in the meeting to the extent as if they were physically present. cable channels 26, 78, and others and sfgovtv.org website are streaming the event live. to listen in via telephone, call 415-655-0001 and enter the meeting code 146-379-1185. press pound, and pound again. when the line picks up, you will be in listening mode only. when the item that you wish to comment on is up, presidency star, three to enter the queue to speak. alternatively, you may e-mail your comment to me, at victor.young@sf.g victor.young@sf.gov. >> chair ronen: thank you. mr. clerk, can you please read item one? >> clerk: yes. item one is an ordinance amending the administrative code to extent by five months the deadline for the street-level drug distribution task force to submit its initial report to the board of supervisors and mayor and to revise the content of a report and subsequent reports issued every three months. >> chair ronen: and i believe we have a representative from supervisor haney's office to state the amendments. >> thank you, chair ronen. our request is to allow the task force to catch up because they have not been meeting since the shelter in place. and the second amendment would be to change the name from drug usage to street-level drug distribution task force. and i'm asking the rules committee for amendments to that legislation. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. we will will see if there's any members of the public that would like to make public comment. are there any members of the public that would like to make public comment? >> clerk: yes. one moment, please. my apologies. looking for my note page. yes. members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item should call 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 146-379-1185. press pound, and pound again. if you haven't already done so, press star, three to speak. please wait until the system indicates you are unmuted before providing public comment. mr. qu, are there any members of the public wishing to provide public comment at this time? >> operator: madam chair, there are no callers on the line. >> chair ronen: okay. public comment is closed. i would like to make a motion to adopt the amendments. could have please have a roll call. >> clerk: on the motion to adopt the amendments -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motions are adopted. >> chair ronen: are there any comments from my colleague? if not, i'll make a motion to move the item forward with a positive recommendation. >> clerk: on the motion -- [roll call] >> clerk: the motion passes. the matter is recommended as amended without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you. and mr. clerk, can you please read item number 2. >> clerk: yes. item number 2 is a resolution confirming the nomination of mr. alfred sims as county veteran's service officer. >> chair ronen: thank you. supervisor stefani, do you have any comments? >> supervisor stefani: yes. hi, mr. sims. i see you on here. colleagues, i am excited to have the nomination of mr. alfred sims ad our county veteran's service officer. by early may, the job listing was posted publicly and qualified applicants were invited to apply. after a thorough vetting process, mr. sims was selected. i have met with mr. sims, and i am incredibly impressed with his credentials for this position. he joins the san francisco county veterans service office with over 20 years experience in management and veteran's services. based on his history of work and leadership, i know he will deliver the highest quality services for our veterans. mr. sims is an army combat veteran who served in the second armored army regiment in afghanistan and desert storm. most recently, mr. sims worked at the department of veterans affairs as a transition patient advocate, helping veterans all across the west coast. honoring those we've served isn't just about what we say, it's about serving them as well as they've served our nation. filling this vacancy is an important step that we treat our veterans in san francisco the way they deserve. i am so excited to hear more from mr. sims, and i hope you will join me in supporting his na nomination today. like i said, mr. sims, when i saw your name, i was so excited for your experience, and everything that you have done. i am the daughter of a viet nam vet who volunteered for the army and who served one here over there and one year over here. i just cannot thank you enough, and i'm so excited you've been selected. i'm excited to hear from you, and i'm excited for my colleagues to hear from you, so thank you for being here today. >> thank you so much, supervisor stefani. thank you so much, supervisor ronen and supervisor mar. it's a great pleasure for me to be here today. for me, it's an overwhelming honor to get a chance to serve our veterans here in san francisco. i'm from a military family. my dad, my sister, two cousins, and now nephew are military. for us, it's not a livelihood, it's our life, so thank you for choosing me to represent our great veterans in san francisco. a little bit about my history in veteran's services. i worked for six years in a local community health care system and the northern california health care system as a housing specialist. i was the first housing specialist in northern california, and they hired me to reach out into the community to cultivate resources in the private sector to help our veterans with this ridiculous homelessness problem that's not just specific to san francisco, it's a problem throughout the bay area, and it's so drastic, it's so well known to all of the veteran community in our area. so to have an impact on that, it's really been my life's calling over the last six years. i was fortunate, after working with the homeless veterans in the hud vas program, to get picked up as the patient advocate for b.a. nor-cal, and i covered bay area to yreka. i covered every assistance that you could think of. i spent a lot of time over the last six years cultivating connections with the local providers, and i definitely look forward to leveraging those connections to the benefit of our local veterans. really quick, just wanted to tell you about an initiative that we've kicked off since i've been here. i'm a lengthy significant ma process trained green -- sigma process trained greenbelt, so one of my first projects was to increase veteran service reps in the community, and also increase the availability of those services to the community. the way that we did that initially was i worked really close with i.t. to revamp our website and include a virtual office on our website, and it's been an overwhelming response to our website. the veteran community is very particular, and some of things that they're particular about is the interaction with people who really relate to some of the struggles. you know, a lot of the struggles fore veterans are pretty unique to the veteran community, so they really, really gravitate towards services and service providers that have an insight into those problems, and our staff here, we're really working hard to ensure that the veteran community knows that our staff are that staff to leverage the community resources for arthth benefit. another thing that i did besides the virtual office was everyone needs a mission statement and a strategy plan, so i developed a new mission statement for our team, and our mission is to be the best advocate for our military and service members, veterans dependent and survivors as they navigate civilian life and to ensure our veterans have access to the array of services available through federal, state, and local providers. we really want to endeavor to partner with nonprofit organizations, faith organizations, and other community leaders for the benefit of our leaders not just in the city and county of san francisco, but any veteran who is fortunate to get that number who knows that that is the preferred service provider for all veterans, no matter where they're at. that is our goal. and i want to say that the h.s.a. team, you know, one of my concerns when i first got here was how long a totem pole the v.s.m. was in the city hierarchy, but after working with shireen and kate, i'm absolutely confident that they're committed to providing the v.s.l. office the providing commitment ii plan. she allowed me to fast track my commitment process for two v.s.r.s. i was able to get temporary permission for two positions. we've already shot those positions out. we're just waiting on them to pass the background check, so we're really working hard not just to ensure that my department has the services they need to provide world class services to veterans, but that they're not doing the work of more people and feeling overwhelmed, three people with 21,000 cases. >> chair ronen: supervisor stefani, did you have any questions? >> supervisor stefani: nope, i'm fully convinced. >> chair ronen: supervisor mar, did you have any questions? >> supervisor mar: yes. first of all, mr. sims, thank you for all of your service to your country and veterans. when we had a chance to meet, i am from a military family, so these issues are very important to me in serving our families and veterans here in san francisco. you obviously bring a breadth of experience supports veterans and health care needs, but what is your experience with veterans here in san francisco? >> so i worked closely with veterans all throughout the bay area, including san francisco. san francisco is a little unique, and a lot of it has to do with the resources. a lot of the veterans resources are not centered in san francisco, so if a veteran does a search for v.s.o. offices, one will be located in san francisco, swords to plow shares, but there is no other local v.s.a. one of my goals is to connect veterans to providers in san francisco so they don't have to access