Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Govt Audits And Oversight Committee 20240712

Staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements. To protect the public, Board Members and City Employees the board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. This is taken pursuant to all various local, state orders and directive. Committee members are participating in Video Conference. Public comment is available for each item on the agenda. Sfgovtv has the calling number on the screen. Provide comments by phone calling 4156550001. Once connected into the meeting id is 146 6994959. When prompted press pound twice to be connected to the meeting. When connected you will hear the meeting discussions but your line will be in his senning need only. When your item comes up dial star three to be added to the speaker line. The speaker prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. When you are unmuted you may begin. Best practices call from quiet location and speak clearly and turndown television or radio or streaming device. Behind full of potential time delays that we may even counter between live coverage and streaming. You may submit Public Comments through email john carroll, the clerk of the government audit and oversight. John. Carroll at sfgovtv. Org. If you submit by email it will be included in the legislative file you are commenting on. Written comments may be sent by the u. S. Postal service to city hall. 1 doctor carlton b. Goodlett place room 244 San Francisco california 94102. Eye tomorrows today will appear on november 10, agenda unless otherwise stated. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Please call item 1. Agenda item one. Reenactment of emergency ordinance 10420 and 15920 to create a right to reemployment for certain employees laid off due to the covid19 pandemic if their employer seeks to fill the same position previously held by laid off worker or substantially similar position as defined. Call the Public Comment number. 4156550001 enter the meeting id. Press pound twice to connect to the meeting and press star followed by 3 to speak. Finally i am in receipt of memo requesting this be agenda as Committee Report at next weeks Board Meeting november 3, 2020. Thank you. Colleagues this will extend for further 60 days the back to work emergency ordinance. Groundbreaking policy we enacted earlier this year provides right to ferry employment for laid off workers impacted by the pandemic. This ensures Large Businesses forced to cut employees because of pandemic rehire rather than replace laid off workers when they reopen. Over 500 laid off workers have been rehired through this policy. The city continues to reopen more of the economy, i feel strongly we must keep these Labor Protections in place. I urge support for this item today. Before we go to Public Comment, do you have any questions or comments . Mr. Clerk any callers on the line . Operations is checking for callers. Please let us know. If you have connected press star 3 if you wish to speak for this item. Those on hold in the queue please continue to wait until you are prompted to begin. You will hear prompts that your line is unmuted. If you are watching on cable channel 26, or through sfgovtv please call in by following instructions on the screen by dialing 4156550001. Enter meeting id1466994959. Press found and star three to speak. Could you let us know if we have any callers. There are no callers in the queue. Thank you, operations and mr. Hearing no further callers Public Comment is now closed. I would like to move we recommend item 1 as a Committee Report for the november 3rd meeting of the board of supervisors. Mr. Clerk please call the roll. On the motion offered by chair mar this be recommended as Committee Report vice chair peskin. Aye. Haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. Mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Thanthank you, mr. Clerk. Please call item 2. Reenact meant of emergency ordinance 7420 to require Grocery Store and drugstore and restaurant and on demand Delivery Service employers to provide health and scheduling procedures t to employees during the Public Health emergency related to covid19. Please call the number now to comment. 4156550001. Enter the meeting id and press pound twice and connect to the meeting and press star to speak. Prompts will indicate you raised your hand. Please wait until you are unmuted. This item has been agendized as Committee Report at your request. Thank you, supervisor haney for your leader ship and sponsor ship of this additional job emergency legislation supporting workers in the city. Supervisor haney, the floor is yours. Thank you, chair mar. Very brief. This proposed emergency ordinance reenacts the previous ordinance to expire on november 8. For an additional 60 days. It has Worker Protections covered by Health Officer orders and gives workers an additional level of protection and mechanism to file complaint with the office of labor standards and enforcement. It has been an essential protection for many of our most vulnerable workers during this crisis. Thank you, supervisor haney. Are there any callers on the line . If you have connected by phone press star three at this time if you wish to speak for this item. If you are on hold please continue to wait until prompted to begin. You will be informed your line is unmuted. Any callers for 2 . There are no callers in the queue. Thank you. Hearing no callers, Public Comment is closed. Supervisor haney would you like a motion on this . Yes, i move to have this sent to the full board as a Committee Report. At the november 3rd meeting. Please call roll. On the motion this emergency ordinance be sent as Committee Report with recommendations. Vice chair peskin. Aye. Member haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. Mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Please call item 3. Amending chapter 28 to add probative provision of gifts or money to public official to revising de barment procedures. Amend definition of contractor by including grant applications and grantees and to add provisions authorizing suspension from procurement process, entering into city contracts or applying for grants if subject of charge alleging that the contractor committed byvation of law or regulation against any Government Entity relevant to the ability or capacity to perform under or comply with the terms or conditions of the city contract including de barment set forth in 28. Members of the public who wish to comment should call the comment number. 4156550001. The prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. Wait until you are unmuted. That will be your opportunity to comment on agenda item 3. Thank you, mr. Clerk. I want to start by expressing my gratitude to City Attorney and his office for bringing this forward. It may beings several corrections to contractor oversight and closes a loophole in our ability to suspend city contractors indicted not yet charged. My office is in receipt of amendment to this item which i intend to introduce which has been shared in advance with members of the committee. First to speak on this item i would like to welcome mr. Ronald flynn from the City Attorneys office. Thank you, very much, i am ron flynn, chief City Attorney. Proposal to amend chapter 28 of the administrative code related to debarment and suspension of city contractors. De barment is administrative determine that a contractor is not a responsible party entitle to enter city contracts and disqualified from participating in procurement for a period of time up to five years. It is a serious determination, one that requires the contractor be given notice and opportunity to be heard before the de barment is final. As this committee is aware in january of this year United States department of justice filed criminal charges against d. P. W. Director and a San Francisco restaurant. In the criminal complaint there were unnamed contractors alleged to have participated in the criminal enterprise to provide money for favored treatment in the contracting process. This does three things. It clarifies the grounds for de bar net be to include failure to include the campaign and government conduct not simply ay administrative code. It includes grants and provides order of suspension to prevent contractor from seeking new contracts or grants during the suspension. It has cleanups which i am happy to discuss. The suspension is critical. Federal government has the power of suspension which allows it to immediately place amas on new contractors when a contractor is indicted for committed fraud against government. Under our Current System when a contractor is indicted for committing fraud against the government even against San Francisco the city must do one of two things. Initiate its own investigation and bring and proof independent charges or wait until the contractor charges are resolved. This under mines public confidence. I will explain how. Recently hernandez a former City Employee was dated for bribery of a local public official. He was the chief Financial Officer and Vice President of a local Contracting Company he started. He was also a responsible managing officer and held one of the contracting licenses. Mr. Hernandez met with the fbi on january 27. He was confronted with gifts and personal services he provided over the years. Indeed as recently as the weekend before that interview with the fbi he paid for hotel and dinner. Mr. Hernandez was not criminally charged until june 4 of this year. While the City Attorneys office was building the case against mr. Hernandez, a contractor number two or three in the complaint. It did not have the facts by that day. Incredibly, in may 28, 2020, works submitted a bid to be a subcontractor for a new project for the city a new multimillion dollar contract. They did this knowing the fbi had evidence mr. Hernandez bribed city officials. The public, city officials and reporters rightfully asked. How can an indated contractor seek new work with the city . In that case the charging documents had admissions the fbi called as lies. Such as that mr. Hernandez said he only gave 20,000 worth of goods and services. He die understood several hundred thousand worth of services for a vacation home. We were able to use the admission of 20,000 and not sufficient to have him charged with a crime to seek de barment. If that were not in there, in the charging documents we would not have been able to prevent the works from continuing to seek work while the criminal charges were pending. Mind you, most charging documents dont contain such admissions. They are alleges which cannot be the basis. As it is. Her flandez and work hernandez and works asked to protect the fifth amendment right against selfincrimination. We were able to stipulate to suspension and works was not able to seek new work until the verdict is entered. The contractor cannot get work while the chief Financial Officer is under indictment for fraud. We can de bar them assuming a guilty plea. Not guilty three could seek to have the suspension lifted. Because this is serious and fifth amendments right against selfincrimination are raised. We ask for an amendment the ordinance be amended to add that the point of hearing officer shall be an attorney licensed to practice law with not less than five years of experience. The constitutional issues are the ones that come up. One other thing to light is the clarification giving a gift to a public official where it would be unlawful for that public official to accept the gift is an express ground for de barment. We treated it as such but learned in this case one contractor gave a rolex watch, another a tractor, another at least 20,000 worth of construction work. Each of these contractors say i did not give it to him to get any favors. I did it because he was my friend. Under the government code and the campaign government conduct code it is unlawful for nuru to accept those gifts. It is only unlawful for the contractors to gift the gifts if they intended to get a favor. The excuse given is that this isnt for a favor, this is my friend. This may beings clear if you are giving a 37,000 rolex to a city official who is giving you a contract, you no longer are entitled to get contracts. You dont have excuse this is my friend and i am giving it to him or her. That is one of the loopholes that it closes. Another is that it may beings cleanup work. For instance. Ordinance now talks about the direct or of Administrative Services one that would appointer the hearing officer. There is no longer the thing in the city it is city administrator. There is cleanup work in addition to what i talked about. We think this will discourage contractors from continues to try to give gifts to city officials and if they continue to do so it will be easier to take them off the books while the criminal process plays out. I am happy to answer any questions that the committee has. Thank you for the presentation and all of your work. This is a necessary and crucial step to root out corruption and restore the faith of the public. As you mentioned, you have introduced an amendment and i am happy to make the motion on this amendment. They appear on page 9. Again they would require officers who preside over department and suspension hearings be an attorney licensed to practice in california with at least five years of experience. Before we go to Public Comment, colleagues, do you have any questions or remarks you would like to make . Chair mar, i would like to be added as a proud cosponsor. I will make you primary sponsor of the item. I dont want to cause any consternation with my friend the City Attorney, why dont we let this be the City Attorneys work and i will vote for it at committee and at full board. Thank you, supervisor peskin. Supervisor haney. I want to thank you, mr. Flynn, and thank the City Attorneys office for their proactive and necessary work on this and the broader investigation. This is a very awful time for our city when we are continuing to have these kind of allegations of corruption. It seems to me that we clearly need to be able to take action against individuals and companies who are charged with corrupt behaviors and ensure that they are not getting further contracts with the city during that time. One question i had was about another maybe it is a slightly different category. The situation that involves rod regoes santos. He has been charged. He is not exactly a contractor in the same way but there were reports of mr. Santos continuing to pull permits and engage with d. B. I. In various ways. Would a situation like that be covered under this ordinance . What is the scope of engagement that is included that could be suspended while somebody is under investigation or has been indicted . That is a great issue. De barment is a process by which someone who gets money from the government is determined that they are no longer entitled to do that. A grant or contract they are no longer allowed to do that. Sorry about my dog. People who apply for permits are not getting contracts, they are getting permits. It is different to come up with parallel regime. If you are not an honest broker with a department while seeking a permit for others, is there something that can be done . The de barment process comes from a long line of from the federal to local to state government. We want to clean it up. It has never come over to the permitting. There are different issues to look at in terms of that. Wyou are correct. That is the example in how we can