Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Rules Committee 20240712

Im supervisor hilary ronen and vice chair stephanie and gordon mar. I would like to thank everyone for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Yes. Due to the covid19 emergency and to protect board members, City Employees and the public, the board of Supervisors Committee room are closed. However, members will be participating in the meeting remotely and Committee Members will attend the meeting through Video Conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present. Public comment will be available on each item on the agenda and both channel 26 and other cable channels and sfgov are streaming the number across the screen. You can call 415 6550001. The meeting i. D. Is 416 9714708 and then press pound and pond again. When connected, you will hear meeting discussions and be in listening hold. When your item of interest comes up, star three to be ad to the speaker line and call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turn down your television or radio. You may submit Public Comment in either of the following way,s email myself at eict rock. Young sfgov. Org and via email to the board of supervisors. That completes my comments. Thank you so much and can you please read item number one. Item number one is ordinance of the administrative code to the Northern California of journalists as a nominating body to the board of supervisors to hold the seat on a Sunshine Ordinance Task force from a ratio ethnic minorityowned used organization and to modify the qualifications for that seat. Fantastic colleagues, weve heard this item last week and dont have a rep from supervisor peskins office. If theres to comment, well open to this up for Public Comment. I would like to make a statement. Members who call 415 6550001 for Public Statement and the meeting i. D. Is 146 9714708, pound and pound and if you havent done so, dial star three and system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand and please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you may begin. Are there any members of the public online . There are no callers in the queue. Thank you so much. Public comment is closed and i would like a motion to forward this to the full board with recommendation. If we can have a role call. role call . Can you read from items two , three and four together. Well ask to keep comments under five minutes and then two minutes per caller who can talk about one or several of the candidates today. Item number two is a motion approving rejecting the nomination for the reappointment of season diamond to the Planning Commission for a fouryear term ending july 1s july 1st, 2024 and number three, removing the nomination for the reappoint of joe kopel for a fouryear term ending julr move is approving objecting the board of supervisors, norman yee for maria teresa imperial to the Planning Commission for a fouryear term ending in 2024. Thank you so much. And i believe lets start with mr. Diamond. Good morning. Good to have you and thank you for your all your service thus far and please share with us whatever you would like. Thank you, can i just make sure you can all hear and see me . We can. Wonderful. Good morning, supervisors. Last november, i was honored to be appointed to the plan commission. Its a big responsibility. I made decisions that are very tough with the best interests with covid in mind. There are underlying problem, especially communities of color related to racial and social equity, housing access, economic recovery and Small Business vitality and our commission is well structured to be reactive, but instead of with the status quo, the commission could be more proactive in addressing the lanuse issues related to the pandemic and systemic racism. And given that our commission seizesees hundreds of cases, its uniquely situated to see the trends. For the past 40 years, lawyer representing profits for major real estate projects, volunteer board member, land use lawyer, educator and now commissioner, i had never been willing to settle for the status quo. I see my job as understanding the concerns, doing the due diligence, listening to a range of views and advancing the meaningful change. So as one idea, instead of merely responding to legislation at a time when people were already set on an approach, perhaps they could hold forums and retreats with the lands board use committee, automobile subject t. This collaboration mik well for phase two of the racial and social equity and additionally, we could change the assumption, the commission is the second to last stop this the process. By the time the Commission Sees projects, applicants have been spending money for years pursuing an approval, generally permitted by the code and applicants and staff resist much change at this late stage and activists are left to react to make projects designed without them. We have some power to require changes if we can show nexus. This can result in those who depend those who show up to protest, undermining predictability and consistency. Instead, perhaps we should insist, require that long before a submission of the ppa, applicants meet with staff, their supervisor, Community Groups and the commission to discuss the proposed project. Theres been a lot of turnover on the Planning Commission in the last year and i think we can benefit from some stability. The Current Group has a great working relationship where we help each other to formulate suingses to tough problems. So i hope you confirm all three of us. Nine months ago, the ceos from numerous nonprofits showed up at the rules committee to show up. I did not want to ask them to take time out to testify against so soon after the last hearing but have the submitted support letters which should be in your packet. Finally, i have worked hard to develop credibility with my fellow commissioners and with the other players in the process. I have learned so much and believe i have so much more to contribute as a commissioner. If you it would be an honor and a privilege to continue to serve. Thank you. Thank you so much. Do either of my colleagues have any questions . Chair ronen, i dont have any questions and ill wait until after Public Comment. I would like to interrupt one moment. I believe were having a technical issue that retrying to resolve on our Public Comment line. If you dont mind taking a short pause or recess, we would appreciate that. Ok, how long would you like to recess . Five minutes, please. Were going to recess for five minutes. Sorry about that short break. We have Public Comment back up and running and we are on iteming two, three and four ad were hearing all three items together. The way we will move forward, we have already heard the comments of the Planning Commission, suzannsusan die man diamond and, the three of us will be asking questioning or making comments and well hear from the next appointee and do the same and when were doing hearing from all three appointees, we will open this up for Public Comment and every member will have two minutes to speak about any or all or some of the three appointments. And so with that, thanks again, miss diamond for comments and supervisor stephanie, handing it over to you. Thank you, chair ronen and chair diamond for your remark. We discussed so many different topics, including housing on the west side and how were doing better and hope to continue to and also racial and social equity in housing and retail vacancies. We covered it all