Transcripts For SFGTV 20140205

Program, the shanti project, positive research center, applied aquatics institute, San Francisco publicity club, and we also appointed him as a board to the lgbt aging task force where he was a very productive member. Stu was extremely active in shanti and served four terms as board chair. He helped keep that organization strong. Shanti was a key, key part of his life. Recently he he chaired the executive council at the San Francisco para transit coordinating council. He was also serving as the executive director of tin pan alley productions and he wrote a column for the bay times. He hosted several shows including the drag show and the face to face on s. F. Common. He was also very active in the Recovery Community and served on the Advisory Board of the Castro Country Club ~ which was silver space in the castro. Stu had a lot of energy. I think probably more energy than a lot of us. It was just unbelievable how many Different Things he was involved with. I would never its just always amazed me how much he he did for our community. He received a lot of awards for his volunteerism, has worked in the community, including the james [speaker not understood] spirit award, the [speaker not understood] award from sfmta and the kqed local hero award in 2013. Stu was unique in our community. Ive never met anyone quite like him and this is a huge loss for our community. And, so, i request that we as a board adjourn in his memory. The rest i submit. Thank you, supervisor wiener. Actually, if we could do that me fa in memoriam on behalf of the full board that should be the case. [gavel] thank you, mr. President. Supervisor yee. ~ thank you, madam clerk. Colleagues, today im introducing an ordinance to address neighborhood concerns around the cluster of medical cannabis dispensaries in the ocean avenue corridor. Ocean avenue is included in the green zone and the current zoning allows medical cannabis dispensaries, but neighbors in the ocean Avenue Association have expressed concerns around the number of dispensaries both existing and proposed on the corridor. The ordinance creates a 500feet buffer around existing dispensaries to avoid clustering. This legislation is identical to supervisor avaloss recent approved proposal for the Mission Street corridor. I want to thank supervisor avalos for allowing me duplicate this. This ordinance has already been endorsed by the ocean Avenue Association and my office has reached out to gather feedback from all neighboring stakeholders. I want to acknowledge that the Planning Department is conducting a comprehensive study of the medical cannabis dispensary and i hope this legislation can go hand in hand with the outcomes of the study. The rest i submit. Thank you, supervisor yee. Supervisor avalos. Thank you, madam clerk. Colleagues, if you recall back in october, i discussed here at the board a problem we were having in the excelsior district with online sweep stakes gaming facilities. We have three in our district where there are computers that have a type of software that is used for actually gambling. The sites attracted a lot of petty low level crime in the neighborhood, making people feel very, very unsafe. This past week we had a really great turn of events. The City Attorney, based on the work that had been done in the community by Community Members in particular, the Ingleside Police station under captain fulvey and staff Jennifer Choi and the [speaker not understood], came up with a settlement that is going to do wonders for that particular part of excelsior on the corner of mission and excelsior street. The main problem facility is net stop. Under the settlement they will have to close their doors within 60 days which will be april 1st, and the proprietor will not be able to have any similar businesslike net stop in San Francisco for five years. Also, the settlement attacks the Software Company that provides the software for internet gambling. Theyre called figure 8 and they will not be able to provide any kind of software or work in the state of california for five years. So, its a very significant settlement that we have and i just want to thank the City Attorneys Office for their work, in particular Jennifer Choi. I also want to thank the mill side station and captain folvey and their team for the work building the case against net stop. In particular, i want to thank many members of the community who worked very hard to raise this to an issue that will be taken up by not just my office, of course, but by the station and by the City Attorneys Office. So, Bernal Heights neighborhood center, the excelsior action group, leader in the edia, excelsior District Improvement station, and [speaker not understood] neighborhood association, in particular want to thank gordon mckellan and angie minkon who played a large role. Also my Childrens School is about a block away from there as well and our school played a role also. I helped mobilize a lot of the Media Support we got to shed light on what was happening in the neighborhood. And, so, today im actually introducing a resolution that is in support of legislation thats working at the state level that will close the ability of Online Internet sweep stakes gaming to operate in california. And, so, this resolution will be before us next week for the adoption for our Committee Reference calendar to make sure we can send a message to the state of california that we actually protect our neighborhoods and our business corridors from these predatory type institutionses or companies that are preying on our communities. So, im really excited about the settlement and its actually brought a lot of great deal of relief to the neighborhood ~ and a great deal of pride back to the neighborhood about how great the excelsior district really is. Im also, based on my introduction for last week, im asking the City Attorney to draft language for the children amendment. Im requesting a hearing to discuss the children r city collaborative going on between the nowctionvtion gaytion ~ foundation, and the Mayors