>> good afternoon, everyone. welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting for tuesday, january 9, 2018, madam clerk, please call the roll. [roll call taken] you have a quorum. >> please join us for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> president breen: thank you, madam clerk, any communications. >> clerk: none to report. >> president breen: colleagues, a motion to approve the minutes of november 14th and november 28, 2017, moved by supervisor kim, seconded by supervisor farrell. can we take that without objection, approved after public comment. all right, madam clerk, call the first item. >> clerk: special order 2:00 p.m., is the appearance by the acting mayor, london breed. no questions submitted by the supervisors of the odd district, the mayor may address the board up to five minutes. >> all right. happy new year, everyone. good afternoon. i would like to welcome acting mayor breed to the chamber, now time for question time. thank you. good afternoon, everyone. i appreciate the opportunity to host my first question time as acting mayor. the city attorney has determined that question time must continue while i serve as the acting mayor. the last time we were together in the chambers we were all reeling from the terrible news we had heard that morning that our mayor, mayor ed lee, had passed. i don't think any of us truly processed the loss of the mayor that day. emotions were still too raw. every day since then i have been inspired by the strength and the compassion of this incredible city, and now that we have, we had a month to reflect, i want to talk about how we can continue to honor his work and how we can continue to move the city forward and creatively tackle the challenges our city is still facing. one area where the mayor and i shared a passion was our commitment to addressing issues around homelessness. i am convinced that no one should have to sleep outside in our city anywhere and especially not in a tent. shivering in the cold or wet from the rain. we are one of the greatest cities in the world during an incredible economic boom but we still have individuals on our door steps battling substance abuse, battling mental illness and homelessness. one of his last major announcements before the mayor left us was that he pledged to get 1,000 people off the streets this winter and i am committed to following through on that promise. this is why i work with the department of homelessness and supportive housing to increase capacity at our shelters this winter, providing additional 75 beds for people to sleep each night. this is why i move forward with opening the auburn hotel which has provided another 70 permanent affordable homes for our military veterans and this is why one of my first visits was to hummingbird place, san francisco's first navigation center, dedicated to helping residents dealing with behavioral and mental health challenges. i will continue to support initiatives and provide alternatives to living on our streets because we cannot allow individuals to stay in unsafe and inhumane conditions intent encampments. i have walked the streets of our city and witnessed these conditions firsthand and had conversations with the individuals who are experiencing homelessness. when i first, when i visited show place square with our city agencies last month, i saw the critical work of moving our residents out of the tents and into stable situations, and i'm really grateful to the hot team and our other city departments who provide medical treatment on demand and also we were able to move several individuals into navigation centers as well as our shelter system. i also saw how it takes an individual approach each and every person has a different experience with a different need, and i believe in a san francisco that takes care of all of its residents. taking care of all of our residents also means creating safe and affordable opportunities for families and residents such as new housing. we broke ground on 108 units of affordable housing at hayes valley i'm really proud of and worked so hard of. i introduced legislation to purchase the mcdonald site to build 100% affordable housing, and taking care of our residents, of course, means taking care of needs with early childhood education as well. the kind of support that is provided in centers such as the new child care facility and supervisor cohen's district we opened last week, 70 new slots for children to have a safe place to learn, to grow and to thrive. by offering these services to all of our communities, including our public housing residents, we can help eliminate the achievement gap that begins in early childhood education. from education to homelessness to housing to harm reduction, i will continue to pursue policies that reduce homelessness and make san francisco a safe and resilient city for everyone. thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. this suspends and concludes our mayor's question time. thank you. >> clerk: ordinance to accept as a gift on behalf of the city certain costs of construction, public open space and facility improvements and the maintaining of the improvements at 55 laguna street, pursuant to an in kind agreement with alta-laguna llc and the requisite findings. >> roll call vote on item one. >> supervisor fewer. fewer, aye. supervisor kim, aye. supervisor peskin, aye. supervisor ronen, aye. supervisor safai, aye. supervisor sheehy, aye. supervisor tang, tang aye. breed, aye. supervisor cohen, aye. supervisor farrell, aye. >> president breen: ordinance has finally passed unanimously. item, please. >> item two, state and federal contingency reserve, backfill