Lets step forward open prohibition i was born at night but not last time last night you lift this Port Commission prohibition that leads on attack for the opportunities for students that need it the most we need more teachers in every classroom and less students in the math and science and higher pay for educators and more count opportunities for the students to have a successful opportunities to throw our curriculum jrotc is going fine i think this is shameful to pick jrotc and put jrotc in the light that is under tissue attack additional if we choose the funding for jrotc then i dont know why were not all upset and going up to the representatives and in the u. S. House to the u. S. Senate and demanding the resources we need that we preserve to need for our Jrotc Program it is unfair to try to raid the district coffers and take the resources that will help us address the gaps in this district so ill not support this resolution in its current form. clapping. commissioner murase. Id like to thank everybody for coming out and sharing their perspective but i also want to share information about the make up of the students who participate in jrotc 27 percent latino and 8 percent africanamerican, 2 percent Asian Pacific islanders and a program that doesnt serve just one group but serves a Broad Spectrum of students wench heard a lot of testimony from students about the program and weve heard from strufrl students that found tutor from instructors and find marginalized students that believe in others classes find a home and family well, that program that serves over 8 hundred students one of the recommendations weve horde earlier from the africanamerican Leadership Initiative to hire for africanamerican instructors 7 out of 13 jrotc instructors are africanamerican i believe this program serves the would whole diversity of students and valuable program and deserves to be treated just a justin as any other program serve inflated Diversity Program id like to to ask any colleagues to support this resolution. Commissioner wynns. I want to say thank everyone for coming out and waiting a long time particularly the students that waited for 3 and a half hours to testify four and a half but i so i want to respectfully make a few comments one i really appreciate that the students have thoughtfully brought up the issue we brought up here deserves to be said we, of course, those of us that support this Program Building we should fund the program we fidget for funding in the budgeted kindly this resolution didnt it seeks to put jrotc on the same footing for funded as every other activity of any kind and funded though the we have talked about San Francisco Unified School District we would based on the concerns that our colleagues have should the funding prohibition be lifted through this resolution it is dough full that program will be funded by the current board we should make that clear the majority of colleagues dont want to do central funding i think that relying on this band that was absolutely added to pack it harder for programs and other provisions that resolution will undo theyll theyre all added this is why i have to say with the greatest respect the perspective over time what is done for in Program Makes it clear many people in the unauthorized units or community into that inside and outside of San Francisco Unified School District experience this program has been under attack for years and years and years what we proposed to do this evening with that resolution to fix some of those things to actually in my view right some of the injustice that is perpetrated against the program to thousands and thousands of students for the last 90 years no San Francisco Unified School District so im happy members of the board think we should go to washington and lobby for the funding i invite you all to join me none of you were in washington go except medical and the superintendent and not at the deliberate assembly the lobby agenda so i think we should seriously discuss our responsibility as funding advocates for this program and for all the funding needs that the School District has and all the speakers on both sides referred to know that we have a shame fully underfunded School System if so one the most fundamental of the responsibilities of the elected Board Members to be advocates that do the work of advocating for funding for Public Schools so i the president to last say is this resolution is filed with resolution to previous resolutions that were passed in previous it is evidence how the attacks on this program have been piled on and piled on and piled on for years and years and years and i have the greatest are not for or respect for the instructors that worked and achieved with their students some of the successes that we are referred to here even though their for many years didnt have and still in some schools two schools doesnt have the requisite of teachers and have to struggle and deserve which i know ive said before tremendous respect and credits for this hard work to all of the them to get their degrees and this resolution will still require them to those that come in the future to say a bachelors degree the program didnt require that i know the dedication of the advocates the friends, the supporters but especially instructors and the students of this program deserve our support in any way we can give it i urge we pass this and resolve many of the issues that made it more difficult for this program it survive thank you. clapping. commissioner norton. Thank you so i want to say here we go again seems like just 8 years ago we were just here ive always been a supporter of this program i continue to support it ive paid political cost for that and you know, i support in large part this resolution i gave is a positive recommendations at the Curriculum Committee the program does do well imply many students and the testimony we hear proves that i never supports the restricts that on encompassed before and after prop b and the fact that the program is thriving as everyone said in the district with instructors like calling names who have managed to earn the jrotc credentials shows this program has a deep importance to our students and glad it peefrts i think is it so disingenuous to say listing the fund not to support jrotc a zerosum game our budget when you add money to one pot you have to take it from another there is for the Unlimited Money from the budget so while i think that is an Important Program supportive in the district i cant say i think it is the highest impact strategy we have to address the achievement weve dedicated we should continue to support this program im not sure that we should take on the funding at this point in time because and i think that while the resolution didnt guarantee well be fighting over which program gets what money im certain were to pass it well be arguing about that one year from now so i just want to say i dont think that is helpful commissioners to point fingers about who cares more about fidgeting for funding i think that elvis or every single one of that board and staff has articulated the funding champions we face and until our state and federal government gets their act together and fund the schools that our students deserve and president in in district you know were all im going in support of resolution if there is consensus on the board we need to amend it to take out the fund provision i will be supportive of that provision that is not a decision i came to lightly i have been a strong supporter of this resolution but i think that is the ironics 833 another this up to this point in time. Commissioner stephensons i want to say ive historically both defended and supported this program weve seen through a lot of over the years not a lot of follow through with some of the things weve put ourselves out for the original resolution started off as clarifying the confusing policy it felt like it was meant to reverse the pole in place over the last 8 years and it really felt like the policy started from a place of steaassemblies it felt sneaky that was unfortunate because the impact comes to three hundred and plus thousand dollars that tooth the jrotc outlined which is determined by the number of positions that will need to be adam what Central Office covers and a varieties i have things the other thing i wanted to just share i think kind of came out together was a little bit frustrating was this that whole ideas of same not the same we should be treated equal this particular program is not the same so this instructors required to say a successful jrotc a minimal of one instructor and per school must be hired in all cases failure maybe termination of the program not the same it also not the same didnt require a bachelors degree or a proper credential you can get one we had two one of whom is retiring but the military provided a designated subjected special credential they dont go through the same Credential Program our teachers do it is rigorous that is in addition to the batch letters our resolve they must have a credential that permits the instruction they can get the special credential the military that providing i have a problem i dont think that that jrotc is pe and in fact, many of the young people come up to share and my sister was this is a Leadership Program that teaches our young people amazing skills around leadership and coordination and collaboration but not a pe program and youre basically saying that the 4 hundred minutes that are riders every 10 days can, accomplished this way so again not the same no i dont think were saying that joshing is not worthy its supported many young people youve thrilled in that program you know it is still around weve kept it and supported that but i feel the same thing this a specially special program with conformations and were trying to build an a through g very clear perimeters around what our kids note need to be successful outside this jrotc falls undertook the three but in the the requirements of the other classes taught by a credentialed teacher so beyond the tapping into the Additional Resources we may have or some of the existing resources we have you know including our pe you know we have had so many deep conversations and many, many hours over the last 8 years and in one swoop all undown with that resolution i dont feel comfortable for all the reasons ive state thank you. clapping. commissioner fewer. Thank you president haney so i would like to emphasize that jrotc is not under attack and i know that is uncomfortable i have been under attack calling me at my home threatening me to support jrotc i know how it feels to be in attack it didnt feel good this program is not under attack and want to say that all the resolution that came into play so many of my colleagues are on the board voted yes and with restricts and some say not i did not vote a no voter i want to put that on the record and say that to say that physical its is the same as physical ed is not true a purpose for physical ed an idea that is not taught in a curriculum around that we dont talk about quality we dont talk about empathy and understanding there is a huge inequality in our public School System and some children succeed and some dont and quality means that some students need more to achieve and were in severely funding every dollar is precious its not true youre not getting special funding 60 percent of the funding comes from Central Office were saying were unwillingly to staff two teachers for any program when we dont have two math teachers and not science teachers and the a there g which the jrotc is not