Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Public Safety Neighborhood Services Committee 20240711

Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Yes, thank you very much, mr. Chair. In order to protect the public, Board Members and City Employees during the covid19 health emergency, the room is closed. This is taken pursuant to all various local and state federal orders, declarations and directives. Committee members will attend this meeting through Video Conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present in our chamber. Public comment will be available for each item on this agenda, both San Francisco cable channel 26 and sf gov tv are scrolling a callin number across the screen. It will be available by phone by calling 14156550001, and once youve connected youll be prompted to enter the meeting id, 1462251223. Following that you will press the pound symbol twice to be connected to the meeting. When you are connected you will hear the meeting discussions but your line will be muted and in a listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up on our agenda, dial star followed by 3 to be added to the speaker line if you wish to speak to that item. The system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. Please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you may then begin your comments. Call from a quiet location, turn down your television, radio or streaming device. Everyone must account for potential time delays and speaking discrepancieses that we may encounter between the live coverage and streaming. Alternatively, you may submit Public Comments in either of the following ways. You may email me, clerk of the committee. My email address is john. Ca rroll sfgov. Org. If you submit that comment by email, i will add the comment to the public file for each of the items you comment on. You can send them by u. S. Postal service. The Clerks Office is 1 dr. Carleton b. Goodlet place, room 244. This information is available on the front of the agenda as well for your reference. Items acted upon today will appear on the agenda of december 1, 2020, unless otherwise stated. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Please call our first item. Agenda item no. 1 is a hearing to discuss the San Francisco housing conservativeship preliminary evaluation report. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this hearing should call the Public Comment number, 14156550001. Enter todays meeting id, 1462251223. Press the pound symbol twice to connect to the meeting and then press the star key. The system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand. Please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you may then begin your comments. Mr. Chair . The chair so, colleagues, this has been a very long hearing. We began it back in june, and to refresh everyones memory, in june i was concerned that the my office had heard concerns about the fact that the 1045 program which the city had opted into about a year prior at that point, or more than a year prior, had still not resulted in a single petition for an sb1045 conservatorship. We began this hearing in june to understand what the reasons for the delay were and received assurances from Public Health and the office of the public conservator had made progress, that they had been delayed by covid and other things, but they were on the cusp of, in fact, being able to bring a petition. We had them back in july and again heard that they were making progress but had not yet been able to identify a candidate or bring a petition. We skipped august. We decided to give them a little bit of time and had them back in september, and september again heard much the same, that they were making progress but still had not quite gotten around to bringing a petition. At that september meeting i decided again to give them, you know, a little more time until today, november. Its been basically two months since then, six months since we had our hearing because it had taken seemingly far too long, six months ago, to bring a single petition under sb1045. I said in september that if the petition had not been filed petition had not been filed by the date of this hearing that i would no longer be berating the staff in these departments and i would want to hear from the directors, from grant colfax and trent lohr, and in fact here we are november 12, not a single one has been filed, and so i do think it begs a deeper question about what we are even doing with this program if we intend to pursue it, if not why not, and what we are going to do about the population of folks that sb1045 was supposed to address. Unfortunately director colfax is not able to be here today, and so i do want to hear from him, and i will be making a motion to continue this hearing to our next regular meeting in december where we will be i hope hearing from directors colfax and lohr about sb1045 implementation and the issues that the citys difficulties in implementing this very Small Program raises. So ill make that motion. We will need to take Public Comment on the motion, or on the continuance. Is there no comments from colleagues, which i do not see, lets open this up to Public Comment. Thank you, mr. Chair. Do we have any callers in the queue for this agenda item one. For those already connected to our meeting via phone, please press star followed by 3 at this time if you wish to speak on agenda item no. 1. For those already on hold in the queue, please wait until you are prompted to begin. You will hear a prompt that informs you your line has been unmuted. For those watching our meeting on cable channel 26 or streaming item, please call in now if you wish to speak on this item. That would be by dialing 14156550001, enter the meeting id for todays meeting, which is 1462251223, press pound and then star three to speak. Could you connect us to our first caller . Operator there are no callers in the queue. I will not say a few more things about Public Comment and i will close Public Comment. I have made a motion. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. On the motion offered by chair mandleman, that this hearing be continued to the date of december 10 meeting, that being the next committee meeting. Vice chair stephanie . Aye. Member walton . Aye. Supervisor mandelman . Aye. The motion passes. We can call our next item. Agenda item no. 2 is an ordinance amending the health code to prohibit smoking in all dwelling units in multihousing complexes containing three or more units and all common areas. To remove the exception for child care facilities located in private homes, to require the department of Public Health to initiate a Public Information campaign to raise awareness of the smoking prohibition, to require the department of Public Health to initiate the imposition of the suspend the provision of the health code by this ordinance which requires owners or managers of multiunit housing complexes to provide certain disclosures regarding whether smoking is authorized in certain units. And affirming the determination provided by the planning department. Members of the public who wish to provide public on this ordinance should call the Public Comment number. I will repeat it. 14156550001. After youve connected to that call, enter todays meeting id. Todays meeting id is 1462251225. Press pound twice and then star and then three to enter the queue to speak. A system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. Please wait until the system indicates that your line has been unmuted. That will be your opportunity to provide your Public Comment on this agenda item. Mr. Chair . The chair thank you, mr. Clerk. President ye, i believe you are here. Yes, i am. Thank you. Take it away. Thank you, chair maendelman. Thank you for hearing me on this item today. I am joining you all to discuss legislation to protect residents of multiunit housing from the Harmful Health impacts of Secondhand Smoke. I am proud to join my to be joined by my colleagues, supervisor walton and fur in sponsoring this legislation. Today we are discussing the right of our residents to breathe clean air. Many decades ago people did not have the right anywhere to breathe clean air, not restaurants, not bars, not Sports Events, not common areas and not on Public Transportation. Maybe some people are old enough to remember these things. When science proved there was a link between Secondhand Smoke and Health Impacts, when people breathing the Secondhand Smoke, things changed. Today we have laws prohibiting smoking in most of these situations. We can enjoy without having to breathe in smoke. We can participate in large crowd venues like concerts and Sports Events without worrying about the harmful effects of Secondhand Smoke. I was alerted and reminded that San Francisco has fallen behind many cities in enacting policies to protect our most vulnerable from Secondhand Smoke, a mother with an infant. She contacted my Office Asking for help because her infant who was subjected to Secondhand Smoke from her neighbors and Health Impact this would have on her infant. Our reply to her at the time was its the sad state for our residents, but thats the policy of the city, which is currently in San Francisco if you live in multiunit building you do not have the right to breathe clean air, unlike many cities throughout california. I would like to thank the Public Health experts and advocates who worked with our office to ensure that the policy will be effective, including San Francisco tobacco free coalition, researchers at the university of california San Francisco, the heart and wellness association, Bay Area Community resources, americans for nonsmokers rights, and the American Cancer Society. In january we held a hearing. That seems so long ago now, but it was in the middle of january, before the pandemic, at this committee on the Health Impacts of Secondhand Smoke. We heard from Public Health experts from Secondhand Smoke exposure was skyrocketing in recent years. We also heard residents from multiunit housing were particularly at risk from exposure. When my office was contacted by those suffering from Secondhand Smoke, including those with Chronic Health issues and families with small children, we looked into that, as i mentioned before. And here are the facts about smoking. Smoking is the single most preventable cause of disease and death in the united states. Its responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year. Secondhand smoke alone is responsible for more than 41,000 deaths per year and causes cancer, lung disease and and heart functions. It also causes increased health risks to children, seniors and those with existing Health Issues. Secondhand smoke can cause permanent damage to childrens growing lungs, pneumonia, ear infections, sudden infant death syndrome, and can make asthma attacks more frequent and more severe. Unfortunately home is one of the most common places where we can be exposed to Secondhand Smoke. Residents of multiunit housing are more likely to be regularly expos exposed. Our health code prohibits smoking in common areas, as mentioned before. This legislation would amend the health code to prohibit smoking inside owneroccupied and rented units of multiunit housing complex complexes of three or more units. It would require that signage be posted in common areas and residents are notified as a policy by the Building Owner or manager. The department of Public Health conducting a Public Information campaign to raise awareness of the policy and to share information about available Smoking Cessation resources to support residents addicted to nicotine. Half of san franciscans live in multiunit housing. Residents of multiunit housing are likely to be people of color and will more likely be lowincome. Exposure to Secondhand Smoke in the homes Amplifies Health Inequities and disproportionately impacts our most Vulnerable Community members. By granting relief to residents living every day with Secondhand Smoke in their homes is more important than ever as we continue to battle covid19 pandemic and prepare for a flu season. We know that Secondhand Smoke exacerbates the impacts of many respiratory illnesses. During this time, we have asked San Francisco to stay at home to slow the spread of covid19 and asked children to go to school remotely, we know there are san franciscans who cant escape the smoke in their homes during the day and arent able to breathe clean air. If i am a parent of a child who suffers from asthma or a person recovering from covid19, right now i get no help at all if a neighbor is smoking every day right next door or downstairs. Its legal for everyone to smoke inside their own unit regardless of the serious and Dangerous Health consequences. We should not prioritize to smoke over the right to breathe smokefree air. This is simply unacceptable. I also want to say that we know there may be some concerns surrounding unintended impacts that a smokefree housing policy can have on tenants addicted to nicotine, specifically there are concerns around how this policy could be misused to evict tenants. That is why this ordinance specifically states that violation of the policy is not grounds for eviction. Over the past ten years, 63 cities and counties in california have adopted 100 smokefree multiunit housing policies. Im hopeful that these policies will increasingly become the norm. In San Francisco we have against tobacco and Secondhand Smoke to protect the health of our communities. We