Completed speaker cards and copies of any documents to be included should be submitted to the clerk. There are eight supervisors in the chamber. We are now convened as the special meeting of the board of supervisors. Call item number one. A motion for an election to be held and an ordinance amending the business and tax regulation on persons keeping ground floor commercial spaces and commercial districts and for neighborhood commercial [indiscernible] thank you very much. Supervisor ronen . I am happy to make a motion to move this. Great. Thank you, chair fewer, members of the special budget and finance committee. I dont think i have ever been more nervous to talk about something given the amount of work it has taken to get to me. First and foremost, thank you again on behalf of supervisor peskin. His regrets for not being able to be here today. The letter in the legislative file speaks to that. For members of the public, by way of brief background, this was last at the budget and finance committee and we made a number of amendments based on feedback from stakeholders as diverse as the chamber of commerce, to merchant groups, the members of public and commercial brokers who we spoke with. We spoke with supervisors who have expressed concerns. Those amendments are geared and making sure this will not be affecting individuals and landlords. We are trying to do the right thing to activate our storefront so in order to do that, we inserted additional exemptions for vacancy. For instance, if the department of building inspection is continuing to consider a permit application, the property will not be vacant from the time of application to issuance of the permit. And for a year after the issuance of that permit, so you can engage in those actual improvements and improvements to your property. We have proposed a deadline for the City Planning Department to act on a conditional use authorization. If that conditional use is not decided one way or another within six months, the property would not be assessed in that tax year. We have done other things to accommodate concerns, most recently we amended to provide that if a tenant goes out of business with additional time left on a lease, that they are not going to be punished for the additional remainder of that lease and the tax cannot be assessed for the remainder of that lease. We have amended to provide a two thirds threshold for amending this at the board of supervisors , provided it is consistent with the intent of the measure, and to the extent that there are outstanding concerns or unexpected anomalies in the way this is implemented down the line. I think that this should provide some comfort that we can amend to improve and make sure this tax provides its function. I want to thank the Small Business commission. The office of Small Business director for their wholehearted support of this, which is actually the end result of a lot of work with the department and the commission to accommodate concerns that they had, again to the stakeholder commute community, i would also like to thank cosponsors ronen, walton, and haney, and as a final statement, commercial rent control requires an amendment to state law and i truly believe this is the most powerful and effective tool that we have to stabilize rent for existing Small Businesses. For perspective Small Businesses that need more leverage to bring those rents down, and to engage in lease negotiations, and ultimately to try to get these vacancies along our most vibrant commercial corridors built. I am available for questions. Thank you very much. Would this be a good time to make a couple of comments from the conversations we had . Yes, absolutely. I had good conversations with the sponsor. I just wanted to put on the record i know that the timeline of everything is condensed because for many different reasons, but we dont have time to make any additional amendments now before we would put it on the ballot, but i want to talk about some of the things that i thought were important in terms of the conversation that can be considered either internal legislation because of the timeline that we had to get this on the ballot. One of which is more of a technical thing as we are calculating the tax, the way that the legislation talks about linear footage along the public rightofway. I wanted to ensure that we are also not including an ingress or egress that is not related to the business itself. Often times our commercial storefronts on public rightofway his have a walk up to an apartment above the business. It has nothing to do with the business so we want to ensure it is clarified in the legislation that the tax is not being applied to the business for a space that has nothing to do with the business. We will work with the project sponsor on that. Secondarily, and this is a lot more important to me as well, is that one year construction period. Understand that the allowances that are made in this legislation to discuss the permitting, conditional use, so on and so forth, with the businesses, for instance, in my district often are not always fully capitalized. Or always not coming with everything that they have to the table. And often that means slightly longer construction period, or sometimes disruptions in that construction period that are or not the intent or the fault of the Small Business itself. And talk through that with the project sponsor for the sponsor of the legislation. There are a few realworld examples in my district where either the business partner, one of the Business Partners walked away from the field temporarily and they were able to find new capital to finish the project, or simply they were waiting to have the savings enough so they could finally finish the work at hand. And in each scenario took a little longer than a year. My request would be for the sponsor of the legislation to consider an 18 month period for construction. I think that would be more fair. Anything beyond that, then i understand it would make sense for the consideration of this to take place. I probably should have started by