Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Budget And Appropriations Committee 20240712

This has been a disastrous year and we need you on the board of supervisors to take descraftiaction. S. We will restore the 23expirt safety net for most vulnerable api communities in San Francisco. They are Food Security, workforce development, Behavioral Health, dough miss tick violence and youth and services so we have the board of supervisors to restore all this expiring programs and and various departments for a total of 2 million. On behalf of cyc we have two expiring programs under mohcd including our asian and Pacific Islander Youth Leadership program which provides Youth Development for age 16 to 25 and reach out to 200 about the importance of city engagement that they promote young people to register to vote, participate in census and take part in vote 16 campaign. The other program is the bayview Services Connection program. With a reduction of funding of 50,000 which will harm and reduce our Cross Cultural community and this program serves over 5,000 vulnerable and low income residents who face language, culture barriers with oneonone Case Management and cultural events in bayview. Our program in chinatown district is being cut by end of november. This willing affect the health and sanitation conditions of the most densely populated area in San Francisco during this pandemic. And last but not least, the restoration of the cuts to the program that our young asian women against violence and promote Health Seeking Behavior to reach out 600 young people so i really appreciate all your time and considerations and thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hello. Thank you. I am a resident of district 1 and i am calling to ask that the support of supervisors and reevaluate and respect and for funding for Housing Services and other services that will support our community and to defund s sfpd and the Sheriffs Office because the sfpd exacerbates housing and Health Vulnerability and it does not support our community and were all experiencing vulnerability right now. This is a moment for an opportunity for San Francisco and the country to reimagine how we support this advantage and disenfranchised people and our systems have never been just but slowly, activism and speaking out like these Public Comments have shifted towards justice but we have a lot more to do and a lot more to do. This moment can be a historic moment if we fund housing, if we opportunity supporting the disenfranchised and disadvantaged people, the black people, the Indigenous People and the people of color in San Francisco and this could be historic moment if we were reduce and eliminate the power of the racist sfpd and the Sheriffs Office. Im asking for the supervisors to defund, disarm and disband sfpd and the Sheriffs Office in order to support people in San Francisco and actually support and reduce vulnerabilities rather than causing more harm and damage thank you, very much. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. I worked for 15 years as a bio medical technician at San Francisco General Hospital. In the neonatal icu, labor and delivery, pediatrics and the emergency room where i saw interactions between providers, patients and law enforce. We need sheriffs out hospitals and clinics. As an 80yearold with recent hospital visits myself, im acutely aware of this stress, fear and uncertainty that patients feel and the Law Enforcement is the last thing needed in these situations and this is true because these tense situations are often the result of d. P. H. Underfunding leading to long wait times and short times for dr. Visits and discharge instructions. I have also heard doctors and nurses talk about Law Enforcement and their settings beingen truce i have anbeing inr gender non bine an rewho see themselves targets of hostile attention from Law Enforcement. Cut the Police Budget and Fund Communities services especially health, Mental Health, housing and Food Security as outlined by the budget justice coalition. Law enforcement does not exist and capitalism and use terror, racist terror, to stop people from fighting back. I believe theres a second video. Please clear the next video. Caller good afternoon. Im teresa from senior and disability action. Im calling in today because this is so important in defunding the police, the sheriff, the harm that has already been done, when we can take that money and use it to benefit the people in having the greatest needs, which is much of San Francisco today. So, im asking that funding be there for senior operating subsidiaries which would then go towards permanently Affordable Housing for seniors being created as well as expanding those operating subsidies to include those with extremely low income. In addition to that, i would also like to ask that you increase funding for tenant counseling. The most important thing is for people to know they have routes and trightsand they can stay ins and they do not have to suffer harassment, et cetera, and especially right now with the inability to pay rent. A lot of seniors and people with disabilities have parttime jobs that have enabled them to continue paying their rents and they are so burdened to begin with in paying 70 of their total income for rent alone. Having counseling funded, fully funded, as that first line of defense against evictions, people can remain in their homes and remain in a healthy place for their own healthcare as well as food. So many people just do not have enough food right now and are having to chose between paying rent or buying food or their families, for themselves and so please, please, lets fund, put the funds where it is most needed, which are our residents. And not the police and sheriff. Thank you. Hi, thank you for not laying off Police Officers. However, the reality is we will not have Adequate Police staffing due to the Record Number of officers retiring and leaving for other Police Departments. We thought there will be more officers retiring at the end of the year. There needs to be more than one Academy Class to insure adequate staffing. Crime is against seniors are not reported because of the victims ina ability to communicate with the police, diversity within the Police Department helps to build trust which aids our police and performing the Public Safety duties. Escalating crime has been trending throughout the city and thats a reality. Our city leaders must address crime and first and foremost, you will protect our seniors from crime and address it proactively. I am also asking that the Sheriffs Department programs or inmates be funded and these programs are vital to the successful reentry of inmates post incarceration and have become a model for other cities. Why would you deny inmates the opportunity to improve their lives and reduce their chances and thank you, very much. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hi, ill be reading comments on behalf of open door legal client in district 10. Im here to we almost lost our home to the banks but my either and they saved it so when i had a legal issue at six legal offices turned me away, my mop walked me over to their office and said these people will help you and they did. There was only one dental office felt. After goinoffice. They admitted pulling the wrong tooth. When i went back to get my file they treated me like a criminal. This place has a history of malpractice, they also broke my aunts tooth and never compensated. People from all over contacted me with Horror Stories and prescribed the medication i was allergic too and yelled when i tried to correct them. Their clients are poor and dont speak english and arent able to hold them accountable for their malpractice. After working with open door legal we successfully sued them and i got the money i needed to reverse the damage that was done. Our family will be complete. In this community, for a long time, it felt like we couldnt get help even when we asked. Now, we have open door legal. Who does not turn us away. I love open door legal. They have given me the hope we didnt have. Im here to support them today and ask you increase their funding and to continue supporting our communities. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hello . This is dayja, can you hear me . Well, good afternoon supervisors, its been a long day and im calling to ask about your allocation for money for the department of public works and specifically the bureau of urban forestry and i want to ask more funding be allocated specifically for the bureau of urban forestry for planting trees rather than for removing them. Its my understanding that funding for planting or replacing removed trees was not provide specifically in the past budget. Perhaps the excessive removal of trees over the recent years is do you to the lack of funding for planting trees. Thousands of trees have been removed but not recorded many or streets. Therefore im asking the funds be specifically allocated for planning and caring for trees to replace all those thousands that have been removed. We need to replace the trees that have been removed from our urban canopy, we also greatly increase the number of trees on our streets to improve our quality of air and to combat climate change. So, im requesting that you allocate more funding in your budget for the department of public works for the bureau of urban forestry under the department of public works. For planning trees and more money for funds for planting trees. Thank you for your considerati consideration . Next speaker, please. What was that . My name is johnny win and i live in district 5 and im calling for the supervisors to defund, disarm and disband the sfpd and and even after a decade of reform, 76 uses of force were against people of color. Sfpd offices pointed their guns at people 2. 4 times a day and other use of force decrease less than approximate the facts d. The scaled policing has not shown have an impact to crime. A study found that lis than 5 of the rest were related to violence, whats been proven effective in reducing violence and arms within communities is having access to basic needs, resources and Community Programs. We hear from other folks but theres a Public Services, social services, better and more Affordable Housing and people arent saying defund the libraries or teachers, ma mariod woods, its row form and reform does not work. Fire sfpd officers and Sheriff Deputies and invest in resources that keep us safe. I have three other callers on the line so i yield my time and pass it on to the next person to comment. Caller my name is yes i can a and im also a resident of district 5. I drew up in los angeles after my parents emigrated there in the 90s and im from subsidized after school and summer programs, free lunch and from Food Service Program and food stamps, language transition and Public Libraries. Im so grateful today on the line and doing the ones doing the vital work of providing Life Sustaining affirming anand it rs us of those that supported me as im growing up. I feel lucky to have stable and secure shelter and support myself from home and we recognize there are neighbors unable to do the same. The living situations are further exacerbated by harassment from Police Officers. They will spend 760,000. San franciscos Public Libraries are a place of sanctuary for many unhoused residents. Libraries and public spaces should be places of refuge and ease, not policing, harassment and criminalization. One of the main cities is to put people in cages and perpetuate the criminalizations of poverty and race. We can never provide treatment. Any money found would be better spent Funding Communitybased programs or available to the general public. We must also cut overtime and all counting classes which cost upwards of 50 million every year. There are more deputies and people in jail. Last year average total con pennization for a sheriff was 210,000. We must remove the sheriffs presence from San Francisco hospitals which cost 20 million a year and we invest that money into safety for care, deescalation and row store to yus is. We must invest inhousing and Mental Health that will prevent crisis and conflicts. Black communities make up only 6 of the population, while representing half of the black community. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hi, this is go stephanie phrasen from General Hospital and im calling on nurses, doctors, social workers and midwives called dph must divest and im calling to urge that you consider only defunding sfpd and the Sheriffs Department at the General Hospital and dph clinics, our hospital should not be a place where only some people feel safe. Everyone should feel safe and that cannot happen with the sheriffs presence in our hospital. It should not be reviewed as something thats just reduck tive. We have to talk about how to reinvest that 21 million that is currently funding them and funds need to be invested into alternative behavioral Response Teams and security and adequate staffing in our Emergency Department as well as investing into our community to Fund Community base Mental Health peer support and patient advocates. So, please, please, i urge you to make a Statement Like black lives matter we cannot just have safety for some people, we must have safety for everyone, especially our most vulnerable patients. Thank you so much. I yield my time. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Aim hearing a lot of people saying the same stuff to you. Im a student at sf and it makes me wonder, which side are you on . They say there are no neutrals and which side are you on which side are you on which side are you on which side are you on workers can you stand it tell me how you can will you be a lousy scab or will you be a man which side are you on which side are you on which side are you on . Which side are you on. Dan scab fo they havent i yield the rest of my time. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hi, i live here in San Francisco and i am here again to ask you for your support to defund and dismantle the sfpd and the Sheriffs Department. We should take police chief scott at had is word when he says the calls are private property issues. Its not all ambiguous what he said. He claims that property is more important than lives. Cutting the budget to serre will not be easy but its morally, logically and physical miss cal tee the right thing to do and and it will be on your conscience. I implore you to allocate the budgets for the things that will protect and serve our community and that means housing is more important than enforcement and food is more meaningful than virtue signally and healthcare heals vastly more and criminalization. Hello. Hi, my name is nathan and im a medical interpreter who has worked for San Francisco general. I have lived in the city for 37 years. There are Many Services that are badly needed in sf and ive heard we will continue funding them. I sympathize with those with negative experiences of the police and to Police Service and i urge you to not have further cuts to the sfpd Police Department. You have funds from them. They were not perfectly trained but the hospital would be much scarier without them. Its not a safe place for the vulnerable such as immigrants. Further cuts to the police force will endangerer San Francisco residents and especially vulnerable populations, crime is not going away. Theres been problems with the hospitals including inequitable treatment of minorities but we want to reform them and does not abolish the medical system. Is there a problem with the police . The criminals justice system. More researches are key to reform. Sfpd is stretched then. City hall commissioned a study on Police Staffing this year. It said they should have 200 more Police Officers than we have. Many Police Officers are leaving the city. Burglary and homicides are up and private property is also someones property and its always vulnerable property that cannot recover life without it. Some crime categories have rise when things are supposed to be quiet while sheltering at home and we need to protect the public and cant forget about victims of crime. Fewer Police Officers will impact neighborhoods that have been long ignored, especially where immigrant communities are vulnerable to crime. Residents are asking for more Police Officers who are bilingual and culturally sensitive which requires investments not to defund. Measures to dismantle the Police Department will not only lead to a more milltarized society not less. By further arming of citizens whose insecure tease are being exploited by gun dealers. Police departments and organizations of Civil Society and to right wing militia. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hi, my name is abdu and im the director of the inaudible and organization that providing social ask Legal Services to african immigrants. And i would just like to mention from immigration from every sing many measure taken by the administration impacted in our community and so, im speaking here not only to show how diverse our community is but also to ignore the work that has been done over the time and i would like to thank the mayor, thank the members of the board of supervisors, and also all the continuous support. And im speaking to them about Rapid Response. In addition to being the press inaudible for Community Members who are exposed to actions to keep the mayor office informed and what is happening in the city and thats why we would like to call out to all of you so that the dough funding and the mah and support in the cuts so work and be done and i would like to finish again and supervisor and also and communities of clear and and a lot has been done and we believe that we can do it together and the immigrant community is working alongside and members of the community and to get the. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, plea. Im with Compass Family Service and we run a family shelter here. Im a native to San Francisco and im asking you guys to not defund but increase possible funding for our more vulnerable population of families impact bid homelessness, weve been facing barriers for many decades especially people of color in the city of San Francisco. Since color has hit the barriers have mounted and im really i ask you to consider this Mental Health and you support and wrap around Services Family needs to sustain even the and for this board of supervisors to please consider those children that have been effected by generational poverty and hopes of having outlets and possibility for hopes for the future. Were not believing were hopelessly in a situation were really hopeful that we can make a change by sustaining continual resources for these families that are vulnerable. Thank you. Thank you for your comments, next speaker, please. Hello, can i talk . Clerk please begin. Caller is it ok to talk now . Clerk yes. Caller hello . Thank you. My name is baird and im a San Francisco native and actually my great grandpa came in 1905 and our family has been here all these years. I retired from the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Contract Compliance Division three years ago after 34 years of service to the contract compliance officers. And thank you board of supervisors for attending to these important issues about budget. I want to bring your attention to the fact that i believe we will need your help to set aside at least 500,000 for disparity study that you are aware of proposition 16 on the ballot will repeal prop 209 and if so the city will need to stand up to reimplement its minority and womens business programs ordinance as well as the employment minority and womens local San Francisco ordinance as well. Please, make sure that if this disparity study is put aside we have the chance to reimplement the minority women and business programs and affirm different action for minorities and women in employment. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comments, next speaker, please. Caller hello, commissioners, thank you for your service on the budget Appropriations Committee. This is anna stairia a district 67 and san franciscan tie Displacement Coalition member. If you would really like to keep people houses so they dont wind up displaced from the city or without homes, please keep tenants counseling agencies fully funded. Tenants are reliant on the Counseling Services they provide and especially now with looming evictions, they need the assurance that vital services, the councillors provide, will still be there the time of need. Also, im asking for rental assistance subsidiaries to continue to be funded and even increased to 5 million as youve heard from action. Supervisor ronen and yee have already given assurance their commitment to keep rental assistance sub degrees in this years budget add backs. And bes investing in the citys limited resource and ten apartment Counseling Service and rental services subsidiaries are worthy of your serious consideration, thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hello, my name is Lauren Church and i live and work in San Francisco in district 3. Im calling to echo the calls of so many before me today and over the last month. The time is now to defund, disarm and disband sfpd. All of the city people have spoken. Weve been on these allnighter calls on this budget journey with you and share values and i reported my case and they said you learned your listen and it was only through connecting with Community Organizations in San Francisco over the course of several years and i was able to get my life back. And as a white we need the people to represent us and the courage and the imagination to do what is right and to create a safer future for all. An incarceration to youre citys problems and want and see our cities spend on the sfpd. And guess fewers it small tokens and we demand you eliminate this threat and Public Safety and fire the police and the sheriff and reinvest in our communities. There are 90 callers listening and 52 callers in the queue. Next speaker, please. Caller good afternoon, supervisors. My name is jay and i live in district 1 and i am a medical student at ucsf speaking on 182 students. Maintain fund to go protect trans programs and to save lion martin and it gives more test kids and i have struggled to Access Healthcare in the city and i turned to lion martin. I am white, wealthy and have had access to private insurance. This inaccessibility is so much worse with others for marginalized identity such as black and brown. They filet gap. Especially for trans People Living in poverty and if they do not receive funding, especially during this pandemic which is caused thousands to lose access to food and housing. I exo support for you to diverse from the sfpd presence and the department of publichealth and for you to redistrict funding from Law Enforcement to black led and. Hello. Caller hi, exercises. Msupervisors. Im a trainer now f district 11. I was raised by filipino immigrant communities. Particularly from the Rapid Response hotline. Im agitated at the 136,005,000 cut to Rapid Response and urge those funds be restored. Thousands of immigrant workers and families in sf many who are undocument and have vulnerable immigrant status find comfort knowing they have a 24 7 number to call with Peoples Organization whose care about their rights and lives and do not collaborate with ice and they act with urgency against race and deportation. In San Francisco they have less resources for Affordable Housing, medical care, language access, Food Security, employment and education. These should be human rights. Why are these budget items for discussion in the middle of the Global Pandemic and increase milltarized police violence. These cuts are attacks on all of our communities. Our struggles are tied and this historic time needs major changes by defunding sfpd and the Sheriffs Office. Its essential that Community Members understand their rights and how to assert them and we need Strong Community Defense Systems to hold ice accountable and protect the human rights of our immigrant Community Members. Listen to the black members and support all funding asks forwarded by the budget justice coalition. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller my name is peter and i live in district 5. Weve heard from folks i asking for funding. Weve heard from trans asking for funding for life saving medical care and folks who worked with battered persons asking for funding, weve heard from working immigrants asking for continued funding for the Rapid Response hotline. Weve heard from countless people about cops who commit acts of violence or cops who shrugged their shoulders and we heard about the chief from the bottom less money pit for reform. We are entering times of scarcity. There are propositions on the upcoming ballots to raise tax to make up the shortfall but their fate is not certain. Federal aid, similarly is a big question mark. San franciscans safe and will actually help san franceance survive this pandemic. This is your opportunity to lead the city and vest in long lasting, dividendpaying Public Safety. Thank you. My name is natasha and im a 23 year receipt didnt of the miss where i work. I have heard what you need to consider in this budget. I appreciate your work on this. One time to make it possible to fund these programs ex expenditures is doug defund and disarm the police and the Sheriffs Department. The choices we make now will tip us toward health and healing or quicken our fall. The crisis and poverty, systemic racism has brought everything into focus, its up to each of those, those of you intrusted to protect those of you with power. The power to make or break policies, the power to vocally support the status quo or to take a stand and begin changing the on going path we are on. The violence in our society is not root inside who we think of as criminals and. Or put a stop to this lineage of violence or whether you think certain people deserve a life of violence and poverty. Thank you for your time. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hello board of supervisors, my name is ar sell lopez and i live in district 7. And the proposed cuts ur are not snuff. The board must defund by sfpd by 50 and row district it to support the black community, black organizations and leaderships and also you should definitely redistrict funds to the lion Martin Center. Theyre very important to the transgender community. Remain attentive and everyone in the queue, hang in we need to make our voices heard, thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. My name is sam and i am a district 1 resident and registered voter. So many people have said this so much more eloquently than i have. Please, defund, disarm, disband sfpd. You have heard so many callers call in advocating for so many different organizations that it does such good work that helps the community. I urge you to fund those organizations, fund organizations and departments that really help the people of San Francisco. I took the time to go and read one of your backgrounds. Everyone here on this committee. And you all either advocate to end homelessness or improve education within San Francisco. Both incredibly noble goals. Theres so much money sitting in the sfpd budget you could use to divert to both of those goals and help fix so many issues here in the city. I know you are tired of hearing us calling into say defund the police. I can see it in your faces and i know you are tired of hearing it and the meetings go really long. Were not going anywhere. Well call back next cycle. This movement is growing. I know you may not like it. I know you have issues with how its run but this issues isnt going anywhere. I may be extremely naive in this and i am a little knew to being involved in government, it feels like so many people are calling to ask for something to be done it would be nice to be heard and for action to be taken upon it. Thank you for your time and defund sfpd. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller while were waiting i wanted to note there are 91 callers listening and 59 callers in the queue. Caller hello. I live in district 11 and im calling you to urge to you project this budget and defund the police. Approving a budget that dunce Prioritize Essential Services and the needs of the most vulnerable in our community is negligent. Police inflect trauma and violence on the poor. People are dying. An only as a district result of abuse of power but as a result of an over inflated Police Budget that funds oppression and rather than resources. You cut funding for certainly services most needed by working class people and people of color. You fund Police Terror but not healthcare. You fund Police Terror but not our Community Many of police dont keep us safe. I am invest in people and communities not cops and cages and help build blasting Public Safety for all of us. They put people in cages in the sheriff and perpetuate the criminal sales ocriminalization. Having a diverse police force isnt going to stop them from willing us. Having diversity trainings wont stop them from killing us. Any money spent on jailing would be better spent Funding Community based programs available to the general public. 1234506 i was handcuffed and arrested it was for popping fireworks in my own backyard. I witnessed kids get arrested for just the lack of resources in these communities that have caused them to struggle. When i moved to San Francisco 10 years i imagined a Progressive Community that was striving for equity and shape a better country but i found communities are complacent and they were afraid to leave. This movement might seem controversial to a lot of people its not the case and i believe that what we will see in the future is is anna bolishment of the police and its our choice to lead our country towards that or to be dragged along with everyone else. I really believe in San Francisco. I want to continue to live here and i will help shape the future. Im asking every board of supervisor members help. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller my name is sylvia and im a california residents and i am a member of San Francisco. First of all, i want to thank the San Francisco mayor, board of supervisors and to the office of housing and communities development. For the commitment of the Indian Justice and not to make cuts and education and its work and San Francisco immigrant Legal Defense and the Rapid Response network. Its very important for me and for my son and the Immigrants Community to keep counting on the Rapid Response network. We all need to be protected and informed in order to keep ability to this country and supporting the children who will be the future of this country. We need to be safe and to be able to be physical and psychological support to the people that need us. The people we work for. We work hard to put forward our families and even during this pandemic when it is time to have access to any kind of doubt. During this pandemic time, and the fires among other seniority communities have been the most impacted thats why its urging you o put more money to programs that really show how our Community Like the Rapid Response network and schools and housing thats done to the programs that effect us instead of helping us. Thank you for your time and good work. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller good evening, members of the board of supervisors, im the executive director for American Resource Center in San Francisco. We want to express our solidarity with black San Francisco as a migrant community. Secondly, we want to echo i have a dog jumping here. Secondly, i want to echo everything thats been said. The chance right now for San Francisco once again, to make history. We may be a very progressive city but were not an equitable city. Today you have the opportunity to show our leadership and listening to the nations outcry for justice and find on end to police immunity. My son, during this hearing, showed me a video of another young black man shot in the back seven times by police. Enough is enough. If you have a chance to make history, our voices have been spoken very loudly and we know you are with us and please, lets make San Francisco make history and be the first city to truly defund the police and move towards equity for our city and everyone. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hello. My game is Jeremy Miller im a black Program Director for the eager stele organization which served families terrorized for Law Enforcement for 15 years. The current proposed budget is a human rights crime and proposed 2. 6 cut to the Police Budget is laughable and offensive. We echo the call for a full defunding, disarming and disbanding of both sfpd and the Sheriffs Department and immediate removal of Sheriff Deputies from you will and they have Community Programs is be con schenn able when over 41 million can be saved just by eliminating Law Enforcement targeting of our homeless brothers and sisters. Its ridiculous the department of public works spends its time stealing our most vulnerable and embroiled and its slated for a three Million Dollar salary augmentation and lets not forget, the board of supervisors near quarter of a Million Dollar race while the rest of us suffer financial crisis or the one billion in reserves and 600 million in expected aid. I demand you expect the role of people today and if i can call on people to remove you. You will work for us or you dont work. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hi, my name is audry. Im a client of open door legal and im here to ask for increasing funding for the free Legal Services they offer to communities that truly need it. My husband and i live near sunny dale. Our children eight, six and two and my others attend good loop a. We had issues paying our rent. I took out a loan to help make rent which i was in default. Then the landlord posted an eviction notice on our door. We were terrified. I knew that if we were evicted we would have to leave this city. Housing is so expensive. Theres no way we could have afforded and new place. We couldnt afford legal fees and a legal jargon was so overwhelm being but i didnt want to leave the place we call home. We all love San Francisco and are proud to call the bayview home. Thankfully, we were referred to open door legal. We felt respected from the time we walked into the door. There was no wait time for the appointment that we felt a sense of family, connection and belonging with the people working there. They worked hard on my eviction and it turned out great. Were still in the home today and we call it our christmas miracle of 2019. They opened the case for unpaid loans we had taken out. Im so thankful for the hope and we hope to finish negotiatations soon. A weight has been taken off. We can call our attorney when needed and we feel supported no one will have to go through a conviction on their own but this is a story of many san franciscans and it would have been our story if it werent for open door legal. The node for Legal Services increase this is a downturn and covid19, increases the need for the help they offer to us. Im asking for the sake of my community to fully fund open door legal and help ensure everyone can access legal help. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller yes, hello. Hi. My name is darlene. I am a low income Family Living in San Francisco. I am please asking for you to keep funding programs like compass family because theyre the only ones that can help families like mine find housing and other support. Support means that families like me. If you please keep funding and can i ask if you can please fix the San Francisco Housing Authority system or is there system sometimes unfair because when like, when families like me need Emergency Needs, they look at me like im sorry. When families like me need emergency have urgent needs, they tend to not really help people and sometimes because im latina or a different race and they dont take our Emergency Needs as important and i please asking if someone can go to the San Francisco Housing Authority and supervisor the workers there because they dont take peoples problems as an emergency need and they just give people attitudes when they constantly or they call back and ask for help. That is the answer. Your time has elapsed. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Before we lineup the next caller, i just wanted to note its after 7 00 and we no longer have Interpretive Services in chinese or spanish. Next speaker, please. Hi, im a public librarian here in San Francisco. Im calling to add my voice to the course of people demanding that the city defund the police and sheriff and invest that money inhousing and education and healthcare and they have sheriff officers at the main library is to pro invit provided safety and support is not what i feel and not what Law Enforcement was created to provide for queer and trans people of color. People that the lgbtq Affinity Center that i manage is supposed to serve, reflect and welcome. Law enforcement is racist and it does not give people a place to live, a decent paying job, crisis intervention, medical care or human recognition and respect. Many other City Services and Community Based organization dozen help with these, however and with this budget, theyre getting cut far more than police and sheriffs. I wonder how much the nonprofit staffers contracted by department of children youth and families are going to get paid to serve San Francisco children in the Community Learning hub during the covid19 pandemic this fall. I have a feeling its nowhere proportionately near what sfpd receives for its riot gear and street patrol. Board of supervisors, please represent your people and redistribute the money away from the cops. Thank you. Thank you, ms. Kramer for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller my name is cath lynn and im im beyond angry. This is not the first time ive called into demand budget cuts to sfpd. I am stayed up into the night and lost sleep waiting for my one comment. On august 14th when so many called in repeated we must defund sfpd, i walked to see supervisors texted and giggled and sent emailed and i looked into chief scott claiming were calling to defund sfpd just because or as quote punishment. Its not more opposite. Its a good thing we keep repeating ourselves on this calls. Its shameful and embarrassing and now today i listen to people about their violent experiences with sfpd. The organizations in San Francisco that actually need the resources. We have have been clear, we have been consistent and we have been re lent less. We demand you drastically cut funding to sfpd and if you dont we are coming for your jobs. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hello, my name is alice and i live in district fourth and im a fourth generation San Francisco. I want to thank supervisor fewer. And supervisor walton calling for a 75 reduction in overtime and i know you didnt get anything you asked for as far as negotiation and i hope you continue to demand even more. We must continue to remove more and more in the Police Budget so we can fund other programs that truly keep our communities safe and healthy many of the mayors budget, which makes nominal cutbacks is unsell able and we need to do more. The facts dont lie. The scales of policing has not been shown to have any correlation or impact of crime. Has been proven to be effective in reducing violence and harms within our communities having access to basic needs, resources and Community Programs. We dont need more Police Officers, or nearly as many Police Officers as we have already. We do need is funding for our schools, our libraries, housing, the Publichealth Department and so much more. Teachers and Public Service and who threaten our nothing further vulnerable communities and housing, healthcare, education and reparations keeps us safe and invest and help them with lasting Public Safety for all of us. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hello, my name is dr. Annie lay and im a resident physician at sf General Hospital and i live in district 9. I urge this committee to divest from the sfpd presence in the dph and invest in Behavioral Health programs and safety and hospital snow squallhospitals sf healing and it perpetuates trauma and toxic stress. It escalates situation and stories of their overreaching violence in our hospitals have spread through the community causing patients to decide not to come here for terror and our patients and communities deserve alternatives now, further we need radical riel occasions of Police Funding and decrease numbers of sfpd officers and sheriff in this sickel and a elimination of Academy Classes and i stand with all calling for divestment with police and the many health and Community Service thats promote safety while being and flourishing for all including the Budget Coalition and the Rapid Response hotline, open door legal and hivpositive housing and Trans Service and lion Martin Center and city college. Funding should come from cuts from the police, thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Good evening, board of supervisors. My name is erika dixon and im an investigative assistant with the San Francisco d. A. He is office as well as a member of local 21. Being an essential worker im grateful that layoffs have been averted for now and through the efforts. However, i am concerned about the looming layoffs in the not too district ant future with the strains brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. This is an event that is beyond what anyone expect and devastating lives and livelihood is in its wake. Consider using or citys rainy day funds to support City Services by city workers. City workers are also San Francisco area residents who support their local economies and shopping on a local grocery store, patronizing our eatery that serves take out. We support oer local economies which keeps people employed and then allows those people to also patronize their local businesses to keep the economy going. Invest north our city plow eyes to do the work to provide services to our residents and not for the pandemic we would not make this request. Think of this as a return on investments. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hello, my name is tilda and i live in San Francisco for 10 years and im currently in district 6. I urge you, to disarm, did he fund and dismantled the sfpd and the ser i have sheriffs depar. I needed help but i knew i couldnt call on the police the police have ineffective of dehe is ka rate ising and also, studies show that costs are two to four times more upon and the purpose perpetrators and we have a hammer everything looks like a nail. But costs arent the solution for the problems our city is facing. And its black and brown in our correctional system and its clear that police causing harm for their most vulnerable. We tried reform and it hasnt worked. Weve heard from so many providers of a critical and the pandemic has the pressure on all of our systems exacerbating racism and social inequality and why are we funding the police instead of so many other programs that pro voids safety and community for all and can you hang black lives matter all over the city but the empty statement unless we put our money where our mouth is and Fund Programs with socially quality tee. Food, housing, reparations, healthcare and Mental Health services. We have to organize and we will vote out out. Were not going away and were not giving up. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller supervisors, first i want to thank you for two minutes for everybody. Its a long time senior and renter of district 5 and member of the senior and disability actions housing collaborative. There is so much stuff from displacement and high rents before the pandemic. And now, illness and income loss and inability to pay rent due to the virus. Thousands of seniors, people with disabilities, other low income folks, and families of color are most vulnerable to the homes. I urge expanded support for the Legal Council programs and these are life lines to keep us in our homes. We rely greatly on the temporary rental assistance programs and also the permanent rent sub subsidiaries and we need them to be expanded especially now. So, less money for the police and more money for 100 Affordable Housing, no more market rates luxury housing and it contains just a trickle of affordable. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hi, my name is chris and im working at San Francisco general and im on San Francisco native as well as a member of s. Sciu2021. Im asking the board of supervisors to reconsider and not pass the mayors budget as presented. We are definitely out here every day as front line essential workers, where Disaster Service workers and weve been coming in regularly every day as is called on or deployed when needed and its time the city recognizes our hard work and dedication and assisting the city when needed, when the budget is needed to be balanced or when called on that they finally recognize our hard work and honor their commitment and their agreement for our payouts in our budgets. Im calling on the board of supervisors to recognize and support all labor unions and getting their fair share and not balance the budgets on the backs of the frontline workers that have been out here everyday in these hotels and in these clinics at the hospitals giving out food in the shelters and the command centers down at moscni. Were asking and pleading for you guys to clerk your time has elapsed. Thank you thank you so much for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller my name is andrew and aim voter and residents in district 9. I urge you to defund, disarm and disband the sfpd and Sheriffs Department. The budget is a reflection of values and priorities. San francisco residents supervisors and the mayor cut fund ago cross the board and except no a oppressive system designed to punish people. What does it say about our values and priorities . Your personal values and when we fund the place over school, healthcare and building up our communities rather than force it into submission. This proposal one where the sfpd and sheriff is have needed cuts and see budget increases next year and its a thought to the clear message. Everyone is aware of the challenge we see mace and on the top of my head, housing being healthcare, particularly in the Global Pandemic and the fires that are currently burning. This isnt going to be easy but how are the sfpd or Sheriffs Department equipped to solve these issues. Theyre with the real issues. And practice systemically theyre ineffective and oppressive to our neighbors who are black indigenous and people of color. These funds are much better served elsewhere in our budget. A failure to recognize a we heard you say black lives matter so use your power to make the budget reflect that. This year and fire and. Thank you, mr. Dye. Next speaker, please. Caller do we have another speaker . Caller hi, thank you so much for being willing to people. Im a San Francisco resident and also a white male and even a capitalist with a wellbaiag job. So from that perspective i understand how one can consider the request to did he fund the police to be a radical notion. I used inform feel the same way thinking the police were here to protect us and care for our safety. Sometimes back i ended up spending 10 years of my life working amongst and around the homeless of this amazing city and i was shocked to see a completely different side to the police. It was night and day to see how the same police force had treat medicine with respect and courtesy had turned into a terrifying and threatening force. All that changed was the polices view of what groups of people they thought i belonged to. I want to make it very clear, during this time, i had not committed crimes or had the appearance of illegal activity. I seemed to be of a group with the Police Department was more than willing to a ras, attack and destroy. They destroyed my property and they pointed their weapons at me and clearly were not here to protect me or the people around me. Its easy and say for a board member to look to reform and easy to ignore those problems that dont effect us who live a professional lifestyle or have the ability to sit on the board but we have learned through decades that reform of a system cannot work when the system is fundamentally broken to avoid any repair. There are better options. I beg of you to take the brave and powerful choice to not just pass this issue onto the next board or the next politician or mayor, but show the world that San Francisco can take a leadership role and learning how to give everyone i live in a neighborhood ignored by police and they do show up or protect or put energies towards solving crimes here and we are still here. In this case the Fire Department has disproved the myth that we cant live without the thin blueline. I would have sent it back for a refund if this was from, im not just asking for a defund of the police and i have taken my backs. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hi, my name is inaudible and mother of two children. Im calling like many others to urge to you aggressively deopportunitdefundthe sfpd. To listen to the recommendation of mega blacks and wealth and disparity to the black community and ininstead invest in the black communities institutions not a agency ignoring black lives. They process at long last and this is the First Step Towards long overdue reparations. Do we still have you, caller . Sorry, did you not hear that . I was just wondering, yes, do you want to continue . Caller yes. Sorry. Im finished. Have a good night. Thank you so much. Next speaker, please. This is Martin Steinman and im a d9 receipt debt and i worked in Central America Resource Center and first i would like to thank the board and for fully funding San Francisco and Legal Defense class and also the San Francisco and network and im working and i see everyday and especially in the context of the Current Administration on relenting assault on immigrants. Just today, there was news of daca flaunting clearly the Supreme Court and trying to get rid of daca illegally. Tomorrow theres another rule coming down regarding Work Authorization for asylum applicants so thank you for continuing this fund. In addition i would like to consider please, to row store full funding to Rapid Response networks and it pushes barks. In like they said, you dont take your umbrella down during a train storm because you are not getting wet solv. Theres been expecting more of that and we need a rapid respect network to keep things safe and please consider funding the Rapid Response network and thank you for your time. Onto the next person. Next speaker, please. Caller hola. [ speaking spanish ] i can translate. Sure. Im an immigrant worker and we are facing an emergency situation where we dont qualify for government assistance. We need your help and i wanted you to know we really appreciate your work and i hope you have a nice night. Thank you for the speaker. No problem. Next caller, please. Hello. Yes, my name is roger scott. This meeting is the longest civics lesson of my lifetime. Im a retired city College Teacher and member of local 2121 delegate to the San Francisco labor council. I feel obligated to criticize the recent and shameful board of trustees decision to proceed with the balboa reservoir housing projects which repeatedly in my vow two humane concepts that public land should remain in public hands and that housing built on public lands should be 100 affordable. Your committee cant grant the demands for social and Economic Justice to good people are urging and i would suggest that you recognize those that the convergence of the pandemic and the cool but historically familiar murder of george floyd has awakened the conscience of the people and change the word in ways that well never go back to. You are appropriate budget and Appropriations Committee doesnt have the power and resources to prosecute racist killer cops and disband Law Enforcement organizations but you have the power to do several things, three that recommend or one substantially reduce the Police Budget and social workers and other unarmed Public Servants. They help people who need it. Two, increase funding to raise to the minimum compensation or the salaries of the low paid workers who provide essential services to most vulnerable Community Members. Three, increase funding to the people trying to survive in the streets and are dying every day. Listen to the people and you will do much better. Thank you. Thank you so much for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller good evening. My name is laura tang and executive director of cameroon womens residents. Im here to advocate for funding has been cut to provide Family Support services for children zero to fiveyearsold in district one and in district four. And you know, especially during this time of covid19 its so important that we continue to engage with our families and the younger children hoping that we can did not. [please stand by] im asking board of supervisors to be brave and take us into the future where city of San Francisco cares for vulnerable neighbors. Just be better humans. Thats it. Its that easy. Thank you. Thank you much for your comments. Next speaker please. Hello. Good evening. I was in district 9. Im calling to urge this committee to divest from the San Francisco Sheriffs Department presence in the d. P. H. And defund sfpd. Today the video shooting of another black general made National News again. Theres no evidence that the system is in effective way towards the law and prevent crime. We continue to pile on more and more money. Theres mounting Evidence Police [indiscernible] i keep Hearing Police is not perfect. How is this acceptable . When its matter of life and death we cannot settle for less. I ask that you reallocate funds to make San Francisco and hospital safer place for everyone. Defund sfpd thank you. [indiscernible] before we call the next speaker, just little update. We have 79 members of the public on the call, 54 of which are in queue to speak. We do appreciate your participation. Please be patient. Next speaker please. Thank you for this all day phone in session for public. Its beneficial to know how constituencies feel. Im on registered nurse and organizer. Im a city worker. I truly believe in good work and everybody San Francisco and city and county stands for. I call for defunding the sfpd and the sheriff in order to fund Public Services. I like to say that while those are great calls for changing the face of Public Safety, funding Public Services should be done through revenue measures because there are 75 billionaires who live in San Francisco. They need to pay their fair share to fund Public Services. I would hate to see Public Servants suffer in order to benefit the residents in the city. Defunding the police is an honorable aim we they had to put in place policies that benefit the resident and see the same for the essential workers who provide Public Services every single day. We need to make sure that our Public Servants are honored and accepted in all respects and all mean and for all the work they do, whether its picking up our garbage, driving our buses or caring for our love ones in the hospital. We need to pass the ceo tax measure. We need to reform our businesses and we need continue to protect all residents of 46 wh san frano who are renters. Thank you. Have a good night. Next speaker please. My name ben. Im a resident of San Francisco. I want to thank everybody for the very thoughtful and heart felt comments today and board of supervisors for asking this time to listening. I echo lot of comments. P. R. Campaign is reimagining policing really seems disingenuous and seeing board of supervisors continue to just nibble around the edges with this budget. Defunding policing and end years of failed austerity. The police are never going to ask for less. They fail to meet basic calls to reform. You seen p. O. A. As public menace. Must defund, disarm and fire Police Officers. We must invest with confidence and vision and community safety, health and dignity. Are you going to wait until theres less Public Engagement on these issues to decide to act . I do not believe you will. If you missed this moment it will not come again. History will not forget. San franciscans will not forget. Minimal cuts will not be tolerated. All eyes are on you. Reforms dud does not work. The police are not essential workers. They do not create Public Safety. They enforce gentrification, white supremacy. You heard from some many amazing people today advocating for service. Please wake up. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker please. Hi. Im a latino organizer and activist. Im asking my first year in San Francisco i created housing. One night i couldnt get a shelter bed this is why we should expand shelter to lgbtq community. During this pandemic [indiscernible] we must Fund Community organizing and fund city college. Please invest in Public Community dollars and city wide public wifi and 41 million in emergency funds for undocumented residents. Also i ask invest 1 million in nonprofits. Thank you. I live in district 5. I live in a city where residents and politicians agree that all black lives matter. Mayor breed said she was moving 100 million to community funding. Thats why she is advertising the same. Current budget does not fire a single officer. We need to cut overtime. Reinvesting in communities includes having fewer Police Officers. We all want Public Safety. You supervisors are the ones with the power to make that happen. Im talking about reinvesting in community, you increased funding over the last four years, homelessness increased. 50 of adults who experience homelessness in San Francisco had their First Experience homelessness by the age of 25. Thank you. Next speaker please. Hi, im a front line worker at lagune hospital. Im calling to ask the board of supervisors to continue to support front line workers. To continue to support the services we deliver every member of seiu represent the people who are giving the services that are necessary to keep San Francisco going. The workers at laguana honda are protecting that hospital. That longterm care facility from having a pandemic. Its the workers who came up with the idea and insisted that management follow. It want the other way around. Its the same worker making sure emergency room is well staffed so we can deliver the services. We are delivering the services. Not only are we delivering the services but we are also giving back some of our paychecks we gave back 50 million in july. The union did that. Union workers did that. We are saying that we are prepared to give back next year if theres a deficit. The contract was built to manage a situation like this. It was built around that. We will give up some of our paycheck, we will give up some of our moneys that we have in that contract by deferring our wages. We have already met that condition. We have done that. We are giving our lives. We are giving back. More and more healthcare workers, more and more contract workers coming up positive for covid. Thank you so much for your comments. Next speaker please. Im a resident of district 8 calling to implore to reject the proposed budget and defund the Police Department. Im also a black man who has been pulled over by the police for simple act of walking while black. Ive been wrongfully profiled because color of my skin. I seen that among many patient i treated. Tiny 2 cut to budget is not sufficient. It will be disheartening to hear black lives matter while watching your calls to the budget contradict the movement. We need to hole our leaders accountable. I yield rest of my time. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker please. Good evening supervisors. I live and work in district eight. The police do not make me or my community safer. What we need is housing, library, job, art school, food and heart care. You name it. Community services will make it safer. Lets make San Francisco progressive city. The money is here and wil the wl is here. Defund sfpd and Sheriffs Department. You work for us. Thank you. Next speaker please. First thing first. Coalition is an accurate representation of the needs of the community compiled by people serving the community and theres homelessness. On the subject of your continued support to defunding the police, the institution of policing america is racism and violence. What you reap is what you sow. [indiscernible] we see that people whop entrusted to enforce the law, they use their guns to further their racist agenda. [indiscernible] now i got no patience. Now something must be done about a gun. Good evening supervisors. Im talking today about the programming and request to the board of supervisors to make sure that expiring funds for the council are restored. The council serves over 350,000 in San Francisco. We serve underserved needs to make sure the population is addressed and represented. Thank you for your attention tonight. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker please. Good evening supervisors. My name is kim. Im a career City Employee and member of local 21. I work for the department of technology whos staff has been instrumental provided tools and resources for City Employees. Performed remote work during this pandemic. My Department Staff set up telecommunications and wifi for the covid19 Emergency Center and developed applications to help manage d. F. W. Workers. We sacrificed enough. Were asking you to stand with us. We need to invest in our employee workforce. No one else has more dedication to Public Service and best interest of the city. Our critical essential workers need a budget thats committed to their welfare and allow them to support their families and communities. Thank you. Next speaker please. Hi, my dad was a Kindergarten Teacher for 30 years. As kids every sunday will go down to the flea market. His class was so underfunded he wouldnt have pens, paper or pencils. Now your plan is to cut School Budget and among other budgets to fund the police. I like to remind you board of supervisors that you are Public Servants. You serve us. We are not asking you, were telling you to defund the police. The people has spoken doofer tod the police. For the 90 other folks listening, if board of supervisors do not comply with our demands, the next step will be to recall the Board Members in no longer serve us. I yield my time. Next speaker please. Good evening board of supervisors. My name is susan marsh. Im a resident of San Francisco. I work with a variety of tenant organizations. I want to urge you to look at the budget and in particular, i would like to call your attention [indiscernible] Police Departments all over the country and including San Francisco and in in the past few days in their racist history into their [indiscernible] thank you for your comments. Next speaker please. The black organizations that are trying so stay online, trying to get their voices forward, its very frustrating. We have a ton of allies. Wonderful people that feel for our black lives. There are 300 of us there are 180 on the line. No one can feel the pain and death of black people. I think its important. Like to speak for myself. Im in favor of the extension. Im in favor of things that need to be relocated in black communities. Let us speak for ourselves. Thank you. Thank you. Before we call the next caller. Just for update. There are 76 members on the call. 76 are lined up to speak. Next speaker please. [indiscernible] next speaker please. Hello im a resident of district eight. Im calling to urge you disarm and disband sfpd and the Sheriffs Department. For the past four years, i worked in the Mental Health facilities and homeless shelters. Sfpd does not keep our community