and i think our conversation was an hour. I want to thank you for what you said about being proactive instead of reactive on so many levels and how the Planning Commission might work with the board of supervisor. I dont have a question per say because i dont want to take a lot of time and im supporting your reappointment. I think youre a great addition to the Planning Commission. But i want you to know that your emphasis on so much of what we do, especially at the planning level is reactive, that if we could really somehow as a Planning Commission and board of supervisors work on po policieso address that with so many listings that come to you, i would love to participate in that. Dont really have a question and thank you for your incredible work. Youve been wonderful. Thank you for reaching out to me at times and i look forward to approving your appointment again. Supervisor mar. I want to thank commissioner diamond for your very thoughtful and diligent work and leadership on the Planning Commission thus far and its been very impressive. Yeah, just to see you step into the Important Role and i just have one question ill ask of you and the other commissioners who are being reappointed or nominated for reappointment and i would like to get your thoughts on housing balance in the city and, you know, like many in the city, i think its very important that we are more thoughtful about our strategies to address the housing crisis in our city and that means im looking at the housing that were approving and building in our city. There was 25. 5 housing balance and its a pretty extreme in favror market rate housing. And this is reflected when we look at how were making progress towards our regional goals or the Housing Needs allocation and, again, im sure youre aware that we are needing exceeding the market rate housing, i think, by 138 and that goal is through 2022. Whereas, were far behind in meeting rena goals for Affordable Housing. And i just wanted to get your thoughts about housing balance or imbalance in our city. Thank you, supervisor. That is the primary topic that occupies the commission in terms of how we spend our time, not at the policy level but the implementation, but there are so many things we could talk about within that broad question, and so let me mention a few items. And the rena goals are a good place to start. We, i think, were meeting a third or less than a third of the Affordable Housing. And thats a really important point because while we must produce more of it, the question is where the funds will come from in order to do that. Because we dont have enough money. And we also link market rate housing to Affordable Housing and so that market rate housing is the source of some of our fees in order to build Affordable Housing. And the concerns around this question also relate to, is it tall dance buildings . That does produce a lot of housing and if its on site, we get fees, but we need to be focused on increased production on adus, particularly on the west side so that we are looking at all sources for new housing. The adus may not be, quote affordable but less expensive than downtown luxury buildings. We also need to be giving more thought to what the impact is of where we place our dense housing. For years, most has been going into the Southeast Quadrant of the city with impacts on displacement. I live six hours from gary boulevard and thats a prime increase for dense housing, not downtown skyscrapers, but five, six, certainly stories and many of the units need to be Affordable Housing. I do think we need to continue to produce all kinds of housing, but we need to be very focused on the strategies for Affordable Housing and how we use the dollars available to us to produce the maximum amount. I want to thank you for all of your hard work, miss diamond and like supervisor, mar, i have one question i would like to ask all of the commissioners. In june, the San Francisco Planning Commission adopted a stronglyworded resolution acknowledging the harm harms tocommunity of color and strategies to raise equity in San Francisco. Of course, i was excited about this and i want to ask you what this resolution means to you and how you intend to apply this commitment to change the real life impacts of communities of color on low income workers and Small Businesses. And so, maybe ill talk first about what it means to me personally and why i felt so strongly to adopt a resolution and talk about some of the specific programs, actions that i know were considering to include in phase two of the racial and social equity initiative, which is the primary program we are using or structure to implement change. And so for me personally, i think a few factors behind my deepfelt drive in order to address this problem. And in no particular order. The first is, i have spent much of my volunteer life as an adult involved in creating and sustaining Community Centers. I believe that Community Centers are the way to help everyone in our Community Flourish and it is abundantly clear that we live in a society where flourish is absolutely the wrong word to describe whats happening to major elements of our population. We need to be hypervigilant where were building stocks and the racial and social equity and we need to do a racial and social equity Impact Analysis. And the same way we do sequa analysis to understand the environmental impacts, we need racial and social equity impacts and there are some who would like to incorporate the subject under sequa. I feel like that will take a long time to accomplish and wont be caught up in the courts and we dont need to do that. As a city, we can decide that racial and social Impact Analysis is a requirement before we do most of the projects that we undertake and we can implement that as a commission of the board and i hope that becomes part of phase two. Second, we need to give life to our cultural districts. Theyre an incredible device that focuses on the value of San Francisco is this conglomeration of amazing neighborhoods and many reflect Cultural Heritage and if we want to preserve those, we need to understand when were proposing a project in that district or adjacent to that district, the impact of the Cultural Heritage. I have been on the commission since we adopted the japanese heritage district and i have seen projects that have come before us in the philippino Cultural Heritage district and where not enough time was spent, even by staff and or by the commission until we were called out by the neighborhood groups to say you need to Pay Attention to this and i agree with that and i think thats a really important device to go forward. Thirdly, the two suggestions that i put forward in my remarks at the beginning, i think the preppa engagement is critical. That is where we understand before anybody gets set in their ways, what the impacts are and what the activists are concerned about and even if what the developer is proposing is consistent with the law at that point in time, it may be that is not the intent that people had in mind and that revisions and amendments are necessary and i would much prefer we do that at the beginning of the process than three years into the process. And finally, i would say and this is the other reason, the other comment that i gave is that we shouldnt be developing anything without the input of these Community Groups that are most affected by it. And so when i said we should be having a collaborative approach, not only should the board of supervisors and