saying, in particular in my district, i look at this from two different ways. From the perspective of the people in the neighborhood that are frustrated with the high levels of vacancies, and i think we have one of the highest levels of storefront vacancies in the city, we have worked aggressively to come up with legislation to work with the city, to work with the Small Business community, to work with landlords, to aggressively change the process by which businesses can open up. We went through a permitting process where many of the businesses, if they are principally permitted, would be allowed to go to overthecounter permits. I think it would be healthy as part of this conversation with this ballot measure to have that conversation. I know that myself and supervisor tang did that jointly , but theres other parts of the city that also have those barriers. And im talking about if you are going for a change of means or the use, in many cases that have not been permitted prior. And in our district, these were not allowed on ground floor. We change that is part of our process, and now there are two or three arts organizations that have co located and opened up, which is added to the vibrancy of the commercial corridor, as well as the vacancies. At the same time, some of the businesses that were going in that were occupying spaces that were a different use did not have to go through the cumbersome process of neighborhood notification because we knew in the end it was a principally permitted business. I think it would be helpful to have a parallel conversation on this ballot measure. I think it would be something that the Small Business community would embrace, and i think it would be a complement, not of any contradiction to this legislation. So i am cautiously supportive of this legislation. I think the intent is to change the balance of power with the negotiations between Small Businesses and landlords and i think that is a good outcome. I think it is intended to aggressively deal with our vacancy and i think, as the project as the sponsor of the legislation has said, the intent as we wont collect any of this tax, that we will occupy these empty storefronts, and i think that is also very important. I am cautiously optimistic and supportive of this, but i would like to see a few changes that i have asked for incorporated into the legislation, and then also that we have this citywide conversation about streamlining the permitting process for Small Businesses because i think all of us have heard over and over again from our small merchants and businesses that they want San Francisco to be more friendly and more able to open up Small Businesses in a fast manner. So i think that is important. That does not mean completely remove any neighborhood input, what it does mean, lets have this conversation if we are going to create a tax, we should also talk about creating less barriers to opening up those businesses. That is it. I just wanted to say those few things and incorporate into the record some of the things that i had talked about with the sponsoring of the legislation that we would like to see incorporated into the discussion , into the final piece of legislation. Alternately that would trail this ballot measure. Thank you very much. Supervisor haney . Thank you, chair fewer. Congratulations and thank you to supervisor peskin for your years of work on this legislation and extraordinary leadership in bringing all of the stakeholders together and taking the feedback and amendments. This is obviously something that is critically important to everyone in the city, to all of the districts that we represent. District six has the highest vacancy rate and it has severe impacts on our neighborhoods when we have so many vacancies. Obviously our Small Businesses are struggling and i feel like every week i hear about a business that is closing or being pushed out because of rent , and the way that we can figure out a whole policy agenda to be able to better support them are critically important. It is also, for district six, it is an issue of Public Safety when you have corridors we have so many vacant buildings and vacant stores, and you dont have a lot of activity. There are without people Walking Around her people coming in and out, these are areas where we have a lot of other bad activity that is happening. I hear a lot about areas where we have vacant stories that other suspicious activities are happening there. If we can have more positive things happening, that adds to the quality of life for everyone this is one of the main things we need to do. I appreciate theres more about how we can facilitate speedy approvals and provide a relief from fees. All of that is so important. And also, in my district and other districts, theres also a lot of feedback about how we can address some of the other challenges that Small Businesses face relating to homelessness and Mental Health crisis. All of these things together with this vacancy tax will help to create an environment that is more friendly for not just Small Businesses, which is very important, were more healthy and vibrant neighborhoods generally. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you very much. Supervisor brown . Thank you. Just a couple of points. I definitely agree with supervisor safai that probably the 18 month period is probably more reasonable. I also really want to look at the size of the space because i will take, for example, in my district. They have larger spaces, and they do not want formula retail, but they also have a moratorium Liquor License moratorium, so why restaurants could actually come in, have a Liquor License, and probably take those spaces, they are not going to do that. There is no way for them to even get a beer and wine license and restaurants have a hard time making it without be a and wine. When we are looking at having a taxation on certain corridors like that one, we need to look at the details of it. No formula retail, and then no restaurant that could have beer and wine, then what do we do with the larger spaces . I think