Transcripts For SFGTV LIVE BOS Rules Committee 20170112

[gavel] all right. Welcome everyone to our rules Committee Meeting of thursday january 12, 2017. I am katy tang chairing this committee. To my right is vice chair malia cohen and we will like to give a warm welcome to the new supervisor who is on this committee sandra lee fewer. [applause] our clerk is derek evans and from sfgtv we would like to thank the staff. Felix is new and at this time mr. Clerk do you have any announcements. Yes, sir madam chair. Please silent all cell phones and Electronic Devices and items should be submitted to the check and items will be on the tuesday january 242017 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. Thank you. Mr. Clerk can you call item 1. Item 1 is for the ordinance amending the administrative code to require that the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing appoint one member to the Reentry Council increasing the member from 23 to 24 and increasing the time of appointed former inmate can be free from custody from maximum to two years to a three years and require that Council Submit a report to the board of supervisors recommended whether the council should continue by july 1, 2018. This is from supervisor avalos and now supervisor breed and we have Reentry Council staff here. I am a planner at San Francisco do you want Probation Department and i staff the Reentry Council. This ordinance change its an amendment on the originally ordinance to form the Reentry Council will do two things. The first is now that we have a department of homelessness and Supportive Housing would add that department as one of the member organizations to the Reentry Council, and the other is that as the board knows through the rules committee you are able to appoint the board appoints three four members of the Reentry Council who are formerly incarcerated people and one to have maximum two years post release in order to qualify and we found that two years is a very short time and we can expand that pool of very qualified people by giving an extra year so people are able to stabilize and find their feet before they have to start doing public service. All right. Great. I dont have any questions on this particular item and i dont see any from colleagues as well so thank you for your presentation so with that we will go to Public Comment on item 1 if anyone is here to speak on this please come forward. Seeing none. Public comment is now closed. [gavel] if we could get a motion to this ordinance . Im sorry cone con. Thank you just for clarification you asked for a motion. Yes. Thank you. I would just like to make that motion forgive me with a positive recommendation. To the full board, yes,. Great. We will do that without objection. [gavel] all right item 2 please. Item number 2 is a hearing to consider nominating a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors for the north coast central on the California Coastal commission. Thank you. So we did have a poll among our supervisors to see who would like to sit on the California Coastal commission which will then be consideration among some other jurisdictions outside of San Francisco. At this time supervisor aaron peskin was the 11 that asked to serve in this role so if we can get a motion to put forth supervisor peskin later after Public Comment that would be great. I will make that motion to have aaron peskin on the California Coastal Commission Seat and this is an appointment made of Senate Rules Committee who will consider the nominations provided by the board of supervisors. In marin county, San Francisco county and Sonoma County. All right. Thank you supervisor cohen so i do have a number of speaker cards so we will open this item to Public Comment. [calling speaker names] so if you have submitted a card please come up. Even if you havent please also come on up. Hi good afternoon. My name is marcela, the founder and director of azula and organization focused on Environmental Justice within conservation. We have been following the work of the California Coastal commission closely and we think that supervisor peskin has a very good record and commitment to open space and also to keeping the waterfront open to people so were gladly enthusiastically supporting his nomination. Great. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. Good morning. This is kathryn howard. I am a member of the sierra club and im also on the Citizens Advisory Group to the amendment to the San Francisco coastal plan but i am here on my own. I support supervisor peskin for appointment to the Coastal Commission. This is a very important position for San Francisco. San francisco is currently proposing amendments to sections of our own local Coastal Program of the western shoreline plan. Our San Francisco coastal zones extends approximately 6 miles along San Francisco western shoreline from the point lobeos Recreation Area in the north to the fort sumter in the south. The proposed local coastal amendment specifically addresses Sea Level Rise and the coast and once its approved by the board and the full board it will be forwarded to the California Coastal commission for review and approval this. Is a long way of saying that inventory decisions will be made in the future at the California Coastal commission. Not only for all of california but right now particularly for our beloved ocean beach. Both San Francisco and indeed all of the california coast need a strong voice on the commission to protect our precious coast line. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. Good morning supervisor. I want to congratulate the new supervisor. Its nice. I saw you sworn in on monday. My name is Rebecca Evans and a local environmental activist but i am speaking as an individual. One of the first things i did as a professional years ago was to campaign for the passage of the coastal act and i have seen it over the years and sometimes it does a good job and others it doesnt. I fully support supervisor peskin. Hes my supervisor. I have worked with him off and on for 25 years. He has unique knowledge and history with Environmental Issues and as mentioned Sea Level Rise which is important and looking at the bay side and also important on the coast so i hope you nominate the supervisor for this position. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. Supervisors i am art feinstein and a vice chair of the california Nevada Committee of the sierra club and urging you to send supervisor peskin up to the senate to see who they will choose out of the three counties. I have been doing environmental work for 30 years and a lot of that time aaron has been working in San Francisco and elsewhere on working on conservation issues. His experience and trust for public land shows that he knows how to work with the urban and Natural Resource communities and a lot of work in the city thats not just building playgrounds et cetera but also helping preserve Natural Resources so he knows both end of that has he demonstrates on the board of supervisors employed he encourage you to endorse him and hopefully he will be chosen. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Any other members of the public to seek on item 2 . Seeing none. Public comment is now closed. So supervisor cohen made a motion to send forth to the full board with positive recommendation. Yes, i would like to add to my comments quickly. The Coastal Commission for those that dont know plans and regulates the use of land and water along the coastal zone and important to my district along the waterfront but also the Central Waterfront in supervisor peskins district as well as touches on come kims district. This is incredible important to consider the effects of sea water rising and as we continue to plan along in the Bayview Community and in the dogpatch neighborhood planning for our city we need to be taking those sea water rising considerations into account, and i cant think of a better person, more dodded person to move into the seat than supervisor peskin and i am delighted and enthusiastic to move it forward and with that said lets make a positive recommendation to move supervisor peskin and nominate him. All right. Second that by supervisor fewer and well move it out without objection r. Congratulations supervisor peskin. Item 3 please. Item 3 is hearing to consider appointing two members terms ending february 1, 2018 and february 1, 2019 to the park, recreation and open space advisory committee. All right thank you. So one of the things we will be doing