Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Rules Committee 20240712

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the june 25, 2020 special meeting of the rules committee. Im supervisor hillary ronen, chair over the committee. With me on the Video Conference is vice chair supervisor Catherine Stefani and rules member gordon mar. Id like to thank sfgovtv for the meeting. Mr. Clerk, any announcements . Looks like youre on mute. Apologies. Due to the covid19 Health Emergency and to protect board members, City Employees and the public, the board of Supervisors Chamber and Committee Room are closed. However, members will be participating in a meeting remotely. Many members will attend a meeting through Video Conference and attend to the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present. Public comment is available on each item on the agenda. Were streaming the number across the screen. Each speaker will be allowed two minutes to speak. Again, that is 415 6550001. The meeting i. D. Is 145, 418, 2406. Again, that is 1454192406 and then press pound and pound again. When connected, youll hear the meeting discussion, but you will be muted and in listening mode only. When the issue comes up, dial 3. Best practices are to call from a quiet location. Speak clearly and slowly and turn down your radio or television. You may submit Public Comment in either of the following ways. Email to myself, the clerk. Submit Public Comment via email, it will be included as part of the official file. Finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors agenda of july 7th unless otherwise stated. Supervisor ronen thank you. Could you state number one. Charter amendment to amend the charter of city and county of San Francisco to provide the future annual adjustments in baseline if funding for the following charter mandated funds will not take into account changes in the ballot. The municipal transportation fund, the park, recreation and open space fund, the children youth fund, the Library Preservation fund, the Housing Trust fund, the dignity fund and the street Tree Maintenance Fund at an election to be held on november 3, 2020. Supervisor ronen thank you. Our controller is here with us today. Do any of my colleagues have any statements before we turn it over to the controller . Nope. Mr. Rosenfeld. Good morning. [laughter] good morning and thank you for having me here today. I have a short presentation to talk through this proposal. And i should say that we do have amendments to suggest here today, which i can talk through that substantially limit versus what you have in front of you. So, in background here, the charter measure with the amendments will ask for your consideration of today, are intended to address the unique challenge we have in two of the tax measures that are pending in front of the board of supervisors. One introduced by the mayor. The other introduced by president yee with supervisors haney, fewer and peskin. Both are larger scale changes. Ill talk through the specific challenge were trying to address with these measures with the charter measure. I should say if the charter measure is amended and does move forward, i think the intent at the end of the day would be to merge it with the other measures on the ballot. The goal would be at the end of the board process, they would be merged. I should start with talking about a key feature of the two ballot measures. The two taxes. As you know, the city is in the midst of litigation regarding both dedicated taxes adopted by the voters in 2018. The city has been challenged on those. And the goal here of a feature in both of those tax measures is to unlock and basically make the money were collecting today expendable. We do that as creating a backstop tax. That is one feature that should the city lose that litigation would opt into place. Those new backstop taxes would look in many ways like big and baby c in their tax structure and they would generate a like amount of tax. Theyre effectively insurance against that possibility of a legal loss. What that does in terms of money that were collecting today, my office is impounding the funds we collect today. Should we be ordered by the court to pay refunds. So were collecting 450 million a year roughly on these two taxes that well have to refund if the courts strike down if the courts rule against the city. If the backstop tax is adopted thats been proposed on these two measures this november, our office would have a different means of repaying those refunds should the city lose. Rather than having to use money that were collecting to make the repayments, we would look to that new ongoing backstop tax to make the payments. Since we would have another means of repaying the refund should we lose, the money that were collecting today would become immediately spendable and thats really the policy were after with this tax feature. The policy challenge we have that results, though, is that currently big and baby c are dedicated taxes. That means that theyve been earmarked by the voters for a specific purpose and that means that the revenue collected under those measures is not discretionary and therefore does not contribute to the voter docket baseline. So all 450 million were currently collecting is dedic e dedicated for only those two purposes. The backstop feature, though, in the proposed measures. The one feature is a general tax. It will require 50 plus one vote to adopt. That tax is discretionary. And so of the approximately 450 million in annual taxes were collecting, approximately 100 million of that 450 would be allocated to various baseline purposes absent this proposed charter measure as amended. That would mean that the value of the backstop tax that is available to pay for refunds, should we need to, and the revenue available to support ongoing child care and Homeless Service programs that we have created in the shorter term, would be limited by the 100 million. Thats the policy challenge. That takes us to the purpose of the charter measure. The charter measure in front of you was very broad. It was applied to the entirety of the tax measure on the November Ballot and excludes the value of all the taxes from baseline. That is not our intent here. So we have an amendment we would consider today that would limit this charter measure to only apply specifically to the backstop tax that i talked about a few minutes ago. That would exclude the value of the backstop tax should it go into effect from baseline calculations. In doing so, it preserved the value of the tax to pay for quarter of refunds in child care and services. If its adopted, both by the board and then to the voters, it would leave the baseline allocations in the same places they are today. No better, no worse. Big and baby c are not subject to allocations and if this charter measure is adopted by the voters, the backstop tax would also not be subject to baseline compensations. As amended, the charter measure would not apply to any other taxes on the ballot or other features of these tax measures. So any additional revenue measured by these tax measures on the ballot would still contribute its share to the baseline purposes. I would be happy to answer any questions. In you shall flush i appreciate all of the work that has gone into this. Supervisor stefani, any comments . Okay. Any member of the public who wishes to speak will have two minutes to speak. Thank you. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call 415 6550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1454192406. And press 8080 pound and pound again. A system prompt will indicate you have raised your hand when you press star 3. Do we have any members of the public for Public Comment at the time . There are no callers in the queue. Supervisor ronen okay. Public comment is closed. And i understand that supervisor stefani might introduce officially the amendment . No . Supervisor stefani thats fine, yes. I would like to move the amendments mentioned by mr. Rosenfield. Supervisor ronen thank you very much. Can we take a roll call on the amendment . On the motion to adopt the amendments stefani aye. Mar aye. Chair ronen aye. Motion passes without objection. Supervisor ronen and then on the underlying measure as amended . Thats right. If we can continue this item to the call of the chair, can we take a roll call on that motion to continue . And so the public is a Charter Amendment is amended, then it has to sit in committee and be heard once again before we can officially move it. On the motion to continue the call of the chair, stefani aye, mar aye, ronen aye. The motion passes. This matter is continued to the call of the chair with [inaudible] supervisor ronen thank you. Thank you, ben, take care. Please read item number 2. Item 2 is a Charter Amendment to amend the charter of the city and county of San Francisco to establish that workforce education and Recovery Fund to provide Financial Support to city college of San Francisco for workforce and professional development programs, Student Support and Wraparound Services supporting student retention and life long learning, enrichment and social justice classes and to require an annual appropriation in designated amounts to the fund, election to be held on november 3, 2020. Supervisor ronen thank you. Since this is supervisor mars measure, did you have any comments, supervisor mar . Yeah. Thank you supervisor mar i would like to hold off on hearing and considering action on this item today. Im currently working with city college stakeholders, labor and others to explore the best way to ensure that the more than 140,000 unemployed residents in our city have access to needed workforce education and training so they can upgrade their skills and get back to work and Economic Security as soon as possible. Were considering creating the workforce Education Recovery Fund as a twoyear Pilot Program through legislation and the Pilot Project that would support the recovery to happen sooner than the proposed Charter Amendment. I would like to request that we continue this item to the call of the chair . Supervisor ronen no problem, but before we do that, i will open up for Public Comment . Mr. Clerk . Yes. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment should call 415 6550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1454192406. Then press pound and pound again. If you havent done so, please dial star 3 to line up to speak. And wait until you hear the indicator that you have been unmuted and you may begin your comments. Mr. Caller, any members of the public to speak online at this time . Madame chair, there are no callers in the queue. Supervisor ronen okay. Public comment is closed. Can you make a motion did you. Supervisor mar i move that we continue the item to the call of the chair. Supervisor ronen if we can have a roll call. Roll call on the matter to continue to the call of the chair. Stefani aye. Mar aye. Chair ronen aye. That motion passes to continue the matter to the call of the chair without objection. Supervisor ronen thank you so much. Mr. Clerk, any other items . That completes the agenda for today. Supervisor ronen thank you, colleagues, for holding a special. We thought it would be longer, but were trying to space out all the measures on the ballot and make sure we have enough time for everyone. Enjoy a little free time in your calendars now. See you soon. Take care. Bye. But i do speak my mind. I have a question. There are a lot of traffic calming measures that arent included in the powerpoint toolkit, and im wondering if theyre being considered, such as the types of bulbs that can be put in. In quickbuild kind of spirit, you can just put out cones at dangerous intersections for almost no many, and again, i think theres things like that that can be done now in the midst of the virus, the covid virus, that people are going to accept, people driving cars, that then eventually become permanent. I dont quite get the sense of urgency of this being an exciting time to move much, much more quickly than people were moving before, and to adopt traffic calming measures so they can be done with very little cost. As it is, its only a 750,000 project, and i think if you rethought things, you could do twice as much with the same amount of money, so i urge you you to rethink or think outside the box in terms of covid19 and how quickly these projects are designed and how they move forward. Thank you. Operator you have two questions remaining. Clerk hello, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Hello. Im Richard Rossman, and i live in the excelsior, and i was wondering why the last gentleman didnt mention this area. Theyve been implementing the Safety Measures for over a year. Apparently, its going to take another six months. It had to go to the Transportation Authority and the m. T. A. Why cant they have a joint meeting on these projects where both agencies are involved to speed up the process, and when they have the meeting, have the engineering folks who have come out and had meetings and speed this up . M. T. A. Needs to have a faster process and processing these safety improvements. Its just taking too long, and with the closure, more cars are traveling on folsom and lincoln way, and i dont know why it takes so long to implement these changes on folsom street. Thank you. President yee okay. Any other speakers . Clerk no additional public speakers. Supervisor peskin mr. Chair, id like to utilize ana to speak with funding issues. President yee okay. Thanks for helping me out, supervisor peskin, because my screen doesnt show anything. In 2019, the board approved 750,000 over the fiveyear period for this program, and the first of the project i believe we funded is central richmond. I thought we had funded excelsior, as well. It might not have been from this place holder funding. In addition, there has been discussion of the funding of this program for 2021. There has been a discussion of bulbouts at the fulton mall, and that the sfmta would be coming in during the construction phase of the project, asking for approximately 200,000 for that pr project. As far as the 2021, and the ingleside and visitacion projects, i am not aware that m. T. A. Is planning to use the place holder funds, but im pleased to hear about what will advance, and i look forward to hearing more. President yee thank you for that report. So where were we . We just finished with other comments. I guess theres no other comments or questions, so i will go ahead and close this close this out. Madam clerk, lets go to [inaudible]. So what number lets go to item 7. Clerk item 7, introduction of new items. This is an information item. President yee okay. No no introduction of new items unless i said earlier to have m. T. C. Come and give a report on their report that just came out, okay . So i guess lets go to Public Comment, then. Clerk okay. There is one Public Comment. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk hello, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Good afternoon, chair yee and commissioner peskin. I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak. This is jodi madeiras, and im the executive director of walk San Francisco. Im here to speak on behalf of 20 organizations on the Vision Zero Coalition who sent this body as well as mayor breed a letter yesterday to encourage our city to invest in alternatives to safe policing on our streets. We need a stronger and committed investment in fair and proportionate policing. I want to thank kate breed for discussing this citys work on the automated Speed Enforcement because we need to pilot life saving speed Safety Cameras now. We also are asking as a group for a greater investment in our camera program. We currently only have 13 cameras in the city with only 2 million committed for the next five years, and this is an incredibly underutilized highly technological solutions. We need to provide alternatives to punitive inequitable fine systems in relation to traffic infractions because we know that traffic infractions should not disproportionately burden african american, black, brown, and people of color. These are the places where people of color are much more likely to live, walk, and bike. Clerk thank you, caller. Thank you. That is your two minutes. Thank you. Operator you have two questions remaining. Clerk hello, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Wethis is Steven Bingham fo the third time now, and i just want to second what jodi just said, in particular the comment in the letter she mentioned to provide alternatives to punitive traffic infractions that cause lowincome people to lose their drivers licenses and have their cars towed. I worked on this issue now, and i was a former legal aide for 20 years, and ive been working on this for a couple of decades, and one of the things that i think that m. T. A. Can take the lead on in terms of getting a conversation going is having nonPolice Officers to handout tickets to reduce the kinds of interactions that the police have with people of color in particular, and i think it would lead to actually safer streets because the police could focus their resources on real crime and not minor kinds of tickets they spend a great deal of time doing. Its been in new zealand for a couple of years, where traffic tickets were handled by a different agency. There are a number of cities around the country that have decriminalized part of the vehicle code, and all of us city advocates would be happy to work with the city to make it happen. Clerk thank you. Thank you, caller. Thank you. