day. I know i come to this and come to it not necessarily knowing every corner of what sfmta does but with the humility to know that and eager to dive into it and learn more about it. With the initial appointment with the mayor. With that, i will keep the remarks short and keep that up. Thank you very much. Colleagues, do you have any question . I do, chair ronen, thanks. First of all, thank you so much for your many years of activism and leadership with the bike o coalition and safe streets as a leader in the city and thanks for stepping up to serve an incredible role on the sfmta board. I had some questions more as a fellow resident and is great to bring perspective as a west side resident to the m. T. A. Board and just wanted to get your thoughts on how to particularly improve Transit Service on the west side which has been underserved compared to the east side of the city. And this is a high priority for me and working on the district formability study right now with the c. T. A. And sfmta and stake holders. And the important work of sfmta. Of course. So i think one of the things that will help improve transportation on the west side is we need to prioritize some of the Capital Improvement projects that have been maybe backlogged and hear a lot about van ness, geery is taking longer and there are other things that are also sitting in there and prioritization and from the m and the n. And things that have been in the q. And we havent necessarily adequately moved up. And the end serves a lot of people and to focus on that area from 138 and serving a lot of san franciscans daily to get from the beach to downtown. And we are doing something that will help with more of the cars join us line and will help essential subway and with the backlogs and to help improve on the west side. Those are areas that we need to continue to make sure are priorities and seems like things are closer and to speak up for residents and in the west side neighbor and five to 38 improvements and are getting delivers in a timely fashion for them. I want to be an advocate for those and make sure that we are not forgetting that because it is easy to be like that doesnt cost that much, doesnt feel like as much of a priority now. And that doesnt work for someone who is a daily rider on one of those lines. Doesnt deserve the same dignity as everyone else. I dont have any other questions and thank you, jane. Do you have any questions . Thank you, chair ronen. And thank you for being here and so great and i cant remember how many months ago it was, but i really enyou and ied the conversation we had around so many issues and i think i have two questions that i didnt get to really cover when you and i met previously. One was partly cloudy and wondering how the city can work to guide muny with a lot of tension between the board of supervisors and sfmta and Mayors Office around budgeting and how you think that we can help to guide and Work Together to deal with the recession harming the Transportation System and what are your thoughts around that . And the activity and related to the pandemic and we still want to have a Transportation System thats deeply impacted and clear stable source of funding and a big part of the conversation around things like ferries and provide that and some of them have been in the back burner and we havent necessarily done anything with them and Vehicle Licensing fees and then senator mark leno worked to provide an opportunity for and never ended up using. At the time it was estimated to raise 73 million i think in the last number i saw. I dont know what that would be today because i dont think its been studied again. I think there are opportunities like that that exist to provide more Stable Funding and we can run muni and lets dedicate and find other sources that arent barriers because this obviously isnt the time for them. Hopefully Going Forward with dedicated streams of funding so we dont have to consider that and have a stable system and paying for itself and with the Long Range Planning and opportunities to look at. And retail and muny can be a partner in the recovery and obviously i dont think rents are where were going to see an improvement right now because we want to be mindful of the tenants that are there. We want to help support them and this is a tough time for them. But in terms of the longer range of support so we are not trying to balance the budget on the backs of the riders and instead making sure that its funded and to come together and find a solution on. And what i have heard and we want stable muny funded and to support riders and we just need to get together and figure out the shared solutions. And i think that we have a lot of people here. Awe i respect your advocacy and capacity and the coalition and support that 100 and i think one death on the street is one too many when it comes to pedestrian cyclists and motorists and whatever and we all know the tension that sometimes happens when changes are being made. And also what that can mean for Community Feedback and therefore judgment on that feedback and a lot of times is misplaced judgment, i think, in terms of people just wanting safe streets but not really understanding exactly how to see that solution. Although the solution is likely a very good one. And i am just wondering how you think that given the diverse ideas around safety with Traffic Safety and everything we encounter and with the city and county of San Francisco and trying to make the streets safer. And how do you see incorporating all the voices on that and i want to make sure that i know that sometimes theres a tendency to misplace peoples fears around safety and traffic and change. And like i said, i supported 100 and know in the community sometimes its difficult to make the changes happen. And with shared solutions and shared values. We have a lot in common in terms of that. So as you are going to be in this role, i definitely support you in this role, how do you see getting around a lot of that tension that i know you have written about and tension that has to be managed and had to be overcome . Of course. That is perfectly reasonable. And is especially when you get online and is easy to forget we are people with a shared love of community and maybe different experiences with how to get around it. And one of the things that i think about a lot and professionally and personally is how to say yes instead of saying no. Changing that frame a little bit to say, all right, lets say we want to put in a light share station. We want to do a summer and need some amount of them here. And what works for everyone. Not just were going to put it here and when you come in and say put it here and take on a couple of Parking Spaces and a large contingency of people who say i wasnt hurt and didnt know anything about this. They have tried to make efforts to see Community Engagement exists in form and where the improvements are going. We have unlimited street space and can only use so much with it. And we need to engage each other to learn and what are the optimal location in the neighborhood. And i know my neighborhood well and i know other neighborhoods and it would be haughty to think i know every neighborhood in the city and in richmond. And so really engaging folks to find out and with what were going to do there. Another aspect and we have too much and limited street space. And trying to do anything with it. And we want to make sure that people can get around a variety of ways. Take a bus and can jump on the bike and walk and