that is kind of unfair for landlords that if we are restricting them, then how do we work with these landlords to make sure that there are options for them to get people in, and also definitely streamlining. That is really important. Theres so many of those spaces where ive talked to landlords and they want to rent, but when people come in and they find out it might take them two years to open up, they just do not have the financial ability to do that i think those things have to be in conservation as we move forward. Thank you. Thank you very much. Supervisor walton . Thank you, supervisor fewer. I want to make a few comments in terms of what we are attempting to do for Small Businesses. We definitely understand the issues that exist and how hard it is for Small Businesses here in San Francisco. Supervisor fewer and i are currently convening and talking with our Small Businesses in a working group. One of the conversations is about streamlining the permitting process. I want everyone to know we are listening to our Small Businesses and we are working towards a solution. It is also very real and some of our corridors. Some of it is due to irresponsible landlords and the decision that they make. If you are working hard to get businesses into your community, if you are working hard to get a broader investment in your community, nothing is worse than businesses and potential businesses looking at blighted communities and seeing empty storefronts and vacancies on some of our commercial corridors so this Initiative Ordinance works to address that and i just want to thank supervisor peskin for taking the lead on that, and everyone else who cosponsored so this could be on the ballot. Thank you very much. Lets open this up for Public Comment. Would anyone like to speak on this item . Good afternoon, supervisors. First of all, i want to thank leigh hepner for coming up. He was also at the Council Meeting last week. I also appreciate the fact he understood some of the recommendations. There had been amendments made to this legislation. Not all these landlords are bad actors. Most of them are really good. Some of them have only increased their rent annually. But then you have the ones who are really determined to keep their place is empty for years and years and years. Something has to be done. How long can we put up with this it doesnt impact all your Small Businesses in the area. Also, there are less people on the streets. It will make it safer. We have to look at the characteristic approach. We need to have a character. Why is it only that some can do that and others cant . Lets make it apply to every Small Business that wants to open this city. A conditional use hearing, up to nine months, if not more than that, plus the cost. It should be must much less than that. Formula retail, fills coffee, a local company. Born and raised in the city. They want to move into a place, they have to wait just like everybody else. I think we can look at that. Once again, i do think this legislation is good, but the time element of the supervisors that they pointed out can be a problem. On the whole, it is really good to see this moving along. Thank you for all your hard work thank you. Next speaker, please. We are a local San Franciscobased company that specializes in street retail. I had been attending a number of these meetings. I attended the last Small BusinessCouncil Meeting where supervisor peskins aid was testifying what this ordinance is, and the question was asked, county vacancies are there . And supervisor peskins aid it says he thought it was around 3,500. The Small Business council head said, i think it is more like a thousand, maybe 500. The reality is, the report im providing to you is what commercial Real Estate Brokers used to find property, all the information. It is available on a subscription basis. The reality is, step one, knowing what your vacancy problem is is to know how he vacancies you have. Today we have only 148 buildings that are actually vacant, with 323 Spaces Available in the m. C. Zone. All other vacancies are currently under the permitting conditional use process. If you look at the report that i gave you, you will notice that when a property becomes available, it is a 14 month process before the space gets least. That is clearly falling to the problem of how somebody needs to get a permit to get through the process. It takes time. It is not just formula retail. The reality of formula retail needs to change because 11 stores is no longer a big business. To be a big business, you need hundreds of stores. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hello. Storefronts maybe reducing potential sales sales and subsequent sales tax revenue and the proposed excise tax on empty storefronts might encourage competition in marketing. Such properties resulting in the potential increase in business formation and possibly more favorable lease terms and resulting in the collection of the excise tax on property which remains empty. And excise tax may also have the opposite effect, driving up rent while making it harder to market a property if the ordinance amendment were to pass. Exempting nonprofits from the excise tax may equip such organizations with a competitive advantage providing that such spaces are least or sold on favorable terms, however, the added pressure to fill the space undermines the justification for the assumed process of the excise tax to begin with. The old bank belonged to a nonprofit in the field of healthcare, but it has remained sheltered, shattered, and empty as an eyesore in the neighborhood for many years, absolutely littered with graffiti. Exempting nonprofits from the excise tax does not sound like an equitable a reasonable idea. It undermines the intention of the ordinance amendment for an indeterminate period. Successful business also attracts cereal vandalism. I will stop there. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. I am the president of the Entertainment Commission but today im speaking as a civilian and a Business Owner in San Francisco. I commend supervisor peskins office and the board for taking a look at how bad actor landlords are affecting the urban life that we have because empty storefronts to affect their neighbours and Small Businesses do suffer from that. I am cautiously optimistic that this might be a solution for compelling the bad actors to act however, i am also a little bit nervous about this and im happy to leads that it is being proposed with the ability to trail amendments. Im asking everybody in this body to really try to game out all the way is that this could backfire and affect Small Business in an adverse way. I think if we do do that, this could be a very solid piece of legislation solid tax to pass that would help. The other thing i would ask while i have your ear here is to take a long look at what policies that come from city hall specifically are causing vacancies in our corridors. Theres a myriad of ones from the inability to open a youth places due to a new places due to permitting process that is frustrating and difficult to manage, and also from just the overwhelming cost of doing business for Small Businesses in San Francisco as compared to other cities in california. I think, i keep saying this, but they are against us and we are being forced to have less ability to compete with business than ever and i cant say this enough. What is more progressive than supporting Small Businesses over big businesses . Right now it is completely flipped on its head. Im hoping to meet with each of you coming soon to go over ways that we can address that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Any other speakers . Public comment is closed. Colleagues, any comments or questions . I also just want to add that i think this is a positive step, but it is just one piece of it. We i agree that that we need to streamline permitting, and also, how to get a helping hand in getting tenants. This is just a small piece of it i feel like it is not the whole package, but it is a really good direction. I would like to make a motion to send this to the committee report. So moved. We will move this to the november 21st board meeting. Can we take that without objection . Thank you very much. Is there any other business before us today . This business meeting is adjourned. Good afternoon. We will now be convening as the full board for this november 21 st, 2019 special meeting of the San Francisco board of supervisors. I havent seen my colleagues in this room for such a long time. Welcome back. Madame clerk, please call the role. [roll call] mr. President , you have a quorum okay, thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. [pledge of allegiance] on behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge the staff from San Francisco government tv who record each of our meetings and make the transcripts available to you to the public online. Madame clerk, are there any communications . Yes. We have received communications from supervisors mandelman, peskin, and stefani affording the board of their actions and requesting to be excused from todays meeting. Can i have a motion to excuse the supervisors . Made by supervisor fewer and seconded by supervisor walton. If there is no any objection . The three are excused. Plays call the committee report. Item number one is a motion ordering to the voters that an election will be held on march 3 rd, 2020 and an ordinance amending the tax regulation code an administrative code to have the excise tax on persons keeping ground floor commercial space in certain neighborhood commercial districts and certain neighborhood commercial transit districts vacant to find assistance to Small Businesses and making appropriate findings. Okay. I was listening to the last meeting and i didnt chime in then. I will Say Something now which is i want to thank the author of this legislation for bringing this forward. We have been grappling with this issue for years. We have tried Different Things and it seems like nothing has been all that effective. There is a legislation that would allow for any of these storefronts if you wanted to change from the commercial Retail Business to put residential there. If it is designated for family shelter owned business, which is still a commercial usage. And we have not shown much results. It was an approach. So here we go. Without objection, madame clerk, there is a motion and we dont have to have a second. Madame clerk, please call the roll. On the motion to approve. [roll call] there are eight aye. Okay. The motion passes. Right now, one last thing. Lets go to Public Comment. At this time, the public may address the entire board of supervisors for up to two minutes with items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board. Public comment is not allowed when an item has been previously come subject to Public Comment at a board committee. Any Public Comments . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Colleagues, that brings us to the end of the agenda. Madame clerk, is there any further business before us today that concludes our business for today. We are adjourned. Happy thanksgiving break. May i ask the audience to come to order and please have a seat . Good morning everyone. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the november 18, 2019 meeting of the rules committee. Seated to my right is walton, and to my left, mar. Our clerk is victor young. I would like to thank sfgovtv for taping this meeting. [reading notes] can you please call item number one. Hearing to consider term ending february 1, 20202 the parks and recreation and open space Advisory Committee. Come on up. Good morning. Did you want to share any remarks with us . [laughter] thank you very much. Morning. Thank you, supervisors, for hearing this agenda item. My name is james, im a resident of district five and a volunteer leader with friends of the urban forest. Im here today seeking this appointment to the park recreation and open Advisory Committee. I work in environmental policy why Research Environmental regulations and i provide Program Support to babbitt private clients. In order to support the Advisory Committee, particularly interested and to apply my expertise in order to advance biodiversity and resiliency efforts, bike and pedestrian safety. More generally to review and commenting on the San Francisco rec park Strategic Capital and operation plans. As a volunteer leader with friends of the urban forest. I am meeting on engaging with san franciscans. Helping in the plant trees in our neighborhood. Professionally i am about public hearings. If appointed, i will apply this expertise in communications and Stakeholder Engagement to serve as representative of the Advisory Committee to my district and the community at large. Lastly, i am happy to take any questions from the rules committee getting my qualifications. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. We appreciate your willingness to serve. Any questions . I dont think we have any questions. Thank you so much. I will now open up this item to Public Comment. If you wish to speak, ands your time. Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Is there a motion . I move. Supervisor mar i recommend appointment of james falino to the rec park open space Advisory Committee, seat number 19. Supervisor ronen without objection that motion passes. Can you please read item number two . A hearing consider appointing one member to them ending march 1, 20202 the commission on aging advisory council. Supervisor walton i dont see ms. Leslie smith in the room i now. Oh, she just walked in. Perfect. [laughter]. Supervisor ronen good morning. How are you . I am fine. Please excuse my tardiness. Hello supervisor walton, thank you so much for inviting me. Supervisor mar, my name is diane smith. I am appearing before you today because i am one of the few left to live long enough in San Francisco, having grown up in Hunters Point housing projects. My mother views education as a bootstrap to hold our family at their education. I am now a Senior Citizen, 67 years old. Ive seen so many things happened. I stand here by gods grace as a homeowner, have a wonderful home, that is just increasing in value. The things that i have been able to accomplish, this is what i want for other people and its just something that can be done. The train has left the station but it is still making stops. From my generation, there is nothing available, the people that are my age, so they didnt plan. Whatever it was, people are where they are now. My generation is in trouble. I like what i see with the agent commission. I just want to help shorten it up. There is nothing new that we need to do. We just need to do what is already there. We need actions and to the plan. We need resources. I thank you so much for this opportunity. My track record is very long. Ive always been an advocate for society, because my mother taught me i had a responsibility supervisor walton, that is live i was so active when i was your age, you know . It just never stopped for me. And then i see people that i know, they dont have a place to live. They can get a job. We need partnership with these Tech Companies for older peopl people there are certain things we can do very well. With or without education. Im asking, i am planting the seed that we create some partnerships with viable senio seniors, we are mindful of the transportation accessibility. By gods grace, i started exercising. If i were to beg my foot, how my going to get around . I see it is getting very difficult for poor people. Blessed. Finally, theres something called the certificate of preference. I would like to see an amendment with the Senior Citizen agenda. Seniors of 65, but with what has happened in our district and the things that you fought for, the contamination, the lack of opportunities and the drug addiction and various impedance. Things that have impeded our progress. We got caught up. The fact remains we are dealing with the results of this and we need to do something about it. We have the resources. A lot of these people, you know im old enough to be a grandmother. People are old enough to be your parents. If you live long enough, right, you will be here. We can do something about the quality of life. I love San Francisco. They let the fact that we are growing and breathing. Lets not forget about the elders. And the disabled. Do you have any questions for me . You know i can go on. [laughter]. Supervisor ronen really appreciate your presentation. Supervisor walton as you can see, ms. Smith is very passionate and dedicated to making sure that their lives are improved not only for seniors, but for everyone in San Francisco. I am happy to have someone who is willing and ready to go to bat for our seniors and all of our communities. That is why im a denomination. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor ronen i will now open this site for Public Comment. Does anybody want to speak on your appointment they can come forward and now is the time. I dont see any Public Comments. I will close Public Comment. Supervisor walton, would you like to do the honors . Supervisor walton i would like to move this forward with a positive recommendation to the full board. Supervisor ronen without objection that motion passes. Congratulations. Thank you so much for saving. [applause] serving. President trumps. That rarely happens by the way, he made quite an impression. Supervisor walton knows how to pick them. Thats all i have to say. Thank you so much. Can you read item number three . And motion or rejecting the mayors nomination of the appointment of susan dimon to the Planning Commission for a fouryear term ending june 30, 2020. Supervisor ronen hello. We talked on the phone, but i do not see him person. I did not know who i was looking for. Good morning. How are you . Thank you so much for having me this morning. The las vegas at that bar really high. I am susan diamond and im very honored to have been honored by the Planning Commission. Ive long been interested in city planning issues. After graduating from stanford and 79, i obtained a law degree from harvard and a masters degree in city planning from