the loss of funding of various programs, 9.5 million, and department of administrative services to support recipients of the deferred action for childhood arrival program, 2017-18. >> same house, same call. without objection, the ordinance finally passes unanimously. next item. >> clerk: three, resolution to declare emergency, to authorize director of public works to design and construct access point to front door services, case management medical attention and mental health counseling to individuals affected by homelessness, at 440 turk street. >> supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: thank you, president breed. our office has worked with the department of homelessness and supportive housing and the tenderloin neighborhood and we have got to a place we are all in agreement. i don't have a redraft of this ordinance and so i'm still waiting for that, i just ask colleagues if we can continue to later in the meeting. >> president breen: we can do that. please call the next item. >> clerk: four, ordinance to amend the transportation code to perm permit motorized scooters and mopeds to park in designated motorcycle. without objection, passes unanimously. >> clerk: item five, ordinance to amend the transportation code to change the term car shared vehicle to shared vehicle and permit shared vehicles to park in designated parking spaces and affirm. item six, ordinance to amend administrative code, establish the tenant assistance fund, allowing certain eligible due to orders to vacate, issued by the building inspection or the fire department and to receive financial assistance from the fund for up to two years. >> president breen: same house, same call. ordinance finally passes unanimously. >> seven, to re-authorize the san francisco sentencing commission and to suspend the provisions of board rule 2.21 to extend the sunset day to june 30, 2020. requires eight votes to suspend a portion of the rule. >> president breen: colleagues, take the item, same house, same call. without objection, passes unanimously. next item. >> clerk: eight, ordinance to amend the administrative code to restrict some from the appraisal requirement. >> president breen: same house, same call. passes unanimously. >> clerk: amend business and tax regulations code to raise the thresholds above which persons are required to file gross receipt tax and payroll expense tax returns so that persons who qualify for the small business exemption from either tax are x ement from filing returns for that tax other than persons taking certain tax exclusions. >> president breen: same house, same call. ordinance passes unanimously on the first reading. next item. >> clerk: ten, ordinance to amend the business and tax regulations code to administer the sugary drinks distributor tax. >> same house, same call, passes unanimously on the first reading. next item. >> clerk: 11, ordinance to delegate authority under charter section 9.118 to the general manager of the public utilities commission to enter into agreements with terms in excess of ten years or requiring expenditures of 10 million or more for power and related products and services required to supply san francisco's community choice program and to suspend certain otherwise applicable contract requirements in both the administrative and the environment code. >> president breen: same house, same call. without objection, ordinance passes unanimously on first reading. >> 12, to approve fifth amendment between the department of public health and the san francisco aids foundation to provide hiv prevention services and extend the contract two years for term through june 30, 2020, and increase the agreement for a total amount not to exceed approximately 26 million. >> president breen: same house, same call. resolution adopted unanimously. >> clerk: 13, resolution to approve amendment two to the department of health contract for behavioral services with richmond area multi-services, inc. for vocational rehabilitation, extend the contract by two years and ten months, so the contract lasts through october 31, 2020, corresponding increase not to exceed 20.7 million. >> president breen: without objection, adopted unanimously. >> clerk: 14, resolution to approve department number one, multi-services, inc., for peer to peer employment program services to extend the contract by two years. so it lasts through june 30, 2020, corresponding increase of 9.8 million, not to exceed 19 million. >> president breen: same house, same call. without objection, the resolution is adopted unanimously. >> clerk: 15, authorize the general manager of the san francisco public utilities commission to execute amendment two to an agreement for specialized engineering services, recycled water projects with the joint venture, to continue to provide additional engineering services in support of the west side recycled water project, increase the agreement 2.5 million, not to exceed agreement of 8 million for the duration of 12 years. >> president breen: same house, same call. without objection, the resolution is adopted unanimously. next item. >> clerk: 16 referred without recommendation from the budget and finance committee. ordinance to reappropriate approximately 4 million of lease and tenant improvement costs at 179th street for the renovation of the building at 440 turk street for the department of homelessness and supportive housing in fiscal year 2017-18. >> president breen: supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: thank you, madam president. and can i speak to item three, make a motion on three as well. so, i just wanted to clarify what we are moving forward with. so i do want to acknowledge