can and should continue to protect our most vulnerable communities from this devastating Health Impacts of smoking. There are a few nonsubstantive amendments i would like to propose today. My office has shared hes amendments with all the members of the my office has shared the amendments with all the members of the committee. First, the health code currently prohibits smoking in enclosed common areas of buildings that have two or more units. This ordinance we introduced would change the law about smoking in all buildings with three or more units. This will clarify that smoking will continue to be prohibited in common areas of twounit buildings. Second, we would like to add language that clarifies the intent of the legislation to prohibit smoking in all housing used to provide child care, including child care facilities that operate in singlehome families or duplexes. Third, we would like to include an exception that would allow for the use of medical marijuana in multiunit housing. And finally we would like to include clarifying language to speak that not only is violation of any part of this ordinance not grounds for eviction but existing tenancy to prohibit smoking in a tenants unit. So chair mandelman, i hope that the committee can adopt these amendments later, but before you take action, i would like to bring up a few presenters. Waynt to thank the department of Public Health i want to thank the department of Public Health, marina speegel from the tobacco project and jennifer colliver from the Environmental Health branch for joining us today. I believe that they are here and are prepared to share a brief presentation with us. I hope theyre here. I cant see them. Im here. This is jen and marina is here too. Shell probably be coming on in a second, and shell start the presentation. Good morning, supervisors and everyone. Let me see. We have prepared a presentation for you this morning. Can you see the screen, the presentation on screen . Yes. Fantastic. Well, good morning, supervisor mandelman, walton, stefani and others. I am the acting Community Engagement lead for the tobacco free project and our program is part of a Community Health equity and Promotion Branch within the department of Public Health. First we wanted to thank you for your leadership in addressing the leading cause of preventable deaths through tobacco prevention policies and programs, including policies such as prohibition of unauthorized ecigarettes, so sales and others in the past. Your support continues to be a leader in implementing laws that protect communities, especially people of color, youth and lowincome communities ft. Thank you for the opportunity to prevent to you about the outcomes based on Secondhand Smoke for san franciscans. Before i begin, i wanted to emphasize that we consider that smoke is smoke, and when we talk about Secondhand Smoke exposure to smoke, we will be talking about both traditional tobaccos, Secondhand Smoke, so such as from cigarettes or cigar smoke, as well as secondhand aerosol exposure from ecigarettes and cannabis smoke. First we wanted to share with you what proportion of san franciscans are smoking basing our use in cannabis. Our most recent data is from 2018, so these data show the smoking rates among adults and young people has not changed much over the years. So approximately 12 of adults currently smoke in San Francisco, and approximately six and a half percent of sfunh High School Students reported smoking, and thats despite the laws prohibiting sales of tobacco to anyone under 21. So those rates have not changed. On the other hand, more students than adults have ever tried an ecigarette, and this rate has been increasing over the years for both groups. Its unclear how many adults currently use ecigarettes. However, the portion of students who currently use reports using ecigarettes doubled over the last couple of years, so from 2017 to 2018. Lastly youll see that about six out of ten adults have ever tried cannabis and almost tlae out of ten sfusd students have ever used cannabis. The good news about the majority of san franciscan adults and youth who do not smoke or use ecigarettes. This means we have been doing a great job in San Francisco protecting and preventing adults and young people from using highly addictive product, especially traditional cigarettes. That said, we do still see some tobacco use disparities. So as youll see in our data in the graph on the left, these data are a little bit older than the previous slide, and the overall tobacco use rate does appear lower. Generally for this particular data we think its because the time period is different and the sample size is different. The 2018 data that you saw previously comes from a more recent oversampling of the California Health Information Survey data, so its probably a little bit more accurate than these older data. So despite the fact that these data are a little older, i wanted to share this chart to demonstrate the disparity in fwk use rates between the two socioeconomic groups in our cities. So the data showed that the lowerincome folks living at below 200 federal Poverty Level tend to smoke almost twice the rate than their more financially secure peers. Lowincome residents also have less access to health care and are more likely to suffer from conditions such as asthma that are worsened by Secondhand Smoke exposure. Data does point to racial and ethnic disparities in tobacco exists as well. As you see in the graph on the right, black women are significantly more likely to smoke before or during preg pregnancy in the city of San Francisco, and while the local data are not as easily available on specific tobacco use rates, we know that nationwide africanamericans and American Indians smoke at significantly higher rates than their peers. So tobacco use is also much more prevalent in the lgtb community, especially the trans gender unit, and among those suffering from Mental Illness and have a history of substance use. Currently we dont have recent population level data on Secondhand Smoke exposure specific to San Francisco, but we do have the following statewide data for adults and High School Students. More than half of california adults reported being exposed to Secondhand Smoke tobacco smoke in the last two weeks, and this figure has not changed over the years. So california High School Students, one in three reported being exposed to each type of Secondhand Smoke in the last 30 days. And that happens usually in the room or in the car. Notably there has been also an increase in recorded exposure to ecigarette aerosol and cannabis smoke among adults, and its likely that these statewide trends are similar in San Francisco. And Secondhand Smoke exposure also has documented disparities nationally and locally. Centers for Disease Control study show that about 40 of children nationwide are exposed to Secondhand Smoke from cigarettes however that number is much higher at black and African American children at seven out of ten. Children exposed to Secondhand Smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, ear problems and more severe asthma symptoms. Black and African American children, filipino children are twice as likely to be diagnosed with asthma by middle school than their white peers. The home is the main place they are exposed to Secondhand Smoke. Among the children admitted to the zuckerberg San Francisco general hospitals pediatric and patient units in 2019, one in five were exposed to Secondhand Smoke in their homes. An additional 9 reported being exposed to secondhand cannabis smoke. Again as we dive into the specific harms and types of Secondhand Smoke, i want to stress that there is no riskfree level of Secondhand Smoke. All three types of Secondhand Smoke harm the user and others through shortterm and longterm exposure. The 50th anniversary Surgeon Generals report on smoking and health released in 2014 stated that smoking is the single most preventable cause of disease and death and that scientists indicate there is no riskfree level of exposure. Secondhand cigarette smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic including many different chemicals. Secondhand cigarette smoke is also a known cause of disease, so not just a contributor to worsening symptoms but an actual cause of disease, including lung cancer, coronary disease, stroke in healthy nonsmokers. Breathing Secondhand Smoke for a short amount of time can have immediate effects on the cardiovascular system. Concentrations of cancercausing and toxic chemicals in Secondhand Smoke and nicotine are the same in Secondhand Smoke as in the smoke inhaled by smokers themselves. Exposure to the Secondhand Smoke is also correlated with more er visits and more hospital stays among adults and cost billions of dollars per year in health care in the u. S. Nationwide. In 2010, the annual Health Care Cost attributable to Secondhand Smoke exposure at home were up to 1. 9 billion. So often people think that ecigarette vape is harmless, but we want to emphasize that it isnt. It is not water vapour, as advertised when ecigarettes first came on the markets. In most cases it is a solution which poses health risks similar to cigarette smoke. Ecigarette aerosol most commonly contains nicotine and nanoparticles of benzene and lead and are more easily and deeply breathed in due to their tiny, tiny size. Studies have shown that nonsmoerks exposed to ecigarette aerosols absorb similar levels of nicotine to those who are exposed to cigarette smoke. Breathing secondhand ecigarette aerosol can result in Actual Development of asthma in children and is damaging to the lung tissue and the blood vessels. Mostly we wanted to talk about the harms of Secondhand Smoke cannabis smoke. Secondhand cannabis smoke contains more than 33 other identified toxins. Similar to secondhand tobacco smoke, cannabis smoke contains chemical constituents that may have harmful cardiovascular effects and may lead to heart attack and stroke. Children exposed to secondhand cannabis smoke in one study had detectible levels of thc in their blood streams which can impair the developing brain and nervous system and impact iq and memory. While only limited studies exist on the effects of second habd cannabis smoke on children, a recent Study Suggests an association between secondhand cannabis smoke exposure and increased emergency room visits with the latest issues, diagnosis of an ear infection, asthma or eczema in children under 14. Lastly i wanted to share with you the impacts of thirdhand smoke. Thirdhand smoke refers to the leftover particles from tobacco smoke and ecigarette air sol which cling to indoor surfaces long after smoking has stopped in the space and then can be resorbed by others entering the same space. Thirdhand smoke is a potential health hazard. It contains carcinogenic materials that over time presenting a hazard far after that smoker is gone. Thirdhand smoke remains months after nonsmokers have moved into units where smokers previously lived. It potentially poses the greatest dangers to infants and toddlers that crawl on rugs and furnishings and put things in their mouth that they shouldnt. Nonsmoking people who are exposed to thirdhand smoke have significantly higher nicotine and levels than those who have not been exposed to thirdhand smoke, and some research has shown that thirdhand smoke can damage humans cellular d. N. A. In multiunit housing, we just wanted to share some of these things that might be relevant to today. We know that people of color, young adults, lowincome residents and smokers are more likely to live in multiunit housing. In San Francisco more than half of residents live in multiunit housing with two or more units, 53 . A study has shown that San Francisco residents who live in buildings with five or more units are three and a half times more likely to report and residents of districts three and six reported being exposed to drifting Secondhand Smoke at much higher levels than residents in other districts according to the healthy Neighborhood Survey conducted in 2013. We spend the majority of our time in our homes, and as i mentioned previously, approximately half of the San Francisco residents with multiunit housing that has more than two units, so that includes condos, Public Housing and apartment buildings and duplexes. Secondhand smoke from a neighbor can easily seep through windows, cracks through the hallways and walls into others homes. Thirdhand smoke is also a concern, and so it is important to emphasize that opening windows, air ventilation, air conditioning, fans, h vac systems, none of those current practices in the home can completely eliminate exposure to Secondhand Smoke and ecigarette aerosol. With that, those are the data that we have to share with you today. I wanted to thank you for an opportunity to present to you, and im happy to answer any questions. The chair i dont see any questions on the roster. I mean, i guess so i will perhaps oh, there you are. Im sorry, i was on mute. Was that the only presentation . Or was there another one . I wasnt sure. Thats it for the tobacco free project. And i think supervisor walton has a question or a comment. Okay. Thank you, chair mandelman. I dont have a question. I guess i do. If thats the end of the presentations, i just wanted to make a comment. Is that the end of the presentations . Yes, it looks like it. Thanks. I just wanted to thank president yee for bringing this ordinance forward. We know the dangers of Secondhand Smoke as