Transcripts For SFGTV LIVE BOS Rules Committee 20160324

Recall all right. Goods morning. Welcome to the march 24th 2016 rules comeet i am katie. To my right is [inaudible] were joined today by supervisor to my left. Our clerk is eric erches and we want to thank jen lowe and jesse larsen. Mr. Clerk. Do you have any thing to say is this. Please silence all cell phones. Items acted on today will appear on the april 5th board supervisors agenda. Can we call item one. Motion approving the direction of stephen [inaudible] for the Fire Commission january 5th ending 2020. Do you have any comments . I do. Thank you supervisor tang. I call this hearing today because the board of supervisors has a role to play. The San Francisco Fire Department is over 300 million entity and one of the largest departments and up with of the most important departments to Public Safety in the city and county of San Francisco. When the mayor a ports commissioner, directors, commissioners or board of appeals, entertainment, police or utilities commissioners, the board of supervisor holds hearings and has a say in that meart matter. For whatever reason our city charter does not afford the Automatic Process for Fire Commissioners. Yet theyre very important issues happening in the Fire Department and serious concerns from labor and the board should have an opportunity to discuss this with our Fire Commissioner. In the four years let me go back a little bit. And say from the onset that i support commissioner hardiman and commissioner nikagio 100 percent. I served with them as a Fire Commissioner. Steve is a with distinguished Public Servant. Mike hardman has given years offer is service to San Francisco and is equally an institution in the labor community. This is not about opposing or second guessing the appointments of mr. Nakagio or mr. Hardiman. If my hearing sthawg, i do apologize. For all the people that came here to speak in support of the commissioner, i a shiewsh you you dont have to convince me. I squalled for the challenge not to challenge commissioner nakagio or commissioner hardman, this is simply an opportunity to address concerns in the department. So, whatever reason, as i said before, our city charter does not afford an Automatic Process for the Fire Commission. There are serious concerns that i have. And id like to spend this time addressing the concerns and asking the important questions. In the last four years since commissioner na consideration argues gio and hardman were appointed, weave experienced a dramatic increase in call volume, spikes in Response Time and conflict between the administration an members. We made great progress on many issues and others remain unresolved. This morning is an opportunity, once we get only every four years for the board of supervisors to hear directly from the Fire Commissioner and members of the department and public to raise concerns they would like commissioners to address. So that is my hope for this hearing this morning. Again, my intent is not to oppose commissioner hardman or commissioner nakagio or put anyone on the spot. My hope is to have a productive conversation among the pyre Commission Board of supervisors and Fire Department. Feas aits an opportunity top to have a better understanding of what is happening with the department. With that, i will welcome mr. Nakagio to the podium. It looks like supervisor mauer has some comments. I was going to thank supervise bree for. Apologizing. Commissioner hardman, tremendous support for labor stacks of letters but n nakagio for all the immigrant communities. Im glad we have this comment not just to question the records but to celebrate the can accomplishment in the communities and Fire Department. I want to say the outpouring of support for steve nakagio that came through all our offices is a testament to mentoring so many people like me. Letters from rich hashimotoo to cathy and ester leon. But also broad expect sectors of the citywide communities show the support for these two hard working commissioners. I wanted to say that im glad were using this time not to question their records or work on the Fire Commission, but to look at how we move the Fire Commission forward as well. Those are my opening comments. All right, thank you very much. Now we will a call up mr. Nakagio himself. Good morning supervisor mauer. President bree, good morning. First ever all, i want to extend appreciation for the unprecedented comment of apology. Myself understanding the prerogative of each supervisor within the realms that you narrated. I feel that this process is a process you have and the board of supervisors has to to quick commissioners being appointed in this case myself, questionings or subject matters pertain to is that. I wanted to, if i may, madam chair, pass to you, and i apologize, you only made three copies not knowing if you were going to be attending today. But the package and since supervisor cohen is not here, perhaps the president might be able to see that or handouts. One egg segment of handout is accomplishments by Fire Department 2013 2014 with a page attachment that goes to 2014 2015, the last two years. Also attached is a Public Safety hiring plan that talks about the commission and goes down to budgetrelated reinforcement to personnel within the Fire Department, which is a major, major issue. Major issue in terms of acknowledgment this year that is significant is the fact that the Mayors Office and caitd howard has sphepped up to help us in the Fire Department with our personnel needs. Again, there are multiple yiewrs in any big City Department, one of the issues was an issue of mandatory overtime that talked to personnel and experience and relief and through the process, weve been able to do that by stepbystep processes in this accomplishment plan specifically and there might be references through the Vehicle Replacement Program. Let me begin first of all and again in the spirit of education, and the spirit of shared resources, i was appointed by willy lewis brown junior mayor of San Francisco in 1996, i was appointed with soroka. Rose marry if he were dez ted solas we wered up the u. S. District Court Consent until the department could imcomplement strategyings to end discrimination in the hiring and promotion of minority and women, firefighters. We worked extremely hard with the Administration Department to then as newly appointed chief rob rddemonds. From that time in 1996 through this year of 2016. The San Francisco Fire Department is a very different place. In the series of can be accomplishments not singularly to myself, the commission is made up of five appointed commissioners by the mayor. In year 2002, the department and the Commission Adopted the candidate physical abilities test called a cpac. This was a potentially difficult decision in the aspects of the time coming from members of the union wells members in terms of appliances both in the physicality level, protecting the lives of citizens and health and safety of firefighters, recognized broadly by the San Francisco firefighters and local 798, we adopted this particular program. As another narration or example with then president paul conroy, we adopted a policy of a Vehicle Replacement Program on march 9th wednesday morning i was sworn as a Fire Commissioner reappointed by mayor lee, this basically would have significantly added to the participation that this would be my 21st year of certify certifys have. In 21 years of searching as a commissioner to the Fire Department. Ive gained special knowledge and expertise regarding operation budget and administration. I have a keen historical Institutional Knowledge. I felt that my oversight and responsibility was to provide stability and reliability to the department. My philosophy was to be hope to all employees groups and membership and officers on any issues that were pertaining. My personal goals within the Fire Department within 20 years was too take care of business, the order of business to attend meetings on a regular, balanced measure in the sense of consistent attendance. At a point of information in 2010 i had cancer. I had surgery, i had chemotherapy and during those two months of recovery, for look at the record of attendance, i also participated in the various meetings. That is nothing about talking about what one deck cates ones to. Thats called taking care of business. We try, myself to attend as many participation, events, parades, drills. I think a twoalarm fire is significant to a threealarm or fouralarm. A car accident. Anything that is related to the accomplishments and responsibilities of the department, ri try earnestly to participate within that. There is a hard responsibility in terms of maintaining objectivity and subjectivity when they choose to do an appeal case to the commission rgs, that we act within that role, particularly to provide fairness to the rights of the membership, but also taking everything into consideration. I pride myself to disagree to disagree. I pride myself to act in a civil, professional manner with respect to we can try to accomplish the business of the department. Most Exciting Program beyond all the excitement of the support is our present e. M. S. 6 program which talks to the homeless, chronic users in the streets of San Francisco. With the tone of council men of services for the Homeless Population of San Francisco, the Fire Department is doing its share within that program. Ill stop at this point because i know there is Public Comment. There are many individuals who have come today to voice their participation and i would lake to respect that. Thank you very much for your presentation. I appreciate the detailed run through of all the accomplishments, given your time serving on the commission kidd think youve answered quite a few of my questions through that. I think supervisor bree has some comments or questions. Thank you for being here commissioner nakagio. As i said before, there snow need for you to impress upon me the importance of making sure you continue to serve on the Fire Commission. It was an honor to serve with you. I lerved learned a lot from your comments and questions and i appreciate all that youve done to serve the city and county