drive. Whatever is the chosen way and should be able to each way should be able to get someplace safely and feel like a complete trip to them. And shouldnt be challenging and not that large for that. And its not an optimal treatment and when it comes to where we think about bike lanes and a lot of feedback and what works. And really getting in there to figure out what makes sense for the people who are using this street every day. And the solution to drive less and make it and not antagonistic to drive less and to shift that mindset and hear the concerns and the concern and with what we are going to do. This is the idea that we want. How can we do this in a way that works for as many people as we can and also occasionally being realistic and something we are talking about and there is a lot of parking. Not necessarily a bike route where you exactly want it. And tradeoffs that exist everywhere and when you Start Talking to people and get together with them. And break that down more than when we retreat into the corners and dont think about the holistic needs. Thank you, jane. I just am in strong support of the nomination. I think our strong addition to the board and look forward to working with you and maintain this open line of communication and thank you for the advocacy. And thank you for the answers. And going about making decisions about which lines to cut or restore . I was digging into the ridership numbers and trying to thinking about that. We do have to keep that lens in mind and serve a lot more people. And not bringing lines back and be mind to feel the impacts and might not carry a lot of people. But they serve hillside residents. They have no other connection to it. We have ruled out some programs and with a line cut that dont have as high ridership, but the people who need them need them. There isnt an easy solution. Data needs to be informed by a lot of things besides just like the pure ridership. It is easier for me when they cut back lines here and deliver up the five. And to walk up to the 38. For someone with mobility issues, that is not a realistic as a choice. And i get why we have cut the low ridership lines and listen to people and the feedback about who is truly using them and are hugely important and without that connection and figure out other ways of serving people that are going to meet their needs and figure out how to get the service pack. I dont think just looking at pure ridership will solve all of it. And so its a tough position and generally speaking and i like the plans they came up with it. And they tried their hardest to assess where the tradeoffs were. And in general i support what sfmta is going with so far. We need to keep the same open mind throughout this and be receptive to what we are hearing from people and adapt that. And what we have done with the programs and will help me be more successful with it. And bring the lines back and that is a tougher reality to accommodate. Thank you. I appreciate that. And what engagement have you had with tw2250a . I have not had any notable engagement with them. And i am aware and am aware of them and trying to reach out to talk to somebody and havent had the opportunity to sit down with anybody, but in the previous advocacy i have never engaged with them. Are you aware of the most pressing concerns and how to address them . An at this time, no. That is part of why i have been trying to have a conversation with it. And with the Labor Relations side, that is not a side i am knowledgeable on in terms of where i am coming from. Okay. And you havent read any of their advocacy in the press or the m. T. C. And the articles in the newspaper what about the drivers are facing . I mean, i have read some of that, but i dont feel like im as fully informed on that as i would like to be and something that i have been working on. And i know that some of what other Driver Safety is a big concern and we recently so that and i dont want to get too far ahead of myself on that. And what about are you up to date with the current plight of taxing medallion owners and do you have any ideas about how to address that situation . I am up to date on that. I have been reading up on that and i have been at several Board Meetings where the issues have come up. I think its a really, really tough situation and we clearly need more regulations, and dont have the tools to do that since a lot of that is delivered at the state level. And undercuts the ability for the tax drivers. And i feel like that is something to keep advocating at the state level and more ability to have more control to level the Playing Field for them. And they dont have that and cant compete in that environment and sign up for t. N. C. And take really minimal course and not worry about delivering the Single Service and are integral for disabled people in the services. And to me, thats something that we need to advocate for more ability to do more oversight so that we can support our taxi drivers. And kind of connected to that, do you see any roles for t. N. C. S within San Franciscos Transportation System . I think t. N. C. S can have a role and were beginning not beginning, and many people have seen this for a long time, and the data is beginning to show they are not necessarily environmentally sound and dead heading and causing more congestion on the streets. And i dont think they are there to serve the equity of all san franciscans and serve the convenience of those who can afford take them. So if theyre willing to meet those sorts of goals that we want from our Transportation System, then i think they can have a role. If theyre not, then i think that thats why we really need to i am excited to see that we have done a little work with prop b last year to try and tackle them a little bit more. And i dont think that and no work to do and the t. N. C. S and playing by the same rules as so many of the other people providing Mobility Options for people in the options in San Francisco. And i certainly understand people have gravitated to them in many ways. I think we need to look at the real harms with the perceived convenience and said if they are willing to meet there and do that, they can play a role. If theyre not, then its less clear they have a longterm future as a real transportation option for san franciscans. Appreciate that. What actions f any, should m. T. A. Take regards to people who dont pay the fares . I am i dont think that that should be our highest priority. I definitely understand that when were in a fair enforcement system that essentially its just checking for that enforcement and there needs to be an element of that. I have concerns and how to deploy that and frequently radiating from them and near m. T. A. Headquarters. And a lot more fair inspector rs and ride five. And which lines are we doing it on . And who are we getting . I get that we need that as a tool when were having and the Fare Enforcement policy that relies on that to some degree. I dont love the impacts of when i am a rider around who gets pulled off. That people are changing and with the level of clines. I want to look at how we are doing that not just in certain parts of the city and the entire city. And they discussed this as a recent Board Meeting and director tumlin gave good comments on that with why they need some element of that. And if not, it is not my preferred thing. I dont necessarily see it as the most equitable tool. To continue to impoverish and make sure we do it as fairly as possible. That part of how the current fare system works. Okay. I