and entertaining a motion for later for seat seven. We will need to continue that item for various reasons so really were only going to be considering seat 20 and i believe that the nominee for seat 20 is not here today but i am very familiar with his work. Hes a District Residents so i will be supporting him to go into seat 20 so at this time i dont know if there is no comments, questions from Committee Members . Then we will open item 3 to Public Comment first. Any members of the public here . Okay seeing none. Public comment is close said then. [gavel] as if we can get a motion to continue seat seven. Sure i would like to make a motion that we continue. All right. Actually lts go theres a comment on seat 20. Thank you colleagues so i know i am new to the committee but does anyone have gender and racial break down of the full committee of prosac. Supervisor i dont have it but i can get it to your office if you would like. This is what i would like age groups, i mean which age they are, also gender and race. I will have that to your office later. That would be great. Thank you. Thank you supervisor. Thank you so much so at this time then do we have a motion to both continue seat seven, i would say maybe to the call of the chair, and then to submit Trevor Mcneils name for seat 20 to the full board with a positive recommendation . So i do have a question madam chair. I am wondering if since this information is not available until later in my office i am wondering if this is the appointment that needs to be made today or postponed until we have a full purview of how diverse that group is. I will say just based on my experience at least for some of the committees and commissions where the individual supervisors get to make nominations generally speaking we have deferred to the District Supervisor for their particular seats. When there are but it is your call of course but that has just been the general policy for example if i have someone appointing to a particular seat because i feel this person is interested and engaged and wants to participate and maybe fits certain criteria that i have so again i tend to defer to the nominating supervisor however for larger commissions maybe the Rec Park Commission or Something Like that where theres a combination between the mayor and the board we need to look at the complement of things and of course when i am making a particular appointment i will look okay i want diversity as well and i will bring that to the commission so thats my take so i would prefer to move forward because its supervisor breeds nominee but supervisor cohen. Thank you. I also too want to add to my voice to what supervisor tang was mentioning that level of deference is appreciated and given to the sponsoring supervisor. Also it is usually the rules Committee Staff that does the Due Diligence, not necessarily the clerk doing the Due Diligence of the exact make up of the body. These the same considerations that i look into because not only am i looking for diversity in gender diversity and Ethnic Diversity but also in experience, geographic, where theyre coming from in the city. Have they been to the other parts of the city and the district . Theyre all critical questions that manifest not always here in the Committee Work, Committee Work space, but in the absence of your staff doing the Due Diligence on your behalf. They know your values, and it is incumbent upon them to take the values and communicate them and ask the questions to the applicants that are coming before them, so there is a a little bit of work that has to be done, but okay, no thank you for answering that he q so i am new to the committee and actually when i on the school board i look extensively of the committee make up because they represent the whole eventually so i understand there is deferment that goes with the appointments from the District Supervisor. I am happy to do that. It would have been great to have the nominee here today to answer some questions, but thats fine. Thank you very much, and i think in the future then what i am hearing is that this is not the staff that would give me this information but the rules staff that would and request this information ahead of time. Okay. Its just that i just got here. We know. And thats totally fine. I am glad we could clarify that a little bit. For example i have two appointees to prosac, two women, one woman of color so i very much looked into that while i was making those considerations but again there will be commissions and appointments that come before us that are more broad. For example, mayor suggestions or our Committee Suggestions so we need to look at that carefully so thank you for raising that so at this time based on what i said continuance of seat seven to the call of the chair and Trevor Mcneil to seat 20. I will second the motion. Without objection. [gavel] all right. Thank you. Item 4 please. Item number 4 hearing to consider appointing six members, terms ending november 23, 2018 to the Shelter Monitoring Committee. There are six seats and 13 applicants. Great. So we will go down the line for applicants and see who is here and who is not so first up we have patrina hall. All right. Please come on up. Yes. Hello. My name is patrina hall and i am running for seat one and seat two. I am a single parent with a minor child who is under 18, and i am also disabled, so i am running for both seats. I qualify for both seats. I was homeless within three years of applying for the seats and i would like to say that i have served on part of an unexpired term for a member. Presently i have been working with the committee on various policies such as shelter bed utilization policy. I believe the imminent danger policy. Also the policy on recommendations to modifying the shelter training manual so i have been pretty active, and with the pres as policy committee as well and presently im the only africanamerican woman on the committee. There are i believe another Committee Member who is a person of color. I dont know his exact racial makeup. He maybe africanamerican and mixed with Something Else but im the only black person on the committee presently and i feel that the seat will be perfect for me because i am there to bring in the diversity. Thank you. Supervisor cohen. Thank you. So ms. Hall i think you came before this body; right . Youre currently in the position on the body. Yes. This is a reup the term you were appointed to finish out. At the time you have been on the Shelter Monitoring Committee what are some of your accomplishments that youre most proud of that you worked on . I cant say i really introduced any policies but i have worked on the shelter bed utilization policy as a group with the subpolicy committee. I worked revising the training manual. I have also participated in various meetings and presentations with the new Homeless Department of housing. So when you say you participated in the presentations what does that look like . What did you do . What was the topic you were talking about . Yes, we remember talking about the shelter. Were talking about the shelter bed utilization. And information you were sharing with the department what the shelter bed process is . Is that what it is . Yes. They were sharing information with us how they also facilitate shelter bed utilizations and appropriation and set asides. I understand this is in the capacity of a volunteer you know in the form of volunteer work. Have you been able to do any work around mentoring or Inspiring Women in the shelter system being an advocate on their behalf . Yes, i have. But most women are really trying to seek employment. They really dont have time to set aside for participating in volunteer work. What kind of work are you doing now . Presently im a student. Well, i am majoring in pharmacology. I received the masters degree in public administration. I have a bachelors degree in criminal justice. I a Associates Degree in behavioral science and aa degree in education and pursuing a law degree. So youre really busy. Yes. How do you find time to mother, work and volunteer . I am used to it. I have been doing it for many years. Fair enough. One last question what kind of work do you want to accomplish in the future in this capacity . I am looking forward to work ork the manuel and ada policies in place and set aside for disabled. Also special accommodations for seniors in the shelter which was a policy discussed by another Committee Member. I am looking also to facilitate programs hopefully that i can encourage the shelters to