discussed not only in your comments, president yee, in the data, but also in the presentations, and i just wanted to thank you for bringing this forward. As you know, a lot of our concern in the beginning was about making sure that tenants would not be evicted and people would not use this as a grounds for eviction, and i just want to thank you for being thoughtful and making sure that we included language that specifically states that individuals cant be evicted because of this. But also stressing the importance of making sure that we do everything we can to keep people from having to inhale Secondhand Smoke because of what it does to folks in our communities and our residents, and so thank you for bringing this forward. I was happy to cosponsor, and were going to continue to do what we can to let people know that smoke does not just affect them, and we need to avoid Secondhand Smoke and come up with the measures and policies to do that. So thank you so much. The chair thank you, supervisor walton. I guess i do have if thats the end of the presentations, i also have well, i do have some questions. And i appreciate that the legislation provides that smoking that the violations of the ordinance cant be the basis for an eviction. And i just want to be clear on what the enforcement mechanism is. It looks like the department of Public Health is tasked with issuing notices of violation. So if someone is, in fact, smoking in their department, dph and there were complaints, the dph would issue a notice of violation. If the person did not cure that, then there would be administrative penalties i think of up to 1,000 a day . Hmm. That is correct, if youd like me to answer. This is jen calowert with terminal health. That is how it is written. I think that its theres still room to kind of figure out what that would look like. To try to determine if someone is actually in violation is probably the biggest question that we have to start thinking about, yeah. The chair and the owner of the building, would the owner of the building be in violation if tenants were smoking in their units . I might ask it is my understanding that it doesnt read that way, but maybe, you know, following up with the other you know, supervisor yee and the city attorney, but its my understanding it doesnt read that way. Theres a lot of notification requirements and, you know, posting requirements, but the enforcement section speaks to the person in violation, so thats kind of every piece of the law. The chair okay. [indiscernible] this legislation trying to emphasize the education component of this rather than putting a lot of emphasis on enforcement. There is mechanism for enforcement but it is targeted towards the individual not so much the owner of the building. So again, you know, try to protect all the people here and go as far as we can. We were pretty sensitive to lobbyist issues, but at some point we have to figure out whether or not what we present is going to be impactful or not, and to the point where if you dont do this, dont do that, it means it becomes pretty much back to what it was, and i think what im presenting today is really those compromises that were made but still feel like it can be very impactful. People know when i get another email from the mother of the infant, i can say, no, they are not supposed to smoke. Sure, the landlord posted that this is against the law, the smoking in your unit, and thats more than three or more units. So thats a bit of the emphasis. The chair i guess then my other set of questions relate to cannabis, and i noticed the presentation did include information about the harmful effects of Secondhand Smoke from cannabis. I appreciate that the author has done an amendment to exempt out folks who have medical cannabis but i would say in the current environment, many people who are using cannabis for medical reason dont get the card because cannabis is now, in california at least, legal to consume in your own home. The concern i was about the legislation is that for folks who do not have a medical cannabis card, there are very few places outside your own home where you can consume cannabis. It is not in that way it is not parallel to cigarettes in that way. Cigarettes there are still places where smokers can go and smoke. Thats not so much the case for cannabis smokers, and so i do have some concerns. Im curious about the reasons for not having a blanket exemption for cannabis consumpti consumption. Well, we said it you heard the presentation. Its not any less harmful than tobacco, and for us to just have a blanket, we are then worsening once again to others is that youre going to breathe cleaner air. It gets trumped on other things being a priority. Im making the case that my priority is to provide clean air for people to breathe in their own homes, and im not trying to what this does is try to solve for that issue. That means that theres going to be other issues, and this is going to be people will find creative ways, in my mind, to be able to smoke a cannabis. I know not everybody has a car to sit in, but theres different ways you can do this. Were trying to fix something here and basically it gets in the way a little bit of what you heard putting out is really a state level, and that has to be fixed. So for us to not try to say, well, the overarching problem here because of state laws, i prefer to be more aggressive about this, and it feels okay for people again, you have People Living in a unit where whether they are infants or seniors, people who have asthma or what, its not a party for th them. We are just going to have to make a decision. So theres no clear answer or clean answer to that, but i guess i side on the health of san franciscans is more right than wrong. I just want to ask ms ms. Callewaert a little more about that presentation, because it did present cannabis cigarettes and nicotine cigarettes as being essentially parallel in their Health Impacts. And you know, i am not im not a im not urging people to use cannabis. I do not use cannabis myself, but i want to understand if that is, in fact, the position of the department of Public Health, that because because its my my impression is and has been that nicotine and nicotine addiction have been i know generally recognized to be a Serious Health problem. Is it the departments position that cannabis is every bit as much of a problem as nicotine . Thank you for the question, and ill also let maryna chime in as well, who gave the presentation. I dont know if we know exactly the level of comparison, but as maryna stated the chair we know nicotine and cigarettes kilotons and tons of people every year. Yeah, and i think we can say nicotine and tobacco smoke and cannabis smoke have Health Impacts secondhand and thirdhand smoke. Having impacts is but your presentation suggest that theyre the same. The diet coke that i drink has Health Impacts. Its bad for you. I shouldnt do it. Yeah, i dont have the answer of if its impactly the same level of impact, and maryna might want to answer as well, but i dont have that data. Im not sure i can say specifically that, you know, share a specific answer to that question, but we can jennifer and i can pass your questions specifically to our Health Officer to provide, you know, an official dph response. The chair i think that would be interesting. All right, thats the end of my questions. We i understand we do have Public Comment. President yee, did you want to say more before we go to Public Comment . No, lets go ahead and take Public Comment. The chair okay. Mr. Clerk . Thank you, mr. Chair. Operations is checking now to see if we have any callers in the queue. Please let us know if we have any callers who are ready. For those who have already connected to our meeting by phone please press star followed by three if you wish to speak on this item. For those in the queue, please wait until you are prompted to begin. You will hear a prompt that states your line tab unmuted. For those watching our meeting on cable 26 or sf tv gov. Org, please call in following the instructions by dialing 14156550001. Enter todays meeting id to connect to the call which is 1462251223. Press the pound symbol twice and then press star followed by three to enter the queue to speak. Mr. Chair, did you want to go over your the chair i will add that speakers will have two minutes. We ask that you state your first and last name clearly and speak directly into the phone. If you have prepared written a written statement, you are encouraged to send a copy to the Committee Clerk for inclusion in the official file, and in the interests of time, we do encourage speakers to avoid reputation of previous statements. Thank you. Could you connect us to the first caller . Good morning, supervisors. My name is bob gordon. Im cochair of the San Francisco tobacco free coalition. Supervisors, please listen to the science. Owners of multiunit housing who are detroit red wing business in our city have a responsibility to provide to us Living Spaces that are 100 free from toxic ecigarette tobacco and marijuana smoke. As you heard from the Health Department, people continue to suffer needlessly here in the city, and ill add think of the immigrant restaurant worker who comes home to his cramped apartment in the mission who needlessly suffers from one of his roommates lights up. Or the grandchild whos been taught that it would be rude in her culture to ask grandpa not to smoke inside the familys apartment. Some of us who live in San Francisco are lucky enough to have clean air to breathe, but it shouldnt be a matter of luck. Most who smoke dont want to harm the health of their neighbors. Most owners and tenants want clean air for themselves and their neighbors. We can Work Together and create smokefree air for everyone. Support is available by phone or by text message at 1800n 1800nobutts. Its available in different languages, people addicted to ecigarettes and those who chew tobacco. I want to applaud mr. Yee and my hope is that san franciscans can hold on to housing while holding on to health. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Hello. My name is patrick haguan. Im here as a volunteer of the American Cancer Societys Cancer Action Network, and im also a biologist who specializes in cancer research. Im here to just add a little personal comment to what weve all been speaking about. Im happy to see the committees excitement about this movement. What i would just like to add as someone who studies cancer and biology is that we really need to acknowledge the Science Behind this and how harmful Secondhand Smoke is to our communities and that everyone should have the right to breathe clean air. Theres absolutely no safe level of Secondhand Smoke exposure, and smoking is the singlemost preventable cause of disease and death in the u. S. And more than 41,000 people are killed as a result of Secondhand Smoke exposure. In a time like today, i think San Francisco can set a precedent by understanding our commitment to science and underlining that by supporting this. Additionally, i would just like to add that i am a i live in a multiunit housing right now, and although i try my best to meet my neighbors, its honest that in San Francisco with the sections of diverse population and many People Living in these units, its unlikely for a lot of us to meet our neighbors, and its really unfortunate to think that one of my neighbors could be making every right Health Decision for their them and their family, and yet if someone else in the building isnt as cognizant of their risk and the families around us that they could be putting all of us at risk. Thank you for hearing my comments. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning, thank you. My names antoinette, a resident of district eight and a proud voting native of San Francisco. Thank you for taking this important step to reduce exposure to Secondhand Smoke in homes like mine. I reside in a multiunit building currently and most of my life with people of all ages in this building. I know firsthand how smoking by parents at home can impact the health of family members, especially innocent children, which can cause lung damage and Health Issues. I do not support the proposed exemption for medical marijuana. I encourage you to pass a comprehensive smokefree policy that addresses all kinds of smoke and the health of our Community Needs it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next speaker. Hi, im a resident of the Marina District and 29 weeks pregnant, living in multiunit housing and in support of the ordinance. This is necessary to protect children, adolescents and seniors with existing health conditions. Pregnant people exposed to Secondhand Smoke show greater risk of giving birth to low birthrate babies. I do not support the proposed exemptions for medical marijuana that may be prescribed for patients, that smoke is dangerous for the building and contain many of the same problems for tobacco smoke. Its known to have alternatives available to patients. I ask you to carefully consider whether the preference for secular medicine should be prioritized over the rights of all over neighbors, including children and pregnant women, like myself. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Board of supervisors im speaking today in support of this ordinance. Thanks so much for calling me. I live here in San Francisco and work at an Investment Firm with an office here in the city where i cover the health care industry, and im on the associate board for the society here in the city. Until six months ago i shared walls with a family with three small children. I know firsthand all of the things that pass incidentally from their space to mine and vice versa, from water leaks to the sounds of piano practice, the smells of burnt cooking. I cant bear the idea that those kids would have had no choice to breathe in my Secondhand Smoke had i been a smoker. Unfortunately many children in this scenario today in San Francisco as discussed. I think back to the wildfires in our region as well. Just about everyone who could took protections. Its clear to all of us that this smoke represented a threat to our health. Why then would we be complicit with the free flow of cigarette smoke or cannabis smoke in our hoemz . I should add im reading from the cdc website, smoke cannabis has many of the same cancercausing substances as smoked tobacco due to the risks it poses to lung health, experts strongly caution against smoking cannabis and tobacco products. One final anecdote is about my grandmother who passed away in september from lung cancer. She was a smoker for years in the 60s and 70s, which almost certainly contributed to her death. She was ultimately a victim of the lack of Public Awareness and the lack of public action around smoking in her time. Today, on the other hand, we are privileged with the chance to learn from history. We have the chance to take public action and we have the chance to save lives. Everyone should have the right to breathe clean air. Please accept this ordinance and make San Francisco a leader in Secondhand Smoke policy. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning, board of supervisors. My name is kate clifinger. Im a 12year district are the and an ambassador for the American Cancer Society cancer advocacy network. Two years ago i was diagnosed with oral cancer at age 33. The first question ever doctor asked me was the same, do you smoke . I didnt. I had no known risk factors and i had, quote, did everything right, but i still got cancer. To save my life i had part of my tongue cut out. I was in so much pain and couldnt eat properly for months. I lost eight pounds in the first month alone. I am if lucky one. My cancer was caught early. My odds in hitting the five year survival mark are really good. Good everyone the shot at health to protect clean air. Thank you for your time in public service. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller i am catherine and i live in district 8. I live in the 36 unit building. Unfortunately, the people in the apartment below me have four smokers. It is driving me crazy. I feel sick all of the time with headaches. They refuse to talk about it. The teenage daughters also smoke cannabis, including the teenage daughters. The people next door to me, we live on the third floor have a small infant. I tried to talk to them. I bought a 200 air filter to try to clear the air in my apartment. It helped. I cant keep my windows open. Miual donnie is my balcony is closed. The marijuana. I am 80 years old. I dont need brain fog from marijuana. I pray to god that you have a strong policy as possible. I would like to thank supervisor yee for introducing this. This is a miracle to me. There is a possible ban on all smoking in a multiunit apartment including marijuana. I thank you so much. Next speaker. Caller good morning, supervisors. I am bryan davis. I live in district five. I have asthma and lung disease. I have only left the apartment twice since midmarch. Several years ago a smoker lived in the unit below us. No matter how many times we asked, he refused to go outside to smoke. My breathing suffered. Unlike now at least i could leave the an matterment the apartment without fear of covid. The tenant on the other side of our bedroom wall started smoking marijuana in her apartment every day. Some nights i had a hard time breathing. I asked her her to smoke outsid. She didnt stop. We kept a record of every time she smoked. The landlord couldnt do anything. She moved out. Thank goodness. There is no guarantee another smoker wont be move in. We need a law to stop people from smoking or vaping anything in the units. I understand some people need medical marijuana. My medical condition matters, too. If edibles arent an option they can go to the curb. No one will allow them. Please send this to the board with no exception for marijuana. Thank you, next speaker. Caller ii am ted, a resident of district five. This is an issue i feel strongly about, as i have had asthma since childhood. I had strong reaction to smoke of any kind. I truly hope that you are able to pass this legislation without any exemptions. In the many years we lived in our apartment we were exposed to marijuana and smoke in the unit. It is used for ma medicinal pur. I take a daily medication which must be mixed to water as it would be unfair to mix the medication to the water supply for the building exposing everyone else to my meds, it is unfair to medicate in the way i am exposed and put my life and the lives of my family members at risk. I dont want to force anyone to take my medication and i dont want to take anyone elses medication. Please pass this with no exemptions to protect the health of all san franciscans in multiunit housing. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller hello. I live in the sunset district. I recently retired as a professor of medicine from u. C. S. F. I would like to thank supervisor yee for introducing the ordinance it is the science as i would like to address the question supervisor mandelman raised about marijuana smoke. Marijuana smoke is not that different from tobacco smoke. In terms of many of the Adverse Health effects they are not due to the thc, ingredient in marijuana, just as they are not the nicotine in the tobacco. It is due to other things. Just two days ago a new study was published or two new studies showing marijuana smoke concerns are more likely to have complications after a stroke or angieio plaster or open clocked arteries and dont do as well after a heart attack. I think that the i want to support all of the people who think there should be clean ordinance passed with no exceptions for inhaled marijuana. Unlike tobacco, there are many widely used edible and other forms of cannabis to deliver to those who dont pollute the air. Those can use those noninhaled forms. I would strongly support removing that exception. My other suggestion in terms of enforcement is that it is unlikely the Health Department is going to catch someone actually smoking in an apartment. As you heard from the Health Department presentation, there is something called third hand smoke, which is the residue the tobacco and cannabis leave. Thank you for sharing your comments. Next caller, please. Good morning. I am a member of the San Francisco tobacco free coalition. The important first step to improving the Public Health in San Francisco. All residents will be protected from the second hand folks. It cannot be controlled. No level of exposure to tobacco smoke is safe. The only way to protect residentses is to eliminate smoking indoor areas. The city should not allow anything other than smoke free policies in multiunit housing. They are necessary to protect the most vulnerable including and not limited to seniors, people of color, existing health conditions. Secondhand smoke is dangerous to children and can cause permanent damage to the lungs. Asthma is triggered by Secondhand Smoke. People of color and low income individuals are more likely to live in multiunit housing which makes the seconded hand smoke exposure an issue. There are people with disabilities especially vulnerable. This ordinance will promote equity among these groups ensuring that all residents are healthy. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller i am lisa. I moved into the bmr unit in a multiunit building. I have experienced heavy cigarette and marijuana smoke since april 2019. It is 24 7 between the hours of 2 00 a. M. To 9 00 a. M. The tenant and guests are caught smoking numerous times. Management was unable to evict the tenant. I am medically disabled the conditions are exacerbated by smoke unfreeing lance. I fragrance. The Building Management i can only transfer to another bmr unit in the same building, which is unavailable. I have had to use two air purifiers, turn on kitchen and bathroom fans and wear a mask and leave windows open 24 seven. I have been been forced to leave the unit in the middle of the night. I could not sleep or breathe. Smoke was from everywhere, not just kitchen and bathroom fans. I have been living out of boxes since december 2019. I have paid 15,000 not to live in the unit and have my longings smell like smoke. Many tenants are in common units, corridors. Management is unable to enforce the no smoke policy. Once i am able to move to another apartment i may even counter the same problem again. It is dangerous to have tenants and guests smoking during the pandemic. Please pass this s so i and oths are not exposed to Secondhand Smoke and not put at risk in contracting the coronavirus. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller good morning, board of supervisors. I am leslie martinez, youth leader and 18 and live in district 11. I want to share how my little cousin has been suffering. The smoke from the neighboring units made it boars. He made it worse. He was gasping for air. He lived with a single parent it was difficult to afford inhalers. This issue is real. I have seen the effects and attacks myself. I believe this issue is definitely preventable. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller googood morning. I am with the San Francisco coalition. I am calling on behalf of my friend a low income asianamerican transgender woman who lives in San Francisco looking for housing in the city. She began the transition. I told her smoking is at risk. [ inaudible ] Secondhand Smoke delivers nicotine to increase cravings in those who want to quit. I dont want her to reach for cigarettes. She deserves to housing to breathe clean air and live a healthy life. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller good morning. I am john, resident of district 5. Chair of American Heart Association supports board president yees proposed ordinance. In my career in surgery i have witnessed first hand the cost to society from wound infection and hospital readmission. It is associated with covid19 and the need for intu base and death. We should reduce the impact on the pandemic. It can cause serious disease and premature death among nonsmokers. Researchers documented in the air through heating, ventilation and airconditioning and connections between unit. There is no safe level exposure to second hand smoke. Longterm exposure is associated with an up to 30 increase risk for Heart Disease in adult nonsmokers. The proposed ordinance is an important strategy to protect vulnerable populations. We encourage you to join the American Heart Association in supporting this vital health policy. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller good morning, supervisors. I am the manager of advocacy. We were wounde founded over a cy ago. This will help combat the fatal danger posed by Secondhand Smoke in the home. Homes should be a safe haven, sanctuary from what we pays outside of our front door. To many san franciscans there are homes that are a naming or source of second hand tobacco and marijuana smoke especially in the time of covid19. At the start of this pandemic offices and businesses closed and we were home. You asked children to learn from home. The data and consequences of inaction and urge us all by any means necessary to get on board for the greater good of our neighbors. In california 63 other cities and counties have already implemented 100 smoke free housing policies. Today we have the consequences of inaction and urge you to find away by any means to get on board for the greater good of the residence. San francisco uplifts the most vulnerable among us. Many of you are involved over the last year. I thank you for your leadership thus far. I hope you will continue to lead with a comprehensive expensive free evidence. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller hello. Good morning. I am carol, cochair of the africanamerican control leadership counsel. We are leaders to get tobacco out of the communities. I want to say i strongly support San Francisco joining our progressive cities and getting rid of multiunit smoking and housing with no exception for cannabis. I dont live in San Francisco. I grew up bayviewhunters point. My daughter lives in atlanta. I have had to endure cannabis smoke with a toddler there for years. It is awful. We need to do something about cannabis and i do recognize people who live in multiunit housing using cannabis dont have that many options. The option is not popoison everybody else with your cannabis smoke. It is so strong that walking down the street you can get a contact high by walking by somebody using it. Black babies have the highest exposure rate to Secondhand Smoke and as ma. We want to provide services to people so we are not lowering the boom but dealing with stress and other Health Issues that we have and to be comprehensive and supportive. To have backup and legal laws where people cannot poison themselves and their neighbors. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Do we have next speaker . If you hear from the system that your line has been unmuted, it is your opportunity to begin your Public Comment. We are waiting for the next speaker. Caller good afternoon. I am the vice chair of the San Francisco tobacco free coalition. I would like to thank president yee, supervisor walton and other supervisors today. I would like to thank you for the wolf presentation and all of the callers with support. To some it seems as if smoke free housing aims to take away freedoms. I would assert the housing policy is perhaps the only way to about measures of Restorative Justice for the past tenant of the defunct geneva housing annex and potrero hill and the multiunit dwelling. There was no protection for tenants who understood then they were exposed to second and third hand smoke and the adverse impacts to their detriment. Right now San Francisco has an opportunity to speak to the voices of the unheard. To the tenants hebrew tested the smoking with the tenants who protested. San francisco has a unique opportunity to show it cares about the current tenants and their communities but also that it cares about restorative effort in speaking to multiunit dwelling communities of the past who wanted protection but did not receive it. I am just another caller urging the board of supervisors to listen to our calls and to heed the advice that you hear today and approve an ordinance for smoke free multiunit housing without exception. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller good morning. I am Ruth Williams with nonspokekers right. We support the ordinance but do not support the proposed marijuana exception. That would expose residents to drifting smoke indoors. Secondhand smoke from marijuana contained particulate matters to breathe in the lung. If it is from vaping or any smoke is a health risk to call lung irritation and as maattacks and Health Problems for people with respiratory conditions. It should include multiunit housing and reduce exposure for residents in an partments and con apartnent apartments and. Over the years i have received calls from San Francisco residents they are suffering from breathing the smoke and how few options they have to improve the situation. Some residents tell us the neighbors fail to address it indoors. Complaints have increased this year as people shelter at home. They need support of the citywide law. We want all residents to have a healthy and Stable Living environment including right to breathe air free from Secondhand Smoke. It is time for the board of supervisors to take action to help residents have this Important Health protection. I want to emphasize this is not against people who smoke but not in smoking in ways to harm other people. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller greetings from north bay. Pamela, granger, cochair of tobacco free Sonoma County and Cancer Action Network volunteer in support of the smoke flee sme housing presented today without marijuana exemption. We in could bac in tobacco contn francisco who stood up to the tobacco bullies over the years when we could not. That being said, let us share what we learned about smoke free housing over the past 14 years because between sonoma and marin counties there are 22 policies passed which include Secondhand Smoke from cigarettes and cigars, Vape Products and marijuana. Science and citizens say smoke is smoke is smoke. As for the discussion of marijuana, the citizens comment the use of the smoke to provide relief from neighbors should not provide Deadly Health consequences to them. Vapors are the alternative. Covid 19 highlighted issues of racial and Health Equity and driven people indoors where air quality is more important than ever. New policy is flawless, laws have a significant effect on social norms. It is imperative it is not acceptable. That is not acceptable to smoke anything in multi unit housing. Today santa rosa with 175,000 People Holdings the record as the largest city in california with the smoke free multiunit housing policy. We are happy to yield that title to San Francisco. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller good morning. I am with the bay area activism. I live in the east bay. I am here because i would like to comment on smoke free housing agenda item 2. I organized youth in the east bay to advocate for smoke free housing like what is discussed now. Everyone should have the right to breathe clean air and live in a safe homing. If San Francisco can pass this it will apply pressure to pass this. I work with youth health at risk because they are not protected from second hand smoke. I can only imagine how many youth and families breathe the Secondhand Smoke. Low income and children of color have more likely to have asthma. They suffer worst outcomes. Africanamerican children are twice as likely to be hospitalized and four times likely to die as white children. I support the ordinance to protect the families from Secondhand Smoke. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller hello everyone. I am an at owner in the district. First, i want to thank supervisor yee for sponsoring this multi housing smoking policy and i want to share my policy with Secondhand Smoke. I have been exposed to substantial Secondhand Smoke. I tried almost everything you can imagine. Air filters, i fill my walls and cracks. I have consultants to in my home for smoke transition and spent more than 10,000 to solve the problem. Nothing works. When the pandemic is over i am selling my apartment and moving to a Single Family house. This is the only way to guarantee my family and myself will not be exposed to second hand smoke. I i will not be exposed to cancer and lung disease. Today i will share my story. I want you to understand that not many people in San Francisco have the resourceses to do this. I strongly oppose cannabis because it is unfair to people to take the risk of harm. [ inaudible ] i want to comment about diet coke. This addiction. Secondhand smoke is involuntary. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller good morning, supervisors. I am with the American Heart Association. We support protecting the residents in multi unit housing from all kinds of smoke. We support the Public Information campaign about Secondhand Smoke exposure in housing. We hope that increases the number of smokers connected to evidence based services. There is no safe level of exposure to Secondhand Smoke. It has immediate and longterm effects on nonanother nonsmokers. It is dangerous to others in the building and contains the same harms as tobacco smoke. We encourage you to pass the comprehensive policy to all kinds of smoke. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller hi. I am a member of the San Francisco tobacco free coaliti coalition. Marijuana doesnt have to be smoke. It can eaten in other ways. It is possible to include the protections. To allow people who use it for medical reasons. Smoke free spaces in multiunit houses is necessary to protect seniors and children and people with existing health conditions. Children of color are more likely to have asthma. I have been living in multiunit housing for 20 years. It is disproportionately impacting communities like mine. I am five months pregnant. I am excited to have a pregnant with the kicks and all. It worries me to be exposed to Secondhand Smoke and greater risk for low weight babies. There are more things to worry about. Breathing deadly smoke in the home doesnt have to be one of them. Thank you board of supervisors and community for the leadership and time. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller hello. I am mya. I am a general internist and assistant professor in the department of medicine and i live in district 7. I offer support for the smoke free ordinance. Not only will this help people with Secondhand Smoke exposure but it may help people quit smoking. Our work has shown that smoke free policies has the potential to motivate people to quit smoking completely. We have a real opportunity with this policy to reduce tobacco related disparities among the most vulnerable in the communities by reducing exposure and helping people quit smoking while safeguarding housing for the most vulnerable. Thank you so much for putting this forward. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller good morning. I am chris show man. I want to speak to the cannabis issue. I appreciate the Public Health concerns and i know the Public Health issues are of utmost importance. I think it needs acknowledged and supervisor mandelman mentioned it appropriately. This will essentially ban cannabis smoking for anybody who lives in the multiunit building. It is not allowed outdoors. It essentially offers no option. I understand the issues with the medical marijuana exception, but i want to speak to the disabilities. They cannot go outside. My wife has a disability, multiple disabilities arthritis, she cannot go outside. She uses marijuana medically for relief. She does not prefer to use alternatives to smoking or vaping because she does not react well to edibles. She needs to smoke or vape. Without even considering the exemption which i appreciate that is proposed it will add versely impact her medically and her relief from her disabilities. Thank you for your consideration. He appreciate the overall ordinance and everything that everyone is doing. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Caller hello. I am a resident of district 2. Thank you guys for taking the step to reduce exposure to Secondhand Smoke in homes like mine. I live in a multiunit complex and am the mother of twin driveways 10 months old twin boys crawling everywhere. I support the smoke free ordinance in San Francisco. It is important to protect vulnerable populations like children. Some dangerous second hand smoke exposure. I do not support the exception for medical marijuana. Pass a policy for all kids to live with clean air. Thank you for hearing my comments. Thank you. Next speaker. That completes the queue. Public comment is closed on this item. President yee, did you want to make final remarks . Thank you, chair mandleman and supervisors walton and stefani for allowing me to present this ordinance to you. I want to also thank ms. Siegel for her presentation of the facts to remind us why we are doing this. I want to thank the public for their comments. As you can see, there is going to be some that think this is not going far enough. There are some that think that it is going too far. I would be comfortable where we are at today with the amendments. And that in the future nothing is forever. Maybe in the future other supervisors will pick up this issue again and see if it can be improved. Passing this today to the full board is a big step for us, and for us to address the certain percentage of the Secondhand Smoke you are talking about today. As i was mentioning before, it is about priorities. What do we feel are more important . The rights of people to breathe clean safe air in their own homes above those to smoke in homes . Hopefully, my colleagues on the committee will agree that breathing clean air is very important and should be the priority. Considering what a health risk that people have whether they have disabilities. I have spoke about the amendments that i would like the committee to pass, and, hopefully, i have the support of the whole committee to pass this out of committee with positive recommendation to the full board. Thank you very much. Thank you, president yee. So i think this is an important piece of legislation, and i recognize the tremendous amount of work that president yee and his office have put into it. I do it has moved quite quickly, and i understand that president yee is interested in having us act on this before it leaves the board. I want to do everything i can to help make that happen. If that were not the case, i would probably move to continue this item for a week or until our next meeting to sort of get more feedback and input on this cannabis issue. I think there is a real point here, which is that cigarettes and cannabis and nicotine are in a different position. People cannot legally go outside their home and smoke or vape cannabis. That is not true of cigarettes. They are limited where they can go but there are placing place o smoke marijuana. Maybe medical cannabis is the right way to deal with this. It is the one piece of the legislation i have a little bit of concern about. What i would propose, if my colleagues are willing, we accept the amendment, forward to the full board without recommendation and give those who may have concerns about the cannabis issues a little time to try to think about that between now and when this comes before the full board. Supervisor walton. I was going to propose to accept the proposed amendment from president yee for the legislation first. I will take that as a motion. We will vote on it after vice chair stefani speaks. Thank you, chair mandleman, and thank you president yee for the legislation. As you know when you spoke to me about it, i let you know about the concerns from residents in my district. A lot of elderly residents about the concern. I want to thank those in Public Comment in district two who called in. I hear you loud and clear. I am very supportive of this legislation. Thank you, president yee. So we have a motion to accept the amendment. Mr. Clerk. Do you want to call the roll. The motion offered by member walton to accept all of the amendments offered by president yee. Vice chair stefani. Aye. Member walton. Aye. Chair