just have a couple more questions as the supervisor of district nine representing the mission district, i face this question quite a bit myself. I am wondering how you would respond. Which communities of color support the placement with the gentrification and your opinion about that and how to respond to those concerns to be drawn up. And we have been listening to the concerns that comes up and to remember that and what i perceive doesnt always matter in those situations. I need to listen and understand and to understand where the concerns are coming through. Maybe there is a stlugs where we can ameliorate and find a solution that works to people. To still build a Robust Network and to keep that in mind. And figure out what that really means and within the broader system of trying to deliver a bike network, but maybe this situation it doesnt merit that in the particular community. That is an important role. This is not about one comprehensive set of needs. If not, then were not doing our job. Thank you. I appreciate your answers to the questions. Thank you. Now if we could hear do you have another question . I just thought of another question. And wondering if you like sfmta and the efforts to engage particularity community of color and the positions and doing a good job and if there are examples of where improvements could be made. I think sometimes i forget the exact name of it and the understanding and transportation to the community. In term of how robust and the community and focus groups to make sure we are not just doing it one way. We are not just doing it at a meeting or writing an email. Efforts like that on the one hand where we are learning and letting better and unfortunately, there are a lot of times where that is not always the case. So there is room or improvement there and starting to see that and the different efforts if that regard and i feel like i have seen more inclusive language with that. And there is no this isnt the time to rest on our laurels with that. And if we started to do better and communicate even more. And so there is always more work to do and especially in making sure that were meeting people where they are at and providing adequate support and two things that stick out to me. And way that improvement these kinds of plans and with the holistic areas and with one west side transit and and august 22 was the date and that is part of the overall plan for light rail to improvement reliability. And improvement efficiency in the tunnel and embarcadero. And because of the construction and with the construction project underway and from that areas and the west side and from the outer park side and to transfer to light rail at best. I heard from a lot of rideers and constituents that is unreasonable and particularly for the case of seniors and people with disabilities. And that is going to be huge challenge to make two transfers and will just drive ridership down even further and lead more people to drive their cars and so i was wondering what your thoughts are about that. Of course. Generally, lie tick plan, but as you highlighted there, we are starting to see some weaknesses and that crop up and better reliability in the tunnel and trying to make our trains overall more reliable. With how people are going to make it and to minimize disruptions and not everybodys experience and with the seniors focus and to keep tweak and i think this is an experiment and are trying to figure out the construction and there are extenuating circumstances to figure out ways and to minimize that as much as possible while making service possible. To see what that looks like and overall and what choice do we have. And highlighted and to do that better and most impacted by this and the data says with the expense of who. And trying to be mindful of that to keep the spirit. If you can start off with interest here and supervisor stefani and mar, i am sharon lai and very happy to be here virtually today. I want to share how excited i am with the stake holders with the partnership and with the city planner and with the applicant and with the community advocate. With walking and biking to have the kids and a daily transit rider. With the Public Transit. And the with the mobility and my familys immigrant experience and my parents didnt know how to drive and we had to rely on Public Transit, and the doctors appointment and the lived experience has left a deep appreciation and student achievement. With multiple unsafe residents and with pedestrians with persistent agenda arenaed equity issues and safety concerns that the most vulnerable. With the stake holders as i have come to depend on partnerships with your respective offices and the community to become more informed as a Decision Maker with the various capacities. And as the agency faces fewer resources and require feedback and innovative solutions. And the personal and professional experiences prepared me for this role. And in closing i wish to thank the Community Leaders to call in if you are on the line and supervisors, thank you for your consideration. I am happy to answer any questions. Supervisors, do you have any questions . Supervisor stefani. Thank you, chair ronen. Thank you, ms. Lai for the introduintr introductory remarks. I think your experience as you just laid out is essential and remarkable that will be very good and the expertise and the lived experience is more important than ever. And the one thing i asked as well is in terms of the recession we are in, what guidance would you give the city and sfmda in terms of the economic recovery needed to get our Transit System back on track. I think it is important that as we really look at transportation as a basic right for the communities that really dont have alternative and arent ablebodied and Public Transit to uplift the voices and make sure the needs are evaluated as we look at the limited pot of resources that we have. With the atrisk communities, it is currently seems like a good idea to move away from fair box recovery. It is the m. T. A. s responsibility to balance their own budget and to be thinking outside the box and working with all of our partners and also at the state and local level to identify new sources to provide this very important, really basic right that our communities rely on. When i think about economic recovery and that is the part of the responsibility that m. T. A. And transit and not forget the rightofway which is very much a part of the conversation for. And a lot of the more recent experience and shared spaces that have been discuss and vibrancy is an important part of the recovery process. And particularly because many of us appreciate the uniqueness of the character and the different neighborhoods and without the vibrancy and businesses and residents have fewer reasons to stay and be vested in our community. I think thats a very big part of the recovery conversation. I have been look lu enough to join in on the transportation recovery working groups and one of the things that i really focus on advocating for is to encourage m. T. A. To leverage the existing c. B. O. S in the neighborhood and the feedback and rely on existing Community Infrastructure that your offices and the nonprofits have already established, particularly those that are of languagebased services because we dont have the time to reinvent the wheel and to be honest, m. T. A. Is not going to do a better job at connecting culturally and sensitively to the neighborhoods as the existing that are already working to advance the interest of