Office, about their progress for reauthorizing the Childrens Fund and publication and richmond funneled. I want to make sure were working as a team in this city to have a real strong approach ~ to supporting children and families in the years to come. I look forward to working with you, colleague, and looking for your leadership in helping to make this happen. I think its a joint effort that i want to be involved in, but i want to make sure were working, bringing Community Together with our work here, our offices and with the administration and the Foundation Community as well to have a great stake in how we can improve the overall system for children, youth, and families in San Francisco. And in particular, i want to acknowledge the work that many of my colleagues have already done in the children youth and family arena. In particular, eric mar and of course supervisor yee who has been in the field for decades. And i want to acknowledge his expertise and work closely with him as we move forward to making sure we can do reauthorization in a way thats going to be unique and really expand a way to provide children and families as an experience here in San Francisco. And the rest ill submit. Thank you, supervisor avalos. Supervisor campos. Thank you, madam clerk. I want to thank supervisor wiener for doing an in memoriam for stu smith. You know, i got a call yesterday the same way that supervisor wiener and his office got a call from stus friends. It was stus wish before he he died that he could marry his longtime partner david. And i woke up this morning, having talked to to to his friends about being on call to rush to where stu was this morning to marry him. And, of course, to wake up to the news that stu did not make it through the night. Anyway, i think its just a reminder that we cant take things for granted. I know that we were not able to officiate that wedding, but as far as im concerned stu and david have always been a unit and will always be spouses for life. I have a couple of items, and the first item is an item that we have been working on for quite sometime and i want to thank Hillary Ronan of my office for all the work that she has done and i want to thank the number of womens organizations that have been working on this issue with us for the last few months. I am also very grateful to my colleagues who have cosponsored this resolution. Supervisors tackverctiontion, farrell, wiener, mar, avalos, and president chiu. It is a resolution that highlights the importance of women, girls, and transgender Womens Health. We say that we actually had worked to make this resolution a possibility last month. But because of the timing of some of the changes with Affordable Care act, we were not able to do that. And, so, we are mindful that february is a very special month, a month, its black History Month. And in this spirit, we also want to focus on the disparities to Health Access that disproportionately impacts women of color and africanamerican women in particular. Africanamerican residents in San Francisco unfortunately face an alarming difference in health compared to other ethnic groups, including the fact that prenatal death rates among africanamerican residents is a staggering 5 time higher than that of other ethnic groups. And through this resolution we want to highlight the importance of ensuring access to health care for women, girl, and transgender women. And the timing of this is important because the Affordable Care act is about to go into implementation and there is a very clear and approaching deadline of march 31st. And, so, its really important for us to make sure that between now and the time that that deadline comes that we sign up as many women, girls, and transgender women into the Affordable Care act. And its going to take the effort of the entire city family, not only government, but communitybased organizations and all of us as residents of San Francisco to make sure that we do not leave a single woman, a single girl behind. The second thing this resolution does is that it acknowledges the importance of Health Coverage to Womens Health and encourages all women, girls, and transgender women in San Francisco to sign up for the insurance that is provided through cover california for the expanded medical program. And to urge them to please not wait. And if that if youre not eligible for any of those programs, luckily we live in San Francisco and thank you, tom ammiano, we have healthy San Francisco that will cover many of the women, girls, and transgender women who will be left out of the federal program. The third item that this resolution does is it puts San Francisco, and specifically the board of supervisors, on record as supporting the Womens Health protection act of 2013 which will protect a womans right to choose and the ability to determine for themselves when to bear a child and pregnancy. As much as we are proud of the work that we have done in San Francisco, there is a sad fact that there have been a number of laws in other parts of the country 68 laws restricting access to abortion in 2013 alone, and the state of california was actually the only one of the 50 states that actually expanded abortion access, unfortunately, and the remaining 4 states the right to that access was limited. And we also declare this month women, girls, and transgender Womens Health month in San Francisco for the purpose of enrolling as many women as we possibly can in health care. The next item that i have is an item that deals with the construction of a very important project, which is the sutter cpmc Cathedral Hill project. And i know that i in my district have received a number of inquiries about the status of the project and its one of those projects where were very proud of the work that was done at the board of supervisors with the Mayors Office, with the help of lou girardo to get us to a settlement of that, of the differences in that project. And i just am calling for a hearing simply to provide the public, including my constituents a status report on where the project is. And i want to thank