commissioners be working but the groups most affected at this need to be at the stable, working with usand forms and retreats that benefits everybody. I appreciate that answer. It was the offer of the cultural district legislation and its incredibly important to me and i could not agree with you more on that and thank you so much for your service. And next, were going to call up commissioner jewel kop particular el. Thank you spel. Thank you for be. Thank you so much. This has been a whirl wind of a four years and im still to this day honored and privileged to have gotten the nomination and appointment from late honorable mayor late and to be here four years later requesting a reappointment from the rules committee and its, again, also moving up the ladder from Vice President to president has been completely humbling and i dont take this position for granted. It is a lot of work and a lot of responsibility and i really feel that we have a Great Commission as we speak. Me, myself, im a proud paying member of Electrical Work for district six in San Francisco and i do speak for labor, but i also represent 32 Electrical Contractors here in San Francisco. So i also can look at the business side of things, too, and things need to be addressed equally to make sure we have businesses that employ labor and so, we cant have one without the other. And i do reside in that district currently and just am thrilled to see how we as a city are reacting to these crisies. Im seeing businesses open up and more residents lean towards normalcy and at the same time us taking Public Safety and health as seriously as we can, because we have to bounce back from this and i have to give a great shoutout to our department and secretaries. I think weve had 20 hearings since a small break, since the shutdown, but im still, im in amazement were able to continue to move forward and i understand you started your hearings sooner. So thank you for allowing the city to move forward. Supervisor stephanie. Thank you, chair and thank you, commissioner kop particula. We had great talk last week. Evacuee known each other for a long time and i so appreciate your labor roots and thats how we got to originally know each other. But i also want to appreciate your steady leadership on the Planning Commission during this time of so much change with the new planning director, with the four new commissioners and now with commissioner johnson retiring. And i think having your steady leadership at the helm has been really good and obviously, its not only steady leadership, i think that, you know, a lot of things that you and i discussed last week in terms of being there for the working people and the middleclass and focus on Racial Equity, that im sure we can all proud to see the Planning Commission pass the resolution. And when we talked about the groundfloor retail space and what were going to do in terms of this pandemic and how its hurting our Small Businesses. I appreciated our conversation around that. I dont want to prolong this, because i dont have any questions because im supporting you. I just think youre a great addition to the Planning Commission and i want to emphasize, too, that often, ive been around for awhile and i know chair ronen can attest to this, as well, is that the Planning Commission getting along so well like this. There are differences of opinions, but i think the respect all of you have for one another and how youre working together is something good for all of us to see and i just, fen, your leadership has been great on the Planning Commission and thank you so much and i am thrilled to support your reappointment today. Thank you, supervisor. Thank you so much, supervisor stephanie. Supervisor mar. Thank you, chair ronen. I would echo supervisor stephanies thanks to commissioner koppel, to all of your tremendous leadership and commitment to the Planning Commission over the past four years and really what you bring to the unique perspectives to the important decisions at the Planning Commission is very much appreciated and, yeah, i had a question, again, as i told commissioner diamond. I would be interested in your perspective on the housing balance, expect housing balance report released by the Planning Department shows that were still, you know, have a pretty great imbalance between producing market rate housing versus Affordable Housing. The figure was 21. 5 in the latest housing report and the fact that on ou our arena goals, were meeting or exceeding arena goals for market rate and thats been particularly its more specifispecifically producing co buildings at the higher end of the price bracket. In local six were leaving the city and its alarming. Every year were losing 20 of our membership in the city. And so over ten years, if you go 20 , thats almost zero. And so, more often than not, i will be the one guy speaking about the middleclass because its often forgotten because there arent the same structure belowmarketrate Affordable Housing. Im sorry, were having a hard time hearing you. Could you please repeat the last five sentences. We have done a good job approving lots of units. Look at pier 70, the trail power plant, the giants power plant and that alone is a huge amount of units and, you know, how are we going to equ ec equitably do. I want to look at Worker Protections which are equally as important. And so what ive noticed over the years is that instead of, you know, forcing everyone to go eight stories and up where they dont want to, and thats an extreme case, but certain people are looking at extreme cases and what ive seen and kind of figured out, i think th richmond did it a little better, less of a singlefamily home model and a ground floor lobby where there are three full flats and a lot of the houses are zoned up to 4e family homes and so without raising any height limits or getting into anything too drastic, if we just looked at slightly expanding the density controls in a house of rh2, maybe if they were allowed to go to their height limit and have flee fulthreefull flats and thee large enough that you can have a small family. I wont say you can have a large family in a 1400 flat. Its doable and will hit the price point need to stay here. A lot of us are from here, we live here and our kids are going to school here and we spend our money in the restaurants and we want to keep it that way. Thats just an idea instead of jacking up the zoning heights. Were talking commute and more Carbon Emissions and im always a big fan of staying local and using local contractors and a local workforce and keeping our money her here in the city. Great, thank you so much, commissioner kop particulapel as for your leadership on the Planning Commission. Chair ronen, i dont have any other questions. I want to echo both of my colleagues in thanking you for all of your work over the years and i will ask the same question i asked miss diamond about your race and social equity resolution that i was really excited about and im hoping you can also explain what that means to you and how you intend to apply the commitments and the resolution to change the real life impacts of communities of color, lowwage workers, as well as Small Businesses. Absolutely, this has been a point of passion for me throughout my years in the trades and i dont know of a more maledominated field than construction and i will tell you that i know a lot of women electricians who are amazing workers and i honestly, i dont know how they do it. Just in a regular workplace, theres a lot of unfair