sasilltate a program where the employees are bonded prior to employment. Thank you. I have no further questions. Thank you very much. So i think supervisor cohen asked some of the questions that i had for well so i dont know at this time if we have any further questions. Okay. Thank you so much for serving already on this body, and so at this time i actually neglected to call up the shelter monitoring Committee Staff jeff so if you could come up first and then we will proceed to the rest of the applicants. Thank you ms. Hall. Thank you. Youre welcome. Good morning and happy new year supervisor tang, supervisor cohen, supervisor fewer. My name is jeff simbee and one of the two shelter monitoring Committee Staff so i wanted to take a couple of minutes to mention that membership on the Shelter Monitoring Committee is a little bit or actually a lot different than membership with other committees in that the Committee Members do site inspections so they go out at night typically after 6 00 p. M. And trend time at the 21 different shelter sites. As far as frequency a Committee Member will do about they should average one visit per week so four times a month. In addition to that the committee is always looking for Community Members who are bilingual and Spanish Speaking would be very helpful so if the applicants have that please mention that. As far as the regular meeting stuff accident like the monthly meeting and participation in the subCommittee Meetings which supervisor tang youre involved in the imminent danger Domestic Violence and that was in the meetings and members that can collaborate with other agencies much like everyone did in the imminent danger Domestic Violence and different agencies and you guys Work Together to push that through so thank you for that by the way and lastly i want to say thank you to all the mothers. I have been at the Committee Staff for about four years and this is the most applicants that weve ever had. Usually there is one or two and really hard time finding applicants so i want to say thank you to the applicants. I hope we have a good pool that hopefully can fill our seats. Thank you. Great. Just based on earlier questions from supervisor fewer for example he has staff here just for the purposes of the first meeting and supervisor fewer we can talk about the make up of the Current Committee and what that looks like . That we currently have . Yes. So 13 members. Four are a poichted by the local homeless coordinating board and theyre full and the appointment for the upcoming term. Three members are appointed through the Mayors Office and those seats are already appointed for this next term, and so we have a total of seven and then plus these vacant six seats. And then in terms of the makeup based on the criteria that supervisor fewer was looking at so for example gender, ethnicity. I dont know if you have that information available. Off the top of my head there are you have to give me a second here. As far as the Seven Members that we have five female five male, two female [inaudible] thats good. Okay. Okay. If thats all you have for now. Supervisor fewer. Yes. Do you have any information on race or ethnicity . Yes, one africanamerican, one asian, three or four caucasian and five caucasian. One africanamerican and one asian person. And your bilingual capacity . Of those seven no one is bilingual in spanish. In spanish. In chinese . Chinese . No. But as far as actually im not sure any other language but i know for sure there is no one currently on the committee who is bilingual spang speaking. Nobody . Yeah. Would you say that the majority of people that this body would be serving would you say there is a fairly sizable part that might be spanish or chinese speaking . So Spanish Speaking, yes, like when we go to the delores shelter a huge Spanish Speaking almost 90 Spanish Speaking at those shelters and the big shelters and msc south and im not sure of of percentages off the top of my head and lot of Spanish Speaking. For chinese speaking not so much. What is helpful there one of the staff speaks mandarin. Mandarin . Yes, so that is helpful and when we have problems i want to mention that the staff at the shelters have been helpful in helping translation. Great. Are you finding that we have an increase of arabic speaking people that were serving in the shelters . Not that no, not that i have noticed. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you supervisor fewer and thank you. So based on our conversation here i am wondering if you call up the applicants if you could address anything if you have Language Skills that would be great to share with us as well as your level commitment to the site inspections and meetings and subCommittee Meetings and so forth and include that part of your conversation, presentation so next we have jonathan blackman. Good morning supervisors. My name is jonathan blackman. Im my profession im the Salvation Army harbor house director and work with homeless families. I have that experience for the last two years and previous to that i was the manager of the Salvation Army harbor light Detoxification Center and deal directly with the homeless off the street. We do a great deal of referring to the shelters. I am available to visit shelters. I am very mobile. It may seem and the travel and i get around by scooter and avoids traffic issues and i am available for meetings and shelter visits. I can communicate in spanish, so should i continue or do you have any questions . If you could talk a little more about what are some of the policy goals or goals in general that you have if youre able to serve on this committee . Well, the main goal i have as a referring agent to the shelters the people are resistant. The population i work with are resistant to go to the shelters. We refer them to the shelters when necessary. Most people typically its a last resort. Sometimes prefer to be on the street so a goal i have is try to reverse the perception that people have of the shelters directly by mofer mofer the shelters and find out what the problems are. The problems that i typically encounter in terms anecdotally they tell me they think its dangerous. There is violence that goes on there. Their property is not safe and yet its sometimes the only resort for people to go to so i would like to make it a more welcoming place to go so theyre willing to take advantage rather than be on the street. Okay great. Thank you so much. Colleagues any questions or comments for mr. Blackman . Okay seeing none thank you very much. Have a nice day. Thank you. Supervisor ron summers. Okay ron summers is not here. Lor retia gains. Good morning supervisors. Its a pleasure being here. I am enthusiastic about applying i am going to be applying for seats two, four, five and six so first of all for seat two i am disabled. I was previously homeless person within the past three years, and i have lived at a domestic womens shelter and i want to say thank you. I went through the executive summary for some of the things youre doing for Domestic Violence. I really appreciate that. As far as my qualifications i am africanamerican and also native american dissent, and i am able to work with diverse populations which includes students, families, Senior Citizens,let homeless, disabled persons. Who are physically and mentally challenged, persons from ethnic backgrounds and orientation and race and more information. I do volunteer work as a worship associate at church and the way i connect with people is through different multireligions, so as far as my qualifications i worked at cots family shelter in Sonoma County where at first i went in as a client and i went to the director of the program and i had some suggestions so they hired me as a resident manager and i was able to do deescalation, provide services for families and counseling and Group Counseling when i was there and also i was the acting director for a day Treatment Facility in marin county as well, so when the director would leave i would take over which was a surprise to me but i had worked with him so i did that for a year as well. I worked with eviction defense with james traci here in San Francisco, and we advocated for homeless families and individuals. I am a past graduate of the rams Pure Wellness counseling. I dont know if youre aware of that, and i recently got accepted to their advanced course so i am starting classes next week. I am really excited and my under graduate studies in Political Science at Golden Gate University and intergovernmental