their own communities. Great. Thank you for that answer. One last question in terms of transit and rider safety which you mentioned. And paying particular attention to safety and obviously it goes above and beyond and chair ronen asked the question earlier. Driver safety. What ideas do you have around that . And if you have ideas around making Transportation System safer for all that ride it and those who are drivers how can we make it safe for somebody . We are all aware and women as you mention and the area before for a variety of reasons. And for me addressing safety and is a big part of the equity conversation and mention Driver Safety and that is a big part of the work force and have trouble retaining and muni drivers to not put them as a top priority. And with the planning background is very key. And obviously with way that we have decades ago laid out even simple things and the elevator and well beyond the platform and the unsafe conditions and the good lighting is very important for the riders experience. And in and around the bus station. And we have seen success with m. T. A. s ambassador programs and i would love to see that be elevated and have more presence to help with navigation and make raiders feel more safe if an issue arises and in my very personal experience, some of the safety issues that came up during the course of ride being on tran precipitate is really not due to a lack of other people being aware of the situation. Its really the public including myself and riders not really provided the training on education about Public Awareness and really understanding what to do in a situation. And also the aftermath of that. And what do you do and part of the equity and its really not a very easy to navigate process and a good command and is generally well informed and i found it very difficult. To raise awareness and report the situation. And the safety concerns and the first step for m. T. A. And to do comprehensive evaluation. Thank you so much. Chair ronen and thank you, i just had a few questions similar to the questions that i had for ms. Natoli. And wondering what communication you have had and aware of the issues advocates around in their concerns and what to do to address them. And similar to ms. Natoli, i have not been able to have direct communication with the twut60 and love the opportunity to connect with them. Their concerns have been discussed in some of the prior conversations with some of the supervisors and the very basic, general understanding and then successfully renegotiate a contract about a year ago, maybe less than a year ago. And currently it seems like a lot of the messages that i have seen from the leadership is around addressing and providing safety the current pandemic situation and bus Driver Safety around them. To increase the Ambassadorship Program and platforms to navigate and help turn away some of the unsafe or riders that seem like they could become an issue and we dont want to expose the texas drivers and with the Transportation System to further harm and at a higher rate and because they are essential. And is there a particular topic that you feel you would like me and huge support of date and it does concern me that neither of you have reached out or even it sounds like ms. Natoli has reached out, but havent made it a point that its very important to meet with the union. Youre going to hear a lot from management and it is important that you get that worker perspective and hear it from their elected representatives. So i would ask that you reach out. Both supervisor fewer, preston and i have been trying to figure out how to help the situation there in dire straits. Wondering if you have back with them and the elimination of the life savings and is so awful. Just your thoughts on that. That is a very unfortunate and with the issue with the credit union and not sure that the m. T. A. Has the ability to move the needle on that conversation. With the essential workers and there are opportunities to expand on partnerships like that and truly the t. N. C. Situation which none of us i think could have predicted five, 10 years ago and really controlled by state legislate and cant really stop them. To expand on that. With the symbol to gentrify the community and your spots on that. As another, i dont regularly use those modes of transportation and from what i have observed in the neighborhoods. And that to reserve the rightofway for the pedestrian activities. And the micro abilities. And to work closely with the Community Office to truly understand the communitys concerns. I would hope that they would equally and different types of programs to remove the barriers. And equally feel that the point Companies Need to take that lens and also just specifically understand not the same. And if they fwhoshg another neighborhood or city, that doesnt mean it works in the mission or specific neighborhood. And if my colleagues dont have any questions, we can open this up for Public Comment. And again i will repeat before victor gives his instructions that each member of the public will have two minutes to speak and speak about either or both to the m. T. A. Board. Members of the public should call 4156550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1465300679. And then press pound and pound again. If you havent done so, dial star 3 and the system prompt will indicate you have rauzed your hand and may begin your community. We have 29 callers on the line with 13 lined up to speak. Can we have the first caller please . Caller i am calling as an individual not affiliated with any group or organization. I am dialling in to voice support for sharon la toys, the m. T. A. Board. Sharon knows firsthand with the necessity for increased language and infrastructure and how essential it is to expand public transportation. Sharon is a mindful, inclusive and the number of the infrastructure and transportation committee. With the lived experience and public transportation, biking, walking and the children and the technical planning exper cease is the effective policy for sfmta and kindly urge the Committee Appointments and i want to conclude by thanking the chair and Committee Members and offer sincere appreciation to the Clerks Office. Can we hear from the next caller please . My name is milo and i live in district 8 and calling to support jane natoli and sharon lai and great nominees and to do the homework and the real track record of being invested in transit and being aware of other peoples lived experiences and not just their own and being open minded and considering all the complicated, moving parts that one needs to consider as m. T. A. Commissioner. And now transit intersects with so many other aspects of life in the city. And i think the city will be stronger and better managed at each of these nominees gets confirmed. Thank you so much for the consideration. And i would like to see both of these nominees on the board, too. Thank you. Thank you. Can we have the next caller please . This is sarah lynn adams. I am calling in support of sharon lais appointment to the boards m. T. A. Board and incredible work across a variety of top ins and will bring the insight and leadership and focus on community and equity on board. Economic recovery and covid and beyond and is keenly important for the staff and to go to work and school when they can do that and will be a great addition to the board and thanks for the time and support today. Take care. Thank you. Can we have the next caller please . Hi. This is ruby and i am a San