supervisor farrell, supervisor mar for their cosponsorship. Now, finally, let me say that im very proud to introduce an ordinance that deals with the very important issue of displacement. Today im introducing legislation that will directly give tenants in the city and county of San Francisco some protections in the unfortunate event that they face eviction under the ellis act. What this resolution does is that consistent with the case law that has recognized the right and the responsibility of jurisdictions to help tenants who are evicted stay in the city, this legislation gives tenants in San Francisco who are evicted under the ellis act the chance to continue to live in our city. The reality is that under the current existing law a tenant can receive no more than 50 to 100 in the event of an ellis act eviction, and the total for a unit for one unit cannot be more than 15,000. Anyone who knows the state of affairs of the rental market in San Francisco knows that 5,000 is simply not enough to allow these tenants to be able to stay in this city. And while it is true that we collectively not only on the board of supervisors, but working with the Mayors Office Mayors Office are working to reform the ellis act in sacramento, and thats an important piece of this strategy. As that work continues, there will still be many san franciscans who will be displaced so we have to do something at the local level to ensure that they dont have to wait for the state to finally tweak the ellis act the right way. In the meantime, we need to make sure that we help these residents stay in San Francisco. As of june 2013, the citywide median rental rate was 3,314. Thats according to zillow. Com. The median home prices in San Francisco has recently topped 1 million, and the average listing price for San Francisco homes for sale on trulia was 1. 6 million for the week ending january 15th. On top of these figures, 42. 9 of san franciscans are rent burdened meaning that they pay 30 or more of their income on rent. And, in fact, in some parts of the city, on the east side of this city, the percentage of their rent burden is even worse. You have 57 of residents in these parts in this part of the city, including the bayview, visitacion valley, that are rent burdened, and 54 of residents in the financial district which include soma, potrero hill, mission, but also meet the rent burden definition. It is urgent that we act today to help evicted tenants to continue to live in our city, and more specifically what this piece of legislation does is that it follows the example of what happens at the federal level when the federal government engages in eminent domain. The analysis of what is paid by the federal government looks at the market, and in this case we believe that consistent with the case law, if the objective is to do whatever we can to mitigate to mitigate displacements and how tenants stay in San Francisco, it makes sense that the calculation of relocation costs be based on an analysis of the market. I am grateful to the Controllers Office for their help, their Technical Support in making sure that we get to the right calculation. I also want to thank the San Francisco apartment association, which even though we have our differences of opinion, have provided input on this legislation. And we look forward to continuing to work with them as the legislation moves forward through committee. And i also want to thank my colleagues, supervisor jane kim, supervisor john avalos, and supervisor eric mar for their cosponsorship of this legislation. The rest i submit. Thank you, supervisor campos. President chiu. Thank you, colleagues. First of all, i want to just take a moment and thank our colleagues who have been working on the big soda measure for all of your very productive work, and particularly in coming together. Supervisor mar, wiener, cohen and avalos. I think it is so important that we come together in our efforts to turn around Childhood Obesity and diabetes and im happy to be a cosponsor of that measure. I have one measure today im introducing in resolution to join to go to call opposing action, violence against women. Next friday val untines day 1 billion rising for justice in our city. As we have done in past years, next friday we will come together in civic center plaza. The organizers this year have teamed up with the Bar Association of San Francisco, rdas office and the department on the status of women to put together the first ever free legal clinic targeting survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault to help those in need. And i do hope you might be able to join next weekationv events and do everything locally and end all forms of violence against women. The rest of my items i will submit. Thank you, mr. President. Supervisor farrell. Supervisor kim. Thank you. I just want to add my cosponsorship and support to supervisor camposs tenant Relocation Assistance payment legislation. Im really excited this is moving forward and i just want to thank supervisor camposs office for working on this legislation. Over the last year our office has been fielding so many calls and hearing from residents, many who grew up here in San Francisco that are fearful of losing their home or have been served eviction notices. But are often most stunned when they see the relocation payment fee that they are offered under our local ordinance. And realizing that its barely enough to move and even find a comparable unit for even a month here in San Francisco. And, so, its great to see that out of many of discussions that have been coming out of the neighborhood tenant convention, most recently the one in the south of market and the tenderloin which we both attended, that this was a theme that often emerged from our tenants, which is landlords have the right to evict us. How can we find a comparable place to live given this is a relocation fee and its so out of touch with what the current rental prices are and the current cost of moving . So, looking forward to the discussion on this. This is just another strategy amongst many