relations, negotiations, contract law, critical writing, and these are some of the skills that i can also bring to the seat. Presently i am working for volunteer for the friendship line, the institute of aging, and what they do is if youre over 18 years or older and disabled or 60 years of age and referred through a case manager or case worker and what we do is we do suicide prevention. We provide medication reminders to people that we call in or clients that call us. Also some of my other in the city i worked for the San Francisco Unified School District where i did extensive volunteer work. As long as my children were in school i did the volunteer work. I needed to be there and be a part of that as a volunteer work. I worked at kps radio and i worked there for a year and a half in the Apprenticeship Program and worked come Community Radio klax at uc berkeley and as a dj, a producer, engineer. I did interviews, soap box derby which was a political call in talk show and the news and many of the people that worked with me we would go out and get local news in the community that you didnt see, so i am flexible. My children are adults now so i am flexible and i am really looking forward and i think i can bring a lot of my talents and qualifications, and i have a letter of recommendation for vacant seat four. I dont know if you want me to go through it or no. If its in the packet thats fine. Its in the packet and also that recommendation was from my teacher Kristin Snell through the pier specialists Mental Health Certificate Program and i always have a recommendation from the eviction defense collaborative for vacancies five and six and one thing i would like to bring to the committee is how do we assess people who have Mental Health issues . When i stayed at the shelters here i did not see resources for Mental Health services so one thing being a part of the rams program what i would like to do is bring in Mental Health services for people who are in the shelter. How do we assess them . And so those are my qualifications. I am interested in being a part of this committee and if you have any questions. Thank you so much for your thorough presentation and i dont know what you havent done yet ms. Gains but i think what you bring up about Mental Health services in the shelter is incredibly important. It is something that we a Mental Health board as well. Perhaps that could be a collaborative bodies. Supervisor cohen. I was thinking along the same lines and you answered the question what do you plan to do in the future and in that capacity and i love the element of the Mental Health work. I think its incredibly important that we do a lot more cross collaboration between the Mental Health department, department of Public Health and the Mental Health board Reentry Council veteran services. Theyre all major constituencies that factor into the Homeless Community, the population. What are some of the driving forces to lead people to be homeless or finding themselves in shelters . And having key people already in critical positions to help in many cases administer, talk to, guide them along the process, encourage them, build them back up, introduce them to new opportunities theyre not aware of is really important so i am happy to support you as you move forward through the process. Thank you. Yes thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. So at this time the next candidate is isaac langfod. And i believe that we had received notice he wouldnt be here today so the next applicant is Raymond Benton. Is Raymond Benton here . Okay. Seeing none i mean seeing no raymond. Leslie bilbro. Good morning supervisors. Thank you for this opportunity to present. My name is leslie bilbro. My background as i have 23 years in Corporate America and five years in the nonprofit space. Currently i am director of programs for [inaudible] Work Development start up and as director i work directly with not only the Homeless Population but also we entry clients and what my interest on being on this committee is really understanding and contributing to not just the compliance aspects of which should occur, but also be able to provide changes or recommendations to policies as it relates to the health, the safety, and the res dents focus while theyre there and what i mean by that currently we have several student who is are homeless, and one is a homeless woman with a child who is required to have the child live with the father. One is a homeless young man. The lafco hort we had four homeless families. One man had a set of twins and what i hear from them my childrens behavior is changing from what theyre seeing. I am hearing theyre not safe. This woman threatened me because she thought i was talking about her and recognizing the important seakz of people transition from homelessness and Economic Empowerment is critical that we understand the conditions upon which people live and survive in the shelter. They dont feel like theyre thriving and helping to work on policies where they not only feel respected and have dignity while theyre in the shelter, but they can find a pathway out of the shelter, and leave it behind them and move forward as contributing members in our society, and so in terms of my language i have very limited spanish. I havent spoken it since college, and in terms of my participation in meetings whether its a subcommittee or visiting on site i am currently a member of the San Francisco Reentry Council and we have meetings regularly on their policy and operational practices subcommittee so i have no problems attending meetings. If im an advocate i am an all in advocate and i think its critical that we advocate those that face tremendous barriers in the city of San Francisco and the bay area in general so if you have questions for me i am happy to answer them. Thank you very much for your presentation. All right. So seeing no questions or comments then thank you very much. Our next applicant is Terezie Bohrer, but i believe mr. Simbee is supposed to present the testimony today. So she asked me to read this to you. I have asked him to present my testimony today. My husband on a trip to hawaii and visiting our daughter and i have been a shelter monitor and going six times a year and assumed the duties of shelter leader, secretary of the committee and on the policy and bylaws committees. I attend monthly meetings and review reports. The work on the Shelter Monitoring Committee is rewarding but frustrating. I wish i could do more. Its frustrating to see seniors and people with disabilities in the shelters. As a Senior Citizen nurse and social worker living in the San Francisco towers i come home after monitoring visits feeling helpless, sad and frustrated want i am impatient and i want to see the homeless problem in our city resolved. At the same time i must state i believe my small contribution is rewarding of value assuring home that are homeless and treated with respect and fed and temporarily living in a safe clean environment. It is important to note that shelter residents warmly greet me and frequently that the city has this monitoring program. I would like to continue my service and involvement with this committee. Moreover in the next year i want to research omseses for Senior Citizens and develop a white paper describing my findings. I want to make sure that people who are homeless are treated with dignity and respect and the rights are protected. Your confidence in me and confirming of my reappointment would greatly be appreciated. Thank you very much. Okay. Earlier you asked me the composition question and i was nervous and couldnt figure it out and i sat down and got the correct one. Yes please. Four are caucasian. Two asian and one africanamerican moses from kenya and as far as gender six males and one female. Thank you very much. Six males, one female. All right. Although i guess i am a little confused and says she is seeking appointment but its reappointment. I want to make sure i have this correct. Yes madam chair. This is a new appointment. But shes work in the Shelter Monitoring Committee in that capacity . All right. The next applicant we have is matthew steen. Good morning madam chair and good morning Committee Members. My name is matthew steen. I have served on the Shelter Monitoring Committee through the local homeless coordinating board for the last four years. I served as acting chair, vice chair during 2016 and previously secretary as well on the policy committee. Currently well, not currently because our terms are over. I was chair of