Francisco residents in d5 and native and calling in support of sharon lai. The sfmta commission is incredibly important to insuring that it is equitable, safe and the diverse board is critical in bringing more perspectives to choose Better Outcomes for our community. And understood served as a representative in transit. And i believe more representation is an important step to getting those voices at the table. Sharon is a great fit for sfmta and Community Engagement and if confirmed and i believe the only representative on the current sfmta board. And with the fellow commissioner on the Treasure Island Development Authority and consistently pushing to address equity issues and passionate and takes the role seriously to become inclusive, equitable and thriving neighborhood. And personally an incredible time to understand the proposal and cooperation and transparency and dedicated to the community. And to diversify and working that board and someone who does it and transit is my lifeline and are enhanced and inhibited by transit. And i believe will bring. And make sfmta better. The next caller, please. Good afternoon. I am the director of west bay philippino services and good afternoon supervisor ronen, stefani and mar. And speaking in support of sharon lai for sfmta and appreciate the volunteerism and willingness to understand diverse perspective and always making sure those that are most marginalized are prioritized and the organization at west bay serves predominantly filipino families and are low income and use public transportation. And support the nomination as an immigrant and Asian American immigrant Community Members and will be able to understand and advocate for all the families in the time she is involved. And to go above and beyond and make sure their voices are heard and the voices of all those most vulnerable. And thank you so much. Thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. I am the executive director and a native of pedestrian and the organization with thousands and thousands of youth all over the bay area and with the support for sharon and that girl is responsible and reliable and helpful and has integrity and hopefully she can get on the sfmta board. And london breed in the city yard. And thank you. Can we have the next caller please. The executive director and to the sfmta board of directtors and working with sharon in the day job and with a Property Developer and she understands the importance and environment and now they get around our city. And the background gives her a strong insight into the different means of communities throughout the cities. As the board of directors. And work with jane over the three years and is professional and dedicated and the background in finance is a needed skillset and the sfmta in a time of budget cuts and resource scarcity will mean more than ever. The commitment to social justice is one that i want to speak to as well. I have seen her always ask questions about the project we have advocated more and always thought of in the decisions that are made. And the particular and attention and given to the challenges to the city and also valuable perspectives that the board needs at this point. And right now as we look at the transportation recovery for the city, it is so essential that the sfmta board of directors has the people on it to do the job. And so i strongly urge you to recommend sharon and jane. Thanks for jour time. Thank you. Sorry. Just wanted to note that we currently have 37 callers on the line with 25 people waiting to speak. If you have not already done so, press star 3 to be added to the queue. For those on hold, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. Next caller please. And will be brief and the cochair and as a chairperson of the San Francisco and with the law as a peace and a transgender man. As a transgender person i know that roles matter on the sfmta board. And jane natolis experience and west side representative and riding Public Transition is incredibly important to me and it is my due to make an important addition to the sfmta board and thank you very much for listening. Next caller please. And here to speak on behalf of jane natoli to the sfmta board. The pleasure to work with jane and the personal and professional relationship with her and she has served as a volunteer at the lgbtq center and board of directors. I can speak to the passion for transit and for people. And the ability to balance the needs of many different sort of San Francisco residents. And the different Transportation Needs that people have. And manage the different, sometimes difficult to balance needs and diverse San Francisco communities. And the ability to hear different perspectives and how to spe grate systems and policies and the impact on people. And people have spoken to the robust discussion about peoples lived experiences and sfmta and to speak to janes ability to share the experiences and with the policies and that will work for us in San Francisco. And thank the members of the committee and encourage the strong support for jane natoli. Thank you. Next caller please. And primarily get around San Francisco and calling in support of both and sharon la irks appointment. And a strong supporter of janes and experience working with her and the Bicycle Coalition and caltran and experience with the m. T. A. Board and through that network and through the experience and working with jane and make a strong addition to the m. T. A. Board and valuable perspective. She would do a good job of listening to the stakeholders and helping to weigh the concerns with San Franciscos stated position. And please, i encourage you to move these nominations to the full board with a recommendation to support. Thanks. Thank you. Next caller please. Can you hear me now . We can hear you. Please proceed. Great. Thanks. David pill january pal. Several comments. I do not know the nominees personally and enough bicycle advocacy and the neighborhood Small Business and transit advocate and more vacancy and to suggest Steve Cornell and ted low enberg be nominated to the m. T. A. Board and before it and can move to permanently abandon the three jackson 18, 46th avenue and 27 bryant. And muni districts and elsewhere in other routes of the city. And please bear in mind that the appointees could serve for 12 years of the board. And the m. T. A. Board needs to do a much better job of hearing and responding to Public Comment especially constructive and opposing voices. And finally, the final whereas clause on line 18 of both motions has a typo at the beginning and should read serve instead of serves. You may want to make that amendment. Thanks very much. Thank you. Can we have the next caller please . Hello. And my name is im sorry. And the d1 district resident and member of the Pedestrian Safety committee. And to support the m. T. A. Board for jane natoli. And while riding during increment weather and through the Sf Bike Coalition and the personal sounding board and researching in the role on the psac. And the conversation of chain is sent on the other hand seniors, family and transit riders with disabilities. Supervisor ronen touchdown on bike share expansion and is a constant, calm, and insightful presence in Many Committee meetings and the m. T. A. And neighbors and Community Input is being taken for different types of Traffic Safety initiatives and bike share expansion. And with the bike share stations and based on transit and policies and sfmta should be following and jane is a voice of reason and