order welcome to the march 23, 2023 regular meeting of public safety and neighborhood service committee i'm supervisor engardio acting chair of the committee. to my right is supervisor dorse and he to my left is supervisor safai who is here as a subconstituted for chair stefani the clerk is john carol i would like to thank jason at sfgovtv for staff thanksgiving meeting. >> thank you the board of supervisors and committees have hybrid meetings and providing remote access and public comment via telephone. equal access is essential and take public comment today first from people in person. then we will hear from those on the phone line. for those watching cable channel 26, 28, 78 or 99, or watching through sfgov.org the call in number is scrolling on the screen now. that phone number is 415-655-0001. you will hear a prompt to enter the meeting id for today. it is access code: 2497 672 9580 ##. after you entered the meeting id press pound twice and you will be connect. you will heart discussions but line will be muted in listening mode only. when your item come up those in person here in the board chamber room 250 are invited to speak on the west wall of the room. we will hear from each speakers in person and then hear from folks connected throughout phone line. if you are on the phone and you wish to speak indicate your desire to peek by pressing star 3 that will add you to the speaker line. if you are on your phone turn down your television and all listening devices in order tos upon there are no issues of feedback throughout microphones. you may submit public comment in writing e mail meet neighborhood service committee clerk, john. carroll @sfgov.org or send written comments u.s. post to city hall 1 dr. carlton b. goodlett place room 244. if you submit in writingil forward it to the supervisors and include it as the official file when you are commenting. of course, all of this contact information here can be consulted on the front page of any committee agenda in case we have gone over it too quickly. items today are expected to, pore on the board of supervisors agenda of april 4 of 23 unless otherwise stated. >> i like to excuse supervisor stefani. is there a second? mr. clerk. call the roll >> on a motion to excuse offered by vice chair engardio member dorse. >> aye. >> member sa say. >> aye >> vice chair engardio. >> aye. there is no opposition. call the first item. >> agenda item 1 is a hear tog consider the premise po premise transfer off sale beer and wine liquor to main stay markets to do business as main stay markets 665, 22nd street for necessity of the city and county. welcome. members main stay market applied for twiep 20 license to sell zero letters of protest or support. a low crime area in census trok 226 a high saturation area. stlm no opposition. and alcohol recommends approval with conditions that actively monitor under the cree effort to prevent lightering of importance adjacent to the premise. and that entertainment provide not audible in residents or consideration point. mr. clerk are there represents of the applicant present? thank you, mr. vice chair we have rebecca white here to represent the applicant for item one connected remotely. is that correct? can we hear from you. >> please. begin. hi. can you hear us. >> we can, please, begin. >> excellent. thank you, this is rebecca white from henmachine and carmichael representing the applicant main stay markets. i have got with me the upon owner kerry workman. if any questions come up. but this is an application for type 20 beer and wine licenseful this it is a grocery store. serving the community. and upon the goal here is to have beer and wine to be able to provide one stop shopping for the customers in the communities of the dog patch. before we go to publicity comment does anyone have further questions? open up public comment. >> mr. clerk. mr. clerk. >> thank you mr. vice chair. let's see, is there anyone board chamber room 250 who wishes to comment on item one if so lineup on the west wall of this room. seeing none. turn our attention to folks on the meeting remote. if you wish to comment on any agenda items today, call 415-655-0001, access code: 2497 672 9580 ##. then star 3 to enter the queue it speak. giving remote callers to indicate. i'm not seeing we have callers in the queue. >> okay. last call. anyone interested in testifying before public comment is closed? public comment is closed. any comments or questions for my colleagues? >> i would like to move that the clerk prepare resolution making a determination the issue ajs of a type 20 off sale beer and wine liquor license will serve the public convenience or necessity. >> motion offered by the vice chair that we appropriate a resolution making that recommendation on that motion member dorsey? >> aye. >> member safai. >> aye. >> vice chair engardio. >> aye. >> mr. vice chair, there is no opposition. >> thank you, the motion passes. is there a motion to sends this resolution to the full board with positive recommendation? on a motion to recommend the resolution to the board of supervisors member dorsey? >> aye. >> member safai. >> aye >> engardio. >> aye >> there is no opposition once again. thank you mr. clerk. call the next item. >> item 2 is -- hear to consider the issuance of type 90 on sale general music venue liquor license to the water slide brick and mortar music hall on 7010-12 mission serve the public convenience of the city and county yoochl welcome back officer. >> thank you. >> the water side llc operating brick approximate mortar a type 90 license if approved they will operate general music venue have a letter of protest. zero in support of the they near plot for04 a high crime area in census track 20101 a low saturation. mission station has no opposition and alcohol unit recommends approval with conscience. one that petitioners monitor the area under the control and effort to prevent loitering o of importance adjacent. 2, entertainment provide shall not be audible in near by residents in consideration point and 3, between hours of 1 p.m. and 2 a.m. or when the premise providing entertainment petitioner provide a uniformed security guard and maintain order and prevent activity intrefr with the quiet enjoyment of property by residents or community. the license uniform guard must be licensed by the state of california department of consumer affairs. >> mr. clerk, there are represents of the applicant present? >> yes, i believe we have michael oshg connor and bari smith here available for comments. >> hello i'm michael o connor co-owner of brick and mortar music hall. we have been there 12 years and we are except the conscience by the police department. the space was in previous decades several revolving businesses. when i went in in 2011 people were this will never make temperature everyone leaves here. we lasted has not been easy but it is you know we are still there. so. >> okay. do you have -- go ahead. thank you. i wanted this is not in district 6 begin is across the street from