the bylaws committee. During the four years i inspected our shelters over 120 times so i have been conducted 120 shelter inspections of all 20 of our shelters. I have worked on our new Domestic Violence policy for the shelters and along with others and a great proponent of that and see how its operating in the family shelters and denying service to women involved with Domestic Violence in our shelters. Previously i worked on obtaining and obvocating for year round funding for the family shelters that we currently have. I worked on advocating and pushing for creation of the [inaudible] place, the first lgbtq shelter in the city and first in the nation perhaps. I worked strong advocacy for expanding mother browns shelter in the bay view which did not go through and that would have been a 100 bed shelter opposed to folks sitting in chairs all night. And the rest of my resume if you want to call that is in the committee packet. I am involved in current local democratic application and chair of the western United States for scholarships for [inaudible] nation and i am open to questions but i am withdrawing my application for appointment. Youre withdrawing your application . I am withdrawing my application. Okay. That was a surprise but thank you for letting us know the things you have worked on. I enjoyed working on the family shelter with Domestic Violence so i want to thank you for all of your advocacy throughout the years and finally were able to change that policy in 2016. Yes. Thank you. I will be applying for another committee or Commission Appointment in the near future so thank you again. Again. Thank you mr. Stein. Okay the next applicant is lauren kahn. Hemo supervisor tang, supervisor cohen and supervisor fewer. Thank you for the opportunity to come before you today to be considered for seat three or seat four of the Shelter Monitoring Committee. I am a naifit san franciscan and graduate of local high school and Lowell High School and was a tutor, case manager and most relevant to the activities of the Shelter Monitoring Committee i worked as a compliance manager overseeing services to individuals who are homeless. My experience includes conducting site visits and auditing programs to standards for health, safety and quality of care, investigating and resolving complaints and grievances and developing and monitoring corrective action plans. I understand this work can be sometimes perceive said as punitive and nitpicky but i love it. Oversight and monitoring celebrate the difficult work of Service Providers and avenue to support guidance when opportunities for improvement arrive and i am seen as a resource and not a dreaded presence. We have a crisis of homelessness in San Francisco. Not only do we have too many people in need of safe stable housing and Supportive Services but the demographics of the Homeless Population is out of step with the demographics of the city as a whole. This coupled with forces in washington who do not share our love for San Francisco values means that the importance of safe clean shelters and Resource Centers will likely increase in the coming years. San francisco protects and honors its people because of all the ways theyre unique and special. This spirit is and should be reflected in our shelters. I would consider it an honor to support the very important work of our citys shelters and Resource Centers as a part of the Shelter Monitoring Committee and i thank you for your consideration. To answer the questions that you have brought up in terms of language capability. I speak italian. I dont know if that is useful and a little bit of spanish. In terms of level of commitment i am away i was told maybe 20 hours a week. My employer is supportive of this so i am definitely prepared for that. I think those are the questions. I am happy to answer anything else. Great thank you very much. All right. So no questions at this time so thank you for your presentation. Great. Thank you so much. And our next applicant is rafael gutierrez. Madam chair, if iktd just clarify Terezie Bohrer was a appointee of the homeless board on the Shelter Monitoring Committee and not a seat supported by the board of supervisors. Thank you for the clarification. So rafael gutierrez. Not here. Okay. Traci watson. Good morning board of supervisors. My name is traci watson, and i am a native of San Francisco, a single mom, and i am actually a recovering addict, coming up on seven years and i have been given back to the Homeless Community i would say for the past seven years plus and worked at several shelters throughout the city, the emergency pop up shelters el nino. I worked United Council and staff as a monitor. I work at a womens place drop in shelter and providence shelters as well, and also im a sitting county worker with the city and county of San Francisco Homeward Bound Program and there for four years working with Homeless Individuals trying to relocate back to the family and home communities. Lets see i have two years of college. I went to school to attain my kdac and have many hours completed as a drug and alcohol practitioners. I went and took the test and havent passed out. I am confident they will. Lets see. So working at the shelters when the Shelter Monitoring Committee was coming in and always a goal of mine when they came into the shelters and something i want to do and get involved in the process of ensuring the safety and the protocols are being made within the shelters, and working as the staff there are scenes that i see things that i see that need improvement as well and i want to involved in the conditions of the shelter and the safety and the guidelines that the staff are properly trained to work with individuals that have mental issues. Drug and Substance Abuse and offer more services on site within the shelters and it is also proper security. So thats pretty much it for me, yeah. Great. Well thank you so much. I mean definitely your experience as demonstrated your commitment to serve those in the shelters. Absolutely. Which nonprofit is sponsoring youoir which nonprofit do you work for . I work for i work for well, its not a nonprofit. Homeward bound used to be nonprofit but now with the city and county just recently and the city and county recently got the contract for the Homeward Bound Program and i volunteer with several nonprofits around the city. Hold on. The seat you must be selected by candidates and by nonprofit agencies and provide services to Homeless People so i am curious which organization nominated you. Positive directions. Positive directions. Perfect. Have you attended any of the shelter monitoring Committee Meetings . Absolutely. Perfect. No other questions. Thank you. Youre welcome. Thank you very much. So at this time were going to move on to the last applicant mere Nicholas Kimura. Hi. Good afternoon supervisors. My name is nick as you said. I am a former chair of the Shelter Monitoring Committee. We did work closely with supervisor tangs office to get rid of the onerous imminent danger policy. I am really glad we did that. I work as a shelter client advocate with the collaborative and there five years and went to mexico for a while and got my old job back. I am a volunteer for the coalition on homelessness. As i said i was the former chair of the Shelter Monitoring Committee. From my point of view a Good Relationship with hsa and the Shelter Management through my day job i am able to interact with them on a daily basis. Its a very good benefit on behalf of the position i am seeking for the Shelter Monitoring Committee. I seek spanish. Its much better after visiting mexico and i speak spanish. In terms what i want to get done. There are lots of issues affecting san franciscans without housing. One is the curfew policy of the shelters if someone goes to the hospital for a couple of nights they lose the bed and not able to get it back and things to look at and work with the board to adjust the legislation on the Shelter Monitoring Committee so i dont know if there are there questions. I dont have any questions only because i got to work with you closely when you were on the Shelter Monitoring Committee and i want to thank you as well on the imminent danger policy among other things but colleagues do you have questions or comments . Okay. Real quick i just want to say i do want to speak on behalf of applicant med ms. Gains and there arent women on the committee and women of color and word for her and also Terezie Bohrer and she was on the committee when i was chair and speak on behalf of those