do that. If we know someone is not truthful, what we currently do is we put we advise departments to put additional bells and whistles on that permit process. If someone is not being truthful to look at every application, follow up, to do checks, to make sure this is truthful. There is not in our code a process to say you cannot walk to the counter and get a permit. This would not cover it, unfortunately. I appreciate that. I do hope that this is something that we can look at if somebody is under indictment, accused of a crime of fraud or corruption. I do not believe they should be getting contracts with the city and i also do not belief they should pull permits from the city. It obviously damages the public trust but brings up the possibility that they are continuing to do the exact same thing they have been charged or indicted for. I think in the case of mr. Santos. We are going to have concerns and we dont want to give somebody a contract engaging in corrupt behavior or facilitating corrupt behavior by allowing them to directly pull permits from d. B. I. You know, i hope that is something we can look at closely and address. I dont think it is right for our City Government to be giving money out or permits out to people who are engaged in corrupt behavior and are under indictment or investigation for it. My staff is delling me i may be telling me i have a hearing on this upcoming. Maybe supervisor peskin was involved with. I hope we can find a similar solution to prevent that behavior as well. Thank you. Thank you, supervisor haney for that. When we go to Public Comment, mr. Clerk, any callers on the line . Please let us know if there are any callers. If you have connected press star followed by 3 to speak. On hold please continue to wait until you are prompted to begin. You will hear prompts to inform you your line is unmuted. On cable channel 26 or through sfgovtv if you wish to speak please call in now by following the instructions on your screen. Dial 4156550001. Entered d1466994959. Press pound twice and star 3 to speak. Do we have callers for item 3 . Mr. Chair there are no callers in the queue. Thank you. Public comment is now closed. I would like to move we amend the item as presented and send the item as amended to the full board with positive recommendations. Mr. Clerk, please call roll. On the motion the ordinance be amended and recommended as amended to the board of supervisors. Vice chair peskin. Aye. Member haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. Mr. Chair there are three ayes. Thank you, mr. Clerk and thank you for all of your work on this. Please call item 4. Agenda four administrative code to establish the Work Force Education and Recovery Fund. Members of the public who wish to comment shall call now. Public comment is 4156550001 enter meeting id. Press pound twice to connect and star followed by 3 to enter the queue to speak. Please wait until the system indicates you are unmuted and you may then begin your comments. Thank you. Like item 1 the back to work emergency ordinance this is in response to those unemployed due to health pandemic. Most of the more than 200 san franciscan who filed over the past 8 months will not return to previous jobs. Supporting them to upgrade skills to get back to work with will extremely important part of the economic recovery. One of the key recommendations of the Sf Economic Recovery Task Force is for the city to provide culturally accessible job training with career connections for marginalized aplaid off workers. This will recrate the Work Force Education and Recovery Fund to provide Financial Support to city college of california. Student Wraparound Services and social justice, Lifelong Learning and enrichment classes. We recognize the role of city college as largest provider of workforce training in Adult Education in the city with all programs tuition free to San Francisco residents. It is a strategic investment to expand the vocational classes leading to Career Pathways at this time of meed. The city budget includes 200,000 to work to create a Pilot Program in the Spring Semester to create at least 10 career Technical Education classes for unemployed workers in key sectors such as Health Education, nursing, emergency responders, Information Technology and building trades. I thank my cosponsors haney, ronen and preston and leaders who we worked with on this measure sft2121, student leaders, trustees, and interim chancellor. I want to thank City Attorney clark and the department of children, youth and families. Last but not least my staff for all of their work on this. Before we go to Public Comment, do you have any questions or remarks, colleagues . Okay. Mr. Clerk. Any callers on the line . Thank you. Please let us know if there are callers ready for those who connected by phone press star 3 if you wish to speak for this item. Those already on hold in the queue please wait until you are prompted to begin and you will be informed your line is unmuted. On cable channel 26 or sfgovtv please call in now by following the instructions on the screen. Dial 4156550001. When prompted enter the i id1466994959. Press pound twice and star followed by 3 to enter cue to speak. Do we have callers for agenda 4 . There are no callers in the queue. Thank you, operations and mr. Public comment is closed. Colleagues. I would move we send this to the full board with positive recommendation. Mr. Clerk please call roll. On the motion offered by chair mar to recommend to the board of supervisors. Vice chair peskin. Aye. Member haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. Mr. Chair, three ayes. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Is there any further business . There is no further business. We are adjourned. Take care everyone. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the october 19th, 2020, meeting of the rules committee. Im supervisor hillary ronen, chair of the committee. With me is the vicechair Catherine Stefani and gordon mar. Our clerk today is victor young and i would like to thank sfgovtv for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Clerk to protect the Board Members and the City Employees and the public, the board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. However, the members will participate in the meeting remotely. The Committee Members will attend 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. Both channel 26 and sfgovtv. Org are streaming the numbers across the screen. And Public Comment is an opportunity to speak via phone by calling 1 415 6550001. And, again, thats 1 415 6550001. And the meeting i. D. Is 1469652968. Again, that is 1469652968. Excuse me 1469652968. And then press pound and pound again. And when connecting you will hear the meeting discussion but youll be muted and in listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up, dial star, 3, to be added to the speaker line. The best practices is to call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly, and turn down your television or radio. Alternatively you may submit Public Comment to myself, the rules Committee Clerk at cicgor. Young sfgov. Org. If you submit by email its forwarded to the supervisors that is included as part of the file. That completes my comments. President hillis thank you, read item number one. Clerk a hearing to consider appointing one member term, ending 2020, to the revenue Bond Oversight Committee. We have one seat, one applicant. Chair ronen thank you so much. Is mr. Crunen here . Good morning. Thank you, supervisor ronen. Chair ronen thank you so much and thank you for your service thus far, and just to plain to the public that mr. Cronen has moved out of San Francisco, which were very sad about. Hopefully youre happy about it but were sad about it. But has been willing to stay on the commission for a temporary period while another applicant can be considered. So really appreciate that. And i wanted to know if you wanted to share anything about your experience on the commission, your work, anything that youd like to share . Sounds great. No, i dont have too much to add. I think that folks on the committee are doing good work and i think that probably the motion they have moved on during the time on the committee is routine and an outside auditor to review the bonds that have been issued over the past couple years and making sure they are issued in accordance with the law and that spending is being done in accordance with the law. I think that because im now kind of seeing the end of my time on the committee, that i do think that it would be good for the board to think about is if this is the most critical thing that we have done over the last several years is to retain an outside auditor to perform this review. Does it make sense to sort of encapsulate that into the processes of the city auditor and encapsulate that into the law that these external audits just need to occur regularly as opposed to having the revenue Bond Oversight Committee to come up with this process ad hoc and making sure that it keeps going. Im wondering if this was a standardized process that occurs every year, every couple years, Something Like that, if it might end up being more efficient over time than the committee trying to go glue that process, given, you know, that the committee is made up of folks that have fulltime day jobs. You know, theres limited staff availability to the committee. So maybe just standardize that external audit process as opposed to having it to be something that the committee itself needs to organize every few years. Chair ronen that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for that. Maybe you can help to make that happen in the short time that you have left. That would be wonderful. Let us finish w know if you cann any way. And i wanted to make sure that our colleagues didnt have any questions or comments . Nope. Then if you have no more remarks we can open this up for Public Comment. Clerk yes, the members of the public who want to provide Public Comment on this item should call 1 415 6550001. And the meeting i. D. Is 1469652968. And then press pound and pound again. If you havent already done so, press star, 3, to line up to speak. The system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. Wait until the system indicates that you have been unmuted and you can begin your comments. Do we have any members of the public to speak at this time . Madam chair, there are no callers in the queue. Chair ronen thank you. Then Public Comment is closed. And i would like to make a motion to forward the appointment of mr. Cronen with residency waiver to the full board with recommendation as a Committee Report. Can we have a roll call vote on that motion. Clerk yes, and this is for seat two. Chair ronen yes, for seat two. Clerk yes on that motion [roll call] the motion passes to recommend this out as a Committee Report. Chair ronen thank you. Again, mr. Cronen, both for your service thus far and for willing to serve this role in the interim, i really appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you, have a great day. Chair ronen you too. Mr. Clerk, can you please read item 2. Clerk yes, item number 2 is a motion approving rejecting the mayoral nomination for the appointment of Rachael Tanner to the Planning Commission for a term ending june 30, 2022. Chair ronen thank you. And miss tanner, good morning, how are you . Good morning, how are you doing . Chair ronen thank you, good, welcome. It was great meeting with you last week and getting a chance to talk and i would love to hear from you. I just wanted to make sure that neither of my colleagues had opening remarks. None. Then, please, begin. Thank you. Thank you very much, chair ronen, and good morning, supervisors. Its good to be with you this morning and thank you so much for considering me and for speaking with me in the past week and i just really enjoyed our conversation. I wanted to share with you all and for the members of the public who are watching a little bit about my background and my path to and continuing Public Service. I was born and raised in michigan, in a workingclass family. My dad was one of the first African American Public Safety officers in our small citys police force in the 1980s and had a big role in helping to integrate the police force here. And my mom worked as a lab tech in a local hospital throughout her career. From a very young age i have really believed in and seen the power of people working together to solve the issues that face our communities, whether it was organizing my Elementary School to recycle all of those Plastic Grocery bags or a little earth club, i really thought that if we get together and we work hard, we have an idea, we can change the world around us. That belief has continued to fuel me in my work, in my career. In undergrad i started Political Science and really focused a lot of my energy in the field working with Community Development corporations in detroit, working to understand how they could develop strategies to redevelop the neighborhoods which at that time were much different than they are in this current well, the most recent economic boom time. And that really solidified for me that working at the local level, and working with people, is where i find the most rewards from my work and the most passion. I then went to on to do Community Organizing in my hometown with faithbased organizations. So working with congregations to think not just how do we help the people in our communities who need it, but how do we change the structure of our governments and our laws to prevent more and mere people from needing the help in first place. So we helped to pass some of the Housing First legislation in our town, and more programs for youth and a host of other issues that really met the needs of real people who know what they need and know how to figure out the solutions to the problems that we have. And from there i went on to study city planning. I have a love of cities, all things cities, from infrastructure and understanding transportation and sewer systems, to building the people who make our cities really what they are. And, again, that belief that if we Work Together we can shape and reshape our cities to be places of equality, places of equity, and places that are fun. And exciting to live. So after that i moved to california. I spent a little bit of time with the city of long beach working with the city manager there. Had just a tremendous experience before coming here to the city and county of San Francisco. I spent a few years working for the Planning Department, working particularly with the excellsior neighborhoods and thinking about the neighborhoods connected to each other through that main street. And thinking about what is the vision for that neighborhood and what is it that the residents from the different walks of life want to see and how could the supervisor and the Planning Department and really a host of other city departments Work Together to bring that vision to reality. Currently, my work has taken me to paolo alto, and and i have t of technical understanding but what is my greatest asset as a member of the local government is my ability to listen, to bring people together, and to try to understand all sides of the issues and to Work Together to figure out what is not the only way, but perhaps the best way that we can deal with the reassurance that we have to move forward. I have also been very fortunate to serve the city on the board of appeals. I was appointed by then the president of the board or nominated by