nonlocal provides, that they can access the wide variety of service providers in the bay area. in major metropolitan areas, the veteran's service providers usually work together swords to plow shares has assumed the top position as a provider in the bay area, and that's not a bad thing, but my office's goal is to leverage the different qualities of the veteran's service organizations for the benefit of the veterans. so the swords to plow shares are good at housing resources for veterans and their families, and legal programs, so i would work closely with them on that, but i would try to work with other organizations for issues like registering veterans. swords to plow shares has that authority, but they don't provide it because historically, they've not been asked to do it. i would like to harness all the veteran's organizations for the benefit of the veterans, and that may -- without causing any kind of stress when i do that. i try to be cordial when i'm dealing with everyone. and everyone, in dealing with me, they find that i'm veteran-centric. in the past, i haven't found much push back from the other service providers, but i could, in some strange world, imagine that if you've always done things one way in san francisco, that you might be reluctant to think outside the box, so my goal is to bring some of that innovative thinking to the veterans service organizations in san francisco and help them help the veterans. >> supervisor mar: thank you. thank you, mr. sims. so just a follow-up question. i think that sounds great. you've already working with swords to plowshares, and you're starting to work with the broader network of service providers that support our veterans communities here in san francisco. i guess my follow-up question is just how would you engage veterans, other stakeholders in the community? >> one of my big philosophies is to meet people where they're at. in that vein, i've been working with the veterans commission to secure spaces for veterans over at the veterans building. i've been working with the veterans outreach staff to secure spaces at the vet center to interview veterans at the vet center and also at the hospital, to secure space there to interview the veterans there and city centralize our services so the veterans don't have to come to us for services. visuals matter to veterans. when a veterans come to a veterans service off, there's lots of veteran memorabilia. it changes that interaction with that veteran, and it increases the chances that they're going to continue to interact with your v.s.r. a lot of our clients, the veterans, they can be migratory when it comes to receiving services. if you live in the bay area, and you come into my office, and my office is substandard, then you're never going to come back. you're going to go to solano county or contra costa county. my goal is to make sure that everyone in this area knows in a the service provider of choice is -- knows that the service provider of choice in this area is the local v.s.r. >> supervisor mar: thank you, supervisor ronen. i don't have any other questions. >> chair ronen: thank you. i know that i come from a military family, but i never thought about it because my dad served in israel. he was an air trooper. he jumped out of airplanes, but it's so funny listening to my colleagues talk about it, and the fact that i don't think about myself that way, but yes, impart of a military family. it's really interesting. i want to thank you. i don't have any questions yet, and just wanted to open this up for public comment. >> clerk: yes. i can make a statement while mr. qu is checking. members of the public wishing to provide public comment should call 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 146-379-1185. press pound, and pound again. press star, three to enter the queue for public comment, and wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted before providing public comment. mr. qu, do we have callers in the queue? >> operator: yes, we do have callers in the queue. i will unmute the first caller. >> good morning, supervisors. i am president of the veterans affairs commission. as you know, i'll just state this for the record, the veteran's affairs commission advises the mayor. we are 14 veterans from all walks of life, yet we have not had the opportunity to weigh-in on this veterans candidacy, qualifications. as you can see, this is a top position, the key service provider for the city and county of san francisco, and not a single member of the veterans commission was consulted or placed on the hiring committee or brought in to consult. instead, this person's been hired in an expedited manner, given a different job description, different working position, and different title. he's been working in the community, subverting the commission, even meeting with commission members one-on-one to get the support, and as president of the commission, i can tell you this is not right. this probably violates all sorts of very good laws. we were not made aware of this appointment coming to the veterans affairs today. we asked mr. sims when he knew he was up for this committee meeting, he avoided the question. so what i'm doing today is not speaking on his record because we've never had a chance to speak to him on his report or qualifications. what i'm asking you to do is postpone this item until we've had a chance to meet, look at his record, and discuss this. i would be happy to schedule a meeting on that as chair of the commission or until the next meeting. thank you for your consideration, and thank you for your consideration of my comments. >> clerk: thank you. can we have the next caller, please. >> hi. i'm mr. sims' sister. my brother is a long line of veterans devoted to serving our country. he has spent much of his post military career serving the community, so i think he has a deep understanding of veterans' needs and how to get things done. we are extremely proud of him, and thank you for your time. c any additional speakers? >> operator: there are no speakers. >> chair ronen: okay. public comment is closed. mr. sims, did you want to address any of the comments? >> yes. i tried to reach out to different members of the commission, but when i tried to reach out to mr. oliveri, i didn't get much response to him, his designated spokesperson or secret of the v.s.r. office. at your guys' suggestion, i did reach out to the commissioners with my specific goals. i did try to reach out to mr. oliveri. i do understand some of his concerns. i'm a little confused when he said he hasn't seen any of my resume or information as my information was forwarded to him not just by me by a member of the board of supervisors. [please stand by] >> i proceeded in the process which i have explained to this board several times. i think what is happening here is that in setting that process in place, commissioner olivieri clearly misunderstood the process by which h.s.a. and the county hired this officer. there's no provision for the veteran affairs commission to weigh in. we want to down the road can be changed at the same time, mr. sims made himself available to the veteran affairs commissioners. i find it to be absolutely shocking actually to treat another service member in this way. when the process is clear and i have engaged an open communication with commissioner olivieri about this. i'm actually dumbfounded as to the controversy by which commissioner olivieri is raising. i just absolutely don't understand it. we have mr. sims in front of us today who is more than qualified to do exactly what we need our veteran services officer to do. the fact that someone is saying they didn't get a chance to weigh in when that is not outlined in the way that we hire. i don't understand. i don't understand why we would create conflict in this manner when all we're trying to do is exactly what commissioner olivieri contacted me to do which is fill this position with incredibly qualified candidate. we have that person in front of us today. i'm thrilled when i contacted h.s.a. and the city manager's office about the vacancy of this position and how we need to fill it immediately. they did just that. they follow the process. they got someone in there started with programs that have helped veterans in our city. i don't understand the controversy. i absolutely think we need to move forward with this today. there's no reason to continue it. i look forward to your support. i hope you can see what i see in mr. sims which is incredibly qualified member and someone who served our country well. i hope we can move forward with this today. pass it out of committee to the full board. thank you. >> i would just -- it is concerning to me that we don't have an official process where the veteran affairs commission weighs in. that might be something we should look at in the future when hiring this position. because we have this incredibly talented 17-member board that is better position to know who is the best person to serve them in this position. we're not taking advantage of that fact. that's not to say -- that process hasn't been in place yet. i agree that we should delay this appointment. i do think in the future that having an official weigh-in from the veteran affairs commission for these positions is good policy. it makes a lot of sense. i'm happy to look into changing that hearing process in the future. having said that, i agree that we have a qualified applicant who's been in the role with us today and should move forward. is there any remarks that you wanted to make supervisor mar? >> supervisor mar: i want to thank supervisor stefani for her leadership on this issue. it's been a position that's been vacant for over a year. i do think that -- this is kind of different unique nomination or appointment than the rules committee typically consider. the process forward