applicants as well. Thank you. Thank you so much. At this time we will open up item 4 to Public Comment. I have a couple cards and if you want to come up do that as well. [calling speaker names] hi supervisors. I am gary mccoy. Good to see you all this morning. I am currently on the Shelter Monitoring Committee and also serve as the policy subcommittee chair. However, i am here speaking on behalf of myself and not behalf of the committee. We have a lot of qualified candidates which is great. You know its really fantastic to see this level of support and willingness to do this, this position. You know it is a lot of work and it requires a lot of dedication. I am here today to speak on behalf of the lauren kahn who i had the pleasure of being not only friends with but a colleague at various occasions, and i also work with a lot of people in the community and her name comes up probably about twice a month with the work that she does with walden house and health right 360 and i know shes very dedicated at she does and have a big heart and welcome your support for lauren kahn. Thank you very much. Ms. Rojas from president breeds office. I am here to speak on behalf of lauren kahn and in supervisor breeds office and worked on a personal and professional capacity. Were happy to recommend her. We have a letter of support from supervisor breed. Lauren is a incredible compassionate and empathetic person and organized and data driven and focused on results and we really appreciate that here. Shes over ten years working with the Homeless Community in San Francisco and as a leader with health right 360 we think she would be a great asset to this committee so thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. Good morning. I would like to recommend also lauren kahn for seat three and four on the Shelter Monitoring Committee. I had the pleasure of working as a supervisor and coworker and Community Partner as served in different roles in San Francisco in the last ten years and witnessed the passion for serving the community and those at risk through direct services and Quality Improvement efforts and this work and gives her a valuable perspective for the Shelter Monitoring Committee. Working with people struggling with homelessness and access to services and employment and housing in San Francisco and understands the barriers that the Homeless Community faces. I have seen her compassion, respect and commitment to maintaining dignity for everyone that she serves. Having worked in Quality Assurance and compliance lauren appreciates the need for Program Monitoring and data driven Quality Improvement efforts. I have seen her passion for ensuring safety, proper documentation and pushing for needed improvements. Additionally her work in policy and advocacy demonstrates the commitment to improve the systems of care for the most vulnerable members and creative thoughtful and dedicated and compassionate and i enjoyed my time working with her and you will too and i know everyone on the Shelter Monitoring Committee would appreciate her part the team and full of energy and enthusiasm for her work so i would like to recommend her. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. Hi. I am karen shane from the San Francisco Reentry Council, back again. I wanted to talk briefly about leslie bilbro who is a member of the operational and practices subcommittee of the Reentry Council and has been probably the most responsible member of that subcommittee. She came in sort of we had no idea who she was two years ago and shes been coming to every single meeting. I dont think she missed a single one since then and deep love for community and also a really terrific facilitator and worked closely with me on the five Community Meetings that the Reentry Council convened across the city to discuss racial and ethnic disparities in San Francisco criminal Justice System and worked so hard and made a difference creating the events and made them successful. She facilitated conversations in the meetings and did a great job. Shes ready and willing to volunteer for tasks within our committee and spoke to the council on behalf of the subcommittee and did a great job explaining a policy issue that the subcommittee brought to the Reentry Council and shes currently working on a training we will do for the subcommittee regarding state policy processes. Quite honestly there is no one in the three subcommittees committed to the work that we do. Given the nexus of the homelessness and criminal justice brings a tremendous qualification and capacity to bring those two together. You wont have a more effective Committee Member, i can promise you that. Finally i tbl says i think that she actually qualifies for seat five as you figure out how youre going to do this and good luck. You have many qualified people and my only concern if she becomes a member of the Shelter Monitoring Committee it may give her less capacity to be on the operational and practices subcommittee but i think she will figure it out. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. Good afternoon. My name is leslie lavitas and i am supporting the application of lauren kahn. I am a member i am one of mayor lees appointees to the Reentry Council however i am speaking as a member of the public. I wanted to say that i know of laurens deep understanding of the population who access the shelter system. I have worked with county jail populations for about 20 years, and laurens commitment to those folks and their needs has been stated by many people so i just want toes also echo that, and the effect of her awareness of the critical housing, the shortage of resources, and the importance of the shelter system as a resource for folks reentering following periods of incarceration, and i also want to echo so i think she would be an excellent member and serve the city and the community well. I want to echo one of the earlier speakers comments about the importance of appointing women to the shell shall especially for the Shelter Monitoring Committee and formerly incarcerated women have a huge need for the service and typically underserved population within the criminal Justice System. Women do not often get access to Equitable Services as available for men who are just as involved and historically theres tremendous data showing the need for more support and resources for women as they reenter the community. I think having women serve on the committee would help us keep that issue in the forefront. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other members of the public who wish to comment on item 4 . Seeing none. Public comment is now closed. [gavel] i want to thank all the applicants here today not only just to speak on the Shelter Monitoring Committee but really for all of your ongoing work in the community. Clearly we have a pool of really great applicants. I have one clarifying question. It looks like based on one of the Public Commenters that ms. Leslie bilbro could qualify for seat five. I was looking through the pablget and the recommendation letter is from the code tenderloin director and i thought it was a start up. Is that the nomination from the nonprofit or is there another Nonprofit Agency that is nominating leslie bilbro . Ms. Bilbro. That is the nomination from the nonprofit. Originally i submitted my application to the local homeless coordinating board and was unsuccessful so it was just for seat three specifically bevia this process i added four and six and should have added five so thats why its that way. All right. Great. Thank you for that clarification. Youre welcome. Mr. Clerk even though its not listed on the agenda we can still consider them . Yes, thats correct madam chair. Great. Listening to the interviews and i looked through your applications as well and again this is a difficult choice to make and i dont want anyone to be offended but theres not enough seats for the applicants here today and like we say in rules committee if you dont get on this time always reapply and there are opportunities that come up again so if i make a suggestion to Committee Members and what i heard and make up of the committee for seat one i would like to recommend patrina hall. For seat two loretta gaines. Three seat Nicholas Kimura. Seat four lauren kahn. Seat five leslie bilbro. Seat six traci watson. So those are my suggestions and i would be happy to hear from Committee Members. Supervisor cohen. I am happy to hear from you. A quick question. Did we hear from jonathan blackman. We did. From the Salvation