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk hello, caller. Your two minutes begins now. Hello. This is Richard Rossman again. I wish youd have a hearing on why muni staff has a veto power over safety improvements that the neighborhood would like to have. I think that 225 fee to appeal a decision of traffic engineers are a little too high. Maybe instead of appealing to the board, decisions should go to the m. T. A. Board before it comes to the supervisors and not let one person have a say over safety improvements that the neighborhood wants. Thank you. President yee okay. Any other Public Comments . Clerk that is it for Public Comments. President yee okay. Public comment is now closed. In terms of what jodi mentioned in the letter that she sent, id like to have a discussion between sfmta and maybe the Police Department on that issue of who should be how can we do things differently, in terms of enforcement, should be on our agenda also. Okay. So is there anything further . Madam clerk . Clerk next item is item 8, Public Comment. Supervisor peskin no, we had that. President yee just had that. Supervisor peskin next item is adjournment. Clerk item 9, meeting adjournment. President yee meeting adjourned. Thank you, supervisor peskin. Supervisor peskin thank you, chair yee. How i really started my advocacy was through my own personal experiences with discrimination as a trans person. And when i came out as trans, you know, i experienced discrimination in the workplace. They refused to let me use the womens bathroom and fired me. There were so many barriers that other trans folks had in the workplace. And so when i finished college, i moved out to San Francisco in the hopes of finding a safer community. And also, i want to recognize our amazing Trans Advisory Committee who advises our office as well as the mayor, so our transadvisory community members, if they could raise their hands and you could give a little love to them. [applause] thank you so much for your help. My leadership here at the office is engaging the mayor and leadership with our lgbt community. We also get to support, like, local policy and make sure that that is implemented, from allgender bathrooms to making sure that theres lgbt Data Collection across the city. Get to do a lot of great events in trans awareness month. Transgender people really need representation in politics of all kinds, and im so grateful for clair farley because she represents us so intelligently. I would like to take a moment of silence to honor all those folks that nicky mentioned that weve lost this year. I came out when i was 18 as trans and grew up as gay in missoula, montana. So as you can imagine, it wasnt the safest environment for lgbt folks. I had a pretty supportive family. I have an identical twin, and so we really were able to support each other. Once i moved away from home and started college, i was really able to recognize my own value and what i had to offer, and i think that for me was one of the Biggest Challenges is kind of facing so many barriers, even with all the privilege and access that i had. It was how can i make sure that i transform those challenges into really helping other people. Were celebrating transgender awareness month, and within that, we recognize transgender day of remembrance, which is a memorial of those that we have lost due to transgender violence, which within the last year, 2019, weve lost 22 transgender folks. Think all but one are transgender women of color who have been murdered across the country. I think its important because we get to lift up their stories, and bring attention to the attacks and violence that are still taking place. We push back against washington. That kind of impact is starting to impact trans black folks, so its important for our office to advocate and recognize, and come together and really remember our strength and resilience. As the only acting director of a City Department in the country, i feel like theres a lot of pressure, but working through my own challenges and barriers and even my own selfdoubt, i think ive been try to remember that the action is about helping our community, whether thats making sure the community is housed, making sure they have access to health care, and using kind of my access and privilege to make change. I would like to Say Something about clair farley. She has really inspired me. I was a nurse and became disabled. Before i transitioned and after i transitioned, i didnt know what i wanted to do. Im back at college, and clair farley has really impressed on me to have a voice and to have agency, you have to have an education. Mayor breed has led this effort. She made a 2. 3 Million Investment into trans homes, and she spear headed this effort in partnership with my office and tony, and were so proud to have a mayor who continues to commit and really make sure that everyone in this city can thrive. Our community has the most resources, and im very happy to be here and to have a place finally to call home. Thank you. [applause] one, two, three. [applause] even in those moments when i do feel kind of alone or unseen or doubt myself, i take a look at the community and the power of the supportive allies that are at the table that really help me to push past that. Being yourself, its the word of wisdom i would give anyone. Surely be patient with yourself and your dream. Knowing that love, you may not always feel that from your family around you, but you can hi. My name is carmen chiu, San Franciscos aelectricitied assessor. Today, i want to share with you a property tax savings programs for families called proposition 58. Prop 58 was passed in 1986 and it was helped parents pass on their lower Property Tax Base to their children. So how does this work . Under californias prop 13 law, the value we use to calculate your property tax is limited to 2 growth peryear. But when ownership changes, prop 13 requires that we reassess properties to market value. If parents want to pass on their home or other property to their children, it would be considered a change in ownership. Assuming the market value of your property has gone up, your children, the new owners, would pay taxes starting at that new higher level. Thats where prop 58 comes in. Prop 58 recognizes the transfer between parents and children so that instead of taxing your children at that new higher level, they get to keep your lower prop 13 value. Remember, prop 58 only applies to transfers between parents and children. Heres how the law twines an eligible child. A biological child, a step child, child adopted before the age of 18, and a soninlaw or daughterinlaw. To benefit from this tax saving program, remember, you just have to apply. Download the prop 58 form from our website and submit it to our office. Now you may ask, is there a cap how much you can pass on. Well, first, your principal residence can be excluded. Other than that, the total tap of properties that can use this exclusion cannot exceed 1 million. This means for example if you have two other properties, each valued at 500,000, you can exclude both because they both fit under the 1 million cap. Now what happens hwhen the totl value you want to pass on exceeds 1 million. Lets say you have four properties. Three with current taxable value of 300,000 and one at 200,000, totaling 1. 1 million in value. Assuming that you decide to pass on properties one, two, and three, we would apply the exclusions on a first come, first served basis. You would deduct properties one, two, and three, and you would still have 100,000 left to pass on. What happens when you pass on the last property . This property, house four, has been existing value of 2 has an existing value of 200,000, and its existing Property Value is actually higher, 700,000. As i said, the value left in your cap is 100,000. When we first figure out your portion, we figure out the portion that can be excluded. We do that by dividing the exclusion value over the assessed value. In this case, its 50 . This means 50 of the property will remain at its existing value. Meanwhile, the rest will be reassessed at market value. So the new taxable value for this property will be 50 of the existing value, which is 200,000, equaling 100,000, plus the portion reassessed to market value, which is 50 times 700,000, in other words, 350,000, with a total coming out to 450,000. A Similar Program is also available for prepping transfers fl interest r from grandparents to grandchildren. If youre interested in learning more visit our website or what were trying to approach is bringing more diversity to our food. Its not just the old european style food. We are seeing a lot of influences, and all of this is because of our students. All we ask is make it flavorful. [ ] we are the first twoyear Culinary Hospitality School in the united states. The first year was 1936, and it was started by two graduates from cornell. Im a graduate of this program, and very proud of that. So students can expect to learn under the three degrees. Culinary Arts Management degree, Food Service Management degree, and Hotel Management degree. Were not a Cooking School. Even though were not teaching you how to cook, were teaching you how to manage, how to supervise employees, how to manage a hotel, and plus youre getting an associate of science degree. My name is vince, and im a faculty member of the hospitality arts and Culinary School here in San Francisco. This is my 11th year. The policemrogram is very, ver in what this industry demands. Cooking, health, safety, and sanitation issues are included in it. Its quite a complete program to prepare them for whats happening out in the real world. The first time i heard about this program, i was working in a restaurant, and the sous chef had graduated from this program. He was very young to be a sous chef, and i want to be like him, basically, in the future. This program, its awesome. Its another world when youre here. Its another world. You get to be who you are, a person get to be who they are. You get to explore different things, and then, you get to explore and they encourage you to bring your background to the kitchen, too. Ive been in the program for about a year. Twoyear program, and im about halfway through. Before, i was studying behavioral genetics and dance. I had few injuries, and i couldnt pursue the things that i needed to to dance, so i pursued my other passion, cooking. When i stopped dance, i was deprived of my creative outlet, and cooking has been that for me, specifically pastry. The good thing is we have students everywhere from places like the ritz to we have kids from every area. Facebook and google. Kids from everywhere. They are all over the bay area, and theyre thriving. My name is jeff, and im a coowner of nopa restaurant, nopalito restaurant in San Francisco. I attended city college of San Francisco, the culinary arts program, where it was called hotel and restaurant back then in the early 90s. Nopalito on broderick street, its based on no specific region in mexico. All our masa is hand made. We cook our own corn in house. Everything is pretty much hand made on a daily basis, so day and night, were making hand made tortillas, carnitas, salsas. A lot of love put into this. [ ] used to be very easy to define casual dining, fine dining, quick service. Now, its shades of gray, and were trying to define that experience through that spectrum of service. Fine dining calls into white table cloths. The cafeteria is Large Production kitchen, understanding vast production kitchens, the googles and the facebooks of the world that have those kitypes of kitchens. And the ideas that change every year, again, its the notion and the venue. One of the things i love about vince is one of our outlets is a concept restaurant, and he changes the concept every year to show students how to do a startup restaurant. Its been a pizzeria, a taco bar. Its been a mediterranean bar, its been a noodle bar. People choose ccsf over other hospitality programs because the industry recognizes that we instill the work ethic. We, again, serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other culinary hospitality programs may open two days a week for breakfast service. Were open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week. The menus always interesting. They change it every semester, maybe more. Theres always a good variety of foods. The preparation is always beautiful. The students are really sincere, and they work so hard here, and theyre so proud of their work. Ive had people coming in to town, and i, like, bring them here for a special treat, so its more, like, not so much every day, but as often as i can for a special treat. When i have my interns in their final semester of the program go out in the industry, 80 to 90 of the students get hired in the industry, well above the industry average in the culinary program. We do have internals continually coming into our restaurants from city college of San Francisco, and most of the time that people doing internships with us realize this is what they want to do for a living. We hired many interns into employees from our restaurants. My partner is also a graduate of city college. So my goal is actually to travel and try to do some pastry in maybe italy or france, along those lines. I actually have developed a few connections through this program in italy, which i am excited to support. Im thinking about going to go work on a cruise ship for about two, three year so i can save some money and then hopefully venture out on my own. Yeah, i want to go back to china. I want to bring something that i learned here, the french cooking, the western system, back to china. So we want them to have a full toolkit. Were trying to make them ready this is a huge catalyst for change. It will be over 530,000 gross square feet plus two levels of basement. Now the departments are across so many locations it is hard for them to Work Together and collaborate and hard for the customers to figure out the different locations and hours of operation. One of the main drivers is a one stopper mitt center for permit center. Special events. We are a one stop shop for those three things. This has many different uses throughout if years. In 1940s it was cocacola and the flagship as part of the construction project we are retaining the clock tower. The permit center is little working closely with the Digital Services team on how can we modernize and move away from the paper we use right now to move to a more digital world. The Digital Services team was created in 2017. It is 2. 5 years. Our job is to make it possible to get things done with the city online. One of the reasons permitting is so difficult in this city and county is really about the scale. We have 58 Different Department in the city and 18 of them involve permitting. We are expecting the residents to understand how the departments are structured to navigate through the permitting processes. It is difficult and we have heard that from many people we interviewed. Our goal is you dont have to know the department. You are dealing with the city. Now if you are trying to get construction or special events permit you might go to 13 locations to get the permit. Here we are taking 13 locations into one floor of one location which is a huge improvement for the customer and staff trying to Work Together to make it easy to comply with the rules. There are more than 300 permitting processes in the city. There is a huge to do list that we are possessing digital. The first project is allowing people to apply online for the a. D. U. It is an accessory dwelling unit, away for people to add extra living space to their home, to convert a garage or add something to the back of the house. It is a very complicated permit. You have to speak to Different Departments to get it approved. We are trying to consolidate to one easy to due process. Some of the next ones are windows and roofing. Those are high volume permits. They are simple to issue. Another one is restaurant permitting. While the overall volume is lower it is long and complicated business process. People struggle to open restaurants because the permitting process is hard to navigate. The city is going to roll out a digital curing system one that is being tested. When people arrive they canshay what they are here to. It helps them workout which cue they neat to be in. If they rant to run anker rapid she can do that. We say you are next in line make sure you are back ready for your appointment. We want it allinone location across the many departments involved. It is clear where customers go to play. On june 5, 2019 the ceremony was held to celebrate the placement of the last beam on top of the structures. Six months later construction is complete. We will be moving next summer. The flu building the new building will be building. It was designed with light in mind. Employees will appreciate these amenities. Solar panels on the roof, electric vehicle chargers in the basement levels, benefiting from gray watery use and secured bicycle parking for 300 bicycles. When you are on the higher floors of thing yo of the buildt catch the tip of the Golden Gate Bridge on a clear day and good view of soma. It is so exciting for the team. It is a fiscal manifestation what we are trying to do. It is allowing the Different Departments to come together to issue permits to the residents. We hope people can digitally come to one website for permits. We are trying to make it digital so when they come into the center they have a highquality interaction with experts to guide then rather than filling iin forms. They will have good conversations with our staff. Hi, youre watching coping with covid19. Today im