June 11, 2020. Public safety and Neighborhood Services. Good morning. The meeting will come to order. I am afnay el mandelman. We are joined by supervisor stefani and walton. Our clerk is john carroll. Thank you sfgovtv for staffing this meeting and operations and it for lending support for this meeting and for everything you all do to keep us going smoothly most of the time, even in a pandemic. Mr. Clerk, any announcements . Yes, to protect Board Members and the public during the Health Emergency the board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. This is pursuant to various local, state, federal orders and directives. Committee members will attend through video and participate as if they were present. Public comment is available for each item. Cable channel 26 and sfgovtv. Org are streaming the calling number on the screen. Comments or opportunities to speak during the Comment Period are available by calling 415 4156550001. When prompted enter the access code. 145 1643769. Then pound and pound a second time to be connected to the meeting. You will hear the discussions. Your microphone will be muted. You will be in hi be in his senr listening need. Call from a quiet location. Speak clearly and slowly and turndown your television, radio or streaming device. Account for time delays and speaking discrepancies between live coverage and streaming. You may email me, john carroll, clerk of the Public SafetyNeighborhood Services committee. John. Carroll at sfgovtv. Org. If you submit by email it will be part of each matter. Your written comments may be sent by u. S. Post office to city hall. 1 doctor carlton b. Goodlett place 94102. Items today will be on the june 23, 2020 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Could you please call the first item. Hearing to consider that the transfer of a type 20 off sale beer and wine Liquor License to michael biago. If you wish to comment call 415 6550001. Enter the access code 145 1643769. Press pound symbol twice to connect to the meeting and press star followed by number three to enter the queue to speak. If you have entered the queue for a later item, if you wish the remove yourself press star 3 and employee added later for one of the later agenda items. Mr. Chair. I believe we have supervisor safai here. This is his district. Would you like to say a few words . Thank you. I just want to say that this particular location is quite a wonderful hub for our community. This Business Owner started his career working in one of the pharmacies for a few decades, then was fortunate enough in the last decade to buy his own deli. It is a place that is in constant business, doing everything to thrive during this covid crisis, and in my time as supervisor we have not had one request for a beer and wine license. Our office worked with this applicant. We are in full support and we believe this will be an added benefit to his business and the community. I just wanted to state that and say he is a wonderfu wonderful wonderful operatetor and this will add another nice addition to his business. Thank you, supervisor. We have the officer here. Yes, i apologize for that. I hung up on myself. I am ready on now. Go ahead. The report for the ca beer ad wine. Zero protests or letters of support. They are in a low crime area. Census track 260. 01, a low saturation area. The station has no opposition. Approve with sales and service of alcohol berages between 8 00 a. M. And 10 00 p. M. Each day of the week. Two. Petitioner shall mon for the area monitor to prevent loitering of persons adjacent to the premise. The applicant agreed to both signed conditions. Thank you, officer samuelson. I dont see any comments from questions. We will hear from the applicant who is on the line. Yes, i am here. Would you like to share any comments, mr. Tufo . Like the great supervisor said. This would be a great asset to the business and community. We are a specialty store. We import a lot of things. I just think that i am porting a little beer and wine, normal Liquor Stores dont have would help the community. We are always asked if we can get a beer and wine license in the last 10 years. This is our opportunity. Hopefully, you will approve this. Thank you. I dont see any comments or questions from colleagues. We can open this up for Public Comment, if there is Public Comment on this item. Clerk. Operations will check to see if there are callers in the queue. For those who have connected through phone press star and three to be added to th added tt the beep. If you are watching on cable 26 or through streaming link or sfgovtv if you wish to access the meeting and provide Public Comment on this item call in by following instructions on the screen. 415 6550001. Todays access code 145 1643769. Press the pound symbol twice and star and three to enter the queue to speak. Any callers for item one . Yes, we have three callers in the queue. I will say a few things about Public Comment. Our speakers have two comment minutes speak into the phone. If you have written statements send a copy fo. Vice president joel koppel s. This is for the Liquor License for 4763 mission street. Caller, please go ahead. Not hearing the caller. Next caller. Your two minutes begins now. Doesnt seem to be anybody there. Next caller, please. Mr. Chair that completes the queue. Very good. Then i will close Public Comment. Public comment is now closed. I dont see any comments or questions from colleagues. In light of strong support for this transfer, we will direct our clerk to prepare a resolution finding the transfer meets it and i make a motion to forward the resolution to the full board with positive recommendation. Mr. Clerk can you please call the roll. On the motion that a resolution finding public convenience. Stefani. Aye. Walton. Aye. Chairman delman. Aye. Three ayes, mr. Chair. The motion passes. Thank you, mr. Chair and colleagues, i appreciate your support. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Mr. Clerk. I will call item 2. An ordinance amending the health code to authorize Overdose Prevention programs by among other things requires opps to obtain a permit from the department of Public Health, establishing operating standards, imposition of fines and penalties for violation of laws and establishing a process bitchy opps may appeal a fine or permit penalty, making a policy to deprioritize enforcement of laws prohibiting possession of illegal laws, amending business and tax regulations codes regarding appeals of opp permit decisions and affirming the planning departments determination. Call the Public Comment number for Public Comment. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Supervisor haney, welcome. This is your item. The floor is yours. Thank you so much, chair, and thank you for having me today for a couple items. I first want to thank the mayor and staff for partnering with us on a important piece of legislation. This is my legislation but i am coauthor with the mayor. I want to recognize the Safer Inside Coalition driving this for years and on the front lines without reach to Community Members most impacted, especially i want to thank lindsey from the Drug Policy Alliance an and allis and hr360d dph and eileen who you will hear from. They are part of the coalition and saved thousands of lives. They should be supported by all of us here. Drug Overdose Deaths are the most deadly epidemic in our city and in our country. Overdose prevention sites save lives, get people to treatment and reduce drug abuse on our streets. This is critical not only because of the Drug Overdose epidemic but we are also dealing with a pandemic of covid19 that makes this issue even more deadly. Overdose deaths increased from 259 in 2018 to 330 Overdose Deaths in 2019. These are not even final. The total number of people who died from overdoses in our city could be much higher. When you break that down that is nearly one person a day. It has increased in massive level over the last few years. This is absolutely devastating and what makes it more devastating is that these overdoses could be prevented. We know that each of these individuals who lost their lives had a future that was needlessly cut short. They had family and friends. We mourn them as we commit to fight this overdose epidemic in our city with a solution. Comprehensive numbers and data are yet to be released. Researchers cautioned covid19 will hit some populations especially hard. People with opioid and methamphetamine use may be vulnerable due to the drug on pulmonary health. They are more likely to experience homelessness and incarceration and these pose challenges regarding transmission of the virus. It is all the more important to take action on Overdose Prevention programs now in light of how many people are at risk or dying, and the covid19 crisis as well. This permitting process we have created with this legislation is the necessary next step to combating the opioid crisis. Legislation will allow the city and department of Public Health to establish permitting for Nonprofit Health providers to operate Safe Injection Sites. This is not radical. 100 prevention sites are in 65 cities around the world. No site halfs experienced an overdose death and they have transitioned thousands to detox services. It is time for San Francisco to implement this as part of a broader strategy to save lives. Being a bystander in an epidemic was not an option. It was not an option during covid19 and not an option during the Drug Overdose epidemic in the city. Overdose deaths are preventible. It can be reversed from the administration of naloxone that can be quickly administered by intramuscular injection. We know we can save lives. We have a responsibility to save lives. No neighborhood is immune. The impacts of these deaths on our streets weighs heavily on my constituents. All of us want to and deserve safe streets and thriving healthy connected community. As a city we have to boldly and compassionately address Drug Overdose head on. The last thing to underscore. We have to have a larger multi comprehensive strategy to address Drug Overdose and drug Overdose Deaths. This is one part of a larger strategy. This will not be enough on its own. It is a tool to help, to add to our ability to save lives. We also, you know, in this committee i have been in front of the committee 5, 6, 7 times about this issue. We declared a Public Health crisis on the streets calling for a plan to address drug use and Substance Abuse disorder. We started the Drug Dealing Task force, street Level Task Force to focus on the issues around supply. We have to respond urgently and as we are focused on covid19 we should acknowledge and focus and be prepared and relentless to address the drug use epidemic and Drug Overdose death epidemic on the streets which continues to be the most deadly crisis we face as a city. Overdose