jeff and emily for working overtime during the holidays and christmas, they called me almost every single day. my parents appreciated hearing from you on christmas and new year's eve. and, but all to say that there's been a lot of work done with our community members to get us to a place that we can open these, the unified office of the department of homelessness and supportive services, but also make sure that the neighborhood is seeing some of the needs that they would like to see met met. so, a full-time security plan both before, during and post construction, as well as a neighborhood liaison designated to continue working with the neighborhood so we can provide services on-site. but to do it in a way that the community can continue to feel safe and more secure in the tenderloin neighborhood. acknowledge that work. also thank our community stakeholders who have been dialoguing on this issue since july, for understanding the need for the city moving forward with this. but to do it in a way that can address some of the very core issues we have about cleanliness and security. so i want to thank h.s.h. for working with the mayor's office to come to these commitments, and so i'm going to be making a motion to table item number three, and to colleagues ask for your support on item 16. >> second. >> president breen: amendments to item three? >> supervisor kim: no, tabling item number three and asking colleagues to vote in support of item 16. >> president breen: supervisor kim has made a motion to table item number three. seconded by supervisor peskin. colleagues, can we take that without objection? without objection, that item has been tabled. and on item number 16, can we take that item, same house, same call, without objection, the ordinance passes unanimously on the first reading. next item. >> clerk: item 17, a resolution to name the 600 block of stevenson street to oddfellows way of the architectural and cultural contributions the oddfellows have made to the city and county of san francisco. >> supervisor kim: in recognition of the historic al significance of the contributions. the goal to elevate the character of mankind by promoting the principles of friendship, love, truth, faith, charity and universal justice and make the world a better place by organizing charitable projects, a long history dating back to the 18 hundreds. they are known to stop the spread of the 1906 fire and the use of the building as a hub for artists and arts organizations such as the alonso king lions ballet. over 600,000 members worldwide, appreciate their investment in the city, in particular on the 600 block of stevenson, a very challenging alleyway in san francisco. i want to acknowledge their continued stewardship of the street and their work to improve the south and market neighborhood. i want to recognize richard perry, peter sellers, the san francisco oddfellows hall association and the dozens of letters and people who came out to our land use committee meetings on this matter and also thank bobby lopez from my office. street name changes seem simple but often take over a year, on her work on this ordinance. >> president breen: thank you, supervisor kim. colleagues, take this item, same house, same call. without objection, resolution is adopted unanimously. go to -- [applause] committee reports. >> items 27 and 28, considered by the land use and transportation committee at a regular meeting january 8, 2018, and forwarded as committee reports. item 27 is an ordinance to amend the general plan for the western shoreline area plan of the general plan, the san francisco local coastal program land use plan and add an objective to preserve, enhance and restore the ocean beach shoreline, protecting public access, natural resource, critical public infrastructure and existing development from coastal hazards and affirm the determination and make the appropriate findings. >> president breen: colleagues, same house, same call. without objection, passes unanimously on the first reading. >> clerk: item 28, resolution to impose interim zoning controls for 15 months, the conditional use authorization is required for proposed restaurant use and for a commercial store front merger resulting in a nonresidential use size of 2,000 square feet or larger in the area generally defined by the following boundaries. 13th, division streets, mission street to the west, cesar chavez to the south, and to the east and affirm the determination and make the appropriate findings. >> president breen: supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: colleagues, i'm going to ask your support today to approve a set of interim zoning controls. the mission is san francisco's ground 0 for displaced and gentrification, we talk about this a lot, and we are facing the oh blit ration of the culture and diversity that has made the mission a safe and welcoming place for immigrants, and low income families and workers, and newcomers and tourists. my office is working with community advocates and the staff on the mission area plan 2020. with the goal of ensuring a thriving mission, a place for families, arts and culture and non-profit community organizations. as part of the map 2020 work, the team has gathered data showing the challenges for small businesses along the mission corridor. these shops are facing lease renewals at double or triple rent, essentially putting them out of business. my office hears from merchants worried about their future or desperate to find an affordable play to relocate. without immediate protections, mission street will go the way of valencia, working class corridor erased by the speculation and rising rents. interim