mandleman. Aye. There are three ayes. The motion passes. The amendments are adopted. I will move that we forward this to the full board without recommendation. On the motions of the ordinance as amended be sent to the board without recommendation to Neighborhood Services vice chair stephanie. Aye. Member walton. Aye. Chair mandleman. Aye. Mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Great. The motion passes. Congratulations, president yee. Thank you very much for your time. I am looking forward to having your support at the full board when we vote on this. Thank you. Mr. Clerk. Do we have any more items today . There is no further business on todays agenda. Then we are adjourned. Thank you everyone. President yee of the 26 neighborhoods we have in west portal, its probably the most unique in terms of a small little town. You can walk around here, and it feels different from the rest of San Francisco. People know each other. They shop here, they drink wine here. What makes it different is not only the people that live here, but the businesses, and without all these establishments, you wouldnt know one neighborhood from the other. El toreador is a unique restaurant. Its my favorite restaurant in San Francisco, but when you look around, theres nowhere else that youll see decorations like this, and it makes you feel like youre in a different world, which is very symbolic of west portal itself. Well, the restaurant has been here since 1957, so were going on 63 years in the neighborhood. My family came into it in 1987, with me coming in in 1988. My husband was a designer, and he knew a lot about art, and he loved color, so thats what inspired him to do the decorati decorations. The few times we went to mexico, we tried to get as many things as we can, and wed bring it in. Even though we dont have no space, we try to make more space for everything else. President yee juan of the reasons we came up with the legacy business concept, man eel businesses were closing down for a variety of reasons. It was a reaction to trying to keep our older businesses continuing in the city, and i think weve had some success, and i think this restaurant itself is probably proof that it works. Having the legacy business experience has helped us a lot, too because it makes it good for us because we have been in business so long and stayed here so long. We get to know people by name, and they bring their children, so we get to know them, also. Its a great experience to get to know them. Supervisor yee comes to eat at the restaurant, so hes a wonderful customer, and hes very loyal to us. President yee my favorite dish is the chile rellenos. I almost never from the same things. My owners son comes out, you want the same thing again . Well, we are known for our mole, and we do three different types of mole. In the beginning, i wasnt too familiar with the whole legacy program, but San Francisco, being committed to preserve a lot of the oldtime businesses, its important to preserve a lot of the old time flavor of these neighborhoods, and in that capacity, it was great to be recognized by the city and county of San Francisco. Ive been here 40 years, and i hope it will be another 40 years. [ ] i just dont know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. It is an experience that you cant have anywhere else in San Francisco. [ ] [ ] district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. We have four neighborhoods that i represent. St. Marys park has a completely unique architecture. Very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in San Francisco. The Bernal Heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of San Francisco. There is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. It is as if you are swinging over the entire city. There are two unique aspects. It is considered the fourth chinatown in San Francisco. Sixty of the residents are of chinese ancestry. The second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the Garden District. There is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. Not only for San Francisco but for the region. And of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the citys second biggest park after golden gate. Many people dont know the neighborhood in the first place if they havent been there. We call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. Every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. Where we are right now is the Mission District. The Mission District is a very special part of our city. You smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. They have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. And then you walk further down and you have sunrise cafe. It is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. Twentyfourth street is the birthplace of the movement. We have over 620 murals. It is the largest outdoor Public Gallery in the country and possibly the world. You can find so much Political Engagement park next to so much incredible art. Its another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [ ] it was formed in 2014. We had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. We worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. Most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. So the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. In the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the Mission District have been displaced from their community. We all know that the rising cost of living in San Francisco has led to many people being displaced. Lower and middle income all over the city. Because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip Public Transportation, has, has made it very popular. Its a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. There is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. There are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesnt completely erase the communities. We try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more Equitable Development in the area. You need to meet with and gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. The people on the businesses that came before you. You need to dialogue and show respect. And then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [ ] i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. So we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and workingclass. Back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. This is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. We created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. That is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. We have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [ ] watching. Youre watching coping with covid19 with chris manners. Todays special guest is julie kirschbaum. Hi. Im chris manners. Youre watching coping with covid19. Today, im speaking with the executive director of the sfmta. Thank you and welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Can we begin by talking about the services that have been suspended and there have been changes to the services that are still running . Absolutely. Weve had to make really significant changes to our services in response to covid19. Initially going down to as few as 17 routes. These are routes that people use to get to work or the hospital, Grocery Stores, really to make the most essential trips that are needed throughout this process. Weve been fortunate over the last, say, five or six weeks, that our Staffing Levels have gotten better, and as weve increased our cleaning capacity, that weve been able to add some Community Services back. Weve added a shuttle on pacific avenue, which is helping seniors get to Grocery Stores in chinatown. Weve added a community inline bus in ingleside, and weve been adding more service to our core network. Our corridors like mission street, potrero near s. F. General, and really needing increasingly more and more service in order to prevent spacing and keep spacing and prevent crowding on the bus. Thank you. What measures have you been taking to prevent passengers on the bus . Your safety has been our top priority and is guiding everything that we do. The most critical thing that were doing is the mask requirement, where were requiring people, if youre going to ride muni, to do it safely, protecting yourself and others from germs. Weve also implemented back door boarding, so except for our customers with disabilities that will need the support of the front door, the ramp, or the leader, were asking customers to enter from the back to give extra spacing to our operators. Weve provided operators with all of the protective equipment that they need to do the job safely, including gloves and masks, and were really fortunately that our bus fortunate that our buses are equipped with a plexi glass door that creates an operating space for our operators. And some of Services Like the cable car historic trolleys we dont have that same protection, we suspended early on in this process. We want our operators to have the physical separation that they need to stay safe on the road. Absolutely. So how have you been managing physical distancing on Public Transportation . What happens if a bus gets full . Great question. We have reduced the number of people that we consider a bus to be crowded, so heading into this, we might have had 70 or 80 people on the bus. Now, its closer to 20. We also are monitoring our passenger loads. Both our operators are monitoring them as well as were monitoring them remotely from our Transportation Management center. If the bus does get too crowded, the operators have a dropoff only sign, and they stop picking passengers up until enough exit the vehicle. It might be a little bit inconvenient if youre waiting for a bus and it doesnt stop to pick you up, but theres another one coming behind it so we can make sure that you have social distancing throughout this process. What other ways have you been letting passengers and residents know about these changes and new policies . Weve been using all methods to keep customers informed about all of these changes. Weve put up almost 2,000 signs and posters at our bus stops in multiple languages, letting people know when routes have been eliminated, when hours have changed, when service has changed. Weve also been putting it up through social media and neighborhood groups, and also really relying on the media and press to notify customers about changing. We want the public to know what to expect in this really unique and unusual time to make things as convenient as possible. Quite right, yes. Other than the operators themselves, i know you have a very large support staff. Have you made changes at your muni facilities, as well. Sfmta has 29 facilities, and enhancing safety at those facilities has really been a team effort. We have an amazing custodial crew thats been doing deep cleanings. We were able to take staff that had been cleaning the subway stations and dedicate them to our facilities. We have also seen staff at every level jump in and help with daily cleanings in places like common areas, desks, tools. Everyone is pitching in to wipe stuff down, which makes a big difference. We are proud of the fact that we havent had any clusters of staff who have had the virus or really any examples of staff catching it from each other, and we feel its because of the steps that were taking to keep people safe at work. Were also taking ideas from everywhere in the organization. That includes safety briefings, rather than doing them in a small room, doing them outside, in a parking lot. In order to get to job sites, staff had previously taken three or four people in a city truck. Now, were taking them in a bus so they can actually space out during the trip to the site. Oh, thats great stuff. When we look at the Transportation System as a whole, what additional steps have been taken to encourage people to consider alternative forms of transit. We have been looking at it as a system in part because the bus system is doing less than it has in the past because we have fewer routes and because we have fewer people riding. One example is our e. T. C. Program, which is a taxibased program that seniors and people with disabilities can sign up for and use a taxi for essential trips at a highly discounted rate. Were also looking at a Transit System that people can get out walking or biking. How are we planning on next steps as restrictions ease and we move into phase two and eventually phases three and four . I think probably our biggest thing that were getting ready for right now is the start of school in august, and make sure that were ready, not only to accommodate all of the general activities, like going to restaurants and recreation, but also getting kids to school safely. Were also looking at what are other cities doing around the world that we can learn from, and thats where we are forming our work, as well. We are really fortunate that we had an opportunity to skype with taipei, a city thats had a lot of success addressing the virus. The mayor actually joined the skype call, and one of the things that they shared with us, their biggest success has come with 100 compliance masks on mass transit. In other cases, monitoring for temperatures and really making sure that people were riding, that they were riding healthy, so were trying to model and apply those best practices to our system and learn as much as we can through this process. Well, thats fantastic