Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240714

You have a quorum. Will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance. pledge of allegiance. . pledge of allegiance . On behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge the staff of sfgtv, coleena mendoza and michael balvazar who record each of the meetings and make the transcripts available online. Madam clerk, any communications . I have none to report. Colleagues, today, we are approving the meeting from the may 14th, 2019 board meeting. Are there any changes to these Meeting Minutes . Seeing none, can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented . Motion made by supervisor fuer and seconded by supervisor peskin. And without objection, then, those minutes will be approved after public comments. Madam clerk, lets go straight to our regular agenda. Please call item number one. Item number one is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to require the city to close Juvenile Hall with december 31, 2021 and to affirm the determination. Madam clerk, call the roll. Item one, stephanie no, walton aye and yi, aye, brown aye and supervisor hainny, ay roll called . There are ten ay session ande no. This ordinance is passed with a 101 vote. The next item. Item two is an ordinance to aminutes the planning code to designate 524 union street as a landmark under item 10. Colleagues, can we have a motion to excuse supervisor peskin for this item . roll call . There are ten ay session. Es. This is ordinance has passed. Item three is an ordinance to allow arts activities and a principallably permitted use to. Consciously permit nighttime entertainment uses within the rcd in Historic Buildings and buildings that contribute to historic district. The st. Josephs church to exempt nighttime entertainment from a 200foot buffer requirement and to require a preservation rehabilitation and Maintenance Plan for uses within the fullsome street naked neighd transit and to make the appropriate finding. This ordinance passed unanimously. Madam clerk, call the next item. To amend the planning code and tax regulations code to authorize the addition of a dwelling unit in new construction to clarify the approval process and create an expedited board of appeals process for certain adus to make the appropriate findings. Same house, same call . This ordinance has passed unanimously. Madam clerk, please call the next item. Item 5 is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to advise the controllers requirement of the safe Pilot Programme and to amend the police code to create an exception for participants in the safe Pilot Programme to the prohibition for happen takes. The same habitation. This item has passed. Lets go to new business, item number 6. An in order r orbed unanimous to tea appropriate 400,000 from district 7 general City Resident responsibility and to appropriate 300,000 to support the projects and 10 to the disar Planning Project and to deappropriate 250,000 from the San Francisco municipal transportation agency, sfna and appropriatate 250,000 to support various districts, vision zero projects. Colleagues, i want to say a few words about participants who are. Budgeting. Weve supported projects, 31 being vision zero and 50 general quality of life projects. This year alone, we are supporting another 26 projects funded through our regular atback to the district and in addition to ta money set aside for vision zero and we basically had, think, a Record Number of votes. Again, these are votes from residents in which my office has really no infrastructure to make it happen like the department of election. But of the residents, there were 18,500 votes cast from a total number of 2100 voters. So hopefully youll support this. Madam clerk, i think we can take this same house incall. Yes. Without objection, this ordinance has passed on First Reading. Maam damadam clerk, please cal. Comprised the interim budget and appropriation ordinance to appropriatate all estimated receipts and expenditures for the city as of june 1, ending june 30, 2020, through 2021. The annual salary ordinance to enumerate the preparation ordinance for fiscal years ending june 30, 2020, and june 30, 2021 and the proposed budget of infrastructure, operating as the Redevelopment Agency for fiscal year 2020. Colleagues, can we take these items, same house, same call. Without objection, these ordinance are passed on First Reading and a resolution is adopted unanimously. Madam clerk, please call the next item. Item 10 is an ordinance to amend the code to require the installation and use of telematic Vehicle Systems own order leased by the city and used by Law Enforcement agencies subject to a waiver by the city administrator and to affirm the determination. Colleagues, i know you have heard me talk about telematic over the last few years, probably more times than you would like but i will tell it again. You know, we actually passed some legislation to arm our city fleets outside of the Law Enforcement fleets with what we call the black box telematic and we can trac track and slow downe speed of the drivers and after two years of working with the Law Enforcement departments, we finally came to agreement after many, many, many, what we call what do you call those things . Where we meet with the rank and file and in 2015, i notice ed this as noticed, wewere approvis of payouts, that for all of the lawsuits between 2010 and 2014, the city paid 77,000 in litigation and lawsuits directly related to our fleet and this is unacceptable. Driving a city vehicle is a privilege, not a right. Today, more than 4,000 of our city fleet has the technology. So what were trying to do today is get the rest of the departments to follow suit. So what we found is in some departments, incidents of speeding have been reduced by 66 . Thats a big number. I wasnt expecting