controls respond to the community's cry for immediate action and will allow time for the map 2020 collaborative team to fully analyze the data, get input and prepare longer term business and economic development strategies for small businesses in the mission. specifically the resolution includes two interim controls. the first extends the existing control implemented by the planning commission in 2017, which requires conditional use authorization for any change to permit a restaurant. second creates a new control to create a conditional use for mergers of store front spaces of 2,000 square feet or more. together, these will allow us to use the process for analysis and input, counter the very real threat of overconcentration of restaurants, and retain the diversity of scale that allows for affordable rents and a healthy mix of commercial spaces. thank you to everyone who has committed time and energy to the map 2020 process, planning and staff, facilitating and forming the initiative, to the community leaders who have been persevering for years to think of creative and thoughtful ways to hold on to the heart and the soul of the mission, and finally, a very special thanks to amy binard in my office, working very hard on these pieces of legislation. thank you so much. >> president breen: thank you, colleagues. take this item, same house, same call, without objection, the resolution is adopted unanimously. madam clerk, roll call for introductions. supervisor fewer, the first up. supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: thank you. i would like to see if supervisor yee can speak after me. i'm proud with supervisor yee to be introducing $100 million plus measure to make a humongous investment in early childhood education and child care. the reality around child care in our city today is that 60% of households with children do not have a stay at home parent. center-based child care for infant and 30 out of 50 states costs more than its public university tuition and fees. women and in particular women of color make up the vast majority of the work force but the wages are poverty wages, many early care educators using some form of public benefits to take care of their own families. 2,400 san francisco families are on the wait list for early childhood education and early child care. eligible based on income but not enough resources to help them access the care that these babies and toddlers need. with these stark realities, we know that we must do better, and if we truly believe families are the backbone of san francisco, then we have to do all that we can to hold on to them, and make the city a family-friendly city, and we have to do better and we can. the babies and families fund will be created through legislation that supervisor yee, ronen, fewer, peskin and i are introducing today. serve as the financial vessel to hold new revenue generated by the commercial rent tax into line with the rest of the country, but still below cities like new york. san francisco currently has one of the lowest rent taxes in the country, and legislation will increase that tax by 3.5% for most commercial uses such as office, chain store formula retail and 1% for warehouses. we will continue to exempt property owners who earn under a million dollars in gross receipts from rent. and we will also exempt nonprofits, government use, manufacturing and our arts. many people may not realize this, but as a country, we did once make child care universally affordable. 1940, congress passed the act which provided all families regardless of income child care up to six days a week, including summer and holidays. parents were paid equivalent of 9 to $10 a day in today's dollars. we can do that again in san francisco. the council of economic advisors reports that early childhood investments highlights that affordable child care, increases employment opportunities as well as the educational chances for women, especially. because let's be real. even in a city like san francisco, with progressive values, we put men and women on the same pedestal. largely women that lack the access to affordable care and women often make the choice in their life, whether it is seeking more training to up skill, to pursue a meaningful career, or perhaps even stay in an abusive situation. the benefits do not stop there. having high quality child care can make a difference in labor force in adults and earnings as adults. children who benefitted from the lanham act in 1940 did far better in school and far better employed into their adult life, into their adult life. we can act now to protect and advance these opportunities for the rising, for those rising into the middle class and those fighting to stay there in san francisco. our current families and our next generation are looking to us as local policy makers to take bold steps in their best interests, and ultimately to move us forward. i want to recognize the office of early childhood education, office of early childhood education, september jaret, the city attorney, carol roar, the controllers office, and most of all, i want to recognize supervisor norman yee. he has spent his career fighting for early childhood education and child care, when it wasn't something that any elected officials talked about decades ago and the funding that we have one to allow universal preschool in the city in large part due to his leadership and advocacy, proud to be partnering with the supervisor to make the single largest investment san francisco has ever made for families and for our children. so, if -- >> president breen: thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor yee. >> thank you