situations and i have to tell you, on job sites, its multiplied and so, its been a huge deal to me, very selfishly looking at my own members, my friends, my coworkers that show up to these jobs and they have to put up with a lot and so im proud to be a part of a union thats been paying women the same since 1895 and thats a huge deal a lot of people dont remember. And weve been exhibiting Wage Equality as long as we have. And also, ive been very involved we have an Electrical Workers minority caucus within our trade and also a renewed group to stimulate a younger generation, new workers and another point of pride is that weve had our own float in the gay pride parade for three years in a row now and no other trade has pulled that together and im even more proud of our group to showcase weve been accepting a lot more women and theyre amazing workers and a lot of the apprenticeship classes, i still go down every semester and speak to the classrooms filled with San Francisco residents for the city classes and i tell them the same thing, look at me. I was just a city kid like you trying to get into a trade and dont give up, keep after it. It took me three years, actually tub tactually, to get in. I had to apply and interview three times and i tell those kids and see them in their 49ers hats and giants hats and warrior hats and its a big deal because i used to not have this opportunity and i want the kids in all of the neighborhoods all over this city to have the opportunity to become electrician or a plumber or any other trade that will give them a wellpaying career for the rest of their lives and theyll be able to have the help and welfare to take care of their families and put a good meal on the table and hopefully stay here in the city. And thats just what ive been doing through my position working in the electrical industry, but also, ive just got to give some more kudos to our department, Claudia Florez and mariam, seeing us with both hearings weve had to date and im proud to say we only have four women of color but we had five and im confident that with the new commissioners and the existing staff and director that well do a good job. And well pretty much let people know way ahead of time thaw wont bthat youwont be able tod and well want to be wowed to see how theyll handle it. Its happening all over the city. Some people are a paychec paychr two away from being homeless and a lot of people dont realize that. Market rate buildings go up in the districts that are undersieged where over 10,000 latino residents have been displaced and so, the impact of these developments, you know, on communities of color in neighborhoods is nuanced in different and so the onesizefitsall laws that are coming out of the state in sacramento, they really dont allow for nuance, of impacts on communities of concern and communities that have been displaced. I couldnt agree more. And ill take it one step further, sometimes the citys block is a block because within certain neighborhoods, you turn a corner and that whole block is different and every single item ive ever heard, ive gone to that address and did as much of a walkaround as i could because you have to know. You have to know how much space and what you may or may not be getting blocked. You have to see what youre dealing with and be there, literally in front of that address to know what youre really talking about, to see whos walking by you on the sidewalk and what the Current Situation is. Thank you so much and lastly, were hearing from teresa imperial and i wanted to ask you before you make comments because i have an emergency to attend to in my district real quick and i was going to ask Vice President stephanie to i wanted to ask how you would make the resolution real. Yes, thank you. First, what it means to me, as well. You know, i was thrilled when we passed the resolution. I could never thought it would pass in the Planning Commission coming from a community and also being a part of the philippino community with the passage as well to open a heritage district, which our community advocated on that was really its just very historical, i would say. As to how it would be implemented and this is going to be a lot of discussion. Its going to be a lot of work and as i said in my letter, passing the resolution is one step, but having to implement this, its a lot of steps more and, first of all, when were looking into as were looking into the access to housing, i think we also need to look into, as well, access to parks, access to Health System and into the quality of life. We need to highlight were rebuilding for. Those are the things weve been talking about from the group, as to how do we make sure that we really highlight the voices and, you know, the really paying attention to racial and social equity. One point of what supervisor mar is looking into, as well as the housing balance. And we know in the arena, San Francisco is behind when it comes to building lowincome housing and the question is that, as well, is the revenue. As of now, the way we see revenues is through the partnership with private developments, as well, but i believe theres a hearing before into the housing by the Land Use Community and that was the main comments about that. And so this will be, as we are going through a discussion of strategies, as to what are the revenues coming from. I mean, im thrilled there is a property transfer tax into the ballot, but there needs to be more than that and i think there needs to be a discussion about ththe vacancy tax. There are things where rent control housing are also theres a lack of protection in that and sometimes, theres a disconnect with the Planning Commission and the board and i believe commissioner melgar proposed a budget for a liaison to the rent board and i think thats one thing, as well, that how do we also protect the rentcontrolled Housing Units as we are talking about density and when were talking about density, i think we should look into the design equity and when we mean by design equity, the ability of people, as well, not just the number of units that were passing. As of now, housing is like a lot of projects that comes in into the Planning Commission, where we also base its on our decision. Theres a lot of things that need talked about and when were looking to the racial and social equity, its really going down to the strategies. And how were looking into that strategy and, again, the main question is who are we building for . Appreciate that, thank you so much. And im so sorry. Ill be back really soon. If vice chair captain stephanie can share the meeting and feel free to share your opening statements, but thank you for answering my question. I appreciate it. Ill be right back. Thank you, chair r portion r. You wan good morning, superviso supe, and thank you for having me. Last february, i was appointed as a Planning Commissioner and you also all supported me. Now that im seeking for your support for my reappointment for the next four years. The work of the Planning Commission has continued and land use and planning will be ever increasing as the composition and population of cities are showing signs of the significant change in the horizon. Voices of the most vulnerable will be more important than ever. While my time as a commissioner has been short, ive been a conduit for voices and i have talked with Community Members and Community Organizations throughout my service. Ive taken consideration comments from the public and as the executive director of