President yee supervisor preston . Supervisor preston thank you, president yee. I just want to make sure i understand the situation here, and i guess a question for mr. Kennedy. So as i understand it, this is sort of the j i understand the plans that were in place as an Emergency Response. But then, now with rail service not coming back for this foreseeable future, any changes to the j, are they on hold now, pending the reopening of the of the rail service . Right. So we are we will be depending on the outcome of this appeal process, we will be going to our m. T. A. Board, advancing the second phase of the j project, which would coincide with bringing back the j rail changes in early february, late january. That means it would go across market to church and duboce during approve by our board, and when service would build up, we would build a temporary accessible boarding platform at safeway there that would allow that service to go into effect. Supervisor preston i think what im trying to understand is this gets to how moot this may relate to this appeal. Forget the fact that things were suspended due to the peal. If there had not been an appeal, but there had been a decision made prior to moving this Emergency Response forward, m. T. A. Had decided, whatever reason, made the call not to move forward with rail on what could be up in other context of eight month to a year time frame. Would this even be moving forward . Eventually, this project became moot basically once the problems with rail surfaced, and there was a plan to reinstate rail surface. Z as far as the j goes, so it was always planned to be in two phases. When we were thinking about the first phase, of course, we were assuming that the subway would be operational, and since the subway wasnt operational, and we had to run bus service along the j, that definitely changed the trajectory of the project, but we still planned to bring back j Train Service, like i said, starting at the end of december, so were 1. 5 months away from bringing back that Train Service, and it would not go through the tunnel because, as you know, the tunnel is going through some other changes and other concerns. There would not be Train Service in the tunnel when the j returns, but we will be bringing the j back and connecting to the n bus. Supervisor preston i see. Thank you for that clarification. I didnt realize that independent of whether the tunnels open or not that it would move forward. Yeah, i and one other question, and im not sure if this is for planning staff or m. T. A. , but im trying to understand what the relevance here is of the appellants claim that there was an intent prior to the covid emergency to make these changes to the j. My question is, does that matter . In other words, is even if there is even, you know, in taking the representations about statements made back in 2019 about this as a potential change to Improvement Service as described, and then, we indisputably face an emergency, and this is an Emergency Response again, i dont know if thats a question for planning or City Attorney but if we accept there was an intent on the part of m. T. A. To do this any way, but then, it was also done or accelerated as an Emergency Response, does that, as the appellants claim, affect the impact of doing this as an Emergency Response . Jennie diluna, Planning Department staff. When we evaluate planning projects, we evaluate for this particular statutory exemption, does it meet the definition of a statutory exemption, so whether or not whether some aspects were considered prior, if it would mitigate that emergency, then, it is statutorily exempt. Supervisor preston okay. Thank you for that. I just want to say, that this is a recurrent issue on a lot of these appeals. I just want to make clear, that just because before the emergency, our m. T. A. Has decided that maybe it would be a good idea to make something a slow street or maybe it would be a good idea to change a rail service. Just because that thought has been entertained, prior to an emergency, its my understanding and as you just confirmed, it doesnt undercut the idea that these things can be legitimate and legally defensible responses to the covid emergency, and i just i appreciate the clarification on that. Thank you. President yee thank you. I see no other colleagues on the roster, so im going to go ahead and invite the public who wants to make Public Comment in opposition of the appeal and in support of the project. You have go ahead and lineup by pressing star and three to be added to the queue, and then, you have two minutes to speak. Madam clerk, go ahead. Clerk okay. Thank you, mr. President. Operations, can we hear from the first caller, please. Welcome, caller. Hi. Mr. [inaudible], thank you for your comments. I was particularly interested in the comment about the 30 short. My understanding is the 30 short has been eliminated, and instead, the 60foot buses have been extended not only throughout the 30 but on the 30 through chrissy field. [inaudible] we were told that its an emergency. Its hard to know what Emergency Services were needed at chrissy field, especially if 60 foot buses were removed from the 5 fulton which Services Numerous hospitals and golden gate park, a far more used recreation area. We were given no notice, yet we find out that theres been a fiveyear agreement signed between the authority and the municipal trust. It seems disingenuous that this was an emergency. Finally, that theres no ridership on the line when it extends out to chrissy field. I see one or two riders maximum on a 60foot bus. It seems that that capacity could be much better used somewhere else. So i urcge you to not do the extension of the chrissy line, put that somewhere else where it could better serve the people of sf. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your time. Operations, could you unmute the next caller, please. Hello. Clerk we hear you. Welcome. Hello . Oh, hi. My name is hayden miller. This is for opposition, correct, to the appeal . Clerk thats correct. President yee yes. Okay. I wanted to speak in opposition to this because the appeal is just another frivolous attempt to delay Emergency Response projects by the sfmta that really benefit the essential workers who are riding transit right now. You know, muni service is already suffering due to the pandemic, and these projects just bring a little bit of hope to the essential workers who have to ride transit right now, and so these frivolous appeals that are delaying and preventing these projects, its really ridiculous, and its sad that people in our communities would file these appeals, and big corporations are filing these appeals that hurt transit riders and essential workers. Its really a shame, so i urge you to reject this appeal, keep the project, help keep essential workers and riders safe during this pandemic. Clerk all right. Thank you for your comments, sir. Operations, can we hear from the next caller, please. Good afternoon, supervisors. This is cat carter with San Francisco transit riders. I urge you to approve items 23 and item 27. Of course, were absolutely still in the middle of an emergency, during this emergency with very little capacity, muni is still serving over 150,000 trips per day. Just because people dont see a lot of riders at church and duboce or in the marina or whatever doesnt mean that other areas of that route arent totally packed. We need new amendments to implement during the pandemic to make transit more efficiently, make muni run more efficienty. With very little resources, we shouldnt have muni wasting time in traffic. Further, booze these a becaue these amendments are temporary, private projects allow providers to get the benefits sooner. Riders arent stuck in waiting f until any decision is made. We need to put the riders on muni first. Thank you so much. Clerk thank you for your comments. Before the next speaker, there are about 27 listeners in the queue. If youre interested in speaking on this hearing, please press star, three. Okay. Operations, lets hear from the next caller, please. Good afternoon or good evening, supervisors. My name is robert, and i live in district 5. I ask you to reject these appeals. I think as someone who lives on page street, im well acquainted with munis efforts at physical distancing measures during the pandemic, and theyve been wildly successful on page street in my opinion and the opinions of my neighbors. Frankly, we need greater social distancing, and we also need transit improvements. Ive seen the packed capacity on muni buses before and after the pandemic. We need all the capacity that we can get. I have very vivid memories of packed subway trains after seeing that m. T. A. Slide from with the pictures of inside the cars, so please, reject the appeals. We need these changes. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you for your comment. Were currently taking Public Comment in opposition to the appeal and in support of the project. Operations, do we have another caller in the queue, please . Operator madam clerk, that completes the queue. Clerk on you. Thank you. Mr. President . President yee okay. Thank you for your comments, and as theres no other member of the public lined up, Public Comment is now closed. So last thing, i will invite both appellants to present rebuttal arguments. Mr. Pilpell, you will have up to three minutes, and you may go ahead. Once again, i believe safeway is going to go first here. Thanks. President yee okay. I dont think theres any rules for this, but ill go ahead and oblige you. Safeway, go ahead, you have three minutes. Thank you. M. T. A. Said that this project has been done to provide a level of service that prevents overcrowding and vehicles, you allowing essential trips to be made. However, the j church only has a few people on it, and theres no mass crowding. Theres plenty of room for social distancing to meet their needs. In addition, they came when evaluating projects, they can, if it meets the definition of emergency at that time, they can proceed with it, however, as stated in castaic, if [inaudible] the emergency statutory exemption, and that is the exact situation that we are in currently. The j project seeks to address existing infrastructure issues that have been in place for years as identified in slides provided by m. T. A. Further, it was claimed that there is a high probability in the shortterm to justify reliance under ceqa guidelines 59269c. The guidelines of subdivision c prevent the guidelines of the emergency exemption. It states that the emergency exception does not include longterm projects taken for the purpose that has a low probability of occurrence in the shortterm. In this case, the muni subway is not anticipated to resumeless resumelesses resume services in the near. In addition, the projects claim to make changes to Church Street, which it does, and by doing that, it limits traffic on the block to just local and commercial vehicles. That limitation alters the street such that it is no longer it no longer is clarified as a highway under state law, and the mass transit exemption cannot be utilized in this instance. Further there was statemented by targeted outreach with r statements by targeted outreach with regards to safeway. Weve been working diligently to talk with m. T. A. And address the issues, but weve been unable to reach a final conclusion, which