prevention sites are part of that solution. With that i want to introduce eileen from the department of Public Health which you all know well who will present on this legislation today. Thank you, supervisor. You make my job easier presenting because you are so well versed in just the crisis on our streets and the services. Good morning. I am eileen and i work at dpi in the Community Health equity and promotion branch. As a Health Program coordinator. I work with people using drug or experiencing homelessness. I appreciate being invited today to provide background on the evidence basis of Safe Injection Sites or Overdose Prevention or safe consumption sites. Same concept, several different names. Today i am going to provide background and Public Health evidence to support Overdose Prevention sites and how this legislation will help us move a step closer to providing this as another intervention or strategy in our toolbox. As supervisor haney mentioned, we have come before the board many times, and this timeline just represents the last several years after the task force that was convened by then supervisor breed, but aside from that the community had been working on Safe Consumption Services over a decade. The evidence is there and support there. I think that as i mentioned we have hit barriers because of legislation. Todays legislation is another step to bring us closer. As we know, there are an estimated 24,000 people who inject drugs in the city. People primarily reside in the tenderloin south of market, mission area, and what we are seeing now is just more fentanyl in the community. That is in addition to heroin and methamphetamine. They are using multiple substances. In the past they may have been just losing methamphetamine or opiates. Now it is more common that they are polysubstance users, and because of that we also have to just really see through our strategy. People who use drugs are at risk for unhealthy Substance Abuse, h. I. V. , physical and Mental Health conditions and premature death. I think by having another strategy or another tool in our toolbox such as Overdose Prevention sites we can help address that issue. This is a very busy slide. I am going to keep it really simple. We have seen an increase in opioid deaths. That is also because of fentanyl on the streets, and the dope project is still in the process of getting in their quarterly data for this first quarter. When we look at the data in january through march 2020, there were a reported 774 reversals this year. When we look at the same time period last year, we are looking at only 572 reversals. That is a significant jump, and i think that we need to keep on top of these numbers and we need to have other strategies to address what is happening in the community. I think many of us who work with people on the streets or people who use drugs are balancing that covid pandemic and drug use. Many on the streets are using more frequently because of the stressful time or people transitioning to shelterinplace hotels and using behind closed doors. One of our strategies is dont use alone. As we know, Harm Reduction is a policy. The reason behind that is recognizing there is not one strategy forever one we who uses drugs. We recognize that we work with people with respect and treating people with dignity as they move along to continuum, recognizing that abstinence is part of that. One person may be ready to make that step, i am done, i need treatment. Someone else may just start cutting down use and getting to where they are ready for us. It is really important for us to have that judgment contact with people and develop relationships so that when people are ready, we are there as a safety net and are able to transition someone into services, whether it is low Barrier Services or residential treatment. OveOverdose Prevention sites, te are several different models. What we focus on here and what supervisor haney referenced was integrated models. What that is is just recognizing that an integrated model including other services or referals to other services. It is an opportunity for someone to go use preobtained drugs in a safe sterile environment and have that connection to services, that connection to treatment and care when they are ready i think that is really important. As supervisor haney mentioned. There is over 100 sites throughout europe, sites in vancouver which i have been privileged enough to go visit. When someone is able to go into one of these sites afternoo andt treated with respect and dignity. The process of making change in their life is an smooth process and that is important. I know everyone has seen this slide before. We are lucky that we had alex on the Safe Injection Task force. He is part of the safer inside group. He did a cost benefit analysis what a safe consumption site, Overdose Prevention site, the cost savings in San Francisco. 3. 5 million in savings. That is for one site with approximately 12 booths. Hospital stays with h. I. V. Cases would decrease. There would be fewer deaths because there would be narcan on site to provide support and education. The proposed legislation supports Overdose Prevention sites. We know and we have talked about here for many, many years. As i said, we have said that because of barriers, legislation not supported. This is an opportunity for San Francisco to be a leader and to help add Overdose Prevention sites as another tool in our too