is a little different. it seems like the human services agency and the department of of disability and aging services went through a good process on soliciting applicants and recommending mr. sims. i'm impressed with his qualifications and his enthusiasm for this role. i do think it's important for the veteran affairs commission to be part of these processes. i would support chair ronen your point of looking at how we could ensure that the veteran affairs commission is in the future is more part of the process. i'm very comfortable with moving ahead with this nomination today. >> chair ronen: with that, supervisor, did you want to do the honors? >> supervisor stefani: yes. i would like to move the appointment of mr. sims as our county veteran services officer out to the full board with positive recommendation. >> chair ronen: can we have a roll call vote on that? [roll call vote] motion passes. the matter will be recommended. >> chair ronen: thank you very much mr. sims. >> thank you so much chair ronen and commissioner stefani and commissioner gordon. i will not let you down. we will make sure we're the best advocate not just in the bay area but in california and the whole country. thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. >> chair ronen: thank you. mr. clerk, please read item number 3. >> clerk: i like to take a moment to admit some applicants waiting in the lobby. >> chair ronen: sure. >> clerk: we have ms. wong waiting in the lobby. hopefully she'll call back shortly. ms. steinberg just logged in. if you don't mind staying on hold until we get to your item. actually, ms. wong is logged in. i will call item number 3 at this time. [agenda item read] >> chair ronen: thank you so much. i believe that mr. schmidt is here for seat one. i want to see if he wanted to introduce himself and explain his interest in this position. good morning. >> good morning. hopefully i'm on screen and also on audio. >> chair ronen: we can see and hear you. you're all good. >> thank you. in addition to the application papers that i submitted, i wanted to say that in terms of the experience that i think i can bring to bear here, one is that i spent lot of years in courtrooms and hearing rooms working with witnesses and every conceivable kind. i think that's critical to the way that the sunshine task force functions and functions well when it does. it often does, although i would hope that i could make it better than it is. i think also, my years have brought me quite a bit of experience first amendment issues. i think that the first amendment is something that -- it's sort of the scene that in addition to transparency and ultimately, ensuring citizen access and access to the press to all the government processes. i think that if we can -- it would really be my primary goal with the task force to try to make the task force better which would encourage citizens to make more use of it and that's something that generally is probably one of the higher goals of creating good government. specifically as to the attorney seat, i tried to sit there and i think, well, what is it that the attorney seat will do that's different from other seats on the task force? i came up with three things. one is that i would hope to be able to use my experience with cross examination to maybe focus the questioning, witnesses, to try to hone in on what's important and get to that information from witnesses before the task force. two, try to formulate what it is we need when we need to go to the city attorney to ask for legal advice and to try to sort of we call it issues -- try to figure out what the issues are so i city attorney knows what we want from them. whether or not they can give us an answer, at least try. third, there's not really a full-time parliament on site. maybe to have some sense of the rules of the room when hearings occur. other than that, it's certainly my pleasure to see you all here today and i open myself up to questions. >> chair ronen: thank you so much for your willingness. the importance of this body cannot be overstated. it has had -- it has been -- it is a commission that needs really good experienced people who are willing to serve and make it serve its purpose in reasonable ways. it has been a body that in the past has been either not been able to keep quorum or has been over aggressive in certain areas and underaggressive in areas that are more important. i appreciate your willingness to stop on and use your talents and experience to make this body what it should be. supervisor mar, did you have any comments or questions? >> supervisor mar: not really. i wanted to thank mr. schmidt for his willingness to serve on this critical oversight and transparency body for our city and city government. so thank you. >> chair ronen: supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: no comments or question. thank you for your service. we agree, we don't always like to appear in front of sunshine, don't ever want to end up there. thank you for your service. we think it's extremely important. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. next we will hear from ms. ms. lahood. >> hello, good morning. >> i prepared a brief statement. good morning chair ronen, supervisor mar and supervisor stefani. thank you for considering my nomination and my application to serve for second term on the san francisco ordinance task force. i lived in san francisco for 18 years. last year public press launched a lower power fm radio station, 102.5 fm. i've been an active member of the board for more than 10 years. it's been my pleasure to serve on the sunshine task force since 2018. i came to this position to defending public access and information as protected by the sunshine ordinance and the brown act and now with the experience that i've been in my first term, i feel better equipped to serve the community in this capacity. i forgot to mention something in my application, that is for about a career, i've been serving as a chair of the task force and compliance amendments committee. i will continue to do so at the rules committee and if the board of supervisors approve my nomination. as with all city departments and agencies and committees the task force has faced challenges brought by the pandemic and the strength of holding meetings -- i have a strong interest making sure san francisc san san franco have access. i would appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve the community as a member of the sunshine ordinance task force. thank you for your consideration. >> chair ronen: i'm such a fan of public press. thank you for starting this independent journalist, now multimedia source of information. thank you for your service. it's so appreciative. protecting, especially in these times our first amendment right and right of free press. it cannot be more important. i really wanted to appreciate you. i'm sure my colleagues feel the same. are there any questions? thank you so much. last but not least. we will hear from ms. wong. >> hello. can you hear me okay? >> chair ronen: we can hear you. we can't see you. that's not a problem. as long as we can hear you. >> okay. i have the video on. i'm not sure what's going on. i have a prepared statement. i will read that as well. good morning esteemed rules committee, chair ronen, supervisor mar and supervisor stefani. i hope to be appointed to the sunshine ordinance task force continue my work in furthering government transparency. i'm a nine-year resident of san francisco, having lived in the haith and richmond districts. i'm part of of multigenerational san francisco family. as a professional software engineer, i focus on user interaction and accessibility and delivered conference talks across the world. as a board member of the league of women voters of san francisco, i volunteered as the co-lead for the last year and a half. we educate the public about government meetings. our focus is on observation of the police commission and district meetings. we observed and documented the board of supervisors, the budget appropriations committee, the rules committee, the public safety and neighborhood services committee and the sunshine ordinance task force meetings. our goal is to nurture more engaged and well informed committee. this includes trajectory towarded involvement in government. i volunteered with san francisco sunshine and improving the sunshine ordinance. i was under the tutelage of past and present task forces. with them, i helped work on a new draft of the sunshine ordinance considering what is technologically possible for citizen open access and government data. i educate friends, family and coworkers and neighbors and even strangers about the sunshine ordinance and the task force. should i be appointed to the task force? i will work with the board of supervisors, implement new and innovative ways for san franciscans to access government information. as a software engineer, i'm interested in marrying technology with the work of the task force. i'm here to answer any of your questions. >> chair ronen: hawk so much. thank you for using your talents and engineering and talent and understanding of technology for this purpose. it is so appreciated. is there any questions? we appreciate you -- we see you, hello. we appreciate you for being wellinwilling to serve. i can't imagine three better nominations from the different entities that have been charged with appointing someone or choosing someone to appoint to this task force. it's such a smart way to make these appointments, to have outside entities with different areas of specialty of their fields to be in position. it's working and i am really excited about all three your appointments to play this role in our city, which is such a crucial role. thank you so much again for your willingness to serve. we need public comment. we can open