the president of the board cohen and affirmed by the board of supervisors and have been serving in that capacity since november 2018, so coming up just on two years that. Time has just shown me how valuable it is to have Board Members who are thoughtful, who are inquisitive, who really do their homework and who want to understand what is happening and how we can best be of service to the city and county of San Francisco through that body. It would be my pleasure to and an honor to work and to serve on the Planning Commission where i would really hope to focus on three things. The first is thinking about how is our department making good on its resolution to center racial and social equity. That is a lot to live up to. Its very exciting though, and i feel that we have so much momentum and so much energy thats really positive that were building on something. And so im just really excited to work with the staff and to work with the Community Organizations to make good on that promise. I am also thinking a lot about our Small Businesses and our neighborhood commercial districts, what will be their future. And especially coming out of this covid19 pandemic and the recession thats coming or i guess that were in you know, what does that look like . What kind of services will people be need something how can we help the entrepreneurs either to reestablish their businesses or hang on . And what does that look like from a Planning Department perspective in regards to code or other things that we can do to help . And, lastly, thinking about our housing crisis. Its being reshaped right now dramatically and we have a lot to learn about how the contours of our citys housing crisis will look during and after the pandemic. So were paying close attention to that. But i still believe that it relies on the core values of, you know, protecting our tenants first and foremost as well as our homeowners, preserving as much Affordable Housing as we can and making sure that we dont lapse in that. And figuring out how to produce the housing in the places that we want to see it produced in San Francisco and for the groups that we hope that housing will serve. So i thank you for your time this morning and im happy to answer any questions that the committee would have. Chair ronen thank you so much. What a great presentation. Do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments . Chair ronen, i have a couple comments but ill wait until after Public Comment, but i have no questions at this time. Chair ronen okay, supervisor mar . Supervisor mar i think that id like to wait until after Public Comment. Chair ronen okay. I just had a couple of questions, which we had talked about during our meeting, but i just think that its great for the public to hear your responses. And you spoke about this in your opening statement, about the Planning Commissions strongly worded resolution, to the harm to the communities of color with presentday planning and zoning policies and committing to a bold and forwardthinking strategy to advance racial and social equity in San Francisco. And can you explain to us a little bit more in detail how you might apply this commitment to change the reallife impacts on communities communities of color and lowincome residents and lowwage workers and Small Businesses, and what tools that you see that are available to the Planning Commission to do this . And last, but not least, what challenges might exist to apply those tools . I would just love to hear a little bit. I know that its one of your top priorities, which is exciting, but id love to hear more details because its one of the most important things that we need to do. Thank you. Absolutely, im happy to talk about that. Im so passionate and i will try to keep my answers brief so please cut me off if i go on too long. You know, i am so proud of our Planning Commission for making that statement and i think that theres a couple things that i really see as tools that we have. The one is the allocation of resources, which in a lot of times that relates to staff time. And what are the projects that the Planning Commission allocates resources to. We have the wonderful example, i think the Mission Action plan 2020, which is birthed out of Community Response and, you know, the city saying, okay, we will work with the communities to develop this really robust planning process and i think that as important as the plan itself i mean, the plan is only as good as the people behind it are the relationships forged and the understanding that was built, and the commitment to saying, okay, we cant just keep doing what weve been doing. And i know that was hard fought, but i think that it was really meaningful because it wasnt just lip service. It was real people, you know, working with each other. I would like to see if that model can be applied to both different communities geographically or thinking about the black community of San Francisco, is it philmore and bayview or a broader citywide strategy . And, agai again, having that understanding and seeing if we can slow, if not reverse, the exodus of our black community from San Francisco. I think that we can do it. I think that weve seen in the latest update on Mission Action plan 2020, some of the plateauing perhaps of some of the outmigration of latin x families from the mission. I dont want to say that weve solved it, but i think we saw some good signs. So, okay, lets build on that, lets figure that out. We have also seen, you know, efforts such as the mission bay to look back and to say, okay, we have this area plan, how did things turn out. Lets take an audit of what are the racial and social impacts of the plans that we have done, especially as were planning for our housing element. Again, we dont want to repeat the mistakes of the past, but we can also learn what did work and what didnt work. As far as the challenges so those are just a few things, you know, how we apply our resources and how we learn from our successes as well as the challenges that we may have had. And the challenges are, of course, myriad. I think that perhaps the one that takes a little bit of the wind out of the sails a little bit can be the downturn of the economy and how will we start new projects and new outreach. But this is the time to do planning. This is the time to think about what our success will look like after this. This is the time to think about what kind of city do we want and to plan for success. This recession will end. We will have, you know, a chance to build and we can do so in a way that is more equitable. If we dont plan now though well have the market continue to do what it does, which is to have us take us on another wild swing and likely have more of the same negative impacts that weve had when the market is just unchecked and kind of running wild in San Francisco. So those are some of the items. And the last thing is to continue to raise the conversation in the Planning Commission meetings. When its in the packet, the house staff are reviewing policies and actually asking the questions which i have seen and really appreciate. And then lets discuss it, lets talk about it. If its not discussed and its not made a priority for staff because the commissioners arent discussing it, then it becomes a box to check versus the meaningful dialogue that impacts how we understand policies and projects and the decisions that we ultimately make. Chair ronen i appreciate that answer very much. And just one question related to that answer, because, of course, this is the most important thing to me as a supervisor. Part of the success of the Mission Action plan 2020 wasnt so much the strategies that were developed in that plan, which you kind of noted the relationship i completely agree with you that that the trust and the relationships that were built were probably the most powerful thing about it. But what i think that has been being the supervisor of mission and watching for the last 10 years because i was part of being a supervisor, what has the displacement of latino families in the mission and maybe gotten us to a point now where the thousand plus units are about to come online, can we possibly reverse the loss of 10,000 latino individuals and families from the mission and the gentrification of the neighborhood. I think that, you know, not what i think what i know was the reason that were about to lease up or, you know, over a thousand units of below market rate Affordable Housing in the district was the combination of activism that got several mayors to dedicate persons of housing bonds and revenues to purchasing properties in the mission, a concentration of the neighborhood, and the ability of activism to shape marketrate projects and how much Affordable Housing was included in those projects. Or other Community Benefits that came out of those marketrate projects. And very sadly in my opinion, laws like fb35 and 330 from the state level are sort of offering a onesizefitsall approach that would have taken away the power and the ability of communities to shape those projects. So that the very successes that we have seen in the mission that i think that should be studied and replicated all over the country in gentrifying communities are not going to be replicable to other communities if those onesizefitsall streamlining state laws pass. So how do you see this phenomenon playing out and sort of what are your opinions about those laws and how we can you know, to replicate these successful strategie strategiese have seen in the mission in the face of those laws . Well, thats a fantastic question. And, certainly, the landscape of state laws continues to change, you know, every session and were constantly working to integrate or adapt or, you know, to make sure that we understand what is the new implications are. And im really proud that we have such a stellar team of planners who work very quickly to understand what does this mean for our city and how do we make sure that were staying on right side of the law, of course. I think that one of the things that the state laws make more important than ever is our longrange planning work. Because we have to be anymore ne enough to understand what the needs of a community are and to create objective standards so that we can be sure that we can have its almost like integrating the activism at the front end. You know, what are the Community Benefits that we need the projects to deliver and have a really clear plan of how we outline them, how we are tying them to projects and Development Standards so that as projects do perhaps avail themselves of fb35 or some of the other housing accountability requirements, that we have baked it in to those strategies. And its a little bit different of a tactic than weve used so successfully in San Francisco, but i know that we can Work Together to figure out, okay, if this is the new terrain, how do we be nimble and have those supports . Which, again, is why i think that its so important to plan right now in this downturn because we know that, yes, people go, im not going to build this and that we dont know when that will end and we want to know what the benefits that we want from projects are once those applications do begin coming forward again. Chair ronen okay, thank you. I appreciate that answer. It looks like we should supervisor mar did you want to chime in now . Supervisor mar i did have a few followup questions on your questions and particularly your question around, you know, the the Planning Commission resolution on racial and social equity and how we can really make that real as soon as possible. And, miss tanner, i really appreciate you making this as a priority and looking at stepping into the Planning Commission and yourfuyour thoughtful responses. And the business as usual to this point, you know, has not furthered that goal and has, you know, and exacerbated inequities, particularly for communities of color in our city when it comes to housing and land use. And one one important aspect of that is that the imbalance in the Housing Production that we have seen in recent years where we have been overreducing marketrate luxury housing, particularly, you know, luxury condos, and, you know, where im sure that youre aware that were currently at over 140 of our market rate housing projection goal in the current cycle with two years to go, but weve been underproducing and having supportable to moderate and lowincome households. Its great, as chair ronen just touched on the work thats been happening in the Mission District to try to advance more talent, and development in the mission that really meets the needs of the community. So i just wanted to hear your thoughts about, yeah, how we might be able to really put that balance in our city where were building the housing that is really meeting the needs, you know, of our working families and the communities of color. And, yeah umhmm, so a great question. I think that its a challenge, certainly, and one that we have all been i think many of us have been trying to figure out how do we get more housing out of the private market and under the control of whether its the city or whether it be nonprofit organizations, but organizations that are not driven by the profit motive in terms of the provision of housing. And so continuing to do that and to pursue that as effectively as we can, were very fortunate in this city that we do have a number of resources, especially now with the friends theres a lawsuit being resolved. So we have funds for housing and for building it. So, you know, theres no one solution, as im sure that you know. And its all of the above. From a structural standpoint in regards to this, and i would say that the city would be engaged in discussing and trying to advocate for the best allocation for the city that is in line with the goal that we have, which certainly could potentially maybe be accomplished with the income shift applied to the methodology where it does shift the allocation more towards low and very lowincome housing as a priorities within a citys allocations. I know that then affects other citys allocations and its not like a seesaw, you do one thing one place and you have to balance it elsewhere. So that is one kind of option there. But, again, the allocation just allocates and it doesnt build the housing, right . And it doesnt result in the units coming online. So how do we plan with agencies a strategy for where we can build more Affordable Housing and how we can be nimble during this downturn to build as much as we can of Affordable Housing. And perhaps to have some greater scale. Maybe our dollars could go a little further at this time period, which would be really be excellent. And then continue to press the envelope on how can we get more and more inclusionary housing into or out of any marketrate development. I think that we just have got to keep finding ways to sharpen that pencil and make sure that if there are marketrate units going and weve got to get the benefits for our communities, which are those Affordable Housing units out of those projects. So, again, its not an easy balance to flip, but i am hopeful that we can do that. And i also have been speaking with some folks about ideas to try to look at could we work to get more moderate income housing, like where folks arent eligible for Affordable Housing units but, certainly, have a very hard time making it in the private market. And are there some developers that we could work with for whom that could be a sweet spot and we could figure out how to do something so it is income restricted and, again, to be the pioneers that we have been in Affordable Housing to find ways to meet the needs of our community. So i think that is what San Francisco is known for and i would hope that we can continue that innovation. Thank you. Chair ronen great. Then we will now open this item up for Public Comment. Clerk yes. Yes, members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call 1 415 6550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1469652968. Then press pound, and pound again. If you havent done so, dial star, 3, to line up to speak. A system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. Please wait until the system indicates that you have been unmuted and you may begin your comment. Do we have any Public Commenters on the line . Yes, i currently have 10 callers in the queue. I will queue the first caller. Caller hi, i am renee curran and i have been a tenant rights advocate for the last 11 years. I have some concern about mayor breeds lack of or failure to appoint people with a proven record in looking out for the needs of tenants. And i dont know a lot about Rachael Tanner and id like to know what her record was on the board of appeals when tenants were opposing, for instance, a. D. U. S that were taking away longterm rights that they had as far as parking and laundry sources and storage spaces, its always been part of their tenancy. And i also do have some concern about the vagueness in the answers that im hearing today. But i guess, yeah, thats it, next caller. Bye. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller good morning, supervisors. My name is al indiscernible and im an advocacy director for the electrical industry, and im calling in to have support for miss tanners nomination. And the aspect indiscernible and a number of the issues that were discussed earlier and i think that its its really important in this session to have a planner with an expertise to help to drive policy. Her background and experience i think is the right fit for what San Francisco needs right now. I think that as the if you try to implement the special equity resolution, as we try to find ways of really focusing Affordable Housing, really moving forward as as we try to really to contend with this indiscernible is an understatement what we are going to be facing. Its important to have someone with the sort of background being able to help with policy. You know, the last thing they want to leave you with is that i noticed that supervisor indiscernible i do want to note that of the fb35 projects so far submitted and approved in San Francisco, i think that virtually all have been by the folks at indiscernible and Affordable Housing developers indiscernible . Again, those are 100 affordable and i think that the one market rate one, it is indiscernible . So, you know, these policies indiscernible and i think we can really make smart use of them and i appreciate. Clerk thank you, your speaker time has passed. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller hello, good afternoon, supervisors. Im the executive director of refugee coalition. Im calling in on behalf of the black and black wall street. We support Rachael Tanner for the Planning Commission. We are a network of Community Servants and cultural influencers committee committed to supporting the brakeled organizations in San Francisco. We understand the importance of having a seat at the table and our Community Needs need representation on the commission, and without representation the Planning Departments commitment to black lives and Racial Equity ring hello. We need leaders in San Francisco who are connected to and understand the challenge that we have in black san franciscans in historically black neighborhoods. And the Planning Department have been agents of destruction but the city is turning to a new way of approaching planning and development to build on our cultural history, instead of tearing it down. The city can join with us with building black spaces and wealth through homeownership and supporting redevelopment, and understanding the needs of our community and has committed to this for the city. I urge you to strongly support rachaels nomination. Thank you. Clerk thank you, next caller, please. Caller good morning. My name is jerry grantler with the San Francisco landuse coalition. San francisco has Housing Units and the Planning Commission diamond appointed by mayor breed have consistently approved projects that are inconsistent with objective three of the citys general plan. Objective three calls for the protection of Affordable Housing, especially rental units which supervisor diamond has approved projects where tenants of affordable units have been displaced to make room for luxury condos, by remodeling or expanding the existing buildings. I suggest that your committee ask miss tanner about her commitment to maintaining Affordable Housing in San Francisco, and whether she would approve similar Expansion Projects that reduce the numbers of affordable rental units. Also i believe that miss tanner is an airbnb host. Is miss tanner compliant with all of San Franciscos airbnb host requirements . It would be inappropriate for a Planning Commissioner to be noncompliant and be ruling on the compliance of fellow San Francisco residents. Thank you. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller hi, good morning, supervisors. My name is randy shortenge, with urban air academy. And based in bayview at this point. And indiscernible and supporting these indiscernible and the equitycentered approach to making sure . The city is accessible for the most important people that we have running our city. I have heard on the call that i support the candidacy of miss tanner and i hope and urge you all to support it as well. With San Francisco being a unique city, and with all of the history discussed by some of the other callers, i figured that we would talk about racial and social equity and representation has to be a part of every piece of that process and it starts with the people on that commission. Miss tanner is very qualified, and not only with the Technical Expertise but to help to drive what the city needs for a longterm vision for what is going to be we dont know what the future is going to hold but we know that as far as putting the principles in place and policies in place that keep accessibility for all and to have that unique focus, and we ask that the community that we need someone like miss tanner. We have an opportunity to do that and you would do well to give her your support. Clerk thank you. Next caller, please. Hi, this is jennifer fever. Im a tenant advocate. I filed many discussionary reviews in front of this commission on behalf of the tenants, trying to help the tenants that are feeling stuck. So a couple weeks ago we had a d. R. Hearing where tenants had been drafted out of their rentcontrolled homes by a law firm to make way for a luxury expansion. One of the tenants actually died in the process of fighting this. So for 90 minutes, they heard moving calls from tenants and neighborhoods that we had organized in opposition to the project. When the calls were done it was like it never even happened for many of the commissioners. They seemed more interested in talking about where the garbage cans would go then where the tenants want. The current commissioners appointed by the mayor have bias to landlords and developers in their comments but i glaze over when the public calls in. And this is a city of 64 renters, but we have a group of mostly homeowners calling the shots there. Commissioners and staff insist that all tenant problems can be solved at the rent board so they dont have to consider tenants, but thats just not true. Thats not how it works. In fact, the general plan which theyre supposed to uphold has a lot of emphasis about preserving the existing rental stock and protecting the tenant tenants fm evictions, but it often seems that the department has flowery language and no real plan to follow those objectives. So i just, you know, it seems like our housing policy treats the humans that actually live in it as an afterthought, so i just ask that you ask some really, you know, some questions about the existing tenants that are in these buildings and really drill in on that before supporting this. Thanks. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller good morning, the landuse coalition. Today you will be deciding whether or not to approve another mayors nominee to the Planning Commission. This is particularly important at a time when the Planning Commission is stacked with male appointees that are increasingly out of touch with the issues that every san franciscan grapples with. We are woefully ignorant of the general planned policies, our rent ordinance, and the discretion in nature. And San Francisco is a city of renters and thats why the preservation of the rental units is plainly stated as one of the objectives of our general plan. And the city with 64 of the population is a tenant, and not one mayor appointee is a renter. She selfidentified indiscernible and she came from a board of appeals, a body that hardly ever votes for the appellants. This is the second time that mayor breed has moved a member to the Planning Commission. Why the Musical Chairs . Supervisors, there are important questions to be asked such as does miss tanner know that the Planning Commission is a discretionary body, and it should be upholding our general plan, preserve the affordability and protect our rentcontrolled units . What does she think of cases where the tenants oppose the a. D. U. Conversions of their garages and storage spaces that are specifically listed in their leases . How familiar is she with the rental ordinance and the conversion laws . Has she ever displaced a tenant . Chair ronen, there are 29 duplexes and triplexes currently up for sale in the mission, the district that you represent. In all likelihood, these properties are tenant occupied and they are in the rent eviction upon the close of the escrow. What does miss tanner think the speakers time has elapsed. Thank you. Clerk can we have the next caller, please. Caller good morning. Supervisors, my name is indiscernible , im a housing advocate in district 5, located in district 5, the citywide orient. I appreciate miss tanner saying that among her priorities are racial and social equity and housing. Thats a good start there. But so far on the housing front i heard one good idea about seeing if any builders would build moderate income restricted housing. That would be great if she would be able to locate sources of financing since the International Capital does not want to build that. So what she has said about housing though so far is pretty much like well, we could build more inclusionary housing its great, but we know that inclusionary housing is just increasing the problem from studies. And also the plethora of legislation from indiscernible that these are Unfunded Mandates. And i would like to see somebody who would be more aggressive about fighting these Unfunded Mandates as well as thinking and working on things like the San Francisco public bank that could provide funding. Finally, i would like to say that a large number, as perhaps as 50 of seniors, do not have the income to qualify for Affordable Housing with rent starting at 2,000 a month. So when those folks lose their current housing or maybe already rent burdened, they have to lose their community and their resources and move out of town, if not just die, which weve had those cases too. So, again, we need a commissioner who will do the work, who will not sit there and not say a word thank you, speaker time has elapsed. Caller thank you. Clerk yes, can we have the next caller, please. Caller um yes, i am angela mayhan. Before i start, do i get two or three minutes . Clerk you receive two minutes. Caller fine. Great. Good morning, my name is angela mayhan and a resident of the excelsior district and im a member of the Outer Mission Merchants Association and a resident for 40 years. A Community Advocate and one of the few people that have come out in our district and have actually done work to have our neighborhood actually try to function the way that it should have functioned with Rachael Tanner. I support her wholeheartedly for a number of reasons. First, shes smart and she has a confidence approach and shes dialed into many issues. And when the Community Comes to her she listens to what they have to say. So a lot of people who have voiced concerns about what they think that she is going to do or that because shes a mayoral appointee, maybe the answer to your question should be to call her and ask her, because she will give you an important answer. Im an African American woman and as an African American woman i love the idea that she will center African American issues, but more importantly, i dont want you to appoint her because she is an African American woman, i want you to appoint her because shes technically sound. Shes smart, she has the chops to actually do the job, just not from an African American approach, which is what i appreciate, but from a San Francisco approach, it would be an approach that will make the city and the Planning Department better. Actually better. And i cant express enough the importance of she doesnt speak at us, she speaks to us as a community and then formulates conclusions to best help the community. So instead of having somebody who is going to be a show either for one Advocacy Group or another, youre going to have someone who is going to look at things and make things better for the city. So i think that you do yourself and you do the city of San Francisco a Great Service by appointing Rachael Tanner to the commission. I yield the rest of my time. Have a good morning, supervisors. Clerk thank you. I want to make a quick statement, if you have not already done so, press star, 3, to be added to the queue. For those on hold, continue to wait until the system indicates that you have been unmuted. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller good morning, supervisors. My name is gwendlyn brown. We support Rachael Tanner for the Planning Commission. indiscernible and it was response to the impact of covid19 and antiblack racism on black business and cultural space and we are a network of Community Servants and professionals and cultural forces who are committed to black sovereignty. Black wall street understands the importance of having a seat at the table and we need representation on the Planning Department. And we want a commitment to black lives and centering Racial Equity. Rachael is a professional, and i met her when she came to the o. M. I. And she worked for the Planning Department. She can committed to reaching out to do o. M. I. , regardless of my cynicism. She is tasked with bringing us together, which is a very Diverse Group of stakeholders in the excelsior and the o. M. I. And then working together to find common ground. She has listening skills and the ability to connect with people from all walks of life and a genuine detdcasion to the Community Dedication to the community. This is what we need at the Planning Commission and we at black wall street urge you to support rachaels nomination for the Planning Commission. Thank you, and i yield my time. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller hi, my name is erica swag and im from district 4. I know that this is a mayoral appointment and it will be a mayoral appointment. My biggest fear is that the appointment will be like the other appointments of mayor breeds, where they rubberstamp what proposed and dont dig deep, dont question, dont send the planners back to to meet where its needed. [no audio] rubber stamping without really questioning or pushing the planners to go in a direction other than grow, grow, grow. Thank you. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller hello, im kathy multemeyer, and a resident since 1999. I am the chair of the Excelsior Action Group and i have the very great privilege of working with Rachael Tanner for two years on an excelsior Planning Commission as i was serving for district 11 of the office of supervisor safai. Throughout this process, it involved over 32 Community Stakeholders and involved about eight or nine large meetings where we went directly to the public and they were also invited to participate. And the direction of that was led by communities. The project overview was as our neighborhood changes we support sustaining and enhance what makes our neighborhood special. Our families, elders, and ethnic and diversity and Small Businesses and local gems. Through rachaels leadership we were able to come up with a strategy that really did center on community and specifically on housing development. As we know, the oftentimes district 11 is described as the last workingclass neighborhood in San Francisco. And our strategies regarding land use and housing were to maintain and to build Housing Stock that serves current residents and welcome people and a range of incomes and immigrants. To not have displacement of homeowners and businesses. So where low and moderate income residents can survive and thrive. And to promote relationships building an Intercultural Exchange among the many different neighborhood stakeholders, and develop and maintain the infrastructure clerk thank you. Speaker time has elapsed. Can we have the next caller, please. Madam chair, that completes the queue. Chair ronen thank you. I want to i appreciate all the callers. Supervisor stefani, do you have any comments or questions . Supervisor stefani no questions, thank you, chair ronen. I want to say that i met with miss tanner last week and i know her briefly from when she worked for supervisor safai. But i was so impressed, and i went through all of these questions and this is not rubber stamping i care deeply about who is on the Planning Commission, having appeared before the Planning Commission for years and years and years and all of my work in the city, this is so important. This is a very important position. I think that miss tanner is so qualified, not only in experience and in education, but in her attitude and her outlook about everyone working together. And listening to all sides. And i truly take her at her word and i have seen her do that and i know that shell be able to do that. So creating a false narrative that shes this way or that way i dont think that serves or helps anybody. So i also was so impressed in the conversations that we had about the dire need for affordable and middleincome housing in San Francisco and how the recession will make that a little bit more difficult, also with regards to our merchant corridors and the Small Businesses and how the recession is going to also make that difficult. And how we, you know, have a lot of Thoughtful Solutions to really work through on all of those issues. You know, and the racial and the social equity in housing i think that, of course, she spoke to that well in our meeting. And, you know, the woman who appointed her to that also cares deeply about that as people should know. Also her work on the board of appeals excellent work. I know that the people on the board of appeals are sad to see you go. And i just know that you are going to be fair, consistent and forward thinking. You are more than qualified, actually, and im so impressed with mayor breeds appointment. And i just look forward to your service. Hopefully i do support your nomination and thanks again for your presentation and thank you to the callers who called to weigh in. Chair ronen supervisors, you have any comments . Chair ronen, thanks and im having problems with my video so for some reason its not working but im glad that you can hear me. So i also did want to thank miss tanner for the opportunity to meet with her last week and we had a really good conversation. I was very impressed with not just your qualifications to serve on the Planning Commission but your thoughtfulness on all of the very complicated, complex and challenging issues facing our city and regarding having a lanland use but i did have aw questions actually from the speaker from Public Comment around tenant protections and preserving Affordable Housing. And just and, miss tanner, in your capacity as a member of the board of appeals have you ever voted for a tenant to oppose the a. D. U. Conversion of garages and storage spaces that are included in their leases . Thank you, supervisor mar. I would need to go back and to check my records to make sure that i have what my record has been on voting. We always though i always have, you know, worked to ensure that no tenants rights are being severed and also to encourage any tenant who is dealing with that to ensure that they are having the resources of the board as well. So i dont want to misspeak on my record on that vote but i can go back and check those cases and get back to you. Supervisor mar thank you. And a followup question more broadly, what are your thoughts on the term rent evictions, and that are they, in effect, vikdzs . Nothing makes my blood boil more than when at the board of appeals we have seen that very same thing. We have seen landlords try to claim oh, its just a renovation, but as we look at the plans we find that wait, how is the person going to live in that unit supposedly while that type of work is going on. Its incompatible for that unit to be habitable while that scope of work is going on and what is happening. So we are very i have been and i have been joined in that support by the fellow board of appeals members, very a lot of scrutiny applies to any of those cases, the conditions being applied. We had a case where we imposed hours in terms of construction, we put quite a number of restrictions on how any renovation could take place because it was as you said an effort to try to make it very uncomfortable for that tenant to reside there in an effort to just get them to leave. And i have no tolerance for that type of behavior. Supervisor mar thank you again for your thoughtful responses today. Thank you. Chair ronen thank you. I want to appreciate all of the callers, we have a huge pool out there who is very excited about this appointment. And to those who expressed reservations, i would just encourage you to make yourself available to those folks to discuss some of the concerns and the issues. I have to say in my discussions with you that i found you to be extremely knowledgeable and committed to equity and i see that in you and i have appreciated your responses very much. And im really looking forward to working with you hopefully if youre approved Going Forward on the Planning Commission and holding that relationship. Also i want to just thank you for taking this on. The Planning Commission is one of the most laborious jobs that i can think of. And anyone willing to do that amount of volunteer work for the city is clearly invested in not only the profession and the role of planning in making the city amazing, or our city amazing, but just in Public Service in general. So i just want to express my gratitude for you being willing to take this on. Its not an easy role and its a lot of volunteer time and opening yourself up to a lot of criticism. So i appreciate that very, very, very much. Thank you. Chair ronen and with that i would be happy im going to try to make this motion correctly to our clerk of the board. I would like to make a motion to strike the word rejecting from the motion and then further to approve the amended motion to approve the mayoral nomination for the appointment of Rachael Tanner to the planning comeation and to forward to the full board with positive recommendation. Did i do it, victor, correctly, the first time . Clerk that is correct. Chair ronen thank you. Can we have a roll call vote. Clerk on that motion [roll call] the motion passes without objection. Chair ronen thank you so much and thank you again, miss tanner. Thank you, okay, byebye, thank you. Chair ronen mr. Clerk, read item number 3. Yoirk item 3, an ordinance amending the administrative code to require the department of Public Health to provide administrative staff to support the Behavioral Health commission, to expand the membership criteria to conform to state law, and to reset at Commission Member terms as of january 1, 2021, to be staggered so that no more than onethird of the members terms expire at one time. Chair ronen is anyone seeing that audience view . Is that a new zoom . Very bizarre. Its freaking me out a bit. Lets go with it. Its a new feature of zoom or something. Anyway, supervisor stefani did you want to open up this item . Supervisor stefani i have to agree with that too, it gives an illusion that we are sitting closer than six feet. [feedback on audio] were trying to fix that right now, sorry about that. Supervisor stefani thank you, supervisor ronen and supervisor mar for hearing this today. I want to offer a brief history of the Behavioral Health commission and its structure. The state of california passed the act in 1957 which make counties responsible for providing the Behavioral Health treatment through communitybased health programs. As part of that law each county was required to create a local Advisory Board, what we now call the Behavioral Health commission. The rules and responsibilities of that body were reformed by the state in the bronson 1992 which put even more responsibility on the county and imposed specific requirements on the membership of the local Advisory Board to increase the number of direct consumers and their family members. So the responsibilities of this Behavioral Health commission includes reviewing and evaluating the communitys Public Mental Health needs and the Service Facilities and the special problems in any facility within the county, including but not limited to schools, Emergency Departments and psychiatric facilities. Reviewing and making recommendations regarding any county agreements that are funded through grants from the Mental Health services act for assistance into transition from homelessness Grant Programs and the community Mental Health Services Block grant program. And advising the board of supervisors and the department of Public Health on any aspect of a local Mental Health program. Reviewing and making recommendations regarding applicants for the appointment of a local director of Mental Health services, submits an annual report to the board of supervisors on the needs and the performance of the countys Mental Health system. And reviewing and commenting on the countys performance outcome data and the communicated findings to the california Behavioral Health planning council. So the reason that i mention all of these responsibilities is because this body is really charged with a gargantuan task when you think about all of that. I know that, supervisor ronen, when youre hearing all of that youre probably thinking, wow, that is something that would have been great to have somebody really be able to focus on. So in the face of our current Behavioral Health crisis, the b. H. C. Must ensure that our programs are safe, adequate and meet the needs of our fellow san franciscans. I want to specifically to call out the body, it is uniquely empowered to conduct site visits at any facilities, respond to complaints and interview the real people who rely on these programs. Its a incredible responsibility and everybody who volunteers for a seat on this board deserves our sincerest appreciation and they do very good work and hard work. I am bringing this legislation forward to ensure that this Vital Commission has the adequate staffing so that it deserves so the members can continue to serve the public to the best of their abilities. When i sat on this body i became aware that it was structured in a very unusual way. Currently, the department of Public Health awards the contract to an outside organization that serves as the fiscal agent for the Behavioral Health commission. In that capacity it provides staff supports. So the staff that support the b. H. C. Are actually employees of this friends of organization, not employees of the city and county of San Francisco. So that Organization Called the San Francisco Mental Health Education Fund has a separate board that oversees the administration and the finances of that organization. Many, but not all of the members of the d. H. C. Are also on the board of this outside organization. So in april of this year i became aware that the fiscal agent hadnt been submitting timely invoices for reimbursement to d. P. H. And as a result the staff hadnt been paid for several months. I immediately notified the director of Public Health of the issue in a letter dated april 21, 2020. A few weeks later i became aware that the fiscal agent applied and applied for and accepted a Paycheck Protection Program from the federal Small Business administration. And as we all know the p. P. P. Program was specifically designed to enable businesses to keep employees on a payroll after this economic catastrophe, instead of laying them off. The decision to get a p. P. P. Loan is problematic because the fifiscal agent was funded throuh the p. P. H. And so the two employees jobs are not actually in jeopardy. The department of health is auditing the contract and a federal investigation into the status of the p. P. P. Loan is underway. So while i was troubled by the decision to pursue a p. P. P. P. Loan i was equally concerned by the fact that there were two separate boards. One that is public and one that isnt. Due to these concerns, i resigned my seat on the Behavioral Health commission. So none of this information is meant to malign anyone who has ever served on this body. In my opinion they and the residents of San Francisco have been poorly served by a structure that undermines their efforts. This legislation will provide the d. H. C. With the support they deserves. The individuals should not be burdened with the responsibility of also managing the finances or the administration of a separate organization. And it simply is not fair. And it isnt an obligation that we put on any other commission. Similarly, every other county in the state staffs their Behavioral Health commission through their department of Public Health. These commissioners are volunteers and their time is limited. I know that every member has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to address the issues that i mentioned earlier, and every minute they have to spend going through the Financial Statements for an organization is time away from the important responsibilities that the Behavioral Health commission is tasked with and required to do. The legislation before you will ensure that the Behavioral Health commission is independent, transparent, and truly public by requiring the department of Public Health to provide continuous staffing support. Additionally, this legislation will stagger the terms of the Commission Seats so they will not all expire at the same time. Nearly every seat on this has expired and needs to be filled or reappointed. I understand that the circumstances made it difficult for the body to