Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Webinar With Recreation And Park And DCYF 20240713

Of essential workers and whats available. What we plan to have this summer and what people can do to either sign up or what other programs to do to prepare under the new guideline for the programs that they want to make available to people. So, lets get started. Phil, you we hit the ball running, both you and maria su got together because we knew the schools were going to close. But we also knew that there was an essential workforce out there. People who were driving muni, people who were working at hospitals. They had children. They needed child care. They were concerned about taking their children to their elderly parents. They couldnt leave them at home. Tell us a little bit about the program that you established that is available currently and will potentially be extended once programming starts for june 15 during the summer. Thank you, mayor. Yeah. You asked us as soon as the schools closed to start thinking about our kids and working families, particularly our Health Care Workers and First Responders and people who were needed to help in the citys response. And so the department of children, youth and family and Recreation Park Department are working closely together under the guidance of department of Public Health, set up an emergency child care system that is now in its 12th week. We, over time, served over 475 kids, 19,000 hours of child care offered during that time and we served over 4,000 meals at over 25 different sites. The program runs between 6 30 in the morning and 7 30 p. M. And kids have been involved in Distance Learning and a little bit of recreation and its really been, you know, wasnt what we were used to doing and we had to stand it up pretty quickly, but it has been an amazing experience and im really grateful for my partner in runing this thing, maria, and the department of youth and family who have been terrific. And i want to just add because i know that, you know, sadly, you had these kids and these pods with limited number of social distancing. These are kids coming together on a regular basis. Something similar to what were going to be doing this summer. And, unfortunately, there have been people who have made nasty comments or complained or even yelled at, you know, the kids. And so what i want to say to people is to back off and mind your own business and to leave kids alone. Because at the end of the day, these are kids whose family members are putting their lives on the line to help support this city. So, i cant reiterate enough that its important that folks really just stay in their lane, mind your own business. Were providing essential service. And we want to extend this and make this available to more kids. So, lets talk a little bit about phil, can you just talk a little bit about june 15 . Sure. Were going start programming and were going to extend the number of kids that were able to serve. Not just in our park system, but our overall Summer Program so i want you, phil, to touch on what will be available for our park system, both for our young people and our teenagers and then were going to jump into maria su to talk about programming in general. Sure. So, our child care operation its summer, and child care was intended to operate while during the school year while the School System when the School System was closed and what families and kids are used to during the summer is camp. Youre right. The truth of the matter, it will look somewhat similar in that were going to have pods of 12, but beginning june 15, rec and park between rec and park t private sector camp providers and our nonprofit providers we expect that there will be over 200 different camps available to kids can. We are going to prioritize. Kids of parents who are working in essential businesses, who are part of the citys response, who are, you know, in allowable businesses and, frankly t kids who need us the most right now. Many of our kids in the city have been without their coaches and mentors for going on 10 weeks and we want to reengage and make sure that these kids, above all else, have something to do this summer. So, starting june 15, camp providers will be allowed to operate. Theyre going to need to certify that theyre going to comply with the health order and guidance coming out of Public Health, which means kids still need to be in pods of 12 for older kids. The minimum session for camp providers will be three weeks and the boll rationale behind that is to keep kids from normally during a normal summer kids go to one week of this camp and one week of another camp and the health and our Public Health officials have asked us to keep kids together in a consistent pod. So well have three threeweek sessions beginning june 15. At rec and park, were planning over 25 different camps. We expect there to be another 40 to 50 private camp providers operating in our park system. I believe that maria is estimating nearly 100 nonprofit camp providers will operate around the city and then there are some other muscle private providers that will be operating on, you know, nonpark property in different spaces. Were going to start working with camp providers as quickly as possible, right after were done speaking with you. And for our camps, for rec and park camps, well begin priority registration on may 26 for all of the participants that are currently in our Emergency Child Care Program and our kids in our Scholarship Program who are a little bit more vulnerable and who really, really need us. Were going reach out to those populations first and then citywide, registration for rec and park camps will begin on june 6. All of this information will be laid out on the department of children, youth and familys website, dcyf cares. Org. And ill turn it over to maria to talk about the other providers and program staffing. Thank you, phil. Thank you, mayor, for this opportunity to share with our residents of the work that were doing right now. So, like the mayor shared, we are in the process of expanding the opportunities for families, particularly for summer. Were really excited about this because, as a parent myself who has two children, this is going to be great opportunity for our young our young people to go out there and engage with others and just really address the social isolation issues that we know is happening in our families right now. So dcyf is really excited to be partnering with rec and parks and the rest of our summer providers in the city to stand up all of these programs for the dcyfspecific agencies, which are the nonprofit agencies, that our department provides supports to, we are going to be working with them to open up camps and programs that they will then be made available for all of our families. We are looking at around 100 programs that will be available for families starting june 15. We are asking all of our nonprofit agencies to follow Health Guidelines, which still has shared, restrictive groups of young people in consistent threeweek programming at a minimum. We will also put on our website, dcyf. Org care. More information around the health order, around the drexives and the guidelines, with how private camps are also fulfill all of those requirements and then document that they are going to open up. So look for that website to go live actually the website is live now. But look for the forms to go live soon. Great. And over time, mayor, i think were going to try to inventory try to provide parents with as much information as we can about all of the camp opportunities because we have to think about it as a network this summer because of the Health Guidelines. So, we hope to be able to have a list and some reference materials for not just rec and park camps, but all of the private camps happening around the city, too. Yeah. And i want to touch a little bit because, you know, child care has been important because we have allowed that to continue for essential workers. Can you talk a little bit, maria, what we can expect as it relates to the 0 to 5 age group and what might be available during the summer . Yes. So, were really excited that this new health order that you have authorized with our Health Department to allow the expansion of Child Care Services for more families. So, there are child care programs for children 0 to 5 right now that are providing services for our essential workers and other allowable businesses. Under this new health order, we are now opening that opportunity for more families. We have hear that there are families out there who are working, who need care, who really, really need care for their children. And for children to need to need opportunities to be with their friends. So, this health order will allow more families to have access to these slots, these child care slots. I do want to caution folks that we are still following Health Guidelines and so the slots are going to be limited. We are restricted to a Smaller Group of children per site. So i just want to set expectations for everyone that its not just usual child care as we remember how it was a year ago. Yeah. And i do think its great that, you know, this is providing an opportunity for kids to come together. So were talking about pods of 12 within the course of a summer camp or preschool or in other arenas so that not only can kids can parents get to work, but also it gives these children an tounlts interact with one another because im sure, especially if it is a child who doesnt have any siblings, to be able to play with another kid was like i know everything for me as a kid and i just feel so awful that these kids cant go out there and enjoy one another. This is an opportunity and a great opportunity. But i also, sadly, know it is a very limited opportunity. But do want to touch on, you know, teenagers because i know one of things that happens often times they are always left out. So i am commited to making sure that opportunities for all is available so that we have paid internships for kids during the summer. And that we make that available, especially for our teenagers. Because, you know, already theyre missing their graduations and activities and events. And we want to make sure that they have a productive summer as well and theyre not left out. So, maria, make you can touch on what might be happening with opportunities for all and i know that with rec and park, we have a number of teens that are going to be working and helping with these camps during summer. Lets talk a little bit about, you know, how kids who are teenagers can sign up for some of the programs. Thank you, mayor. So actually a lot of our programs are doing a lot of connections to young people now but theyre doing it remotely. Theyre doing a lot of wellness checks and followup on what academic support these young people need. So, once again with this health order, were now allowed to have facetoface and inperson connections with these young people. So, were going to work closely with our nonprofit agencies to help young people connect to internship opportunities or actual Job Opportunities at some of these Summer Programs or at offices that are slowly opening up. So, theres great opportunities for private sector folks who are now interested who are opening up and would be interested in being a mentor for a young person this summer. That would be amazing. However, if that is not available, our young people are actually engaging