information. I really appreciate you coming on the show, miss kirschbaum. Thank you for the time youve given us today. Thank you. Thanks again. Well, thats it for this episode. Well be back with more covid19 relates information shortly. Youve been watching coping with covid19. Im chris manners. Thanks for watching. As latinos we are unified in some ways and incredibly diverse in others and this exhibit really is an exploration of nuance in how we present those ideas. Our debts are not for sale. A piece about sanctuary and how his whole family served in the army and its a long Family Tradition and these people that look at us as foreigners, we have been here and we are part of america, you know, and we had to reinforce that. I have been cure rating here for about 18 year. We started with a table top, candle, flower es, and a picture and people reacted to that like it was the monna lisa. The most important tradition as it relates to the show is idea of making offering. In Traditional Mexican alters, you see food, candy, drinks, cigarettes, the things that the person that the offerings where being made to can take with them into the next word, the next life. Keeps u. S us connects to the people who have passed and because family is so important to us, that Community Dynamic makes it stick and makes it visible and it humanizes it and makes it present again. When i first started doing it back in 71, i wanted to do something with ritual, ceremony and history and you know i talked to my partner ross about the research and we opened and it hit a cord and people loved it. I think the line between engaging everyone with our culture and appropriating it. I think it goes back to asking people to bring their visions of what it means to honor the dead, and so for us its not asking us to make mexican altars if they are not mexican, its really to share and expand our vision of what it means to honor the dead. People are very respectful. I can show you this year alone of people who call tol ask is it okay if we come, we are hawaii or asian or we are this. What should we wear . What do you recommend that we do . They say oh, you know, we want a four day of the dead and its all hybrid in this country. What has happened are paper cuts, its so hybrid. It has spread to mexico from the bay area. We have influence on a lot of people, and im proud of it. A lot of tim times they dont represent we represent a lot of cultures with a lot of different perspectives and beliefs. I can see the city changes and its scary. When we first started a lot of people freaked out thinking we were a cult and things like that, but we went out of our way to also make it educational through outreach and that is why we started doing the prosession in 1979. As someone who grew up attending the yearly processions and who has seen them change incrementally every year into kind of what they are now, i feel in many ways that the cat is out of the bag and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle in how the wider public accesses the day of the dead. I have been through three different generations of children who were brought to the procession when they were very young that are now bringing their children or grandchildren. In the 80s, the processions were just kind of electric. Families with their homemade visuals walking down the street in San Francisco. Service so much more intimate and personal and so much more rooted in kind of a Family Practice of a very strong cultural practice. It kind of is what it is now and it has gone off in many Different Directions but i will always love the early days in the 80s where it was so intimate and son sofa millial. Our goal is to rescue a part of the culture that was a part that we could invite others to join in there there by where we invite the person to come help us rescue rescue it also. Thats what makes it unique. You have to know how to approach this changing situation, its exhausting and i have seen how it has affected everybody. Whats happening in mission and the relationship with the police, well its relevant and its relevant that people think about it that day of the dead is not just sugar skulls and paper flowers and candles, but its become a nondenominational tradition that people celebrate. Our culture is about color and family and if that is not present in your life, there is just no meaning to it you know . We have artists as black and brown people that are in direct danger of the direct policies of the trump a administration and i think how each of the artists has responsibilitie responded ss interesting. San francisco is surrounded on three sides by water, the fire boat station is intergal to maritime rescue and preparedness, not only for San Francisco, but for all of the bay area. [sirens] fire station 35 was built in 1915. So it is over 100 years old. And helped it, were going to build fire boat station 35. So the finished Capital Planning committee, i think about three years ago, issued a guidance that all city facilities must exist on Sea Level Rise. The station 35, Construction Cost is approximately 30 million. And the schedule was complicated because of what you call a float. It is being fabricated in china, and will be brought to Treasure Island, where the building site efficient will be constructed on top of it, and then brought to pier 22 and a half for installation. Were looking at late 2020 for final completion of the fire boat float. The historic firehouse will remain on the embarcadero, and we will still respond out of the historic firehouse with our fire engine, and respond to medical calls and other incidences in the district. This totally has to incorporate between three to six feet of Sea Level Rise over the next 100 years. Thats what the citys guidance is requiring. It is built on the float, that can move up and down as the water level rises, and sits on four fixed guide piles. So if the seas go up, it can move up and down with that. It does have a full range of travel, from low tide to high tide of about 16 feet. So that allows for current tidal movements and sea lisle rises in the coming decades. The fire boat station float will also incorporate a ramp for ambulance deployment and access. The access ramp is rigidly connected to the land side, with more of a pivot or hinge connection, and then it is sliding over the top of the float. In that way the ramp can flex up and down like a hinge, and also allow for a slight few inches of lateral motion of the float. Both the access ramps, which there is two, and the utilitys only flexible connection connecting from the float to the back of the building. So electrical power, water, sewage, it all has flexible connection to the boat. High boat station number 35 will provide mooring for three fire boats and one rescue boat. Currently were staffed with Seven Members per day, but the Fire Department would like to establish a new dedicated marine unit that would be able to respond to multiple incidences. Looking into the future, we have not only at t park, where we have a lot of kayakers, but we have a lot of developments in the southeast side, including the stadium, and we want to have the ability to respond to any marine or maritime incident along these new developments. There are very few designs for people sleeping on the water. Were looking at cruiseships, which are larger structures, several times the size of harbor station 35, but theyre the only good reference point. We look to the cruiseship industry who has kind of an index for how much acceleration they were accommodate. It is very unique. I dont know that any other fire station built on the water is in the united states. The fire boat is a regionalesset tharegional assete used for water rescue, but we also do environmental cleanup. We have special rigging that we carry that will contain oil spills until an environmental unit can come out. This is a job for us, but it is also a way of life and a lifestyle. Were proud to serve our community. And were willing to help people in any way we can. Growing up in San Francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and its still that bubble that its okay to be whatever you want to. You can let your free flag fry he fly here. As an adult with autism, im here to challenge peoples idea of what autism is. My journey is not everyones journey because every autistic child is different, but theres hope. My background has heavy roots in the bay area. I was born in san diego and adopted out to San Francisco when i was about 17 years old. I bounced around a little bit here in high school, but ive always been here in the bay. We are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. We dont turn anyone away. We take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. The most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you dont seem like you have autism. You seem so normal. Yeah. Thats 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. I was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. They split up when i was about four. One of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. Very queer family. Growing up in the 90s with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. I was bullied relatively infrequently. But i never really felt isolated or alone. I have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. The school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. One of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what its about, but my parents wanted my life to be safe. When i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. I was a weird kid. I had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. When we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when im looking away from the camera, its for my own comfort. Faces are confusing. Its a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. At its core, autism is a social disorder, its a neurological disorder that people are born with, and its a big, big spectrum. It wasnt until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it. I was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. I didnt like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared. I was very difficult to be around. But the friends that i have are very close. I click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. In experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. I remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldnt cope. I grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal developmental psychology from all sides. I recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybodys in a position to have a family thats as supportive, but theres also a community thats incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. It was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what . Im just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. I have a twoyearold. The person who im now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasnt sure, so i we went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so theres no way you can be pregnant. I found out i was pregnant at 6. 5 months. My whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. I think ive finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. I think the access to irrelevant care for parents is intentionally confusing. When i did the procespective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. We have a place where children can be children, but its very confusing. I always out myself as an adult with autism. I think its helpful when you know where can your child go. How im choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy. How do speech therapy. How do you explain that to the rest of their class . I want that to be a normal experience. I was working on a certificate and kind of getting think Early Childhood credits brefore i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in San Francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i dont really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight persons perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and im like absolutely. So im now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. I love growing up here. I love what San Francisco represents. The idea of leaving has never occurred to me. But its a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. What ive done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that were still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a Resource Center, and this Resource Center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. I would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. So many things that i would love to do that are all about changing peoples minds about certain chunts, like the Transgender Community or the autistic community. I would like my daughter to know theres no wrong way to go through life. Everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of San Francisco. We help San Francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. So where will you shop and dine in the 49 . Im one of three owners here in San Francisco and we provide mostly live Music Entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and its not a big menu, but we did it with love. Like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. For latinos, it brings Families Together and if we can bring that family to your business, youre gold. Tonight we have russelling for e community. We have a tenperson limb elimination match. We