going to the Grocery Store. Now, im not an authority about the virus. Im just showing you what im personally doing. To find out the most definitive and uptodate information about the pandemic, i highly recommend the f. A. Q. Available at sf. Gov. Im taking a list and before i leave i put a sanitizing wind and pair of gloves into a plastic bag. Im wearing a mask and taking the smallest number of items with me. Just my car key, credit card, i. D. And the batching im not taking my phone with me. Even if i use it to pay, i either have to touch the p. I. N. Pad or sign the screen anyway. Im concerned about crosscontamination. I dont want to transfer the virus from my gloves to the phone and then to my face. Whin i get out of the car, i put on my gloves and get a grocery cart. The essential workers at my store are doing a great job. Theyre sanitizing every cart and limiting the number of shoppers. Having a cart can help you protect your space. In this store, there are two new science on the floor. Ones directional to encourage everyone to take the same route around the store. The second is to remind shoppers to maintain a safe distance from each other. When im done shopping and ready to pay, i stand in line at least six feet from the shopper in front of me. After unloading my car at check out, i go past the cashier and pack my own bags. That is one less person touching my groceries and less of a burden on the stores employees. I thank the cashier and leave the store. On my drive home, im careful not to touch my face. I leave my outside shoes on the porch and as soon as i get through the door, i wash my hands for at least 20 seconds. Next, i wipe down my debit card, i. D. And car key. And then i wipe down the front doorknob, clean the sink taps and wash my hands again. I wash my vegetables in cold water and remove the package aing from my proteins and other items. I leave the nonperishables in my garage for a few days unless i need them immediately. My refrigerated items get a quick winddown to be on the safe side and, of course, i wacker my hands again. Heres a quick recap of my visit to the Grocery Store. That is it for this episode. I hope you found it helpful. Ly state leaders supporting us during these unprecedented and uncertain times, and thank you to the industry for your support and your continued support and for coming out with your questions and being certainly engaged in this process. So first i want to thank our esteemed guests today. We have treasury fiona mah. We have state senator scott weiner and Senior Advisor to the governor, nicole eliot, and i will briefly read their bios for you and then we are going to sort of jump into it. I know we have about an hour. I want to make sure that we use our time wisely. Im marissa rodriguez, the director of the office of cannabis. We also have eugene hillsman, Deputy Director of the office of cannabis and Jeremy Schwartz who is a permanent analyst with the office of cannabis as well. So fiona mah was elected to serve as californias 34th states treasurer. The state Treasurers Office provides financing for schools, roads, housing and other Critical Infrastructure projects that better the lives of californians. Previously treasurer mah was a member of the state assembly from 2006 to 2012 and prior to serving there, the treasurer served on the San Francisco board of supervisors from 2002 to 2006, representing district 4. Thank you, treasurer mah for being here. Its so nice to have you and its so nice to have one of our own as everyone on this call today. So if youd like to take this time to share with our community your thoughts on whats happening right now and any support for the Cannabis Community that youd like to share. Sure. Can you hear me . Our own, everyone on this call today. So if youd like take this time to share with our community your thoughts on whats happening right now and any support for the Cannabis Community that youd like to share. Sure. Can you hear and see me . I can. Thank you. All right. There i am. Thank you, marissa, for pulling us all together and for everyone whos on the call who has been staying in touch and keeping in touch and very, very frustrated during this time where the federal government is helping most everybody else except if youre in the cannabis industry, which is not very fair, as we all know. Over a year ago i testified in congress on the bill, the safe banking act as some of you remember. It finally did have a hearing earlier. I think it was was it when the democrats took over congress again and it got through the lower house, but it is, once again, stuck in the senate. I know that some have been trying to get cannabis in some of the stimulus packages or assistance, however, because cannabis is still a schedule 1 drug, they are not eligible for many of the assistive programs that are coming out of the federal government. However, california is a little different, as we all know. Not only in california can you deduct your ordinary and necessary business expenses against your income, unlike at the federal level, but we have really tried to move this Industry Forward the best that we can, at least here in california. So many of you, all of you, should be paying your tax, your sales taxings to the California Department of Fee Administration. There was a 90day deferral on paying and filing your First Quarter sales tax return. In addition, if you do need working capital, you may qualify to take a 50,000 loan and defer payment on a year. Your annual Sales Revenues have to be less than 5 million, so that may not pertain to some of the bigger companies, but some of the Smaller Companies may be able to take advantage of this. And you need to call the California Department of tax and Fee Administration and register for this program. Again, it is interest free, 50,000 loan for up to a year, and you need to call sdtfa to figure out and sign up for their instalment plan. So unfortunately thats kind of the only program that is related to some sort of relief for the cannabis industry. The ibank also has put money into a loan loss reserve for [indiscernible] however, the only way you will be eligible for that money is if your bank is accepting cannabis clients, and i know theres probably close to two dozen banks now in california that have legally applied to take cannabis clients on, so you all know who you are out there. But definitely check your the ibank. Ca. Gov and see whether your participating lender participates in that and you may be eligible and qualify to get certain loans from the ibank. So thats about all i have to report right now, and i will be here for the duration to answer any questions you may all have. Thank you, fiona. We certainly appreciate your leadership, your unwavering support of the cannabis industry. You were instrumental in this webinar happening, so i thank you for that. We are live here at the Emergency Operating Center for the city as we put this webinar out to our community. Again thank you everyone for tuning in. Next we have our senator, state senator scott weiner who was elected in november 2016, senator scott weiner represents district 11 in the california state senate. District 11 includes all of San Francisco, broadmoor, daily city and portions of south San Francisco. The senator helped to champion compassionate cannabis care programs by introducing senate bill 34 which was approved by the governor in 2019. Prior to his election to the state senate, he served on the board of supervisors representing district 8. Thank you and happy to have you on the call, senator. Thank you very much for excuse me, for having me, and hello remotely to treasurer ma and to nicole. And hello, im sorry to be here by phone, but i hope you can hear me okay. Hello to the entire Cannabis Community. Were going through some really hard times right now as a community, and we all need to look to the light at the end of the tunnel. We are going to get through this, and our goal needs to be that when we do get through it we can get both individuals and businesses back up on their feet, and so a lot of the work that were doing right now is just to try to preserve the status quo, to keep renters stable in their homes so we dont have mass evictions, either now or after the worst of the emergency when people have massive back rents that they are expected to pay right away. We dont want that. We want to make sure that were stabilizing people, and we want to make sure that were stabilizing businesses in their spaces, and nonprofits, so that we dont see permanent mass closure of Small Businesses and nonprofits, and so were working on a few pieces of legislation. On the residential side im working with someone on legislation to protect renters and im also offering legislation thats 939 to try to stabilize Small Businesses and nonprofits in their retail and Office Spaces by saying no moratoriums or no evictions, and were going to have to deal with how we look at back rent. And then were going to have to particularly for hospitality businesses, like restaurants and bars, that when they do reopen we will be required legally to have much lower capacity so that their Business Model no longer matches up with the rent in their lease, and were going to need to address that as well. So we are working on these issues. Specific to cannabis, we all advocated successfully in San Francisco, and i know in other places it happened not everywhere to classify cannabis as an essential business, and that was a real win. And im glad that it happened. But i know that the industry is really struggling right now, like all Small Businesses are. And in particular not being eligible for the federal Small Business loan, forgivable loan program. I know thats a huge hit and just one more example of the irrationality of our federal law. Cant get any of these benefits. Its not okay. In terms of the legislature this year, we are going back into session. Weve been in recess for about six weeks due to the pandemic. The assembly returns to session on monday. The Senate Returns the following monday, on may 11, and we will be pursuing a more limited policy agenda this year around covid19, of course, but also around some of the highest priority areas, like housing and homelessness and mental health, addiction, wildfires and so forth. And so were all reducing the number of bills that we have and making them much more focused. I dont know that this year is going to be a big year for cannabis. I know there are some bills that have been introduced, and im sure that some things will happen, but i was hoping that this year we would be able to, you know, finally pass the tax reductions, you know, the tax the state taxes are too high and are i think really stifling the industry and encouraging the elicit market. So thats something we have to address. Werent able to get it done last year. And then we have to deal with the issues of cities just effectively banning cannabis, and big swaths of california where its effectively illegal, and so but im not confident that either of those are going to get resolved this year because just of everything thats happening. But stay tuned. Well keep working, and again, thank you to everyone for all you do. Thank you, senator. We really appreciate that, and we certainly appreciate your continued support of the industry as well. Certainly difficult times, unprecedented times. There is no one whos immune to this, and we certainly appreciate that, and also appreciate the fact that we are deemed essential during these times. But you know, still, theres a huge impact and we want to see what ways and how we can support the industry to get through this. So thank you and we appreciate having you on this call. Next we have Senior Advisor on cannabis to the governor, nicole eliot. We know nicole very well, and we are so appreciative that you could take this call today. Ms. Eliot serves as governors Senior Advisor on cannabis. Prior to her current post, she was appointed San Franciscos first director of the San Francisco office of cannabis where she helped to set up cannabiss Regulatory Framework and permitting process. She has worked in a number of capacities with city and county with the city and county of San Francisco, including stints as a deputy board liaison and director of legislative and Government Affairs in the mayors administration. Thank you for being here. This community really values you and appreciates that you are willing to talk to us during these hard times. Sure, always happy to have these conversations, and really happy to be back with my bay area family. Thank you for putting this together and for treasurer ma as well, for facilitating the creation of this. A lot has happened since ive left. First and foremost, i had a baby. Congratulations. Thank you my first day back was the first week of the shutdown, so its been a really interesting transition back to the work environment, but we really hit the ground running starting with obviously deeming cannabis commercial cannabis as essential for the state of california, and since then have really been working with our licensing agencies, our partner agencies, like the treasurer, like cdtfa and others in trying to determine what we can do within the current framework and our current constraints to provide support for the industry, whether that be from a tax relief standpoint, which the treasurer really outlined in her opening comments, as well as from regulatory standpoint, and im sure some of you are very familiar with some of the regulatory relief that has been extended by your licensing agencies. So trying to figure out what we can do to be as helpful as we can sort of in the immediate term and figuring out what we can do in the long term to support what will be recovery, but i will quote the governor when i say that these are very sobering and challenging times. We started this year with a multibillion dollar surplus, and as he stated in his press conference today, we will enter the may revised with multibillion, tens of billions of dollars to cuts. So its a tough time for everyone. I think senator wiener really expressed the challenges that the legislature will be faced with when working through the budget, that there are a lot of priorities that we really sought to tackle this year, and on the cannabis side you guys are all familiar with those priorities, tax simplification. The governor clearly indicated a willingness to talk about the structure of tax and whether or not there should be a reduction, either permanently or temporarily, as well as consolidation. And so thats all being impacted by the environment that we find ourselves in now. So i look forward to addressing your guyss questions today. Again, im really happy to be here and happy to chat with you guys, and of course this is always an ongoing conversation. Thank you, ms. Elliot. I appreciate that. I want to jump in because i want to be cognizant of time here. I want to let folks know that, one, first of all, thank you for emailing in with your questions. They are really thoughtful, and they they are thoughtful and they span a lot of different categories, and so we broke them down by way of taxes, regulatory structure, compassion, unregulated market, the pandemic and banking. We have some general questions, we have some local questions. Because i have the privilege of being able to be in touch with our community more regularly, i will leave the local questions to the end. If we have time, we will address them. Otherwise we will send them out in a response separately. But we are going to start now, and the members of our team will take each section and questions just to keep it a little bit more lively so youre not just listening to me the entire time. Again, we are reporting we are live here from the Emergency Operating Center here in San Francisco where City Employees in San Francisco are keeping the lights on during this unprecedented time. And id like to start with the first question, and all three of you, feel free to answer this one. With the current lack of banking, covid relief opportunities for the cannabis industry are severely limited at the federal, state and local levels. While we recognize the legislature is tasked with the Economic Health of california, we would like you to talk about efforts under way by the legislature that would specifically address Economic Relief for the cannabis industry and the likelihood of those efforts being realized in the short term. Well start with the first section of this question, which is what is being done at the state level to move forward equality for cannabis businesses, specifically in regards to access to covid stimulus relief, lowering the overall tax burden, access to banking, and market rate commercial loans . And i know that the three of you did touch on some of this in your opening remarks, but if you could again just kind of share with our Community Just your thoughts and your feelings on this point. We can start with fiona ma pardon me, treasurer ma. Thats okay, call me fiona. Anyway, as you know, this has been a big priority for me, trying to get banking access since i was on the state board of equalization. Im glad to report that there are more and more banks that are willing to take on cannabisrelated clients. Of course they want to maintain some sort of balance, so many of them will have a certain amount of cultivators, distributors, maybe put folks in test, and they are also looking for other private equity folks who are investing. So they really wanted to diversify their portfolio and risk a little more, but every day more and more banks are willing and open to taking more cannabis clients. But it is slow, and