operate with a quorum and my goal is to prevent this from recurring in the future. Finally, i have a technical amendment to introduce here today and your office should have received, so that the current members will not have their terms unfairly shortened when we stagger the seats. You will find that amendment on page 4, lines 13 and 14. I have been assured by our City Attorney that is it is nonsubstantive. The director of ambulatory care and the director of Behavioral Health services are here to present on how the department will operationalize this legislation. And i would really like to thank them both for their help and their dedication during this drafting process. I want to thank you virginia and the City Attorneys office who is just amazing and the members of the Behavioral Health commission who serve this city to address the most important challenge that we face. And finally i want to thank my incredible legislative aide who is vital to making sure that we get this legislation done, and with that i would like to turn it over to the department of Public Health. Chair ronen dr. Hammer, are you going to present . Yes, i am. I am going to present and i am just letting you know that marlo simmons, our acting director of Behavioral Health services was planning to present too. Shes been the lead on working with the San Francisco Mental Health Education Fund, and working with supervisor stefanis office and the City Attorney office to figure out this rule change which we fully support. And i just want to appreciate supervisor stefani. Your presentation of the issues is accurate, really we very much support this change and the really i think structural challenges presented to the presented by how this was initially set up. So as supervisor stefani said, all california counties are required to have a Behavioral Health board or commission and our San Francisco Behavioral Health commission was managed under the fiscal intermediary, the Health Education fund, and funded through Behavioral Health services contract. The contract is funded the operations of the commission as well as the two staff who supported the commissions work. And this ordinance directs the department of Public Health to take over providing the administrative staff for the commission with d. P. H. Employees. Its in line with how other committees and commissions are aligned with the department that theyre mandated to to advise throughout the city. And so we support this change. We also just really want to reiterate that its incredibly important for community members, consumers and family members to give input to Behavioral Health programs for clinical services. This only strengthens our services. With so much going on in Behavioral Health in San Francisco, with the Mental Health s. F. Legislation and our very encouraging progress towards implementing the Mental Health s. F. Vision, we think that its even more important for the Behavioral Health commission to be a strong entity and working with the department of Public Health. And we think that this alignment will give the commission the greatest possible imppac impacte transformational work that were embarking on. So thats just my brief comments on the legislative change brought forward by supervisor stefani and im happy to answer any questions sorry for the delay. I was just making sure that marlo simmons, our acting director was indeed no longer available. Chair ronen thank you. Thank you so much, dr. Hemmer. Always great to hear from you. If theres no more comments, are you ready to open this up for Public Comment, supervisor stefani . Is that okay . Supervisor stefani yes, chair ronen, yes. Chair ronen great. Please open this up for Public Comment. Clerk yes, the members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call 1 415 6550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1469652968. Then press pound and pound again. If you havent already done so, dial star 3 to line up to speak and the system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand and please wait until the system indicates that you have been unmuted and you may begin your comment. Do we have any speakers at this time . Yes, i currently have nine callers in the queue. I will queue the first caller. Caller hello . Clerk hi, we can hear you. Please proceed. Caller my name is marilyn tesconi, the chair of the Behavioral Health commission. I have seen no value in the current relationship between the nonprofit San Francisco Mental Health Education Fund and the behaviorial Health Commission. During that time the effectiveness and credibility has declined but its not too late to rectify that. Separating the Behavioral Health commission from the nonprofit will help to put us back on the right track. The review of the local Health Facilities will resume. And the Behavioral Health care appointments will ensure that this will not happen again. Assigning a d. P. H. Support staff to the commission will return us to a consistent accountable structure that has been lacking over the last three years. It will strengthen our resources and goals. I see no compelling reason for the nonprofit and the commission to remain connected or to share staff. Overall the best hope of restoring relevancy and credibility to the commission is to start fresh with new supports, a full membership, and a tangible actionable plans for success. Thank you. Clerk thank you. The next caller, please. Caller hi, this is judy drummond. I am excuse me the secretary of the Behavioral Health commission. Can you hear me . Clerk yes, we can hear you. Caller thank you very much. Im the secretary of the Behavioral Health commission and im also the secretary of the smirf board. I joined the Behavioral Health commission four years ago because i wanted to be involved. Im very deeply passionate about the Mental Health care in this city. There are so many things wrong with it. And i have spent my life working with children and parents and the community trying to get better services. I thought that i could help. It did not happen. We have been the first board did nothing, and it never did what it was supposed to do. We asked and got no answers. The Behavioral Health commission itself has been with a lack of leadership. We need someone clearly we need someone to help us to set up site visits, to help help with the Board Meetings, to help us to recruit new members. We seriously need new members on the commission at all levels. And the site visits are the most important things that we do. We have been able to close some places that were not indiscernible their clients horribly. And they were doing a wonderful job, and an example is the Transgender Program on valencia street. So theres so much that you can do. I totally support your bill because i want to thank you, supervisor stefani, thank you very much and your aide, andy, for helping us to get this going. And thank you very much. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller good morning, the board of supervisors. My name is teresa boura. And i served on the Mental Health board for almost five years. First as an appointment of supervisor david chiu and then supervisor aaron peskin. I considered these appointments to be a great honor. Unfortunately, though as i look back, i do not have very much to be proud of. Sure, i wrote resolutions and reports and i participated in meetings and did site visits. But none of what i did changed the Behavioral Health system. A system that as you all know that is in need of great change. This muchneeded legislation will give the Behavioral Health commission a needed fresh start. The appointment of new commissioners will hopefully result in members who recognize this is a working commission requiring a commitment of at least eight hours a month. Supervisors need to assure that the potential appointees recognize this as a big commitment. Its more than just a twohour meeting a month. Our commission should not have to concentrate on mismanagement of funds, sloppy bookkeeping, outofdate documents, the bylaws and manuals that are 20 to 30 years old. This commission has Great Potential to advise the board of supervisors and the mayor and make a difference in the lives of people with Behavioral Health needs. I want to thank supervisor stefani, her staff, for taking this on. We really need to do this and we need to do this now. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller yes, this is David Elliott lewis. I have served for two terms on this commission when it was called the Mental Health board appointed by at that time the district 5 supervisor. The last supervisor to appoint me was london breed. I currently continue to serve on the smirf board, thats the San Francisco Mental Health Education Funds which we have abbreviated smerf c. The whole process has underserved the commission. Were not getting our moneys worth and were and were not really helping the city. I strongly i want to thank supervisor stefani for introducing this legislation. Its greatly needed. And it will help to address it will help to address a number of problems. One of the most significant is the failure to really have Program Reviews. Were supposed to do contracts with the city, five per year in 2019. And they did only two Program Reviews. These Program Reviews are where the commissioners go out and they evaluate a cityfunded program to see if its performing to contract, if its meeting its obligations. And it has found in the past when it did work a number of ineffective cityfunded programs. This really helps the public good. When you dont do Program Reviews, the system of accountabilities and these checks and balances is undermined. And the way that smerf works has failed the ability to do programming reviews. Thats just one of the many failures. The whole Accounting System is broken down. And theres a lot of questionable issues in the Accounting System. I have not found fraud myself but i dont have access to the books. I hope that this legislation will be approved as submitted to help to address all of the problems that have already been mentioned. Thank you. This is David Elliott lewis. Clerk thank you, can we have the next caller, please. Caller good morning. My name is rochelle soda. I was reappointed by supervisor fewer for a second term on the Behavioral Health commission. I strongly support the legislation introduced by supervisor stefani suffering the Behavioral Health commission and nonprofit San Francisco Mental Health Education Fund. I hope that you will support it. The current structure shields the directive and the executive director from oversight, wastes taxpayer money and cripples the commission. It has been a painful mentally exhausting and disheartening experience trying to be an effective commissioner. On a commission that is neutered by mismanagement and corruption. This is a harrowing time for all san franciscans. We are all trying to salvage our Mental Health, not just the stigmatized. This crisis needs the commissions focus, and monitoring and oversight. They need to be up and running and carrying out our mandated functions. Please pass this legislation. Thank you very much. This is rochelle laslova. Clerk thank you can, we have the next caller, please. Caller hello, my name is commissioner Dawson Cooper and my pronouns are they, them and theirs and im the newest member of the Behavioral Health commission and i am here because i want to do work on this commission for the most vulnerable in our community. As highlighted by the previous comments made. This legislation gives clear instruction on what to do and to provide those critical supports from the department of Public Health, like many other major counties in our state. Additionally, it provides a clear timeline of appointments to the commission which has restricted the functionality over the summer months. There are two critical edits that i feel compelled to acknowledge that should be made in this legislation before approval. Theyre on page 3, line 4, and page 4, line 9. Where it mentions his or her spouse. And he or she. As a nonbinary trans person as recognized by the state of california and the commissioner on this board, using binary language like his or her or he or she deludes the idea that i and other gender diversity folks like me are not welcome in this process. While im sure this is not your intent on this legislation, intent does not always equal impact. Therefore, it is critical that every piece of legislation is reviewed to ensure language that is inclusive and affirmative of the participation of gender diversities of san franciscans in the political process. Please make these edits and approve this important legislation. Thank you. I yield my time. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Caller can you hear me now . Clerk we can hear you. Please proceed. Caller great. Good morning, david filpel. When i served on the Sunshine Task force a number of years ago i had occasion to attend various meetings at the time of the Mental Health board. There were some questions that came up about their compliance with the brown act and the sunshine ordinance and i attempted to help to clarify those. So i had occasion to observe how the board at the time was acting. I believe that helena brook was the staff person at the time and bob sabai was the director of Mental Health services for the city. It was an interesting experience and im sure that others can comment on how effective it was at the time. And i have heard comments today on how effective it is today. In any event, i support the proposed ordinance. I think that this is a useful and a necessary change. And i really want to thank supervisor stefani for her considerable and dogged work on this. This obviously took a lot of time to sort out and to work with the City Attorney and others, including the department of Public Health to figure out how to fix. And im sure that she and her staff and others have spent, again, considerable time sorting this out and proposing the good and a workable solution here. So thank you and i encourage you to report this ordinance out with recommendation. Thanks. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please . Caller can you hear me . Clerk we can hear you. Please proceed. Caller hi. Okay. My name is greta jacksonlane, the vicechair of the Behavioral Health commission and i was recently reappointed by supervisor matt haney and i am in district 6. I would like to speak in personal response to the legislation. What i would like to point out is that the core responsibility of the Behavioral Health commission is to empower the voice of the Mental Health and the Behavioral Health consumers and the family members and the residents of the city and county of San Francisco. I would like to point out that if the Behavioral Health Commission Staff in particular, the director, becomes an employee of the Behavioral Health services, the department is far less likely to understand and accept that the behal behavl Health Departments role is to oversee the department. Many other boards and commissions in california have complained that their Health Departments will not allow them to pursue some avenues of advocacy or to respond to the commissions request for resolutions to the problems and uncovered by the commissioners suggestions for change. The previous commissioners have stressed the fact that our commission in particular has the opportunity to do site visits and especially to speak to clients and how they feel that the services are being actually, you know, if theyre being provided or not. And so i would like to stress that we need to make sure that this Behavioral Health commission has the independence and the transparency to the residents in the city and county of San Francisco. I applaud the concerns that supervisor safai has in the urgent needs for us as your time has elapsed. Thank you. Clerk can we have the next caller, please. Caller hello . Clerk yes, we can hear you. Please proceed. Caller okay. How you doing . This is jeffrey greer. Im calling because i am very familiar with the Mental Health board and the treatment ondemand, and recently became involved in Behavioral Health commission and became involved in that whole brouhaha. We are in such a critical crisis for the Underserved Community of San Francisco, that we dont have time for this bureaucratic quagmire that we find ourselves caught in. Now whether or not supervisor stefani wants to restructure smerf and b. H. C. Or we need to find another person i dont understand, it doesnt matter. But it needs to be done with great repeditivity. To wait for the bureaucratic field to turn is a disservice to the community and the public of San Francisco. Youve got 20 years of history, apparently the Behavioral Health commission to work sufficiently and probably should have had oversight. And at this point to technically throw the baby out with the bath water, claiming that youll start all over, knowing how quickly the City Services the City Administration works, it probably wont even get up and running until some Time Next Year the middle of next year. I feel that this needs to be handled immediately, with great repiddity and its very, very serious and you need to get another executive director for the Health Commission and get smerf on board with what theyre doing and take care of this business with great speed. Thank you very much, i yield my time. Clerk thank you, can we have the next caller, please. Caller thank you, mr. Clerk. I oppose this legislation. The Behavioral Health commission would be harmed by this legislation. The recent executive director of b. H. C. For 21 years recently told me in an email and i quote, over the years i have talked with a number of commission chairs who have had a lot of problems working with the county department of health, end quote. Paradoxically, removing it from staffing d. H. C. Could hinder the b. H. C. And its investigation of allegations of massive violations of patients rights by Behavioral Health services. San francisco is the worst out of 58 counties, by and large by 50 in terms of how many patients are put into long term involuntary mental Health Treatment in San Francisco. San francisco adjudicates 2,500 of these cases per year. That is unbelievably high. And it has contributed to b. H. C. s patient load currently at about 30,000 patients. 30,000 patients is more than 3 of the population of this city. Thats too many people by far to have under involuntary longterm mental Health Treatment. This has to be investigated. It can only have happened through the violation of patient rights and only happened through the proceedings and totally sealed cases. These patients are not even able to challenge their treatment. And we have to investigate b. H. C. How are we going to do that when b. H. C. Is providing staff for us . Its going to hinder us. Back to you, mr. Clerk. Clerk thank you. Can we have the next caller, please. Madam chair, that completes the queue. Chair ronen thank you to all of the callers. I just want to thank supervisor stefani for taking this on and for d. P. H. For working to make this happen. I agree that this is a positive step forward for our tons of work and attention that the entire city is putting into our Behavioral Health system right now and i think that this all of this collective work is going to make a major difference and to help serve and to make life better for all of san franciscans. So i really appreciate it. And i wanted to see if supervisor stefani wanted to do the honors of making the motion. Supervisor stefani yes, chair ronen. But before i do i want to thank everyone who called in and especially to call out the suggestion to make sure that the correct pronouns are used. And also an apology to that individual for there oversight because never would i wish for anybody to feel left out. And so i have texted with the City Attorneys office and i understand that we can do that to include they, them or theirs. And we can do that in a way that is nonsubstantive and perhaps we should confer with the City Attorney. Deputy City Attorney ann pearson. Yes, you can make those changes. I believe they are on page 4, on line 12 we would replace the words he or she with the words the member and similarly on line 20 of page 4, we replace he or she with the member. Supervisor stefani and im seeing on page 3, line 4 it says his or her spouse. Okay, it could say the members spouse. Thank you for catching that my office tries very hard when amending to code to capture the correct gender language and i am sorry that escaped us. Supervisor stefani so i move that amendment. Chair ronen victor . Clerk yes, my apologies. I was just typing it. You would like to make those amendments in addition to the ones proposed at the beginning of the meeting . Supervisor stefani yes, thank you, victor, for calling attention to that. I also had that technical amendment they mentioned. So if we could include that as well. Thats on page 4, line 13 and 14. Clerk yes. On supervisor stefani i move clerk on the notion adopt the amendment. [roll call] the motion passes. An additional motion to recommend as amended . Supervisor stefani yes. I would like to move this legislation forward as amended to the full board with positive recommendation. Clerk yes. On that motion [roll call] the motion passes without objection. Supervisor stefani thank you, colleagues. Chair ronen thank you very much, mr. Clerk, any other items . Clerk that completes the agenda for today. Chair ronen then the meeting is adjourned. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Im kevin duffy, and im proud to have represented district 9 in San Francisco on the b. A. R. T. Board of directors, when i first took office, i was really concerned about the filthy conditions at some of our stations, and you may have read when b. A. R. T. Management wouldnt add any custodians, i started sweeping with supervisor hit reronen, and we swept the stations for four months hillary ronen. We swept the stations for four months. Now, there are two cleaning certifications with quadruple the amount of cleaning staff. Despite being in this pandemic, i think we can say that the b. A. R. T. Trains and stations are much, much cleaner. Ive worked to make civic center a better station, and i think you can visit that station and feel safe much more than previously. Im proud to have stood up for a youth fair. With leticia simon, i pushed to get it through. We have elevators in our system, and we needed to have attendance on there, and the Homeless Outreach team, so ive been a very nuts and bolts b. A. R. T. Director, with a vision how to bring our facility back, and id be grateful to have your support for four more years on the b. A. R. T. Board. Thank you so much. We are, we are at the balboa movie theater, but youre not going to be watching a movie today. Maybe tonight, but not during the daytime outside. Thank you all for being here. Im San Francisco mayor london breed, and im joined by a number of folks who ill introduce later to speak. But i wanted to take this opportunity to just start with, really, how far weve come. Its been a very, very challenging seven months in San Francisco. When this pandemic first hit, we had to make some really hard decisions. And with those hard decisions, we knew it was not only going to hit our economy as a whole, but it was going to have a tremendous impact on our Small Businesses, especially businesses in the community. We saw, within the first time that we closed in the month of april, we saw unemployment go to over 60,000 people, and as of today, we have over 200,000 people who have filed for unemployment. Weve seen businesses close, and some that we have gone to our entire lives, weve seen them close permanently. Weve had to balance a 1. 5 billion budget deficit in San Francisco. Its been hard. Our unemployment before the pandemic was less than 2 , and at its height, went to 12 , and today, its 8 . So yes, from an economic standpoint, we have had some really challenges in our city, and the good news is that because we are a resilient city, there have been a lot of adjustments. Weve adapted, weve improvised, and when movie theaters called, what was it call . Oh, popcorn thursday. The hon. London breed i remember the first movie you played was clueless, and i was all excited about that. It was look, we cant have it inside, but lets particultake the streets. Lets come together as a community to enjoy something that all of us have missed, and thats going to the movies. And in addition with that jazz permit that we provide, it allows them to provide jazz music. Adapting is what we do best. Do we want to do it . No. We want to maintain our businesses and serve the community, but in the course of this pandemic, ive got to tell you, im so proud to be a san franciscan. Im so proud of what everyone has done to just say, you know what . Well figure it out. Well do the best we can. Well make changes, like these parklets and some of the great ideas that came out of carmen chu and the Economic Recovery Task force to say, lets make some adjustments. Lets try and continue to support our businesses in a way that we didnt before. And even though it has been challenging, i dont know how you feel about these incredible pa parklets that are all over San Francisco, but i feel like the city is alive again. And part of what we have to do in addition to some of the hard decisions weve had to make, we have to make decisions to get our economy going again, and that means making the right kinds of investments. Today, i want to announce that we are making an additional 7. 4 Million Investment into the Jobsnow Program. And some of you might be wondering, what is jobsnow . In 2009, when we had the previous economic recession in this country under president barack obama, we had programs like cal fresh and job assistance. I was the executive director of the African American art and culture complex, and there were people that qualified for the Jobsnow Program, they started to work for me at the African American art and culture complex, and our organization got money to pay their salary. Now one time, they were late with the checks, trent. You remember that time, when i called you, wondering when is it coming . When is it coming . Ive got to meet payroll. Well, that program happened. Over 26,000 people were served, and many of them still working today. And so carmen chu, what was head of who was head of this Economic Recovery Task force, provided a lot of recommendations. And one of those recommendations was to get people back to work, we should look at investing more in the Jobsnow Program. To support Small Businesses, we should make it easier for them to get help from this Jobsnow Program, and thats exactly what were doing here today, because what we want to make sure is when people reopen, that they are able to hire people, but theyre not generating the revenue that they want to generate. So this is another way that we can support our Small Business community. I remember, i went to a coffee shop in my neighborhood. And ive been going there many, many years, but this was the first time ive met the owner of the coffee shop. He told me that he couldnt afford to bring his employees back right away. So thats why programs like jobsnow and making programs like that available, its all about helping people. We want to get our economic going, we want to get people back to work, we want to support our Small Businesses. We want to make sure that we come back out of this pandemic more successful and stronger more than ever before, because this is San Francisco. This is what we do, and this is one further step towards meeting that goal. I want to thank the San Francisco chamber of commerce for their work and their support. I want to thank ucsf for being an incredible partner with the jobs now program, and i really want to express my appreciation to this community, to folks in the richmond, because i know that its been hard, even before the pandemic, that this community sometimes feels neglected and forgotten. And as a native san franciscan, i want to make sure that so many outskirts of our city, that they receive the resources and help that they need to thrive. That is my goal, that is my hope, and that is my desire, and thats why it was important for me to come to this community. Weve got a lot of work to do, folks, and that is why we need to do as a city is make sure that we are not creating policies in a bubble. We want to make sure that we understand what the needs are of the folks that have the businesses out here, and that we are able to respond to these needs in a way that makes it easier for you to do business in San Francisco but also makes you a success in San Francisco. That is my goal. That is why im excited about this incredible program. Ive worked with this program directly, as i said, before, and because of my experience in the jobs now program and getting my check late, i made it clear to trent that we have to do better with not this reimbursement model. Weve got to get folks their payroll. So at this time, i want to introduce trent rorrer whos going to talk a little bit about the program, how Small Businesses can connect to the program, and how quickly theyre going to get reimbursed from the program. Trent . Thank you, mayor breed. As mayor breed said, im trent rhorer, executive director of the citys Human Services agency. The jobsnow was borne out of president Barack Obamas jobs program. We immediately in the city seized on the opportunity right after 2009, when it passed, which, in its first year under the stimulus act, placed over 5,000 people in subsidized jobs. This went to unemployed san franciscans, san franciscans on benefits, and impacted hundreds of thousands of san franciscans, businesses big and small, and it was able to make a big impact on the recession. So this time, mayor breed didnt wait to pass a stimulus packages to assist residents and the unemployed, and its a good thing she didnt because wed still be waiting. In it, she included 7 million to the Human Services agency to expand jobsnow to serve an additional 3,700 people as well as businesses looking to reopen, to expand, or to simply start a new business. This mayors investment, as she said, is in line with the City Investments programs. So what is jobsnow . Its the Subsidized Employment Program that we at the Human Services agency operate that matches lowincome unemployed or underplayed people with Job Opportunities in the public sector, the private sector, and also the nonprofit. What is subsidized employment . It is a job strategy that uses public dollars, in this case, over 7 million, to reimburse employers for the wages that they pay to workers that are hired through jobs now. The idea behind the program is very simple and straightforward. As businesses are thinking about opening for the first time or reopening or expanding, theres obviously a lot of uncertainty, given the pandemic, and given the local connect rig economy right now. Things like what will be the Customer Base when it reopens . How immediate and how robust will the supply chain be . All of these thinks are