of San Francisco. Not just in your capacity as a commissioner, but in your capacity as an important part of saving japan town and so many other Amazing Things you continue to do for the city and county of San Francisco. When i first served on the commission the first year, one of the most frustrating experiences is that you and i both shared was the lack of driefers diversity in the department. After 10 years we finally had a new class that we were able to hire and in that class, there wasnt one africanamerican man that was in the class of i think over 20 individuals. You and i raised concerns with the chief in the lack of diversity in our frustration, we continued to voice that concern over the years. Can you tell me what is happening now with the department . I mean, as you know, weve dealt with lawsuits and we continue to deal with complaints of harassment and other issues that continue to persist in the department. I just want to know your feedback on what is going on with the department, your perception anded what are you continuing to do to address the situation of issues aroun of discrimination within the department . Im one member of a fivemember commission. Diversification is a high priority. We in or policy role do the best we can to point that out to the chief and administration. The class that we had recently with the approval of the Mayors Office is at least as you may know, being a former Fire Commissioner, the first time in many years that weve had repeated classes within that. Within the change of the department in terms of women, folks. Candidates of color. Weve been an advocate for those numbers. As you look at that, youd see those individuals. In terms of the particular cases you talk about, im privy to it only in the discussions as Fire Commissioner. Those issues were addressed at training, at one point in innuendos or charges of Racial Discrimination or harassment, our present chief rowena williams, chief of the Training Division is an africanamerican woman. Not to say that a woman haven cant have oversight but thats a good indicator that were trying to pay a lot of attention to that particularly. The other issue is the issue of again, being able to have funding to have classes. That really has helped a lot with the operation of the department and the increasing numbers of diversity that we continually, admittedly need to play an oversight within that but that is something were trying to work hard on and be part of that. We recently got a correspondence that the city and county and Chiefs Office is going to be one subject matter that was chosen nationwide in terms of that discussion on the question of diversity. I think part of what i found frustrating as a former commissioner was just, you know, ultimately, the chief does decide who the individuals are that basically are finally chosen for those particular classes. And, again, you know, there has been a lot of frustration on those decisions. From your perspective, you feel based on your feedback you do teal that its Getting Better in terms of the decisions on selecting a Diverse Group of candidates for the new classes. I do. And im sayin saying that there is still an ongoing process of oversight on that. When youre a member of Fire Commission, president breed, there are situations where applicant poll was numb tbrers 6,000 to 7,000 the class was a class of 36. A class was offered once every three or four years. We have a factor now that applicational process is a National Test. So the National Test increases the candidates countrywide. Anyone can apply for entry within the San Francisco Fire Department. In the 20 years of being a Fire Commissioners in terms of who chooses the candidates for the h2 class, as far as i snow by the charter, by the rules for everything that i asked in previous years, it is the prerogative of the comeef. Withi chief, within that framework. We try, us the commissioner, everyone else. We had a recent hiring of recruitment personnel within the department that is going to keep the focus within those communities of diversity and try to bring it back. The more classes we have, the more opportunities. One more other factor, in those classes that we have now, which numbers have increased, were tacking certain number from station 49 which are made up of paramedics to give them an opportunity of a promise made years ago that paramedics would have an opportunity to serve as h2 suppression. I want to ask another sensitive question. After members of the united employees group which is all the employees group that serve with the Fire Department, voted no confidence in the leadership of the department. The mayor placed the responsibility to act opt commission. Can you tell me the steps the commission has taken in order to act and what the feedback has been in resons to that particular group of individuals on what you have done as a commissioner . Or what the commission has done as a whole to address that issue . President breed and welcome supervisor cohen, i want to be able to reiterate that i like to share this withs much information as im allowed to share. Allowed to share, peen means if its a personnel type of issue, im not able to disclose that. Ill candidly because i was a member of the commission at that time. Pretty much the consensus is by at that action of no confidence and the diversification and communication of local 798 and the first time of a coalition of employ i dont thinks group, i as president initiated an evaluation. In the 149 years of the San Francisco Fire Commissioner, the commissioners have never pro vieted an evaluation on the chief. In order to learn how to do it right, in communication with hr and communication with the City Attorneys Office getting guidance within that, i wanted to find out the gros process of evaluation with the chief is previously. I found out that hr with the Mayors Office has an evaluation format that has been in practice for years. Again, president beed breed. Many of us, i will address it, werent privilegey that during that evaluation period that we didnt have a checkoff or a mechanism or process, but thats the way the practice has been. I as president and the support of the rest of the commissione commissioners with the cooperation because i wanted us to get real about this, the mayor of San Francisco who is the mayor and chief executive officer of the city and county, i wanted his input as to the process of evaluation that we first time will conduct. Not wanting to make any errors at all. In that, mayor approved the mayor said basically orders of the day was a fair and professional evaluation. With that, we took many, many different evaluation forms from hr and reduplicating the process over and over again. Part of the challenge was we needed a crumb for this particular issue on closed session. So we had numerous closed sessions with the City Attorneys Office as to conduct ourselves within process and at least i can share with you we agreed upon one form that was consistent with the form that hr has been using with chief. We conducted an evaluation. President breed, we conducted the evaluation. Weve had two or three closed sessions on that dialogue. Im not going to be able to talk about anything in there, because of privacy rights and is up of personnel, but we did conduct and had lively discussions, i believe it was during the wh holidays, there was effort to get some decision mechanisms done the holidays of 2013 and 2014. It went beyond that, as we concluded, what hr instructed is we take our evaluation and send it up to the Mayors Office. We did that. I asked mayor lee to meet with every one of the commissioner to get our individual feedback beyond our summary. I, as president. Pushed for im president , a significancemonth review. The sixmonth review because our leadership is collective, even though i was president then, the Vice President had the prerogative on her plate the sixmonth review was conducted. Therthere were benchmarks set up in order to make the six month review obtainable, doable, make some sense of it, we put down their expectations and went over that with the chief in a closed session so that will would be evaluational benchmarks. That now has moved to the president currently, president francine cohenson. The last order of business with the six month review might have been with two months ago, we concluded that particular component. What happens next is the prerogative of the president. So, tell me what you think the additional, i think over 34 million that we added to the Fire Departments budget last year, do you think that has helped significantly with the operations of the department and how do you think that helped . It has significantly helped the department. As you know, our department, during the deficit years cooperated with then mayor newsom and we took a lot of cuts. Some of the prams programs were just starting to restore. The personnel issue are the men and women who come into the department, talking about the ambulances, vehicle replacement, talks to that, dollars to the training department, talks to the h1s. H2 paramedics, e. M. T. Technicians. Talks to again, we have a bond issue on station 49 which is the headquarters that we would like to establish toward paramedics. We are mow looking at concluding again a combination of resources. The easter bond 2010, 2014, district station five renovation is coming up. For us, its being able to restore some of the cuts to the various areas of operation to the department but add personnel. Personnel costs dollars even within our analysis of i. M. S. 6, youll see more ems6. When you were with us president breed, when it came to budget requests, most of our time different from what it was and currently now, what we asked for is what we know we knead need in terms of operation. Wed rather have the board of 150u7 visors in office know what its going to cost in San Francisco to operate a Fire Department on all levels of suppression and Emergency Medical Services and a population that will soon be 1 million people. With that, we know that additional dollars has definitely helped, but the complaints continue to persist. There are issues around morale with members of the department. Do