mit. I wanted to live in San Francisco so i took a job with the big San Francisco law firm, practicing landuse law. Representing primarily companies and seeking entitlement for the headquarters and other facilities around the bay area. In 2,003, my 100yearold firm abruptly went bankrupt. It was a brutal wakeup call to me about what was important and how i wanted to devote my energy going forward. I threw myself into Community Life serving as a volunteer board member for the numerous organizations in our community. Two that really resonated at me was jcc of San Francisco for many, mercy housing california because of the work foundations that they do for Community Centers and four Affordable Housing. Two incredibly important needs in our community. Representatives of both are here to speak on my behalf. I also moved into academia, teaching law at Stanford Law School for many years. In 2,011 i decided to combine my skills and my passion for the invaluable work of our nonprofits who fill the gap in our very expensive city for low income families and for my own law firm representing exclusively nonprofits who are undertaking transformative real estate projects. Some of those nonprofits are here to speak, too. The arc of my city planning interest over the years has covered the private sector, community work, academia and the nonprofit sector. The big missing piece for me as Public Sector service. That is why i would like to serve on the Planning Commission. Over the years i have become adept at listening to a large range of views of stakeholders and experience in figuring out how to develop a consensus among various interest including importantly the public interest. This is a big job. A very big job with a great deal of responsibility because Planning Commission decisionmaking affects so many critical aspects of our future. The need for significantly more housing, especially Affordable Housing, and missing middle housing. The impact of the housing on various populations in our city and our need for more transit. It affects our economy, climate change, preparedness and the physical form of our city. It would be a true privilege to serve on the Planning Commission. Supervisor ronen thank you so much. I have a few questions that i wanted to ask you, and im sure my colleagues do as well. When we had a chance to talk on the phone a couple weeks ago i had talked to you a lot about what has been happening over the years in the Missions District with the rapid displacement of low and middle income latino members of the community. That same process of displacement is happening in many communities throughout San Francisco, especially with communities of color. We had also talked about the trend coming from the state of this broadbrush approach to development, planning, or really to forcing upon communities, you know, one way of seeing things and how that, you know, comes headtohead with the displacement efforts that we have seen in the mission district. San francisco already has significantly up zoned areas of the city that have happened as a of Community Driven planning processes. Nevertheless we know often Times Developers will continue to forgo less profitable Development Opportunities in areas of the city that havent undergone as Much Development because of popular neighborhoods like the mission district. Those happen to be the neighborhoods that have been reeling from decade upon decade of gentrification and displacement. I dont have a question per se, but this, you know, but keeps me up at night i what i am constantly working on and struggling with as a District Supervisor of the mission. I wanted to hear your thoughts about this major challenge facing our city . I believe that is the number one issue facing our city, and the Planning Commission is one of the two places, ground zero, where we see those issues and that tension. The board of supervisors being the other place of course. A few thoughts. It is important to me that we look at the entire city as a place where we should be increasing housing. Particularly among the commercial corridors. Displacement is a hugely important problem and would need to be thinking not only about the impact of housing proposals and those of my displays, but what additional housing i mean, how do we protect and preserve and take into account the interest of those people who might not otherwise have a place of the table are allowed lot enough voice of the table. I believe that is incumbent upon to take w viewpoint into account when considering projects that are in front of me, or policies that are being set forth for the commission to vote on. It is also important that we are increasing production of housing, and not limited to the Commission Mission district. I think the gary corridor is one of the areas of the city we should be looking at and we need to look at what it is that is preventing developers from wanting to propose projects in that vicinity. We have talked about sp50 which is his very broadbrush approach, he paints with a broad brush, as you said in order to remove what he sees are obstacles. The flip side of it is is we are city of incredible neighborhoods and its not clear that every neighborhood should be given the same broadbrush solution. I do really believe in the intent of the bill which is try to increase housing for all populations across the city. That was a lot of thought. It depends on the project that come in front of me. Those are all of the issues. Believing it is incumbent upon me if i were commissioner to think about those issues. And more specific question along the same thing. What would you do to help fight displacement of low income communities . Particularly communities of color, district nine, the africanamerican community, west of, bayview, the filipino community, the chinese communi community, and chinatown. Do you have any thoughts or ideas of how you might play a roll not that on the Planning Commission . Of course, there are two things. It depends on the individual project that comes front of me and the need and considering those projects in the