i think this covid19 crisis has shown how important it is, right, with all of the social distancing and not wanting to touch surfaces, that dealing in cash is more and more probably even maybe a contributor to the covid19 spreading. So i think folks are realizing that it is so important that we try to bank this industry as soon as possible. However, we are still always stuck in the senate because the senate is republican controlled, and that is going to be the first step in november, if we really want to see changes to cannabis, we all need to figure out how to, you know, take back the senate in november. Thank you, fiona. With that, does anyone else want to respond . Well, ill speak to a couple of those points. Obviously on the federal advocacy side, our federal liaisons are doing quite a bit as behindthescenes advocacy in d. C. Around the stimulus funding to try to get cannabis involved in that and supporting the efforts of, you know, certain representatives who are pushing clarity via bills to incorporate cannabis as well. To the treasurers point, it is a big challenge to get the senate there, but weve seen a number of senators engage, including our state senator, kamala harris, our state senator, i should say, and kamala harris, who has really engaged in that space as well. So grateful for those efforts, but do know that we are definitely working on that in d. C. And then beyond that, on the taxes, i think, you know, obviously you heard earlier that the state has done quite a bit around taxes now, not speaking necessarily to changes to the overall cannabis tax structure, but really looking at the sales and use tax deferral, which the state, you know, believes applies to an extraordinary number of cannabis businesses if they are paying, if they are annual taxable sales, for instance, Something Like 77 of our retailers would likely qualify for that. So that allows for that deferral of up to 50,000 and provides a 12month payment plan. I will note that i believe cdtfa is willing to on a casebycase basis consider operators that have a high amount of sales, so i think its worth engaging cdtfa on that opportunity if you think that you are eligible or even if you feel like you might be on the cusp, do take advantage of that resource as well as you clearly now have time to file your tax via the tax extension. So to the extent that there needs to be more clarity provided to the industry on that, please do let me know because we will be happy to push out more information to you guys to make sure that all operators are taking advantage of the resources that the state is providing, that they know about it and that they are taking advantage of it where they can. And then when it comes to banks, i mean, we have an incredibly committed set of elected officials who are really clearly advocating for, you know, banks involvement in this space. The administration is also working on that, also behind the scenes, to try and engage banks. To the treasurers point about the Small Business finance center and having support to back loans that are being given by lenders, we understand that there are not very many lenders in this space, and so we are working on trying to figure out if there are institutions that are willing to engage in that space, but as you all know, thats a challenging conversation. So do know that that work is happening behind the scenes. Thank you so much. And where would you point folks to for information, the best place to start this process . So i would encourage people to visit cdtfas website as a starting point, and again, if you guys need additional information, please do reach out so that we can make sure you guys are able to access all of those resources. Thank you so much. And senator wiener, did you have thoughts on this as well . Perhaps the connection senator wiener, are you on the line still . Okay, well work on that and get back to you. And then lets talk a little bit about, you know, the industry is ineligible for federal assistance. Any talk on the state level about perhaps programs, grant assistance, that can help with Economic Relief in this space . Do you want me to take that . Sure. Okay. So again, i think i mentioned in my early comments to level set everyones expectations and unfortunately to be the bearer of a lot of bad news, you know, the state has set a budget has indicated they will be engaging in what they call a workload budget. So no new expenditures. So it is highly unlikely we will see new programs stood up, and so when i talk to operators and to additional stakeholders in the industry, i really talk about how we can leverage existing programs. But we have a very challenged general fund, and so additional money going out is going to be very hard to come by. To be completely honest. So hence really looking at working within our existing framework, things like what cdtfa has done around tax deferral. I know there have been conversations about licensing fees, on where we as a state have capital and how we can get creative with that capital that already exists. But it will be a challenge to put out an additional program. Ill just be very transparent and honest about that, while still flagging that those are ongoing conversations. Thank you so much. No, we appreciate the honesty. Thats why were here and we want to engage in this conversation. And with that, thank you. Well move now to a different topic. The unregulated market. Sure. One of the things that a number of our operators have been interested in is around additional conversations about the states plan to give legal businesses a chance to really compete against an illicit market that still controls a significant portion of the cannabis market. Can you discuss existing state enforcement efforts and how the pandemic might impact proposed efforts . We can start with Senior Advisor elliott. Sure. So existing state enforcement efforts i think were quite transparent last year the governor outlined multiple pillars for his priorities. Enforcement is one of those, and there was a stronger effort to coordinate enforcement across a number of agencies, and i mean a number. Its a large amount. To really get at the issue of the illegal market, the informal market. And so that effort will continue this year. I think our challenge will be how we do that effort within this new work construct, but that is a challenge that we are wholeheartedly embracing, as well as of course theres dollars within our budget to put towards enforcement that includes funding that will go out through the bscc, to local jurisdictions to support local enforcement efforts, and also to our department of fish and wildlife to support efforts on the rural cultivation side. But i think its the governor has made it very clear, enforcement is a top priority, thoughtful enforcement is a top priority, and so that will be something we continue to pursue and coordinate this year. Thank you very much. And now were going to talk a little bit about compassion. Jeremy schwartz here. Thank you, treasurer, ms. Elliott, senator wiener if youre still there for making yourselves available. I would like to acknowledge that in getting sportsnet bill 34 across the finish line regarding compassion programs and tax savings, to that point, ill share an anecdote which is pretty shared amongst some of the inquiries we received. So this gentleman said im renewing my medical cannabis recommendation with my physician on may 1. However, im unable to renew my state medical cannabis id card because San Francisco department of Public Health card office is closed during this shelter in place. Is there a way that the state of california could temporarily amend its regulations or otherwise allow medical cannabis i. D. S to not expire in the coming weeks with the understanding that i believe the state Vital Records Office is closed . So i know that was a mouthful, but any sense about the medical marijuana i. D. Card program . Well, i would just jump in that Governor Newsom has a press conference every noon called newsom at noon, and he takes this opportunity to talk about executive orders. I do think he has been exercising a lot of his powers in this covid19 pandemic, and certainly i think if the industry gets together like, this is the first time i heard that there was an issue about renewing your medical cannabis card, that this is certainly something that should be on his radar. But you all have to and this is why were on this webinar here today, is to really hear some of the daytoday inconveniences or barriers that you all have. But certainly that is a good point. I know i oversee Affordable Housing, and there is a process called tefra hearings that needs to be done every year, and a number of them were expiring, but unfortunately tefra hearings are mandated under the irs code, so the governor cannot do an executive order to overturn the irs, so ive been lobbying the irs to try to get them to extend the tefra expiration or hearing process because many of the local governments are closed, like you said, and therefore they are putting in jeopardy a lot of the Affordable Housing projects that are trying to continue to move through the process. So we are facing this type of, you know, issues when governments close and we still need to get certain things done. You know, what is it that government or the State Government can help with. Excellent. Thank you, treasurer. Ms. Elliott, do you have anything to add . Ill just add, i mean, i think this you know, i want to give credit to the treasurer for setting up this conversation. Shes totally spot on, that these are the types of forums that really allow for these types of challenges to be lifted up and brought to the attention of the state. And that was something that was brought to my attention yesterday. So we are running that down and hope to have an update, but were definitely looking into it. Thank you, kindly. And this is scott, i apologize, i had to jump off for something, but im back. Thank you so much. And i dont know if you were able to hear the last question. If youd like to chime in, happy to, or we can keep moving forward. Your call. I didnt hear the question, but whatever makes sense for you. No, thats fine. Well keep moving forward. Thank you so much. We saw the California Department of alcohol Beverage Control mobilize quickly to provide unprecedented relief for their licensees by issuing sweeping industrywide relief. To date, they have issued three significant regulatory relief packages, including the extension of licensing fees. Conversely, cannabis licensees seeking relief must individually request relief and oftentimes each business has to request the same relief every 30 days. Can you speak to efforts under way that would streamline and expand associated relief and associated timelines for implementation . So im happy to speak to that. The Fee Deferral Program is based on fees that are shocking to the industry, not as high as your fees, and they have the ability as a Longstanding Department or agency to weather the financial storm of fee deferrals. So it is not lost on us that that is a request of the industry. That is something we are looking into, but it does take quite a bit of analysis to understand whether or not thats something that the state can sustain, because we are working with a finite set of resources, and those resources support the work of these agencies and the legitimacy of this market. So do know that that is definitely something that we are looking into, but the abcs process is slightly different than the three Licensing Agency process. Its a bit more challenging, as you all know. Right. Thank you so much. Thank you for speaking to that. And fee deferrals, any thoughts on deferrals . Are you asking me that . Yeah, just as a followup. So thats exactly what i was speaking to. Okay, yeah. Okay. Thank you. And i dont know if treasurer ma or the senator would like to speak to that as well. Well, i would just say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as we have seen in the last ppp stimulus package, a lot of the Small Business owners did not get any assistance, and there was a lot of folks who, you know, called their congressperson, their senators, and then now in the latest ppp round of stimulus money, they are really the banks are really focused on Small Businesses because they didnt have the chance last time because of the way the system was set up, because everything was done so quickly. So i would just say, you know, keep advocating. Reach out to your assembly members, your senators, obviously San Francisco is really small, so we know who they are. And of course the governors office, nicole, myself, so that when these issues come up we can also chime in that this was an industry that also needs to be supported during this time. Thank you for that. Eugene . Sure. We know that there was a previous announcement regarding the preexisting cannabis state licensing agencies. Question do you anticipate that the consolidation of those licensing authorities will proceed as planned . And if not, how will that affect the kind of general com Lines Associated regulatory change to improve efficiency . And anyone who has some additional knowledge about that can provide some feedback. So i know that the senator talked through some of the legislative challenges and framework that hell be working through during the budget, and that the consolidation was proposed in the governors january budget. That conversation is happening in real time. We have a may revised coming out soon, so i dont have any news to break on that, but i will say this we all know that there is a lot of work to do on the stateside around streamlining, and a lot of that work can be done administratively and will be done administratively. So if that moves forward this year, then there will be a lot of work to do. If it does not move forward this year, i know that this is a concept that the governor is very committed to, and there will be a lot of work to do. So regardless of what happens, i do think that simplification and streamlining in some form will be on our agenda for this year. Whether or not thats in the form of consolidation in statutory language by july 1, 2020 or july 1, 2021. So ill leave it at that. And im sorry, could you repeat that question . My phone was cutting out. Im having quite a day with my phone. Sure. The question was about the governors announcement about the consolidation of the state licensing agencies and whether the pandemic would impact the timelines and what are other opportunities to increase efficiencies at the state level. Oh, yeah, that sounds like more of a nicole question. I think were all always taking a look at how we can make life easier for people with various regulatory agencies that they have to deal with. I just cannot speak for this year because everything is in such tumult right now. The administration is truly Drinking Water from a fire hose on covid, and its just its too hard to predict what else will happen this year. And ill just add to that, as far as opportunities, i think what i was trying to communicate, and i hope i communicated, but i will be very direct, there is a lot of opportunity space here. We all know that, and we intend to pursue that opportunity space, whether thats done statutorily, regulatorily or administratively. It will be pursued. Excellent, thank you. And, eugene, if you would i think the unregulated market, perhaps we can shift the conversation in that direction for a moment. Sure. So you know, we talked a little bit about kind of what the potential actions at the state level and how they might impact kind of operators and the existing resources that will continue to be dedicated to fighting enforcement, and we talked a little bit, i believe senator wiener mentioned the possibility for kind of new legislation was unlikely, but there was a specific question about the jones foyer and rubio bills and what the prospects of them passing this legislative cycle. I dont know if scotts still on, but i know the assemble is going to go back into session next week, and the senate is supposed to go back the following week. As i understand, they are really going to focus on the budget and covidrelated legislation. So were not really sure what legislation will move forward. Scott, are you back on . Yeah, i am. Yes, so there i cant tell if theres going to be differences in the assembly. In the senate its been made very clear to us were not limited to only covidspecific bills. We have some covidspecific bills and obviously the budget is a high priority, as bloody and terrible as its going to be, but there are other noncovid areas where well be able to do work. And i think i mentioned those earlier on around housing, homelessness, wildfires, et cetera. The assembly is being it has been much more putting everything on the Committee Chairs so they can hear what they want to hear and prioritize how they want to prioritize. And so those bills, those are enforcement bills. I dont know whether under normal circumstances they would have Political Support to move forward. I am i assume those go to Assembly Public safety or maybe to assembly judiciary. I dont know how the chairs of those committees are viewing this, so its very unclear whether those bills will move forward. Then again, this is democracy, and the legislators are coming back, so i would encourage you to, you know, continue to advocate on behalf of the important bills that you think are gonna move through right now. Obviously not all the bills are gonna continue, but if you all as an industry can get together and prioritize, you know, these are the top three bills that we want to see, then