in terms of how we look towards stabilizing our residents in our city. Also wanted to chime in with supervisor avalos, really looking forward to the longer and greater discussion with supervisor yee on the reauthorization of the Childrens Fund and pete the Public Education Enrichment Fund which we may have going jointly to the ballot in november. These funds are so poderthv in supporting our Public Schools and after School Programs and prek. It is amazing the city always supported this ~. As we look to expand and to really refine the details on that, looking forward to working with these two supervisors on that reauthorization. And finally, i just wanted to express my condolances to the family and partner for stu smith who is actually a district 6 resident. I actually had not had a chance to meet him until i door knocked on his door in south beach, and that was when i first came in touch with him. Despite the fact that he had spent many years working on behalf of our community, volunteering for so many of our organizationses as a community leader, and as that super volunteer ~ he immediately brought me into his home, talked to me about so many of the important issues around health, hiv, and an aging in place. And i learned so much from him during that time. When i joined the board, got the opportunity to continue to work with him on the issue that he is so passionate about, so sad about his loss, his great loss for our city and community, and again wanted to express my condolances and add my name to his in memoriam and the rest i submit. Thank you, supervisor kim. Supervisor mar asked to be rereferred. Thank you. I just wanted to first say that i left out a few thank yous for the introduction of the unified soda tax measure by six of us on the board of supervisors. I wanted to thank our staff for spending so much time around the clock. Im not only peter from my staff, but jeff from supervisor wieners office who has been so wonderful to work with. Jeremy from supervisor avaloss office that has been working on this for over a year, maybe a year and a half. And yoyo chen from supervisor ma lely a cohens office. But we are fortunate to have such great staff ~ to help with crafting a very tricky measure to hopefully place on the november ballot. I also wanted to say that the advice from the number of nonprofits has been really instrumental not only the shape up s. F. Coalition both supervisor wiener and i recently visited and they had their kickoff last week for their bill board and bus campaign on sugary drinks, but also the department of Public Health staff, university of california San Francisco, ucsf, San Francisco Health Improvement partnership, especially arial vargas who has been a Great Community asset in building broader alliances, especially in lowincome communities. And i also just wanted to say on the National Level besides ucsf the center for science and the public interest, the California Center for Public Health advocacy, Harold Goldstein and others, and Roberta Friedman and kelly from the yale rec center for food policy and obesity have been really great advisors. I also wanted to say on supervisor avaloss introduction to hearing on the Childrens Fund i hope i can be added as a cosponsor as well. And i know that from your work with coleman and margarets efforts over now 23 years ago with the original prop j which i was strongly supported in the Richmond District from 1991 when norman yee led the campaign for the reauthorization, i believe in 2000, right, norman . That its been a communitybased effort. So, my hope is that dcyf, the school district, the Mayors Office really join together with the Grassroots Community coalition thats been working on that. And for the prop h or the public enrichment Public Education Enrichment Fund or piece propses to tom ammiano for his vision on that one ten years ago and that also needs more transparencies as the Community Coalition around schools and children and families organizationses need to be centrally involved. So, im looking forward to that dialogue as well. Thank you, supervisor yee. Supervisor mar. Before we go to supervisor cohen, well go to supervisor yee. Thank you, madam thank you, madam clerk, for allowing me to speak again. I also would like to cosponsor with supervisor avalos the hearing on the childrens [speaker not understood] piece. Like supervisor kim and supervisor mar, we all have been working on these issues for a very long, long time. And for myself, its been decades of working around these issues. And im very passionate about these issues. Theres been several efforts and many discussions around these two initiatives in the last year or so, and if were going to consolidate or start having one point of view, we need to pull the discussions together as soon as possible in a very transparent way. So, im very happy to be able to, if i can, cosponsor with supervisor avalos to do this hearing. At this point, its will be crucial that whatever decisions we make not everybody is going to be fully behind this because its too big of an issue to for us to not have a thorough discussion. The other thing i wanted to mention, ive been notified and also supervisor tang with both of us, we were discussing this earlier that once again another pedestrian was killed today. So, it happens to be actually in district 4 and one block from my district. At some point supervisor tang and i will be asking for a hearing to discuss that intersection. Thank you very much. Thank you, supervisor yee. Supervisor cohen. Thank you very much. First, everyone, i just want to say happy black History Month to you. Its a wonderful time of the year and we get together and we celebrate the art and the culture and the richness of the africanamerican community. I recently read an article in the chronicle that really gave me a heavy heart. It talked about how here in save some time black History Month isnt as celebrated as it should be. So, i just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge that supervisor breed is going to be leading the Board Meeting in a few weeks