more than 10 , but we reduced speeding by 66 . Department have been able to address mechanical issues, such as more quickly because fleet managers are alerted when diagnostic uses appear. Before any employee checks out a vehicle, vehicle part of the mandated training highlights that this technology is installed to all city vehicles. Simply knowing a Monitoring Technology exists impacts driving behaviour whether someone is monitoring or not. This is scientifically proven and the impact of this effect hahas been updated and launched for employees. So i would like to thank the city administrator and her team. For overseeing this programme, creating a dashboard that departments can easily access and use to improve the fleet and for all of the work and the time during this legislation. Now, the biggest difference here is that the information that is fartherred through this technology is confined to each of the departments, like the Police Department and so forth, so just a guarantee that this confidentiality in this and we dont endanger any of our officers. So lastly, i want to thank my cosponsors on this, supervisor peskin and brown and i want to thank my staff, eric mayborn to make this happen and to get us a step closer to our vision zero policy. So im happy to answer my questions, but i would rather just have your support. Colleagues, can i take the same house, same call . Without any objection, then, this passes in First Reading unanimously. Madam clerk, please call the next item. Items 11 through 37, mr. President. It represents the union locals that represent City Employees. Item 11 is the ordinance to fix compensation for City Employees charted 88 4089, codes not represented by an Employee Organization or that establish Work Schedules and other terms and condition for employees and methods of payments effective july 1, 2019. These are ordinances that adopt and implement various memoranda of understanding or mous between the city and the following union local. Item 12, its the mou between the city and the Fire Fighters union to provide a base wage increase for classification h42, assistant fire marshall effective july 1, 2019 and item 13, to establish of th establis. And for item 14, the mou between the city and machinist union, local 1414, effective july 1, 201 through june 30, 2022. Items 1518, these items adopt and implement the decisions of the arbitration board and establishes the mous fo us. For item 15, the location, for item 6, local 261 and item 17, the International Brotherhood of electrical workers and local 6 6 for local 261, for item 17, the International Brotherhood of electrical workers, local 6 to be effective july 1, 2019 through jube 2030. For the deputy probation officers association, for the mou between the city and operating engineers, local 3 and item 20, the mou between the teamsters local 856, for items 2123, for the mous between the city and the transport Workers Union of america, local 250a, local 250a the multiunit and local 200, for item 24, this item adopts the dis an decision establishing the mou between the city and Service Employees local 101. For im 25, the supervising probation officer and for item 26, the San Francisco city workers united, item 27, the municipal executives association. For item 27, for the International Union of operating engineers, stationery engineers, and item 29, between the city and the sheriffs managers and supervisors association. For items 30 and 31, the omos between the city, American Physicians and dentists unit, units 17 and 18. For item 32, the city and the United Association of journeymen and pipefitting industry and 33 through 35, mous between the city and sanfrancisco Institutional Police officers association, the District Attorney Investigators Association and the San Francisco building inspectors association. For item 36, the mou between the deputys Sheriffs Office and for item 37, an ordinance to adopt and implement the mou between the city and crafts coalition. These 27 aforementioned ordinances adopt and implement the mous effective july 1, 201 throug2019through june 30, 2022. 2022. 27 individual votes or all at once . All at once. Colleagues, before i say that, i want to thank our Hr Department and brother and sisters in the labour unions for their hard work and coming to these memorandum of understanding and im glad were able to get to this point where we can actually cast a vote on this. So colleague, can we take these items, same house, same call . Without objection, these ordinances are passed on First Reading unanimously. Madam clerk, please call the next item. Item 38 to receive and approve and annual report for the Business Improvement district for fiscal year 201718. Colleagues, can we take this item, same house, same call . Without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. Madam clerk, please call item number 39. 39 is a resolution to recall the legions of california to enable a fee service area for ucsf in epic to provide terms and conditions for the operation of that pro fee service area with a term in excess of ten years with the existing agreement between the city and ucsf. Same house, same call . Without objection, this is adopted unanimously. The next item . To initiate the approval process for plaques for the following two firehydrants, at northwest corner of hey street and bucannon street and northwest corner of ella street and vaness avenue and to commemorate them as the few working fire hydrants in San Francisco during the great fire reaching the Mission District and citys western region. Colleague, can we take this same house, came call . Without objection, this resolution is atonighted adopted unanimously. Madam clerk, can you please call items 41 and 42 together . Items 41 and 42 are two ordinances that amend the health code. Item 41 prohibits the sale, manufacturing of Tobacco