lead us to draw these appeals. Its our opinion that emergency mass transit exceptions are not politicable, and the reason that we are here today. Thank you. President yee thank you. Mr. Pilpell . Mr. Pilpell, are you still there . Yes. Hello, can you hear me now . President yee yes. Okay. Sorry. There were issues with unmuting. Ill try not to repeat what you just heard. In my october 23 appeal brief, at the bottom of page 5, i discussed, in a long paragraph, some of the issues and uncertainties around the Market Street subway. I dont think that that subways reopening at any time soon. There is time to conduct Environmental Review here. There is time for meaningful Public Outreach and engagement. This may be an unprecedented time, but it is not an emergency under ceqa. Beyond ceqa, the relevance of transit during the pandemic and beyond is very much at issue. If many people arent taking transit now and in the future, the principles and assumptions, travel demand models, land use, all kinds of things that support muni are in question. Supervisor preston properly started to frame that dialogue with his earlier question, and that dialogue needs to continue. Planning and m. T. A. Keep saying that the projects mitigate the emergency. They dont. We still have new cases and deaths in San Francisco, we still have bus service instead of rail. Were losing or have lost much of the ridership, transit ridership, which may never return, much to our dismay. What we need is to restore at least weekend level Transit Service throughout the service, including routes like the 3, the 21, the 27, the 31, the 33, plenty of other routes in the system. The local emergency was proclaimed almost nine months ago, and no one knows when or if it will end. Ceqa does not contemplate an ongoing condition satisfying the emergency exemption. Whether the Transit Service changes are good or bad, they do not prevent or mitigate an emergency as defined. I urge you to carefully consider the arguments and the record before you and reverse the exemptions. Once again, i can answer any questions, and thank you. President yee thank you. Okay. I dont see anybody on the roster, and so i want to thank everybody, and this public hearing has been held and is now filed. [gavel]. President yee okay. As previously discussed, we will take up consideration of determination of the statutory exemption from Environmental Review from the California Environmental quality act for each project, which involves an analysis of whether the determination from thepolitaning department was appropriate. To conditionally reverse plannings decision, six votes of the board are required. Colleagues, do you have any anybody have any comments . I see that supervisor peskin. Supervisor peskin thank you, mr. President. Before we get to the merits or lack thereof of this appeal, insofar as this is, in essence, a quasijudicial hearing, and as a full member of the California Coastal commission and a current member of the bay conservation and development commission, i take the quasinature of these hearings very, very seriously. I wanted to start, and i mean no disrespect to my colleagues, with a threshold issue. We cannot, based on what weve seen, heard, and read, adjudicate this issue. And to my colleague representing district 6, the press release released this morning, based on the appeals bought by one or two individuals, whether or not the district 6 supervisor believes that he is able to hear this in an unbiased quasi judicial manner. President yee so supervisor supervisor peskin and if hes not, then i would suggest that he recuse himself. President yee supervisor in district 6, would you like to respond in. Supervisor preston i i can hear this in an unbiased manner. Thank you. President yee anything else, supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin no, mr. President. Thank you. President yee so we have a couple of options, and id like to entertain a motion for one of the options. Would anybody like to affirm the Planning Departments statutory exemption for the Environmental Review . Supervisor preston so moved, supervisor preston. President yee okay. Is there a second . Supervisor mandelman second. President yee seconded by supervisor mandelman, i believe . Yes . Supervisor mandelman yeah. President yee okay. Okay. Then why dont we the motions are approved this is for 22, right . So the motion is to approve item 23 and to table items 24 and 25, made by supervisor preston and seconded by supervisor mandelman. Would you please call the roll. Clerk okay. On the motion to approve item 23 and table 24 and 25 [roll call] clerk there are 11 ayes. President yee okay. Without objection, item 23 is approved, and items 24 and 25 are tabled. [gavel]. President yee we will take up consideration of the determination of the statutory exemption from Environmental Review from the california jiermt Environmental Quality act for the proposed m. T. A. Covid19 muni rail Service Adjustments and associated Street Parking changes and parking changes august 22, 2020 and fall 2020 projects. So if i could entertain a motion to approve item 27 and table items 28 and 29. Supervisor mandelman ill make that motion if i can say a brief thing about it. President yee im sorry. You can make a motion, and you can say a brief thing about it. Supervisor preston i hear the frustration from safeway, and its not just safeway, but many of the businesses along Church Street that have been impacted by the changes to to the rail there, and i have a lot of frustration for frankly, about the way that that has rolled out. My office expressed our concerns. It appeared that at least one business has gone out because of the changes