in projectbased learning right now. So a lot of our young people in our Workforce Program will be doing Small Projects that are that is remote for the agencis that theyre assigned to. There will be engagement but it is so much better if the engagement is in person and not remote. I do how do they sign up . Like a teenager that wants to participate and have access to a paid internship . For now, were directing everyone to go to dcyf. Org care so they can find out whats available in the community and make sections there. I also do want to say that, for young people and for families who are struggling right now because there are young people and familis who are struggling right now we do have a website that is available and under the mayors leadership, she wanted to Prioritize Mental Health services for families and for our essential workers and other service providers. For those who are struggling and who need support, please go to fieldSan Francisco. Org to learn more about different resources for parents, for young people and for adults and service providers. And also can we call 311 and be referred if we dont have access to the internet . Yes. Well definitely make sure that thats possible. Great. Great. We want to make it as easy for people as possible because i know sometimes you jump on a website and trying to figure it out or if you dont have Internet Access but want to ma you are that your friend knows that this might be available for their family. Talk about what some of the teens are going to be doing in your program this summer. Sure. For the last 607 years, San Francisco has had a program called workreation, where we actually fund teenagers, kids between the ages of 14 and 17 to work in our camps. And because of your leadership and focus on getting these camps opened safely and getting kids an experience, were hiring approximately 200 kid this is summer that will be counselors in the camps that we just talked about. I also think there is an amazing opportunity, mayor, for those private camp providers that want to operate this summer to hire teenagers. Heres why. The health order and the Health Guidance requires a minimum of two staff for every pod of 12 kids. And for private camp providers used to operating with a ton of kids and a few staff, you wont able to do that this year and staff wont be able to move around between pods during the camp session. For private camps to operate, they need to be very wellstaffed and we highly, highly recommend that private camp providers hire teenagers to help and provide some support in making sure that your camps operate safely and smoothly and gives these kids a great experience and opportunity to make some money. I want to provide an example because, for example, we have been providing a camp at well, i guess it is called a camp, i dont know what it is called, but we have been providing support for young people whose families are essential workers at Hamilton Rec Center. So Hamilton Rec Center has several rooms that could be used. So, i know that the plan is there is going to be probably two or three pods of 12. And each of those pods have their own rooms and their own activities around their rooms and they are also able to go outside and enjoy the field but not in the same pod, although they have their workers that are assigned to their pods. So, it provides for more opportunity to support more young people. So, the good news is even when theyre in these situations, theyre social distancing, but you know how it is when youre a kid and youre out playing, most likely youre going to somehow have some interaction where you might touch or be next to each other. So that is really why the importance of keeping these pods to what they are is significant in preventing the spread of the virus and giving these kids a chance to have their community of people to hang out with. Yeah. I think that is what were going for. It is super important for kids to first of all get outside and reengage and, yes, there will be indoor spaces. But a lot more emphasis on being outside this summer for children. And as you know, mayor, for them to be together and hang out and a under the Health Guidance to your very early point for those who are concerned about the health of our children, under the Health Guidance, kids within the same pod can play sports. They can do certain activities. So, k they play basketball together . Can they together, within the same pod. They can do those activities. And that is why this whole pod concept is very important. Our Public Health officials have been focused on minimizing risk. It is impossible to eliminate it 100 . But minimizing it. And that is the whole premise of these long threeweek sessions and these pods of 12. Depending upon which spaces a camp uses a camp may be able to have only one pod of 12 kids but may be able to have two pods or even three pods. As you know in hamilton or season seth rec center where the richmond or jolie, some of our buildings have multiple spaces, some schools where camps might operate have have multiple spaces. And then weve got the best park system in the country. So, we have plenty of outdoor spaces as well. For each pod, each pod requires a minimum of two staff people and staff cannot circulate between pods. So, again, for all you private camp providers out there, hire kids to help you this summer. All right. Well thank you all so much for the insight. Im sure a lot of parents are excited about this. I am hopeful that, you know, some of the in addition to the private the public camps that well provide with rec and park and a number of rec centers and nonprofit partners will be able to provide a sufficient number of locations within the Public Sector and hopefully in combination with the private sector, many of our kids can have an enjoyable, effective, fun summer. So, we appreciate that and for more information, make sure that we reach out to department of children youth and families on the website or call 311 and before we wrap it up, i do want to talk a little bit about this weekend because its memorial day weekend and typically everyone first of all, the weather in San Francisco, even today, is gorgeous. And most of the time people want to go out and have barbecues and hang out with friends and family and i really like the idea of what you did in terms of circles in park to make it clear like you have to stay away from each other. We want to be next to each other so bad. But at the same time, were doing so well. We still see the numbers of infections going up. But we see the number of hospitalizations going down, the number of those who are in i. C. U. Going down. San francisco is doing well. And the last thing we want to do is get too comfortable and all of a sudden go backwards so we still need people to keep their distance. We still need people to wear masks. We still need people to wash their hands regularly wash your hands but phil, tell us a little bit about what we can expect with the parks this weekend because we are, as much as we know people would want to use the parks, well be out in force regulating during memorial day weekend. Again, we dont want to shut down any parks but if it comes down to that point where things are out of control and arent following the guidelines, we wont have a choice. We really need people to be on their absolute best behavior. So, tell us about what we can expect with our parks this weekend. Sure. I mean, mayor, you covered it perfectly, which is that, look, our parks are super important right now. They are the one place where people can get outside, get some exercise, connect with nature and you have been amazing at making sure that these spaces are open and accessible. But for them to stay open and accessible, people need to do the right thing and over the last 10, 11 weeks, most people have been. But we need to focus and not ease up so you can be outside but you have to socially distance. We still recommend that you wear a mask. No partying, you know, no big events, no big picnics. Just enjoy nature and enjoy a little time with your own immediate family or your own roommates. We will have park ranger, San Francisco police department, police officers. Well have sheriffs cadets, fire cadets, Police Cadets and the neighborhood Emergency Response team, all doing education and outreach. There are over 1500 signs in all of our parks indicating what you can and cant do. Just do the right thing so we dont put the mayor in a position where she needs to take more drastic action. It is amazing, mayor, in a lot of cities just threw their hands up and say, oh, parks closed because we dont want to deal with it. You havent done that. Youve kept parks open for people. So, you know, were all asking the public to do the right thing this weekend. The weather will be nice. You will want to get outside. If you have to get in a car, its too far. So go to your neighborhood park, enjoy it. But socially distance. If youre deloris or jackson or the marina green or washington square, weve offered a little bit of popup behavioral art to inspire you to claim your own space. That is the circles that are in some of the parks. And, you know, theyre intended to be joyous and inspirational, but intended to remind everyone that we need to be mindful as we continue to fight this virus. And i just want to say that please dont get offended if, you know, our park rangers or someone walks up to you and asks you, you know, are you guys in the same household just to, you know, make sure that people are following these orders. We have a responsibility. And the other thing is, if youre not the police, then please dont act like youre the police. We dont need you to walk and regulate and tell other people what to do because that creates more drama. It creates more tension. So we are doing the very best we can. We want to make this park and open Space Available to you because we know how challenging this has been. For the most part, san franciscans have followed the order and we are so fortunate that we have amazing residents in the city who are taking this seriously, even though not everyone is complying which has made life difficult in some respects. But please let us deal with that. Were doing our very best to try and reduce this curve to the point of it being nonexistence because i know how badly we want to get back to being out there, to going to work and allowing kids to play. But the fact is coronavirus is with us for some time. It is not about getting back completely to normal. Its about adjusting to our new normal in a responsible way. It is going to take time. Its going to take ai, patience. We appreciate everyone for what you continue to do to help San Francisco be a leader in this effort. Thank you, phil ginsburg, thank you, maria su for your insight. For more information call 311. I know there might be a lot of questions also about the schools and other things. Were happy to continue these conversations based on your feedback. Based on your questions. Because many of us are doing the very best we can. This is not like anything any of us have ever expected. So, were all in this together. Were going to get through this together and that requires us to continue to be patient, get information to you as soon as it is available and just really try to come together, lift one another up, enjoy the memorial day weekend. And thank you all so much for your cooperation. Have a great weekend and well see you next