up for public comment. >> clerk: i like to ask, members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this item, should call 415-655-0001. press pound and pound again. please dial star 3 to line up to speak. system prompt will indicate that you have raised your hand. please wait until the system indicate you have been unmuted. do we have any speakers? >> i have four callers in the queue. i will queue the first caller. >> hello, my name is bruce wolf. i'm the current chair of the sunshine task force. good morning chair and nominees. thank you for the time in bringing this forward. it is really important now because we do have a number of via -- vacancies. we really appreciate everybody who steps up and partakes in this very important service. especially now when we know that transparency is public information so important. i worked with member lahood for the past couple of years. she's been fantastic member of the task force providing a lot of excellent expertise and information and decision-making for the task force. i know dean and jen from working with them outside of the task force and they are equally excellent choices from their organization. i almost them. i really would appreciate your support of them and moving them forward to the full board for approval. thank you. >> next caller please. >> good morning chair ronen and supervisor mar and stefani. this morning i'm calling to support nomination to the reform task force dean schmidt for seat one and lila lahood for seat t two. this is a significant commitment and ms. lahood is an active experienced journalist and task force member. mr. schmidt will be new member. he's been able to gain experience with the since ordinance and rule of the task force through his involvement with san franciscans for sunshine. that's in addition to his experience as a practicing lawyer which includes significant amount of service. side note on seat five, i'm happy to learn about ms. wong interest and i'm confident she's also going to make a really valuable addition to the task force. with that, i want to thank all three of the nominees for their interest and commitment to public service and task force and urge the committee to recommend their nominations to the full board for consideration. thank you. >> next caller please. >> hi. good morning supervisors and nominees. i'm a board member -- on behalf the league i'm calling to support ms. wong for seat five. she's a proven advocate. her experience qualifies her for a seat on the task force. jen has been co-lead for over a year helping to lead transparency of policing practices in san francisco. additionally, she volunteered for many years san franciscans for sunshine to help modernize the sunshine ordinance. i strongly encourage you to appoint jennifer wong to the sunshine ordinance task force. thank you for your consideration. >> thank you. next caller please. >> hello, good morning supervisors. thanks for considering nominees today. i'm laura, cochair of the freedom of information committee of our regional chapter. i'm also a journalist who lives here in san francisco. we are honored and excited to bring you these two excellent candidates for the sunshine ordinance task force. lila lahood has been an active and engaged member for the past two years. beyond being a leader at the public press, she's been deeply involved of the chapter for the past decade and has made extraordinary contributions to journalism in our region. i think every professional community has those figures that are involved in everything and every event and has super human abilities to make things happen. lila is one of the examples in san francisco media. we performed a search and vetting process for a new attorney to appoint to the task force and we're pleased to bring you dean schmidt who bring the wealth of law experience in the bay area and in san francisco in particular. his most recently working pro bono with migrant children at the southern border of the united states. mr. schmidt brings great passion for sunshine. we encourage you to move forward with these two candidates today to restoring the task force to its full capacity. thank you so much. >> thank you. next caller please. >> hello supervisors. i maybe familiar face to you. i am never on this side of the public comment. i'm usually writing down what people are saying. as a executive board member of the society professional journalist northern california chapter, i am delighted the two back, lila lahood continue work on the sunshine task force and dean schmidt for his wealth of sunshine balance. also jen, we should also speaking on behalf of our league of women voter pick, she has incredibly knowledgeable and love communicating with her on all issues p.p.p. please consider all these candidates today. thank you so much. >> thank you. next caller please. >> that completes the queue. >> chair ronen: thank you so much for all the wonderful public comments and public comment is now closed. i'm wondering if our good government advocate on the board, supervisor mar wants to do the honors of making the motion? >> supervisor mar: thank you. i want to thank all the nominees and the applicants for your dedication to this such tremendously important body here in our city, ensuring transparency and good government. actually for all of the important work that you do and all of your -- outside the sunshine task force. i would make a motion that we appoint dean schmidt to seat one, lila lahood to seat two and jennifer wong to seat five of the sunshine ordinance task force and that we send these appointments to the full board with positive recommendation. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. can we have a roll call vote? >> clerk: yes, on that motion -- [roll call vote] motion passes. without objection. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity. we count on you keep our government strong and transparent. see you later. have a great day. mr. clerk, please read item 4. >> clerk: [agenda item read]. >> chair ronen: great. do we have ms. bonini here? >> yes. >> chair ronen: good morning. do you have anything you like to share with us about your interest and qualifications for serving on this task force? >> sure. thank you so much for your consideration for this very important task force. i'm cissie bonini. i have been a long-term anti-poverty and anti-hunger advocate in san francisco. i've been working towards alleviating food insecurity for over 20 years in san francisco. i've run a number of programs for homeless and low income folks including managing st. anthony dining and programs for st. anthony in the tenderloin. i have been a prior member of the task force many years ago. then i did go back to school and get my masters degree i intend to be task force -- [indiscernible]. currently over the years, i participated in many different opportunities and advocating for homeless and low income folks. i was one of the founding members of the tenderloin task force. some of the important work was creating a number of work around disaster feeding with the department of emergency management. that kind of work becomes super important recently. i been involved in that many years and what happened as a result of covid is that group we did activate that group on marcf covid. that's a major food providers in san francisco food bank. [indiscernible] that group gets together to add awareness among each other. we have been doing that and i have been coordinating that effort. we continue to work with the emergency operation center and i'm a member of the feeding units steering committee. it's been incredible the amount of work happening right now, the massive, unprecedented food insecurity issues. i would just want to say that i'm very privileged to work with a group. i have been participating member and i will be honored to be a regular member. >> chair ronen: i can't imagine more qualified person to this role. so thank you. i was going to ask you, how the situation on the street has changed since covid and how are we meeting the needs of san franciscans during this time. >> that's a complicated question. i think the response has been just heroic. i think the traditional feeding infrastructure had to do -- it was incredible how organizations had -- [indiscernible] we had to retool their operations. they had to go from congregate feeding. in addition to delivering meals, it's rough. i want to say what's been so interesting is what we call disaster, it has risen out of the community. those has been so important. we understand it's not just food insecurity and it's the trauma involved and losing your job and food support. lot of people never been hungry before. we've seen a lot of organizati organizations -- [indiscernible] i say that is just an amazing thing that has happened. the other side of that is that, we need more resources and we need lot more help. there's so much work. we need to work together and we need the resources. shoring up all of -- [indiscernible] >> chair ronen: i have gone to the latino commission few time. i seen the typhose. type of -- types of food and hearing about the community response receiving the comfort food of their own culture, it's something that i agree with you. it's just so beautiful in the mist of being so guttingly sad. the need is overwhelming right now. i really want to thank you for your work in doing everything in your power to meet that need. thank you so much. is there any other questions or comments? >> supervisor mar: i like to thank ms. bonini for her work and dedication for food security issues. especially for the most vulnerable in our city. thank you so much and thank you for bringing your expertise and your commitment to these issues to the task force. >> chair ronen: thank you. now we're going to hear from ms. good morning. >> hi, good morning. can you hear