you think that the relationship between the chief and the members can be repaired . I hope so. I hope so. I pray for it. I hope. Pray and hope are words that are futile. I want to Work Together with the members of the union, Chiefs Office, Employee Groups and look at what we need as a department in terms of operation and funding. The issues of morale, i hear it and see some of it, but i see a lot of support as well. If terms of whatever needs to improve in the department, im of the being that you Work Together to try to improve the problems. Thats what im hoping for. And to be quite frank, president breed and members of the rules committee, my reappointment for another four years, by the charter, is with the dedication and goal toss improve those kind of issues you talk about. If youre not at the table, you cant contribute to solving the problem. Being outside is being outside. And i just, again, my frustration has a lot to do with the fact that as i served on commission, and as im now on the board of supervisors and as these problems continue to persist, civil grand jury reportoureport outlined a number of issues and i continue to be the person that a number of meps reach out to about specific situations that they think put not only their colleagues in danger, but threaten Public Safety in certain scenarios including recent situation that happened, the fire im sorry its escaping me right now. There was a situation that happened recently where they didnt have the appropriate equipment to pry individuals out of a particular scenario and there continues to be issues of that nature. The fleet replacement and other things that we need to do not only as a city, but as a department, losing out on grant opportunities and things like that, there are continued scenarios where the ball sometimes is dropped and ultimately even if its not directly the chief per se, its the chiefs responsibility to manage the department well. And make sure that things are running in a way that doesnt jeopardize Public Safety. And im committed to supporting the department regardless. I always have been to the point of pushing for additional support. But it is really frustrating to me when that support may not be used properly or pushing for new hires doesnt mean that those new hires are africanamericans or that, you know, there continues to be issues around discrimination and issues with the department. I mean, its frustrating. I would hope that, you know, anyone who is in charge of department whether its the commission or the chief that they are focused on trying to build bridges, develop relationships and demonstrate by example that they care about mending the fences and dealing the challenging issues but also that theyre capable of dealing with these complex issues. Thats my concern and why, as a said to you before, i wanted to host this hearing as an opportunity to have the hard discussion. We cant just pretend that the problems dont continue to persist. We do need to have these kinds of conversations in order to try o fix them and make things better for the department as a whole. As i told you before, im committed to that. I appreciate you being here and thank you for answering my questions. President breed and supervisors, i as a commissioner welcome any of your questions, any of your concerns. Anything you hear because we dont hear it all, part of it for myself is a road to try to be accessible for what is going out there. Please keep that line of communication open to us and i welcome it. Thank you. Thank you, supervisor mauer. I wanted to respond that i dont think this should be about, [inaudible] record. It shows the Fire Commission because of outpouringal records of support for commissioner hardiman and nikagio and i think it recognizes the importance of the Fire Commission. I want odd give a personal story. I think steve nikagio was talking about taking care of business. My house burned down on Second Avenue and clement. My mom and i were out on the street. Steve came by right at the same time as we were trying to figure out what to do with our lives. I think its an example of taking care of business but also treating service on the Fire Commission seriously. I think the evaluation of the chief is a good thing. There has been a lot of amazing accomplishments that you and the other commissioner have made on the commission. Im glad that president breed from the Firefighters Local 798 that are in the room as well stlg commission, i did want it say also that commissioner hardiman has 30 years on the executive bored and there is tremendous support. But the two of you holding the chief and the department accountable, im appreciative of that. And the good communication with the Mayors Office and others as different challenges to chief hayes white has come up. The pishts speak for themselves selves. The letters speak for themselves selves. I wanted to acknowledge that bob hamakuchi and alice [inaudible] had letters of support as well. I would associate myself with the comments he made and i think that when we look at any department and department head, well probably see that its not all 100 percent, you know, positive. All the time. As we would wish. I know that certainly because were involved with Public Safety departments that they tend to have a lot more light shined on them. To me, im looking for people who really take their job seriously as commissioner. Or Committee Members. And that they attend meetings. That they do what they should be doing to ensure accountability. That they are committed to moving the department forward. And the Extensive Community involvement looking at your resume, i dont know what you have not done yet in your life. And i think this those are the values and traits that im looking for if a commissioner. Its not about position or sides being taken, its are you doing the job. Ive heard time and time again that you are one of those commissioners who actually goes out on the scene more often than not. Again, to truly understand what is going on, thank you for your service after all these years. If there are another other economies or commence im going to open it up to puck lk comment. I thank you again supervisor mauer. Im talking about when that fire occurred with yourself, when i was in 8th grade growing up in San Francisco, my house was arsonned. We had a fouralarm fire. Im the guy that in the family yelled fire fire and watched everyone come down the staircase. My mom was the last up with coming dow she made it, but everything got burned on her hair. As a person who went through that experience, watching the department and even god bless the red cross, anyone who provides for that kind of comfort, that was the extension of convert comfort i wanted to extend. Madam chair, what is the process that occurs after this rules committee . Does it so today, our committee will be takes action in terms of, there is a motion to approve or reject the mayors reappointment. The Committee Members will make a motion to either approve or reject. And the board needs to vote on that . Do we know when that is calendared . We dont have a Board Meeting next week but its thursday so april fifth. April fifth to the full board. Thats correct. Thank you. I bring supervisor breed. I wanted to invite tom oconnor who is the representative of the united can employees group up to make some comments. Can he speak during Public Comment . I wanted ill invite him to come up during Public Comment. I wanted him to speak separately from Public Comment. I can invite him first. At this moment the person to speak is mr. Nikagio. So im going to call um tom oconnor. Any members that want to speak on item one. I have some comment cards. Good morning supervisor im tom oconnor president of the San Francisco firefighters 7098. First ever coalition comprised of every Employee Organization within the Fire Department. We represent the asian firefighters soargs. Black firefighters association, paramedic association. E. M. S. Officers association. Fire chiefs association, our newly formed lgbtq group and united fire service women. Together weve joined to form this group as an organization dedicated to Public Safety and Public Policy. Our goal is it to improve the services for San Franciscos in fire and emergency services. Foad were not here tone gauge in political theater or fight the nomination of these two fine men. But i guess there was a rumor of drag down or battle. Is they we marshal a broad coalition. We hate to dispoijt disappoint everyone but were not here to do that. Rather than play politics or pop laition later we want to address Public Policy and safety. This is an appropriate time to raise concerns to the honor member of this committee and the two commissioners who will soon be repientd to new terms. The bard of supe supervisors heard about the problems within the department. In towrn the members of the Fire Department took a vote of no cched in our chief. These results were overwhelming with more than 806 of our firefighters voting and 87 vote nod confidence in the chief. Every single Employee Group within our Fire Department agreed that the lack of leadership was having a negative impact on service ot people of San Francisco. Nothing has been done to address these issues. We hope that as these commissioner embark on another term they take a much more aggressive stance in improving the San Francisco Fire Department. Thank you, madam chair, can you please finish your statement. Thank you. In july of 2015 just a few months after ow noconfidence vote the civil grand jury of San Francisco releets leased a report the San Francisco Fire Department what does the future hold. This state what had our firefighters were saying fer several months and continue to say that the San Francisco department has a lack of leadership. No strategic plan. Lack of paramedics and ambulances and a fleet on the edge of crisis. The chiefs response to this report would say the department was doing better and everything is fine. The chief was partially correct. Weigh spons times have improved but theyre nearly double that of city likes los angeles. We received more ambulances but our fire trucks and engines are breaking down on a regular and routine basis. We