week. Announcer youre watching coping with covid19. Todays special guest is dr. Steven getnick. Hi, im chris man us and youre watching coping with covid19. Today my guest is the director of the Behavior Therapy Center of San Francisco and Professor Emeritus in counseling psychology at the university of San Francisco. Doctor, welcome to the show. Thank you. Lets talk about managing anxieties during this pandemic. What types of issues are people facing at the moment . There are a number of issues and i really want to point out that this is affecting everyone and has come on very quickly. So it is normal. If you are not experiencing some anxiety, something is a touch off because this affects us all. I think some of the main ones are our health and worried about getting the virus and our developing serious complications. I think for a lot of people who are single, living alone, in isolation, has been very difficult. I think being in close quarters with people who we normally have some space from now are together 24 7. Thats produced a lot of stress and anxiety. That loss of connection with others. We already addressed. And having kids home. For a lot of people. Yes, absolutely. What are the other problems that they might have . I think without that dynamic, the good things are not a problem. It is the difficulties we have. And when were together 24 7, again its like hooking everything up to an amplifier. So, what kind of problems could be created from working home from home, perhaps for the first time in your career . A lot of people are not used to working at home and a working at home just isnt the same. For one thing, there is a lack of social interaction. Some people find that that affects them greatly. Some people are actually finding theyre getting more work done at home without distractions from work. The lack of structure is probably the most common. We see it here with work at the office. People are kind of watching. We know that our schedule is, suddenly youre at home and you are on your own. Absolutely. If those are some of the issues people are facing, what are some of the techniques people can use to overcome their anxiety . Caller i think there are many. One of the first is how managing and keeping track of your thinking, we think and talk to ourselves a lot. Thats normal. We have a dialogue with ourselves often and we need to monitor that a bit. People tend to ruminate versus problemsolve. That is they tend to worry about all the things that might go wrong. And what i suggest is, look, there are things that can go wrong, but ruminating about the worstcase scenario is not going to be very productive. Sit down, figure out what the things are that you have to deal with and try to problemsolve. I think any of the selfcontrol techniques for anxiety can be helpful. And there are dozens of them. The common ones are meditation, relaxation techniques, yoga, for example and another is diaphragmattic breathing. If you google that, you can learn diaphragmattic breathing in about 10 minutes online. Its incredibly simple and it is a really nice way to reduce anxiety in the moment. Selfcontrol procedures, exercise. Whether if youre fortunate enough to have equipment at home, thats great. If youre not, get outside and go for a walk, keep your safe distance, of course. But you need to be active. Thats helpful. I think people marry be dealing with information overload at the moment. How do you suggest people manage that . I was just going to say that. I think it is really important to kind of limit the information you get. Not in terms of accuracy. I think in terms of accuracy, you want to identify a few sites where people are coming with evidencebased information and scientific information so you can form yourself well. Once youve informed yourself, you need to not be watching all day long. Ive talked to people who are mesmerized from the tv and a it keeps that anxiety going so you need to limit your viewing for sure. This can be stress for people who have economic concerns and worried about their family and friends and loved ones who are essential workers. What would you suggest they do to help manage anxiety and stress . There is a number of things. One of major ones for depression is behavioral activation. Simply, it really means that people will tend to not be depressed as a number of reinforcing activities to engage in. Whether it is hobbies, you read, you listen to music, you crochet, you whatever. These kinds of things are very important so you want to make sure that youre engaging in activities that literally make you feel better as opposed to sitting around ruminating, worrying about the worstcase scenarios that might happen. What about trying to do some selfdevelopment . Yeah. Its a very interesting time. Ive talked to a couple of my own clients who are finding, in a very positive way, that this isolation, while at first can generate a lot of anxiety, particularly if youre just not good at living alone. For a number of people, its giving them a chance to sit back and really think about what is important in their lives, what are the priorities. I think that maybe if there is any Silver Lining in this epidemic, its really forcing all of us to kind of rethink whats really important. Indeed. You know, though, at the same time, there are people who are feeling very lonely at home. How would you encourage them to overcome that . You get online. Facetime, skype, zoom, like what were doing right now. You can stay connected. Its very possible. Most connections are important. We are social critters and we need that connection. I think for people who dont have those options, pull up photos, take a look at pictures of family. You need to stay connected. And its very important. And finally, do you have any suggestions that are specifically for families . Yeah. Well, again, i think one of the interesting things thats come about from all of this, is i talked to families on video is theyre obviously spending more time together. While its a bit awkward, particularly for parents who are in the house working a lot. Its a chance to really deepen relationships and spend more good, quality time together. I think parents really need to step back and kind of plan their day a little bit. Not micro manage it, but have some ideas. Can the family play games together . A lot of people i talked to, theyre even together as a family for the first time. So i think there are a number of things that people can do. I think it is qulaouzful for the families to take five, 10 minutes and say how did the day go . I talked to someone in the phone book before we started who said they noticed what time of day all their anxiety kind of comes together and they start sniping at each other. Now theyre taking a few minutes at tend of the day to say, ok, how are we doing . I think they need modeling good behavior, something you can do within the family, too, to try to thats right. I think thats relevant. Very relevant to how children are going to do. Most of the research from crises, particularly things we cant control showed that children do as well as their parents do. So i think it is important for parents to think about how theyre react aing and they stay calm because whatever they do is modeling, coping for their children. So, that can be very useful. It can also be problematic. When we talked earlier, you mentioned that acknowledging that your kids are afraid is important. Yes. I think that ties to your last question. I think modeling you know, its not incompatible with saying, yeah, you know, mom or dad is a little nervous, too. It means a lot of stuff is going on, but were going to be ok. Were going to stay together. We have our time together. Were going to be safe. Well fill in the blank. So you can do both. You can reassure but in a realistic way that once the kids know its normal to be anxious in these times. Thank you for coming ton show, doctor. I really appreciate the time youve given us. Youre welcome. Thank you for having me. And that is it for this episode. Well be back with more covid19 related information shortly. You have been coping with covid19. Thank you for watching. [gavel] chair peskin good morning and welcome to the San Francisco county Transportation Authority meeting for today, may 19th, 2020. Our clerk is ms. Angela tsao. If you could please call the roll. Clerk commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer present. Clerk commissioner haney . Commissioner haney present. Clerk commissioner mandelman . Commissioner mandelman present. Clerk commissioner mar . Commissioner mar present. Clerk commissioner peskin . Commissioner peskin present. Hold on. Clerk commissioner preston . Commissioner preston present. Clerk commissioner ronen . Commissioner ronen present. Clerk commissioner safai . Safai absents. Commissioner walton . Walton absent. Commissioner yee . Commissioner yee present. Clerk we have quorum. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. Do you have any announcements . Clerk yes, i do. Thank you. Public comment will be available for each item on the agenda via telephone by calling 888 2045987, enter access code 2858465. As seen on the screen. Then follow the system prompts. Once you join, youll be able to listen to the meeting as a participant. When you wish to speak on an item, dial 1, 0 to be added to the queue to speak. Each caller will be allowed two minutes to speak. When two miles per hours are up, well move on to the next call caller. Best practices are to speak slowly, clearly, and turn down the volume on your television. Please allow for audio visual delays and a 30second lag time during the course of the meeting. Announcer your conference is now in questionandanswer mode. To summon a question, please one then zero. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. I will move on to the chairs report. Colleagues, im quite pleased to recognize some incredible work by caltrans, which earlier this month completed the u. S. 101 alemany deck replacement project smoothly, safely and remarkably quickly, ahead of its already expedited tenday schedule. We were briefed on this last year. And this was a critical safety project to rebuild about 800 feet of the elevated freeway deck over alemany circle, right at the juncture with interstate 280. I want to publicly thank and acknowledge caltrans district director tony tavares and his team for this outstanding achievement, as well as the contractor c. C. Meyers. We appreciate the decision to accelerate this project by over two months, take advantage of reduced traffic levels during shelterinplace. And for successfully managing noise and dust throughout this intense 24houraday, sevenday a week work period. The sfmta and california Highway Patrol also provided excellent support could teen crews safe and traffic flowing. So i want to thank them as well. And, finally, i want to thank commissioner ronen and walton and their offices for working to keep everybody informed and involved. And appreciate all nearby residents and businesses for their patience throughout this recordspeed project. And we now have a safe and sturdy new facility, which is maybe the only Silver Lining of this pandemic. In other positive news during this time has been the evolution of the sfmtas slow streets program, which supports resident wellness bi koasing neighborhood streets to through traffic to provide more space for walking, cycling and recreation. And after admittedly what was a bumpy start in april, without adequate consultation of the public and our offices, which i know i think virtually every Single Member of the board was displeased about, im pleased see a thoughtful rollout of 13 streets this past weekend, including in my district o. Lon bard and stockton, bringing the total number of corridors to 20. Actually this last weekend i joined former supervisors katie tang and jane kim and we went and walked the slow street and supervisor fewers district on lake street and we were very pleased with what we saw. These streets are providing muchneeded open space and access for essential trips. And i think were all hearing from our constituents how pleasant it is to replace the noise of traffic with the sound of chirping birds. In addition to these slow streets, weve had the closure of great highway and three cities within our great San Francisco park, j. F. K. Drive and golden gate drive and twin peaks boulevard eastern loop. Thank you to the sfmta and rec and park for working in consultation with our offices, as well as with u. T. H. , to provide more space for social distancing and active recreation during the covid19 pandemic. I look forward to supporting Small Businesses next during the recovery period, as we enter the next phase of reopening our economy and making room at the curb and in streets to support pickup and dropoff and needs for outside seating for neighborhood retail, business and cafes. I want to acknowledge the north Beach Business Association and the telegraph hill, who have been at the forefront of an experiment to close several blocks of upper grant avenue in north beach. And thank my staff lee heckner for working with the residents and merchants and the m. T. A. With their interest on that project. I want to work with the sfmta to see how the Transportation Authority can further support these citywide initiatives. Thank you, colleagues, and with that i conclude my remarks. Is there any Public Comment on the chairs report . Clerk chair, there is no Public Comment. Chair peskin okay. Public comment is closed. [gavel] well move on to the executive directors report. Ms. Chang. Thank you so much, chair peskin, commissioners good morning. I i begin my who were with an update from washington, d. C. Tuesday, earlier this week last week, excuse me. U. S. House released the 3 trillion covid19 relief package called the heroes act. Thank you to Speaker Pelosi and the house for doing so. The bill would provide more than 15 billion in additional transit funding to help back fill the lost transportation revenue, that continues to mount for agencies across the nation. M. T. A. Anticipates the region would receive 780 million additionally in formula funds, on top of the 1. 3 billion it did receive through the earlier cares act. The heroes act also includes 1. 4 million from the federal Highway Administration for the state of california for caltrans, which is also facing significant budget shortfalls. However, of course, we have heard that the senate and the administration and others are still having concerns about this plan and the potential funding sources. And the need for the package at this time, so we continue to track that work with our partners across the region. And we would want to ensure that we have the essential services, of course, and Public Safety measures and the ability to support our transportation workforce going forward. So well continue to advocate for all of those things. Turning to the state, Governor Newsom revised the fiscal 21 budget, sets forth the plan for dealing with 54 billion state deficit, budget deficit that has emerged. His approach would close the gap as we understand it by canceling the budget proposals made in january and reducing spending on a portion of those ending fiscal year and perhaps mark can update us on a later item today on those measures. While the governors proposal provides little detail and specific impact to Transportation Programs, it does indicate that caltrans will maintain current planning and engineering efforts and accelerate projects to look at soft savings and maintain the jobs in the transportation sector. Again as we saw with the alemany deck project, this is a great opportunity to step up projects, particularly those that benefit safety and access. So now coming to the region, m. T. C. In april, of course, approved the first portion of the 1. 3 billion federal funding from the cares act, for transit, as weve mentioned earlier. 780 million was made available for immediate relief. And as a condition of that action at m. T. C. , they directed staff to establish a Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task force to guide and inform the distribution of the second trench of that funding, as well as what types of services and Transit System should be refashioned to provide, in order to support essential trips and essential workers. Were pleased that a commissioner and the m. T. A. Director will be serving on that Blue Ribbon Task force and well continue to support all of the commissioners in that effort. Theres a 30member group of stakeholders that has been convened and they will meet three times over the next few months to do that work. M. T. C. Has also at its special joint executive and abag Administrative Committee meeting yesterday presented findings of a privately funded poll, regarding the potential housing measure that was considered for placement on the November Ballot. However, the committee after hearing the poll results, has decided not to recommend placement of that housing bond on the ballot in november. As youll recall, assembly 1487 gave them the sport to put the Regional Housing measure on the ballot. And the two agencies have been discussing a general Obligation Bond to raise up to 10 billion over ten years for Affordable Housing and production and preservation. However, again as the polling showed that 40 of the reasons that regions residents reported an impact on their household finances, due to covid19 and the polling also showed an increase of the taxation and only 60 or so residents said they would support a Regional Housing bond, when initially polled with those numbers falling steeply with negative messaging. So it looks like to many, anyway, have not recommended to place that ballot on the November Ballot. And so instead the staff will develop a proposal for alternate strategies to enhance the regions work. Finally, as far as regional measures, to date on the caltrain sales tax, this is sb797, the sales tax of the November Ballot for caltrain. The board of supervisors voted to support placement of that board measure, to enable us agencies to consider that same action. And, of course, our final decision is not required until august. The remaining agencies have so far pending further regional discussions. We understand that caltrain is consulting also with private parties, which may also conduct a poll in the timeframe, june july timeframe, which helps inform pending actions. This would be at the sfmta and m. T. A. And board of supervisors here in San Francisco. Lets see. My next item to update would be about the outreach work that we continue to try to do. Its, of course, a different arrangement now and our staff have been participating in a citywide Public Engagement network. And particularly trying to ensure that we adopt best practices and reach out creatively to ensure similar studies and connect s. F. And condition pricing, any number of other projects are able to continue to benefit from and being informed by consultations with the public. We are trying to reach out to communitybased organizations in multiple ways, ensuring equitybased approach via phone and mail as well as placement of ads in multiple languages, multiple media formats, including tv and radio. So we welcome your ideas and suggestions there as well and look forward to participating this saturday with commissioner mar at his virtual town hall, just want to mention. There will be a virtual town hall this saturday, may 23rd at 10 00 a. M. For the study that commissioner mar requested last year. Staff have been looking to look at Sustainable Transportation options for the district. And we will be presenting the goals of the project, as well as initial data about travel patterns this weekend, as well as part of our effort to Seek Community input on needs and desires for improving the walking, transit and cycling modes in particular, that folks are enjoying and weve been enjoying in the pandemic in new ways. Please see the directors report for more information. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you, madam executive director. Are there any questions or comments on the executive directors report . Seeing none, is there any Public Comment on the executive directors report . Clerk yes, chair, there is Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have two questioning remaining. Clerk welcome, caller, your two minutes begins now. Caller and ive been listening to the directors report. And what i find missing is that no orientation you know, like guidance is given on the pandemic itself. Its very difficult during the pandemic to address issues like how to come to city hall and talk to you facetoface. So what i see missing, and i say this every time, is we do not have a seasoned professional incident management commander. And because we dont have this, all the departments, including the San Francisco county Transportation Authority, all over the place, because weve got to have a sense of purpose. Youve got to have a sense of doing a needs assessment. And then you talk in generalities that theyre not able to address the real issues that face the people in the pandemic. Theyre not able to do that. Youre all over the place making general statements, but not feeling the pain of the people of San Francisco. So the meetings, or whatever they are. You all need an orientation on what a pandemic is. So in another two months, were going to get a greater wave. Its going to impact a lot of people. Ill stop there. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you, caller. Chair peskin next speaker. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk good morning, callinger, your two minutes begins now. Caller thank you. Good morning, supervisor. I would like to address you on the caltrain 18, that was suppose to bring in 100 million a year. And im going to ask that you defer your support for this for two reasons. The first one is that there is absolutely no way that this measure will be put on the ballot in november, for the same reason that the housing measure was not put on the ballot. The second is that further to caltrans quite frankly dysfunctional response to covid so far, i would like you to revisit the governments issue and reach out to the mayor in san jose and make it a condition that you want a change in your management before you approve this ballot measure. Thank you very much. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Lebrun. Are there any other members of the public for the chairs Public Comment on the chairs report . Clerk that is it. Chair peskin okay. Public comment is closed. Madam clerk, could you please read the consent agenda. Clerk consent agenda. Items 4 to 7 comprise the consent agenda. The items 5 to 7 were approved at the may 12th Board Meeting and now considered for final approval. The remaining items are considered routine. Staff is not planning to present on these items, but are prepared to present if desired. If a member objects any of the consent items may be removed and considered separately. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. I understand that commissioner walton is having trouble getting into the meeting. I dont see commissioner walton in the meeting. Commissioner walton, can you call in . I know that you are watching as a nonparticipant. Can you hear me . Chair peskin i can hear you. With that, is there any Public Comment on item number 4, the minutes of the may 12th meeting . Clerk theres no Public Comment. Chair peskin Public Comment is closed. On the consent agenda, is there a motion to move the consent agenda, made by . Moved. Chair peskin a second not motion . Commissioner mandelman mandelman. Chair peskin the motion made and seconded. A roll call, please. Clerk commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. [roll call] clerk we have approval. Chair peskin okay. So those items were finally approved. And madam executive director, i will make arrangements to come and sign all of those hopefully later today, if they are prepared. If not, tomorrow. Madam clerk, could you please read the next item. Clerk item 8, seeking final approval on the first appearance, allocate 250,000 in prop k funds, with conditions, to San Francisco department of the environments Emergency Ride Home Program. This is an action item. Chair peskin and, colleagues, this is familiar to all of us insofar as we discussed this at our last meeting with regard to the 197,000 that we previously allocated. If we approve this, this will be approved on the first appearance and will not require two readings. Miss laforte, the floor is yours. Good morning, commissioners. Anna laforte, Deputy Director for policy and programming at the Transportation Authority. Im going to pull up my brief presentation. Okay. Okay. So the Transportation Authority has long supported the Emergency Ride Home Program. And at the april 14th meeting, of the board of the Transportation Authority, commissioner haney had requested that staff explore ways to help essential workers who are facing challenges getting home from their jobs, especially at night, during the recent transit reduction due to covid19. So between the first and second april Board Meetings, we worked with the department of the environment, runs the Emergency Ride Home Program, and the sfmta to develop a proposal to expand the existing Emergency Ride Home Program to provide additional rides to these essential workers, who cant take transit home, its not available due to the service reductions. At your april 28th meeting, the board approved transportation funds for clean air funds, from a prior clean fuel taxi grant, to the sfmta, that wasnt needed. Theres still left 250,000 available to sfmta and to taxi owners for that purpose. And the funds were we programmed to expand the Emergency Ride Home Program. And this provides reimbursements for essential workers for ride homes as defined by the city and county of San Francisco, who commute to work via sustainable modes such as transit or walking or biking, while the covid19related service transit cuts are in effect. So in addition to aiding essential workers, the expanded program is an effective way to preserve and emission reductions, as theyre advised to stay on transit and not drive to work. As you can imagine, demand for the program has been high. The program started on may 1st. And so to better match available resources to demand, we recommend supplementing the Program Budget with an additional 250,000 in prop k sales tax funds. This will allow for the program to nearly double the number of essential workers that it is able to provide rides for. And it would extend the program from 12 weeks to 16 weeks. So instead of going through jul. Prior to arriving at the recommendation to allocate prop k funds, we explored options for reprogramming additional transportation funds for clean air funds from other projects. But we, along with project sponsors, including the sfmta, concluded we wouldnt be able to do this without significantly impacting those projects or creating challenges for those projects to maintain cost effectiveness and eligibility for those tfca funds for the project. We worked with sfmta and identified prop k funds to supplement the tfca funds. This requires an amendment to the fiveyear program of projects for the category and the prop k expenditure plan called the Transportation Demand Management Parking management category. And were going we are recommending to redirect funds from the tourist and residential Transportation Demand management program, administered by sfmta, and to redirect those funds from the programs to the Emergency Ride Home Program. This would bring the Program Budget, as you can see, to 447,500. And still leave 610,000 available for allocation in fiscal year 2021 to sfmtas Transportation Demand management programs. Sfmta is supportive of the request, given the high priority for funding the Emergency Ride Home Program. And also that that Program Supports the taxi industry and its essential workers. And so with that, i am happy to invite joseph from the department of the environment. He is the policy and communication officer of the agency to give some details on the program itself and how its been operating since its inception. Joseph. Chair peskin mr. Slice, good morning. Good morning. Can you hear me . Chair peskin we can. Great. Let me go ahead and share screen, so you can see our presentation. All right. Is that working okay . Chair peskin it is. Thank you, anna. Thank you, chairman. Its nice to see you again. Thank you, commissioners and sfcta for the opportunity to present today. And thanks for the opportunity to wear a tie again. My name is joseph slice. Im with the San Francisco department of the environment. Anna did hit a lot of these major components, but im going to briefly talk about the current status of our essential worker ride home program. As you know, on april 28th, this board approved to the Emergency Ride Home Program, after identifying that certain essential workers in San Francisco had trouble getting home at night when Public Transportation was significantly disrupted. Since then weve worked to launch and ensure that our citywide outreach was comprehensive and inclusive to those who need us most. Id like to thank alex and minoh for administering the program and anna laforte with sfmta for their collaboration. As of last friday, we received 258 applications. As anticipated, weve prioritized this high demand to accept essential workers communitying home between the hours of 9 00 p. M. And 830 aramburu, because this is when transit reductions and safety concerns are undoubtedly highest. 84 of the total applications fit within these parameters and, of course, this number will likely increase as we continue to analyze incoming applications. So lets look a little bit more into the application pool. Of these 258 total applications from friday, 161 live in San Francisco. Their essential Job Functions vary, with over 70 in the Health Care Field and over 20 in the social services. So it looks like maybe my screen shifted a little bit. Are we still on the power point . Chair peskin no. No, youre sharing the screen of the meeting. All right. Just a moment. How is this . Chair peskin there you go. There you go. All right. Not sure what happened there. But we are looking at the applicant pool. So 161 like i said live in San Francisco. And they work varies from 70 plus in the Health Care Field and over 20 in social services such as shelter workers. Just to give you a couple examples, the applications included a front desk clerk at mercy housing, who works a swing shift until 11 00 p. M. , but because of bart closures, theyve had to wait for the 800 bus at 1 00 a. M. In order to return home to east bay by 2 30 a. M. Another example is a shelter worker at st. Vincent defall who ends at 12 30 midnight and struggles to find a ride home to richmond, again due to bart closures. The list goes on. Thats why in collaboration with the sfcta and as anna explained, to continue supporting our essential workers, were requesting 250,000 of prop k funds to expand this program. With the additional funds, wed still recommend keeping the existing program parameters, which as a reminder, is ten reimbursed cab rides home per month, per person, with a cap of 70 per trip. However, with the proposed new Program Budget, we can support an estimated 121 to 188 essential workers per week and extend the program to august 31st. So this would extend the program by four weeks and nearly double the number of essential workers the program is able to serve. You can see here that, along with doubling the number of workers served by the program, the expanded budget would fund our staff hours and direct costs to administer and manage the higher volume of users, including our language assistance services. Depending on further analysis of the incoming pool of applications, we could even consider expanding the commuting parameters beyond the late hours of 9 00 p. M. To 8 30 a. M. Sfcta staff have been wonderful in helping establish and advise on these recommendations. And we would certainly continue collaborating with staff after further analysis to discuss the best path forward for the program. And lastly, if i could just have a couple more minutes to talk about my favorite part, which is our marketing and outreach efforts. From the onset and as commissioner fewer stated in the april 28th meeting, we were especially mindful that our outreach would be citywide, but targeted from an Equity Perspective to our underserved communities, so that our essential workers, who would benefit most from this program, to apply and connect with us. Especially lowerincome workers with limited access to Public Transportation. Thats why the time we took before processing applications was used to focus on comprehensive outreach. So to start all the program materials, such as the website, forms, social media have all been translated into a chinese and spanish and shared with our partners. Language disciplines 311 and s. F. E. Staff has also been available since the program launched. And the programs landing page is referenced on sfgov. Org. Our outreach included reaching more than 300c. B. O. S and Small Businesses, including the district merchants and air bab grocers association. We partnered with oewd to further reach our citys essential businesses. We connected with the Labor Council and critical unions, such as local 87, the janitors union. And we partnered with the human rights commission, office of racial equity, and the citys lgbt Advisory Community to expand to other underserved communities. This included h. R. C. S Weekly Community roundtable with community leaders, including representation from the latino task force, to help spread the word effectively to these communities. We, of course, notified t. I. O. In every department and also partnered with h. S. H. And h. S. A. To notify essential workers in these truly critical areas, like the onsite hotel Monitoring Program and made sure we shared the program with these departments nonprofit partners and service providers. Just a you few more. We reached Health Care Workers and staff at s. F. General, laguana honda and the hospital in chinatown. We had a platform to easily connect with our departments, local partners, including the Green Business network, outreach to other critical partners like the Interfaith Council and lastly we pitched to local media, resulting in some coverage in english and spanish on mission local, telemundo and a spot on k. L. W. Of course, were working to continue our Media Outreach and working on getting a publication. So this is a snapshot of our outreach. And, of course, we look forward to working with each of your offices to continue this work. With the supplemental funds, well continue working hard to ensure that this Program Continues to reach those who would benefit from the program. And explore Digital Marketing campaign or printed materials and high visibility areas. So with that i hope i didnt take too much time, but im happy to answer any questions and i know my colleague alex is also available as well. So ill get off the shared screen here. And see if we have any questions. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Slice, for that very thorough presentation. Thank you. Chair peskin i dont see any members, all of whom who are quite familiar with the earlier iteration of this from late april. Seeing no commissioners, are there any members of the public who would like to comment on item number 8. Commissioner mainy , ill swing around to you in just a second. Well open this up to Public Comment. Are there any members of the public who want to make Public Comment on this item . Clerk yes, chair, there is one Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk hello, speaker, your two minutes begins now. Caller okay. And i would like to ask the presenter if our essential workers could be provideed with over rather than sending them to places like richmond and the east bay, after their work. And i know we need to look at it in a holistic way. Mostly housing surely could provide a roof over the head of that one individual. So when we look at this situation in a pandemic, and when we see that you represent the department of the environment, you have to take into consideration the carbon footprint. You also have to take into consideration whether you have the ability to think outside the box. And now refer to the office of Economic Development and the other departments, because already for some reason, theyre not providing the necessary support to san franciscans. Just try going to city hall and trying to see where the point of contact. You dont even get a response back after leaving a message. So we need to provide the necessary help to our essential workers. But we also need to ask them, rather than after their work, to faroff places, where we can accommodate them, as im sure multihousing can. And there are vacant rooms in hotels. Thats just a suggestion. Clerk thank you, caller. Operator you have zero questions remaining. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Costa, for your Public Comment. Public comment is now closed. Commissioner haney. Commissioner haney i mostly just wanted to say thank you. Really appreciate how quickly you all have come back to expand this program. And how extensive the outreach has been. Its just been really impressive. And i know you all have literally been walking out there doortodoor to businesses letting them know in different languages. Its just really been impressive. One thing that i would say is also to if you havent been to work through some of the coalitions and groups that work with Housing Providers and homeless service, like hespa, making sure they really have this information and know that its going to be expanded. I think its really critical. But overall im just grateful that this was brought together. Thank you for everyone involved in the various departments for working together with us and making this happen. We really appreciate it. Chair peskin thank you for those comments. Yes, go ahead, joseph. I was just going to say thank you, commissioner, and to the whole board for thinking creatively about how we can evolve this ram. Certainly what were going to do is continue reaching out to staff in each of your offices and potentially we can share the list of c. B. O. S and organizations we reached out to. And if you notice we missed anyone and would like us to expand that outreach, well certainly go ahead and do that. So well double down and reach out to each office as well. Chair peskin thank you. Thank you to our staff and the staff in the department of the environment. Ands a you heard and as you heard, we can continue to scale this program up over time. With that, is there a motion to approve item number 8 . Commissioner haney . Commissioner haney move to approve. Chair peskin is there a second for that motion . Second. Chair peskin seconded by commissioner yee. Made and seconded, a roll call, please. Clerk commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. Clerk commissioner haney . Commissioner haney aye. Clerk commissioner mandelman . Commissioner mandelman aye. Clerk commissioner mar . Commissioner mar aye. Clerk commissioner peskin . Commissioner peskin aye. Clerk hi ronen commissioner ronen . Chair peskin commissioner ronen . Clerk im going to chair peskin well come back to commissioner ronen. She may be having technical difficulties. Clerk commissioner safai . Commissioner safai aye. Clerk commissioner stefani . Commissioner stefani aye. Clerk commissioner walton . Commissioner walton aye. Clerk commissioner yee . Commissioner yee aye. Clerk commissioner ronen . Commissioner ronen aye. Clerk we have approval. I will sign the document as soon as you prepare, so we can release the funds. Clerk item number 9, state and federal legislation update. This is an action item. Chair peskin mr. Bots. Good morning. Good morning, mr. Chairman and commissioners. Im trusting im visible or at least chair peskin we can hear you and see you. Thank you very much, sir. Very reassuring. Ill talk to you about the status of the legislature and the process going on here in sacramento is, where we are in the state budget with the may revise and how it affected Transportation Programs. As well comment on a few bills. And ill make this tight as i can do it. In terms of the overall schedule for whats been going on in sacramento, on may 4th, the assembly reconvened and started meeting in policy committees. The senate for itself, reconvened on may 11th. And they have their own separate schedule. Theyre not quite in synch yet. They the two houses will meet in synch in terms of their structure and their timing on july 13th, when both of their different recesses will end. And theyll be reconvening for the second half of the legislative session. In terms of legislation, the policy Committee Chairs were asked to work with the authors of bills that were present in the committees and to thin the bill load down to be focused entirely, as it can, on the covid response, homeless issues, housing issues and if there were some minor technical, but desperately needed items. Those were allowable. By that charge, many, many, many bills probably more than twothirds of the bills went by the wayside for this part of the for this year. Moving forward in terms of the budget the schedule first. The may revise came out last thursday. And ill be touching on that in a moment. In the meantime, the subcommittees of the two house budget committees have set out their schedules. And in terms of transportation budget items, may 21st would be the first one, that would be the assembly subcommittee. And theyve already posted their hearing date. The senate has their hearing date on the may revise issues on may 24th, sunday. So happy holiday weekend. It feel like the old days when we had Conference Committee on the weekend. And then the appropriations committees of the two houses are all that remain. At this point only the assembly has put forward their schedule for the appropriations committee, which is june 6th for their hearings. And then a june 7th hearing for appropriations to spend. The big looming date in sacramento is june 15th, which is the constitutional deadline for the budget to be moved to the governor, so he can go through it and enact whatever he decides to move forward with. The assembly recess will convene will convene june 19th and end on july 13th. And the Senate Recess will begin on july 2nd and end on july 13th. Moving on to the may revise, the i think the executive director did a good job of explaining the size of the problem. Were pleased that the governor and the legislature have been confronting and the governors responses or proposed responses, suspensionly a 6 billion surplus and a Rainy Day Fund was what was available for the state to address what is now known to be a budget deficit in excess of 50 billion. Without going into a lot of detail, the governors proposal draws down the reserves, cancels some of the new budget initiatives they proposed back in january, barring from some special funds and reducing some spending in the current year. Moving on to transportation funding and how this may revise affects that, we did learn, through the may revise, that they are projecting that gas tax receipts will be reduced by 1. 8 billion over the next five years. Interestingly, as we bore down into the numbers, turns out that probably a little over 1. 1 billion of that 1. 8 billion reduction is due to the lesser v. M. T. And lesser travel demand. 1. 1 billion is coming out of the current year remainder and next year. So the largest hit would be the remainder of this year and the fiscal year coming up. All three increments of the gas tax, that are in the Transportation Program base will. Are affect are affected. July 1st theres an acrosstheboard c. P. I. Adjustment. That partially offsets the effect of the pandemic. The transportation investment or improvement fee, which is the Registration Fee thats stratified based on value, is going to continue to raise money in excess of the previous year. How does this work out and what programs does it affect . Well, it turns out it will impact the shop program, which is the states heavy Maintenance Program by a little over half a billion dollars throughout the fouryear history of that program. Local streets and roads will see about 280 million reduction and what they had expected. And then the fiveyear sit program will see a reduction of about 91 million. One of the interesting final comments ill make about the budget, we also learned in a Budget Briefing on friday, there is a little bit of transfer of some of our we normally would consider transportation funds, but in this case its interest earnings, which are not particular to the constitution. And its about 130 million transfer, that will be transferred to the general fund. So weve examined it and feel very confident that we have no claim on those funds. They have been unfettered and are moving in accordance with state law. So the days of your, where were trying to protect transfers, against transfers, no longer with us. Finally, on legislation the staff on your table has recommended support for sb1291, which is one of the bills thats going to be moving forward this year. This bill is authored by senator bill, but the entire Transportation Committee has joined in authorship. And the key measure or the key provision within this legislation is relates to the safe rule, which is the federal change that they proposeed in efficiency standards. And theyve made one adjustment. And they may have made another adjustment that it works for california. But just in case it doesnt, this