Army. Thank you mr. Black man i appreciate it. I am happy to support your recommendations chair tang. Supervisor fewer. Yes. Supervisor tang can you please repeat those nominations . Sure. For seat one patrina hall. Seat two loretta gaines, seat three Nicholas Kimura, seat four lauren kahn, seat five leslie bilbro, seat six traci watson. So i have different people on my list. Would you like to me read them off . Sure. Seat one patrina hall. Seat two loretta gaines. Seat three traci watson. Seat four Terezie Bohrer. Seat five Raymond Benton. Seat six Nicholas Kimura. Im sorry you said seat five was . Raymond benton. Okay. Based on that it looks like we have a difference of two individuals, Raymond Benton and Terezie Bohrer. Yes. So given that i dont know if supervisor cohen with that would you like to make a change to your recommendations . I think i will stick with mine. I am happy to entertain Terezie Bohrer put on [inaudible] and that was for seat im not sure of the seat. Seat number 4. Is that the only seat shes qualifies for . I am supporting lauren kahn for seat four so i dont have room to i believe seat three swap then. Seat three. Although i would like to keep Nicholas Kimura who does speak spanish and has a track record of work on this committee. May i interject madam chair. Supervisor cohen. I am happy to support with my initial indication of supporting the folks you supported, the folks that you called into the record with the assigned seats. Okay. Okay. I did want to try to accommodate but i think it would have thrown off the other recommendation. Yeah. So with that then i dont know if you want to make the motion then, supervisor cohen. Just restate it. Okay. One more time . Yeah. All right. Seat one patrina hall. Seat two loretta gaines. Seat three Nicholas Kimura. Seat four lauren kahn. Seat five leslie bilbro and seat six traci watson. Okay. Hold on. All right. I will second that motion. Okay. And do we need a roll call vote . No. Without objection. [inaudible] [off mic] the majority of people, the appointees we agree on and everyone is highly qualified. Great. So we will do that without objection then. [gavel] thank you very much for bearing with us through that. All right mr. Clerk are there any other items before us today. There is no more business before the Committee Madam chair. Thank you very much and i want to thank mr. Clerk and supervisor cohens service on the rules committee as well. The meeting is adjourned. [gavel]. It seems like everyone in San Francisco is talking about housing San Francisco housing prizes are among the highest it tops anyone Million Dollars and rent rise unfortunately, this is not the first time housing has been in the news thought california the cost of a home has made headline the medium prices for a house in the the 207,000 in california it is more than twice that amount and the laura u bay area is higher its more than doubled the states so while more than half of the americans can afford the medium fewer in california and quarter in the bayer and now fewer than a 6th of san franciscans can afford it so why it housing in San Francisco so go cheven condition tharz the obviously a high demand to live here the city is known for cultural diversities that attacks new residents and the credible opportunity our city diverse and will daytime committee grows jobs as a result we estimate the number of jobs is at ann an alltime 0 hive of 6 hundred thousand in the 80 the population was 6 hundred and 75 thousand now, its grown steadily and quickly the recent estimate is 8 hundred and 40 thousand the highest in the citys history and its not only San Francisco it is greek the bay area has 2 million for residents and jobs then in the 80 and the growth is expected to continue by the year 20403. 9 Million People unfortunately, our housing supply does not keep up with the demand i might not realize the majority of construction is housing thats been suspended for years due to the 2008 recession while population is increasing the housing is only increasing that i 9 percent if we dont pursues housing the cost of housing about only increase how do we plan the regional allocation identifies the total number of housing unit by affordable level to support the new residents San Francisco incorporates it into the housing elements that guides the housing policies the arena data places it in the investment plans for the growth throughout San Francisco those plans developed by years of Community Planning laid the ground work for the construction so the city he e sets the goals in broad terms the private sectors builds market rate housing and nonbuilt Affordability Housing that majority of housing in San Francisco as well as throughout the Country Market rate houses built by private developers within guidelines of the city some below market rate you howls paid pie public and private dollars and prized to be variable to certain population housing is considered affordable if it costs less than 1 3rd the medium income for a 2 percent householder is 70,000 this householder will have to pay no more than 7,150 to be affordable San Francisco has see long applied federal, state and local money often built and nonprofit tint for individual families the news cities in california what the Inclusive Program requires that 10 or ottawa more units to certain blow income levels or contribute to the fund that supports the blow market rate unit almost 25 thousand have been supported by city funds and more than 6 nous thousand of the unit were built between 2000 and 2012 what you cant afford a million will home youre not alone in response San Francisco mayor ed lee has set a goal of creating thirty thousand now emails homes by the year 2020 most will be in outreach of the san franciscan with federal and state funds drying up the San Francisco Ethics Commission is, taking an iv i of actually roll is providing housing across all levels were working diligently for everyone to live here and mr. Chair protect the housing semiand strengthen goals against evictions were commented for Housing Needs for all san franciscans to learn more visit highway light for ou streets illuminating our ideas and values starting in 2016 the San Francisco Public Utilities commission is xhoefl that light with new led with the did i audits for better light for streets and pedestrian and theyre even better for this vitally lasting longer and consuming up to 50 Percent Less Energy upgrading takes thirty minutes remove the old street light and repeat 18 thousand 5 hundred times while our street lights will be improving the clean energy will remain the same every San Francisco street light is powder by 100 percent godfathers hetch hetchy power in one simple word serious as day turns hi everybody, we down here at the ep is a center which is our pop up space down here in San Francisco where we operate a store front to educate the policy from the home owner who has center which is our pop up space down here in San Francisco where we operate a store front to educate the policy from the home owner who has never done anything in the house to the most advanced structure engineers we have working around here. We were going to here from kelly to talk a little bit about San Francisco. How are you doing kelly . Very well, thank you for having us here. In front of us, we have a typical soft story building. When i see this, i think this is some of the most beautiful architecture our city has. A lot of people dont know these are problematic buildings. Why dont you tell us about some of the risks he we have in these buildings . Soft stories are vulnerable in past earthquakes and the northridge earthquake to this type of building and character of building. When we talk about the soft story, what were talking about is generally a ground story that has less wall or other pwraeugs to resist the lateral forces that might be imposed by the earthquake. So were looking for something that is particularly weak or soft in this ground story. Now, this is a wonderful example of what some of the residential buildings that are soft stories in San Francisco look like. And the 1 thing that i would point out here is that the upper force of this building have residential units. They have not only a fair amount of wall around the exterior of the building but they also have very extensive walls in the interior and bathrooms and bedrooms and corridors and everything that has a certificate amount of brazing yea its significantly less country srabl in those stories. Now very often, we get even a garage or storage