Products including Electronic Cigarettes on City Property and item 42 the retail establishments of Electronic Cigarettes that have required and not received an order from the food and Drug Administration approving their markets an markd flavour and ecigarettes that have not received an order approving their markets. Supervisor walton . Thank you so much. I want to make a statement about item 42. Today, we are having the first vote on this ordinance which received full positive recommendation out of Public Safety and nake Neighborhood Services committee. This is supported by the member heart association, the miran heart society, the parents against vaping, our department of Public Health, the San Francisco Youth Commission and doctors from ucsf who work on the centre for tobacco and control research and education. According to the centre for Disease Control and prevention, the number of middle and High School Students who reported being current users of Tobacco Products increased from 3. 6 million to 4. 9 million and 78 among High School Students alone between 2017 and 2018. At the Public Safety services committee, we heard from parents, unio, youth and doctorn why we should not delay it. We see its new form through ecigarettes. I wont put this over the health of our children and our young people. The ordinance is not a permanent ban. It is a moratorium until Due Diligence is carried out by fda, concerning Big Tobacco Companies like jewels marketing to our youth. Companies like jewel have had three years to submit their product and marketing to the fda. The question is why havent they . And the answer is because they werent to protect their profits, to continue targeting and harming our young people and they know nicotine is not healthy. Ecigarette manufacturers claim this is a harmreduction device but according to the to centre for Disease Control, scientists have a lot to learn about whether ecigarettes are effective for quitting smoking. Theyre not safe for youth, young adults, pregnant women or adults who do not use tobacco product and more prepare are addicted to nicotine who would not pick up a cigarettethis is r working community. This is for our smalle small mes and grocers and facilitating fasttrack permitting processes to help our small merchants expand the Healthy Retail sf programme, to assist the most vulnerable corner storing and expanding support for small mer merchants through Small Business among other ideas and to formalize this group, i will introduce a resolution before the recess to establish the working group and we will be working towards these goals with my colleagues and the merchants represented on the small working group. I also want to remind everyone this legislation would not go into effect until after seven months until the mayor signs and and 60 days after the mayors signature. I hope you support this legislation to protect our young people from being addicted to nicotine and a lifetime of addiction. Thank you. Thank you, supervisor walton. Supervisor fuer. Thank you, president yi. As this policy conversation has been unfolding regarding ecigarettes, we need to take into consideration the full picture, the Public Health perspective as well as perspective from our small grocev. Grocers. They have served as a Community Space for so many residents. As the small grocers and ourselves compete, we need to identify and prioritize strategies to support our small grocers with the input from the small grocers. I hope were able to explore ideas such as happening mer chaptermerchants to diversify offerings. Thank you very much for your leadership, supervisor walton, on this legislation. Supervisor marr. First of all, i would like to thank supervisor walton and Public Health advocate for your strong leadership on this issue. I support to protect union from nick seenicotine addiction. And while i fully support the goals of the legislation, i have struggled a bit with my position on it for a number of important reasons. I am concerned about the impacts of the legislation on Small Businesses, especially our corner store, market and liquor store, many owned by immigrants and people of colour who have in recent years grown more reliant on revenue from the sale of ecigarette products. I think as a board we have a duty to better understand the impacts of this ban on these Small Businesses and to develop a comprehensive strategy for supporting them through this transition. I also want to acknowledge that we have been inconsistent in our application of regulations on various products with various levels of harm. This board passed an ordinance allowing for cannabis use at events that would, in effect, allow tobacco smoking at events. Each as we consider banning electronic Tobacco Products. Weve adopted a Harm Reduction model towards many forms of substance use, including moving towards opening a supervised consumption site and its at odds with our approach here. With that said, i am gravely concerned with the skyrocketingg vaping products. My daughter firefighter med some of her friends in middle school are already users. Im convince ed this existing efforts to regulate these products have been effective and for that reason, for the been of the health of the public, i am supporting the legislation today. Thank you. Supervisor brown. Yes, thank you. I am supporting this legislation today, also. And i sat down with the merchants, the small besmear bus merchants that rely on sale to support their family. I am happy that supervisor walton said well have a working group and i would love to be a part of that, because i think district 5 and i think district 3 has the most of those mom and pop stores that sell this and so, i want to be at the table. For every adult that uses ecigarettes to stop smoking or cut back on nicotine, dozens of children start and that stopped me cold because when i