district 6 i never want to miss an opportunity to put a plug in for importance of night life. and entertainment venues and brick and mortar is down the street and a well regarded establishment in the neighborhood and i'm routing for small businesses but night life and entertainment. i will be supporting this. >> thank you. >> supervisor safai. >> thank you, mr. chair come mr. o 'connor for out this . has been a rough few years you referenced 2011 but the last couple the worse for anyone with the mandatory stay at home orders and starts and stops -- in terms of the ability to go out and have entertainment and have people in close prong imity. i have known this accomplice for 25 years and i don't think it has been more successful over last decade we appreciate t. i notice you have a parklet in front of yours does this help the business? we have a bill this we will wave the fees for the initial license fees and raised the gross receipts from 2 million to 2-1/2 million so you will get a further reduction on the fees. just want to give you a moment to talk and see if it helps. any opportunity we can talk to businesses about parklets we are trying to get this feedback. joy think the plet helps. it also with people wanting to get outside and get air onave e spol a block like that where you are on such a business intersection not just the freeway but mission streetcars go fast to get to the freeway on ramp. so it gives a baptist an island of calmness for and safety, i think in that and helps my neighbor's business next door which barrie coowns and yea, it is great. joy think in certain case, it the parklets are great and work. other case can be harder. >> but i think anything helps support small businesses we should condition to do that. i didn't think we didn't think we would be able to navigate and keep it due to debt and when have you during covid. but i still thank you is a miracle we are still there approximate we are superior optimistic about this next year and i think that once this rain season -- slows down and get to see sun i think the city will be in for a big come back. >> great. >> then and there we are waiving the fee completely. if you put in your application the legislation is moving through. i think my colleagues are supportive of that idea. and -- so anyway. thank you for what you are doing i'm happy. >> thank you. support this. >> supervisor safai >> mr. clerk. open public comment. why do we have gathered in the chamber room 250 who wants to provide comment on item 2. if so lineup on the west wall of the room. seeing none, turn or attention to the meeting remote f. you wish to speak on item 2 and you are connected to the meeting remote dial star 3 to indicate a desire to speak. and mr. vice chair no one is indicating a desire to speak on agenda 2. >> last call. public comment is closed. any final comments from my colleagues in >> like to move the clerk appropriate a resolution making a determination the person to person prem pits to premesis transfer of type 90 venue liquor left lanes will serve the convenience and necessity. motion offers by vice chair engardio supporting on that motion member dorsey. >> aye. >> member safai. >> aye. >> vice chair engardio. >> aye. >> there is no opposition. >> motion passed is there a motion to stind to the full board with positive recommendation? >> motion by member dorse tow recommend the resolution to the board of supervisors on this motion member dorsey. >> aye. >> member safai. >> aye >> vice chair engardio. >> aye >> once again well is no opposition. >> thank you, call the next item >> agenda item number 3 a resolution adopting the japantown cultural heritage district housing and economic sustain at strategy report. >> thank you. i understand we have sheila, director of policy and legislative affairs for the mayor's office of housing and community development to present on this item? >> i'm killera, chiefly is ask unavailable today. we will invite our now director of cultural district program up to present. and we will introduce some of our community member who is are part of this as well as chair. grace. take it away >> sorry for the confugsz. >> thank you. good morning i'm grace june lee the cultural program manager at mayor's office of housing and upon community development. sfgovtv, may i get the slides. i will provide a brief over view of the program before over to suzie. the manager of the japantown cultural district we are here today to focus had the japantown community accomplished with the housing and economic sustainability strategies report. >> cult rudistrict program by board of prierdz in 2018. vision to preserve, strength sxen prosecute mote cultural communities by supporting residents, legacy businesses, nonprofits, arts, social practices and traditions. it focused on communities and ethnic group in san francisco that have been discriminated against, displace exclude oppressed. >> the legislation defiance a cultural district an area with cultural heritage. includes concentration of cultural and historical assets, arts, surface and businesses. in addition, a significant portion of residents people who spend time inspect this area are member of a cultural community or ethnic group. we have 10 cultural districts across san francisco and i'm happy to report we have representatives from the various districts here with us today. >> the program was designed as a formal partnership between community and city. community provides input and feedbacko needs and strategies for neighborhood stabilization. works with mayor's office of housing and community department art's commission, city planning and office of economic and workforce development to determine which strategies are volleyball and achievable upon given our limited resource. on the strategies lead are in the report with a discussion of the community's heritage and context. chess cultural history, housing and economic sustainability strategies and is a requirement. co-authored by community and the city the japantown chess is a legacy document of the a snapshot of the community and strategic plan with a forward looking road map for the community. i will turn it over to suzie. >> thank you, grace. i'm suzie i'm the manager of the cultural district of japantown. today we celebrate with our community, staff and sister cultural district program. we have been doing this process and waiting for this day for years. thank you for being part of us today. >> our jap tan town vision plan built on 13 years of communal engage testimony is the voice of our community. it holds the vision and hope for the survival of japantown for our next generation. in 2009 stake holders in our community some in the room today had the forethought to organize the first all inclues you have community lead vision press. this resulted in the jeopardy an town heritage and economic sustain ability strategy report. created and endorsed by the board of supervisor in 2013. >> the process for the future strategic visioning of the communities was so effective that it has become the found aiszation for the report process for all cultural districts in the program today. why is the jeopardy an town chess important? it recognizes us. who are the descendants of the first japaneseim grants to arrive to america. san francisco was the firstent row point welcoming japanese in the 1890's. oldest japantown in the nation and one of 3 remaining. 