or sometimes commercial occupancy in this ground story. That very often not only has a whole lot less perimeter wall but it often has little or no wall on the interior. That wall is the earthquake bracing and so he see very significant bracing in the top floor and very little on the bottom. When the earthquake comes and hits, it tries to push that ground floor over and theres very little that keeps it from moving and degrading and eventually paoerblly keeping it from a collapse occurring. So we know theyre vulnerable because of this ground story collapsing is this only a problem we see in sentence france . San francisco . No, this is certainly a national problem. More acute in western but more up to california, washington, moving out into other states. This kind of building exist and this kind of building is vulnerable. When youre involved with the community safety, this is a different way of thinking about these types of things. We had a Community Group of over 100 people involved and upper 1 of them. Tell us about how that conversation went. Why did we decide as a city or a community to start fixing these types of buildings . There were a lot of aspects that were considered well beyond just the engineering answer that these are vulnerable. And that effort brought in a lot of people from different aspects of the community that looked at the importance of these buildings to the Housing Stock and the possible ramifications of losing this houbgs in the case of an earthquake. The financial implications, the historic preserve vacation s implication as you mentioned, these are very handsome looking buildings that are importance to the tourist city ask which make San Francisco something that people are interested from outside in coming and visiting. Its such animation story when you think about the 10 years that the community spent talking about this seurb but we actually did something about it. Now we have an order unanimouses put in place to protect 100,000 residents in San Francisco and retrospective in 2020. So on behalf of residents and employees in San Francisco, we want to say thank you for the work youve done in pushing this forward and making people more aware of these issues. And it was a fantastic community effort. So in an earth quake, what happens in these kinds of buildings . What happens when an earthquake comes along is it moves the ground both horizontally and vertically. Its mostly the horizontal that were worried about. It starts moving the Building Back and forth and pushing on it. When you see im pushing on it, the upper stiff of the wall stay straight up but the lower floors, they actually collapse just like i did there. Luckily, we can put this building right back up where it came from so its a lot easier. Now kelly, obviously these arent real frame walls here but when you talk about buildings, what makes the property for stiff . The easiest and most costeffective type of bracing you can put in is either put in a brand new wall or to potentially go in and strengthen a wall thats already there where you dont need to have an opening is where you maybe have a garage door or access to commercial space, you might go to a steel frame or other types of bracing systems that provides the strength and stiff if necessary but at the same time, allows continued use of that area. But some combination of walls or frames or other tools that are in the tool kit that can bring the building up to the strength thats required in order to remove the vulnerability from the building so that when ground shaking comes, it in fact is a whole lot more resistant and less vulnerable. Ideally, this story down here would be made as strong and stiff as the floors above. If im a property owner, what is the first thing i should do . The first thing you should do is find professional that can come in and help you evaluate your building in order to, 1, figure out that indeed it does need to be retro fitted and 2, give you some idea of what that retro fit might look like. And third, evaluation and design to help you determine the retro fit requirement. Well kelly, i cant thank you enough for being here today. Thank you so much for your wealth of information on how we can take care of our soft story problem in San Francisco. And you the viewer, if you have any questions, please feel free to visit our website what if you could make a memorial that is more about information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go . Everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. For quite a great deal of team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. It was a bench at one point. It was a darkened room at another point. But the theme always was a theme of how do we call peoples attention to the issue of speci species extinction. Many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes. But i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. Missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered species. It is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat loss and really focuses much on the habitat. Of course the Overall Mission of the academy has to do with two really fundamental and important questions. One of which is the nature of life. How did we get here . The second is the challenge of sustainability. If we are here how are we going to find a way to stay . These questions resonated very strongly with maya. On average a species disappears every 20 minutes. This is the only media work that i have done. I might never do another one because im not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to convey the sounds and images here. Memorials to me are different from artworks. They are artistic, but memorials have a function. It is a beautiful scupltural objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. That is the scupltural form that gives expression to mayas project. If you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an Important Message. This project has a very Important Message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we dont even know is gone. So, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r. C. A. Victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the future . You can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. So, missing isnt a static installation. It is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. And she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e g researchers at the california academy. This couldnt have been more Site Specific to this place and we think just visually in terms of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. It is an unusual compelling object. We think it will draw people out on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. Then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab. We have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of videos. So this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brandnew context, a context that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in the World Without these sounds or sites. In the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. We get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was. When i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water. So, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. You see the object and say what is that. You come out and hear these intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. And then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. We could link to different institutions around the globe, maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to communicate with one another and share information. In 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a memory. So in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. So we dont know quite where it will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. My goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests from being cut down or reforest in ways that promote biodiversity. Biodiverse city often argued to be important for the worlds human populations because all of the Medicinal Plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. While these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. This is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting people to wake unand realize what is going on wake up and realize what is going on. So it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. They have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe dont commit the same mistakes