are a currently working on a strategic plan, but this is only at the urging of former former commissioner erchs and its a bizarre process that i 2350e8 were doing the work of an executive who should know how to meept the changes of a growing city. The leaders of the groups are here to join 1500 other firemen and paramedics to say everything is not fine with the San Francisco Fire Department. Thanks to the leadership of the board of supervisors including the members of this committee, our Fire Department has gotten Additional Resources over the last year an were starting to hire the people we need. But the lack of leadership and the direction in the Department Remains. Here are some of the facts facing our Department Today as mentioned before, our ambulance Response Times are double that of other major american cities. For point of reference, the lax lags Fire Department has a Response Time of 5½ minutes and were half that. The lack of ambulances, there is 50 of our fleet exceeded a 10 year lif lifespan and our engines and trucks are breaking down september 1319th of last year we witnessed the if sfsd chose not to respond to what became the second worst fire in our history madam chair, we are dweating off topic. This is about the appointment of two commissioner. I appreciate that im not sure if this is the right forum for this. I think it is the right forum. Okay, excuse me, this is Public Comment. I know there are issues about the Fire Department that qeed like twed like to address. We continue to hold hearings on that. Today weigh need to focus on the commissioners before us. Right now were on steve n irgs kagio. If you can please line up owe over here for the comment cards. Sebastian wong. Kirk niwaka. Marion erickson. Supervisor mauer, supervisor tang. Cohen and president ever the board, im sebastian wong, i am a member of the board of directors of selfhelp for elderly. Im here with my executive director annie chong. I want to voice my support for the reappointment of commissioner nikagio. Ive known him for 20 years. Hes been a person of integrity and certifys have to the city. Im proud to count him as a friend. I hope as you move his resolution forward to reappoint him to the board, that the board also take note of his distinguished commitment to the Asian Pacific Islander Community and his numerous contributions and will vote him in as a member of full board. I deeply appreciate president breeds concern and interest in the workings of the Fire Department and thank you to the board for caring so much to make our Fire Department better. Thank you, next speaker please. Thank youer in opportunity. I was very surprised o to hear of what i thought was a challenge. But im glad to hear its not a challenge on mr. Mikagios abilities. He has much more to provide for San Francisco and members of the Fire Department. Thank you. Next weeker please. Good morning supervisors, im sandy morey speak not only for myself but for my husband jeff who couldnt be here today. I will defer nie comments. I think all the accolades for mr. Nikagio has been given and i trussennen trust youll move forward. I forward. Annie chupg, nicole jurychovac. Im mary ivasaky, im a priet citizen recommending myself as much today. All the accolades have been said with steve and he is a person that has gone through adversity. Both personal and with the Fire Department an commission. I think i think he listens hears and acts necessarily when these bad moments come. I think if were looking for changes with the Fire Department, well see them from him and from the other commissioners. Especially hearing what youve said and on the reports that have been made. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Supervisor im bob homohamaguchi and im here with the board of directors with the town task force and join me in sieping our letter of support for mr. Nikagio. We should yield this to more important business of the board, but we urge that you continue forward with the appointment recommendation to the board and thank you for the opportunity to be before you. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to support steve nikagio and all hes done over the years and we continue to pray that he can serve for the commission. And help the city of San Francisco to improve their services. Next weeker. Good morning fair woman tang. Supervisor mauer. I am o. J. Leonardo. Thank you. Can im speaking on behalf of asian firefighters association. And we support commissioner nikagios reappointment 100 percent. 100percent. He takes action on his community and prepares and mentors the next generation for the future as noted by supervisor mauer. Commissioner ni can kagio has dedicated his life to his community and city. Hes a Living Legend in the Asian American community. Weve seen it im and again, you see it in his eyes and his smile on the streets of china up to. You see it in the Cherry Blossom festival and know it by the countless youth who follow miss example by volunteering and working in their community. We are urge you to reappointment mr. Nikagio to the pyre commission. Thank you, next speaker. Good morning, supervisors on behalf of japanese from japan, i would like to express our support for the appointment of dmitioner initiation ikagio. Hes not only a great leader for japan town but immigrants. I have a 2yearold son who never sleep with me but sleep with fire cars. Such a firefighter, such a hero for children. Its great for us to tell uncle nikagio is helping for the Fire Department in San Francisco such a beautiful diverse city. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you. Thank you, a couple more mark jonson, richards nas nashmotto. Im angie chung and im here to speak about mr. Steve nikagios reappointment for the Fire Commission. I want to share two sfis is it sticks, one is statistics. One is San Francisco is reaching 19 Elderly Population. I feel that ive worked ive known and worked with steve for over 0 years. Hes a solid citizen. Heart of gold and very, very dedicated to the Fire Commission or else he wouldnt have served on this commission for over 20 years. Today as reappointment is about steve, the work that we did and hes still doing. The Fire Department is a big huge depth. Huge huge departm. Hes working through all these issues in his own way. I know with him representing our community on the Fire Commission, i feel safe. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good morning, im nicole im here to speak on the issue concerning steve nikagio to the Fire Commission. Im a product of San Francisco having grown up in the West Division like view supervisor breed. Im a 19 year veteran and the fire chief. Ive known commissioner nikagio since i was a kid. My own 77yearold mother has been a recipient of many hot meals in japan town where she still resides. The commissioner not only helps to feed the Elderly Population for many, many years but provides them with a social outlet where they can have contact with others. The commissioner has a platform by which many fire science students at city college of San Francisco engaj in various Senior Center activities. As an instructor, both the faculty and i appreciate this very much as it builds in our students all of woman wish to be future San Francisco firefighters and all of whom who represent the stiff San Francisco and give them a strong sense of Community Service and giving back which is the crux of being a firefighter. I understand there are concerns about commissioner nika gorksios reappointment. I trust and believe hes a man who strifes to do the right thing and is a man who is capable of reflecting on what he did well and what may have left a little bit to be desired. I trust he can and will reflect on his time on the Fire Commission and what occurring now and improve on the things he could have done better. Thats is what a leader does, not because he has to but because he ultimately cares about people and this will be Fire Commissioner nikagios opportunity to do that. Thank you. Next speaker please. If i didnt call a comment card, please free to line p up along the wall there. Im richard has hashmotho. Mr. Nikagio should be an example to the entire city of San Francisco. I sore mr. Nikagio and the Merchants Association supports him. Next speaker. Madam chair, members of the committee, im mark johnson im the battalion chief and president of the San Francisco black firefighters and. While we do support the reappointment of commissioner nikagio and hardiman, we have our frustrations about the broken areas in the San Francisco Fire Department among which is the promotional process which im here to talk about this morning. I dont need to spend a lot of time on the dismal history when it comes to promotions. It was monitored by a federal court. Once the decree was lifted, the department went backwards. Its still a disgrace as it stands owt today. Gone are the days when the rank and file could be fooled into thinking the Testing Process was legitimate and that it was only a few angry black guys complaining about it. The through the lawsuit, the truth has come out. There are several protective orders from lawsuits. The tests have been called invalid and the scoring with a bad an manipulated. The members of the Department Members from every group have joined together to fight to demand change. Ap example of the vote of no. C. Wins thawins that are hardfought but where was the commission to take the lead to make some of the changes in the Fire Department thats been required to get the tests fair, its been the work and the hard work of firefighters and our lawyers, highest to bring about change. What i would lo like to say is we hope the commissioners do use this time to make changes to the Fire Department. Next speaker, please. Good morning, im audrey moi. Audrey moy. Im adding on to what everyone else said. I think the commissioner nikagio has been concerned about the safety an wellbeing of everyone. The fact that three mayorss had appointed him, its obvious they think highly of him. He has honored and received numerous commendations and awards from various organizations. Asian association, San Francisco dict Attorneys Office for elder abuse and several local tv stations. Hes respected as a leader and wellknown in the community for the work hes dn and continues to do so. Steve nikag quo has stated i like all aspects of being a Fire Commissioner. Most importantly the interaction with the men and women who make up the department and administration that says a lot. I would like to add a little historical note in 1880, was the first year of the appointment of five commissions that are started the San Francisco Fire Commission. 