117 years old our community relocateed the current location after the 190 sick quake and fires. and 3, the support recognizes the need to empower japantown to recover, heel and move forward from history of displacement by social discrimination in our government program. recognizes the need to secure the future. the historical and cultural heart of japanese community. historical displacement of families diminished japantown twice. world war ii in the 40s and the development in the 60s forces families to dispurse leaving homes, businesses and community behind. the trauma affects our community today. japanese-americans make up a percent of the population in our district. we have mull pull generations now seeking to belong and reconnect. the w of our district with our japantown partnerers essential to rebuild japantown a third time after the pandemic. engaging a thousand participates in 13 years the plan is the work of many focus groups. town halls and interviews. many were merchants, business ordinance, resident and community members of whom belong to, w or receive services from one or more of the organizations listed here. in our jeopardy an town chess report there are 25 strategies and 6 focus areas and they include:preservation strategies of heritage spchlt authentic programming. in our arts and nonprofit communities. to be surety narrative of our japanese-americans live on. we have 12 cultural art and language nonprofits over 50 years old. strategies prevention of further displacement of our people, businesses and organizations. we need to finds a way for the return of japanese-american fells to live and build in jeopardy an town. secure housing and tenant protections to support legacy businesses and cultural institutions that still remain in our district. the strategies for the preservation of historic landmarks and building. our piece plaza and pagoada going to full renovation in 2024. the japanese language school is one of 2 prewar buildings standing today. however, it fits vacant and in need of upgrade and repair. our oldest institutions some of over 100 years old are in danger extinction and need planning and resources to survive. economic and workforce development strategies supporting local buildings with tenant protections. community benefits, resources, visibility and promotion of our district to attract and return of economic vitality. the chess report looks exploring a plan for the major commercial corridor. how do we plan for future development aligning with need and occurrence of an evolving multigenerational and mixed heritage japanese community today? how do we address development with 11 property ordinance of the super blocks joining properties with hotel and the amc theatres? our land strategies include exploring a path way for return of our displaced communities. how do we welcome newim guarantees to strengthen the authenticity and heritage of our cultural district? landous and housing explore how to reverse the impacts of redevelopment. how do we make affordable housing for our cultural barriers and those employed by school and youth and faith based organization sns how do we build pride of place through community land ownership and a certificate of preference program. the 25 strategy in our chess report preserve 117ier old history of assets and envision authentic and thriving japantown for generations. we like to recognize the journal that he made this public the task force and staff. and the which hes authors and editors. we wish to acknowledge the importance of the japantown board of directors who are and were in service during the last 4 years of making this report. over 20 years, the jeopardy an town task force planning and preservation of japantown. our 21 member board is representation inclusive of residents, business and property owners and nonprofit leaders the task force is the steward of the japantown cultural district. >> i thank you today for your time the future of jeopardy an town and next generations live in adoption of this chess report and hope that you feel the same way, thank you. >> thank you. do my colleague vs questions or comments? supervisor safai. >> thank you. i want to thank everyone we were at an event upstairs rescue noising the tremendous work just want to highlight a couple points for the record. you know prior to world war 24 there were many, many communities across the united states japantowns and today only 3 remain. and so with all that is going wrong in san francisco now, and all the crisis we face, and i said this upstairs; jeopardy an town is one thing that is going right with san francisco temperature is tremendous asset, a place of cultural provide and civic provide. and something they think people look to and identify as one of the key characteristic and cult rat contributeors what makes san francisco greatism want to thank everyone involved in putting this wonderful report together. i'm not going to list names in particular if i leave you out i'm sorry. sandy mur and he emily and lori and all of the other people that were involved in the task force and all the tremendous work this went into this. this is know important piece of what makes san francisco spchl thank you for your tremendous work. >> and if there is a way am i on. i'm on this as sponsor. thank you >> supervisor dorsey. >> thank you so much this it is a great presentation and i appreciate the work that you are doing. i will say this is just looking at this it is fornl me 20 years ago i lived at post and steiner this was my stomping grounds. i'm familiar with the neighborhood and routing for success. i don't want to get to thanking everybody who i think deserves to be thanks like supervisor safai said, i would be remiss not to acknowledge doctor moracey. great presentation and will yea. i thought i was added as a cosponsor i'm not but i will. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> if i may acknowledge steve and sandy morey. they were the really the foresight of japantown cultural district and what it is today. we were the first designated in the program and it was through their leadership we stand here in front of you to push this forward and have the vision and insight behalf japantown looks for the next generation. thank you. >> thank you for saying that. i was i know this steve could not be here. thank you for recognizing in saying that. thank you, mr. chair y. mr. clerk open up public comment >> thank you, mr. vice chair f. you wish to speak on item 3 you are joining here in the board chamber lineup to speak on the western wall of the room. we will hear from each you in order. before the hear from the first of you. reminds folks remote how they access to provide comments on item 3. if you wish to speak on item 3 dial 415-655-0001, access code: 2497 672 9580 ##. after we heard from the chamber we will hear from folks remote. come forward for 2 minutes >> hello, good morning. supervisors and just want to i'm with soma fill pino cultural heritage district and soma community district 6. we on would like to congratulate jeopardy an town we know how much time and effort community engagement it takes to credit this report and make it meaningful. we know it is so we want to applaud them for that work. you know, the japanese-american community and filipino have shared history. farm worker movement and helped build the character and beauty this city and share a lot of the tragic history in displacement and redevelopment and we see the chess program that the cultural district program and chess reports a great strategic way to address the institutional wrongs that happened. so i will keep it brief. we express our support and commends them for the wonderful work. and we look forward to more collaborate rigz in the coming years fest will vas, events and this type of stuff am thank you very much for having us. >> thank you for sharing your comments. next speaker, please. good morning i'm lori aville tear, co-author and coed torof the chess report. you heard this report represents the culmination of years of work and input from handled in the japantown community and reflects hours of work by city and cultural district staff past approximate present to produce a finished project that is aspirational and achievable. since the district produced the initial draft in 2020 staff reviewed the chess strategies to test their feasibility and concluded that they can be implemented. however, in order to successfully realize the vision and goals the broad are japantown community will need to engage and work together with the city in a coordinated and collaborative manner. upon given the history of incarceration and urban renewal. japantown community proven to be resilient and tomorrowed to sustain transforming itself not future. i would like to share from the chess report described how jeopardy an town can evolve in the future. can regenerate to a thriving future. by refocussing from a reactive, scarcity minds set to a greg or abundance mind set this . ties in the values of traditional japanese culture in ancient japan. conscious, zero waste focus and civil sufficient. jeopardy an town reclaim and internalize the values. and at the same time, encourage ino vagz and transformtive education in its cultural dpregzing xrekzs i urge you to recommend approval of the japan city council chess. >> thank you for sharing your comments. next speaker, please. good morning members of the public safety neighborhood service committee and of the board of supervisors. i'malis, and i serve as the board member at the japantown task force i'm a resident of jeopardy an town and husband has a church there. i'm proud to say as a third generation japanese-american my husband and myself able to live and raise our children in this wonderful community. we have been enriched by the ahs japantown has to offer from our churches to the neighbors to the merchants and the organizations that have worked heard to preserve rich legacy of the japanese ancestry. as we are only one of 3 japantowns left in the u.s. it is voilths to keep this community alive and i have brandt for future generations. i'm here to ask that each of you strong leap support this important japantown district document and recommend it to be doopded by the full board of supervisors. as a member of the task force board, i have been a part of participating in community out reach meetings to hear what our community visions for the future of jeopardy an town. huge projects like major renovations of peace plaza and the buchanan mall is needed as well as providing housing for families that want to come become to item an town after redevelopment and incarceration. finally, please, we look for your support and look forward to this [inaudible] and the approval of the full board of supervisors. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning. i'm roslyn i'm the board member of jeopardy an town task force and executive sdreshth of national japanese-american historical society a nonprofit and legacy business. someone had work in the the community for over 30 years and on the chess and j chess i take floyd this accomplishment. as i partitioner has a public gallery on this business corridor, i spent my professional life educating teachers and the public about the lessons japanese-american incarceration experience. i want to recommend this to the board this . is a road map that applied lessons learned to correct past injustices through community lead and city collaborative strategies. allows you to turn page on past misguidance to a new approach to self determined cultural preservation and community engagement. we eagerly await endorsement and implementation. thank you. >> thank you for sharing your comments. next speaker, please. good morning i'm lucie fisher i'm a board member of the task force and cochair of the cultural heritage and sustainability committee. i did not know this the supervisors who are here for this committee are great supporters of japantown. thank you very much for this. and i would like to add one thing, which is i believe that the report will awfuls help recognize the other cultural institutions in san francisco that are japanese-american based. i'm talking about the pagoada and the japanese tea garden. i'm a member of japanese tea garden and renovated the pagoda and in the process of reconstructing the landscape around that so this there will be more opportunity for cultural exhibitions and performances and all other good stuff to come to the garden but also be able to recognize the cultural elements that the japanese have been contributing to san francisco. thank you so much for your support and i wouldip welcome it being -- recommended to the full board. >> thank you. could we have the next speaker. >> good morning. i'm melissa i'm jeopardy an town task force manager and cultural district coordinator at the task force. the approval of the chess is significant not only as a staff member but a second generation san francisco native and fourth generation japanese-american my grand parents came to san francisco to rebuild their lives. chose to live and raise children in this community. thanks to them, i'm privilegeed stand here and have a part in preserving community that became a home for generations past and present. i hope now tell be sustained for future generations yet to be born. help our district meet this bench mark. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. i'm tina valteen geary i am the cultural district director for castro lbgtq+ cultural district. my honor to be here to strongly support japantown's chess report to move forward from this committee. we admire and have learned from and we have great affection for the jeopardy an town cultural district. we recognize that all of the cultural districts are ash line in the keeping san francisco special. keeping the character of our neighborhoods. i acknowledge as moved here to san francisco in 1987 community work occurred cross all neighborhood in terms of lbgtq+ mobilization and especially during pandemics. for me, this guess to me working with other people of color groupod hiv and aids. and just want to share that i look forward to continuing to learn from the japantown district. >> thank you for sharing comments. next speaker, please. >> good morning i'm samuel with transgender district i want to say congratulations to japantown for finish thanksgiving report i worked on castro and transgender chess transport is tough. congratulations and thank you for leading the way. thank you to grace and julia for helping all the districts with chess reports. thank you for the w they have done and the work that will continue. the transgender district fully supports recommending the adoption of this chess report. thank you. next speaker, please. good morning members i'm steven toerz i'm one of the executive cochairs of the castro lbgtq+ cultural district board and i'm hereof on their behalf upon i would like to also support this this chess report be approved. of in our inspect the lbgtq+ culture we often the importance of eldand forebeerers cannot be stated more and for the members of this board, we look to our siblings at japantown cultural district as that and graham for their work in this regard. through their leadership and their easterly pi pioneering they have given us the tools including the chess report to stem gent gent contradiction and give us the tools to fight misguided attempts to redevelop communities. thank you in generaling if you were supporting japantown and the cultural districts. it is worth saying that your vote goes beyond today's moment. whether you think about the history of japan tune, japanese-americans in the country and city. things change world war iis an interesting time for our community. what you are doing for all communities involved is important buzz in the future, thereupon be other crisis. and there will be other initiatives and other things that distract the leaders of the city and focus on other things. documents are documents we refer back to when we need to. they are things we say this is why this is important in 2023. the board of supervisors agreed with us and it is important your vote today and today but the other districts it is in the saying youvilleidate us today but in the future as well. thank you. thank you. next speaker, please. good morning commissioners i'm gwen ethboard president of the japantown task force. i want to reity trait everything expressd and add to this. for community that has endurd the trauma of forced incarceration during world war ii and the e viseration of urban renewal, our neighborhood gone from 40 blocks to about 6 blocks now. a community that has been silenced and nearly erased. the chess is more than an expression of our store our aspirations and resilience as well as the practical road map for achieving our vision; it represents communities empowerment. voice and self determination in partnership with government. we have come a long way temperature restoretive and for this we are proud and grateful and we ask for your support in approving the chess today. thank you very much. >> thank you. good evening it is a privilege to stand before you today. you allow a culture that has been treated badly here in the city and county. it is an honor to stand here from jones united memorial methodist church as a secretary of the board of the directors wanted mow it let you know we have been in collaboration with this community and look forward to your support when you talk about -- together. as one. you talk about this bill is right. you talk about the constitution of this united states , you are talking about the opportunity we are americans. that agree. and disagree. can be one. we the people, of jones united memorial methodist church, hope you bless this union for decades to come. so tht next generation of youth [inaudible] children and families, in the fillmore, in japantown, now district 6, will be able to live up to what martin luther king junior said, judge us by the kong tent of our character, educated themselves, they have supported the black community. they supported every community. and what you are blessings you can bless them to bless others. gregory richardson, thank you very much. >> thank you for sharing your comments. hear the next speaker. >> good morning members. thank you for your expressed spchlt there is little left to say after all of those public commenters i want to make 3 points. one is i call this a historical day for japantown. there are in the men times when the japanese community come to city hall. why are you doing a press conference and making a big deal we want to celebrate this moment and shine a light that is going on in japantown and be engaged with all of you and very subassistanttive ways. there are folk who is could not be here. morey, steve, there are city partners i want to acknowledge the work of julia. who really worked with us on the chess for many years at mohcd before moving to planning. moewd, our daily contact at moewd and diana who really was our support throughout many years of the task force work and this work and of course brian chu, grace lee and the mohcd team. lastly i want to invite everyone to the cherry blossom festival april 8 and 9 and 15 and 16, we hope you will have a car or contingeant in the parade sunday april 16. and immediately following this session we are holding informal reception in room 278 thanks to chief of staff for supervisor preston reserved the space. join us for barley tea and japanese rice crackers >> thank you for sharing your comments. do we have anyone else in the board chamber room 250 had wanted to provide comments on item 3. we have 3 listeners and of them 2 who wish to provide comment on item 3. >> hely. i'm bob i'm the executive director of the leather and lbgtq+ district i'm here to offer our support for the j town chess report and we want to urge its passage and recommendation to the boarded of supervisors. the cultural district program is outstanding program in san francisco. that i think helps to ensure the diversity and unique character of san francisco. that -- really helps us make it and keep it a place that we all love to work and play. so, we -- congratulate j town on the work it was to get to the finish line on their chess report. and we are working on ours and so we know the effort and the out reach and the many facets and heavy lifted is to bring this to the finish line. so, we urge you to support approval of the chess report and recommendation to the full board. thank you very much. thank you for sharing your comments. next speaker, please. hi. i'm lilly wong i'm with the sunset chinese cultural district and i'm here