me? >> chair ronen: we. >> great. apologies i'm sitting in an empty patient room. if a nurse pop in and out, i apologize for the interruption. thank you so much for having me today and inviting me here. it's an honor to be here with all of you. i'm dr. emma signberg. i'-- steinberg. i came to san francisco only five years ago to start my training in pediatric but have long been involved with food and nutrition and thinking about how assistance and ways we can connect all the services, both healthcare and otherwise that we have in various urban settings. i'm really excited to be here. i think now more than ever, it's incredibly important to think about the whole aspect as well as the health and social determine -- determinant impact on health. the mental aspect cannot go unstated. three quarter of the patients that i have admitted that i'm taking care of now are admitted for mental health related issues. many of their families and the families of patients that i taken care of are experiencing new challenges related to food insecurity and loss of income. i think partnering with healthcare and trying to bring that perspective will be really important because this pandemic is not going anywhere. i think food is going to be a really critical piece in our healthcare area. i think the healthcare system has a lot of infrastructure and connection to people that i think can compliment lot of the services that exist. i will be thrilled to join cissie and rest of the task force, love to bring my perspective as a physician but also as as pediatrician especially. thank you. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. has there been any partnerships between the organizations that are fighting hunger and those that work on mental health? are those services areas being combined in my way? >> yes. cissie spoke to some of these organizations especially companies like mother brown. there was another woman who joined the meeting who was talking about this. lot of the case managers who are part of these organizations have really had to step up and lean in more to like a social work role to help provide that additional mental health support. i think that, especially when we're thinking about it from the healthcare perspective, we can't just offer any of these services or items in isolation. we really have to think about the whole person and make sure that there are enough mental health support for people as the procesprocess all the trauma and challenges. >> chair ronen: again, thank you so much for willingness to serve. cannot be more critical work. but especially right now in terms of the increasing need everyday. thank you for everything that you do. is there any other comments or questions before we open this up for public comment? >> supervisor stefani: to thank ms. bonini and ms. steinberg billion willingneo serve on this task force. we're looking at 10% of unemployment in san francisco. when it was 3% in february. i did a hearing last year with martha ryan, she's executive director of the homeless prenatal program and really looking at not just food insecurity but how people get to the food that they need and especially pregnant women and young families. we have a b.l.a. report coming out soon on overall assessment as a food security program in san francisco. i look forward to sharing that with you. >> clerk: members of the public who wish to provide public comment should call 415-655-00 415-655-0001. please dial star 3 to line up to speak. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you may begin your comment. do we have any members of the public on the line? >> we have no callers in the queue. >> chair ronen: thank you so much. public comment is closed. i would like to make a motion to move forward, cissie bonini to seat 18 emma steinberg to seat 19 to positive recommendation to the full board. [roll call vote] motion passes without objections. >> chair ronen: chalk so much again. -- thank you soph again. >> thank you all so much. >> chair ronen: mr. clerk, is there any other items before us today? >> clerk: that completes the agenda for today. >> chair ronen: the meeting is adjourned. have a good day everyone. bye. >> chair peskin: good afternoon to the land use and transportation committee of the san francisco board of supervisors for today, monday, september 14, 2020. i am the chair of the committee, aaron peskin, joined by supervisor and member dean preston, and shortly to be joined by supervisor ahsha safai. our clerk is miss erica major. miss clerk, do you have any announcements. >> clerk: due to the covid-19 health emergency and to protect board members, the city, and the public, the city hall and board room are closed. however, members will be participating in the meeting remotely. committee members will be attending the meeting through video conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present. public comment will be available on each item on this agenda. depending on your provider, you can view on channels 26, 78, or 99, as well as sfgovtv.org, which is currently streaming the call in number across your screen. each speaker will be allowed public comments which to speak by calling 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 146-963-1010. again, that's 146-963-1010. press pound, and pound again. when connected, you will be in listening mode and muted. when your item of interest comes up, press star, three to be ad hitsmitted to the queue. alternatively, you may submit public comment the following day: e-mail the land use and transportation clerk, myself, ericamaj erica.major@sfgov.org. items acted upon today will be included in the board of supervisors agenda on september 25 unless otherwise stated. >> clerk: can you. i'd like to welcome supervisor ahsha safai. with that, could you please call item number 1. >> clerk: yes. ordinance amending the existing building code to extend the date for completion of work for the seismic retrofitting of tier four wood frame buildings to september 15, 2021. each speaker will be allowed public comments which to speak by calling 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 146-963-1010. again, that's 146-963-1010. press pound, and pound again. when connected, you will be in listening mode and muted. >> chair peskin: thank you. before i submit this, i wanted to thank mayor ed lee for having the courage to mandate seismic retrofits of soft story buildings of san francisco. i want to thank many folks who have participated in the previous tiers. it has not been cheap, it has not been easy, but we are now in the middle of a covid-19 crisis, and i do want to say that i believe supervisor mandelman's legislation is timely and appropriate, and the extension, god willing, we will not have an earthquake because in the incident him, we've had -- interim, we've had everything else. and with that, i will turn it over to mr. temprano. >> thank you, chair peskin. it's good to be with you on behalf of supervisor mandelman to discuss this ordinance that will amend the building code to extend the date for completion of work for the seismic retrofitting of buildings to september 15, 2021. as chair peskin noted, the city's mandatory soft story retrofit program was established in 2013. the program requires the retrofit of older multifamily unit buildings to a soft story condition. tier four to be completed often have commercial space with residential units above. the current deadline for completion on these buildings is tomorrow, september 15, 2020. the 1,114 tier four properties identified in 2013 are estimated to hold approximately 2,028 businesses. of these 1,114 tier four reports, approximately 41% still need to complete their retrofits. >> chair peskin: i'm sorry, mr. temprano. would you please represent the percentages? >> sure. that was 41% needing to be completed. even prior to covid-19, small businesses in district 8, and i'm sure in your district, as well, it reached out, concerned that a city mandated closure of three to six months could force them to permanently closed. they looked at 140 small business spaces in districts 1, 2, and 5 that had been retrofitted prior to 2005. 30 to 40% of these businesses saw a turnover following that work. many now ask the risk of shutting down again to allow seismic retrofit work just as they are rehiring staff and trying to reestablish desperately needed sales. seismic retrofit work is an emergency and urgent, but the reality is that small businesses and owners need more time. by extending this date to september 15, 2021, we are allowing this work to be completed, and hopefully, it can be completed at a time that is less disruptful for tenants and ground floor businesses. we have heard from a number of residential tenants who are sheltering in place, often working from home and are finding their locations unuseable. i will note at a previous meeting of this committee, there was a need to update other deadlines, including the deadline to install fire alarm systems. while this is not addressed in our current system, we would allow for additional amendments to be introduced while still moving this time sensitive piece of legislation forward. i would like to acknowledge and thank the director of small business, regina dick-endrizzi. with that, i would like to thank you for consideration of this item and take any questions you might have. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. temprano, and i don't see any of my colleagues in the chat box, so let me just start by addressing the issue that i think you just asked for, which is relative to the fire alarm, do you have amendments that you want to propose if this item is delayed? >> we do not. at a previous meeting, you and supervisor safai had addressed some additional concerns. i think if there's a motion to further extend deadlines, we're happy to have this legislation be a starting point if that's the easiest way to go about it. >> chair peskin: got it. absence the amendments, the issue is whether or not we duplicate the file and we continue it and amendment it whereas something is introduced and sits under the 30-day rule unless waived -- okay. we can put that in the parking lot for now. okay. supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: so i think just my thought -- thank you, tom, and mr. chair -- in this regard. i think it makes sense to duplicate the file and then for some amendments made to clarify around fire alarm upgrades, so i would be in favor of duplicating the file, for sure. >> chair peskin: okay. so we'll circle around to that a little later on. why don't we go to d.b.i. as first, this is a d.b.i. issue, and we'll to the small business commission and miss dick-endrizzi. i think it would be helpful if you talk about how the tiers work, what m.o.v.s or endorsement remains today, and i really want to thank d.b.i., who has embraced this program and, god fore bid, in addition to -- forbid, in addition to everything that we're experiencing, covid and air quality, that we have an earth quick. d.b.i., the floor is yours. >> thank you, supervisor. so with the retrofit, compliant generally has been pretty good. we've got 75% compliance rate right now. the first level is assembly spaces. there's only seven buildings total, and we've completed five, and there are two occupying outstanding on that. sorry. i don't have the information on that, but those two are special cases. second is larger apartment buildings, 15 units or more. that is at 86 completion rate, with 74 total buildings that have not completed at this point. >> chair peskin: 86, you mean 86% -- >> percent. >> chair peskin: and what was the universe of tier two? >> tier two was 515, required to be completed by september 15 of 2018. at this point, we have 74 that are not in compliance, and notices of violation have been issued, and those are somewhere in the abatement process or list. phase three is the sort of catchall category. that is the largest tier by far. it is 3,383. at this point, we have 80% of those completed with 20% not. that's 686 buildings. those were due to be completed on 9-19-2019, so they're almost a year overdue at this point. we've filed m.o.v.s that those are some buildings with tenants in them, so we're willing to work with those building owners -- if they have outstanding circumstances, we're not going to require them to start work right away if there's some reason not to. and then, the final tier is tier four, is a total of 1,024 buildings. of those, 599 have been completed. >> chair peskin: i'm sorry. what was that? out of 1,024, how many was completed. >> that was 599, and our total that have not been completed are 495, but that's still at a 40% need completion rate. >> chair peskin: and for those that have, that would be a certificate of final completion? >> yes. >> chair peskin: thank you. >> you're welcome. >> chair peskin: so do we have questions, supervisor preston or supervisor safai? those are relatively figures over time. to mr. temprano, relative to the folks in fear three, was there any thoughts from supervisor mandelman's office of how we want to deal with them or why? >> sorry. i have a timer going off, apologies. >> chair peskin: your time is up, tom. >> i'm done. no, we really did just focus on tier four specifically in this legislation because the deadline is -- is now, and there was such -- so many buildings that impacted so many special and residential tenants that were still out of compliance, so we really didn't dig into tier three. >> chair peskin: and so, mr. murray, you characterize tier three as kind of the catchall, how would you characterize what was in tier four for those 1,024 buildings? >> tier four are commercial ground four and are in liquefaction zones. >> chair peskin: so subject to p-waves and s-waves. why weren't those -- i'm sorry. why weren't those included in that initially? i'm sorry. i missed that. i was off the board for seven years. >> i'm sorry. i don't know that. >> chair peskin: and relative to the 40% rate, can you characterize why the remaining stragglers haven't performed timely? >> sorry. i was muted there. generally, it's cost. you know, with lining up a contractor in tier four, i would imagine that a lot of constructors planning to start construction were delayed by the covid crisis, but it's still the same set of issues running through any major project. it's the cost and finding a contractor and all of that. i will say that they were required to have their building permit filed by 9-15-2018, so it's not an issue of getting the permits, and i believe that 99% of them actually have the permits issued, it's just a matter of starting work. >> chair peskin: okay. ms. dick-endrizzi. >> thank you, chair peskin and supervisor preston and safai. i won't repeat much of what tom said, but the small business commission supported this report, that an extension of this deadline would be needed. again, just to highlight that because of the covid, construction one was stopped, so during the early months of covid, that even when businesses were closed, this kind of construction could not take place, and that with the high number of properties that were still needing to complete, that we would need to create a time frame where property owners and businesses could figure out the best time to get the work completes. so the commission is and our office is supporting the compensation. i'm happy to take any questions. >> chair peskin: are there any questions for either mr. murray or miss dick-endrizzi? seeing none, are there any members of the public on this item one for public comment? >> clerk: thank you, mr. clerk. it looks like we have 11 listeners and three in queue. d.t., if you can let us know when the callers are ready. >> chair peskin: first speaker, please. >> i apologize. i raised my hand too early. i was hoping to speak on this, the next item. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get back to you, so if you'll get back in the queue. next speaker, please. >> [inaudible] i'm sorry. i want to also comment on the item number 2. >> chair peskin: okay. we'll get you back in the queue, and next speaker for item number 1. >> i'm sorry. i'm also -- i need to wait for my [inaudible] chec. >> chair peskin: sounds like the next item is going to be pretty popular. all right. are there any other speakers for item number one with regard to extending the retrofit compliance deadline? madam clerk? operations? >> operator: there are no more callers. >> chair peskin: all right. why don't we wait for just a moment before i close public comment. going once, going twice, public comment is closed. colleagues, first, let me duplicate the file and make a motion to continue the duplicated file to the call of the chair. on that motion, madam clerk, a roll call, please. >> clerk: for the file, item number one has been duplicate. on the motion to duplicate and continue to the call of the chair -- >> chair peskin: i think the duplication, i can do myself, but continue to the call of the chair. >> clerk: correct. just noting the duplicate go motion. [roll call] >> clerk: you have three ayes on the continuation. >> chair peskin: and then i make a motion to forward this to the full board of supervisors as a committee report for hearing tomorrow, september 15. on that motion, a roll call, please. >> clerk: on the motion as stated -- [roll call] >> clerk: you have three ayes. >> chair peskin: all right. next item, please. >> clerk: item 2 is an ordinance amending the health code to establish cleaning and disease prevention standards and practices in tourist hotels and large commercial office buildings to help contain covid-19. each speaker will be allowed public comments which to speak by calling 415-655-0001. the meeting i.d. is 146-963-1010. again, that's 146-963-1010. press pound, and pound again. when connected, you will be in listening mode and muted.>> chair peskin: thank you, ms. major, and thank you, supervisor safai and supervisor preston for your patience in continuing this item for a couple of weeks to make sure we created the space for additional speed back and dialogue for a host of key stakeholders in the hospitality and office industries, including the building owners, their workers, and other parties. and as i've said before -- actually, i said it in a movie that was on public broadcasting a couple of nights ago, i was proud to represent a district that has been the goose that lays the golden egg for san francisco, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism and office revenue and event revenue for the city and county of san francisco. we all know, these industries have been remarkably hard hit by the pandemic, particularly by the mixed measures and announcements emanating from the federal government and the c.d.c. san francisco has so much at stake, and we, as i said earlier, need to adopt industry-leading standards rooted in public health guidance. i want to rebrand san francisco as the safest tourism destination in the united states of america. i've said this to the building owners and stations, i've said this to unite 2, and i've said this to hotel council. as of today, we have done a small partial reopening for personal businesses, and as we look at reopening more and more indoor activities, particularly in very transmissive settings. we have to look from what we've all read in the media in disastrous openings like las vegas and other cities and establish strong guidelines that really protect everyone and reattract tourists to san francisco. singapore, china, france have adopted very similar cleaning standards based on recommendations from donald trump's beloved world health organization, and i really think that san francisco can