think that if we would have taken a stand, the city would have taken a stand, 50, 30, 20 years ago, we took a stand against big tobacco, we might not have had a lot of adults that are struggling now to try to stop smoking, to try to stop taking nicotine. And also their health issues. So im here with my colleagues to take a stand with big tobacco because we should not let them look for other, especially the union, be able to let them get them addicted and think of the health costs and what will happen to our youth. It is unacceptable. So thank you for bringing this forward. And definitely want to stand with all my colleagues on this. Supervisor mendelman. Like some of my colleagues, i had reservations about this measure, but at our hearing at Public Safety and Neighborhood Services, we heard very compelling testimony from folks in the american heart association, professors and many people coming forward to say that no, vaping is not Harm Reduction, that as supervisor brown said, that much of the progress made in reducing nicotine addiction and people using cigarettes is eroded toward people rushing towards ecigarettes. Im convinced over the shortterm, at least, until the fda evaluates this product, its a reasonable thing for San Francisco and totally consistent with our Public Health goals to move forward with this legislation. The lingering concern i did have at the end of that hearing was around potential impacts on Small Businesses and particularly on the grocers and i want to thank supervisor walltop and supervisor fuer for your work to reach out to those grocers and to do more than just off them hopes and prayers as we did in the past but to get this working Group Going Forward and to then come forward with an actual package that may help some of the businesses survive in a tough economic environment that, frankly, this legislation will make tougher. Supervisor haniny . Thank you, president. I will be supporting this legislation. Thank you supervisor walton and City Attorney hererra for your leadership on this. I do think that from a Public Health perspective, particularly when you have a product that does not have fda approval for marketing, that as supervisor mendleman said, this is an important regulation to protect our residents. We have seen an explosion of the use of ecigarettes by union and being able to put in regulations that prevent that and address that are critical for our city. I also represent a district that has many small grocers. I wasnt trying to compete there, but i live within a block of, i think, four or five, and theyve talked to me about this. Theyve come in and spoken to me about it and from their perspective, they need to be able to survive here in a very tough economic climate. And when we keep on changing the rules of the game, it makes it hard for them. So i hope that this working group is something that has concrete commitments and resources and i want to thank supervisor fuer for your leadership on this because i think they felt like weve given lip service to some of this over time as weve made change and not actually followed through. I think many of them would be fully willing to sell other things or take certain supports to have produce or all of the things they want to have a positive impact on the people they serve and on the community, theyre willing to do, but they need our help. But you have my commitment to work with you on this and thank you for your courage in taking this on. But it will take some additional followthrough to get this right and i think thats what weve heard from all of our colleagues here. So im happy to support it. I think that this makes sense when you have a product like this thats not fda approved but at the same time we have work to support everyone who will be impact. Ed. Supervisor safye. Thank you. I think when this came to my attention i was shocked that this company and others that do vaping had never gone through the fda approval process. I think a lot of the members of the public and those that are out there probably are still in disbelief. This company grew overnight and now valued almost at 20 billion. It shows you how profitable this is and lets call it what it is. Its a replacement for nicotine delivery. When i sat with representatives of the company, i asked simple questions. They were pitching the idea that this was an alternative to the patch, the gum and im not a smoker. I dont have any interaction in understanding of that, but i said, well, can you walk into a store and off the shelf grab the patch and the gum . And their answer was no. I said what do you need to do . They said its behind lock and key. I said, would you be interested in being behind lock and key and oh, absolutely not. That sums up what this is about. This is about accessibility and nick seen inicotine in the fast. Its about online sales and getting them into the hands of the next generation of addicted users. I have to sympathy for that. I want to echo the fact that we just got a report from the office of Small Business that talked about the loss of revenue sales that are projected and i understand the Small Business owners have invested money, time, effort and energy into the second round in terms of flavoured tobacco moving to vaping. Its all under the same theme and were trying to protect the Publics Health and doing it in such a way we think its helpful. This is not an outright ban but an opportunity for this company and others to go and seek fda approval and then maybe have a conversation with the city about the true process by which people can buy that, which is maybe behind lock and key. Maybe some other way in the future, but right now, it is as easy as clicking purchase online. There is no verification, there is no interest in determining how old the purchaser is. Even if there were, its easy to work with someone to purchase and get