to support our sister cultural district in getting the chess approved. you heard from everybody in the room, this the chess is a community lead strategy that is a result of the community engagement with our respective communities. i'm confident that the jeopardy an town chess reflects their needs. i'm here to uplift that in this thyme where afi individuals are being victimized and attacked, it is more important than ever to stand with each other. and i know that japantown has come together to uplift their needs and strategies for their neighborhoods. during this very difficult time i commends them i encourage you to recommend passage of the japantown chess to the full board yoochl thank you for sharing your comments. see if we have further call whores wish to address the committee remotely. and mr. vice chair we have no further callers. >> last call for in person comment. seeing none. public comment is now closed. >> supervisor dorsey? >> great. thank you chair engardio i wanted to add-on to one thing i said earlier that i really loved the city when the diversity of communities come out to support one another. il tell when you i came here many years ago from the east coast this is something this struck me as really special about san francisco. and as a supervisor who representatives 3 cultural district in filipino transgender and lbgtq+ leather district, it is irrelevant meaningful. thank you to all the commenters and everybody who came here because it really is a celebration of diverse mosaic of cultural district. >> any other comments from our colleagues? i like to make a comment. colleagues this is a resolution to adopt a blueprint for sustaining a cultural gem for san francisco and the united states. one time before world worry 2 there were 80 japantowns across the country today there are 3 and san francisco has the oldest and largest of them. resolution related to japantown. cultural districts ment to preserve, strengthen the assets and traditions of the groups. the japanese community in san francisco had a vibrant as well as traumatic history. we much acknowledge that japantown in san francisco was decimate in the westerlied war 2 had u.s. citizens sent to camps. twenty years later decimated again during so calledure ban renewal when we plowed through japantown and built geary expressway. preserving japantown tradition is not just looking back it is looking forward and envisioning what they can be for generations the report adopted today lace out how agency will partner to preserve buildings and legacy businesses and help japantown evolve and thrive t. is supported come community organizations i'm pleased cosponsor and urge the committee sends it to the board with a positive recommendation. i like to upon entertain a motion it pass with a positive recommendation to the full board. >> motion offered by member safai the resolution sent to the board with a recommendation of the public safety neighborhood services on this motion, member dorsey. >> aye. >> member safai. >> aye. >> vice chair engardio. >> aye. >> mr. chair, there is no opposition. >> mr. clerk are there more items. >> no further buildings. >> we are adjourned. thank you. >> you are watching san francisco rising with chris manner. today's special guest is carla short. >> hi, i'm chris manner and you are watching san francisco rising the show about restarting rebuilding and reimagining the city. our guest is carla short the intric director of public works and here to talk about the storms we had and much more. welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. >> great to have you. let's start by talking about the storms that started beginning of the year. there fsh a lot of clean up recovery and remediation. can you talk about what your team did? >> sure. the 17 inches of rain we got starting on new year's eve through the first 2 and a half weeks of january made it one of the wettest periods in recorded history for san francisco, so as you imagine we had a lot of work to do. we gave out more then 31 thousand sand bags, we were operating all most non stop from new year's eve to san francisco residents and businesses out of our operation yard and frequently working thin rain so it was a beautiful dance to watch. we had a corio graphed where people drive in the stop and load with san dags and get on it way so thats was the most visible thij weez had to do. responded to all most a thousand calls for localized flooding for the corner of the street with catch basin. our team trying to address that. we clear and pick up anything to block and it hopefully get the flooding to go down. if we are able to respond we call in the san francisco pub utility system and are responsible for the sewer system under so they bring ing vack trucks that vacuum out debris inside the catch basin. we also dealt with lots and lots of calls about trees and tree limbs down. i think we actually faired better then some other places in terms of loss of full trees. we did have whole tree failures and that is not that uncumin with super satch waited soil conditions. we had over 950 calls about trees or tree limbs down. a lot of calls were about loss of a limb and we could save the tree. we are still assessing the data to figure how many were full tree failures versus limb failure. >> also had land movement too. the great highway comes to mind. what is your approach to managing rock mud and land slides? >> that is a great question. we had 28 different slides over the course of that period. it is kind of a interesting process, so the first step is we have our geotechnical or structural engineers take a look to see is the hillside safe, do we need to stabilize it in some way or just need to do some cleanup? once they made their assessment they will recommend the next steps. often times to protect public safety we will place k rails the giant concrete rails at the base omthe slide area to make sure that any debris doesn't get on the edroway and bring ing the heavy equipment to scoop up on the ground and move off the roadway and try to open the roadway. some cases, we will actually inject some rocks or other stabilizing forces either into the slide area or sometimes below the roadway. right now there is nothing that's unstable out there but be are keeping a close eye on the areas including the gray highway area. >> right, right. well, so talking about the storms in the city response, brings us to southeast community scepter when there is rain remediation projects going on. can you talk about the inconstruction project kblrks that is a favorite project. a beautiful new community facility. we were involved in pretty much every aspect of developing that project for the public utility commission. they were a client. we design project management and construction management and the landscape design for that project. and one thing that we included was storm water management throughout the entire project site. so, that project encapturealize the rain water that lands on the roof and flows into the landscape