for the introduction for the major legislation for keeping families in san francisco. there are so many reasons why we need to do this. we have been the leader in providing preschool opportunities for the 4-year-olds since 2004 when i was able to help develop the preschool for all program in san francisco. we started, when we looked at the stats in 2005, the number of, percentage that had preschool exposure was 57%, and today, the 4-year-olds, we actually have 92% of 4-year-olds receiving either preschool or prekindergarten services. the fact that so many of our mainly mothers miss the opportunity to be part of the work force, needed to diversify and we have proof from studies that when the work force is diversified, the companies do better and yet we don't support the parents that really need the help. number 1, 1 of the things that really trigger this movement since the early 2000, people started realizing that children actually learn a lot by the time they are five years old. in fact, 90% of their cognitive development would have been developed by the age of five. and so we have done well with 4-year-olds and not so well with 0 to, through 3-year-old. and this initiative will make up for the difference. we can't afford to leave children behind. we already know, i mean -- you talk to any preschool teacher, as we are taking care of 4-year-olds, or kindergarten teachers, kindergarten teachers will say i can tell when a kid didn't have any preschool experience, and actually are already behind. you can talk to preschool teachers and they'll say the same thing. you know, something -- that child did not get any exposure when they were three, and they are already behind, over a lot of elements. verbal skills and so forth. so, we are doing this -- we will try to accomplish a few things with this initiative. number one, we have to put the money where, you know, where we talk, and in terms of supporting our families and keeping them here when we know that san francisco is very expensive place to stay, and as supervisor kim mentioned, the average cost of a child, child care is about 20,000. and you compare that to u.c., the university of berkeley, it's 13,000. so, something is wrong with this picture here. and with -- without our help we will lose the families. we are going to help the families, children exposed to early childhood education. the other thing we are trying to accomplish with the initiative, like the teaching force in the k-12, where they are finding it very difficult to have teachers come into the classroom, it's even -- almost double the issues are two-fold for people working in the early care and education field. the people cannot find replacements as there is a high turnover rate, up to 40% in many centers. and studies have shown that without having a stable educated work force, teaching in these programs, you are not going to have a high quality program. so, we are going to go after high quality program, we need to make sure that the teachers and providers are going to be stable in the programs. so, i'm really happy to be able to do this with not only supervisor kim, but also as she mentioned, supervisor fewer, ronen and peskin. we are going to move forward with this and come june we are going to celebrate and say to people that we do care about you with families and young children, we want to keep you in san francisco, and hopefully others on, who have not signed on will sign on to this piece of legislation. thank you very much. >> president breen: thank you, supervisor yee. supervisor peskin. >> supervisor peski >> supervisor peskin: thank you, madam clerk. quite a number of folks passed away over the holidays, i have a number of in memorial, but i want to start with mayor lee's passing, which happened at our last board meeting, which seems like a year ago. but was actually just on december 12th, and many of us spoke about his tenure as mayor and our personal relationships with him on that day, and this is the first board meeting since that meeting, the first one of the new year. this is a very rare and extremely sad circumstance and it puts the board in the position that it has been in a handful of times over history of having to wrestle with those provisions in the charter, in and around interim mayor, the charter gives us the authority to appoint an interim mayor. i am one member of this body who has said that while the charter allows the president of the board to also serve as the mayor in both capacities, that i don't think we should have a mixing of the two branches of government for a prolonged period of time. i don't know where the votes are on this body, and only time will tell, but i think that it is our duty to have that conversation and most importantly, to hear from the public. there has really been no opportunity other than emails for this body to hear from the public in this rare and unique and tragic circumstance. and to that end, and i want to thank president and acting mayor breed for her willingness and openness to schedule that for a discussion, i want to thank the clerk who has done a poll by email of members of the board to see if indeed we can meet next week where we do not have a regularly scheduled meeting to consider that one item, which i will be introducing today and look forward honestly and genuinely in hearing from all segments of san francisco and they can weigh in in person, in public comment as well of course by email in our offices and by telephone and what have you. i was also struck by, i was on the board of supervisors a decade ago when the issue of question time went before the voters not once, but twice. i was off the board when ultimately