piece of legislation would give a little bit of relief by delaying the requirements that transportation agencies file ftip or stipump amendments in the fall. That has a positive affect on minimizing the impact of the safe rule in california. In addition, there are two bills that have been heard and are moving at this point, that in the assembly that deal with highspeed rail. Ab3278 by patterton and ab2313 by assemblywoman reeves. They deal with aspects of highspeed rail and the staff is saying at this point in time, they prefer to recommend a watch position until we see how these bills do through the process. Id like to note that the seamless bay area bill, that was invaded or going to be innovated in ab2057 is unmeasure thats been sidelined this year. Nevertheless, staff withins continue twos continues to work with the seamless bay folks to get prepared for the eventuality of having a return visit to the bill. Staff is also working with Assembly Member tang and supervisor stefani on aabout 2305 preparing for next year, to authorize a pilot for a nofee reservation system for the crooked street on lombard. Thats not going to move forward this year, but theyre going to continue to work and iron out and approach for the next session. The last two bills i would comment on are ab2824. This is this bill has been set aside for this year. But the underlying bill, that mr. Ponta was looking for, would make the bay bridge more efficient and m. T. C. And your Transportation Authority staff are working on planning for a suite of improvements, that could be implemented, prior to any bus lane changes. And, finally, the faster bay area legislation sb278 is not it looks like its going to move forward, but it will simply be an authorization for a measure at a future election. So with that, i draw my presentation to a close and prepare to answer questions. Pardon me for dropping my presentation. Chair peskin no worries, mr. Bots. Are there any members who have any questions or comments for mr. Bots or ms. Crab . Seeing none, is there any Public Comment on this item . Clerk yes, chair, there is Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk welcome, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Thank you, chair peskin. Alita dupree for the record. And let the record reflect my pronounces are she and her. In reading about the legislation, two bills of interest in me to me. 1286 about shared mobility. I do support the idea of insurance regulations. The main bill on ab is ab1112, offered by Assembly Member friedman and passed last year with near anonymity. And 1112 i believe is where the statewide support, because its about equity and leveling the playing field. It mains i do have a drivers license. Yes, it was issued in nevada. But im no less San Francisco. Ive been able to use that drivers license in other states, including california. And ive been able to rent automobiles in california, in one case i rented one in long beach and drove it to las vegas and dropped it off. So, too, i should be able to use these small scooters and mopeds and be able to rent them in one city or county and drive them to another. Because we are very densely populated area. And there are 88 municipalities in los angeles county. So i remember the acrimony of the scooter issue last year. I maintain just because people dont like things, doesnt make them wrong. I as a person of disabilities and nottest modest means, i do have a right to safe mobility anywhere in the united states. Just as i can park a car in any legal parking spot in the united states. I believe in the idea of full faith and credit. So i believe that theres a future in shared mobility. And i think this bill is essential in order for us to have consistent standards and expectations. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you, miss dupree. Any other members of the public who would like to speak to this item . Clerk there are no additional calls. Chair peskin okay. Public comment is closed. [gavel] i neglected to ask, ms. Crab, to give us an update on federal legislation and funding, ms. Crab, would you like to do that, my apologies. No worries. Thank you so much. Ill try to be brief, because executive director chang covered a lot of the federal goings on in her executive directors report. Basically wanted to give you an update now that the house has introduced its heroes relief package. We know that thats likely not going to move forward in the senate, as written. But there are ongoing negotiations happening, if and when the next relief package moves forward. So weve really been focusing ton kind of quantifying the need for state and local relief for backing local funding, that includes identifying transportation projects within the city and the region, that are relying on those funding to move forward next year. And we know, as the economy picks back up, and we need transportation funding, this is a great way to also get local jobs. So were working with sfmta and the metropolitan Transportation Commission and the mayor on that. At the same time, we also know that the existing federal transportation bill expires on september 30th. The last year weve been working with those same parties on advancing the San Francisco priorities in reauthorization. That may move forward. The house transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to release a version its version of the reauthorization bill this week. And that may either move forward really quickly, as part of an economic stimulus effort or it might wait until after the election. So thats another place where were looking to advance San Franciscos project and hopefully increase the amount of transportation funding available, given both partys interest in infrastructure. With that, im happy to answer any questions. Chair peskin thank you, ms. Crab. I see no questions for you. So is there a motion to approve the staffrecommended position on senate bill 1291. Motion made by . Commissioner mandelman mandelman. Chair peskin and seconded by . Going to die for a lack of a second. Second. Chair peskin seconded commissioner safai. On that item, madam clerk, a roll call please. Clerk commissioner fewer . Chair peskin commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. Clerk could you repeat that again, commissioner fewer . Commissioner fewer aye. Clerk commissioner haney . Commissioner haney aye. Clerk commissioner mandelman . Commissioner mandelman aye. Clerk commissioner mar . Commissioner mar aye. Clerk commissioner peskin . Commissioner peskin aye. Clerk commissioner preston . Commissioner preston aye. Clerk commissioner ronen . Commissioner ronen aye. Clerk commissioner safai . Commissioner safai aye. Clerk commissioner stefani . Commissioner stefani aye. Clerk commissioner walton . Commissioner walton aye. Clerk commissioner yee . Commissioner yee aye. Clerk the item is passed on its first read. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. Colleagues, is there any introduction of new items . Seeing none, is there any general Public Comment . Madam clerk . Clerk yes, chair, there is Public Comment. Chair peskin first speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk hello, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Caller thank you, chairperson. Alita dupree for the record. My basic comments concerning sfmta. A good meeting today. We got to approve some important things, including the rail contract. I believe strongly in the San Francisco that needs to be mobility aware and have a diversity of option. Because really the elephant in the room is cars. Singleoccupancy cars, that burn gasoline, and cars will always be with us, but there are too many of them. And so i support programs that will help people to not have to take cars. And i live that myself by using muni and by using the small shared scooters, so that i dont have to get into an automobile. Though i do use rideshare on occasion, and its better than me having the responsibility of owning an automobile. I do support congestion pricing, automobiles do much wear and tear on our roads. And i do believe that all cars hopefully will be electric some day, like cell phones. But they, too, could even contribute to congestion. And so i think we have to ensure that we have a vision zero mindset, because the problem really isnt buses, its not bicycles, its not these little scooters, and i dont think its even rideshare. Its singleoccupancy obviouslies. I want us to have a focus on shared a mobility and transit oriented city. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you for your comments, miss dupree. Any other members of the public for Public Comment . Clerk yes, there is another caller. Chair peskin next speaker, please. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk welcome caller. Your two minutes begins now. Caller i would like to remind the San Francisco county Transportation Authority, if they can address this issue. Its very important. Many a times on the routes, that go by the General Hospital, we have patients who are very sick, who take Public Transportation. I think, during this pandemic, the San Francisco General Hospital should provide them with transportation, much like ive been speaking about. Do not put the public in an adverse situation, because the patients are sick. And i dont know how theyre discharged. Theyre not given a clean bill for that discharge. I dont think so because i have witnessed once or twice that the patients are very sick. And im requesting the San Francisco county Transportation Authority to consider patients being given a ride home. Thank you very much. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Da costa. Seeing no other members of the public for general Public Comment, Public Comment is now closed. [gavel] and that will bring our Transportation Authority Commission Meeting to a close. We are adjourned. [gavel] todays special guest is claudia dume. Hi. Today, my guest is claudia gorham. Shes the deputy managing director of the real estate dri division at the city and county of San Francisco, and shes my special guest. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. I know that your department is the department for managing and renting properties, and also cleaning for the city. How has your department been preparing for the crisis . Well, because our citizens are sheltering in place and our buildings are closed to the general public, a substantial amount of city staff and city departments are still open and operating and doing city businesses. So we still have to do the cleaning and engineering on the portfolio and things that need to be service. And the other thing is all our workers are Disaster Service workers, so we have been providing the Emergency Operations center with various staffing needs such as drivers of trucks and accounting staff to assist them in this crisis. Have you obtained Additional Space for the city to use during this crisis . Yes. The crisis has actually required numerous transactions, and so we help basically the department of Public Health, the department of human services, and the department of homelessness determine where they can put the services that they need. So, for example, if they need a testing site or if they need a building a vacant building to put supplies or if they need to put some trucks, we will help them locate that Office Building or that property based on their factors that they need. We will then contact the landlord or the Property Owner of the space or the Building Owner decides they want, and then, we negotiate the terms that they need, whether its a permit or a lease, well help the City Attorney draft that agreement. Nice. So can you talk about how some of our iconic buildings, such address the palace of such as the palace of fine arts, has been repurposed during the pandemic . Certainly. The city needs as much space as it can use during this pandemic, and the department had to relocate to Moscone South Convention Center so that we could do social distancing as required by both the city and the state. We have hundreds and hundreds of staff people working on this covid19 crisis. All of the department of Public Health and the departments of homelessness and human services, including several other hundred people, they need several different sites. They need testing centers, they need shelters for the homeless, those with the covid19 virus, those who need a place to stay after they get out of the hospital. So weve been assisting them with places to stay. You mentioned the palace of fine arts. It has over 100,000 square feet of space. It could it we were going to use it as a shelter, but now, were going to use it for different needs. Were going to negotiate a different lease so that the city can use it for this crisis. Were using the bill graham Civic Auditorium and tfor the deployment of ambulances. The Fire Department needed additional supplies, so were using it for that service. Thats great. I also understand you have a staff of custodians, electricians, janitors and other support workers. How are they helping the city . We could not be more thankful for our civic and engineering staff under our real estate division. They have been working 247 since this crisis began, not only doing their daily responsibilities to keep the public buildings open and operating for the city staff continuing to go into the office but also because once the crisis started, several memos came down as to additional cleanings and how to do disinfecting, and we have to do the c. D. C. S recommendation does. So not only do they do recommendations. So not only do they do their regular cleaning, they are also doing deep cleaning and disinfecting in places like the Public Safety building and the haul of justice. But theyre also going in and doing a deep cleaning and disinfecting after we had a suspected case or a confirmed case of a person having the coronavirus. So theyre going in and doing this every night since this started. Our workers are continuing as laborers to make the buildings safe and secure and maintained. And however we help or however we can help the e. O. C. , we do that. Well, thanks for coming on the show, claudia. Id like to thank you and your entire team on behalf of all the residents of San Francisco for all the work you continue to do. Thank you very much. Its been a pleasure. Thats it for this episode. Well be back with another pandemicrelated episode shortly. This is coping with covid19. Im chris mathers. Thanks for watching. Welcome to culturewire. Today we are at recology. They are celebrate 20 years of one of the most incredibly unique Artist Residency programs. We are here to learn more from one of the resident artists. Welcome to the show, deborah. Tell us how this Program Began 20 years ago. The Program Began 20 years ago. Our founder was an environmentalist and an activist and an artist in the 1970s. She started these street sweeping campaigns in the city. She started with kids. They had an exhibition at city hall. City officials heard about her efforts and they invited her to this facility. We thought it would coincide with our efforts to get folks to recycle, it is a great educational tool. Since then, we have had 95 professional artists come through. How has the Program Changed over the years . How has the program what can the public has an artist engage with . For the most part, we worked with metal and wood, what you would expect from a program like ours. Over the years, we tried to include artists and all types of mediums. Conceptual artists, at installation, photographers, videographers. That has really expanded the program out. It is becoming so dynamic right now with your vision of interesting artists in gauging here. Why would an artist when to come here . Mainly, access to the materials. We also give them a lot of support. When they start, it is an empty studio. They go out to the public area and we call it the big store. They go out shopping, take the materials that, and get to work. It is kind of like a reprieve, so they can really focus on their body of work. When you are talking about recology, do you have the only Sculpture Garden at the top . It is based on work that was done many years ago in new york. It is the only kind of structured, artist program. Weit is beautiful. A lot of the plants you see were pulled out of the garbage, and we use our compost to transplant them. The pathway is lined with rubble from the earthquake from the freeways we tour about 5000 people a year to our facility, adults and children. We talk about recycling and conservation. They can meet the artists. Fantastic. Lets go meet some of your current artists. Here we are with lauren. Can you tell us how long have been here so far and what youre working on . We started our residency on june 1, so we came into the studio then and spent most of the first couple weeks just digging around in the trash. I am continuing my body of work, kind of making these hand embroidered objects from our daytoday life. Can you describe some of the things you have been making here . This is amazing. I think i started a lot of my work about the qualities of light is in the weight. I have been thinking a lot about things floating through the air. It is also very windy down here. There is a piece of sheet music up there that i have embroidered third. There is a pamphlet about hearing dea nearing death. This is a dead rabbit. This is what i am working on now. This is a greeting card that i found, making it embroidered. It is for a very special friend. While we were looking at this, i glanced down and this is amazing, and it is on top of a book, it is ridiculous and amazing. I am interested in the serendipity of these still life compositions. When he got to the garbage and to see the arrangement of objects that is completely spontaneous. It is probably one of the least thought of compositions. People are getting rid of this stuff. It holds no real value to them, because theyre disposing of it. Were here in another recology studio with abel. What attracted you to apply for this special program . Who would not want to come to the dump . But is the first question. For me, being in a situation that youre not comfortable in has always been the best. What materials were you immediately attracted to when you started and so what was available here . There are a lot of books. That is one of the thing that hits me the most. Books are good for understanding, language, and art in general. Also being a graphic designer, going straight to the magazines and seeing all this printed material being discarded has also been part of my work. Of course, always wood or any kind of plastic form or anything like that. Job mr. Some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. Taught me through some of the pieces you have made while you have been here. The first thing that attracted me to this was the printed surface. It was actually a poster. It was a silk screen watercolor, about 8 feet long. In terms of the flatwork, i work with a lot of cloddish. So being able to cut into it come at into it, removed parts, it is part of the process of negotiating the final form. How do you jump from the two dimensional work that you create to the threedimensional . Maybe going back from the 3f to 2d. Everything is in the process of becoming. Things are never said or settled. The sculptures are being made while i am doing the collages, and vice versa. It becomes a part of something else. Theres always this figuring out of where things belong or where they could parapets something else. At the end goal is to possibly see one of these collage plans be built out and create a structure that reflects back into the flat work. Thank you so much for allowing culturewire to visit this amazing facility and to learn more about the artists in residence program. Is there anything you like our viewers to know . We have art exhibitions every four months, and a win by the public to come out. Everybody is welcome to come out. We have food. Sometimes we have gains and bands. It is great time. From june to september, we accept applications from bay area artists. We encouraged artists from all mediums to apply. We want as many artists from the bay area out here so they can have the same experience. How many artists to do your host here . 6 artist a year, and we receive about 108 applications. Very competitive. But everyone should be encouraged to apply. Thank you again for hosting us. Thank you for including us in culturewire. We are definitely pioneers in airport concession world a world of nationally if not entirely or internationally everybody is cop us right now. The people that were in charge of the retail this is where that began. I didnt think we would have a location at the airport. Weve set the bar higher with the customer commerce. Telling me about the operator and how you go about finding them and they get from being in the city to being in the airport. So first, we actually find a table and once we know what we want a sitdown we go to the neighborhoods in San Francisco and other people seminary of the retail let us know about the rain water and are excited to have the local operators in the airport. We have to go going through the conceive selective process and they award a lease to the restaurant. They are planning on extending. We that you could out the china and the length evens and the travel serve and fourth your minds and its all good. How long for a vendor to move through the process. I would say it could take 80 up to a year from the time we go out to bid until they actually open a restaurant. I dont know what we signed up for but the airport is happy to have us here. And, you know, even taking out the track simple things theres a learning curve with once were here they are helpful. Its an awardwinning program. Were prude of your awards we have won 11 awards the latest for the best overall food address Beverage Program and. Like the oscars laughter . The professional world. Tell me about the future food. All the sb national leases are xooirz and were hoping to bring newer concepts out in San Francisco and what your passengers want. Well, i look forward to the future laughter air are we look fofofofofofofofo [gavel] good afternoon and welcome to the land use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco board of supervisors. I am the chair of the committee, supervisor aaron peskin joined by vice chair supervisor safai and Committee Member supervisor dean preston. Our clerk is ms. Erica major. Madam clerk, do you have any announcements . Clerk yes, due to the covid19 Health Emergency and to protect board members, City Employees and the public t board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. Supervisors will be participating in the Virtual Meeting to the same extent as if they are physically present. Channel 26 and sfgov tv are streaming the number across the screen