what employers are thinking about when theyre thinking about rehiring. So its all about us saying say, lets lessen your risk and allowing you to pay for a large risk in your business, which is wages. The other benefit of jobsnow which isnt talked about a lot, but other people who participate in the program will talk about it, is it takes care of businesses hiring needs. The Human Services agency does the Job Announcements, the outreach, resume screening based on the skills of the people that were working with. Rearrange all the incident we arrange all the interviews. It allows the employer to get all that work done by us rather than the employers who are thinking about other Critical Issues related to reopening and expansion and other things. Time and time again, in 2009, we heard from employers who said this program is great. But even the best thing, above the wage replacement, is we are meeting their Human Resources needs. They wouldnt have to place a Job Announcement on craigslist, schedule interviews, and have one person show up. We do everything. So we are offering several tiers of wage reimbursement to meet the specific needs of businesses. Im not going to go into the different tiers and the levels, but i want to talk more broadly about what our strategy is. Were offering the deepest subsidies to businesses that are trying to reopen and rehire staff that they had to layoff or businesses opening for the first time. For these situations, were reimbursing 100 of the wages for the first three months and 50 of the wages for the next three months. [applause] ill take that. Were also not excluding existing businesses, of course, well reimburse businesses 1500 a month for the First Six Months depending on the wages that theyre offering and their ability to offer full time or parttime work. Initially, the program is designed to meet San Franciscos residents needs who are enrolled in benefit services. But this is going to allow us to open up this to any job seeker in San Francisco. If theyre unemployed, if theyre underemployed and generally, someone whos unemployed is lowincome. If theyre unemployed or underemployed, theyre eligible for jobsnow. So well be partnering with the office of workforce development, and doing a biggobig Outreach Campaign so that any san franciscan knows they can come to jobsnow, and well get them a job. Right now, more than 270,000 san franciscans have filed for unemployment. At this time in 2009, about 44,000 san franciscans applied for unemployment. A year ago, the Unemployment Rate at this time was 1. 8 . Were now well over 8 . In addition, the public assistance caseloads have sky rocketed. Were seeing thousands and tens of thousands of people applying for food stamps, and calfresh services to provide for their families. Even as importantly, if not more importantly, the Small Business owner to my right, its a benefit for Small Businesses and Large Businesses struggling in San Francisco to stay open or who are trying to reopen. All the citys 311 line. Theyll connect you or sfhsa. Org sla sfhsa. Org jobsnow. I want to thank our partners like the mayor, but also our other partners. Office for workforce development, Joaquin Torres and joshua arce, and then, the cochairs of the citys Economic Recovery Task force, rodney fong, the president of the chamber of commerce, as well as assessor carmen chu, for their vision and their leadership in crafting an economic Recovery Plan thats sure to make a difference for our citizens and our residents. So im really happy to introduce one of the cochairs, assessor carmen chu. [applause] thank you very much, trent. Couldnt be more pleased to be here today, and i want to just start off by sharing my deep appreciation for the mayors leadership in all of this. I know that many of you are aware that its through her leadership and her vision that brought together businesses small and large, community leaders, and nonprofits to put forth ideas to assist in recovery. Im joined by awe teen torres from eowd as oewd as well as Joaquin Torres from oewd as well as my cochair, rodney San Francisco, from the chamber of commerce. Through the partnership of our professionals at the department of Public Health, weve put forward a plan that has been thoughtful and measured, something that has put San Francisco apart from the rest of this nation. Were one of the only counties in the state of california to have just recently hit the yellow tier, the least restrictive tier when it comes to the state tiering system. But not only that, we did it in a way that was responsible, in a way that didnt ping pong businesses back and forth to open and close, to open and close. These are really hard decisions, tough things to do, but i think that San Francisco did it right. This doesnt mean that we dont have a lot to do, that we can let down our guards, but it shows that we can reopen and do it safely. But just because we say that were opening businesses, that restaurants can open, that movie theaters can reopen, it doesnt mean that businesses can come back. Through our conversations with folks in the neighbor, weve heard about how even with reopening, people are really worried about bringing back their memployees. Do employees feel safe coming back to work . These are questions that many of our businesses do face. Thats why a program like jobsnow and its 7. 4 million is so incredibly important. Its a way for Small Businesses to be able to make those choices to bring people back in a responsible way that help them get through this time. If youre a Small Business, and youre wondering whether youre going to see customers coming in through your doors, youre going to have the ability to hire someone and get those wages reimbursed for the first three months and 50 for the three months afterwards. Thats a big deal. I certainly would do that if i was a Small Business, and i think this Jobsnow Program creates the stage to get the help that all our businesses need to get in the right space. So again, i couldnt be more pleased as a member of the Economic Recovery Task force, representing my cochairs and all the members of the community to see this investment come back and be made in San Francisco. Thank you, mayor breed, for your wonderful investment and for your wonderful leadership. [applaus [applause] and with that, i am really pleased to announce our next speaker, someone who i have come to know, and the owner of this wonderful establishment that we all know and love in the Richmond District. Adam is going to be coming up to say a few words on behalf of not only the Richmond District but the balboa theater. Hello. Im Adam Bergeron of the balboa theat theater. We thought we had used this stimulus money and the p. P. P. And the loan money, but this has just gone on for so long, that even though strategically using it, we just ran out of our p. P. P. Money last thursday, so now were in a position where the rubber is hitting the road. Its time to make some pretty big decisions, and it was right at that moment that i was turned on by my friend to the possibility of jobsnow, and it really does seem like this could be a lifeline to get us from now to the end of the pandemic to keep some of the valuable staff that we have on board, right, and be able to bridge that gap until were in a spot where we feel a little more kment about business, the ability to do business. You know, the theater business is a little unique in that i think were all a little weary of being in a room with people for hours, and its something we need to consider if were allowed to reopen, whats going to be the financial viability of the business, and is it going to be safe . Thanks, everybody, mayor breed, and thanks, everybody. [applause] the hon. London bree i want to join ucsf in thanking mayor breed for bringing us together, and putting San Francisco back to work by expanding the Jobsnow Program. Ucsf is the second largest employer in San Francisco, and for us, ensuring that our workforce reflects the communities that were in is part of a longstanding commitment and critical to our priorities. The health and Science Field is a huge job generator in San Francisco. At a time when other parts of our economy are struggling to survive and recover from covid19, ucsf is committed to doing our part in creating a skilled workforce, not just for our employees, but for the communities we serve. I served on mayor breed kazz task force, and i, too, want to thank the leadership for rodney fong and carmen chu, and thank you for the work that the Economic Recovery Task force has done in the last few months. Briefly, i just want to talk a little bit about our excel program. Since 2010, ucsf has worked with the city to create jobs through our Excellent Community engagement learning or excel. It uses live virtual classroom training and onthejob experience to prepare san franciscans for administrative jobs in health care. Students participate ten weeks of training. Next, theyre placed in paid, four month clerical and administrative internships with ucsfs campus and our medical center. We provide ongoing internship support throughout the duration of the program as well as job placement assistance when our interns graduate. To be eligible, you must be a San Francisco resident 18 years or older, with a High School Diploma or g. E. D. , proficient in english, able to pass a basic Office Skills assessment, and able to pass a criminal background check, Occupational Health check, and Background Health screen. Ucsf interns earn 14. 25 an hour during their trernship. We have recently increased our cycles per year. Since weve started excel, weve graduated 230 interns, and just to let you know a little bit of who our graduates are, half our African American. Almost 25 are latinx, and 92 are female. Ucsf is offering well paying jobs for women of color in San Francisco. Our next cycle will start training on monday, november 9. I want to acknowledge josh arce and Joaquin Torres for the projects that were doing in the construction field. Were working hard to increase our hires at impact in San Francisco. Thank you for your leadership, mayor breed, and thanks again for the work of the Economic Recovery Task force. [applause] the hon. London breed all right. Thank you so much. As was said, ucsf has been an incredible partner, not just in the jobs program, but they have been incredible in helping to lead our response to covid, so we truly appreciate ucsf and the work that they continue to do. I want to take this opportunity to also acknowledge Joaquin Torres, who is right over here. He is the director of the office of economic and workforce development, and if any of you are Small Business owners, please call him directly for any any questions, any assistance. If you want to know what the city is doing or you want to ask some questions, joaquin is absolutely incredible. Now if you are looking for a job, josh arce will give you his cell phone number because these are the two tag team folks who are really about making sure that we get to people and provide opportunities in this city. It is so important that we get people back to work, and we do so safely. I want to also just take this opportunity to acknowledge that there have been so many people helping in our economic recovery and our response. You know, i was telling adam how now, i feel bad, when i was here watching wonder woman, i got kicked out of the theater with my friends because we were talking. I had to explain, black people, were talking in the movie theater. Were telling people what to do and whatnot not to do. But any way, i have so many incredible memories of this incredible neighborhood. Im so lucky to be here with one of the local Business Owners who owns is it blue pottery . Blue stone pottery. They dont just sell pottery, but they sell a lot of other items that are cute gift issues, and i want to introduce one of the owners, margel howard, who is here today [applause] thank you. Thank you, mayor breed, for being here. Weve got a lot of star power on balboa street today, which is really tlihrilling and amazg for us Business Owners. Several years ago, i cofounded the balboa village Merchants Association, and our members, like Adam Bergeron whos done Amazing Things with the theater and has adapted so well at the movie theater, hes got these amazing bags. At least one of our family members is wearing a balboa theater tshirt, and theres a cafe right down the street, according to my daughter, they have the best b. L. T. On the strip. You might want to try that out. These have been trying times as Business Owners. The pandemic, and the shock to the economy, its caused us to be more closely knit. Theres so much that weve seen mayor breed do, with the help of oewd and assess or carmen chu. I know were going to get through this together, and i think how exactly is this going to happen . And then, i hear about this reinvestment in jobsnow, another way to make it easier for Small Business owners to emerge from this pandemic. Galindo, another great place for lunch, stuck in permit purgatory for four years, is now in business. Here in the richmond, tens of thousands of residents have filed for unemployment, are looking for jobs, where businesses are getting more and more creative in how they share spaces and how they attract business. We have so many good places to go for lunch, but i know, its all good. But i am just so grateful. I know our fellow merchants are so grateful to be gathered here at this anchor of our community, one of our community hubs, to really represent what is going to happen here in the future. So thank you again for being here. It means so much to all of us. [applause] the hon. London breed and ill just wrap it up by saying its halloween this weekend in San Francisco, so look. I just want you to all remember that we are still in a pandemic, and i know youre wondering, well, mayor, what are you going to be for halloween . Im going to dress up, but im going to wear my mask, and im going to abide by some of the recommendations of Public Health. I know thats boring, but at the end of the day, we are doing an incredible job, and we are in a good place. And because we know that many of those businesses depend on our recollection and how we react to remain open, and out of love and respect for our community spaces, we are going to follow the social distancing and all the guidelines that youre tired of me repeating. The balboa, in fact, as a number of activities planned, so you can always buy your ticket in advance. Theres going to be music and jazz, and we should look at closing the street. Therell be some great things for us to do here in this community and all over San Francisco, but i want everyone to just remember, we are in a pandemic, we can still wear our masks with our costumes, even though it may not be the same. We can get creative because thats what we do in San Francisco. But we should all definitely make sure we are safe. Thank you all so much for joining me for the announcement of these incredible programs. Im going to one of those restaurants that marjan mentioned. Thank you all so much for being here today, and have a wonderful day and a wonderful halloween weekend. [applause] fosda. Clerk regular meeting of the Small Business Commission Held on monday, october 5, 2020. The meeting is being called to order at 5 30 p. M. The Small Business commission thanks Media Services and sfgovtv for televising the meeting, which can be viewed on sfgovtv 2, channel 78, or sfgov. Org. Members of the public who will be calling in, the number is 4156550001. Again, the number is