it will have a higher chance instead of everybody just trying to, you know, support 5,000 bills. I mean, clearly 5,000 bills are not going to go through this year. We appreciate that, certainly. Thank you so much. Just to give you a sense, you know, i have and we and the senate, were not like capping members bills, like you can only two five bills or four bills or seven bills or whatever, but we have been, you know, asked to really selfedit and to move bills that are in very high priority areas, that are time sensitive, and so forth. And so i have jettisoned a majority of my bills, and these are some bills that im superpassionate about, and many of them i will reintroduce next year. But we have to be selective in what we move forward. We will have less legislative time, more focus on covid, and you know, its going to be our proceedings are going to be clunky. Like in the senate were allowing remote participation. It makes things a little bit slower. So its not going to be the as fluid and easy as previous sessions, so thats why were really narrowing the number of bills. Thank you very much. Jeremy . Jeremy schwartz here. So reverting back to banking, certainly an Exciting Development regarding the 50,000 the potential for up to 50,000 for a bridge loan. Treasurer ma certainly touched on increased operators perhaps providing some banking services, whether they are Pilot Programs initiated by credit unions. Folks are wondering what this group feels is probably one of the most viable pathways forward for access to mainstream banking, whether it is a public banking option, federal intervention or other mechanism. Well, i think during this time, you know, individual banks, as i mentioned, more and more are coming online, and many of them do have capacity. Obviously they want those customers who have had, you know, a good track record, have been filing all their taxes, have all their permits in place. Thats the easiest way for folks to get a bank account in this new environment, and it is not easy because they do do an extensive background check, and if theres anything in your history, it may kick you out of, you know, their vetting system. So i would just encourage you to talk to your bankers, talk to other members in the industry who may have bank accounts. Theres no list published. People, you know, still are being cautious in terms of how many accounts that they take, but clearly the industry is definitely moving toward opening up banking access for more cannabis companies. And i concur with that. I mean, i think if youre looking for the most expeditious pathway, it is really following the advice of our treasurer and trying to establish those relationships with banks that will learn to trust you as operators but also will want to look into every nook and cranny, just like your regulators do when they review your licenses, your applications. So being transparent on that front hopefully will at least establish a banking relationship, understanding that lending is a bigger challenge in these economic times. You know, the federal government really needs to move on that to create a little bit more, you know, legal and regulatory certainty in the banking space to facilitate things like that. So continue to push your federal representatives and, you know, try to establish those relationships with your banks. Thank you. Again, i want to thank our esteemed guests today, treasure fiona ma, state senator scat wiener and sfr advisor Nicole Elliott. We are reporting here live from the Emergency Operating Center, and we are so thankful to have this opportunity to engage with our state leaders during these unprecedented times. I know i mentioned it earlier, but no ones immune to the challenges to date and ahead. One thing i do know for sure is that the industry has always been resourceful, will continue to be, and as a community we will work through these tough times together. Its been a while since weve had an opportunity to come together and talk about the state of our industry from a local level, so i wanted to take a few minutes now that were getting to the end to talk to you a little bit about whats happening in the office. Many of you know april marked my oneyear anniversary, having taken over from Nicole Elliott, and thank you for standing up an incredible office, and its because of that hard work that i believe we will be able to make it through these tough times. We had the great advantage to be able to build upon a lot of that hard work, and this last year we had seen tremendous growth, momentum. Weve built upon that, and we are proud of our numbers. Of course we could never have imagined in a million years that today we would be sitting here telecommuting, having this webinar and dealing with a Global Pandemic that is going to impact all of us in a major way. And that means that during a time where things were booming we experienced slow process, and that was frustrating for a lot of our industry, and today that is not different. We will probably see more of that, but we will continue to work hard for the industry and to ensure that we are moving things forward. I want to take this time to thank our mayor, our city administrator, naomi kelly, our deputy city administrator for their continued support of the passion and Equity Mission of this office. And i am grateful to all of our colleagues and to our industry for all of their support. We will continue to work hard and continue to be supportive of one another. That said, well put up our first slide. Well share that for those of you who are calling in and cant see it. These are our numbers, just to get everyone caught up to date. We verified over 330 social equity applicants, which is tremendous hard work. We are very happy to announce that we met our q1 goal of excuse me, our q4 goal last year of permitting our first equity application. Since then we have permitted four. I want to congratulate our last permittee, ms. Reese benton, who i know is tuned in today. She has received her permit. That is four, and that is even during these tough times, so i know that we will persevere. We have 15 applicants through the buildout phase. This number may look familiar. The reason is a lot of our important city processes had to be slowed in light of covid, and so getting those final buildout permits signed off is not happening right now, as you all know. So as soon as the shelter lifts, we expect to see a lot of movement in that space. We have 83 applications that were formally referred to the Planning Department for land use entitlement. Thats incredible, and in fact there are six more on the way. We are able to continue to do our work. We are, as you know, six in our offi office. Three have been deployed as emergency city workers. The others are keeping the lights on. We continue to engage. If you have questions, please, dont hesitate to reach out to our office. We will have meetings with you, over the phone to ensure that you do still feel connected to our office. 83 applications formally referred to planning is huge, and we are very, very proud of that number. A year ago it was 24, and so there is momentum in that space. With our next slide. Sure. So in addition to the general development of issuing four permanent permits, the office of cannabis also has about 160 temporary permits as a part of our amnesty program, which was an effort to bring the unregulated market into the regulated market as we continue to prioritize and process our social equity applicants. In addition, there are legacy operators, medical cannabis dispensaries who are able to sell adultuse products based on their progress towards the equity plans and commitments theyve made to the city. We have also developed some Technical Assistance resources. San francisco is one of the few, if not the only jurisdiction to partner with its county Bar Association, the Bar Association of San Francisco. These fine folks panel with the bar, provide Pro Bono Legal services to social equity applicants. To date about 250 hours have been provided. In addition, our partners at the office of Economic Workforce Development have contracted with a law firm to provide additional Pro Bono Legal assistance, which has started in about january february, about 50 hours to date, for a total of 300 hours. And in addition, although there arent events at this time, we did issue a permit for cannabis sales, onsite cannabis sales and consumption at the Music Festival in golden gate park. This is a part of our Pilot Program which may be extended on a yearly basis through 2021. With that, ill kick it back to director rodriguez to close us out. Thank you so much, jeremy. I want to run through this just quickly. There were some questions on the local level for with respect to what is sort of happening during the shelter in place. People want to know whether they can have Community Outreach meetings. The answer to that is no. Through june 1, Community Outreach meetings wont be happening. After june 1 well revisit that. Theres questions about cannabis inspections, are they going to happen now. The answer to that is no. We are going to wait until the june 1 shelter lifts before we do that. Once its lifted, we will certainly start to bring up all of those things and start to see some of that kicking off and momentum picking up. There are a couple questions with respect to the grants that im going to allow eugene to answer just so you can have some more information around that issue. Sure. So i know folks have had a lot of questions about the process to [indiscernible] to our knowledge it hasnt been distributed to the city in the case of the fund, that they should be arriving any day now. Were really excited about the opportunity to provide some Additional Support to equity applicants who we know desperately need it. Were hopeful that those will start to be distributed in the summer of this year. The go biz fund which will require a resolution were currently in the process of getting all of that information together. You may have seen the safe announcements regarding an additional 5 million of support that will be provided to the city and county of San Francisco, so were really interested and excited about the opportunity to provide that money to equity applicants. We will need to enter into a formal Grant Agreement once the resolution is passed. Its unlikely that that will happen before june 1, but once the grants are dispersed, its my understanding that those funds would need to be distributed in the next year. Marisa, i cant hear you. Apologies. Sorry, i was muted. I want to give our esteemed guests an opportunity to close out, and i know theres a small surprise at the end with Senior Advisor elliott. For those of you who are tuned in visually and can see the screen. So lets start with treasurer ma, if youd like to close out. Thank you. I do have a couple more items i would just like to talk about with this group. My website, www. Treasurer. Ca. Gov has two links when you log on. One is to our covid19. Ca. Gov which is our official excuse me, state website for health and other resources. And then i have a excuse me. Covid19 resources guide that is updated continuously for Small Businesses, tax relief, food, as well as individual resources, and so please log on. If you have any questions, you can email me at askfiona treasurer. Ca. Gov and we will answer your questions as quickly as possible. Be careful of scams these days as people are thinking theyre going to get their 1200 stimulus check or other type of loans. Government will never call you and ask you for your personal Social Security number or ask you for your Bank Routing Number or ask you to pay over the phone. So those are all scams. And then if you could just take a couple minutes to answer the census questions, we count people every ten years. The federal government gives us over a trillion dollars to the states, and they allocate it based on some sort of censusrelated data, so every person that is not counted will cost us a thousand dollars per person for ten years, and we get a lot of money for everything from education to Public Safety to seniors to child care. And so please take a little time to do that. And then also the governor released this week a list of approved outdoor activities, so please google it. You will find the list. Its a pretty extensive list. I know its beautiful here in San Francisco, and everybody wants to go outdoors, but the governors really trying to make sure that we continue our social distancing so that we can continue to protect the health and safety of all the residents. So again, thank you all for accommodating us here today. I hope you all stay safe. Be well. Help each other during this time, and we will get through this together stronger. So thank you, marisa, thank you to the team and nicole and senator scott wiener and to all were doing to get through this pandemic. Thank you so much, treasurer ma. This would not have happened without your leadership, and thank you for continuing to support the cannabis industry. We really, really, really appreciate you. Thank you. Next id like to ask senator wiener to close out. Did we lose him . I know he was having some difficulty with his phone. Okay. In that case, we will go on to Senior Advisor Nicole Elliott. Thank you, guys, for putting this together, for having me. Thank you to the treasurer for supporting the development of this discussion and to senator wiener for joining and all your advocacy behind the things that we collectively care about. And to the industry, hang in there. Its going to be, you know, a challenging couple of years. The governors very clearly very committed to seeing legalization be a successful exercise, and so to the extent that you guys have more questions that we can work to answer or address, please feel free to reach out to me. I am a onewoman show, so i will do my best to respond as promptly as i can, but its nicole. Elliott gobiz. Ca. Gov. And we have a special guest who wanted to say hi to her San Francisco family. Lucy. Ah so sweet. She looks forward to meeting you all in person at some point when we are released back into the wild. That was our surprise. Thank you so much. Again, thank you, and i just want to doublecheck, do we still have the senator on the line . Looks like we have lost him, but we just want to thank you, senator, for participating and, of course, thank you to Nicole Elliott and lucy for always supporting our industry and our community, and hailing from San Francisco as all of these great leaders do, thank you all so much. Thank you for tuning in. We will have our newsletter out next week, so you will be able to get more information about the billings under the office of cannabis in addition to answers to some of the questions that we couldnt get to today. Some of them were bcc oriented, so we will point you in the right direction and get that information to you, and i also want to remind folks that now that its may and i think you can still get it, but the San Francisco magazine has a story about our Equity Program and features some of our equity applicants, so make sure you pick that up and support the community. We thank you so much. Thank you for tuning in to our cannabis webinar. Have a wonderful day. Im joined today by the director of the department of Public Health, the department of emergency management, and the police chief, and the director of the Human Services agency, trent roher and the director of homelessness and supportive housing. Thank you all for joining us here today. As of today, may 4th, we have 1,624 cases of the coronavirus here in San Francisco and sadly, we have lost 29 people to the virus here in our city. And if you want more information, you can please visit datasf. Org covid19. Its or tracker with detailed information around testing and other helpful information by zip code that people may be interested in seeing. And today, i had a couple of things to talk about specifically, the new health order issued on friday by our county Health Officers and i really mention this on friday, but i think this is really exciting, that even though we still have challenges that exist, the ability to allow people to get back to work is so important. And construction in our city will be allowed, as well as outdoor businesses and today, i just want to express, again, my appreciation of the outdoor activities, outdoor businesses and how important it is to make sure that we start to gradually get back to business. We know our governor announced a plan that he will release on guidelines, as well as timing of when some of our Small Businesses, our book stores, small retailers can get back to work and i think its important that we provide some guidance. To be clear, the whole point of the Health Directive has everything to do with limiting our ability to be in contact with people so that we can avoid not only transmitting the virus or contracting it ourselves in the first place. And the ability to do that is critical, but we also realize there are a number of people out there that are struggling financially and if there is a way to accomplish the Public Health goal of keeping people safe with also allowing businesses to operate but to operate differently with certain guidelines, i think that we can definitely Work Together to achieve that goal and get to a better place. In fact, this weekend, i spent a lot of time in a lot of neighborhoods, all throughout the city, and actually, there was a flower shop on chestmut thachestnutopen and and availabe its considered an essential business. I dont remember being happy when i stood in line at a sixfeet distance and i didnt even care. I purchased flowers