it delivered to your house. This is about thinking about the next generation of users and thinking about protecting the Overall Health and sending a message to the rest of the state and the country to follow our lead. This is an important step in the conversation of protecting Public Health. And similar to what we did recently in this chamber when it came to mitigating effects of construction from the sfmta on Small Business, we can do the exact same thing. We can have a conversation about creating the fund and helping the Small Business owners and grocers. Theyre an important part of the fabric in San Francisco. I know all of those that have cornerstone grocers that to that hard work, we want to help them survive. So thank you for bringing this forward and thank you for all of the thoughtful comments. I think the debate is operate straightforward and clear. This is about Public Health. Before i ask supervisor walton to speak again, i want to say thank you supervisor walton, for introducing these items. Colleagues, it is a to brainer we should support the tobacco on City Property. The legislation, however, to restrict a sale, manufacturer and distribution of ecigarettes lead to some robust policy and discussions. Like many of us, my colleagues, i met with the Small Business community, namely the grossers, the owners of grocerrers and i want to recognise their plight. I know families put everything into their businesses but times have greatly changed. Our Corner Stores used to be a onestop shop for everything, milk, egg and other products. Over time, there has become more reliance on unhealthy and dangerous products making these stores vile. Viable and this isa good option but that is the reality. As i think more about how retail has changed and the challenges these predominantly immigrant businesses face, i come back to this moral dilemma how would i feel if a retailer came to me to ask me my opposition to ban assault rifles knowing how dangerous assault rifles are to make a profit. I know that for some, this is a stretch, but we truly do not know the full consequences of the products that are marketed as safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes. We have to recognise this is a greater Public Health issue. This legislation alone will not prevent, entirely prevent union vaping, but we hope it is a start and, perhaps, the fact that we have created Public Discourse about the potential dangers of this product is moving us in the better direction. Young people growing addicted to nicotine, we need to reverse this trend of new products. Im in full support to to protect the brick and mortar stands to find other ways of making a living. So i want to thank supervisor fuer, in pushing this issue and with supervisor walton joining and im glad youre taking this step because i was really in many ways concerned. Having grown up, having a small grocer in my family, so to the Business Community, i want you to know that as a city, we must do more for you. But we also immediat need to dee the safety of the products we allow in our marketplace. So i would love, if you dont mind, supervisor walltop waltonn you as a cosponsor. Thank you so much, president yi and i wanted to thank the City Attorney for his cosponsorship and for his hard fight to protect our young people, as well. And also, natalie g and my whole staff for working closely with the supervisors and other aids on this legislation. Of course, my colleagues, sponsor and everyone who really did have conversations with the Business Community and really come up with thoughtful ideas in ways that we can help to support them and well continue to do that. Well formalize the conversation and its not going to be empty or broken promise, well do some things that will be beneficial to Small Business and as i was talking about earlier, the support of Small Business community is not just about ecigarettes and the ban on ecigarettes but time for us to step up and do things differently so that Small Businesses can thrive in San Francisco. So i want the Small Business community to know that you have my commitment for us to do that. Thank you so much. Colleagues, im just going to look at you when i say that, can we take these items, same look, same call . Without objection, the ordinance on First Reading unanimously. We are passed our 2 30 accommodation and so madam clerk, can you please call our special order of 2 30. Its now time to celebrate pride and meet the boards 2019 lgbtq honourees. Were honouring pride month. Welcome, everybody, to the Board Chamber to celebrate the diverse activitdiversity of our beautifl community. Before i turn it over, i know there might be people waiting outside that is waiting for this item. And somehow, if youre not involved with this particular item, which will take about 45 minutes, i think we would appreciate it if you could just leave the chamber for that moment so that we could i should bring in the honourees. That would be well appreciated. So i think we have a bunch of people outside. Thank you, president yi and thank you to everywhere who has come out for todays celebration of the pride month. Happy pride, everyone as the gay honour board of supervisors, it has been my honour to invite my colleagues to select a queer person or organization to honour today and earlier, we had a reception for the amazing fabulous honouree and what a fantastic group it is. This june marks the 49t 49th anniversary of the first pride parade in sanfrancisco and 50th anniversary of the stone rightride riots. Although the stonewall riots are credited with igniting the Lgbtq Movement in San Francisco and supervisor hainey will back me up, we know the Queer Movement started a few blocks from this building, when it was a ride if the tenderloin. This has chosen as a theme generations of resistance which i love. The theme is an important