where we have rain gardens so intent is slow the water down to and give areas to collect to percolate into the ground rather then the sewer system. when we have sewers that are overloaded, because our rain water mixes with the sewer treatment storm sewer system, we actually can end up dist charging into the bay which we dont want to do. anything we can do to just prevent those combined sewers from overpm loaded is a good thing and in this case allows the water to collect onsite and percolate to the ground which is the best way to manage the storm water and it is beautiful and provides habitat. i encourage everybody to see it. it is special place. >> that's great. there was recently news about how city (indiscernible) powered by steam, which is super unusual i think. i understand public works ablgtually does the maintenance on the system. can you just talk about that a bit? >> sure. that is a unusual situation. that steam loop was actually built when the city was recovering from the 1906 earthquake. it only provides to steam about 4 buildings in civic center but that is how we keep buildings like city hall warm. the steam goes into the radiators and provides the heat. it is a old system and if you see steam billowing out of the man holes or other spaces, that is indication of a leak actually. we spend a lot of time trying to fix the leaks because it's a old system. it is managed by the real estate department and at one point they were looking trying to replace the whole thing but think that is a massive undertaking so now they focus on making as needed repair said. we did a big repair on growth street where we spent a month and a half working on the known leaks s in the area. it is a very tight spot and have to use blow torches to seal up the leak so a intense operation and seeing more leaks on polk street so we will be out there once it warms up to fix the leaks. >> excellent. let's discuss what is the reunifiquation of public works. there fsh a proposal or plan to split off the division, called the street and sanitation. now that has been shelved and public works is going to just retain being a single entity. can you talk through the process? >> sure. yeah. the original proposal was a ballot measure voted on to split the department into 2. it basically create the department of sanitation and streets that was really going to incompass all our operation divisions so it was a street cleaning department but encompass everything we refer to as operations. when we worked preparing for that split with the city administrator office, we found there were actually 91 what we call touch points between the operations work and our engineering and architecture side, so we really felt like it could be very difficult to split into two departments. we have so many areas of overlap. there was a new ballot measure last november to reunit the department. technically we split october one and did split in some ways. we did put on hold some of the behind the scenes things like rebranding all the vehicle jz giving everyone a new e-mail address in the sanitation and streets department, but on january 1 of 2023 we came back together so we are reunited i want sing the peaches and purb song and think it is a good thing for the 91 areas of overlap. we making #2c3w50d use of the research. preparing for the split. looking at all the touch points and trying to strengthen the department so we are more streamlined and efficient. one of the most important component from the original ballot measure is commission oversight. we retained two commissions, the public works commission which oversee the over-all department and approve the budget and contracts. and sanitation and street commission and their mandate focus on policy and deliverable for street cleaning and basically the operation division. reporting to them regularly how we are doing, we think will help make sure we are as efficient and effective as we can be as a department. >> that sounds great. thank you so much for coming and talking to me today and appreciate the time you have given. >> thank you so much for having me. it was a pleasure. >> that is it for this episode. you are watching san francisco rising. >> who doesn't love cable cars? charging emissions and we're free which we're proud of you know, it's not much free left in the world anymore so we managed to do that through donations and through our gift shops. you got a real look and real appreciation of what early transit systems are like. this was the transit of the day from about 1875 to about 1893 or later, you know. cable car museum is free, come on in. take a day. come down. rediscover the city. you can spend as time you want and you don't have to make reservations and it's important to be free because we want them to develop a love for cable cars so they do continue to support whether they live here or other places and people come in and say, yes, i have passed by and heard of this and never come in and they always enjoy themselves. people love cable cars and there's none left in the world so if you want to ride a cable car, you've got to come to san francisco. that what makes the city. without the cable cars, you lose part of that, you know, because people who come here and they love it and they love the history ask they can ride a cable car that has been running since 1888 or 1889. wow! that's something. can't do that with other historical museums. rarely, have i run into anybody from outside who didn't come in and didn't feel better from knowing something about the city. it's a true experience you'll remember. i hope they walk away with a greater appreciation for the history, with the mechanics with people are fascinated by the winding machine and i hope the appreciation, which is a part of our mission and these young kids will appreciate cable cars and the ones who live here and other places, they can make sure there will always be cable cars in san francisco because once they are gone, they are gone. it's the heartbeat of san francisco that founded the cable and the slot and without the cable cars, yeah, we would lose something in san francisco. we would lose part of its heart and soul. it wouldn't be san francisco without cable cars. [bell ringing] . >> (music). >> the ferry building one of san francisco most famous that as many of 15 thousand commuters pass through that each gay. >> one of the things that one has to keep in mind regarding san francisco is how young the city we are. and nothing is really happening here before the gold rush. there was a small spanish in the presiding and were couriers and fisherman that will come in to rest and repair their ships but at any given time three hundred people in san francisco. and then the gold rush happened. by 182948 individuals we are here to start a new life. >> by 1850 roughly 16 thousand ships in the bay and left town in search of gold leaving their ships behind so they scraped and had the ships in the bay and corinne woods. with sand the way that san francisco was and when you