condition, whether those projects are approved at all. To make sure the needs of those communities are attended to. Its also a policy matter. I believe one of the rules of the commission is to look at the individual projects and see trends that are developing on to with the Planning Department to perhaps propose legislation to the board to take into account the cumulative effect of these individual decisions that are coming forward. Supervisor ronen one more question and then i will hand it off to my colleagues they may have additional questions. Supervisor, let me give you one more example, doug shoemaker is here, mercy housing worked on the sunnydale project, or is still working on the sunnydale one of the aspects of that project that really resonated with me is the opportunity, the redevelopment of that entire community, but the opportunity for residents who currently live there to move back in again. That strikes me as a great approach. It was a long time in the maki making. That is a really great model that i think we need to think about. Supervisor ronen i will ask one more question and then handed over to supervisor mar. Did you support the recent amendments to increase the jobs housing linkage fee . You know, that is an interesting problem. It is clear from the studies that were done, how is it that Office Development does have an impact on housing . Those studies led into different directions. The board of supervisors ended up, if i understand correctly not listening to the advice of the Planning Department, but taking a higher fee than the Planning Department that was appropriate. They were concerned about the impact. You know, i think studies are a really important component of the work that we do. We need to reach out to experts. I also recognize that studies are done by economists and have one perspective they are looking at. We need to balance with the studies say what the political on the ground experience of the people who live there. I think that is what the board of supervisors did when they adopted the higher fees than what was recommended by the Planning Department. I do think it is important to have a long view about this and take a look at what happens when we impose those higher fees, as a stopping development, is that changing the makeup of the tenants who are in those buildings . This is not a oneshot deal. I do believe it is incumbent upon the department, the commission on the board to be monitoring the impacts of what it has been doing and see whether or not more changes are necessary. Supervisor ronen thank you. Supervisor, mar . Supervisor mar thank you so much for your willingness to serve, its an important roll in our city. I really appreciated the opportunity to meet with you a few weeks ago and have an initial discussion about your qualifications and for really important roll. Also have been hearing comments and feedback from our wide range of stakeholders in my district about this appointment, again giving the incredibly important roll that the Planning Commission plays on so many challenging issues in our city right now, at this moment. I did have a few quick followup questions i didnt get a chance to talk to you about when i guess, the first one is around balancing commercial development and Housing Development in our city. I think were all pretty well aware that there has been in fact, a recent report the jobs housing data reported that the Commission Found we created 8. 5 jobs for every housing unit produced a more significantly most of the Housing Units that have been entitled to produced over the last decade have been market rates, and we have been failing miserably at creating the housing needed for workingclass and middleclass in our city. In the context of the Affordable Housing required for the jobs created, and more specifically i dont know if you are aware of the proposed balance housing, Balance Development act that is proposed for the march ballot by Community Advocates and what is your position on that . Having survived, i have multiple viewpoints on this, too. I believe that would be my roll as commissioner to listen to multiple viewpoints. Having survived the. Dot com bust and recession im aware have an economy can change very quickly. I would want to be cautious about turning off more jobs. I believe attention to that part of our economy is important. The flip side of it is, the Current Situation is unsustainable. We not only, you know, are producing enough Affordable Housing. I know from my experience with all of the nonprofit clients whom i would represent or whose boards i serve on, the number one problem theyll face and have in common whether it is schools, Community Centers, the whole gamut. The number one problem is they cannot attract and retain workers because of the cost of housing. Those are people who earn a little too much to be in our definition of Affordable Housing. But way too little to compete with tech workers. That missing middle housing i believe does need attention. We need to understand what our roll as a city in figuring out the economic leverage we can pull in order to increase the production of that kind of housing. I am aware of this, i think you are referring to the proposed legislation that would pays off in his Housing Office housing with Affordable Housing. Im not even show studies have been done around that. I think it is an interesting response that bears for study. I want to make sure that there arent unintended consequences about it. I dont have a position about it at the moment except i understand the motivation behind it, and i think it is interesting as a solution that should be studied. Supervisor mar thank you. One other question, you have a very impressive 30 year history of landuse legal work that afford you former and current clients. Do you intend to recuse yourself when former clients have matters before the Planning Commission . If so, have you prepared a list of former clients and how many former and current clients on the list . Do you feel like it is fair for the rules committee to move your nomination forward