remindedder that the legal and cultural progress has been hard fought generations in the making and still far from finished. The historic investment in housing for transpeople in this years budget is happening because generations of trans women like miss major and Jenetta Johnson would not back down, not at the cafetaria, not at the stonewall in and not know. The progress they have made to new hiv infections is the legacy of generations. Longterm survivors like cleve jones and harry bro who i honoured two weeks ago here and so many activists who didnt make it. They and their caregivers demanded that the politicians acknowledge and respond to the plague that the pharmaceutical Companies Make their livesaving medications broadly available and that governments across the land and across the world respond to the epidemic with science and love rather than fear and hate. Growing up, i could not have imagined the incredible strides that the Queer Community would make in the past several decades. I was especially struck by this last night as i attended identity and pride, youth exploration of self, which is an Art Exhibition of the interfor artcentre forthe arts done in s. These young artists, some as youngs as six created themes of identities and expression using pride flags that once had flown on Market Street as part of our annual celebrations. Most of the kids are not queer but in some way that makes the exhibition more powerful. In San Francisco, in 2019, straight and queer kids and boys and Girls Club Art classes used rainbow flags to tell stories of all different identities. How cool is that . You know what else is cool . Our amazing honourees who will you will learn more about. I want to thank each of the honourees who my colleagues have selected for service to our city and our community and i want to thank the hardworking folks in my office, tom temprano, kyle smeeley and ethan for all of their work on todays events. I also want to acknowledge biright and sam moganham forked food and coborae for a shot in the city photography who took what im sure will be an amazing photo making us look good. So with that, i will do the first commen com men co commende sisters. [cheers and applause] they are 40 years young. It is their 40th anniversary. [cheers and applause] a sharp sense of humour a a commitment to celebrating the Queer Community can make a tremendous impact. The sisters of per pettual indulgence a Nonprofit Organization using drag to call attention to important queer issues and causes. It was in response to the mastro clone culture and they got a large response as they went. They produced a safer sex pamphlet and leading the first candlelit vigil. They spear headed the light campaign. Window signs marking safe homes to run to in the instance of an attack were distributed throughout San Francisco. The sisters continue to contribute safety whistles today. Sister boomboom raised a number of issues in her campaign and finishing ninth among 24 candidates. Boomboom then set her sights on mayor diane fin dianne feinsteit and passed the o ordinance for running under an assumed name. Oh, board of supervisors [ laughter ] the sisters who called out homophobic positions taken by the church found themselves on the other side of protests and editorials decrying use of imagery. The groups to protest the handgun hunky jesus contest, they called it. The mother house and dozens have sprung up from alabama to australia. From their first walk to the castro in 1979 to the currentday headquarters on castro street, district eight has proudly been the sisters home base for the last 40 years and many of their signature events including the contest in dedeloris park. Advocacy fundraising and Community Advertising may not be the glamorous work but the nones of the indulgence showed it can be done with whit, style and glamour. Its an honour to have them with us. On behalf of the board of supervisors, i would like to thank the sisters for our 40 years of service and invite sister until the next time to say a few word on behalf of the group. Theyr[cheers and applause] a very famous politician, she said something that completely marked our history forever. She said that every time i look at the sisters, i see red. I see danger. And now we are here four years later and Everybody Loves the sisters. [ laughter ] so i think we did well. I think weve come a long way and i hope with this, we can serve our community for another four years and do our service to the community the best way we can. Thank you. [cheers and applause] please stand by. Jason and i bonded on a recent trip to israel in march. Both of us, italianamericans, and raised catholic, we had much in common and found ourselves glued at the hip, sitting by each other on the bus, eating pizza at a mall in jerusalem, sharing the best falafel ever in tel aviv, which actually was the best falafel ever, but most importantly, sharing our struggles with the crap Catholic Church what it meant for him to come out and what it meant for my sister to come out in our catholic families. Being in the holy land together his part conversations, of course, being in the holy land together, sparked conversations, of course. It connected as to those basic principles of love, acceptance, compassion, kindness and humility. Principles which you cant jason , exude on a daily basis. That trip was one of the date best expenses of my life and made more special because i was able to share with you. Thank you, jason, for your continued service to our city as neighborhood leader, human rights commissioner, member of the nonprofit communities, and as a wonderful and very dear friend. Usually we give flowers to our honourees, but i got you a basket of italian goodies from look at delhi on Chestnut Street with an italian flag and rainbow flag, and they disarm hate button for your backpack to add