look at a map of san francisco have a unique street grid and one of the thing is those streets started off in extremely long piers. but by 1875 they know they needed more so the ferry building was built and it was a long affair and the first cars turned around at the ferry building and picking up people and goods and then last night the street light cars the trams came to that area also. but by the late 1880s we needed something better than the ferry building. a bond issue was passed for $600,000. to build a new ferry building i would say 800 thousand for a studio apartment in san francisco they thought that was a grand ferry building had a competition to hire an architecture and choose a young aspiring architect and in the long paris and san francisco had grand plans for this transit station. so he proposed the beautiful new building i wanted it wider, there is none tonight. than that actually is but the price of concrete quitclaim two how and was not completed and killed. but it opened a greater claim and became fully operational before 1898 and first carriages and horses for the primary mode of transportation but market street was built up for serve tram lines and streetcars could go up to the door to embarcadero to hospitals and mission street up to nob hill and the fisherman's area. and then the earthquake hit in 190 six the ferry building collapsed the only thing had to be corrected once the facade of the tower. and 80 percent of the city would not survive the buildings collapsed the streets budges and the trams were running and buildings had to highland during the fire after the actuate tried to stop the mask fire in the city so think of a dennis herrera devastation of a cable car they were a mess the streets were torn up and really, really wanted to have a popular sense they were on top of that but two weeks after the earthquake kind of rigged a way getting a streetcar to run not on the cable track ran electrical wires to get the streetcars to run and 2 was pretty controversial tram system wanted electrical cars but the earthquake gave them to chance to show how electrical cars and we're going to get on top this. >> take 10 years for the city to rebuild. side ferry use was increasing for a international exhibition in 1950 and people didn't realize how much of a community center the ferry building was. it was the center for celebration. the upper level of ferry building was a gathering place. also whenever there was a war like the filipino war or world war two had a parade on market street and the ferry building would have banners and to give you an idea how central to the citywide that is what page brown wanted to to be a gathering place in that ferry building hay day the busiest translation place in the world how people got around transit and the city is dependent on that in 1915 of an important year that was the year of our international exposition 18 million living in san francisco and that was supposedly to celebrate the open of panama differential but back in business after the earthquake and 22 different ferry boats to alamed and one had the and 80 trips a day a way of life and in 1918 san francisco was hit hard by the flu pandemic and city had mask mandates and anyone caught without a doubt a mask had a risk ever being arrested and san francisco was hit hard by the pandemic like other places and rules about masks wearing and what we're supposed to be more than two people without our masks on i read was that on the ferry those guys wanted to smoke their pipes and taking off their masks and getting from trouble so two would be hauled away. >> the way the ferry building was originally built the lower level with the natural light was used for take it off lunge storage. the second floor was where passengers offloaded and all those people would spill out and central stairway of the building that is interesting point to talk about because such a large building one major stairway and we're talking about over 40 thousand people one of the cost measures was not building a pedestrian bridge with the ferry building and the embarcadero on market street was actually added in and in 1918 but within 20 years to have san francisco bay the later shipbuilding port in the world and the pacific we need the iron that. as the ferry system was at the peak two bridges to reach san francisco. and automobiles were a popular item that people wanted to drive themselves around instead of the ferry as a result marin and other roots varnished. the dramatic draw in ferry usage was staggering who was using the ferry that was a novelty rather than a transportation but the ferry line stopped one by one because everyone was getting cars and wanted to drive and cars were a big deal. take the care ferry and to san francisco and spend the day or for a saturday drive but really, really changed having the car ferry. >> when the bay bridge was built had a train that went along the lower level so that was a major stay and end up where our sales force transit center is now another way of getting into the city little by little the ferry stopped having a purpose. >> what happened in the 40 and 50's because of this downturn we were trying to find a purpose a number of proposals for a world trade center and wanted to build it own the philly in a terrible idea objective never gotten down including one that had too tall towers a trade center in new york but a tower in between that was a part of ferry building and completely impractical. after the cars the tower administration wanted to keep americans deployed and have the infrastructure for the united states. so they had an intrastate free plan the plan for major freeway systems to go throughout san francisco. and so the developers came up with the bay bridge and worked their way along embarcadero. the plans were to be very, very efficient for that through town he once the san francisco saw had human services agency happening 200 though people figure out city hall offender that the embarcadero free was dropped and we had the great free to no where. which cut us off from the ferry building and our store line and created in 1989 and gave us the opportunity to tear down the free. and that was the renaissance of ferry building. >> that land was developed for a new ferry building and whom new embarcadero how to handle travel and needed a concept for the building didn't want- that was when a plan was developed for the liquor store. >> the san francisco ferry building has many that ups and downs and had a huge hay day dribbled adopt to almost nothing and after the earthquake had a shove of adrenaline to revise the waterfront and it moved around the bay and plans for more so think investment in the future and feel that by making a reliable ferry system once the ferry building will be there to surface. >> >> welcome to the tuesday, march 21, 2023, hybrid in-person and virtual meeting of the san francisco entertainment commission. my name is dor caminong and i'm the commission vice-president. we'll start with announcements.