and i was so happy to purchase these flowers that in my house, i take them with whatever room i decide im going be in and thats the room that the flowers will travel in and its just, you appreciate things a lot more, but, also, i was so happy for the business that was able to open and when i looked around the area, i thought, with some of the retail businesses, why cant they do the same thing. They werent allowing any customers to come within their inside within their shop area. Its an outdoor flower shop and there was a divider up and a gate. And there was no way anyone was entering the business but the ability for people to stand in line and to purchase and get flowers was absolutely incredible. And the good news is, in in health order that was just issued, a florists are able to deliver flowers for mothers day and i hope many of will take this opportunity to either go online or call your local florist or put in an order for flowers, not just through this weekend for mothers day, but just in general because we want to continue to support that industry. We know flee market flea markete open again and youll see food trucks. Oftentimes, its one or two people working in these food trucks and they dont have the ability to manage a line and so, again, this goes into, you know, asking everyone to be supportive of maintaining your distance, wearing your mask and being respectful of one another so three cannot only continue to allow Street Vendors and all of these other great things, florists and gardeners, we want them to stay open and the only way tie lo we allow them to stan is when people follow the rules. As we look at other opportunities to allow nonessential businesses like our book stores and our Retail Stores where you can buy clothing or toys for kids or things of that nature, as we start to look at those opportunities, were going to be paying close attention to what weve already allowed. And if were not able to manage and maintain those wit with the distancing requirements, it will be difficult to start to get back to business. And so i just want to express my appreciation to all of the Small Businesses out there and, also, understanding that we know youre struggling and its going to be important for us to look at and implement new guidelines, but to also make sure that youre able to get back to business without compromising the incredible gains weve already made as it relates to flattening the curve, not reducing the curve. We still see the number of deaths go up and we still see the number of cases go up and we are by no means out of the woods on this, but we also recognise this there is a possibility to provide opportunities for Small Businesses to open safely with certain guidelines and we will continue to work with the governor and work with our Public Health officials to try and do it in a responsible way and we appreciate your patience and your cooperation. And, you know, again, as i spend a lot time in a lot of different neighborhoods all over the city just to get a feel for what was happening in the castro is by the beach and in other places, i did notice something really upsetting, and that is the number of people who were not socially distancing themselves at the deloris park. Deloris park continues to be a challenge because we know on nice days that is the place to be for so many folks. Its a great place, good energy, good weather and, unfortunately, again, we had a real challenge with people who were coming together in groups and not socially distancing themselves from one another and the work, the folks, our park rangers and other security, they had their work cut out. Were all adults here and theres no reason to send in any of our Law Enforcement or anyone to tell people what they should be already doing. And so, i bring up deloris park, because today is a nice day in San Francisco and our goal is to monitor deloris park within the next couple of days. And if we see that that behaviour has not changed, we will close of park and i want to be clear. This is the last thing i want do and we know that people need fresh air. They want to be out but if we continue to see that behaviour become problematic at deloris park, it will no longer be available. So im asking everyone to be cooperative and to make sure that theyre following social distancing. People are wearing their masks when appropriate do so so that we are able to continue to enjoy this incredible open space and, again, making sure that we do our best to enjoy open space within our own neighborhoods. And the other thing i want to talk about that i think is important is the fact that street cleaning has been a problem. And people are not moving their cars and what weve tried to do with the public, because there are certain people that may have contracted the virus and cant leave their homes, certain ederly people who, for whatever reason, cant move their cars and we were sensitive to that. But there are a lot abledbody people who are able to get up and move your car. And the problem that were having right now, a lot folks are not doing that, and at a time where we need to clean our streets the most, we dont environment luxury to allow this to continue. So, again, here is another warning. Not only will we start to implement ticketing around street cleaning, we will look at other ways in which we can address this particular issue if we dont see a change. So for those of you who are abled body and are not economic casick andget up and move your r street cleaning, im asking you do this. Or we will have no other choice to reimplement or ticketing procedures around street cleaning before this expires. Im counting on you to cooperate and to understand that there is a need to make sure that we keep or streets clean. And the fact is, we have people who are out there cleaning the streets, but passing blocks at a time because people are not moving their cars. And this is a real problem and its one that we cant continue to tolerate and so, were going to monitor the situation very closely around street cleaning this week and well have an announcement. If we think that nothing has changed to provide a plan of when we will be going back to ticketing. Lets involve making suri also t about our testing expansion for essential workers. As you know, what we are doing as we get the materials that we need and the Testing Capacity, we know that based on the tests that we do, whether or not we can expand those opportunities to more and more people, the ability to expand testing capacities is so important as we start to look at opening more businesses and reopening our city and having the ability to get people tested is so critical to that success. And today, we just want to announce that we are able to test all essential workers whether they exhibit symptoms or not. And this is definitely significant. This is a game changer here. The ability to allow Grocery Store clerks, our munidrivers and other people who are on the frontlines, our firefighters, Police Officers and nonprofit workers who were working with our Homeless Population in the shelters and if you are an essential worker and you exhibit symptoms or you dont significant symptoms, you still arexhibitsymptoms, you still ge. We want to encourage those who would like to be tested if you think youve been exposed or if you think you exhibit symptoms or not, please go to sf. Gov slash citytestsf and we have several locations were doing testing, including zuckerburg, San Francisco general, the Castro Mission health center, the Southeast Health center and maxine hall in the western addition. We dont want you to just show up but sign up and youll be directed to a specific location to be tested and this is going to make a world of difference in ensuring that we are aware and we keep the public safe, but i just want to remind people that just because you get tested, it doesnt mean that youre out of the woods. We still need you to socially distance yourself from folks. We still need to follow the order because you could be tested negative today and two days later come in contact with someone and later on be tested positive. So it doesnt mean that youre completely clear if you test negative on these tests. And this is a no means substitution for wearing your mask and socially distancing yourself from other people. The other thing this doesnt do is tell you whether you have the virus. If you think you have the virus and youve been in contact with people that might have or you exhibit symptoms, reach out and call 311 or check on the website i mentioned earlier. I also want to talk a little bit about our new testing policy at our Skilled Nursing facilities which you have probably all heard about already. Our goal is to try to focus on many of those congregate living settings where we know are the most vulnerable populations and starting this week, we will begin a new program to test all residents and staff at la goo la hospital and well be issuing a health order requiring yourself testing at the 21 private skillednursing facilities in San Francisco. So we are taking the lessons that we learned and responding to laguna honda and how we address that outbreak to make sure that we are supporting other nursing facilities in our city, whether we are directly responsible for it or not. Its important that everyone ensures the safety of not just the workers who work at these Skilled Nursing facilities but the patients, as well, who are amongst what we know are some of the most vulnerable when it comes to covid19 and this is really an incredible step forward. As i said, as our capacity increases for testing, we are going to continue to make sure that were focusing on areas where we know need it the most and prioritizing those areas. And i also want to be clear that any member of the public, whether you have insurance or not, whether youre documented or not, you can also get tested if you exhibit symptoms. So please dont let that be a barrier to your concern about your health. We are here to identify anyone who is covid positive so that we can proceed with either making sure that they are quarantined and protecting other members their families and that they have a place to actually quarantine. This is our priority, insurance or not, for anyone in San Francisco who exhibits symptoms. Again, you can visit our website or call 311. Ithe last thing i want to mentin is something that i am very concerned about and that is people, again, who ive mentioned before, people not Law Enforcement treating other members of the public like they are Law Enforcement. And we do not need people to get into alte altercations because y dont believe theyre following the direction of the Health Orders. So, for example, ive seen a lot of notices and a lot of concern that people have expressed about runners who are not Wearing Masks and the fact that that if you are running outdoors, youre not required to wear a mask. And i know that everyone thinks that run irs who are outdoors running should wear masks, but our guidance for who should and shouldnt be wearing a mask is coming from our Health Department is im asking you all to follow the guidance and, again, worry focus or yourself and what youre doing and make sure that youre wearing a mask, youre keeping your distanc distance and proteg yourself and families and please do your best to not try to inflict or police other people, especially when you are communicating the wrong message about what the order is or is not. That creates a lot of tension. That creates a lot of negativity is were all struggling with this and were all in the house and we dont want to be there. Im sure many of you have kids and youre children are driving you crazy right now and everyone is having a tough time. The last thing we need is people who think they are the Coronavirus Police and are here to tell everyone what to do. Because when you do that, it creates drama and it creates tension and we know that not everyone is following the rules. We understand that it has been challenging in some neighborhoods more so than others and that probably frustrates us all to no end. But i ask that you, again, focus on yourself and let us do our job to do us address the other challenges that exist, especially because in some instances, inaccurate information is provided as it relates to face covering. I want to focus on the fact that you can wear a mask or something that covers your nose and your mouth as a face covering. It doesnt have to be a mask. And you dont have to wear it when youre outdoors unless youre in line for an essential business. And so i just wanted to remind the public that i get that these are challenging times and all of us want to get out of this, you know, stayathome order as quickly as possible. We get through it by staying focused and following the Health Orders ourselves and second of all, we get through it by making sure that we are not engaging in really devicive and negative behaviour that can make this order prolonged or worse. And we are really in this together and what impacts one Community Impacts us all and we know that as great as San Francisco is doing, else those following the Health Directives, we know that not everyone is doing it, right. We know that there are some people who, for various reasons, are not following the Health Directive. And i know that in some cases, weve had businesses that the Police Department have shut down and theyve tried to implement social distancing in various neighborhoods, where we know we have problems and as we see the problems persist, well make adjustments. So i ask, again, for your patience, your cooperation, and i want to thank you all of you for continuing to support these Health Orders and just know that we are in a better place and we want to stay there and we are mindful of the need for so many people to get back to work because their livelilihood and the city is counting on it. We hopefully will have some better news after the guidelineses are issued to announce to get our city back even though it might be different when we open distances and restaurants and other places, we have to start somewhere. So thank you again for all of your cooperation. I would like to now introduce dr. Kolfax. Thank you, mayor breed. Im director for the city is county of San Francisco. Sadly, 29 people in San Francisco have died and i send condolences to their loved ones. 25,165 people as of today have been tested and an average of 9 have tested positive for covid19. We have made significant progress toward our goal of universal access to testing for all people in sanfrancisco and that is what i would like to focus on today. But first, i want to acknowledge that today is the first day of our new regional stayathome order for bay area residents. As we embark on the month of may, for some of us, it is with mixed feelings. While the data show that most people support ongoing and aggressive efforts to slow the virus, it is not easy for so many of us to do so. Believe me, i know. Not only because of how i feel at times, but because of the phone calls, the zoom meetings and emails and other communications that i get everyday. I share the frustration. I share the concern. And we are restless. It has been six weeks staying mostly indoors and as the weather grows nicer and summer becbeckons, people want to get outside and rejoin society. We miss our friends and family. , or coworkers and our normal live. We are anxious. For many people in San Francisco, the emotional and economic stress of the situation is continuing to build. For parents who are home schooling and workers with no paychecks, there are serious consequences to the shutdown. Yet, i feel and we also feel pride. San francisco has done a tremendous job and it is thanks to all of you that this crisis is not worse. We have built an impressive response infrastructure that was not there before and now we are using it everyday to continue to fight the spread of the virus and to protect our families, our community and our most vulnerable populations. And this could not have happened without each and everyone of you doing your part. And at the same time, we feel cautious. Even though we have made Real Progress as a community to slow the spread of the coronavirus, it is still here. It can still spread easily as it did a month ago and it will thrive as we let it. So despite our frustration, our concern, our anxiety, we must lead with firm determination. San francisco and the bay area, lets use the month of may to solidify or gains as much as possible. And we have saved lives, reduced harm and we must keep up the good work. Let me assure you there is reason for hope. As this new health order takes effect, i would like to point out some ways that life will get a bit better right away. Basically, we are opening the outdoors as long we can do it safely. And believe me, i find this personally welcomed news. Food trucks, flea markets, construction are back. We can send flowers to our mothers on mothers day because florists can deliver again. I highly recommend sending flowers to your mother. Speaking of flowers, plant nurseries, gardening and landscape businesses can reopen. Those are just a few things i am looking forward to with social distancing and face covering, of course. And as the mayor said, we are working very hard to find ways to continue to open more businesses and activities safely while sustaining the progress we have made. With guidance from the cdc, the state, and local health and business leaders, i am confident we will determine how and when opening responsibly and safely and as quickly can be done. Now i would like to talk about testing and reinforce the mayors remarks. Indeed, we