further background skills in working with complex and with the members of the sfmta. Thank you. Thank you. Next caller please. And supervisors, the policy director at the Transit Center calling in today in support of sharon lai and i think that one category of constituents and dont have or have historically been understood represented and currently dont have a voice in the sfmtas process on the sfmta board are people that are reliant on transit and not by choice, not by the whims of how the day close. And the low income and immigrant residents of the city. And will be a strong advocate and to understand directly what impact changes in public processes and in Public Transit are going, and how theyre going to result and be experienced by communities of color. And i cant be remiss to say representation doesnt matter and sfmta who overruled repeatedly the community and the a. P. I. Community and i hope that you can wholeheartedly support sharon lai and the appointment to the sfmta. Thank you very much. Next caller please. Good afternoon, supervisors. I am calling in support of the nomination to the m. T. A. Board. I know jane through the sf Bicycle Coalition and member of both organizations and jane encouraged me to run for the Coalition Board a couple of years ago and has been very supportive and calm person on this and i think the leadership as someone who has herself in the traffic violence and i once had a conversation with jane where she mentioned having been doored on some street. I thought you were doored on howard street. Yes, i was also doored on howard street. I was doored twice and important on the m. T. A. Board we have representatives who have personally felt the impact of the safety changes that we make from the city and something that not upon the current advocacy and i dont think we have had someone who has quite literally bled for it in this way. I strongly urge you to support the nomination. Thank you. Can we have the next caller please . Caller good afternoon. My name is kate black and it is my mon nor to speak in support of sharon lai and the immediate supervisor when she worked as an urban planner starting in 2005 and we go way back and impressed by sharon smart and the work ethic and energy. And expressed an interest in transportation as an essential urban need and the representative need and the Congestion Management Agency which is the regional consortium. And this is typically the responsibility given to a more experienced planner. I gave it to her because of the strong interest and would perform well and she did. And respected by the city council t planning commission, coworkers and members of the community. Since piedmont, sharon has distinguished himself in each step of the veer for the condition and urban planning and Development Experience along with the strong transportation. As a longtime planner, prior to retirement, and now the Historic Preservation commissioner, i know how essential it is for Decision Makers to listen to communicate across all stakeholder groups. And has demonstrated from the current position on the Treasure Island Development Board and the Nonprofit Organization and School Age Children and home life ballot and the Transportation Needs of families and very importantly as a fluent chinese speaker and i think that these with the baked in characteristic can make her a strong leader, collaborative partner and speakers time has elapsed. Thank you. Can we hear from the next caller please. Caller hi. I am kevin burke. I live in the mission and calling to speak in support of both candidates nominations. I appreciate their dedication to bicycle and San Francisco safety and i think they are both strong advocates for transit and will help make San Francisco a cleaner and safer place to live. Thanks very much. Thank you. Can we have the next caller. Hi. Good afternoon. My name is tommy chan and i am a member of the Chinatown Transportation Research and i want to share the organizations for support for sharon lais appoint tonight the sfmta board. And applaud the m. T. A. Initiative to increase the diversity of the board so it more accurately reflects the overall ridership. And i had conversations with sharon commitment and the willingness to listen to the communities. And safe planning and to sfmta will be a huge asset and we look forward to the partnership with m. T. A. And sharon. Thank you. Thank you. Next caller please. Hello. I am Patrick Traver calling in support of jane natoli and i have known jane for several years now and worked in several different xas tis. I am a member of the Pike Coalition and very active in transportation advocacy and i think jane would make a fantastic sfmta board member to represent all of San Francisco and especially those who get around using transit and active transportation in support of our citys goals . Thank you very much and please confirm jane to the board. Thank you. Can we get next caller . Caller i am calling in support of jane natoli and i am a teacher and Sf Bike Coalition member and have had the privilege of knowing jane for several years. Apart from being imminently qualified for this role, jane is an individual of extraordinary integrity, empty and personal kindness. She is a champion of sustainable and safe transportation and will move m. T. A. Toward its vision zero goals as well as net zero carbon emissions. Further more, queer kids in our Public Schools need more role models in our government. Trans representation in our city falls short of where we want it to be and we need to do our part in making sure our government reflects the diversity in our city. [please stand by] she is always looking to see things from other peoples perspective and bringing in other voices and perspectives. I think that demeanor would be a tremendous asset to the s. F. M. T. A. Board. Thank you. Next caller, please. [roll call] thank you, chair ronen and members for this opportunity to speak in support of mayor breeds two nominations. I am the executive director of walk San Francisco. The only pedestrian advocacy organization. We believe San Francisco can be the most walkable city in the United States. In 2014 we passed the goal to end all fails and severe traffic crashes by 2024. We still have 30 people lose their lives and 600 suffer serious injuries because of traffic violence. We are only four years away from vision zero. It is imperative any board member must prioritize the city policy in every decision. As funding is declining, we need Board Members to make hard choices to prioritize the most vulnerable. We believe jane and sharon will put vision zero at the center. Jane has firsthand experience of traffic violence multiple times. This will provide a perspective that is desperately needed. She has worked on campaigns and understands the community of stakeholders voices. I believe this will serve her well as a period member. For sharon, she brings a personal and professional experience. As someone who worked within the city agency and private developer, she knows constraints of City Government and variety of Resources Available from private infrastructure. This is going to be a valuable perspective as we watch the declining s. F. M. T. A. Budget. I ask the rules committee send jane and sharons nomination to the full board of supervisors with a positive recommendation. Thank you. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller i am nick ro rosario, Program Manager here to voice support for both jane and sharon. For jane, i have had the privilege of being able to work with her on advocacy of safe streets and making sure San Francisco is accessible to everyone for public transportation. Working with sharon lai, she was on the board of directors and her years of working with us and being able to bring different stakeholders and different groups to support our cause in which we educate and screen the community on hepatitis b which is one of the most disproportionately cases which affected the cancer. For sharon being able to bring different Community Members and organizations to help support our mission is important. I believe these two great individuals will be able to bring that diverse experience to m. T. A. To be able to get us out of this pandemic and the challenges we will face afterward. They will provide an innovative experience and idea. That is why we have to make sure we have jane and sharon on the board as well. I thank you for your time. Thank you, members of the rules committee, please confirm their nomination. Thank you. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller i am a resident of district 10. I am calling in support of jane. We need members now given the current membership on the board and challenges ahead. She has dedicated herself to improving transportation across San Francisco and brings a strong skill set. She is the openly transmember of the board. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller thank you for giving me the chance to share my perspective. I am on the board of the United Democratic club. I want be to express my support for janen jane natoli she is a r of the board of directors of the Bicycle Coalition and the lbgt center and bond oversight committee. Most of all she is dedicated to the most vulnerable neighbors. She has been bringing groceries and prescriptions to elderly neighbors. She bicycles over to the neighbors. She is dedicated and thoughtful advocate and neighbor. She cares so much about everybody in San Francisco, how they get around safely. I hope you will support janes nomination to the m. T. A. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller hello. I am speaking here as a transgender mom and public schoolteacher to support jane natoli. I would like to see more lbgtq representatives to support our families. I speak as a parent and schoolteacher. We need youth to look up to these people to support us by coming out in these challenging times. Thank you so much. Have a great day. Just reminder. Call 4156550001. 146 5300679 and press pound and pound. Star three to speak. System will indicate you have raised your hand. Wait until you are unmuted to begin comments. At this time we have 10 caller this is line to speak. Next caller, please. Caller i am calling in to support jane natoli to the m. T. A. Board. I know jane through shared activism through transit issues and friend. I support here. She is well qualified and competent and long standing advocate to make San Francisco more affordable for all of us. As a fellow member of the querooer community she walks the walk. I have seen her bicycle as exclusive forms of transportation. She would be the first transgender member and lone representative from th from theq community to make our transit more accessible. This city cant afford to have an under staffed transportation board. I urge you to fill the current vacancies with jane and sharon so the city is prepared to tackle the Public Health crisis. Thank you. Next caller. Caller i live in the mission and i am calling in support of jane natoli. I was a member of the Bike Coalition and she did a great job being on the board. She looks at everyones perspective. I urge you to make a positive recommendation for her nomination. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller good afternoon. I am Dale Alexander represent the richmond tra richmond trans. I am calling to support jane. She will do the work to approve access to urban transportation and to improve access to families throughout San Francisco. Thank you. Next caller. Caller hello. I am a resident of excel see or calling to appoint the mayors appointment to the s. F. M. T. A. I am enthusiastic about janena tollly. She has a great awareness of the individual streets. She doesnt live here and wasnt paid for it. This was long before she was nominated. She really cares about safety for all san franciscans. I have every confidence she will uphold the transit first policy and vision zero program. I urge you to approve her nomination with positive recommendation. I also approve sharon lai. I feel that we need more engagement with large parts of our city community. Between her personal and professional experience i am sure she will effectively uphold the transit first policy. I urge you to approve sharon lais nomination with a positive recommendation. Next caller. Caller i am a soma resident. First generation asian immigrants. I get around by walking and biking and taking muni. I support both nominees and especially jane natoli to the San Francisco board of supervisors with a positive recommendation. We can use someone with sharons wealth of experience and background and perspective on how transit has been in other countries. They do it better than we do. As for jane natoli. She really walks the walk or bikes the bike. For her the idea of those versions is not abstract. It is something that she has lived and bled and will take seriously as a board member. I strongly urge you to advance both nominees with positive recommendations to the board of supervisors. Thank you very much. Next caller, please. Caller good afternoon everybody. Jordan here district 6 resident and transgender woman and former commissioner. While i think there should be more transcommissioners, jane nato li is not the one. Oppose her. She does not ride muni daily. That is something we need to do. If you road on a daily basis you would see so many equity issues that cant be covered in a few minutes. I have also looked at her statements around fare increase and she would support it. We rejected christina for that. Also, transgender people are economically disadvantaged. The fare increases are bad for us. Especially black and brown transgender people are victims of police and Public Safety mechanisms. When it comes to Fare Enforcement and her job being adjacent to policing, it is very concerning. I would be very nervous to have someone who thinks twitter is actually a valid form of Public Outreach and very much doesnt engage communities. I am encouraging you to oppose her nomination because she will not serve the transcommunity and the city as a whole. I am upset the Mayors Office of Transgender Initiative was pushing for her when they dont push other candidates that question the mayor. Please reject jane natoli. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller thank you. I am a delegate for the California Democratic party and board member of the United Democratic club and lbgt democratic club. I am speaking in support of jane natoli. She is well qualified with job experience and personal experience. As an lbgt woman, i acknowledge there are visible gaps in representation for women and trans women at every level. Electing them is aness temperature to correcting the imbalances and biases in the greater system and society. Representation equates to distribution of resources and funding. It is often overlooked communities are not represented. When women and people from minority communities are asking from positions of power there is a drastic impact on the marginalization of these communities. It is a key factor how children and these populations grow up. By obtaining equal representation it is a long term challenge we must work deliberately and strategically to achieve. Please support jane natoli for s. F. M. T. A. Board afternoon bringing that representation to this body. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller i am stacy. I live in pat tarot hill. I am calling to support jane and sharon. What i have read about sharon she sounds like an excellent candidate. I do know jane. I have gotten to know her through her work with San Francisco Bike Coalition and people protected. Jane bikes, takes transit, loves this city and wants it to work for everyone. That is really everyone. I have no idea what the earlier caller was referring to because she speaks to a wide variety of Community Members and rides muni when ever she is not on a bike. She is intelligent, thoughtful and ready to work. I dont observ own a car. My city is not safe enough for my teens to join me. They travel by muni. My family and all san franciscans need safe streets and for muni to be reliable and affordable. I believe the board will be in a better position to tackle the challenges ahead with these women at the table. I hope that you will give them highest recommendation, approve them and get them on the board as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller hi. I am calling to support jane natoli for the s. F. M. T. A. Board. I recently met jane. I have gone back through the history that she is going to be a positive force for the s. F. M. T. A. And for helping people to ride bikes and walking is to make the city healthier. She is a calm voice ever of rea. Thank you very much. Next caller, please. Caller good afternoon. I am matt. One of the organizers with the people protected bike lane. I have known jane for many years now. I describe her as the model San Francisco citizen. I have every belief she will be accessible to the new citizens she meets through this role as she has been over the last years i have gotten to know her. The thing to say about jane is she shows up. The other thing that is relevant to this conversation jane is a two time victim of car violence herself. That is superimportant to bring the board as we reprioritize streets and be safe for people to walk, bike and take transit. I encourage you to support janes nomination today. Finally, i am just learning about sharon through this process. One thing i will say. I engage with the board a lot. We are missing the perspective of the parent with young children. Things like broken elevators, delayed castro station elevator affects our family. For parents with small children to understand that as they use transit or bikes to get around that is relevant and i am excitedtor sharons recommendation on the board. Thank you very much. Next caller, please. Caller i am isabel. D5 resident. Calling to appoint janes appointment to the board. She is an avid transit rider and if not riding m. T. A. She is biking. She has a keen awareness of the challenges. The dedication has led her to being a board member for the Bike Coalition. Her professional experience, i believe, will lend even more insight into the Current Issues facing the s. F. M. T. A. She investigating financial crimes and so she i think will be valuable at a time when multiple departments are implications in the corruption scandal. He ability to see many sides of issue understand when tough decisions need to be made. I recommend her to be one of the strongest candidates for the s. F. M. T. A. Board. I hope you send her forward. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller this is martin calling from the lower haight. I support jane and sharon for the s. F. M. T. A. Board. We have two strong intelligent women to become the newest members of the board. We need more representation. On a personal note, the nominations of the two are really personal to me because as part of the lbgt q community, i want more folks understanding our concerns on the board. As immigrant seeing live experience coming to this country and navigating the Transit Systems that are lacking in the United States especially in large cities that depend on transit and seeing how she is using personal experience to guide her in the Decision Making throughout her career. Those are inspiring to me personally. I would like to say as somebody who is a muni rider. I have never owned a car. It is really great to see folks with that experience coming to the board. In the case of natoli, i love bike advocacy. I would love to see more safe streets for more bike trips. The city streets are dangerous. Jane has been in traffic violence where other folks have died on the streets. I do think that janes nomination will bring that perspective that is so deeply needed on the board. It is not just nice to have it is a life situation. Please move forward to both recommendations and do what is right for San Francisco. Thank you. If you have not already done so press star 3 to speak. If you are on hold continue to wait until you are unmuted. We have three callers to speak. Next speaker, please. Caller hello. I am flo kelly. I live in district nine. I volunteer with the coalition on homelessness. I want be to address both candidates. I hope that you see folks who live in their vehicles as our unsheltered neighbors. They are our neighbors who need to be able to park safely without having to constantly move and become separated from the community. M. T. A. s policy of not towing vehicles during covid has worked well. Many Community Organizations recommend to continue no poverty towing when the city opens up. Towing a home on wheels ends by one more person or family being unsheltered. If you are appointed to the m. T. A. Board i hope you will be an advocate for unharnessed neighbors. Thank you unhoused neighbors. Thank you. I am Margaret Bonner in favor of jane natoli. We need this board at full strength. Janes perspective would be valuable for the s. F. M. T. A. Board. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Next caller, please. Caller good afternoon. I am mike and i am the district 2 representative to the citizens advisory council. I support both jane and sharon. We are fortunate to have qualified individuals. Speaking in terms of identity i would like to say as lbgtq, asian and to have two representing communities and have histories of deep service in the community. Jane has the support and a letter from the lbgt democratic club. Please forward these to the full board with a positive recommendation. Thank you very much. Next caller, please. Caller madam chair, that completes the queue. Thank you so much. I want to appreciate everyone who came out to give Public Comment. Given one Public Commenter, i want to ask both ms. Natoli and ms. Lai about fare increases. If you remember this board did not reappoint mr. Rubki because of that issue. It is important to me to not increase fares. You cant wait until muni is free. But during this crisis, it is essential to me that as we are getting through the crisis and recovering from it that fares are not increased. I just want to hear your thoughts on that question from both of you. I should have asked that question to you the first time around. I am glad it was brought up in Public Comment. I am happy to talk about that. I support not having those fare increases. I have been on record of saying that elsewhere. I feel like in other interviews and comments. I understand why the board did what it did in terms of the board. I think one thing to consider as well as the board