jrotc is an elective but not set for eligibility for College Entrance and math and science and history and those types of classes are it is imperative our students pass those classes another thing i speak i can speak freely jrotc students have not looked at any Campaign Literature i feel they even two weeks ago and i dont think that our students should be using this it is unethical and not right if you vote for a program or fund a program it is because you believe in this program and not so i think i can speak freely weve and the district come to an understanding of the budget it is important for a lot of the youth and the youth enjoy it in the program is as fabulous then it will stand on its own and provisions there will be private if you have any questions, well be happy to answer theming i asked at the last meeting for an update and have nodded received that so any private if you have any questions, well be happy to answer themably and did that accounted our the deficit for extra funding who would have that answer i requested it to be heard for this meeting i think from 2012 to relationship i milked private if you have any questions, well be happy to answer theming most schools private with the 200,000 with the jrotc with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 i imagine robust if you have any questions, well be happy to answer theming can we please have an account how much if you have any questions, well be happy to answer theming is going on with this program and quite frankly when we passed a wellness with physical ed it is Super Critical to say that pe is not important it is extremely important and it is extremely important so i think youve heard if from many of my colleagues to say come up and say and Budget Committee rate pe classes i dont think that is right i dont think that is fair so that physical ed instruction and credentials folks in the field and served the students to teach physical ed it is wrong to Budget Committee rate our pe classes and pe teachers that is disrespectful and weve got on overriding quality in this system and embraced it upped our graduation and so that means we need resources for the students to meet the threshold thats a thaerld theyll need to meet for the 21st century not to say youll not get funding this is what the weve agreed as a district but to say we must fund it through the central funds if we in fact, i dont even know how in good conscious after hearing week after week after week ever teachers not about our africanamerican achievement we had sobering data about a month and a half go with the Graduation Rate of English Learners i dont understand that so in closing we want to say thank you for coming out and sharing our experiences i think that you know how i feel about that and i think ive been transparent from the beginning. Thank you all right. So i want to thank everybody that came out and especially for the students for your patience and commitment ill say every time for waiting so late and speaking for everyone that showed up to hear on this issue i was not on the board when the prior conversation about jrotc took place that was the first time that ive been on the board weve considered an issue on jrotc i think for many of the reasons youve heard it is a program that is tyler and done fine not under attack i think youve heard from the board there are perspectives and for me inch learned a lot about the program and met with the students and hear from the instructors and listening to and respect all the views from any fellow commissioners, i think come from a very glad good plays for wanting to the window the best for students one of the things will be addressed by this under the current structure of jrotc operates most of the students if not all students are given pe credit in fact, they get an elective credit and pe credit there independent studies that be happening currently this is i spoke about this at the last Board Meeting im uncomfortable if we have a commitment to fell activity showcase teacher in our schools and suhr under the Curriculum Department that is happening and oversight so ill drawn to the piece of this and support this part of resolution that in fact, the last time the hearing and all the emails ive received for the most part from students thats the piece theyre concerned and month interest and felt addressing the needs im glad well hed that and for the curriculum we have to take that jeer were 30 years if it it can moot the requirement and educational requirement re have a report back to the curriculum Building Department to the or department to the committee and the board continues if the resolution passed to be part of this conversation i thought about this piece of funding and the background around it why it was put in place and the things of the xhoirgz for the reasons youve heard from Vice President walton and commissioner fewer and commissioner mendozamcdonnell and commissioner norton as well i will not support the lifting of the prohibition obtain the funds i think outside the box is a program that is different it is a federal program that has specific requirements that is not similar to commissioner mendozamcdonnell said other programs it is a program that has the support of the sites asia theyre choosing to fund it and the the Central Office the idea there was some sort of clear difference between this all district money we are vvjt a ton of money into this program and program that is as you heard not under attack and has very divided opinion on the board this idea of an conversation on a inaugural basis is to the one good for the students or board and as president of the board i have a responsibility to also consider that ooifrm ill not support that ill make a motion to remove the piece around the restriction of the lifting of the restriction of central funding that the very last sentence of resolution id like to make that motion with respect to the others ill second the motion. I clarify it is just we dont want to not the whole last sentence selfdefense one sentence you want to take out the period after requirement ohio any other mention. Thats the only mention. Okay. Thats okay. Ill second that motion. Many mr. Stevens if youll. Good evening so i anticipate being able to start that has the school year resumes staff is not on vacation but begin in august and back to four to 8 weeks. Im sorry, i was asking the part of resolution is that the policy will authorize the provisions of pe credits in the following criteria have been satisfied when we will know if those pieces are satisfied. Thats the work i was satisfied with assuming the policy passes this evening well begin the work with staff back from vacationed ill anticipate at least probably in august ill take about 4 to 8 weeks and have information back to the board. Commissioner Vice President walton and commissioner fewer. I actually came here with a possible the president to support the other parts of resolution if we took out the resolution but a lot of comments from the audience in terms of the assumption that the program is singular and actually listening to some of the thoughtful flel fulfill and highly intelligent xhmentz from my colleagues im personally not be supporting in amendment there are so many differences with this program it is inequitable very inequitable to think we should put two teaches in a classroom with a nice pool of thriving students and the possibility of one are both of them not credentials or disrespect to our educators and disrespect to all the volleyball issues within our schools and within the city and like president haney pouted our jrotc students real estate get an opportunity to receive jrotc this was village about being deceptive thats unfortunate i cant port this amendment. Thank you president haney so i also cant port this amendment 4 hundred minutes of physical ed every 10 days 40 minutes everyday it is 55 minutes long weve been sued over not giving and opens us up for another lawsuit it cant be done and 45 minutes long to do 50 minutes physical ed and then also i think that pe is and jrotc is jrotc i dont know why we will make an wanted to be treated like every other class and science didnt give math copyrights and history didnt give science credits two separate things and also, if you were to do the amendment i think that the second to the last the next order of business the board has any previous resolution and the rek with conflict with the jrotc both policy or this resolution you would if you really just want to sever the finance part of it youll have to reword that actually to say the board not including the funding otherwise your republicans sending everything ill not be supporting this this is a mechanism for pe credit and this board fought hard again, i didnt vote for that that was doesnt consensus and what is going on now it seems a mechanism for us you to get students to get pe credits in independent study and jrotc it was hard figure out on above grade and a lot thought went into that im not going to support this and also dont on the jrotc course can deliver its curriculum plus 4 hundred minutes every 10 days of specific education that requires the course course as part of overall course must moot the criteria the dynamic the mechanisms of Body Movement aquatics gymnasts and tmj rhythms advance and okay. So but didnt no idea to include outline areas of study i just cant see delivering a stat mandated curriculum were authorized by louie want to warn this board we have been sued for not having adequate pe well open ourselves up for a lawsuit and already been sued i think that is important judgment and puts the district in jeopardy thank you. Commissioner murase. I want to talk about the two instructors in high schools we have 19th street and 58 jrotc students and one instructor well not let that happen in any circumstances it is wrong and address the issue that jrotc instructors are not credentialed there are and on the kreshldz credentials allows the instructors to teach jrotc the instructors are veterans that put their lives on the line they have served our country for years and they you know retired they dont have to do this work is a lot of work they do it for the kids so jrotc instructors are credentialed to teach in our classrooms. Commissioner wynns. I wanted to respond to a couple of things that were said i just to be clear the part of resolution that says rescinds everything that is inconsistent with the resolution if we amend that it will be out of there no, i think consistent and second i want to say that that one of the reasons we did this we did this now, was that there was so much lack of clarity about the authority of Unified School Districts are inconsistent about the laws around and the continued position of the commission on this faster credentials we did a lot of advocacy and finally after years the commission clarified that which is so theres no issue about our the our know ourselves up to possible legal action; is that correct we have the authority to do this and thats been clarified now by the state. We do have the authority to provide credits as the resolution provided the conditions are met. Okay. He just wanted to respond to a couple of those things this is a complex issue and things are difficult for me to understand as well commissioner mendozamcdonnell. I wanted to say my father was a 28 year veteran in the military i have the utmost respect for those two to o who served the country and i take offense tohat commission not using proper policy for our all right. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for your patience as we begin or rules committee of june 9, 2015. Im katie chang and to my right is mar and supervisor cohen should be joining us shortly. And our clerk is evans. We like to thank charles. So at this time then, mr. Clerk, if you have any announcements. Yes, thank you madam change. Silence all cell phones and Electronic Devices and completed speak egg cards and documented to be completed should be submitted. Events will be on the board unless otherwise stated. Item 1, please. Item 1 is hearing to have the Police Department present its standard protocol for reviewing, investigating, and reporting findings of fault in the event of a cyclist or Pedestrian Fatality or serious injury as the result of a traffic collision. One seat, one applicant. Our applicant lury is here. If you can make a presentation, thank you. Thank you, supervisors, mar and tang. Im elnore and im first president of the commission on aging and i represent district two and i was appointed by angelina and by mark pharaoh. My background is in jarrentology. I have a phd and i emphasized my work, Community Based studies transitional care from hospital to home in Mental Health services for seniors and this part of my career where i did research and publish and presentations at the university of california of San Francisco. I started to work very early in four Community Based organizations outside the university. For example i worked as Program Evaluator for live voice Senior Services both in their first grant which was 74 to 76. And then later on a relative Impact Service studies from 84 to 87. And while it unlocked i met hale, executiver director north of market who is my inspiration and mentor in so many ways. I designed the Needs Assessment for planning for elders in the central city which became pcc and for the Community Living campaign which was an organization that i think marie started in the last decade. I later served on the board and as president for both organizations for clc twice. And i also chaired the program and Evaluation Committee there. Rejobbing has been another source of inspiration and information for me for many years. I sat on the board of the San Francisco Public Authority for inhome support services from 95 to 2000. And i have other Community Service such as Suicide Prevention from 91 to 97. Little brothers 90 and 93. And i worked most recently on the Advisory Committee with San Francisco village. I was appointed to the commission on aging in 2015 and it took me quite a while to understand the complex functions of the adviser committee, and all the Program Areas and areas of interests to the department of aging in Adult Services. I would say it took much of that first two yearterm to get up to speed and understand everything. The first thing i worked on was to revise the site visit form. It apart of our duties to visit sites under contract with the department of aging Adult Services and i have visited nutrition site. I reside to reflect more how a Community Member would see it. In 2012, using data from the 20052009 Community Survey and from zip skinny, an online data base that contains data on zip code by people on characters such as libraries, parks, transportation, number of single people, et cetera. I wrote a paper on characteristics of older People Living in district 2 which is supervisor farrels district. It now should be revised. In 2015, chaired the Advisory Council. Our charge was to effect changes in efficiency in our duty and working relationships and of course some things has already changed and bylaws had to be brought uptodate. Im very interested in the dignity fund which i hope will be on the ballot this coming november. I think this set of guide is very important in guaranteeing seniors and people with disabilities a descent ride in our increasingly expensive city. If it does pass, i would like to be a member from Advisory Council to the dignity fund. And id like to continue just to contributing to the Advisory Council, a few active participate and attendance is regular and when appropriate using skills in summarizing research and writing. Im very happy that the department of aging Adult Service will be working with the university of california Geriatric Program because i felt for a long time that closer relationships with the university and the department will benefit the wellbeing of older people in this city using the latest research in designing and delivering services. We do have Close Relationships or das does. We have mental services, parks and rec and the District Attorneys Office for who have experience elder abuse and i would like to see even closer relations with these departments. I feel that the executive director first can keep us well informed in current activities and issues. The services are based on the department of plannings Needs Assessment which seems very thorough. Maybe the Advisory Council could interact more with the department in determines how needs are prioritized because there are so many needs. Im really very happy with the continuing work of the the legislative committee and senior legislature. I think they keep us very well informed of whats happening and it has been important. We have to be on top of that. All these Advisory Council president s i have worked with has good connections with the community and i dont think i mentioned marie job land, but she has been the source of inspiration and information to me for a long time. I think overall the Advisory Council works very well given our time and strength with that. Many workers are still working. Would you like to ask questions. Thank you for your presentation. I was i am mresed i was impressed when i read your application if the youve answered a lot of my questions, but i see supervisor mar is on the rosters. Being on the rules committee, we get briefed about the incredible work that we dont often get the information about. I want to thank you for six years of great work on the council for raising bill hails name, the legendary leaders and talking about aging programs from the village model to the Community Based on lock type models that are ethnic and Community Based as well and for your alkylation for your Academic Work like the coalition firm. As we move into the senior boom population and hopefully a funding stream as you mentioned that the council plays a stronger role in advising the mayor and the board of supervisors in the city. Im supportive of you. Im glad that farrel is appointing a district i hope we can utilize your experience and the and sf village which is a city wide model to look at all neighborhoods that has strong programs. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you very much. Im flattered. Thank you very much. Supervisor cohen and shes now joined us here. Hi are you . Good morning, supervisor mar. Youre apart of the long what did you say . Were not apart of the family. Is there a relation to daniel laurie. Maybe back in the 16 or 15th century, but not closer. Hes not your grandson. He is not. I wish he were. If you could have him as a grandson, hes a great guy. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much for your presentation, and at this time, were going to open up item 1 to Public Comment. If anyone would like to speak on item 1, please line up. Or come up. Thank you mrs. Leery. Good morning, commissioners. The commissions road gets tougher and i wish a lot of lucker and its colder and youre older and its such a crazy game ever since this item began. Through the best you can. Thank you very much. Any other members of the public wish to speak on sing on item 1. Come up. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Committee members, if you have a motion. I move we reappointment leery to seat one on aging Advisory Council. Great. Thank you. Motioned by mar and seconded by cohen. Well take that without objection. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, call item 2. Please. Item 2 is resolution responding to the presiding judge of the superior court on the findings and recommendations contained in the 20142015 civil grand jury report, entitled Unfinished Business a continuity report on the 20112012 report, deja vu all over again, and urging the major to cause the implementation of accepted findings and recommendations through his her Department Heads and through the development of the annual budget. And i would like to appoint elina. I do believe the Port Commissioner willy ald willy adams is here with us today. Good day chairwoman and tang and cohen and mar. Good seeing you again. And youre right, combass tore kounalakis is in washington dc. She has a standing appointment. Since shes been on the commission, hes brought a lot of energy to the commission. Hes very poised. Very intelligent. Her knowledge of realestate and i know especially for chairwoman tang and supervisor cohen, clearly we have gender balance on the Port Commission as you know. It is for women commissioners and inthumb antrum director and im the only male. Its incredible having four intelligent commissioners. We get along well. They talk so much. I never get a chance to speak, but with that being said, i enjoy that. I will say that i wanted to share one thing about the ambassador kounalakis. We have a Navigation Center and its about ready to close. And her and her husband, mario went down to peer 8 to do a walkthrough and i have been down myself. You would think someone of her statute, but shes very regal and very down to earth. She went down there and she understood about the homeless problem. She reached out. She talked to the tenants down there at peer 180 and that was impressive to me and she understood we got money for wars but not for the poor. She understood that. Im here and i rise to support her nomination and i tell you, she has been a jewel. She fits in, and ill say it again, we have the best commission in this city. Dynamic, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Any other members of the public who wish to comment on item 2. Come on up. Good luck with your reappointment on this San Francisco bay. [singing] and we got Public Comment here and heres what i have to say, call in the commissioner ride along through the commission shore, we can change our lives again and be free once more. Ride commissioner ride upon the Port Commission to a world that will be there and well make it better still. Ride commissioner ride. Thank you very much. Any other members of the public who wish to speak on item 2. Seeing none, Public Comment closed. We had a motion from supervisor cohen. Seconded and supervisor mar. Well take that without objection. Congratulations ambassador. Mr. Clerk, call item 3, please. Motion three is a motion confirms mayors appoint of lee hsu to the mu nins pal Transportation Agency board of directors, term ends in march 1, 2019. Mr. Lee for a presentation. Im excited to be here and thank you for your time today and for this opportunity to serve our city. I know this is a big responsibility and i will work hard to be a good listener and thoughtful board member. A little background on me. I like to describe myself as a first generation san franciscan. I was born over seas and my parents brought me over from iowa for a better life. And hard work and luck, i feel blessed to be here before you. I studied economics, law and worked for a judge and i worked in financial and technology and in education as a computer skils teacher at our Public Schools. I especially working in education because i believe a key to a better life he especially people from low income. I think we all believe that. What we have learned is