the rules for question time were adopted. and i think they have really led to a very stilted, not real conversation question time that was originally contemplated, and to that end, i would like to have a discussion at the board, requires an eight-vote super majority to amend the board rules to have a real and meaningful question time rather than what we have had now for the last 7 or 8 years. finally, colleagues, i would like to adjourn this meeting and if you are willing, for the entire board, for jim moore, a well-known democratic party pollster who polled for the likes of former senate leader john burton, our governor, former speaker willie brown, as well as for many of us, he died all too early at the age of 66. our condolences to his family. he ran, of course, moore methods, which was that polling firm. i would also like to adjourn the board meeting in the memory of millie fishman gardner, who i think many of you whoever went into any restaurant in north beach knew she was that woman who had the polaroid camera, living in the hotel, made her living by taking polaroid pictures of people at their dinner tables, was beloved by the community, and well taken care of at laguna honda in her later years, and the communities of north beach, russian hill and telegraph hill, as well as visitors from around san francisco and beyond miss her, condolences to her niece, and then finally, i would like to adjourn the meeting for two other friends from district three, jeffrey chen and dean dirkus carlisle. >> and supervisor kim, did you want to complete your roll call for introduction? i moved away too quickly. >> and the first one from mr. moore for the board. >> without objection, entire board of supervisors. supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: colleagues, i'm also introducing a request that the controller and city attorney prepare a supplemental appropriation ordinance to fund, enhance street cleaning services with the specific focus on sidewalk cleaning and areas with the highest 311 calls and where the data shows the need. funding will be city-wide, although i believe it will immediately benefit the districts of 6, 9 and 10, the highest concentration of needles and trash. last year, a hepatitis outbreak left 15 homeless people dead and hospitalized nearly 300 others over ten months. spurned our sister city in the south into action and came up with a plan in days to address "fecally contaminated environments." we also must do the same. two years ago with many of you i fought for the pit stop program. now a nationally recognized model of providing toilets, doggy bags and needle disposal in the district. while this has help, and they collected 10,000 needles in march of 2017, compared to 3,000 just one year earlier. we also know there is a higher production of trash and refuse. i have seen firsthand how hard our workers at public works try to keep our streets clean, but the reality is the city needs to make stronger financial investment into street cleaning if we expect our first class city to have first class streets. in reviewing our budget carefully from the fiscal year, our office has identified funding with the controllers office that we can immediately redirect street cleaning and will be working to push this forward. and prepared by january 23rd, and in advance, i want to acknowledge supervisor's ronen and peskin for working on the matter. the rest i submit. >> supervisor ronen: colleagues today i have two items. the first is an accept ab expand i'm introducing with acting mayor breed, accept grant of $10 million, mission and neighboring areas. since a year ago today, my top priority has been the encampment crisis in the district. we worked very hard to open a temporary navigation center, which was very successful in reducing the number of tents in my district from a high before we began of over 200 tents, we got down at 1 point to 30, and now are slightly up again because of the need for additional navigation center space. seven months ago i sat down with assembly member phil tang and asked for his help in addressing the tenting encampment in the mission. i told him we need more resources for navigation centers since two were closing this year. i am incredibly grateful to him that he was able to secure $10 million as his, you know, role of the chair of the california chair of assembly committee. without his leadership we may not have been able to open the additional navigation center in and near my district, which will include 250 beds together. these beds will go a long way towards addressing the mission's homeless and public health crisis that exists because of the tent encampments but it's not going to go the full way. in order to truly, truly address the crisis, we need about 1,000 additional beds in san francisco. that's what we need to make a difference in the street. that's what we need in order for the public to say wow, something is finally working. there is a shift in this crisis in our streets and i will continue to be working to push the funds and the space throughout the city to make that a reality and finally put a dent in this health crisis that we have and watch every day on our streets. second i am introducing a hearing request on the 16 street bart station and ask that this hearing go to the public safety and neighborhood services committee. for more than two months, i have joined former supervisor and bart director duffty for weekly wednesday brush-ups as we sweep and clean and work to connect individuals to crisis counseling at the 16 street bart plaza and adjacent city sidewalks and bus shelters. initially bart director began sweeping to draw attention