have exciting news on this front. As San Francisco has announced, our vision, our goal is universal access to testing for all. To achieve this, weve continually expanded testing based on where the need is greatest and the availability of resources. First, we focused on testing people with symptoms, among travelers and outbreaks, vulnerable populations, case contact investigations and among essential workers. And we reached the point where we can test everyone with symptoms and respond to the testing needs of outbreaks. This was significant progress. So now, we continue to expand as the circl. As the circle keeps we can test people without symptoms. We added close contact without symptoms and then as the mayor said, last week we announced that all residents and staff of Skilled Nursing facilities would be tested, as well. Pout this ithis is a key vulnere population and it was key that we expand testing there as quickly as possible. Today, the mayor has announced that all essential workers in San Francisco are eligible for free tests, regardless of symptoms or exposure. The message is, if youre going to work during this stayathome order because youre an essential worker, you can get tested regardless of symptoms. Essential workers have been showing up everyday and they are healthcare workers, first responders, grocery clerks, construction workers, drivers, childcare workers and others who continue to leave their homes to serve our city during this challenging time. These essential workers interact daily with other people and cannot always easily maintain social distance by staying home. For these workers, they can decide when they want to test, but it is important for them to test immediately when they feel ill or have symptoms consistent with covid19. Or if they believe that they have been exposed to covid19 or if they are otherwise concerned and wish tested. No doctors note, no Healthcare Providers note will be required and the test is free. I encourage social workers who want testing to start with their own healthcare provider. We are recommending all private providers make universal Testing Available to essential workers. And this will be the best way for people to stay connected to care. And, also, starting today, essential workers can get tested for free at one of the two city test sf sites at the embarcadaro in soma. These two sites alone have the capacity to test 1500 people per day. The Departments Community test sites are also providing free tests at Southeast Health center, in the bayview, Castro Mission health center, mac c. Nmaxinehealth center and the. Appointments for these tests are Still Necessary in order to ensure social distancing and reduce lines. If you want to schedule a test, you can call 311 or visit sf. Do vgettestedsf for more information. Its good to now announce todayt all essential workers can be tested. Testing is a key component of our overall recovery. And i am grateful to the team ot the Health Department including the teams of dr. Susan philip and amy lockwood for expanding our Testing Capacity in an unprecedented, rapid fashion, to the port, especially port director Elaine Forbes and her team and the university of california San Francisco and our many other partners in the private Healthcare System and the community for pulling together to make testing more possible for people in San Francisco everyday. We will continue to build our testing program. We plan to expand testing to shelters and other congregate settings and expand testing options in communities that are most impacted by health despairties, inequality and discrimination. But remember, a negative test is just an assessment of your status at that time. , at that moment in time and it does not mean that you are immune. And it does not mean that you are protected. Testing is important. But it is just as important not to get sick or exposed to the virus in the first place. So please, continue to take precautions. We must all continue staying home, continuing to cover our faces whenever possible when we go out and continue to keep six feet away from people outside of our house holds. Holds. If we do that, when we do that, we are in for better times. Thank you. And it is my pleasure to introduce chief bill scott, a key partner in our covid19 response. Thank you, ill begin with thanking our mayor ron don breed and dr. Grant kolfax for their continued leadership during this challenging time. I would like to start with what happened over the weekend and ill start with, basically, reiterating some of mayor breeds points. Although were generally pleased with what were seeing as our city and people if sa in san fro continue to shelter in lace pla, weve seen issuing worth repeating and ill start with deloris park. We anticipated we would have more people out this weekend with good weather and weve had reef learelief and we put out me officers and more volunteers and work with other city entities. But deloris park and other popular parks in the city, we cannot let up. Now, it is ok to go to the park and be with members of your own family, make sure that you have your face coverings with you as the health order calls for. Whats not ok is to be in large gatherings or groups with people outside of your household and that is still not ok. And we are asking that you continue to social distance but what were seeing in deloris park and other parks is that people are having picnics in large groups and some of those groups go outside of the household. Were not at a point where were relaxed to that level yet. So i want to remind everyone of the mayors words, of dr. Kolfaxs words. We need to stay the course. If youre with members of your household, thats fine, but now is not the time to have large picnics or gatherings and even though the weather is congratulate and i know everyone have to stay the course and we have to do whats being asked of us by the medical professionals and what the data is telling us. And the data is telling us that social distancing works and face coverings will help to prevent the spread of this virus and we have to continue to do that. So please, were asking and again, i want to reemphasize, we had a team of officers that weekend dedicated just to address the issues at the parks. And we will continue to do that and well add officers as we need to to make surneed to makee course but we have challenges and we have to get through those challenges to stay safe and healthy. I think people in San Francisco take enormous pride to this point, but we have a long way to go and as dr. Kolfax and the mayor said, please, please follow the Public Health orders. Now, i want to again explain the San Francisco Police Departments posture on enforcement and what youve heard me say, the progressive compliance pathway and that begins with education and next, we ask for voluntary compliance and next we warn didnt if that doesnt work, we cite. And we have begun to cite individuals and that is an option of last resort and its not something that we want to do, but if we have to, we will. I think weve shown that, but please, again, were asking for voluntary compliance. This pandemic has been tough enough on us all to this point already and we dont want to make the situation worse is dont make it worse for yourself by not following Public Health orders. We know this is new for people and we also know in many ways that as we reopen and slowly and first of alllget back to normall be many questions. We expect questions and were happy to answer those questions and thats why we have Disaster Service workers out, assisting us and we give everybody a chance to understand a we knee to before going to a level of more aggressive enforcement. We would like to follow that model. We want people to get exercise and get some air and enjoy these great places in our city, but we have to do the right thing in order to be able to continue to do that. As far as our enforcement enfore up to 21 citations with 11 businesses and ten individuals. Weve also admonished 57 businesses and 45 individuals and as i said, there have been hundreds upon hundreds of informal warnings and education provided to members of the public and that will continue. As far as our crime this week, another week of reductio reductn property crime, down 24 and Violent Crime was up slightly and that includes several shootings at the end of last wednesdays press conference and we did have another shooting in the mission district, that,ism, unfortunately was hit and struck and was said to be a bystander. San francisco was working hard to do everything we can to solve that particular crime and bring that to a successful resolution, but we need your help. We need your help to report crime when you see it. We need your help if you see people that are out doing that type of violence in our community, call 911, please. Well be there to assist and to take action. If its a nonemergency or crime thats occurred, particularly a property crime thats already occurred, you can call our report number or our nonemergency at 415 5530321 or you can call 311 or use our website is make those reports online. We do have a call center set up to take reports which is allowing us to be more efficient in our use of resources. So please call us and report these occurrences as you see them. With that, i will end my comments and thank you for your cooperation and lets stay the course. First questions for you, chief scott. Chief scott, this is from dominick vacasa, San Francisco chronicle. Question has sf tv rendered any uptick in individuals or groups defying the stayathome orders . Well, what i just mentioned, dominick, is what were seeing and by and large, people are compliant. When i got the feedback from our officers, we had a detailed setup, just to work on this issue over the weekend and the feedback i received from the officers is that when they engage by and large, people became compliant they werent and so, were happy to see those results and thats why were out there. We expected to see more people out this weekend than we did. And thats why we stepped up our deployment. But people are compliant and there are some that arent and those, in the worst case scenarios, weve issued sky issd citations and we will continue to do that. If theyre not compliant, they immediate fall into compliance and that is what were seeing. Thank you, chief scott. The next questions are for mayor london breed. This question is from nbc. Governodoes San Francisco plan o follow to reopen on friday . I want to be clear, we are definitely going to be working with the governor on phase two of looking at what retailers can be open, but we well do that in collaboration with our county Health Officers so that we can ensure Public Health and Public Safety as we begin to implement opening procedures for various retailers. Were really excited about it and we want to see people get back to work, especially, but we want to do so responsibly. And the governor also said for places less heavily impacted by covid19, phase two would include reopening of restaurants with social distancing measures and other safety practises in place. Will San Francisco be able to reopen some restaurantses i rese city as early as friday . If not, has the city been able to renegotiate with landlords . Just to be clear, i would love nothing more than to open restaurants and to go to a restaurant myself right now. [ laughter ] more than anything. And i look forward to the day when were able to do that. But i want to be clear that whatever is decided as it retes relates to reopening efforts, we have to do so responsibly. So, for example, were talking about new guidelines for restaurants now. Were talking about new guidelines for gyms and other places. But can we say definitively that those businesses will be open this friday . No, we cant. But it is important that we rely on the facts. We rely on the data. We rely on the advice of our county Health Officers so that as we push to do these things, we do so responsibly . And we want to also give these businesses time to know exactly what is expected and, also, to know what are the things that they need to prepare for as they begin to reopen . Because one of the conversations was centered around whether or not they can have the capacity they once had . What does that mean for their workforce and getting people back to work . Its a little bit more complicated and the goal is to do it and do it responsibly whenever the opportunity presentresponsibly. Whenever thee the first one to make sure it is announced and what we need to do to ensure Public Health because of the last thing we want to see is the last time weve spent on this lockdown, we dont want to see the city go backwards in terms of numbers and things get worse. So i want to make sure that we are striking that balance. Madam mayor, the next is from joyce cutler, bloomburg law. How much will San Francisco seek from the state to back their lost revenues . Well, to be clear, we are going to do everything we can to get as much state and federal money as we can get. Because right now, what were doing in redirecting our existing resources to help manage and pay for this is very costly to our city. It is going to be a correctin ag factor and well do everything we can to get as much money as we possibly can from the state and from the federal government. We have received a payment so far that is just a fraction of the cost of what weve already spent, but were going to do everything we can to get every single dollar. The next question is from the associated press. Were entering the eighth week of the regional stayathome order and the tenderloin is crowded with tense people. What is your reaction to the lawsuit filed by hastings law to enforce social distancing in the tenderloin and how quickly do you plan on addressing the issue there . Lets just be clear. The challenges that people are experiencing in the tenderloin, the challenges with people who suffer in some instances from Substance Abuse disorder and mental illness, they dont just go away because theres a pandemic and i dont think its helpful that we have people who, unfortunately, are taking this route rather than trying to work with the city to resolve these issues. They are so coml complicated and frustrating. When you think about the history of homelessness, think about it, every mayor has tried to solve homelessness. And the fact its not as simple as providing housing. Housing is a critical part but there are so many people with complicated issues and Law Enforcement alone, social work alone, all of this which we invest money in supporting a lot of our Homeless Population, those things are a collaboration, a way in which we try to propose solutions and how we Work Together to do it. Easier said than done, but the good news is, this week, i think the end of this week, we expect to release blockbyblock plans, specifically targeted at the tenderloin and it looks at what we need to do to push for the social distancing, the pit stops and the wash stations and the handout amount. I mean, weve done these things over the course of the past couple of weeks consistently, but sadly, theres a real challenge in trying to force people who are exhibiting what is not appropriate behaviour during a social distancing period when were trying to keep everyone healthy. A Law Enforcement component is not the only thing that will work in this case. And so this detailed plan and what were trying to do in order to address the challenge of the tenderloin, im hopeful that it will work, because it is a challenge and it will continue to be a challenge but were doing everything we can and we have to make sure that the workforce of our city, that were asking to go out there, including our paramedics, our Police Officers and our Nonprofit Service providers and our Homeless Outreach time and our social workers, our healthcare professionals, all of these people on the frontline every single day, its important to mak make sure they are safe d protected. Because when theyre out there, you think its as easy as saying, here is a mask, can you please put this mask on. Theres a whole argument that occurs and a request, wait a minute, sir, can you keep your sixfeet distance. Just imagine being out there, trying to help someone whos, you know, lunging at you or who tries to spit on you or whos not following the order and all youre doing is try to help that person. So theres more to this than were going to be able to open up all of these hotel rooms and well able to clean up every block. The department. Public works, different folks who work for that department and clean the streets everyday, theyre out there everyday, especially in the tenderloin and people who are specifically picking up needles and cleaning up after grownup, grown people. People who are adults who should be cleaning up after themselves. So i get that Everyone Wants to see something different. I want to see something different, but were not housekeepers, were not babysitters. And were being treated that way. By people who have some challenges in some cases and some difficulties and some who are just downright defiant. So lets give the people out there who are putting their lives on the line some credit for the work that they have done and continue to do despite the disrespect that they get when theyre out there everyday. Thank you, madam mayor. The next questions are for dr. Grant kolfax. Thank you. It was mentioned last week that after the testing in the mission, random testing in the bay area would be done, as well. Can you provide more details . Are there any planned big testingests beintesting plannedn the mission. As we move