the housing program, access to Affordable Housing has always continued to keep me in touch with the most vulnerable population. And i believe ive shown myself to be thoroughly prepared under the materials for each meeting. I paid close to the project sponsor. Im very proud that my fellow commissioners and i have passed the resolution that will submit our Planning Department to racial and social equity framework. And the impetus of my service with racial and Service Equity emphasis. While this is one great step ensuring that resolutions will be implemented, it promises several steps more. I would like to continue to serve so that i may ensure that the mandate we envision will slowly materialize and i hope that you and other commissioners, commissioner diamond and koppel will be reappointed an. Supervisor mar, would you like to start in with your comments. Thank you. Im really impressed by your thoughtful engagement and the important decisions youve been making and bringing such important depth of understanding and commitment to lowincome communities and communities of color to the Planning Decisions and i think its been appreciated that i really appreciated your a side resident, as well, and bringing those perspectives and my question that i posed to your colleagues was around wanting to hear your thoughts on housing balance or housing imbalance in terms of production of market rate versus Affordable Housing in our city. You already touched on that in your comments and i just wanted to see if you had anything else to add to that important topic. Yeah. The planbay area 2050, as well, the west side, along the Marina District is being for planned Development Area under the plan bay area 2050 and that will definitely be Planning Department. please stand by . When we talk about, you know building housing for low income and especially for middle income, what are strategy thats we need to implement or highlight on that. Theres a lot of talks in having more rez knews for the acquisition preservation. For the city of San Francisco to rethink how we he look into housing. We need to rethink how we look into the trans oriented development. I believe the city was only prepared for earthquakes and fires but not this type of virus crisis. That also includes designs and transportation and raising transportation during these times as well. We had a discussion about thewhen the hub was being put before us. That was a big discussion. That was something that i brought up during that passing of the hub. When we talk about the city, we need to rethink how we talk in terms of design and quality of life and in terms of transportation to look into. Thank you, commissioner. I really appreciate and thank you to all of your commitment to the Planning Commission. Thank you. Yes, thank you. I really appreciate your contributions as well. Thank you for your perspective and contribution. The time youve been appointed has been remarkable. Heard such good things. Although you and i did not get a chance to meet in person. I did get the letter you sent. You mentioned that the voices that are the most vulnerable in San Francisco will be important especially during this Public Health crisis and resulting economic crisis. I know were all in agreement on that. Youve answered a lot in terms ofi dont have anymore questions. I was going to ask a question around this. Just to keep in mind as we look at that priority and with the understanding that the citys budgeted issue thats were looking at even private developers and ever tightening budget and how to deliver on that goal. Those are issues that come to mind for me but again thank you for your service, im happy to support your reappointment today. With that i think we have no further questions from Committee Members. I believe we can go to Public Comment. Were going to take Public Comment on all three appointees at the time time. Each person will have two minutes. Whether clerk, if you can let us know how much are in the queue, we can then proceed. Yes. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call the number. The meeting i. D press pound and pound again. If you havent already done so, please press star three to line up to speak. The system will indicate you have raised your hand. Last count we had five callers waiting and four callers wait to speak with five in the queue. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. We know that the China Town Community center is here today speaking in support for imperi imperial. It represents everything we need on the Planning Commission. Her background, intelligence, thoughtfulness. You know, her fight for a long history of fighting for communities. Im very excited to see the conversation today centered around Racial Equity and how we make that real. As you can see were very excited. Today i wanted to strongly encourage you to support the appointment to the Planning Commission. Thank you, very much. Can we have the next speaker, please. Supervisors, let me bring to your attention that thisthe questions you ask should be very permanent and relevant. Now i hope you know the difference between a resolution and ordinance. Anyone can write a resolution. It cannot be enforced, its useful at three candidates. It cannot be enforced. Having said that, if you walk over San Francisco you see too many camps and homelessness. None of you have mentioned that. Nor have you mentioned that there are over 35 homes in San Francisco that are vacant. Thirty five thousand homes and sixty thousand condos. Im known all the directors. All of them have tried their best but as one of you supervisorsyou had more market rate housing. These three candidates should really fight for Affordable Housing which should be under 80,000. Afford to whom . It shouldnt compromise loans and are on the street dying. The Planning Commission is not aware of that. The Planning Commission never once mentioned about our infants, children, youth. Our elders. You dont look at it that way. Thank you, very much. Can we have the next speaker, please. This resolution is only the first step and leadership will be critical in ensuring goals of the resolution are actually implemented with the leadership with the most impacted communities. Immigrants and people of color are bearing the brunt of this pandemic and economic crisis. Leading voices and push for recovery centered around the most vulnerable communities. It brings on the ground experience that traditionally lack in the planning process. We fully support for reappointment and hope you will do the same. Thank you. Thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Hi. Im Vice President for the San Francisco la latino club. Weve voted several times in support for teresa. She has been a great con duit cr the community. To be able to have a voice, analyst, advocate and somebody that has stood side by side with us in our struggle struggles one and planning. Very much encourage her reappointment. She is very prepared for every meeting. She asks a lot of critical questions that has drivenits a very important time with the social resolution coming through. Also as a nonprofit leader to work directly with clients. He urge you to please reappoint commissioner teresa, she has the full support. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Be proactive in future thinking. [indiscernible]. Real change comes from the same structural change in collaboration with community views, the Mayors Office nor to build a better and more equitable. I see her not only talk the talk but roll up her sleeves and including being on the racial and equity subcommittee and have ad voakating foandadvocating fol change that we put forward in the resolution. For those reasons, i support her. Thank you. Thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Good morning commissioners. Im the executive director of the united player. An organization thats been pushed for twenty five years. Im hear for suppor support[indiscernible]. I know in San Francisco we have a crisis. They are working towards that crisis. Joe has always been a man of his word coming out checking out anytime we have a question, come out into district six. Teresa who is a great leader for bishop. Thank you, mr. Clerk. With that, Public Comment is closed. Any additional comments . No, i dont. Mr. Clerk, i think well go ahead and ill make a motion with regard to the three items and should chair ronan want to rescind the vote to participate in it. Im sorry. Thank you so much. No problem. Were done with Public Comment. You probably know. We have to move this meeting forward. Great. Do you want to make a motion. Sure. I would like to move the mayors reappointment to the diamond commission. Move this forward to the full board with positive recommendation. The motion offered by chair stephanie agenda item number to be amended and approving. roll call pr par. Madam chair, three ayes. Ill make a motion to reappointment joe to the Planning Commission. Remove the word rejecting and send forward with positive recommendations. The motion approving and recommending the motion to the board of supervisors. roll call . Thank you. Supervisor imaginer do you wanto the honors on the last motion. Recommended to the board of supervisors. roll call . Madam chair, there are three ayes. Thank you very much. Thank you for all your hard work. Would you please read the next item. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call in to 415 6550001 enter the meeting id. 146 9714708 press pound twice. Press star three if you wish to speak. Thank you so much. Welcomewe cant hear you. Thank you. Youd think i would have this down by the number of zoom calls. Im gradeful you scheduled this meeting. I wanted to acknowledge the mayor for her confidence to appointment to the Police Commission. Im really excited. Pretty much i think everyone knows that my background in the workfirst and foremost for the Oversight Agency paramount and should be consistent. I have been on the record to call for Even National oversight. I think theres value and when it comes to Law Enforcement agencies. You all know a little about my background. I created the prop g back in 2016 which created the accountability. Most importantly in the investigations whenever theres an officer involved shooting, i think that is the most important in underlining reason whywhat motivated me to work to create the department with a team effort. I dont want to take all the credit like most things, they are a heavy left. Work with the commission to end the restraint. Other legislation ive worked onsorry. My mom is here now. Also worked on banning flavored tobacco, took to the ballot and voters supported the befe bevere and sugary tax. There was the battle back in 2015 to make sure we had neighborhood preference of members of the community to be able to benefit from this new construction. Finding the displacement. Fair chance ordinance which was banning the box. Eliminating theon the application process for housing and jobs asking the question have you been convicted of a felony. And in 2 2011, i worked on the pregnancy disclosure a agreemen. I look forward to your questions and happy to talk about anything that is related to the Police Commission. Thank you for your time. Good morning. Thank you so much. I want to give my colleagues the opportunity to ask questions first. Do either of you have any questions . Good morning. I do not have any questions, i would like to make some opening remarks. I just wanted to say to our former supervisor, president of the board of supervisors, member of the board of equalization. Im really am excited for the opportunity to catch up. I dont have any further questions today but i would like to make a few remarks. I went to the emerge program. I got a call and she said im going to be your mentor throughout this process. I can only say that i hope to return that as you become a mother and a working mother and i will be here to answer all your questions on how to make that work. In addition to her current role on the state board of equalization she has shared in the budget and finance committee. She took on the Tobacco Companies and been a leader on criminal Justice Reform. We didnt always disagree or have some along the way when i first started as supervisor when issues came up. Youve always been so kind a gracious. I wanted to learn from you. We had something from the market bar. We were able to have a really good discussion. I think its so important. I say this time in a lot of vit rolvitriol in politics. This budget share, you never shied away from holding our Police Department or our District Attorneys Office accountable to ensure were seeing the changes i know we need to see. Youll bring thispolicing and criminal Justice Reform in San Francisco. We had a number of qualified candidates that put their names forward to be filled. Activists that received community ties. Accomplished attorneys and Public Servants and more. Stacks of information and stacks ofeverything she has done, i definitely was going to listen to her perspective. There were other candidates that i felt could have done just as good a job. I really knew in that moment it was on me to respect the work. I had no trouble doing that whatsoever given her history. Its the same way i feel about mayor breed on these issues. Youve done so much in this regard. I can learn so much from you sm i hav. I will and will continue o so. Im so confident that you are going to be able it lead on the Police Commission and lead with the grace that you always do. That formidable personality that you have. When i heard that mayor bree was appointing you, i said, thats it. Its going to be a good addition to the Police Commission. Im looking forward to working with you during this time of rec oning in our city and moving forward in the best way possible. I know i went on long. You know how i feel about you. Im so excited to see you here and excited to be able to approve your appointment today. Thank you. Thank you, chair ronan for accommodating my remarks. Its a historic moment around these issues. I want to thank mayor breed for nominating you and putting you forward. As you touched on briefly in your remarks. You really bring a depth of experiencePolice Accountable and criminal Justice Reform. I thinkyoure very much appreciated and needed. What you bring to the table. My question is more about the current moment. As you know despite, its really a historic moment right now as a city and kun ri in reall countrt these issues to systemic racism and Law Enforcement and criminal justice. Its quite different in 2016 when you led Police Accountability which was a huge importance in our city. The current moment right now and how the opportunity and the need to be boulder on these issues is going to inform your work as a leader on the Police Commission in our city. Thats an incredibly thoughtful question. I appreciate it. When i was first approached with the opportunity to serve, i was hesitant quite honestly. Im a state wide elected. I thought my