that have been made here. I do not believe this has been the m. T. A. S finest hour, and none of that is seek i cant. So i do believe as the ceqa matter, we should affirm the exemption, but i have sadness and concern at what has happened at church and market. Supervisor peskin hear, hear. President yee thank you for your comment. Is there a second for the motion . Made by supervisor peskin, okay. So roll call on the motion to approve items 27, and table items 28 and 29. Clerk okay. On the motion to approve item 27, table 28 and 29 [roll call] clerk there are 11 ayes. Supervisor peskin due process aint that bad. Thank you, mr. President. President yee i concur. Without objection, item 27 and approved, and items 28 and 29 are tabled. [gavel]. President yee so we have one more 3 00 p. M. Special order. Please call the next item. Clerk item 30 is a hearing of the board of supervisors to sit as a committee of the whole to hold a public hearing on the shelterinplace rehousing and site demobilization plan. President yee all right. Colleagues, we are now convened as a committee of the whole to hold a hearing on the shelter in place rehousing and site demobilization plan. Without objection, we will proceed in follows. First, well have opening remarks from supervisor walton, then, well hear from controller ben rosenfield, director of the department of homelessness and housing, and department of Emergency Management, mary ellen carroll. Then, well hear from providers who have been serving shelter in place hotels, including Community Partnership housing. Well then open it up for questions and comments. Following that, theyll then have two minutes each for those who win to provide Public Comments. With that, supervisor walton, would you like to make some opening remarks . Supervisor walton thank you so much, president yee, and colleagues, thank you for convening today as a committee of the whole so we can learn more about the shelter in place rehousing and demobilization plan. On october 27, my colleagues, supervisors haney, ronen, preston, and i, also sent a letter to the department of homelessness and supportsive housing requesting a response from the department outlining the plan for their shelter in place rehousing and site demobilization plan. This response to this request has been forwarded to everyones office today. We are still in a pandemic, and just today, mayor breed and dr. Colfax announced the rolling back of our reopening. We are concerned about the process and timeline of shelter in place rehousing and demobilization of our shelters. I want to acknowledge the work that the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing and the department of Emergency Management have done in collaboration with our Service Providers during this pandemic in keeping our people safe, but we [inaudible] is transparent and ensures that no one, especially our most vulnerable populations, exit back onto the streets. Today, we have, as explained, the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing, department of Emergency Management, some of our Emergency Management and controllers speaking otoday, ad i think its very important that we understand, and i hope we get a further explanation from the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing, that the numbers havent matched in anything that ive received or seen that says that as we move folks from s. I. P. Hotels, that they will be going back into shelter and not back on the street, which is a commitment weve made as a city, and we must make sure that we dont do anything that would put folks back on the street. Thank you so much, president yee. I believe youre on mute. President yee thank you, supervisor walton. Now, we will go ahead and have a presentation from ben rosenfiel rosenfie rosenfield, director, and director of the department of Emergency Management, mary ellen carroll. And ive asked them to be precise about their presentations so we can move quickly, so mr. Controller, ben ro rosenfield. Hi, actually, this is mary ellen carroll. Im going to kick it off for this evening. President yee my script says youre last, so, you know, hey welcome, mary ellen. Okay. Yeah, im happy to very pleased to be here this evening with you, honorable board of supervisors. Again, im mary ellen carol, and im the director of the department of Emergency Management and here representing San Franciscos covid19 command center. The covid command center, which is physically located at moscone south, its structured to manage our overall Emergency Response to this global pandemic. This includes the shelter in place hotels and the operations associated with them and with citys reimbursement commissions to fema, the federal Emergency Management agency. Since july, we have been in this what we called unified command structure. The departments that represent the command organization at the open are department of public health, department of Emergency Management and Human Services agency with the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing. So the city in addition, the citys administrator office, the controllers office, and other departments play major rolls in this roles in this unified command, and today, im joined by my colleagues, ben rosenfield. So at this time, im going to turn it over to ben rosenfield, who will talk about the operations. Thank you. Good afternoon, supervisors and president yee. I was asked to provide some very high level overview on the budget for this program, so i thought i would run through a couple of highlevel comments, and then, after abigail presents, id be happy to answer any questions on the boards mind. As you know, the s. I. P. Budget is roughly 178 million, and