136 years later, the appointment of steve nikag quo to the Fire Commission added diersity to the organization. Good morning im norm cob im the president of the asian firefighters association. On behalf of the afa, wed like to express our support for commissioner nikagio. Hes not only a pillar of Asian Community with you one of the most respected leaders. I know hes fought for our community as far as back as the late 1970s. Hes a he been a long time member of the commission. His tomorrow on and ge get along is part of what made the afa what we are today. Weed aid like to applaud super vieder breeds efforts to make our Fire Department better. It lets you and other leader know about the issues. You know about our vote of no confidence for the chief. This is a primary problem because of the of trust, it allows no cooperation to get anything done. All our other issues are related. You have all been given a kitchen the report. I urge you to read it in detail. Here is a partial list of what they found, issues they found. Us vur versus them he he atmosphere. Lack ever Response Time, staffing equipment. Disaster preparedness. Lack of officers lack of routine incident analysis. Missed grant funding. After all the years of trying, i doubt the Current Administration can solve these problems. The problem now is the mayor will not listen to us. He needs to mac a change in the fire depatment administration. I hope you can help with us that. Next speaker please. Good afternoon, supervisors and rules committee. Steve nikagio lost his home to fire in the city and that was no easy task and i want him to get back get back to where he once belonged get back get back get back to the Fire Commission and pleads . Td keep i and keep it strong get back steve next speaker, please. Can. Supervisor im mike hooley, im a paramedic captain with the city of San Francisco Fire Department. Im the senior captain and im the president of the e. M. S. Officers association. I do highly support commissioner nikagios reappointment. As he may not remember. Several years ago he rode with me during one of my shifts to see what the current status was at that time. I would encourage him to come back and ride with me again or one of my fellow paramedic captains so he can see what the overall tenor is in the field. Often times we we hear from our administrators may not accurately reflect what happens in the field. Commissioner nikagio has continued to be supportive, but i strongly encourage him to put boots on the ground with us again. Next speaker, pliez. Siem jeff. Ive been with the Fire Department 26 years. Presently the director of training for the department. Ive take than role recently. Prior to that was the department of inservice training. I want to say what a big help to me in my last two roles commissioner nika imrgsio has been. Every time i see him, he wants to know what youre doing and how its going, what he can do and it makes the position im in work that much better. While ive been working with the commissioner, my staff has put a Training Facility on Treasure Island and were proud of that. I think our recruit classes that we put out now are bar nonwith their backgrounds and diversity and commitment to the city and community, im proud of that and not to mention my staff at that makes that happen. I cant say enough for the commissioner and what hes done for me and the training and department. I would guess every peron thats gotten up here with the Fire Department would agree with that and our training staff. Thank you very much. Can i ask a question, madam chair. Yes. What are our plans for, i know we have to leave Treasure Island in the next couple of years. What are our plans for a new Training Facility . Were looking at sites now. We dont is a Long Term Plan to address the issue . Our plan is to find a new site. Were aggressively looking at new sites now. Ive been working with chief lombardi and workin working with Companies Like pg e to find a new site. Ive been told by meetings on the island we have until 2021 or 2022 that will happen. Next speaker please. Im cathy gilbrait. Thank you president breed for bringing this to the table. I support commissioner nikagio and ive been on the Recruitment Team for many, many years. Hes invited us to meeting to advise him on our recruits and possiblies. Its been a pleasure to see his concern that our Department Remain diverse and strong. What id like to see in the future with the commissioner. We talked about coming to the table and communication between the supervisors and mayor, but to have the commissioners have a place where they can bring united Employee Groups to the table and have that discussion. Until 2014 it was an awkward time when the department had a split in ideas or visions of where we were going and since that time, ive been to Many Commission meters where theyve asked for updates and been proactive in trying to get the information. As Vice President of the united fire certifys have of women, we havent been asked to that table. Since it was a discussion that we initiated bag then, i think it might be somewhere where we could lerp something from. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker and again, if anyone would like to comment on item up with, please step forward. Mark gonzales San Francisco resident. Ive been with the Fire Department 27 years. I want to back commissioner nikagio and commissioner hardi 3457b. The hardi hardiman. They compare about the citizens and the Fire Department. I feel this rules committee has veered off course today. I think other people use this as a sounding voice for Something Else. Theyre made to feel uncomfortable going through this. I dont think that should happen again before the full board. What i hear is 100 support behind them from everybody pretty much. Id appreciate it on their behalf they doesnt have to go through this comen. Theyre great commissioners now an theyll go forward and still be great commissioner. Last thing i want to address is regarding diversity. I brought copies from the u. S. Department of labor. After reviewing information collected, they selected our department as one of five in the nation to be profiled to identify prems and practices among diversity of first responders. Thats a reflection of where the fire dartment is and where were going. Next speaker, please. Can i ask the chief one thing. Thank you for being here. If its related to the appointment. Its related to his comments on diversity. Do you have from the letter you provided us, do you have the specific numbers . I can get the specific numbers exactly. Because that would be helpful to uns that and can you tell me, i know youre deputy chief of 07 raitions and your responsibili operations and your responsibility is not necessarily address the kind of challenges that exist with the department in terms of issues around drim destination with testing and hiring practices and other things like that. Does that fall in your jurisdiction . Testing and hiring is done by dhr. So the selection is done by the chief. She does a good job. She interviews all the people that come in. Its a laborious process. I believe she does her Due Diligence in that respect. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. Super voorses. Im keith baracca. Im a 20 year member of the San Francisco Fire Department. I became a recruiter, before that i was a driver at ening gin 2 is rand engine 6 and searchandrescue on station 18. This is in regards to the commissioners. I dont have anything on both the dmairgs here that woor commissioners that were here to talk about today but its important to bring up the commission as a body. It speaks to their independence. How can the commission make independent decisions when theyre all appointed by the mayor . The issue that you should think about is how we can make this body more independent. I think you have to think about given someone else their responsibility of appointing commissioner. They cant make independent decision if theyre politically bound to the Mayors Office. Obviously they have support here today. I think what is important is that they havent been ail to analyze the department in a way that gives them independent because ter afraid of political ramifications. I think thats a real key point here. I think the supervisors should have a role in collect slecting the commissioner. Thank you. Any other members of the public who wish to comment on item one. Public comment is closed. I wanted to correct in terms of what i said in terms of the action we have before us today. We can amend it to approve or reject. Eye teps one and two could be tabled by this committee and all at appointments will stand pursuant to charter section 3. 100. So i just wanted to, again, correct what i stated earlier. Supervisor cohen. Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for being here. I want to recognize the leadership of commissioner nikagio and commissioner hardiman. Thank you very much. 20 years is a long time of service. Perhaps us up here will be fortunate enough to serve San Francisco that long. I want to recognize that i have heard something in the Public Comment that has been unifying. And that is anove an overwhelming support for commissioner nikagio. I think thats a testament to his leadership. Leadership is not a cookie cutter form. I want to support president breeds leader higship for bringing an item that speaks to a larger problem with some of the underlying ap frustration within the Fire Department. I think that there are legitimate concerns and a ton of coverage and a ton of grand jury reports and several investigative reports and as you know, there have been legal challenges to the Fire Departments practices also dhrs practices. I think it would be unfair to sweep it under the rug and pretend it doesnt exist. All of this which has happened under the 20year commitment of service from mr. Nikagio and mr. Hardiman. There are issues for call to service Response Times. Ive been concerned about the recruit pt, retention and promotion and cancer issues that exist within the Fire Suppression industry. I want to make sure that we as a city are providing all the resources and support needed to our people that are, when there is trouble, most of us one other way. We have a set of brave men and women running towards a problem. I want to affirm that ive heard what mr. Keith baracca said particularly what hes calling into question is how independent can an oversight body be when there is one entity that has sole appointment power. That is a legitimate question. One that this board has grappled with as well as previous boards of supervisors. You see the same thing happen in the m trgs a commission where they have one sole authority. Therefore, commissioners are not really held to the same accountability standards that we as elected officials are held to. This is also a concern within the police commission. There are four appointments that the Mayors Office makes as opposed to three with the board of supervisors. I just want to affirm to the folk that was come for Public Comment that ive heard your concerns are. Particularly those that are in the Employee Groups. Im sensitive to the working conditions that youre working under and will continue to work with you to get some changes, muchneeded changes so that the environment youre working in is safe. I also want to let you know i will be supports mr. Nikagio this afternoon and commissioner, thank you very much for your service. And i also will be supporting commissioner hardiman as well for when we get to item number two. Thank you, supervisor breed. Thank you. I will be asking the rules committee to table the two items. Because ultimately, my goal as i said before, was not to question their service but more porm little use this as an opportunity to discuss some challenges with the department. Commissioners play a role in terms of making decisions about the department. They are in essence, a part of the leadership of the department. I think it is important that when we are appointing or approving any commissioners that serve the city and county of San Francisco, we of course show our appreciation for their leadership, for their service and dedication. More important, we ask the tough questions because we should never be so content or complacent that were not trying to do everything we can to make all of our City Departments especially our Public Safety department as safe and secure as possible. And, again, i want to express my appreciation to commissioner nikagio who i consider an outstanding Public Servant and i consider a friend and i appreciate many of members who have come out here to show support to him and. At this time i want to ask tom oconnor just a couple of last questions regarding the appointments specifically. If you could come forward to the podium. And i unfortunately have to leave shortly soy want to get this wrapped up as quickly as possible. What is it you want the commission to do . Can you be specific about that . I can be very specific. I was on my way o wrapping it up before i was cut off before. There is a nexus between what the Fire Commission doesand what we read in the paper. A continual manage the of the Fire Department by reacting to crises and headlines. Valley fire, inability to cut people out of a crushed tour because with equipment that is 10 years out of date. There is a distinct pattern here. If the commissioners were tasked by the mayor of San Francisco with evaluating the chiefing executive of the Fire Department, that performance appraisal, that analysis should be made public. That view point of a critical City Department should not be done behind closed doors. Would he arent here to speak speek about pay or benefits or retirement packages, were here to talk about the citizens of San Francisco and the ability to do our job better. We dont want to be cut off at the microphone when we make a case that there is a crisis and we have concerns. If the Fire Commission is tasked with this Important Role madam chair supervisor mauer okay this i want to talk about i account you off at the microphone. If i let you speak here for addition duration of time. I can call you up the other individuals of Fire Department to do the same. I have to be fair. Im not trying to do this to you or any other individual. If the this were another item i would do the saimed and supervisor breed would be upset that someone else had additional time to speak on an individual. Im trying to be fair here and i gave you more leeway to speak out of Public Comment time. Thats why i cut you off. Okay. There is a nexus between the renomination and Public Information as who how a head of a department is evaluated. The vote of 1500 San Francisco firefighters to improve service to the citizens should not be met with silence. Ask that the Fire Commission please reveal that information. It is simial. Simial, sus spingt. I want to say that i welcome tough questions being asked of our commissioners and their role. I think thats a good thing to do. I dont think that there is anything bad about calling commissioners before us asking questions about their role and what it is that we hope they should achieve. That is fine, the open dialogue. In terms of going into details about other issues that will take longer to address, again, you have called hearings before on this and we can continue to do that. I dont want it Commission Meeting that is about a an appointee to be dominated. Youve seen how the rules committee is run. When we have commissioner up, we have them make their presentation and we have Public Comment. Supervisor mauer. I just wanted to appreciate chair tang as a former chair of the rules committee, its challenging to keep pro fussed on track record of our commissioners. There is a thin line to talk about legitimate issues but there are other forums to do that. There is a thin line when its crossed. Its so disrespectful to the commissioners when this happens. I appreciate our chairs ruling on it. I wish it didnt have to come so such conflict in this room. I just wanted to steer us back and i think the motion to the table are improper because youre not a member of this committee. I did make a i didnt make a motion. I made a suggestion. To support mr. Nikagio and mr. Hardiman. We need to address legitimate issues that make sense here but also as keith baracco mentioned, the shared appointments of commissioners and i support what he said as well. I will say that i would be okay with tabling the i items because that would stand pursuant to the charter instead of it being sent to the full board. I dont know if you want to consider that. My motion is to support the reappointments of steve nikagio and Michael Hardiman. Okay. Supervisor breed. I want it to be clear that i suggested the Committee Table the items. I didnt make a motion. I made it clear that my intention of this hearing was to continue, of course, 100 percent of commissioner hardiman and commissioner nikagio. But as i said, their role of commissioners is vital to the success of the department. This is definitely as far as im concerned, an appropriate discussion. Its interesting that there are supervisors who use so many things as a platform for their own agenda. When im trying to bring up a legitimate issue that has a Significant Impact on Public Safety in our department, and we have these discussions, weve had similar discussions request appointments for police commissioners. Why is this any different . We have all said clearly that we support these commissioner. We have all said clearly that we want to make sure this department has all the services, all the support, all that it needs to be the best Public Safety department anier. Thats not the question here. But lets not pretend there arent issues with the department. My desire as a member of the board of supervisors is to ask these commissioners to take a strong leadership role and support some of these concerns and to help as much as they can make change to the department. Thats the goal here. And so, it it is what it is at this point. As i said, im asking that this body tables the items so that this doesnt have to come to the full board and be heard, but if there is an opportunity to use something as a platform in order to make improvements to a department, so that we can ensure public that they are safe, so that we can ensure the members that they have support from this body, then im going to do everything that i can to make sure that platform is used properly. So thank you all for being here today. Thank you to the men and women who serve our department. Thank you to commissioners nikagio and hardiman to your service. Unfortunately i wont be able is to stay for commissioner hardimans Public Comment. But i want to be clear that i wholeheartedly support these two commissioner and i appreciate this opportunity to have this really challenging discussion. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor mauer had made a motion to amend item one to approve the mayors reappointment. Could we have a second . Supervisor cohen . I do not plan to second the motion. Id look to make a motion to table items one. Do we have a second on that . Im okay with tabling it. Again, because it would confirm the appointment. Do we want to role call . Role call vote. Can you just call the motion that youre going to be roll calling voting . Roll call motion to table item one as maud by supervisor cohen and seconded by chair tang. Supervisor mauer. No. Viewp visor cohen. Yes. Tang. Aye. We have two ayes and one no. Item one is tabled. Item two, please. Item number two is a motion approving or rejecting the mayors reappointment of Michael Hardiman to the Fire Commission for the term ending january 25th, 20203 2020. Eye a lieb to cal id look to call mr. Michael hardiman. Im sad to put you through this. But i commend the supervisor breed on her motive to get information out and to talking about a subject whether its supervisor mauer says in the proper context. But any way, president of the board breed, chair tang, supervisor cohen, supervisor mauer. I think im going to cut this short. Thank you for your comments and thank you to people from the San Francisco Fire Department including deputy chiefs, officers and rank and file that spoke on my behalf. Mainly i want to thank 798 and the united Employee Groups for not opposing my appointment. Because im the labor guy in activation. Believe me, it is something that i mentioned to my wife marina sitting in the audience. Maybe i dont deserve to be on this commission any more. This came up just before the mayor was going to reappointment me because i dont want labor to feel i let them down. But i think i made the right decision. Theyre not opposing me. I think president nikagio described the situation how complicated it is adequately. We have a fiveperson commission who had no guidelines. Mo performance analysis. Analysis. Then we have president nikagio getting this request as a leader of the Commission Setting the agenda. We have to call in council and talk to the mayor. It was a complicated process. Im very sad that you have to go listen through it and its still going on. But we hold the chief accountable. I have a list of dozens of different items presented to this commission a year and a half ago. Not every tie testimony is covered but its remarkable where this department has gone. March of 2014 we had 60 civilians. March of 2015, 1480 uniforms. Today march march this month we have 1601 uniform. Thats from 1452, and 6 civilians. The mayor has been phenomenal. Hed been trying to do everything. We have 90 new plans. Last night we were notified that nine more are on order. When deputy chief two Mark Gonzales spoke about the viefersity, this is the most diversified department around. I certainly dont want to take any credit for that. But im proud to be on this commission. When we were selected, this is just one of the top five Fire Departments in the country, this is the thousands and thousands of highway patrols, sheriffs, police, all different first responders. Five were picked for the department of labor as being the models. And this department is one of them. So were going to be interviewed. The paf staff will be in attendance and theyre looking at how this was done. Commissioner breed, supervisor breed, you will be amazed when you see the diversity, most women in the United States in any department, . Rx. Its not even close. I think minneapolis might be a couple belows. With you thats it. Im going below us. But thats it. Ive been on a number of commissions. No commission has worked harder than this commission. I will say commissioner evans, covington, nikagio, dynamos. My 11monthold grandson ive been wrapped up with. I dont think im more deserving of this commission than anybody else. If im appointed and if you decide to keep me going, we have the new fire boat three on the way for the 150th celebration. Well be 150 years old this year. Fire boat three is in the water. Pretty soon well have our fire boat. There are a bunch of things i want to say. I thank you, i hope youll give me the same support. If youre hear to speak against me, i hope you dont, but if youre hear to speak for me, they have a long agenda. I dont know if i need it. Any questions from the committee . Surprisingly, no, im going to open it up to Public Comment. Anyone who wishes to speak on item two please come forward. The only person i have is mark johnson. Please come on up. Michael hardiman,. Here is comes Fire Commissions son here somes the son here comes the son and i hope to i say i hope you see the light i hope you see the sun and light for mike 12349 make it turn out right here comes the Commission Fire son id like to reiterate what i said about commissioner hardiman and commissioner nikagio again. Commissioner hardiman shows up to a lot of our pyres. He has our concern when it comes to safety. I gave you the statistics that president breed requested. Next speaker. Seeing no other speakers. Public comment okay. Seeing no other speakers, Public Comment is closed. So the reappointment of Fire Commissioner Michael Hardiman, is there a motion . Sir, id like to table item number two. The motion is to table can we have a roll call. On the motion to table, made by supervisor cohen, seconded by supervisor mar. Supervisor mar. No. Supervisor cohen. Yes. Supervisor cohen yes. We have one no and one yes. I make a motion to approve Fire Commissioner hardiman. Thats my motion. Supervisor tang, really quick, we have a motion on the floor. Supervisor mar made a motion to move forward. Supervisor commissioner hardiman. We just took a roll call vote for a motion. We kneeled a second on my motion to approve Fire Commissioner hardiman. Im going to be consistent with my motion or my support on item one which is to table item two again to reconfirm. Let at appointment stand. So there is no second to my motion. Now were back to item two still. May i make i motion to rescind the previous vote to table the item. Item two. There is a second for that motion . Second. All right and if we could do a col call on tabling. Supervisor mar. No. Supervisor mar no. Supervisor cohen. Yes. Supervisor tang. Aye. Item two is now tabled. Id like to ask if we could call up item four out of order only because item three and four are about the mta board of directors. But for item three, miss rubkey is not available. Item four is reject or appointment to mr. Heinke. Mr. Heinke, please come forward. Good morning. Thank you, supervisors. You may proceed. I may proceed. I will try to be brief if you have questions, but i have had the chance to meet with supervisor tang and i did have the chance yesterday to meet with supervisor cohen, staff member and i might offer a compliment. Meeting with her is wul. Shes smart and articulate and it was great to talk through some of the items with supervisor tang. This is my third full term. This will being my third full term on the mta. And so ive done this before. Ill be brief but wanted to cover three points and answer any questions you may have. First, id look o cover what ive a seen. I realize that the mta is a slow turning ship. But i think the agency has turned a corner. I have seen improvement in the way the agency is functioning as you a board member an ive seen improvement as a rider and i do ride the system every day. Its my primary form of transportation. But that change is coming slowly. I did sit in a 30 minute train delay this morning due toy mechanical issue. I did want to report to the board because we dont get o often speak directly and puck lkly to you that i think the agency is on the improvement ond our cuss more polling suggests that. I think thats due in large part to one key change and that was bringing in director riskin and our new director of transportation. Hes fantastic. Very dedicated, very professional and someone i enjoy working with. Where were going as we head into this next what would be a fouryear term for me, there there are two items i wanted to specify for you all that i see going on. First, i think being one of most if not the most senior board member, i would bring some Institutional Knowledge and experience that would be helpful on some of the things that would seem more mundane to the public but are important to the agency. For example, well start Union Negotiations relatively soon. That is something youve been worked through before. With staff. And in addition, there are Financial Issues well confront. One is the issue of the fund reserve and the fact that i was a board member when service was threatened by state budget cuts. The fund reserve was critical to our maintaining service. Those are the sorts of things i look forward to using my Institutional Knowledge to help the board with particularly as we transition chairs. It is my hope that when tom nolan our current chair is turned out, our current vice chair and my friend Sheryl Brinkman will become the chair and i hope to help her in that transition. Im not suggesting shell need my help, but i look forward to helping her. Finally specific projects going forward. It is important for each board member to identify projects that they focus on particularly and like to see forward and as i discussed with supervisor tang recently, i do villea great affinity for our taxi industry. I think its important that our board work with our staff in the industry to help it through what is a difficult time right now with the competition from the tncs and i will continue to dedicate myself to doing that particularly through regulation relaxment and Traffic Control if expanded red carnts and taxicabs will help them, ill support that. And ive been a strong proponent for expanding the ban on public cars. Private cars, excuse me on market street. That is something i would like to see go forward and really be sort of a paradigm or example for other transit improvement throughout the city. Ive tried to cover what ive seen and what i plan in the small and big picture, with that, supervisor tang ill stop and say its been a pleasure to serve on the mrgs ta. I value my colleagues on the bored and staff. Its an important job and i appreciate the trust the mayor and you will place in me here. And i did enjoy our conversation prior to the rules Hearing Committee and appreciate your service on the board. This is just a general comment about the mta board of directors. Weve had at least a particular vacancy for a while. This is not really directed at you, but in general, its important to have that balance of perspective on that board, people who ride Public Transportation on a regular basis. People who ride and walk and drive as well. We havent had someone who has represented for example the families on the west side with children or seniors. Who may need to drive. So, i really hope that the mayor will make an appointment soon. For that particular roll. Because i think that these decisions that you have to make, theyre often challenging and in our push to really encourage people o ride Public Transportation, there has to be that careful weighing of the needs of different types of communities. Again, i just happen to represent be districts where a lot of people rely on cars for various reasons. We have a high population of seniors and families with children. So i hope youll have a new colleague soon who can represent some of those views. As ive a said before im a Firm Believer transit first. But that doesnt mean drivers never. We want to make transit as efficient as possible. I cant appoint the new mta member. But as we live close to where you live, my wife does drive our three children a fair amount. I am definitely sensitive to the needs of the drivers and while meg, my wife is not on the board, hes a good advocate and has my er ear. I agree thats an important voice and i hope that there is comfort at that may family represents a part that have constituents si. Supervisor mar. I wanted to say, commissioner heinke, i think the mta commission is one the most thankless. You put in so much work and there are so many benefits to the city. I wanted to thank you and say that im strongly supportive of your reappointment as well as commissioner [inaudible] as well. First of all, youre welcome and second all, thank you for saying that. Its a thanks that comes slowly. But we see the system Getting Better. I think the six of us take pride in that, but your comments are appreciated. Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments from this committee . Seeing none, were going to open up item four to Public Comment. Thank you, supervisor. Good afternoon, im Sheryl Brinkman i serve as the vice chair of the board of director and im here o support the reappointment of director heink representing and rupee. What we have in common on all the boards and commissions is a desire to see this city be the best it can be and a deep love of city. Were so fortunate that two people like christina and malcolm will take time from their lives and families to guy the mta and push us to be the best we can be. I know already fellow Board Members and mta staff appreciate the knowledge and dedication they bring and i hope youll agree that theyre important members of the board and support both for reappointment. I would like to echo what director heinke said in the deep pride and sense ever accomplishment in seeing the agency move forward and we do take the needs of all of our citizens into account when we make decisions about the transit agency, about policy and goals that we have. I know that i hear it from my coworkers downtown. When they talk about their commute on muni around town. One of betion things we can do to help out car drivers, because Everybody Needs though drive at some point. I droof myself occasionally when i cant do feg to avoid it. The best thing we can do is to continue to move people by bike, muni and trips on foot. Id like to ask for the support of these two fabulous directors. Thank you. I see mr. Paulson. Hes going back to the mta board ear he comes hes going back to the mta board because thats where he belongs he rolls his wheels with great traction hes going back to the mta board no hes not gone going back to keep it strong thank you very much. Any other members of the public who wish to comment on item four . Public comment is closed. Colleagues, im very supportive of director heinke. I think he should continue and hes done a wonderful job in his role as director. If were going to talk about things that the department can improve, there is lots to talk about with mta but there is already a lot of improvement. Do we have a motion to confirm to amend the motion to confirm the mayors reappointment of malcolm heinke to the board of displerkts looks like there is a second. We can take that without objection. Congratulations. Now well call up item well move three to last since director rupee is not here actually yes, supervisor cohen. Lets take item three since director rupee is not here any way. Item number three motion confirming or rejecting the appointment of christina rupee to the term. Director rupee could not make it here today. I did meet with her to talk about what shes done in her role. Colleagues, if you have anything to add, if not we can open up item three to Public Comment. Please let the reappointment be let it be let it be there will be an reappointment let it be thank you. Thank you. Any other members of the public on item three . Public comments close. Do we have a motion on item three . Id like to make a motion that we reappointment to the municipal transportation board of directors chris rupee. Seconded by supervisor mar and take that without objection. Thank you very much. Thank you and just for the public, those are recommended as amended to confirm. Exactly. Thank you. All right, item five, please. Item number five si hearing to consider appointing two members terms ending april 10th 201 2017 and march 10th. We have if any of you are here, please come forth and make a presentation. When you come forth state your name. Amy landgraph. Im amy land graph, i have the great privilege of managing the contracts one of which is the largest public contract. Wave installed 1100 shelters in the city of San Francisco and 850 new racks. With such a large footprint in the city, we are apart of the fabric of the community. We have 60 employees out on the frontlines every day to work hard to keep our streets, furniture in firstrate condition. Preventing and abating gra petey. I bring value to this position as Clear Channel outdoor and orchestrate the cleanup efforts and work with the Operations Team to ensure that gr graffiti is removed within 24 hours. We hope to work closely with the Community Partners and members that come up with Creative Solutions to address graffiti vandalism, raise awarenessened gain support of community to work with lawsuit to combat the challenging street be behave yore we deal with evermachine behavior we deal with every day. We keep San Francisco graffiti free. A quick question, i know the goal is to remove the graffiti within 24 hours. I dont know if you track it, is that occurring . Yes, we track it. We have monthly narrative reports we provide to fsmta and show that we do that. If the next applicant would like to come forward, i dont see any questions or comments. Im lord. Amy is replacing me. I no longer work for clear dhanl. Im applying for see the 18. I am currently the vice chair of graffiti advisory board. I served with them eight years. Im very involved with multiple cham programs that were working on including the huddle conference on may fourth where community members, city officials, businesses come together to discuss best practices, what is working and what is not working and what we can do going forward. Also, i will be at the public representative for the board going before the chamber of commerce on paip 19th to present what ee do, how they can help us and one other thin thing, i cochaired the First International antigraffiti vandalism conference if the world held here in San Francisco in 2012. Finally, both larry stringer Deputy Director of operations who is also my partner and chair of the board wants you to know he supports my application c18. And finally, i just love San Francisco so much. I want it to be a beautiful city. To me, its the most beautiful city in the world. I want to keep working to make it beautiful. Thank you so much for your consideration for my application. I know we have a couple of questions here. One thing i wanted to ask is that especially given your previous experience, what are some of the things that we can do more proactively to make sure vandalism, graffiti that we try to prevent as much as possible . One of the things that the board does, we have a subcommittee called education. We have two programs that were involved with street smarts and where art lives where we go to elementary schoolsened educate fourth graders an fifth graders on the importance of keeping our city beautiful, showing them the difference between vandalism and art. The difference to us is permission. Do you have permission to put whatever you put on a wall . Or is this just your taking advantage of someones we work with that were proud of is cameron moberg. He used to be a graffiti vandal now hes a revered graffiti artist internationally. That is some examples of what we can do. The other is and d drgs w is doing a stand up job to attack vandalism right away. If you get it off the are street as fast as possible, that detoured future vandals because they get frustrated. 150u7 viso supervisor mar. I wanted to thanks for the eight years of service on the task force and also all the muni shelters you built. We built nearly 1200 shelters. By the time i left we only had three left. It was a wonderful experience and mta was great. They helped us stay on top of things and 311. That is Something Else we work on, we work with 311 to figure out best Solutions Like the u. S. Post office. We ironed that out as a board. The u. S. Post office werent getting the 311 reports for some reason. And the mailboxes werent getting cleared off. We went directly to the post office and 311 and were able to integrate them together. It took several years to make it happen, but it finally happened and were proud that have as well. Then, just to clarify youre vacating see the 17 because you correct. For your appointment to see the 18 there is Gregory Dillon vying for that see the. But your eight years of experience and other work helped with continuity on this body. But i want to thank thank you for your service. Thank you. Supervisor cohen. Thank you. So i think in your last my question was for what reason do you want to continue to serve on this body. The last sentence you said was that you loved San Francisco and want to continue to make it beautiful. I noticed you need a fee waiver . Residency. Residency waiver . Atlarge member is a reses densey waiver seats. There are two residency waiver seats 17 and 18. So you dont live in San Francisco. No, but my family arrived in San Francisco . 1904. Thats okay. There are real reasons why people dont live here. I dont want to put you on the defense. But i do just want to acknowledge that i think its a priority to appoint people that are living here in San Francisco. And i say that is incredibly important. I look forward to hear mg mor ing more discussion. We have