to the fact that bart's executive management did not have a dedicated full-time custodian system service worker at the 16th street station and only will one hour of late night power washing each day. let me tell you that is not enough. it is one of the most disgusting sites in the city, and it's absolutely unacceptable. i don't understand how in a world class city one of the most important transportation hubs can be filled with human waste every day, used needles, heaps of wet clothing, reeking of urine, trash, chicken bones, absolutely disgusting and unacceptable and i have no idea how we have allowed it to continue so long in san francisco. i have known how disgusting the bart station is, i've used it for 15 years but when you walk past trying to get through it and not touch anything quickly, it's one thing. when you get down on your knees and you put on the gloves and you throw the, you know, sand over the feces and the urine to seep it up so that you can clean it up and you pick up the used needles, it is a whole other ball game. something has got to change. people are outraged and sick of the state of our city. and the good news is that this, you know, it's somewhat of a stunt that director duffty and i are pulling. we are trying to -- we are doing our part and cleaning temporarily that station every wednesday and we are also learning the deep problems that are there. but we have had success with bart of getting a full-time, eight-hour a day, monday through friday, custodian and amazing man named byron hudson, who is now cleaning up bart station monday through friday. what we have demanded, we need it on saturday and sunday as well and we have not been granted that from the bart board. in addition, there was only one hour of power washing a night. let me tell you that the first night we won and we got a four-time, i went to clean the bart station and the smell of urine was so intense, more so than ever before and i went up to duffty and said what happened, we got four hours of power washing and he had talked to the power washer and what had happened is because it had not been adequately cleaned for so long, and the urine had so thoroughly seeped into the ground, that beginning to unearth it created that situation. that's what we are asking our constituents, our transit riders to deal with on a daily basis. and i -- i can't say enough how outraged i am that we are living in these conditions in the city. in addition, every single week when we do there, there are people in acute mental health crisis. there was a woman, named alice gonzales, living in a part station, 63-year-old filipino woman who had been living in the bart station in front of the burger king for three years. with all of her stuff in a chair, in the rain, that's how she slept every single day. and it was not until we started drawing attention and calling barbara garcia and deb and getting every city's department involved until an intern in my office, anne gallagher, befriended her and works with her that we have got her inside. there are people who are half naked talking to themselves in crisis every single day. and we have just got to do more. and so the reason that i am calling this hearing is because i want the bart management, i want the department of public health, i want the department of public works, i want the crisis management, i want the environmental house and the department of homelessness and supportive housing to come and say how they are going to make a difference and a change, not just in the bart plaza, because we know it's not limited to this bart plaza. we need this type of attention all over the city. but let me tell you that 16th street bart plaza is one of the worst -- one of the locations with the worst conditions that i have seen in the city. and i want to end by saying that my focus here is not meant to displace people who are hanging out at this bart station. everyone has a right to hang out in public spaces. it's not to arrest anyone, it's to deal with people's mental health and substance abuse needs and to deal with basic cleanliness that all people in san francisco and transit ride deserve. enough is enough. it's time to have a clean functioning subway system like they have managed to do in almost every other major city in the world. and i don't know what is going so terribly wrong here in san francisco, but something has to give, and something has to change. and i'm looking extremely forward to this hearing to start figuring out how we are going to do something, at least at this transit hub in our city. the rest i submit. >> president breen: thank you, supervisor ronen. supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: we have a 2:30 commendation and i would like to turn it over to supervisor peskin for the 2:30 commendation we have at this time. >> clerk: thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you, today my honor and privilege to commend ms. rebecca evans for her decades to the city and county of san francisco and the environmental health of the planet. lived in the days since harvey milk and others were members of the board of supervisors and advocacy goes back further. becky joined the sierra club in 1969, during the save the bay campaign, created the bay conservation commission, and echoes reemerge over the next many decades, including my first term on the board of supervisors 17 years ago. she was hired in 1972 as one of the sierra club bay chapters first full-time employees and moved on to serve with the national sierra club in 1974, she opened and managed the sierra club information center and served there until 1987. in 1974, she joined the citizens