focus should be more on the state. We have been sheltering in place for months. I am about to deliver a baby in two weeks. Im home, watching news, experiencing the protests, march, unrest. Were in a pri pivotal time, wed to be bold in our movement to bring more criminal Justice Reform to the entire system. It was the shooting of my Community Member mario woods that spurred my actions. Ive been involved in many officer involved shootings. The Police Officer i was in 2011 was different than in 2015 in my second term. It was dealing with uncomfortable experiences that i really began to feel the strong sense of urgency of now. That placating, pacifying, passing resolutions was just pacifying. We needed really bold action. I agree, how do you harness this time. I have a long list of ideas that we can begin to implement. I have had fan efi fantastic conversations for this justice movement. Working with the Racial Justice committee, i had a phenomenal meeting with them. I had a list of nine items of things that we can collectively work on. There are also pieces of work that i started when i was a member on the board of supervisors. I want to be able to continue. I think about the 96a collecting racial data. Theres a lag from the department of justice. A very small percentage has been implemented. I think im unique for this particular time because i have the San Francisco experience. I understand the budget. I have a connection to the state. My goal is to be a seamless transition s. The reforms that are happening, the Assembly Woman what she is bringing on is much of the work im bringing here to San Francisco. Being able to connect these dots here in the state of california. San francisco is not the only meun is palonlymeun is palt mov. This is time that i intend to not squander. Looking at violations of civil rights. A lot of department general orders that the commission has in the works and has been working diligently to get in place. The police chief has been very good and very supportive on creating and changing some policies like no longer making mug shots available to stiemy the racial profiling. Thank you. I dont have any other questions. I know we have hard questions. There would not be karma for the tough questions youve asked over the years. First of all, as your role as a member of the San Francisco Democratic Party Central Committee which both supervisor mar and i sit on as well. You voted to oppose endorsing the sheriffs oversight ballot measures. Since we are considering your appointment to the oversight body of the sfpd. Im curious why you would be against having a similar body. I appreciate that question and giving me the opportunity to talk about it. I dont normally have that platform. My feelings about the legislation at this point is inconsequential. I support oversight. It is consistent with my overall vision when it comes to the Law Enforcement. I have been public about calls for independent committees and oversight nationwide. I want to put that out there. My reserves are in the co contet strictly on the budget. The short fall were going to be feeling in San Francisco over the next two years is a reality. I had a chance to think about this. I think we need to seize this moment. Im hopeful that the board of supervisors and the Mayors Office will figure out these budgeting priorities. We really do need to be bold and not fearful. When i think about other bold initiatives like the San Francisco bank for example. It will benefitjustice is on the ballot. I would be willing to publicly support this proposition d on ballot. At the time of the vote it was limited information and out reach that was given to me. Sense consequent information, i looked at the bla reports as well as some ledg legislation. If we work collectively on this oversight measure, we can get this job done. Great. Thank you. Speaking budget, as you know, were thick in the middle of it right now. There are hearings almost everyday. God bless you all for that. Its not easy, as you know. Were looking at very closely at the Police Department budget. I know you have been the strongest leaders on the prd supervisors in and ow. Out. There is probably agreementfor example, when we think about Mental Health calls. One of the things i certainly recall in dealing with my captains. How uncomfortable and ilequiped in terms of Training Officer rzs are in dealing with Mental Health. Substance abusei dont necessarily know if those are police calls. I dont know if we need police there. Foot pat roll, working with the community would appreciate more foot patrol. Make sure our officers are able to speak and engage culturally. I think we need to revamp the Early Warning system which is a visit em in place taif we havey should be put on desk duty until we can get them retrained. I would like to think about reexamining the discipline process of rogue cop se cops. Weve known about rogue cops well before 2015. Im talking about homo phobic text messages. Theres a lot of room to continue to create some good policies that is the best interest of all of San Francisco. Thank you. A question im wrestling with, for me, confusing power we have to do this is the extent were reducing the Police Budget would cause layoffs. Im wondering your thoughts on that. Would you be supportive in the reduction of the budget that would cause police layoffs. I dont know that much about that. Because the vast majority of the Police Budget is on salary ses aniesand benefits. Theres a nationwide movement to defund the police and cut these budgets. The budget that mayor breed presented the board of supervisors has approximately under three percent budget cut to sfpd whereas most other departments have taken a 10 cut. If were going to get to the 10 or more given the call of the nation at the moment. Its impossible to cut the budget at that level without there being layoffs. Theres already reduced vacancies and accounted for attrition. Im wondering your thoughts on that. Thats an interesting question. When i think about the budget and budget costs. There was a news story that 25 officers are leaving. Theres good and bad. We need to purge the system of our bad apples. Perhaps those that are leaving are leaving because the climate has become uncomfortable. I dont know. When it comes to the budget theres opportunities for cuts that are far more than personnel. When you think abouti would not be interested in seeing cuts in training. I would not be interested in seeing cuts on equipment. Do officers need the best brand new squad cars . I dont know. I tend to say no. That is not something that i can have a lot of knowledge about. To answer your question shortly and su susshortly. It concerns me officers getting a raise. You think about social workers and nurses and people on the front lines who are also putting their lives on the line and taking the life of service and they arent getting raises. I think we need to be consistent about our service. What i remember, the state of employees have gotten a raise. I think there needs to be an overall freeze on this. Im a little concerned about how hushed the process has been. It was a shock about the number of Police Officers who were una ware of this negotiation going on. They are try to go pull a fast one on us. I dont like that. I dont appreciate that. I want to be aggressive and ask these types of questions. You asked me a question about my independence to the Mayors Office. Being able to talk to the Mayors Office and work with the more productive voices in the