transportation is just as important for upward mobility. There were several Research Studies last year that hit the point home including one from harvard that suggested that commuting time was the single most important factor in escaping poverty. Thats really interesting, right. But it makes sense. We always support education because it prepares you for jobs. But what this research makes clear is getting to those jobs is at least as important. I had doors open for me because of public education. But the reality was my parent his to work their butts off to make it all possible. I remember a time when my mom used to drive an hour to go to her the less took it took to get home the less time they had with their kids or catching their breath for the next workday. Thats what all people deal with whether families are single especially in a city like San Francisco thats denser and more expensive all the time. Education matters and so does transportation. I live in west port with my spouse and kids. We believe in doing public work. We feel lucky to live near muni station. Before that we lived in mission bay and we were in dog patch and those were our favorite plays to eat and go out. We spent time in the city. Were in the richmond regularly for school or after School Events and a lot of great play ground and parks over there. We drive, we take muni, we walk and we bike. Our routine centers around getting his kids to skill and our jobs. Walking and riding muni is my first choice. I have to drive my kid to school. I havent tried to uber or lift yet, but friends say thats neat and i can see why people like them. I like good old fashion taxi cabs. I took one over here now. Although we dont commute by bike, we do family biking as one of our favorite activities. We bike city streets and anywhere we can find a safe route where we want to explore. Were very much multi mobile. Ive taken light rail all the way to san jose and back on many occasions and its not a bad trip. It takes longer than the car but its something i do because its available in case we work on the train. Thats why i care a lot about a good balance that keeps opportunities open for everyone who lives or works in San Francisco. If we enabled faster commute and better access for those who want to take Public Transit, it means fewer cars on the road for those who cant give up their cars. Thats a winwin. Make it better for those who want to take Public Transit and works better for those who have to take cars. Those who have to take cars are kids and seniors. In my area, theres a lot of seniors. The ability to get to where they need is important, thats increasing all the time. So its very important. As far as kids, its an issue because were concerned about keeping families in San Francisco especially middle and income and lower income families. Some of them can take Public Transit, but a lot of time when you have young kids, its hard if you dont have a vehicle to get them around. So for the hard working families and singles who rely on mta to get them to where they need to go for work or jobs or for school or jobs, for seniors and kids and for those who needs cars and especially for those struggling to make ends meet and need Public Transit to improve their situation, i want to help however i can to make things work for them. The education and transportation, those are the two pillars of upward mobility. So ive been working education for a number of years and i keep on doing that and i would like to ask for your support for my nomination so i can get cracking on transportation as well. Thank you very much. I look forward to working with you. Thank you very much for your presentation and im really glad that the Mayors Office has finally made an appointment for this vacancy to replace the late jerry lee who was a wonderful director on the mta board of director and when he left i really felt that there was a gap missing in terms of making sure we have folks who are on that board who represent the views of the outer neighborhoods and making sure theres districts 4 and 10 where its harder for many of us to get around via public transportation, and many of our neighborhoods also have, as you said a lot more seniors, and a lot more families with children and as much as they would like to ride public transportation, do have to rely on driving and so i do appreciate that balance perspective that you bring. But again, one of the things that i think is really important to me and im sure to others as well is how it is that we really serve our outer neighborhoods where theres struggles. And so i dont know if you have any requesteds around how it is we can help some of those outlining districts, and im sure thats something that my colleagues will ask about as well. But thats something that you hear time and time again that it cant just be transient only. Yes, it might be transient first, but it cant be transient only for some families. Yeah, sure. I think that the options are pretty good going into downtown. I think the challenges are when you have to go from north to south or kind of connect on different directions, but it depends on the area. I think we live really close to muni station, so its a lot easier for us, but we still have to rely on our cars. I think thats going to be true. I believe the key is to kind of focus on the most heavily use the transient. We look at the lines used heavily. Bus rapid transient is good in some areas, but i do think we have to be mindful that some people are going to have to use their cars. The way i like to put it, we want to make transient better so cars are less attractive, but we dont want to make cars less attractive. A lot of good ideas are underway in terms of stream lining access from the furthest distance. The very end going in can be a long trip. The gear brt is very important project in speeding up the commute downtown. I think with district 10, the key challenges is with all the Development Going on, you have so many projects where there needs to be a lot of attention paid to those coming into the neighborhood because they have to get downtown for work. Actually i think its more complex. Its not just addressing the new the mtc. But we did go out there, and what i would say is this, i would love for you or anyone on your team to show me what your concerns are. I will go in person and ride trains. I can send the emails from constituents. Theyll show you. I figured id be getting those. Fair enough. One of the things that im already admire about many of the mta commissioner theyre accessible. Not only do you see them out on transportation. Ive ran into ramos many times on bart, but i would like you to i guess when you serve in Public Office whether an appointed position, you have an opportunity to grow. I want to encourage you as personal growth, but theres a professional growth that occurs in the lime light. Whats more indicative of a leader is how you recover from the stumbles and acknowledging mistakes. One of the things i would like to encourage you learning from my mistakes and stumbles is to be approachable and accessible so when constituents have concerns about transportation, the movement of the line or the movement of a bus stop, youre able to receive the emails and process them in the you joked about the change happening in the south eastern kwau drent of San Francisco. But its a real change and you have People Living there for generations thats nervous and unsure about the change. So weve got, for example, general hospital, the rebuild of the hospital, its a beautiful new seismic building, but we did street scaping work on widening the streets and were talking about hours of Public Comment potentially moving the 22 line is it the 22 line, dylan. Or the 33 that runs in front of general hospital. So you mentioned having a lot of seniors in your district. I have a significant enough. Were in the process of doing a Ground Breaking of a new Senior Center and campus, and its really important that we put our self in their position. We want our seniors to be fiercely independent, but its a challenge when on public transportation. Something else to consider when think beginning the southeast is its hilly and public housing, at least two of my units, patrel hill and hunters view. You have bus lines bringing those to the top of the hill and i have a big senior population to needs access to the Doctors Office and the grocery store. This is not so much of a question, but more of an opportunity just to share with you my experiences and some of my legitimate concerns. Mta has been phenomenal at being agreeable and understanding when concerns have come up and id love to see the commission, you, also remain in that same way just outside of your own experience, but being able to emphasize and connect with people. And then also needless to say, you mentioned in your personal story about coming to iowa as a child. Theres many people in the southeast that speaks it goes from san bruno valley into china town and making sure theyre safe on those transportations, that theyre not victims of crimes of opportunity. And or youre working with my office and other organizations and trying to bridge that barrier, that language barrier that exists, culture barrier that exists and you know, understanding some may be afraid and some may not be and so theres a lot of things thats at play here that im just highlighting for you for your attention. Sure. Thank you, i appreciate that. And please know im somebody who always id like to listen. Sometimes that can be a bad thing, but i want to be accessible and always look forward to hearing from you i dont think listening is ever a bad thing. But if you listen and dont respond, thats bad. Sometimes a response could be not exactly what the person is asking you to do, but a response is always needed and i think from my experience when you dont respond, thats where people get frustrated and they become with local government and you see the frustrations that we see almost everyday. But if were able to be responsive and say i disagree, heres my perspective, that goes a long way. Thank you chair. Im done. Supervisor mar. Just in responding to the dialogue between you and supervisor cohen, i appreciate your listening, but also your thoughtfulness in how youre thinking about not just the outlining area, but the south coast. You have expertise of how tricky west portal is and from the transient station to float which is another nightmare being fixed and the 19th avenue work that supervisor tang is working on, thats in the south south connecter thats forgotten not just from the areas in the southwest part of the city, but all the way north toward through the richmond and supervisor farrell district to golden bridge. I think you have a thoughtfulness that i really appreciate. The mta board is going to be more important as we pass transportation funding measures through t30. I think your leadership is great that supervisor cohen is mentioning. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I would like to add onto what supervisor cohen said about switch backs. Its one of those things where we understand for mta, its necessary to do in our system. Just imagining youre getting home from a long day at work and kicked off the lline and you have to wait for the next train or bus to take you home or maybe its not coming within five minutes and you start walking and your whole day is ruined. I think its more so than the inconvenience. Its the fact that a lot of our residents feel the fact this can happen in the outer neighborhood means that mta doesnt care about the residents who live far out and im one of those, so thats something that even though we know is a necessary part of our mta system, but really trying to make sure that is not occurring during rush hour traffic time or travel commute times and making sure the department is following protocols and announcement and theres a train following within five minutes. Thats occurring. Taking this opportunity to share that. Supervisor and i have been trying to address this. Ill work hard on that. Thank you. All right. At this time, then i think theres no further comment from the committee. We will open up item 3 to Public Comment. And first i want to acknowledge that we have darling choi from supervisor nor man yees office and a couple of Public Comment cards. Roger ritter. Carol eto, George Wooding and if anyone else is here for item 3, just please line up right there by that wall. All right. Thank you, all. Thank you supervisor tang and mar and cohen. My name is carlene troy. Legislative aide to yee. On behalf of the supervisor yee, ill be sharing his letter of support for the mayors nomination of lee to the board of directors. Supervisor lee has known from the Neighborhood Association. As a parent, educator, driver and bicyclist, lee understands multiple perspectives and needs of our community. Mta has the power to effect how all of us move and travel throughout our city. Lee will represent a critical and independent Community Voice on this body. Lee is a dedicated, enthusiastic leader who brings those together. He focuses on the fact and facilitates community input. His background on education, financial and technology will serve him well in analyzing and evaluating transportation policies. Hes a strong addition to the mta board and supervisor yee echoes the Neighborhood Association and Community Members support for lees nomination to the mta board and hopes the rules committee will approve his nomination as well. Thank you. Thank you very much for being here on behalf of supervisor yee. Next speaker, please. Thank you. My name is George Wooding. Im a former president of the West Twin Peak Central Council and current president of coalition for San Francisco neighborhood. And i really know lee to i believe hell be a great appointment to the municipal Transportation Agency board of directors. Ive known him for a long time. And found that hes very honorable, very efficient, a very good communicator. And i think you are all driving to that point. I think hes someone who does listen. I think he is someone who does respond. Hes led several school activities. Hes led several neighborhood organizations. All volunteerism and when you have children, it is very hard to volunteer. I ran into him the other day as he was taking his son from cariton school, i believe to catch the 44 tara cita 44 is thats the right number. Norman lee likes him and i like him. I think hell be a credit to the board, and i think hell solve great problems on the west side that have been stalled and i think it also be looking very carefully at the collins area and what can be done and visitation valley. Theres a lot to be done, and i think hes the right guy to do it. Thank you very much. Thanks for being here, mr. Wooding. Next speaker, please. Hello, supervisors, im roger we represent 20 hoas in the neighborhood organizations in western San Francisco. Ive known lee for many years. Hes a great open, sympathetic, descent man who does listen to people. Hes an active member of the council and of our community as we have heard, hes a parent, and he understands the needs of west side residents for transportation, options and alternatives, i and i think hes tuned to the fact that the south western part of San Francisco like the south eastern part of San Francisco, often seems to be left out of some transportation advancements. Supervisor tang was mentioning the switch back problems, supervisor cohen mentioning the same problem and i think lee will work actively not only for our particular neighborhoods, but for the entire city, so our council has unanimously endorsed this nomination and respectfully urges the appointment to the commissioner. Thank you very much. Thank you mr. Ritter. Next speaker. Good afternoon, chair tang and mar and cohen. My name is carol and im speaking as an individual. Thank you for referencing jerry lee who is a close friend of mine. It energizes me to be here to support lee. Jerry was appointed many years ago when i was serving as a commission and we would talk about our roles and responsibilities so i know he took this position very seriously. I think lee will continue that transition of course from what you have heard, but in addition to that, i want to share my experience getting to know lee and his family and why i believe strongly that he would be excellent appointment. As a west side resident for over 35 years ask a board member of west side i share with lee to preserve and enhance the wellbeings of our neighborhood. High quality transportation has been spoken to. Besides his dedication and leadership as president , he help today reorganization the west portal association and work with the merchant groups to enhance the commercial corridor. Lees personality created more Community Engagement in the west portal neighborhoods and Public Schools that has during his initial run for a seat on the San Francisco school board, i know lee worked very hard to understand city wide issues and improve Transportation Needs and pedestrian issues. Lee and his family are frequent users of Transportation Services and could be a voice. From the many constituents who care about transportation improvement and meet high quality levels i ask going your support for lees appointment on the metropolitan Transportation Agency. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is bez and im here today as a parent and a Community Member. Ive lived in San Francisco for the past 22 years. And we were one of the lucky families who won the lottery, so our daughter got into claire ton and she completed kindergarten this past year. Thats where i got to learn lee on a personal and professional level. I volunteer quite a bit for her Daughters School and i served on parent committees and i volunteer in the classroom and that is mainly where i got to know lee very closely. I worked in the computer lab as a parent volunteer where he was teaching, and there, i witnessed firsthand his ability to connect with all people. The kids loved him. It was a very Diverse Group of kids. They trusted him. They loved playing with the software. It was the only it wasnt really homework, but it was the only time my daughter would do anything after school is play with the program that lee taught her. So, his curriculum resonated with the kids and i watched their confidence build through the year. He was patient and calm and the kids loved him. But he connected well with parents. The teachers and staff. And you talk about you mentioned before his ability to listen and sort of respond to issues. I our daughter had one of the toughest teachers at claire ton and shes a kindergarten teacher, but hes tough and strict, and there were times when in the morning, i would talk to lee, how can i help and what should we do and we would set up and the teacher would say i dont like it like that and we want it that way. Lee wasnt attached to his way. He was willing to listen and make accommodations and i saw that in several situations where staff staff yes, we actually have time limits for each speaker. I apologize. If you finish your sentence. That would be great. I highly recommend lee. I think hes a great commuter, and an advocate for the community and he cares about people. He connects about everyone and i have confidence that is for the mta hell do a great job, and i live in amazon next to the thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Im frank noto of the Neighborhood Association, but im here as a parent, grandparent with kids in the schools and a Small Business owner in supervisor cohens district. While lee doesnt live in our neighborhood, we have worked with him on numerous civic issues and we found him [inaudible] of others very thoughtful and a good listener. I think its very important we have someone representing a variety of the demographics that he addresses in the asianamerican community which is not well represented on the board and parents with children that supervisor mar mentioned. I also think his background, you heard from supervisor yee in finance and economics will be helpful on the board. Since i work in the community almost everyday to my office in the southeast corner, you can be assure that i will be all over him on issues that are plenty Horror Stories to the bay view area. And in conclusion, i just want to say i support him and i hope you will too. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Noto. Next speaker, please. Hi, good afternoon. My name is james rice. Im a west portal resident and a parent. And i want to speak in support of lee. But briefly i want to start with a quick story about the challenges that mta faces in our neighborhood particularly around communication and perception. So on my street, mta recently removed a Street Parking spot. There was no alert spot. No notification and my neighbor got a ticket the next day. We talked to yees office to try and resolve it and they said its something mta is dealing with. Everyone through their hands up in the air and they didnt know what to do. I and my neighbors were frustrated. I think lee has tremendous values in opening up those communication values more broadly. I have seen lee. Ive worked with lee on improving neighborhood schools. And ive seen lee in action. Hes a great listener and very accessible and i think hell help sfmta. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good morning, supervisors. Im howard, and im pleased to support my neighbor. He lives two blocks closer to the west portal than i do. I asked him at our neighborhood meeting, why do you want this very hard job and he explained to me he wants it to for his boys. And hes dedicated. Not just today, but in the future. And i see that as being a very refreshing thing for any board and anything that happens in this city. And hes going to hear from people. I cant walk that extra block. I need this parking place in front of my shop today. Everybody is going to talk about today. We have one Environment Organization that says will you want to live in San Francisco tomorrow . Lee is saying, well, someone else want to live in San Francisco tomorrow. And im looking forward to that. He lives closer to me so we can chat about these things in the future. Thats an essential thing for this city not to have people say me, me, me, now, now. Muni is for this city and lee knows that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon supervisors. Im karen and im a resident of west portal. I am a member of the Syrian Committee of greater portal west Neighborhood Association and im a board member of the west portal merchant association. Both organizations strongly and anonymously support lees nomination and election to this office. Excuse me. A few personal notes, he is a man who is dedicated. Hes ethical. Hes thoughtful. And considerate of everyones opinion and considers it, hears it, and acts upon them. So thats just listening is enough. He needs to take action and lee does in a very responsive and respectful way. Hes made a very strong and lasting impression on the west portal neighborhood. And all the West Twin Peak area and hes the source of person that San Francisco needs in his honesty, integrity and ethical values. As i said, the neighbors and the west portal merchants are supportive of his nomination to this position. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, mraesz. Please. My name is ben and im a west portal resident and im here to speak in support of lee in my previous life, i worked at the city and health zero program. And had the chance to interact with quite a few mta directors over the year and lee has all of the characteristics that we seek. As you know, Transportation Planning in San Francisco is difficult. It involves tradeoffs and it involves a lot of groups, but lee understands the basic principals of safety, reliability and how we build that system and to listen, long term thinking. All the traits we want. So i encourage you to support lee for this position. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, supervisor. My name is suzanne von. Im member of the sierra club. I havent been following this appointment process all that well. But i want you want to urge you in your questions to emphasize the need to appoint somebody to this vacancy who understands the vital environmental necessity of moving towards a truly transient city. We need to take seriously the warnings of client its a hard task ahead of us from moving away from a car based city to a city based on walking and public transportation. And i just, on my way here, i was on the 38 rapid, and i got stuck in traffic. Theres no better example of why its important to move brt along. It took me so long to get down here. I want to remind everybody including the nominee, its against the law for operators to its against the law to operating. Its a good reason. Endangering our Senior Citizens and children to preventing the current eviction and displacement prices ruling San Francisco. There should be a study somebody should be commissioning a study from the mta to find out the nexus between the private shuttle and housing crisis. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next singer, please. And speaker. And speaker. Looks like the ayes have it for lee from iowa. Free, only one muni free. And good luck with your appointing, mta board member lee. On the bus, and on the train, glad you came today. Thank you. Next speaker, please. My name is mike young and i live in park measure said. In the short time i have known lee, i found him to be a man of intelligence, integrity and generosity. He shares his knowledge freely and when i ask him a request about issues in the neighborhood, i know ill get an objective and balanced response. One that has been considered and seen from all sides. And he always responds to me within 24 hours. I think lee would be an addition to the board and to the mta board of directors and a citizen of San Francisco. Hes the kind of representative i would want on the board. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. At this time, any other members who wish to speak on item 3, come forward. Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Colleagues. Supervisor mar. I did want to respond to a couple of things mentioned about the leadership of mr. Lee. I think the point made by somebody about supervisor yees Office Effort to respond to Community Concerns about the loss of a parking space on west portal, its a challenge for us as supervisors because we have no authority over those issues and we have to go through the mta board or staff for those issues, but i know supervisor yee worked very hard and his staff to respond, but i think as we appoint mta commissioners, were looking at people that support strong Community Engagement like lee does and i know when he met with angelina from my staff, that was a key theme of ensuring that neighborhoods, Merchant Associates are listened to and thats a key role of the mta Board Members, but he has the big picture by understanding by maintaining the amount of parking spaces, sometimes has a negative impact on our transient first and issues first. So i like that lee has a Bigger Picture of San Francisco not as an island, but a bigger region we have to improve transient. I wanted to say to have howard from the sierra club and others support him in addition to neighborhood groups and others is significant. He can listen and be thoughtful about many different perspectives. To vaughns point, sue and i participated in a district 1 grouping of transient and sue missed the meeting where we discussed lees appointment. Im supporting a number of the cac members and transient leaders. I wanted to thank everyone for the great comments about him and im looking forward to working closely with you as well. Thank you, supervisor mar. I concur with statements made here. Those who knows lee in a professional capacity. Im glad that theres finally someone to be filling up that vacancy on the mta board of directors. At this time, do we have a motion . Ill move we appoint lee to the municipal transportation board of directors. Second. Seconded by supervisor cohen. Well take that without objection. Congratulations. All right. If we can call item 4, now item 4 is a hearing to consider appointing two members, terms ending in the april 27, 2018 to the sunshine ordinance that issing force. Two seats and two applicants and they require a waiver. Speaker thank you. We have victoria and eric for these two seats. If youre here, if you can come up and make a presentation. Im one of the journalist nominees for the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task force. Im thrilled to be here today. Ive always had a firm belief in Public Service and i look for an opportunity to serve my Broader Community particularly on commitments dealing with those that the task force deals with. They come close to my professional interest. It has been apart of my professional interest since i became a journalist after college. I used the new york city freedom of information law to obtain documents about new york City Government. Afterwards i attended hard ward lawsuit and clerk for the United States Second Circuit for appeals where i helped propose briefs for my judge rosemary about the federal freedom of information act. After my clerkship, i worked at the New York Times company where once again i was a First Amendment fellow and worked on numerous information cases both on the federal, state, and city level across the country. I moved to the San Francisco region and i worked on these matters. I worked for the press foundation on the pro bono working on the freedom of information reform. And so im very interested and engaged on the subject matter and i look forward to the opportunity to work on it further on the task force. Thank you very much. Questions or comments. How do you pronounce your last nath. Name. Baranski. Mr. Eldon. My name is eric eldon and im a returning member to the task force. I was nominated as a replacement candidate last summer and began serving in september. I have been nominated to the seat 2 journalist position for the society of professional journalist. A little bit about myself, i am the cofounder and editor and chief of foot line which is a publication that covers an increasing number of neighborhoods around San Francisco. I cover everything from civic news, things like bike lanes and parking, fires, crimes, et cetera, neighbor associations. Thank you for covering bay view. Thank you. Were happy to be there. And we cover local businesses. We cover local arts and culture and i think that goes well with my task force because im familiar with the groups and people who are coming for the task force looking for information and it has helped me do a better job on hood line. What i hope to bring to the task force and i admit to still getting my im still getting my head around the nuts and bolts of how it has all works and how it works with the city is to help the Task Force Work with the rest of the city to automate the data and information requests that are coming across regularly. Now, some of the requests that well get complaints around is for thousands of lines of information, about bus routes or meeting agendas or all sorts of information. And a lot of that seems to be in a parallel tract to whats happening in other parts of this city with data sf and other data, open data projects that the city is working on. What im heaping to what im hoping to see happen is work with city agencies so they can easily in an automated manner is answering questions without taking up time in the city, our time and their time working through the rather complex systems together right now. So, thats the basics of what im doing. Im happy to answer any further questions. Im glad to hear about what youre working on. I have made no progress yet. At least youre trying. I want to acknowledge that hood line has been just a really wonderful resource, i think for our communities and the day when you can cover all of our districts, that would be wonderful. It has been very thorough coverage and you know, we havent seen that kind of reporting coverings for example, the outer sunset for i dont know how long. Maybe never. Any other questions. Your Technology Industry with sunshine is of interest to me because theres all kinds of new apps and messaging things and im wondering if you can talk about sunshine and the new technology that allows much more hiding of communications right now. Im sorry its a philosophical question. Im not expert on this. There are people who are. I think you have really great people, joy and jay and data officer of chief Technology Office for the city. They are very strong. What i think is happening on one hand, the sunshine ordinance when it was first introduced was the software was not in the same place it is now, and but it really addresses the sort of demand that people have to understand the details of how governments work and to get more transparency. Its really a matter of i think a lot of city it systems and the whole method of procurement and licensing is typically every organization has that problem whether or not theyre a government or tech company or anything else. So i think on the one hand what you have happening is sitdys realize the right thing to the public thats what the sunshine ordinance was about. Theres an increasing understanding to the public, like, hey, i can get this information and analyze it and i can learn from it. You see that like hood for america and you see independent thats Software Developers and those who have learned the skills on their own experimenting with Public Information. Its early days for all of this, but i believe the future of local news and the future of local government will be very much about automating and presenting much of what is hidden for technology reasons right now. And i think thats just going to be were heading towards a world where theyll be transparency and i think it will help trust to be built. There arent that many apps you can use right now that i think is impressive. Thank you for your service on the task force. No other questions or comments. Were going to open up item 4 to Public Comment. If you have a Public Comment, please come forward. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is jeffrey king, and im here on behalf of the journalist Northern California chapter to express my support of victor year and the renomination of eric to the Sunshine Task force. I also recognize my colleague on the spj north cal Information Committee, thomas peel who speaks in support of these well qualified candidates. Spj is enthusiastic about both individuals. Were confident that victoria and eric will serve the task force faithfully. Vicky comes before this committee as eric following a careful vetting process. Victoria has worked with the New York Times and the she earned her journalism degree. Victorias commitment to transparency is inherent to who she is and shes putting it to practice. Eric is a journalist member of the task force served since september of 2015. As editor and chief of the pioneering hyper local journalist hood line and hes familiar with the diverse neighborhoods. Many neighborhoods in the mist of profound change as we all know and it prevents on the Sunshine Ordinance Task force. Where he adjudicate public complaints, fairly and intelligently and with a vital context. Were pleased to nominee eric and victoria will serve the people well. I urge this council to send these candidates to the Sunshine Task force. Thank you very much. Next speaker. We had a speaker card, thomas peel. Thank you supervisor. Good afternoon, folks. I chair the free Information Committee of our local sp chapter and i just wanted to talk briefly about our nominating process which you know is in the ordinance itself for seats one and two. When a seat is open as the attorney seat was when their ramos stepped down, we offer notice of that broadly to the journalism and legal community. We had another very qualified candidate and frankly they were both interviewed for an hour each and vicky is an outstanding choice. Her First Amendment background is stellar. Her Legal Education is about reproach. We did not ask journalism to come forward for eldon seat because were pleased with his reputation on the task force. He has very quickly risen to be a leader there. He is chairing a committee. He is an advocate for change. We all know that the task force needs improvements in the way it does its business, frankly, meetings, backlogs, and were bringing you two highly qualified professionals who will work toward modernization, change, and efficiency. I ask that you please passion their nominations onto the full board. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other members who wish to speak on item 4. Come forward. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Colleagues, do you have a motion. I have a question question. I would like to bring their eldon back up. Eric, youre currently serving on the Sunshine Task force . How long . I think i was confirmed in august and my first meeting in september. Of . Last year. A few months. So so youre new to the task force which is fine. What are your thoughts around the task force. Thats one of the things i learned about the reputation like journalism it self, i think dealing with Public Information requests and figuring out the right answers is a messy and a messy process, but vital for democracy and theres going to be tension between a body like this and various other parts of the City Government in the say way theres going to be tension between journalist and the people we write about. But in order for everyone to Work Together and for us to function as a city and as a society, we have to deal with that. And i look at the task force and i look at the issues that have come up, calendars, agendas, minutes, things like that. And i think you know, an example, you may disagree with me, but i thought the work of michael patrellas and he criticizes us quite often. He does that to other people in the media and he does that to many of you here and to the task force. He brings a large number of requests, but the work hes done on calendars, i think, has really helped a lot of people in this city get information to the public that can built trust about how theyre spending their time, who theyre meeting with and those kinds of things. I can understand. I wouldnt personally wouldnt want to share my calendar with anyone, but thats an example of you might not like petrellas, but the way he operates, but its good about the sort of request that can lead to improvements to everyone that we can all benefit from. Its messy, but fun. We work in politics, we know a little thing about mess. I get that. My concerns are really my question isnt about personality, right, although its interesting that personalities can seep into the type of work thats being done. Certainly theres a way to request a calendar without being kond sending and overall over [bleep]. Do you agree . Certainly. Theres value in the Sunshine Task force. The reasons it was created. It fills an important function, an oversight and transparency. Whats happening is that personality is muddying the water a little bit to where its becoming unprofessional and i believe overall dysfunctional. How do you see yourself, and if you disagree, maybe you dont see it as dysfunctional. We probably have different views on that, but how do you see yourself continuing service on the Sunshine Task force, but bringing a since of decor um and respect, a member any member can come to the Sunshine Task force and spend hours waiting just to be heard. I have had personal experience, colleagues have had personal experience where theyve had childcare challenges. They spent hours waiting and need to pick up their children and there was no flexibility. Youre on this body, i would hope to empower you to feel as though you could raise your voice and began to assert yourself in a way that can be yielding positive discourse in conversation so we can get to the task force issues. I mean, in terms of the time that is spent on the task force and the time that it takes, for us, for the people bringing complaints, for the members of the city and responding to them, i think Everyone Wants it to be more efficient. What im hoping to do more specifically on that front is get the help the support of the task force, develop policy ideas there that we can work with the supervisors, the board, work with other city agencies to say, okay, heres the main kind of complaints that are coming up very frequently. What if we can solve this another way and have a website where calendars are published every month so theres no responding that needs to be done. Its all there. I think initially there needs to be more analysis of what are the main types of complaints and if theres low hanging fruit that can be developed for to save everyone time. And i think longer term, i dont know if theres room for another committee or resources for anything else, but i think its going to take a concerted effort by the task force, perhaps the board and for the various Technology Offices around this city to really try to get the information requests more stream lined. And decor i thought you were done. The decorum side, i try to connect myself that way. I dont have the Historical Context to know what things used to be like before last summer. So i cant speak to whether or not it was a more streamline than functional or polite body. I assume it was, but im working in that direction and ill again encouraging other people. In the last couple of months youve been on, whats your example of inefficient see on the body . Theres a lot of Different Levels to it. The easily solvable stuff, most easily solvable i wouldnt say easy, is someone will have an inform request thats large and city agencies will not be sure how to respond and theyll have different ideas of what is correct. And in some cases, the task force will follow different guidelines than what the City Attorney is selling city agencies which is an ongoing thing were trying to resolve. In many cases, theres human errors in putting together the larger requests that are problems that turn into complaints. If you can figure out some solutions to those sort of just like process problems, it will free up more time to get to the backlog and to get everyone through more quickly. In terms of any changes to parliament procedures, things the way thats conducted, i dont claim to know enough about that area to have any real advice, unfortunately. I mean, im not used to frankly sitting in these sort of committees in a meeting that last more than an hour for me is unusual. But you know, i think thats theres an effort right now to amend the ordinance that some of the people here today are working on are you working on that effort . I am not working on that directly. Im supporting it. I believe the changes are working on have well thought out and should be implemented. I dont feel im informed enough to say much right now. I appreciate your perspective. At this time, do we have further questions or comments or do we have a motion. I would like to add a motion that we appoint victoria barneski. Victoria to seat 1 on the Sunshine Task force. And id like to make a motion also to support eric eldon for seat 2. With residency waiver. Thank you very much. Congratulations. And a waiver for both. Congratulations. All right. Item 5, please. Sorry, were adjoined by supervisor avalos. Item 5 is a Charter Amendment to amend the charter of the city and county of San Francisco to require the department of elections to hold a special election when there is a vacancy in the office of member of the board of supervisors, unless a regularly schedule election be held within 180 days of the vacancy and provide that the mayor shall appoint an interim supervisor to filet supervisor avalos. Thank you very much. Chair chang and thank you for scheduling this Charter Amendment. This is an amendment that has been before us in past committees and been at the full board as well. This is a new permutation of it addressing vacancies on the board of supervisors only and setting a time limit for vacancies in all offices on the in City Government in San Francisco. Theres one premise that overrides this Charter Amendment and that is we want to elect our elected officials and elect them from a level Playing Field where no one has the power of income want see by merely being appointed by the mayor of San Francisco. In 2013, lafco conducted a study about how jurisdictions fill vacancies in elected offices and when the striking results was how unique San Franciscos appointment is where and theres no public process of how the mayor makes the appointments and theres no time restraints and she was not appointed to be an assessor until february of 2013. Theres no examples of this lab of filling vacancy. The colorado appointees make in the District Attorney office. The mayor of philadelphia makes appointments to fill appointments on this Charter Amendment will bring us in line with the processes for filling vacancies in other state and federal legislative bodies. I said this is about electing elected officials from a levelling Playing Field, so really this measure is really about promoting democracy. It brings us in line as i said with other state and federal government and how they and how they handle vacancies. Also strengthens our separation of powers. And reduces to actually expand to a much greater body of people, the voters, of the work of electing and not simply selecting who will represent them in office. And it limits incumbent see for those who win elections. This Charter Amendment will strengthen separations of powers. We learned about checks and balances, the separation between the executive branch, and the legislative branch, but that separation of powers breaks down when theyre in San Francisco when theres a vacancy on the board of supervisors. When theres a vacancy on the board, the mayor appoints a new member of our legislative branch. This Charter Amendment proposes as a solution to this hole in our powers, well let the voters elect our elected officials. The lack of checks and balances can create the temptation for unethical deal making. That happens when theres a small select