committee, working on the special area plan for san francisco's waterfront, in 1976, served on a planning advisory committee on the plan for the northeastern waterfront, which of course ultimately led to her advocacy around proposition b a couple of years ago. and of course, today is the day that that lawsuit is finally being heard in our superior court. since the end of her term with the sierra club, becky served on san francisco environment commission from 1996 to 2003, vice chair, mayor brown's p.u.c. infrastructure task force. served on public works, wastewater advisory committee for astonishing two decades and the list goes on and on. becky, for your service to the city and service to the environment, there are few parallels and impersonally grateful to you and honored to be your supervisor and have you as a constituent, and look forward to working with you in the years to come and if you would like to come forward and say a few words, thank you becky evans. [applause] >> before you speak, miss evans, supervisor kim would like to say a few words. >> supervisor kim: supervisor peskin talked about all of your accomplishments and accolades, but becky, i want to thank you so much for being such a leader and persistent and relentless advocate on issues that impact strong neighborhoods and of course our environment. and a number of issues that our office has tackled on. i appreciate you always being there for guidance and advice. just most importantly, for remaining in the work and continuing it. >> thank you, supervisors and members of the board. i've been fortunate in my activities over the last 40 some years to have managers both in the sierra club and the city family and also members of the community. i notice dr. moses is here today, we worked together on clean water issues in the 1970s and 1980s and other people here activists in their community and i think one of the things that drives us is that the city is composed of villages, and many of us are active in our own villages doing whatever we are asked to do, if someone says speak up, we speak up. we step up, and we try to mentor others. so, i think it's really important for all of us to be aware that we need to work together on whatever issues there are to work on. and i was in san diego over the christmas holiday and i noticed a very difference of the community there, people don't know the baker, they don't know the grocery store owner, so, i think it's really important for us to work together as a community, and villages, to support the projects that serve us all. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for your service, miss evans, congratulations. that was our only commendation for the day. madam clerk, let's return to roll call for introductions and at 3:00, we'll interrupt for our 3:00 p.m. special order. >> clerk: supervisor safai will submit, and sheehy is next. >> supervisor sheehy: i have one item. when we pass article 16 of the police code, the regulatory structure for cannabis activity, the ordinance outlined a registration period that was meant to serve as a de facto amnesty process for existing operators to come forward and make their activity known to the city. again, it was meant to serve as amnesty, this board and the mayor determined that it was in our best interest to ensure that cannabis activity comes out of the shadows, and moves into a regulated system. however, during the course of inspections of these operations, the department of building inspection has been issuing penalties for work without a permit because they are bound by law to do so. so, this ordinance makes clear that d.b.i. penalties will be waived for those who register with the office of cannabis and paid fees, directs d.b.i. to reimburse them. the possibilities of receiving thousands in penalties is not in the spirit of the registration process or the intent to move them towards compliance and serve as a disincentive for cannabis operators to work with the city. we must continue to build trust with the cannabis community to ensure the efficacy of article 16 and the ordinance is meant to do just that. the rest i submit. >> supervisor tang: today i just have one memorial for aniam pillpal, his father passed away at the age of 82, december 22nd. he was born in poland, then vienna, and escaped for england. remained there to 1947 until he emigrated to america and settled to san francisco with his parents. owned and operated crest pharmacy and then sir pharmacy over 30 years. upon retirements, volunteered for mental health program, drug chart reviews and worked as a fill-in pharmacist. he was a long time member and former officer of congregation israel, past president of the pharmaceutical society of san francisco and has been involved in many, many other organizations. his actions and outlook on life were shaped by the extreme circumstances in europe early on. he was very honest in business. developed and maintained friends and contributed quietly to jewish and nonjewish causes here and elsewhere that he believed in. i want to send condolences to david pillpal, his mother heady, and hope that his family can have some peace during this difficult time. so, i would like to request we adjourn our meeting in his honor. >> and if i could be listed on that, too. >> thank you, supervisors. madam president, just a moment before 3:00 p.m. supervisor yee, thank you. we'll return to you, madam president after the 3:00 p.m. special orders. >> president breen: so i will actually since it's not 3:00 p.m., i'll finish my roll call for introductions and then go to the 3:00 p.m. special order. [please stand by]

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