have a fullsize ring with barside food and drink. We ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar. Were hope og get families to join us. Weve done a drag queen bingo and were trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. This is a great part of town and theres a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. Theres a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hanhang out at. We have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. Some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and its exciting. We even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. Its in the San Francisco Garden District and four beautiful muellermixer ura alsomurals. Its important to shop local because its kind of like a circle of life, if you will. We hire local people. Local people spend their money at our businesses and those local mean that wor people willr money as well. I hope people shop locally. [ ] youre watching coping with covid19 with chris manners. Todays special guest is michelle jeffers. Hi. Im chris manners, and youre watching coping with covid19. Todays guest is michelle jeffers. Shes the chief of programs and partnerships with the San Francisco public library, and shes here to talk with us about some exciting new developments at the sfpl and how the library has been managing during this pandemic. Michelle, thank you for being on the show. Thank you, chris, for having me. Likewise. Lets talk about the program the librarys just rolled out, the Curbside Pickup program called sfpl to go. Can you tell us how it works for those that arent familiar with the process . Sure. Its a three step program. You would request an item like you normally do. You would go into your library account, and say, i want to read becoming, by michelle obama. So you would click on request this item. Now the one trick this time is you need to click on the one that shows its available right now at the mainor excelsior branch. Once we get main or excelsior branch. Once we get going bigger and bigger, well be available to everybody. But you pick out a magazine, a movie, or a c. D. , you click on request it. If you dont have the internet, or you dont have an Online Library account, you can call us and say, i want to select this book, or you can say, help me with a book. You can say, what are some scandinavian mysteries, and well find you something right now. We go and pull it off the shelf. Well call you, well send you a piece of mail, or well email you and tell you its ready to pick up. And then, youll lineup outside the library. We have little dots on the ground to tell you where to lineup. Youll come up, tell us your name and the last fewour digit of your library card number, and we give you your package, and you go on your way. How do you return items . A lot of people have been holding onto items since march. You can return your items at the main, for example, we have three doors, and we have a separate door where its the return door, you put it into a bin there. We dont touch the items for 96 hours. Thats the quarantine period for the items. So we will wait four days and then touch them or check them back in for you. As you know, San Francisco Public Libraries did away with late fines last year, so there will be no fines on what you returned, no matter how late it is. Thats fantastic. You mentioned that you can call in, and that actually leads right into my next question, which is now the library has been focused on addressing the digital divide. Can residents still access the librarys wifi, and whats the Tech Tuesday Program . Yes. The wifi is on at all of our 27 branches and our main location, and you have gone to those locations and seen people using the wifi or, you know, on the perimeter around the building. Separate from requesting a book, you can also call us to ask reference questions, and weve answered a lot of questions. Ive asked them for some examples of some of the questions that theyre getting, because theyre trying to be helpful and be a friendly voice on the phone for everybody who calls. I thought some of the really funny ones were someone asked, is it shorter to raft from San Francisco to alcatraz or San Francisco to Treasure Island . And after that, they said, whats the phone number for the coast guard because i think they should come with me. Or another favorite was they didnt have internet, but they asked, can you look me up on google earth and see if it looks like im growing weed at my house. But we get those types of questions, but also the normal things, like when is this book coming out . Many of them were, when are you going to open for Curbside Service . We answer those questions, and have been there since march, trying to answer questions from the outside world. Next, were trying to do meetings on zoom, teaching people how to use resources. Many people had never checked out an ebook through the Library System or downloaded music through the Library System, so were trying to show them those tools, as well as other tools that they might need. Weve shown people on zoom how to use zoom, how to join a conversation and a chat group on zoom. Those have been really popular as people have really taken to asking for help with technology through technology to get more technology savvy. I urnnderstand as the libra is still closed, youve still been able to give away childrens book. How is that working and how many books have you given away so far. Theres been a request from sher sheryl davis on the library commission. She had a list of books that she wanted to give out to San Francisco students, k12, so she made a request, and we gave out almost 10,000 books to be distributed to kids in San Francisco. Weve also worked with the Human Services agency in the city to make sure that people are living in shelters, including family shelters have books because they cant use the library, so weve given out just thousands of books that way, too, and were continuing to get in more books. These are not Library Books that you have to return, these are to fill a home library for people, knowing that the library isnt as accessible as it used to be. Were waiting for a delivery right now, 47,000 books to distribute to students that might be coming in through the Community Learning hub and some other communitybased organizations to keep kids reading when theyre at home. Thats an impressive number of books. Finally, i understand all city workers are also Disaster Service workers, and that they made a significant effort to the citys response during this pandemic. Im proud of the Library Staff because theyve really staffed up. And at times, sfpl Library Staff have made up nearly hat of the deployed disaster workers in the city. Weve been doing contact work, so theyve been using those Library Skills to help track down people who might have been exposed to the virus through other exposures, moving through that process, which is really important to helping stem the spread of it. We have a huge staff working through the San Francisco marin bank who work at the top of the city, distributing food, making sure our city has nourishment and food, especially in areas where food is not as accessible in certain areas of the city. We have people working at testing site. We have people translating, doing outreach work, designing some of the signage you know, we have some graphic designers on the Library Staff that are doing that kind of work. We just really try to fill in and use our staff to the fullest extent possible anywhere the city needs us. I know that everyone in the city appreciates the work that sfpl has done to help out during this pandemic. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming onto the show, and thank you so much for joining us today. Oh, sure. Any time. Come back to the library. Ill be sure to. And thats it for us today. Well be back with more covid related information shortly. Youve been watching coping with covid19. For working with kids, they keep you young. They keep you on your tones on your toes. Teaching them, at the same time, us learning from them, everything is fulfilling. Ready . Go. [ ] we really wanted to find a way to support Women Entrepreneurs in particular in San Francisco. It was very important for the mayor, as well as the Safety Support the dreams that people want to realize, and provide them with an opportunity to receive funding to support improvements for their business so they could grow and thrive in their neighborhoods and in their industry. Three, two, one because i am one of the consultants for two nonprofits here for entrepreneurship, i knew about the grand through the renaissance entrepreneur center, and through the Small Business development center. I thought they were going to be perfect candidate because of their strong values in the community. They really give back to the neighborhood. They are from this neighborhood, and they care about the kids in the community here. When molly molly first told us about the grant because she works with Small Businesses. She has been a tremendous help for us here. She brought us to the attention of the grand just because a lot of things here were outdated, and need to be uptodate and redone totally. Hands in front. Recite the creed. My oldest is jt, he is seven, and my youngest is ryan, he is almost six. It instills discipline and the boys, but they show a lot of care. We think it is great. The moves are fantastic. The women both are great teachers. What is the next one . My son goes to fd k. He has been attending for about two years now. They also have a summer program, and last summer was our first year participating in it. They took the kids everywhere around San Francisco. This year, owner talking about placing them in summer camps, all he wanted to do was spend the entire summer with them. He has strong women in his life, so he really appreciates it. I think that carries through and i appreciate the fact that there are more strong women in the world like that. I met dandrea 25 years ago, and we met through our interest in karate. Our professor started on cortland years ago, so we grew up here at this location, we out he outgrew the space and he moved ten years later. He decided to reopen this location after he moved. Initially, i came back to say, hey, because it might have been 15 years since i even put on a uniform. My Business Partner was here basically by herself, and the person she was supposed to run the studio with said great, you are here, i started new Nursing School so you can take over. And she said wait, that is not what i am here for i was by myself before for a month before she came through. She was technically here as a secretary, but we insisted, just put on the uniform, and help her teach. I was struggling a little bit. And she has been here. One thing led to another and now we are coowners. You think a lot more about safety after having children and i wanted to not live in fear so much, and so i just took advantage of the opportunity, and i found it very powerful to hit something, to get some relief, but also having the knowledge one you might be in a situation of how to take care of yourself. The selfdefence class is a new thing that we are doing. We started with a group of women last year as a trial run to see how it felt. Theres a difference between selfdefence and doing a karate class. We didnt want them to do an actual karate class. We wanted to learn the fundamentals of how to defend yourself versus, you know, going through all the forms and techniques that we teaching a karate class and how to break that down. Then i was approached by my old high school. One once a semester, the kids get to pick an extra curricular activity to take outside of the school walls. My old biology teacher is now the principle. She approached us into doing a selfdefence class. The girls have been really proactive and really sweet. They step out of of the comfort zone, but they have been willing to step out and that hasnt been any pushback. It is really great. It is respect. You have to learn it. When we first came in, they knew us as those girls. They didnt know who we were. Finally, we came enough for them to realize, okay, they are in the business now. It took a while for us to gain that respect from our peers, our male peers. Since receiving the grant, it has ignited us even more, and put a fire underneath our butts even more. We were doing our summer camp and we are in a movie theatre, and we just finished watching a film and she stepped out to receive a phone call. She came in and she screamed, hey, we got the grant. And i said what . Martial arts is a passion for us. It is passion driven. There are days where we are dead tired and the kids come and they have the biggest smiles on their faces and it is contagious. We have been operating this program for a little over a year all Women Entrepreneurs. It is an extraordinary benefit for us. We have had the Mayors Office investing in our program so we can continue doing this work. It has been so impactful across a diversity of communities throughout the city. We hope that we are making some type of impact in these kids lives outside of just learning karate. Having selfconfidence, having discipline, learning to know when its okay to stand up for yourself versus you just being a bully in school. These are the values we want the kids to take away from this. Not just, i learned how to kick and i learned how to punch. We want the kids to have more values when they walk outside of these doors. [ ]