and should be the industry leader here, and as we say, as goes san francisco, so goes california. as goes california, so goes the united states of america. and we should be the gold standard for the state and the nation. and as i said, i've met with all of the stakeholders in the past several weeks, and they have all suggested a slew of amendments. i think there have been a total of 33 from the industries, which colleagues, what is before you today and has been circulated, i have adopted about half of them, either in whole or in part, and i really want to thank stakeholders for this feedback. and some of the stakeholders have actually done that in a way that was much more helpful to my chief of staff, sunny angulo. in other cases, it was much broader, high-level feedback as came from the building owners and managers association. i know there's been concern about what we call opt in or opt out, which, very simply put is, if you are a guest in a hotel, you get cleaning unless you decide that you don't want daily cleaning in your room. that's exactly the way the system works now. i will say that when i go to a hotel, and i stay a couple of nights, and there's a little note on top of the towels that i can make the environment better and not use water, i don't have my towels changed. i mostly go backpacking and stay in a tent, but we're actually preserving customer choice, so if a patron wants to opt out of daily cleaning in order to conserve water and do their part for the environment, they can continue to have that option. in addition to revising, clarifying some of the definitions in the ordinance, these clarifications really seek to tighten up the definition of cleaning and the clarification of employees in language, and i think that is fundamentally important. and given the fact that we're furthering -- we're further limiting the scope of this ordinance, i've been advised by council that these amendments are nonsubstantive in nature, although i think we spent a lot of time trying to reach a consensus that works for all parties without compromising public health and encouraging more tourism and office use. i want to make sure that we haven't missed anything, and i'm totally open to additional feedback. supervisor safai, thank you for your cosponsorship, and you're welcome to offer any comments or amendments, and if there are no other comments, i would like to open this up for public comment, which based on the last item, we apparently have quite a bit of. with that, vice chair safai? >> supervisor safai: yeah, thank you. i want to associate myself with your comments. i appreciate working independently on this. since we can't work on this together, we had to work independently with the respective agencies, but i appreciate your work on this. i would like to say, i draw this analogy. it's very similar to the airline industry. there are some airlines that are still selling middle seats during this pandemic, that are allowing passengers to go in and be fully, fully on top of one another. that's their choice. i don't think that's the best practice at this moment. there are other airlines that are choosing to remove the middle seat, and i think it's very similar to what we're talking about, particularly when it comes to cleaning. in the common areas, we've defined that, narrowed it. high-touch surfaces, appreciate those amendments, but the idea of daily cleaning is one, to me, that's very similar to the analogy that i just gave. if you want to allow infections to be there, and you want to say you don't want your room cleaned until you leave, that's going to probably put the house cleaner and those involved more at risk, but if you -- and you have that option. but if you want to allow -- and i think we should still allow daily cleaning -- can be done in a very safeway. the guests wouldn't be in the room. the guests would be out of the room to ensure that you're cleaning and paying attention. same thing with the larger hotel buildings. i don't want to lose sight of that. i think that's really important because this is about tending a message -- sending a message to the industry, to the employers, to the tenants, that we are going to take action to ensure that the virus is not spreading. if i can go set in my dentist's chair where he's 6 inches from my face, i think we can figure out a safeway to have hotel rooms cleaned, to have offices cleaned that will encourage people to come back and participate in our tourist industry and allow people to go back to work and help our economy. so with that, i'm proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation. >> chair peskin: thank you. supervisor preston, anything you want to add? no pressure whatever. >> supervisor preston: thank you for that. i was muted, but no comments, please. >> chair peskin: thank you for that. madam clerk, if you and operations could have the first caller brought up. operations is bringing up speakers. if you have not done so already, press star, three to enter the queue, and if you have already done so, please wait to speak until the system says you are unmuted. >> hello. my name is nicholas javier, and i'm a proud member here of united local 2. when i was laid off in march, i couldn't afford paying rent. it's hard to put into words the level of fear and anxiety not knowing that you might be able to pay rent the next month. thankfully, i moved in with my partner, but the extra $600 from the c.a.r.e.s. act expired. i won't be able to go back to work unless patrons and customers can rest assured by knowing that we can ensure that our cleaning levels are safe. the many things that this virus has taught us, we must do these things the right way for all of our sakes. i'm asking to do this the right way. the companies want us to go the extra mile to wow the guest with our service, we must also wow the public with health and safety first before profit. all of our livelihoods depend on it. thank you very much. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is kevin carroll, and i'm the president and c.e.o. of the hotel council of san francisco. i want to thank you, chair peskin and supervisors safai and preston for providing us with the revised legislation, and thank you, supervisor peskin, and sunny angulo's work, as well, your chief of staff. in reviewing the document, we just received the changes in the last 24 hours. we want to thank you for the amendments you made based on the requests that we had after meeting with you to discuss. please note the hotel council is committed to having the strongest and safest hotels in san francisco. there are two recommendations that we asked for and were looking for that have not been addressed with the current program that's the basis of our continued opposition to the ordinance. the first is to eliminate the mandatory daily cleanings and allow our guests unfetortered access to choice of cleanings. we also would say the second item is not to require operators to have dedicated personnel responsible for disinfecting exterior doors of the hotel. we respectfully ask that the item be delayed for further review and discussion, and we thank you for the time for discussing this. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. carroll, and my recommendation, if my colleagues agree, would not be able to send this as a committee report, but to send this with a positive recommendation, which would allow us another week to discuss this. next speaker, please. >> my name is troy flanagan, and i am the president of the san francisco lodging association. thank you, supervisor peskin, for creating opportunities for constructive discussion to address our concerns with the bill. however, based on the language circulated, we remain strongly opposed to this measure. we feel strongly that the safety of our employees and guests should remain in the hands of public health experts. ensuring the safety of guests and hotel associates is paramount. unfortunately, this ordinance that is before you today goes well beyond public health guidance and will increase public health exposure risk for our employees and our guests and put an incredible strain on especially small independent hotels. many jurisdictions have provided guidance or mandated that daily guest room cleaning must be upon the request of a hotel room guest. increasingly, hotel guests are telling us they don't want that contact. 65% are saying they would be uncomfortable with housekeeping entering their room without advance permission. please delay decision until we can discuss this with public health measures and safely rebuild san francisco's public health jobs. >> chair peskin: thank you. and just for the record, everybody on this panel has already voted for an earlier incarnation of this measure, so the chances of us voting against this are slim to none, but that is at least the chairperson's prediction. next person, please. >> good afternoon. my name is maria mata. i am a housekeeper at marriott hotels for ten years. i am a proud member on united 2. this vote will require my hotel to follow the world health organization recommendation for cleaning and safety of covid-19. this is important to me because i work in [inaudible] i also live with my mother, son, and young daughter. my mother is 88 years old. i was to make sure that my -- i want to make sure that my hotel is doing the right thing. i don't want to get infected, and i don't want to infect my sons. it's also important for the business. if we make san francisco the cleanest, safest place during covid-19, the guests will come back. if we don't disinfect and clean the right way, the guests won't trust our hotel. the right way to clean is to clean more, not to clean less. this is how we can protect the workers and rebuild the guests' trust in our hotels. please listen to us and vote yes on this ordinance. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is [inaudible] and i'm also housekeeper at san francisco marriott marquis for more than eight years, and i'm a proud member of united local 2. nobody knows better than the housekeepers like me on how to clean a hotel room, and cleaning is important to me. it's much harder to sanitize a room that nobody has cleaned in days, but now because of covid-19, we have to be more careful because it can survive for days on the high touch items [inaudible] thermal control, and the wood head boards, beds, chairs, and night tables. covid-19 can even be on the trash, and covid-19 [inaudible] so we should follow the highest standards of cleaning and safety. as a housekeeper, we are the experts, and we are the one who enter the rooms to clean. we know that the right way to open our hotel is to clean more and not less. please listen to us and support us by voting yes. thank you so much. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker. [inaudible] >> -- to take the cleaning protocols to ensure that employees and guests are kept safe. hotels are altering traditional operating procedures to reduce the risk of infection during this virus and beyond. the american hotel lodging association has issued safe stay, industry-wide guidelines to provide hotels with a comprehensive set of best practice protocols. california lodging hotel association has adopted safe for its safe cleaning program. based on my 45 years of public health practice, specializing in infectious health and disease transmission, i find these measures appropriate. face coverings, distancing in all of indoor common areas, and guests requiring to choose contactless check in options as well as daily room cleaning limit contacts between hotel employees and guests. [inaudible] furthermore, it has some arbitrary cleaning requirements that are not only unnecessary but potentially detrimental to worker health and safety by exposing workers potentially to covid-19 as well as unhealthy cleaning sources. thank you very much for listening to me today. >> chair peskin: next speaker. >> good afternoon. i'm [inaudible], president and c.e.o. california lodging and hotel association. we represent more than 6,000 hotels in california and more than 215 hotels in san francisco. we greatly appreciate your amendments to the healthy buildings ordinance offered by supervisor peskin yesterday afternoon. however, some of our concerns still have not been addressed. in supervisor peskin's comments, he mentioned his intention was to preserve consumer choice, and we agree completely with that. this issue is a fundamental concern to our association, especially for our employees. just this morning, the san francisco department of punl health put out a statement as part of the guidance for opening hotels, is asking for daily cleaning increases the risk of community transmission by staff because of exposure to potential covid-19 positive individuals. so the amended [inaudible] over a matter that the public health department has highlighted as a serious and elevated risk, which is why we maintain our vigorous opposition to the proposal even as amended and hope that we can continue to work with supervisor peskin on continued changes. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. thank you, mr. chair and supervisors. i don't have much to add. i think that chair peskin, supervisor safai both said it quite well. >> -- and we look forward to the vote today and then the full board. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> so supervisors, i think there are a number of loopholes that this item hasn't addressed. so if you want the rest of the world to follow what we do here in san francisco, i haven't heard a word about using tools like the ultraviolent rays. i haven't heard a word about asymptomatic workers or guests, and i've said this before, that we need to consult somebody who is -- tourists don't like to come here, and i don't want to say for what reason, but another factor that you must bear in mind in, there are overall 120 nations that do not want americans to visit them because we have had over 200,000 deaths. you have to look at this in a comprehensive manner and not look at it as if you're going to win some brownie points. it doesn't work like that. thank you very much. >> chair peskin: next speaker. >> hello. can you hear me? >> chair peskin: yes, we can. >> chair peskin: glen welsh, former chief of cal-osha. in general, i want to applaud the efforts of coming up with this reg, although i do want to point out something that i learned during my many years at cal-osha. you get buy in when you have compliance, and you get most of what you're looking for when people believe in what's being required, and i think you're mostly there with this reg, but i think the room cleaning thing is a real mistake. i think most people don't believe it's necessary, and that tends to create a certain amount of cynicism with complying with the rules. it's good for there to be an incentive for hotel residents to not clean a room every day. i don't think you have a stitch of evidence to say it makes difference one way or another, although if it does, i suspect it's with the employees, so i would say you might want to rethink that one. and also, the surface is high touch. if the surface is not high touch, we don't need something like a door opener. that's just waste, and it's potential over exposure. finally, i want to say that likening this room cleaning issue to whether you sit in a middle seat in an airline or not is really a hard pill to swallow. any way, appreciate the effort, and thanks for the opportunity to comment. >> chair peskin: thank you for that comment, mr. cal-osha director. i've never heard from you, but i just pray from the bottom of my heart that you're not being paid to make those comments. next speaker, please. >> yeah. i think two callers ago, that guy really hit it on the nose that this is -- it's -- it's a farce. it doesn't -- it's a show to get votes, and that really bothered me. i don't think that it's actually going to do [inaudible] i work retail and spent a lot of time out in public in san francisco. a lot of people just don't get it. they just don't get coronavirus protection measures, prevention measures. they just don't get why you need to wear the mask, they don't get social distancing, they don't get surfaces that need to be cleans, so i think this tries to force it too much on people that most of them, again, they just don't care, they don't get it. if there's someone coming in, let's say, for a business trip to san francisco, they're not going to want their room to be cleaned every day because -- who knows -- they don't know who's coming in their room. there's no records of that, so, you know, i think it just creates more risk, more panic, more stress, and more of a reason for people not to come to this city. again, the only reason i feel you're doing this is when it comes time to get reelected, you can point and say look, look at what i did. this is something that i did to stop coronavirus, and oh, you know, trump wouldn't like that. i think it's just a way to buy votes, really. if you want real solutions, get the -- get the health department to come up with a plan. let's not rewrite the ordinance. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> operator: that was the last speaker with their hand raised. >> chair peskin: all right. seeing no other members of the public for this item number 2, public item is closed. colleagues, the amendments are before you. are there any questions or comments from members? >> supervisor safai: did you want to go over the amendments, chair? >> chair peskin: i am happy to do so. >> supervisor safai: at a global level? >> chair peskin: i'll do them at a microlevel. one moment, mr. vice chair. >> supervisor safai: i don't need them. i can take macro. >> chair peskin: so as mentioned earlier in my initial comments, some clarifications in the definitions, page 4, section 625.2, at line 14, insert in the city. on the same page, at line 20, insert, and is further defined in section 625.3-c. on page 5, also in definitions, this is -- and we discussed this actually in the earlier iteration of this legislation that we already passed, and it was you, vice chair safai, that spoke to the employee dining and break room issue, a change in that definition on page 5 at line 3, which takes out or frequently used by employees to take such breaks and is replaced by authorized or approved by the operator. there's a new definition of frequently touched referenced by some of the public commenters today. on page 6, section 625 point 3, subb, insert at line 6, this requirement does not apply to tourist hotel and authorize housekeeping employees to wash hands in guest rooms. subsection c, at line 10, removes the disinfectants used must be labeled to be effective against viral pathogens. cleaners must be approved for effective use. i believe that came from the industry. same page, line 23, at the end of subd, provided that sections e and f should not aemploy to covered establishments that are close to employees and/or guests. on page 7, sub e, sub 1, the newly defined frequently touched is inserted in sub 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all on that page, next page that is inserted again -- that definition capital, frequently capital touched in sub 8, sub 9. on page 9, at the request of the industry, sub 2 removed bed, linens, and towels shall be changed no less than daily unless the guess requests that they be -- guest requests that they be changed less frequently. on page 11, at line 8, insert employees are required to collect, clean, or dispose of medical waste such as syringes. i think i'm just about -- that takes care of it. >> supervisor safai: great.

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