group of people who are political insiders with the mayor. Who will determine who gets elected verses the actual voters of this city. The board of supervisors term limits create an incentive for supervisors to look for new jobs before this term expired. We have had a number of vacancies happen when people move to San Francisco, to a Public Office in San Francisco, and certainly we have that coming before us, this next year when one of two supervisors will be going to sacramento. So really we want to have a measure that will restore the publics faith in our City Government and do ensure voters are given the ability to choose their supervisors and not have their local supervisors selected for them by one person a vacancy is not an opportunity to give an incumbent an advantage, but where voters can determine who will represent them from a more even Playing Field of candidates. The way this proposal is going to work is that the mayor would have 28 days to appoint an interim supervisor who would not be eligible to run and subsequent runon election. The election would be scheduled create a special election for the determination of who will be the supervisor with incumbentcy. That run off would happen between 126 and 140 days in the future of that after that vacancy unless it could be consolidated with another election in 180 days or consolidated with election with more than 180 days if the mayor and the board approves board of elections. We want to have flexibility when these elections will occur and if theres we can consolidate if we need to. If theres just a special election for supervisor seat, were not going to be the director of elections would not be able to add any other ballot measures on the election. It would be about the election of the supervisor. I do have an amendment of the whole, so today will not be the day for a final vote on this measure and thats to create the technical amendment and ill pass these out to members of the committee. Its a technical amendment. Thank you. Currently, the vacancy election could be consolidated with another regular election, but not another special election that is also scheduled or another special election scheduled after the vacancy election is called. If we didnt change this language that im going to provide, we wouldnt be able to schedule a special election even if theres another special election happening. This amendment will allow the special election to be consolidated and the language is here. Do i need to read it into the record so i can submit that. Were ensuring if theres any special election that the special election for the supervisor and the supervisor district will be consolidated with that special election in the future. Okay. And i have one other amendment and that is on i did talk with deputy City Attorney john givener and thats on page 1, line 22. I believe thats where were going to add the mayor shall appoint to fill the vacancy within 28 days. That 28 day limit will apply to all vacancies and the mayor making an appointment for all vacancies in Elective Office in San Francisco. And that might trigger a change in the title, and if mr. Givener can explain how that would get done, make sure that we can have these all done today, so we can continue this to the next rules Committee Meeting. Sure, deputy City Attorney, john givener. Actually i dont have the final version in front of me, but basically well change the short title and long title to reflect that the Charter Amendment now applies to 28day window for appointment to all elected vacancy other than a vacancy in the office of the mayor. The other amendment that supervisor avalos mentioned regarding consolidation with a special election doesnt require a change in the title. So after this meeting, the Committee Adopts its amendments and well submit the final version to the clerk with the correct title. Great, thank you. Thank you, supervisor mar. I wanted to thank supervisor avalos for bringing this forward after a lot of thoughtfulness with the report from 2014 and analysis, and i wanted to thank aileen. We were at her memorial. Aileen from friends of ethics, championed so many different efforts from social justice to hiv and aids, but also cleaning up government and Good Government changes like this. I wanted to also say that the last coreport as supervisor avalos mentioned that San Francisco is an audit and theres only identified by the report. Although they werent able to track down the other charter cities in the state, but even the couple of examples when an individual appoints for vacancies are strange, its colorados governor and the university of colorado and board of regions also the city of philadelphia, but it only impacts a city commissioner who is appointed by the mayor, so San Francisco is really a rarity and this would put us more in line with Good Government, better checks and balances as supervisor avalos mentioned and its good for democracy in our city. I wanted to be added as a coresponser, this takes away that incumbent advantage thats clear when we look at the Central Committee races to many other efforts and then how it has been abused by our city in the past where someone resigns and then its used to really give that leg up and a huge advantage to people, it really has been an abusive process thats against democracy. This helps set us like other jurisdiction so we have Good Government and democracy. I support the amendment. Thank you very much. I wasnt going to say much because i think ive said many comments about this. I will just say that, again, to repeat myself, i do actually support putting on a time cap for when that the mayor must make a decision. I think thats a good thing. Not putting people in limbo or informations in limbo and making sure that there is someone to fill that spot and there isnt that what i guess people would call bathroom dealing going on. I do support that. But ill stand by and say based on my previous comment, the last comment there wasnt a trend as to one type of system that any jurisdiction used to fill vacancy, and so i dont think that report was very conclusive, that what is proposed before us today is the best way to go. Secondly, as ive said before, our system right now in terms of filling vacancies is not perfect. I think it does work. We have seen that the mayor, mayor ed lee has a 50 success rate with his appointees actually being able to succeed in the elections that they go through which makes for appointments and two of them have continued in their roles. So again, that shows that even with the potential power of incumbent sees that these appointees could fail at elections. So again, im not going to repeat too much of what i said in the past. This proposal sounds good on paper, but in reality, i think that putting someone in an interim role who is not held accountable to constituents because theyre not allowed to continue in that position and run in a subsequent election, but who will be able to take votes at the board of supervisors, i think thats dangerous. Not to mention the difficulty in finding someone to fill in a role that might be three months or six months or so. So in any case, i still hold my same position as i did before, but ill be okay with supporting the amendments made today, and well look forward to our future discussions on this. So do we at this time i think we had a motion to accept amendments is that correct . All right. Well take the amendments without objection or did we have an issue . Im sorry. We did not take Public Comment on the amendments or any of that. We have to take Public Comment before we make the amendment. I dont think you took Public Comment on the item at all. No, we didnt. I have one speaker card, but if anyone else is here for item 5, lets have them come up. I have bruce bowen who is here. Thank you, good afternoon. My name is bruce bowen. I live in district 8 but i grew up in the richmond district. Im a member of the Dolores Heights club. Im speaking on my behalf. I had a number of comments on the proposed my comments were expressed by mayor avalos elegantly. This is a great process and it creates an amendment thats fair and more open and more democratic and its common sense and i respectfully request its approved by the committee and the board. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hi, chair, karen here on my own behalf unless the county is a former member of the friends of ethics council. They did send a great letter this morning, so hopefully you can see it before the vote. They send it a little late. I just wanted to say im glad thank you supervisor mar for bringing up aileen wouldnt cry. I do think this measure all thoel as you pointed out, the last report didnt say this is the the perfect way to do it. Its an improvement. It doesnt seem fair that one person would get to decide who represents an entire supervisor district. So to me thats the main reason to support this. And that choosing one person making that decision carries out. Thats the power of incumbent see even if its a short of time. I would think that would work for me. I think that person has to have time to prove themselves. They seem like they know what theyre doing. It does have an effect. I like the would not be eligible to run. I urge you to support it and thank you for listening. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, supervisors. Im sue vaun and im asking you to support this proposal. Its called for special lucks no other elections held within 100 days of the notice of the vacancy and as continue excellent job. I wish we had a system in place by the late 1990s when mayor willie brown was appointing people to the board of supervisors on an ongoing basis. This proposal returns the power of the appointment quote on quote directly to the people. It was perceived accesses of willie broub that made voters return to district elections and this is going to finish this process. Supervisor tang, you started your appointment but there are two work arounds to this and one is anyone who wishes to run in a special election or a regularly scheduled one within 180 days can decline the appointment. Or two, anyone who wishes to serve as a member of the board of supervisors can accept the appointment and run in some election after the special election or the special or the one within 180 days, so it doesnt end at somebodys political career, just postpones it. So i urge you to support this. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other members of the public who wish to speak on item 5. All right. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And just for clarification given something pointed out in Public Comment, im not concerned about ending anyones political careers. Its wanting to make sure that whoever is in the interim role is held accountable because theyre taking votes, they are supposed to be representing constituent during that time. Okay. So at this moment, we had a motion to adopt the amendments and we had a second from supervisor cohen, so well take that without objection. And if you have a motion to continue this item to the next rules committee or it might be a special, well continue it until the next committees ruling. When the next scheduled rules Committee Meeting . Two weeks from now. We might have to have a special meetings given the number of charter ballots measures we have. Well continue it to the next meeting. June 23rd. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you and do we have any other eye items before us today . No other items, chair. Thank you. 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