through universal access, any essential worker in the city can get tested regardless of. Symptoms and for free is broadening of our testing. With regard to the mission study, its important to emphasize that this is a Research Project and that has been lead by ucsf in collaboration with Community Stakeholders in the mission as well as with the Health Department. That important work and the results of that work will help to inform the program, the discoveries of that research and will help inform our ability to strengthen our testing both in the mission, as well as in other communities at risk in San Francisco. And in conversations with the ucsf investigators, there are lots of ideas about how the work of that study could be done elsewhere in San Francisco and i know they are talking with a number of Key Community leaders and stakeholders about where that type of research could be done next, to again, help better inform the Health Departments testing strategies, as well as other provider strategies across the city. And so certainly were looking at that work and then were collaborating with ucsf researchers and other institutions across the bay area where research is being done in communities and extensive testing is done and how does that help better invest inform our programs moving forward to develop our culture of testing and to ensure theres universal accessing for testing for all in San Francisco. Thank you. The next question is for abigail kahn, homelessness and supportive housing. Mayor breed has said the homeless who come to San Francisco from other countries are not eligible in they are infected and the chronicle has reported there are people who have come to the stay hoping to be housed in hotels. How many people does the city believe come here for that reason . How will the city determine when a housed person is eligible . Thanks for the opportunity to clarify. I know theres been a lot of coverage around this. So generally speaking before covid19, we know that approximately 30 of individuals experiencing homelessness in San Francisco comes from not from San Francisco or where they became homeless was not San Francisco, which means 70 , which is the vast, vast majority are from here originally and became homelessnesbecame homele. Homeless folks are from here, or theyve been here a long time. What we know antidotally, we are hearing from people unsheltered on our streets right now is that they are not from here. So what is very important to me is that those individuals who tell our system of care, they were told to come here and get a hotel room, that they hear the message in a very clean way because i think its very important for us to be honest with our homeless neighbors, which is that if you were not known to our system before covid, meaning ar meaning you an our databases, then you are not first on the list for the unsheltered hotel rooms and this is not because we dont care about you. This is because there have been people who have been waiting here in San Francisco, known to our system of care for a long time and we are rapidly expanding our hotels and, in fact, weve opened more though s and we need to figure out where to start and the city has chosen to start with the people who have been here before the pandemic and waiting for ten, 20 years to receive support of this kind. Thank you. Thank you. The final question is for Mary Ellen Carol with emergency management. Your question is from San Francisco examiner. Question which School Facilities are safe for unhoused residents as urged by the board othe boardof supervisors . We have elemented mitigations to address this crisis. These include establishing 120 shelterinplace rv trailers for people experiencing homeless in district 10 and we have Ongoing Program of shelterinplace hotels for our unsheltered vulnerable populations and weve expanded our meal program for those living on the streets and weve also expanded restroom and handwashing stations throughout the city. What were doing now through the Emergency Operation center and in partnership with the department of Public Health, the Human Services agency and Housing Support homeless, were connecting individuals with the most appropriate solution. We are finalizing the evaluation of safe sleeping sites and plan to announce those sites and when they will be ready in the near future. Thank you, director. This concludes todays press conference. Were here to raise awareness and money and fork for a good accuse. We have this incredible gift probably the widest range of restaurant and count ii destines in any district in the city right here in the mission intricate why dont we capture that to support the mission youths going to college thats for the food for thought. We didnt have a signature font for our orientation thats a 40yearold organization. Mission graduates have helped me to develop special as an individual theyve helped me figure out and provide the tools for me that i need i feel successful in life their core above emission and goal is in line with our values. The ferraris yes, we made 48 thousand they were on top of that its a nobrainer for us. Were in and fifth year and be able to expand out and tonight is your ungrammatical truck food for thought. Food truck for thought is an opportunity to eat from a variety of different vendor that are supporting the mission graduates by coming and representing at the parks were giving a prude of our to give people the opportunity to get an education. People come back and can you tell me and enjoy our food. All the vendor are xooment a portion of their precedes the money is going back in whats the best thing to do in terms of moving the needle for the folks we thought Higher Education is the tool to move young people. Im also a College Student i go to berkley and 90 percent of our folks are staying in college thats 40 percent hire than the afternoon. Im politically to clemdz and ucla. Just knowing were giving back to the community. Especially the Spanish Speaking population it hits home. People get hungry why not eat and give welcome to the epi did you know that many buildings in San Francisco are not bolted to the foundation on todays episode well learn how the option to bolt our foundation in an earthquake. Hi, everybody welcome to another episode of stay safe im the director of earthquake safety in the city and county of San Francisco im joined by a friend matt. Thank you thanks for being with us were in a garage but at the el cap center south of market in San Francisco what weve done a simulated the garage to show you what it is like to make the improvements and reduce the reflexes of earthquake were looking at Foundation Bolts what do they do. The Foundation Bolts are one of the strengthening system they hold the lowest piece of wood onto the foundation that prevents the allows from sliding during an earthquake that is a bolt over the original construction and these are typically put in along the foundation to secure the house to the Foundation One of the things well show you many types of bolts lets go outside and show the vufrdz were outside the epic center in downtown San Francisco well show 3 different types of bolts we have a e poxy anchor. It is a type of anchor that is adhesive and this is a rod well embed both the awe hey that embeds it into the foundation that will flip over a big square washer so it secured the mud sell to the foundation well need to big drill luckily we have peter from the company that will help us drill the first hole. So, now we have the hole drilled ill stick the bolt in and e postoffice box it. That wouldnt be a bad idea but the dust will prevent the e postoffice box from bonding we need to clean the hole out first. So, now we have properly cleaned hole whats the next step. The next step to use e postoffice box 2 consultants that mixes this together and get them into tubes and put a notice he will into the hole and put the e postoffice box slowly and have a hole with e postoffice box. Now it is important to worm or remember when you bolt our own foundation you have to go to 9 department of building inspection and get a permit before you start what should we look at next what i did next bolt. A couple of anchors that expand and we can try to next that will take a hole that hole is drilled slightly larger marathon the anchor size for the e postoffice box to flow around the anchor and at expansion is going into the hole the same dinning room well switch tamet so, now we have the second hole drilled what next. This is the anchor and this one has hard and Steel Threads that cuts their way into the concrete it is a ti ton anchor with the same large square so similar this didnt require e postoffice box. Thats correct you dont needed for the e postoffice box to adhere overnight it will stick more easily. And so, now it is good to go is that it. Thats it. The third anchor is a universal Foundation Plate when you dont have room above our foundation to drill from the top. So, now we have our Foundation Plate and the tightened screw a couple of ways to take care of a foundation whats the best. The best one depends on what your house is like and our contractors experience theyre sometimes considered the cadillac anchor and triplely instead of not witting for the e postoffice box this is essentially to use when you dont have the overhead for the foundation it really depends on the contractor and engineering what they prefer. Talking to a qualified professional and see what i love teaching. It is such an exhilarating experience when people began to feel their own creativity. This really is a place where all people can come and take a class and fill part of the community. This is very enriching as an artist. A lot of folks take these classes and take their digital imagery and turn it into negatives. There are not many black and white darkrooms available anymore. That is a really big draw. This is a signature piece. This is the bill largest darkroom in the u. S. There are a lot of people that want to get into that dark room. I think it is the heart of this place. You feel it when you come in. The people who just started taking pictures, so this is really an intersection for many generations of photographers and this is a great place to learn because if you need people from different areas and also everyone who works here is working in photography. We get to build the community here. This is different. First of all, this is a great location. It is in a lesspopulated area. Of lot of people come here just so that they can participate in this program. It is a great opportunity for people who have a little bit of photographic experience. The people have a lot, they can really come together and share a love and a passion. We offer everything from traditional black and white darkrooms to learning how to process your first roll of film. We offer classes and workshops in digital camera, digital printing. We offer classes basically in the shooting, ton the town at night, treasure island. There is a way for the programs exploring everyone who would like to spend the day on this program. Hello, my name is jennifer. My name is simone. We are going on a field trip to take pictures up the hill. Cmon, cmon, cmon. Actually, i have been here a lot. I have never looked closely enough to see everything. Now, i get to take pictures. We want to try to get them to be more creative with it. We let them to be free with them but at the same time, we give them a little bit of direction. You can focus in here. That was cool. If you see that . Behind the city, behind the houses, behind those hills. The see any more hills . These kids are wonderful. They get to explore, they get to see different things. We let them explore a little bit. They get their best. If their parents ever ask, we can learn they can say that they learned about the depth of field or the rule of thirds or that the shadows can give a good contrast. Some of the things they come up with are fantastic. That is what were trying to encourage. These kids can bring up the creativity and also the love for photography. A lot of people come into my classes and they dont feel like they really are creative and through the process of working and showing them and giving them some tips and ideas. This is kind of the best kept secret. You should come on and take a class. We have orientations on most saturdays. This is a really wonderful location and is the real jewel to the community. Ready to develop your photography skills . The Harvey Milk Photo Center focuses on adult classes. And saturday workshops expose youth and adults to photography classes. As a society weve basically failed big portion of our population if you think about the basics of food, shelter safety a lot of people dont have any of those im mr. Cookie cant speak for all the things but i know say, i have ideas how we can address the food issue. Open the door and walk through that dont just stand looking out. As they grew up in in a how would that had access to good food and our parent cooked this is how you feed yours this is not happening in our country this is a huge pleasure im david one of the cofounder so about four year ago we worked with the serviced and got to know the kid one of the things we figured out was that they didnt know how to cook. I heard about the Cooking School through the Larkin Academy a. Their noting no way to feed themselves so theyre eating a lot of fast food and i usually eat whatever safeway is near my home a lot of hot food i was excited that i was eating lunch enough instead of what and eat. As i was inviting them over teaching them basic ways to fix good food they were so existed. Particle learning the skills and the food they were really go it it turned into the is Charity Foundation i ran into my friend we were talking about this this do you want to run this Charity Foundations and she said, yes. Im a cofound and executive director for the cooking project our best classes participation for 10 students are monday theyre really fun their chief driven classes we have a different guest around the city theyre our stand alone colas we had a series or series still city of Attorneys Office style of classes our final are night life diners. Santa barbara shall comes in and helps us show us things and this is one the owners they help us to socialize and ive been here about a year. We want to be sure to serve as many as we can. The San Francisco Cooking School is an amazing amazing partner. It is doing that in that space really elevates the space for the kids special for the chief that make it easy for them to come and it really makes the experience pretty special. Im sutro sue set im a chief 2, 3, 4 San Francisco. Thats what those classes afford me the opportunity it breakdown the barriers and is this is not scary this is our choice about you many times this is a feel good what it is that you give them is an opportunity you have to make it seem like its there for them for the taking show them it is their and they can do that. Hi, im antonio the chief in San Francisco. The majority of kids at that age in order to get them into food they need to see something simple and the evidence will show and easy to produce i want to make sure that people can do it with a bowl and spoon and burner and one pan. I like is the receipts that are simple and not feel like its a burden to make foods the cohesives show something eased. I go for vera toilet so someone cant do it or its way out of their range we only use 6 ingredients i can afford 6 ingredient what good is showing you them something they cant use but the sovereignties what are you going to do more me youre not successful. We made a vegetable stirfry indicators hed ginger and onion that is really affordable how to balance it was easy to make the food we present i loved it if i having had access to a kitchen id cook more. Some of us have never had a kitchen not taught how to cookie wasnt taught how to cook. I have a great appreciation for programs that teach kids food and cooking it is one of the healthiest positive things you can communicate to people that are very young. The more programs like the cooking project in general that can have a positive impact how our kids eat is really, really important i believe that everybody should venting to utilize the kitchen and meet other kids their age to identify theyre not alone and their ways in which to pick yours up and move forward that. It is really important to me the opportunity exists and so i do everything in my power to keep it that. Well have our new headquarters in the heart of the tenderloin at taylor and kushlg at the end of this summer 2014 were really excited. A lot of the of the conditions in San Francisco they have in the rest of the country so our goal to 257bd or expand out of the San Francisco in los angeles and then after that who know. Wed never want to tell people want to do or eat only provide the skills and the tools in case thats something people are 2rrd in doing. You cant buy a box of psyche you have to put them in the right vein and direction with the right kids with a right place address time those kids dont have this you have to instill they can do it theyre good enough now to finding out figure out and find the future for 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. Good morning. Welcome to the june 25, regular meeting of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services committee. Im supervisor rafael mandelman. I chair this committee. Supervisor walton has not been able to be here today. Our clerk is john carroll. I want to folks at sfgov tv for creating this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Thank you v m