city. Really being a bridge and connen conduit. I dont know about the salary increases. But it left a bad taste in my month and made me uncomfortable. I also want to make sure were inkreetion and maintaining increasing and maintaining a level of transparency. There are things id like to structurally change. I dont want people to lose faith in our criminal justice. I want them to feel emboldened and excited. Here is an example of a group of people working in our best interest. And being able to have the difficult questions and answer. Stand up for the decisions that we make. Also being humble and saying, i made a mistake. It takes a big person to be able to did that. All over, ive been able to recognize my mistakes and atone to them. And rectify them and correct them. Take that hard line stance and ive been bulliedi understand the pressures. I would not succumb to that level of pressure sm when i think p budget, i think about serving with sandy. Thz a tougthats a tough job. When you think about state funding and supervisor mar, i worked really closely with your brother when it came to state dollars. Theres a lot of oversight and interwoven relationships when it comes to this entire body of work. Ill stop. Do you have another question . My last question isi think youll appreciate this. There are four mair mayoral appointees. The president of the commission ee iis almost always a mayoral appointee. Would you be willing to support a mayoral appointee for Vice President so there is a balance in the leadership for who is appointed. What often happen sz that is ise boards appointments never get into leadership positions. I find that problematic. As a former member of this body, i know youre acutely aware that happens every time. Im wondering if you find the shared would that be a Charter Amendment change . The Police Commissioner, themselves, end up voting for who they want their president and Vice President. The way it works out is its one of the four of them. Because they have the majority. One of them, you for example, i think if shared leadership is what you want to do thats really interesting. Im been thinking about that in the context of the Democratic Party. It really has to do with the distribution of power. In this particular context when i think about the commission, i probably have more of a neutral position. My fil philosophy is were all leaders just fyi thats not what ive heard about board appointed commissioners. They get pushed out. Its only president , Vice President. I did not know that. Ive been hearing from board of supervisors its extremely important it to them. They have brought this up many times and been silenced. They are not asking for the presidency. They are saying look, were all colleagues on this body. There hasnt been a board appointed president or Vice President on this body for a long time. Were asking for shared leadership here. I think thats something thats very important to me. Its very important to johni would ask that you make a commitment to supporting that chair leadership structure. I cant commit to you online right here. In my recollection, he was a board appointee and served diligently as president and really was instrumental in issuing in change. He was amazing. This dynamic has not allowed that. Theres been a lot of controversy within the Police Commission about that. You are open to this and willing to consider it and work with them for the shared leadership. I cant give you a hard commitment. This is is the first ive heard of this. Ive had some tight relationships. Ive voted and fought john. I would appreciate if he had the tun to get on brd and bring that opportunity i would ask you to be open to that. I would definitely tell you im open to it. Absolutely. Thank you for answering my questions. With that ill open this item up for Public Comment. Every member of the public will have two minutes to speak. Yeah. Members of the public who would like to speak should call the number. The meeting i. D. Press pound and pound again. If you havent done so press star three to line up to speak. The system will prompt you to raise your hand. You may begin your comments. We have ten listeners and four people queued up to speak. Can we have the first caller, please. Hi. Congratulations on having a baby. Im fully about safety. When it comes to safety. I believe malia is about safety. She is not scared to make decisions that are tough. With that said, i hope you appoint her on this Police Commission. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Thank you. Can we have the next caller please. Supervisors. Ive been attending the Police Commissions meetings for a long time. I really feel that you need somebody on this commission that not connected to the machine. Speaker im Angela Jenkins and today, miss cohen has brought the facts i recall a meeting directly following the poa storming one of the Community Meetings and miss cohen took the board of supervisors through illustrious information on policing that just blew my mind. I barely had any comment because she did so well this getting her research. And the way the poa stormed the Police Commission meeting in 2016 following mario woods killing was so intimidating. I have to say on friday night, during the budget meeting, when many of our black voices are trying to get in there, i was taken aback and felt intimidated again when many ardent allies attempted to speak by proxy for black people and i trust melia cohen to raise true black voices. True black voices come from black people and even though people are sympathetic to this new era of george floyd killing, only our voices who are impacted speak for us and i trust melia cohen when she is appointed to the Police Commission. Thank you. Thank you. The next caller, please. Speaker this is critical condition, im a district nine resident and im calling to strongly urge you to support sherwin cohen for the Police Commission appointment. The Police Commission has proven itself incapable of pushing through the doj reforms with a sense of urgency demands, despite their constant lip service to reform. Miss cohen has been a leader and consistent voice for change on holding the Police Accountable in this city. From her work in creating the dta, to requiring 96a reports on race and traffic stops, miss cohen has been paying attention to race, racial equi equity, police oversight, before it became the hot political issue. Miss cohen knows the issues and is outspoken on the issues and she gets the work done. So we need miss cohen to hold the police not just accountable but the commission itself accountable and she will bring the energy and expertise to push through the remaining doj reforms. Thank you. The next caller, please. Good morning, everyone. I live in district eight and i am a parent here in San Francisco and an immigrant and i am also black. And im not calling into speak for or against the appointment of supervisor cohen specifically, but i did want to Say Something to, you know, address and frame one of the former supervisor and the candidate mentioned this morning, which is the possibility of things like, if there are, you know, quote, unquote, bad cops, rogue cops, that they can be on desk duty until their retrained. That doesnt go far enough in my opinion and in the opinions of a lot of people in the community, i think. I think that if you are a cop who sends racist texts or have had complaints against you for x, y and z reasons, the quote, unquote consequence shouldnt be youre on desk duty for a m